We present a collaborative citizen science initiative carried out with high school students from EES N° 3 “Florentino Ameghino”, Chillar, Argentina, as part of a paleoenvironmental research project in lake sediment cores of Laguna La Barrancosa (37°19’ S, 60°06’ W). Students actively participated in collecting and analysing a sediment core spanning the past 500 years. Together, we conducted measurements of magnetic susceptibility, dry density, and organic matter, aiming to reconstruct past environmental changes and emphasize the importance of preserving this site as a vital ecological resource.
The project was made possible through the Neville Shulman Award, which provided funding to support research that increases local community engagement in environmental projects. This grant allowed us to design an initiative that combined scientific research with a participatory and educational approach, empowering the local community and fostering a sense of environmental stewardship.
Through hands-on experiences in both their school laboratory and advanced facilities at the University, students not only gained technical skills but also developed a deeper understanding of how agriculture that dominates the region´s landscape has influenced the lake's ecosystem. This project empowered students to reflect on their relationship with the environment they inhabit. Particularly given that, many of the students' families are involved in agriculture and often visit the lake for fishing.
These experiences offered all of us a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between local knowledge and academic science. For the students, this marked their first interaction with professional research and their first experience visiting a university. One of the most inspiring outcomes was the impact this project had on the students’ aspirations. Their exposure to scientific methods, combined with the support and encouragement of researchers, motivated many to consider pursuing higher education. The project opened new possibilities and demonstrated the accessibility of academic paths, planting seeds for future scientific curiosity and engagement. At the same time, it prompted us as scientists to reflect on how we do science and how to effectively communicate our work to diverse audiences.
Students presented the results during Chillar's annual town celebration, where they sparked valuable discussions about the region’s history and environmental challenges. Among the ideas that emerged was a new initiative to connect the observed environmental changes with the area’s archaeological history in future research. This underscores the richness and relevance of integrating local perspectives into scientific endeavors.
This presentation will delve into the outcomes of this collaboration, including lessons learned, best practices, and challenges faced during the process. It will also highlight the mutual benefits of co-creation, where both scientific research and community engagement are enriched, illustrating how participatory approaches can transform environmental awareness and promote inclusive, impactful science with long-lasting effects.
How to cite: Achaga, R. and Santiago, C.: Connecting Communities and Science: A Collaborative Paleoenvironmental Project in Laguna La Barrancosa, Argentina, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-20165, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-20165, 2025.
The "Superchar" project aims to develop a nutrient-release biochar derived from sewage sludge, promoting sustainable agricultural practices while addressing pressing environmental and food security challenges. By leveraging sewage sludge as a feedstock, this initiative not only offers a cost-effective and accessible solution but also addresses the complexities associated with managing potentially contaminated human waste. The Superchar is engineered to increase soil carbon stocks, sequester atmospheric CO2, and serve as a slow-release fertilizer for phosphorus and potassium, thus enhancing food security in vulnerable communities. Our approach emphasizes the importance of community engagement by establishing a local value chain, especially in rural areas where phosphorus scarcity poses significant problems. The innovative technique of "mineral doping" involves pyrolyzing phosphorus-rich sewage sludge with potassium-rich organic materials to produce water-soluble potassium phosphates, facilitating the recovery of vital nutrients for agricultural use. We have created five different biochars from sewage sludge, chicken manure, and pyrolyzed straw, processed at a controlled temperature of 650°C. These biochars are currently undergoing evaluation in a series of flow-through column experiments designed to simulate real-world conditions. Each column assembly of washed sand and biochar undergoes regular hydration and sampling, allowing us to meticulously monitor parameters such as temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, and nutrient release. Moreover, we are collaborating with Mosan (mosan.com), a non-governmental organization working at Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, to assess the effectiveness of mineral doping and the impact of biochar on crop growth. If proven successful, the Superchar model promises not only a low-tech, economically viable solution for carbon sequestration and sustainable fertilization but also creates pathways for regenerative agricultural practices, vital for addressing climate change and promoting socioeconomic development. Our findings hold the potential to revolutionize negative emission technologies, thereby advancing agricultural nutrient management strategies that align with sustainable development goals. This project serves as a prime example of how community engagement and innovative research can lead to transformative outcomes in the realms of climate resilience and food security.
