Co-sponsored by the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE)
In recent years, there has been rapid growth both in individual and organizational interest in community/citizen science and in the development of new advanced monitoring devices that facilitate community and citizen involvement. In the United States, legislation from 2016 encourages Federal agencies to support and utilize community/citizen science in their work. Community/citizen science encompasses a broad range of activities ranging from the use of new, low-cost hand-held air monitors by individuals to sophisticated, university-based monitoring networks to satellite monitoring plans by large environmental NGOs. Some of these efforts are simply designed to raise awareness of environmental issues, while others are focused on informing agency actions including compliance and enforcement programs, while still others are designed to support citizen litigation to stop polluting activities.
This session is the first in an INECE webinar series that will explore current and potential uses of citizen/community science initiatives to improve environmental monitoring, compliance and enforcement around the world. Over the course of six sessions, the series will showcase cutting edge models and technologies for community/citizen science and discuss the issues, barriers and opportunities related to agency use of community-generated data. Beginning with an overview of the current landscape of citizen/community science, the series will highlight community/citizen science case studies in a few sectors, then move into discussions of agency use of citizen/community science and high-level dialogue on new developments and areas of opportunity in the field.
This session, which opens the series, will provide a brief introduction to community science and the key factors driving stakeholders’ renewed interest in community science, such as an increasing social emphasis on environmental justice. It will seek to define community science, introduce its applications in various contexts, and discuss its potential as a compliance and enforcement tool.
Speakers:
LeRoy Paddock, Visiting Scholar, ELI; Managing Director, INECE Secretariat, Moderator
George Wyeth, Visiting Scholar, ELI, Moderator
Martin Brocklehurst, Founding Member of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP)
Alison Parker, Senior Program Associate with the Science and Technology Innovation Program (STIP) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Lea Shanley, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Nelson Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Vice-Chair, Citizen Science Association Law & Policy Working Group