EcoVoce - Monitoring Ecological Concerns using VGI Tools by Engaging Local Communities

Mining regions such as the Apuseni Mountains include complex environmental problems arising from their long-term overexploitation. Adequate methodologies and tools are needed to identify environmental risks and develop networks of local receptors (communities and authorities) that can contribute to problem solving. Due to digitalization, citizens’ participation as part of the solution has never been easier and it is an efficient tool to report specific problems (waste dumping, water pollution) in their proximity and get involved in consultation and decision-making.

Aim

The ECOVOCE project aims to develop a framework for problem formulation and the bottom-up monitoring of risk, validated by scientific tools (Unmanned Aircraft Systems). It will give a strong voice to the citizens to express their environmental concerns via VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) app, citizen science (CS) and community-based participatory research actions. The CS networks of volunteers and local authorities developed through the project create the conditions for reciprocal relationships, communication and feedback on community environmental problems. The case-reporting option of the app will mobilize communities to identify specific problems, get informed about local risks and follow up on the remediation. This project contributes to the visibility of Romanian research among the Citizen Science global initiatives, building local CS (monitoring) capacities as an important goal of future policies.

Needed equipment

Smartphone or tablet.

About funding

Funding bodies: Executive Agency for Higher Education

Research

Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)

Created Feb. 2, 2023, 9:26 a.m.

Updated Oct. 31, 2024, 9:39 a.m.

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