How to cite: Vorrath, M.-E., Buss, W., Mijthab, M., and Anisie, R.: Poo for future: Community Engagement through Biochar Innovation by Utilizing Sewage Sludge for Enhanced Agricultural Practices and Climate Resilience , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-14814, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14814, 2025.
Assessing the state of ecosystem service wetlands provides is an essential prerequisite for protecting and restoring wetlands. Citizen Scientists' (CS) involvement in these assessments assists wetland managers and scientists in data collection, functions as an important component of wetland education, and enhances citizens’ stewardship. However, not all methods developed for citizen scientists are equally suited to support these aspects, requiring the assessment of both their potential and limits.
In our Horizon Europe project Restore4Life (https://restore4life.eu/citizen-science/), we compared Citizen Science methods for assessing water quality, above- and below-ground organic carbon stocks, and plant biodiversity with scientific methods regarding data quality, explanatory power of data, and applicability. We analyzed the suitability of these methods to provide reliable and valuable data for wetland assessments and enhance people's awareness of the importance and sensitivity of wetlands. Our seven study sites included lowland and mountain river floodplains, lake floodplains, and peatlands. We wanted to answer the following questions:
- How well can CS data distinguish different wetland habitats? Which parameters have the largest potential to show differences among wetland habitats?
- How well do CS data reflect scientific data? Which methods/parameters fit well, and which do not?
- How can CS methods be improved to deliver the precision needed for wetland assessments?
Our preliminary results show that the activities significantly increased the participants' environmental education and awareness of wetlands. However, wetland assessment using CS faces several challenges, such as, e.g., restricted access to protected or flooded areas and a limited internet connection, hampering the use of online Apps and GPS. Water quality assessments by non-scientists were especially problematic in organic-rich waters typical for wetlands. Untrained citizen scientists also had problems recognizing cultivated tree species within forests, distinguishing between herbaceous plants and young trees, and determining plant species. Furthermore, citizen scientists showed a strong bias toward selecting easily accessible and less diverse sites for species and above-ground organic carbon determinations, which were not always representative of the respective floodplain forest habitat. Restore4Life is funded by the European Union.
How to cite: Weigelhofer, G., Feldbacher, E., Rosenberger, C., Srđević, Z., Mikuska, A., Čerba, D., Weidendorfer, J., De Haney, S., Cvijanović, D., Milošević, D., Gulyá, K. B., Miklós, T., Stojković Piperac, M., Novković, M., Grabić, J., Ždero, S., VLaičević, B., and Turković Čakalić, I.: Potential and limits of Citizen Science in assessing ecosystem services of European wetlands, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-2828, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-2828, 2025.
The Balearic Islands are home to a rich diversity of seabeds, yet their distribution and evolution remain challenging to map and study, which has become a priority in the EU-marine strategy directive. The SECOSTA project contributes to bridge this gap by integrating advanced machine learning with citizen participation, driving both scientific progress and community engagement.
Central to SECOSTA’s success is its hands-on, co-creation approach, where high school students actively design, build, and deploy low-cost, innovative tools for marine research, including beach profilers, bathymetric probes, tide gauges, and bathythermographs. A standout example is the Arduino-based seabed exploration platform, collaboratively constructed by students under the supervision of the SECOSTA team. This device integrates a GPS chip, datalogger, and submersible camera mounted on a floating platform, enabling efficient collection of high-resolution, geo-referenced seabed imagery in shallow coastal waters. Designed for ease of use, the platform can be towed by a small craft, such as a kayak or paddleboard, or by a swimmer, allowing students to gather invaluable data on underwater habitats.
The project focuses on classifying and characterizing critical marine ecosystems, such as Posidonia oceanica, alongside benthic species, sediment patterns, and marine debris. Students label collected images using Roboflow to build a robust dataset, which is then used to train a convolutional neural network inspired by U-Net, a leading architecture for image segmentation. By engaging in every step—from designing the tool to enrichening the dataset used to train the AI—students gain a deep understanding of both scientific and technological processes, while developing a sense of ownership over the outcomes.
