Citizen Science for Environmental Policy: Development of an EU-Wide Inventory and Analysis of Selected Practices
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Citizen science for environmental policy: Development of an EU-wide inventory and analysis of selected practices Bio Innovation Service, in collaboration with Fundación Ibercivis and The Natural History Museum Citizen science for environmental policy Disclaimer The information and views set out in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project team Shailendra Mugdal (BIO Innovation Service) Anne Turbe (BIO Innovation Service) Francisco Sanz (Ibercivis) Jorge Barba (Ibercivis) Maite Pelacho (Ibercivis) Fermin Serrano-Sanz (Ibercivis) Lucy Robinson (Natural History Museum) Margaret Gold (Natural History Museum) Acknowledgments We would like to express our sincere thanks to all citizen science projects that invested their precious time in answering our questions, this study would not have been possible without their support. We also thank the colleagues at the European Commission: Sven Schade and Chrysi Tsinarki (JRC), José Miguel Rubio Iglesias (EEA); Marjan Van Merloo (DG RTD); Izabela Freytag (EASME); Liam Cashman (DG ENV); for their support and comments and Elena Montani (DG ENV) for overall guidance. Citation Bio Innovation Service (2018) Citizen science for environmental policy: development of an EU-wide inventory and analysis of selected practices. Final report for the European Commission, DG Environment under the contract 070203/2017/768879/ETU/ENV.A.3, in collaboration with Fundacion Ibercivis and The Natural History Museum, November 2018. LEGAL NOTICE This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http:// www.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018 PDF - ISBN:978-92-79-98104-3- doi:10.2779/961304 - KH-03-18-528-EN-N © European Union, 2018 Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39).For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the EU copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. November 2018 2 Citizen science for environmental policy Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................... 6 List of acronyms ................................................................................................ 8 Executive summary ........................................................................................... 9 Résumé ...........................................................................................................13 1. Introduction ............................................................................................17 1.1. Aims of this study.................................................................................17 2. Background ............................................................................................19 2.1 Citizen science for the environment ........................................................19 2.2 Citizen science for environmental policy ..................................................20 2.2.1 Citizen science in the EU .................................................................21 2.2.2 Citizen science at national level ........................................................23 2.2.3 Remaining challenges for making citizen science policy-relevant ..........23 2.3 Scientific excellence ..............................................................................24 2.3.1 Fit-for-purpose...............................................................................24 2.3.2 Data quality ...................................................................................24 2.3.3 Data access and re-usability ............................................................25 2.4 Citizen engagement ..............................................................................26 2.4.1 Engaging citizens ...........................................................................26 2.4.2 Retaining citizen engagement ..........................................................26 2.5 Informing environmental policy ..............................................................27 2.5.1 Citizen science uptake in environmental policy ...................................27 2.5.2 Contributions of citizen science to environmental policy ......................28 Box 1 - Monitoring policy impacts with citizen science ......................................29 2.6 Investment needs of citizen science ........................................................29 2.7 In summary .........................................................................................30 3 Approach and methodology ..........................................................................31 3.1 Study scope .........................................................................................31 3.2 Approach .............................................................................................31 3.3 Data collection .....................................................................................31 3.3.1 Data collection process ...................................................................31 3.3.2 Data collection results .....................................................................32 3.4 Inventory development .........................................................................32 3.4.1 Attributes for the inventory .............................................................32 3.4.2 Data pre-processing .......................................................................37 3.4.3 Inventory of citizen science projects in the environmental domain ........38 November 2018 3 Citizen science for environmental policy 3.5 Selection of citizen-science practices for in-depth analysis .........................39 3.5.1 Selection criteria and data collection .................................................39 3.6 Data analysis .......................................................................................40 3.6.1 Assessment of the policy relevance of the projects in the inventory ......40 3.6.2 Assessment of project characteristics for selected projects ..................40 3.6.3 Assessment of the costs and benefits ................................................42 3.7 Limitations of the study .........................................................................42 3.8 In summary .........................................................................................42 4 Analysis of the citizen science inventory .........................................................43 4.1 Geographical scope ..............................................................................43 4.2 Project lead .........................................................................................43 4.3 Main project category ...........................................................................44 4.4 Policy relevance ...................................................................................44 4.5 Main environmental domains .................................................................44 4.6 Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals .......................................46 4.7 In summary .........................................................................................47 5 Analysis of a sample of selected citizen science initiatives of relevance to environmental policy .........................................................................................51 5.1 Characteristics of the selected projects ...................................................51 5.2 Citizen dimension .................................................................................54 5.2.1 Characteristics of the citizen engagement ..........................................54 5.2.2 Process of citizen engagement .........................................................55 5.2.3 Factors affecting the citizen engagement ...........................................56 5.3 Scientific dimension ..............................................................................57 5.3.1 Data characteristics ........................................................................57 5.3.2 Scientific method ...........................................................................58 5.3.3 Scientific impact .............................................................................60 5.4 Policy dimension ..................................................................................62 5.4.1 Utility of citizen science for policy .....................................................62 5.4.2 Characteristics of policy relevant projects ..........................................66 5.5 Investment needs ................................................................................70 5.5.1 Project governance .........................................................................70 5.5.2 Resources .....................................................................................72