Since its launch in 2018, SECOSTA has engaged over 7,500 students from 33 educational institutions, generating actionable insights for coastal management and fostering longterm community capacity. These achievements have been made possible through close collaboration between researchers, students, and local government, highlighting the importance of transdisciplinary partnerships in addressing complex environmental challenges. By blending participatory methods with cutting-edge AI applications, the project exemplifies how co-creation can empower communities to take an active role in tackling issues like climate change and biodiversity loss.
This presentation will explore SECOSTA’s co-creation methodologies, the technical specifications of its seabed exploration platform, and the lessons learned from integrating students into environmental monitoring and AI-driven marine research. SECOSTA exemplifies the transformative power of citizen science, where education, technology, and sustainability converge to inspire the next generation of scientists and stewards of the natural world.
How to cite: Loyola Azanza, E., Herrada Mederer, Á., Puigdefàbregas, J., Villalonga Llauguer, J., Gomis Bosch, D., Bonin Font, F., and Jordá Sánchez, G.: AI-Driven Marine Citizen Science: SECOSTA’s Blueprint for SeabedExploration, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-8304, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8304, 2025.
Global challenges resulting from climate change, resource depletion, and land use change require local solutions that acknowledge the configuration and history of its landscapes and the related social-ecological processes. Particularly sensitive to climate change are high-mountain tropical regions. The Andean ecoregion, where Ecuador’s capital Quito is located, is home to c. 3 million people and host globally-important biodiversity hotspots. These include near-urban cloud forest remnants and unique páramo grasslands, characterized by their organic rich soils and water storage capacity of utmost importance for irrigation and drinking water in rural and urban areas.
We would like to discuss how we explored the potential to: 1) initiate inter- and transdisciplinary research on land use and landscape dynamics under global and local change, and 2) co-design this research by identifying the most pressing subtopics in the area surrounding Quito. Our research team includes researchers from Ecuadorian, German, and Polish research institutions as well as members of NGOs. Within these group, we had two in-person, a few online meetings and a three-week field visit that included two community-oriented workshops in summer 2024. We exchanged scientific and local perspectives, including those from community and NGO contexts, on “landscape” as a potential conceptual framework. Discussions focused on methodologies on “how to research together” and the exchange of knowledge on human and natural history, all within the context of a decolonial/political ecology framework.
We furthermore explored lakes and sedimentary deposits as archives for historical landscape dynamics, land use change and their transformation over time, as well as current ecosystem functioning using vegetation surveys with state-of-the-art remote sensing and field mapping. As a result, we identified future study areas and pressing topics that our inter- and transdisciplinary research can focus on, i.e., wildfires that intensify under climate change, water quality, soil erosion and volcanic eruption risks. With this initial phase of transdisciplinary research, we recognize high potential to co-create actionable knowledge that addresses the interconnectedness between societal and natural (or more-than-human) systems, and to contribute to tackling ongoing and future land use challenges in the tropical Andes.
How to cite: Dietze, E., Volmer, A.-K., Valdés-Uribe, A., Pérez, L., Słowinski, M., Velarde, E., Budds, J., Carpintero, N., Carrión, A., Feist, L., Halaś, A., Larrea-Maldonaldo, C., López, P., López-Sandoval, M. F., Ruíz-Urigüen, M., Tapia, R. L., Więckowski, M., Zurita-Arthos, L., and Mariscal, A.: Exploring inter- and transdisciplinary research on land use under climate change in the tropical Andes of Quito: the role of landscape history and local knowledge, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-8498, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8498, 2025.
Groundwater is the most abundant reservoir of available freshwater and both communities and ecosystems are strongly dependent on it. In Europe, groundwater abstraction accounts for more than half of all tapped water.
Water springs are the surface manifestations of groundwater and their physical and chemical characteristics can carry information on hydrodynamic processes, aquifer lithology, soil properties, and climatic conditions. Both natural ecosystems and human communities are deeply reliant on the availability of spring water, which is extensively exploited for drinking water supplies. Also, springs are crucial geographical and cultural elements of all territories and can constitute biodiversity hotspots, hosting numerous plant species and providing water to downstream ecosystems.
Groundwater recharge, and consequently the permanence of water flow from springs, is closely linked to meteorological and climatic conditions that influence processes such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, and others.
Current climate trends in Europe suggest declining groundwater recharge across many regions, threatening ecosystems and communities. These challenges are compounded by human activities, which can lead to the disappearance and pollution of natural springs.
It is therefore essential to collectively adopt measures for the protection of springs that combine community awareness initiatives with community collaboration for monitoring activities at a large scale. Citizen science is a crucial approach for these purposes, contributing to clarify current scientific issues through active participation in science.
In April 2024, the Italian Alpine Club (Club Alpino Italiano, CAI) launched the nationwide citizen science project, Acqua Sorgente. Leveraging CAI’s extensive network of over 800 local sections throughout Italy and 350,000 members, the project aims to: i) create and maintain an open-source national database of springs monitoring data; ii) foster community awareness on issues related to springs and water resources.
Through CAI-developed applications, participants can record information such as the location, photographs, flow rate, electrical conductivity, and temperature of springs. Springs’ electrical conductivity and temperature are acquired by trained volunteers equipped with portable probes provided by the Alpine Club. The database already contains more than 800 validated springs’ monitoring data (https://maps.acquasorgente.cai.it/).
Preliminary hydrological and hydrogeological analyses were developed on the collected data and included, but are not limited to: analysis of main drivers of springs’ temperature and electrical conductivity; springs’ role in sustaining a good conservation status in vegetation; interpolation of springs’ temperature and electrical conductivity at national scale. The analyses were integrated with a socio-hydrogeological questionnaire targeted to understand water resources and spring water perception.
Furthermore, the project is engaged in dissemination activities to promote water awareness, including public events and educational programs for schools combining theoretical and practical lessons.
This presentation will share reflections on the efforts and challenges involved in developing and sustaining such a large-scale citizen science project. Lastly, we hope to foster potential collaborations for research activities related to springs and water resources, which the Acqua Sorgente project aims to support.
How to cite: Nigro, M., Luppichini, M., Re, V., Natali, S., Pilosu, E., Marini, R., Barbieri, M., Bernasconi, R., Del Sarto, A., Peduzzi, S., Garzonio, C. A., Priolo, G., Bassi, L., Vaccarella, M., Nardi, G. C., Zanchetta, G., Giannecchini, R., Pollo, A., and Piccioli, A.: Acqua Sorgente a nationwide citizen science project to monitor and study the Italian water springs, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-2698, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-2698, 2025.
The project "Iberia in a Grain of Sand – IBERARENUM," led by the Marine Research Center (CIM) of the University of Vigo, exemplifies the transformative potential of citizen science for advancing ocean literacy and addressing pressing environmental challenges. This initiative engages the Spanish public in creating the first National Sand Bank, cataloging biogeochemical compositions of beach sands, and fostering societal involvement in coastal monitoring and climate change adaptation. By harnessing public participation in sampling campaigns and using open-access geospatial databases, IBERARENUM bridges scientific research and community action.
Targeting hydological basin representative sites along Iberian diverse 3,300 km coastline, the project standardizes data collection through educational tools, including online tutorials, field manuals, and video guides, prioritizing inclusivity. Collaborations with schools, fisheries, and associations for individuals with diverse abilities ensure broad and meaningful participation. The project highlights gender equity by featuring women scientists in its outreach.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, IBERARENUM delivers high-resolution sedimentological data that illuminate coastal dynamics, ecosystem services, and climate-driven vulnerabilities. Results are disseminated via interactive maps, public exhibitions, and educational materials, promoting scientific literacy and empowering communities to co-create knowledge. Its innovative framework integrates FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles, facilitating data sharing across scientific and non-scientific audiences.
Aligned with the UN Decade of Ocean Science and Sustainable Development Goals, IBERARENUM strengthens the citizen-science nexus to address climate resilience and biodiversity conservation. This initiative serves as a replicable model for integrating research, education, and public engagement, advancing both societal and scientific capacities to tackle coastal and climatic challenges.
How to cite: Rey, D. and Mohamed, K. J. and the Iberarenum Citizen Science Team: Iberia in a Grain of Sand – IBERARENUM, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-9814, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9814, 2025.
The accumulation of plastic litter in marine environments presents a major environmental challenge to sustainability and is central to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the vast size of oceans and the widespread nature of marine plastic litter make its monitoring difficult. Citizen science offers a promising solution, providing valuable data for SDG monitoring and reporting, however, there has been no evidence of its use to date. In this presentation, we share how Ghana became the first country to integrate citizen science data into their official statistics and the official monitoring and reporting of SDG indicator 14.1.1b for marine plastic litter. This effort also helped to bridge local, community level data collection with national and global monitoring and policy agendas, aligning with the SDG framework. The data have already contributed to Ghana's Voluntary National Review and been reported in the UN SDG Global Database, helping to inform national policies.
In this presentation, we will focus on the process of validating citizen science data and integrating it into official monitoring and reporting, involving key stakeholders at local, national, and global levels, such as government agencies, the UN, civil society organizations, citizen science networks, and academia. This approach offers a model for other countries and citizen science initiatives interested in adopting similar methods for official monitoring and policymaking. A central theme will be how citizen science projects can be designed to foster collaboration and trust among diverse stakeholders, including governments, UN bodies, and local communities. We will highlight our success and lessons learnt, and showcase how knowledge production through citizen science can strengthen sustainability efforts, influence effective policy, and highlight the value of participatory sciences.
How to cite: Fraisl, D., See, L., Bowers, R., Seidu, O., Fredua, K. B., Bowser, A., Meloche, M., Weller, S., Amaglo-Kobla, T., Ghafari, D., Laso Bayas, J. C., Campbell, J., Cameron, G., Fritz, S., and McCallum, I.: Citizen science data, marine plastics, and SDG monitoring: How to build trust in citizen science data and methodologies among diverse actors with varying needs and motivations?, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-4527, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-4527, 2025.
Co-created and participatory science has been recognized within the research community as a means to further applied science, improve uptake of research findings, and enhance the scientific community's ability to respond to urgent socioenvironmental challenges like climate change. However, many of these participatory methods are still limited by the Western science community's traditional notions of "knowledge production" and "original research". What is frequently neglected are options that seek collaboration beyond that research process or involve the production of knowledge that is, by the research community's standards, not publishable. Based on our experiences as scientists and practitioners in the ecological sciences and conservation, both within and beyond academia, we present examples of co-creation and applied science processes with and within local and Indigenous communities, utility companies, finance and investment professionals, and policy makers to illustrate the need for and potential impact of work that pushes the boundaries of what is frequently considered by researchers as "science." Many traditional examples of science co-creation involve the insertion of public or community input at one or more points within a standard research process (e.g. community consultation to identify research questions, citizen science to assist with data collection, or production of communications materials to disseminate findings). Even when attempted, longer-term, iterative processes of co-creation are often limited by grant timelines and publishing requirements that tend to work on the short-to-medium scale. We posit that the historic segregation of the academic sciences from "practical" work and the lived experiences of most people continues to limit our ability to produce effective, useful, and culturally responsive research and that to truly be co-creators requires a more fundamental shift towards co-equal power sharing within knowledge production endeavors. In this discussion, we aim to open a dialogue about how and under what circumstances the research community can broaden our understanding of science, incorporating other ways of knowing and moving past knowledge production as a primarily academic endeavor.
How to cite: Maurer, T., Bennett, W., Saksa, P., and Cremonese, E.: Science is We: towards co-equal power sharing in scientific knowledge production, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15689, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15689, 2025.
Addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change requires innovative approaches that prioritise communities as active participants in shaping solutions, especially in adaptation context. The Adaptation AGORA project, funded by Horizon Europe, exemplifies this by integrating citizen needs and perspectives into climate adaptation planning across diverse European regions through participatory methodologies. Similarly, the CLIMAS project focuses on how citizens can directly contribute to formulating actionable policy recommendations for climate adaptation through Climate assemblies and the tools needed to run these assemblies. CLIMAS integrates citizen science and living labs as transformative tools to co-create inclusive policies that enhance participatory decision-making processes.
Both projects support the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change by leveraging best practices, innovative tools, policy instruments, and governance mechanisms to engage communities in climate action and deliberative democracy meaningfully. Together, they address the challenges of climate change with integrated methodologies aimed at driving social and political transformation. In addition, both projects share a commitment to promoting citizen science, building community capacity through workshops and training, and fostering knowledge sharing. They also emphasise the use of participatory methodologies to co-create solutions and integrate citizen-generated data into policy and planning processes.
The CLIMAS project focuses on an innovative toolkit designed to integrate citizen science into different phases of climate assemblies, providing citizens with experiential knowledge and co-developing policy recommendations. This toolkit was developed through a co-creation process led by the Ebre Bioterritori Living Lab in Catalonia, which acted as a hub for collaboration among policymakers, climate assembly organisers, scientists, local communities, and citizens. Through this process, key citizen science projects and activities were identified to catalyse meaningful actions in climate assemblies. The toolkit was subsequently tested in the Chios Living Lab and during two climate assemblies held in Riga (Latvia) and Edermünde (Germany). Early results demonstrated the toolkit’s potential to enhance citizen engagement, promote collaborative and bottom-up learning, and bridge the gap between scientific evidence and participatory decision-making for climate action.
Adaptation AGORA, on the other hand, focuses on direct community engagement in local adaptation processes and emphasises societal transformation through transdisciplinary approaches. The project is developing a roadmap for large-scale citizen engagement, aimed at ensuring long-term impact and policy transferability while prioritising climate justice, gender equality, and equity. For instance, in the Italian pilot, Rome’s Climate Adaptation Strategy was co-designed through an iterative dialogue with citizens, reflecting their active role in shaping climate solutions. Across its four pilot regions, Adaptation AGORA has facilitated workshops and focus groups that brought together diverse stakeholders—including underrepresented and vulnerable groups—to co-design and implement actionable strategies. Between January and February 2024, Adaptation AGORA organised final co-creation workshops in each pilot region, engaging citizens, civil society organisations, academics, experts, and policymakers to develop and co-create adaptation measures and innovative engagement methodologies.
This presentation will showcase the activities and outcomes of Adaptation AGORA’s co-creation workshops in the pilot regions, discuss the challenges and opportunities encountered, and highlight the complementarity between Adaptation AGORA and CLIMAS in fostering resilient, inclusive, and community-driven climate adaptation strategies.
How to cite: Mercogliano, P., Reder, A., Acierno, A., Mattera, M., Adinolfi, M., Ellena, M., Mele, A., Vicens, J., Bertomeu, F., Alvarez, N., Laniado, D., Kotrikla, A. M., Fameli, K. M., Polydoropoulou, A., Pour, H. E., and Di Ciommo, F.: Shaping climate action and solutions with local communities: the experience of Adaptation AGORA and CLIMAS projects under the umbrella of the EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11843, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11843, 2025.
What are soils, and how do they influence our lives? The project “Boden entdecken” (German: discovering soil) aims to further this discussion. Boden entdecken is based in South-Eastern Brandenburg (circa 130 km South of the Berlin in Upper Lusatia, Germany), where environment and society are characterised by centuries of lignite mining and the current transformation towards an end of open cast mining by 2038.
Two approaches are pursued to support a public debate on the role of soils in our society, their properties, and potentials for different land uses.
First, citizens discovered real soils themselves. Soils are always near, but little is actually know about them. From May to September 2024, teams of citizens were invited to discover the soils of their surrounding themselves. Eighteen team, including over 60 participants of various backgrounds, actively looked under the surface. 38 mineral soil profiles of 55 cm depth were dug and investigated by them. An app and a little kit developed in the project were used, and soil properties were analysed in the field. The field analysis is a simplified approach based on the Müncheberg soil quality rating (Müller et al. 2007). For each soil profile an assessment, a score, is directly reported after the field investigation. All results can be accessed by the participants and landowners on the website of the project. Additionally, all results were scientifically evaluated. To validate the results, twelve of the soil profiles were additionally analysed and sampled by soil scientists.
Secondly, the local media and networks are used to raise interest and to bring together stakeholders. The main communication and outreach of the project occurs via social media (Instagram and Facebook). However, in-person events, meetings and interviews play a crucial role in engagement of landowners and citizens with soil science. They proved essential in this project and provided a platform for exchange and feedback.
Here we like to present sone lessons learnt in the project: Which project methods proved useful in engaging landowners and citizens? What motivated them to participate in “discover their soils”?
https://boden-entdecken.de
Müller, L.; U. Schindler; A. Behrendt; F. Eulenstein and R. Dannowski. The Muencheberg soil quality rating (SQR) – Field manual for detecting and assessing properties and limitations of soils for cropping and grazing. (2007): 1-103.
How to cite: Klemm, J. and Gerwin, W.: Soil and Citizen Science – engaging citizens, landowners, and scientists (Brandenburg, Germany), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-17330, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17330, 2025.
For several decades now, air pollution has been a key concern for experts, public authorities and city dwellers, who are the first to be affected. Airborne particulate matter (PM) is indeed well known to cause adverse health effects. However, urban air quality stations are too sparse to provide a detailed picture of the distribution of pollution. Since PM is also deposited on the surfaces of urban tree, tree bark can then act as an alternative passive trap. Its magnetic properties make it possible to measure the amount of metal particles deposited on them and to estimate the pollution caused by motorized traffic around the trees. Here we present the citizen science project Ecorc’Air, in which volunteers collect fragments of plane tree bark, which are then sent to laboratories and used for a range of analyses. Since its launch in 2016, the project has led to the production of annual maps showing detailed concentrations of metal particles in Paris with fine spatial resolution. The concentration of fine metal particles decreases as the distance between trees and the road increases, with parked cars potentially acting as barriers to protect pedestrians from PM. There is a growing interest and involvement of city dwellers, especially those involved in local associations, to act in favor of environmental research, a trend also observed in other European cities. Municipalities can also provide support by considering citizen science as an additional source of data for quantifying air quality and a means of communicating with their residents on environmental issues.
How to cite: Isambert, A., Carvallo, C., Franke, C., Turcati, L., Sivry, Y., Coural, S., Macouin, M., Rousse, S., and Fluteau, F.: Ecorc’Air: A Citizen Science Project for the Biomonitoring of Vehicular Air Pollution in Paris, France , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-6446, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6446, 2025.
The Arctic is one of the most vulnerable regions on Earth concerning climate change and is increasingly affected by pollution from human activities. The ICEBERG project (Innovative Community Engagement for Building Effective Resilience and Arctic Ocean Pollution-Control Governance in the Context of Climate Change) is a multidisciplinary initiative funded by the European Union. It focuses on assessing types, sources, distributions, and impacts of pollution on ecosystems and coastal communities across the European Arctic. Case studies in West Svalbard, South Greenland, and North Iceland are being used to develop community-driven strategies to enhance resilience and reduce pollution. The project addresses a range of pollutants, including macro-, micro-, and nanoplastics, ship emissions, sewage, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metals.
As part of ICEBERG, our team from the Earth Observation and Modelling (EOM) group at Kiel University deployed time-lapse cameras to monitor the accumulation of marine litter along Arctic beaches. Using machine learning, we aim to automate the detection and classification of marine litter, offering new insights into its types, sizes, and seasonal variations. The results will be combined with drone-based data and coastal marine observatory artificial intelligence processing, which aims to map and monitor the spatiotemporal trends of marine litter in specified areas. By leveraging the high temporal mapping capabilities of small drones with machine learning algorithms, combining both will offer a comprehensive and advanced method for mapping marine litter across various spatial and temporal scales.
In the initial phase of ICEBERG, we deployed an autonomous camera system in West Svalbard to collect year-round data from an uninhabited site, while we held community consultation meetings in Iceland and Greenland to introduce the project and jointly explore opportunities for citizen science collaborations. By adopting a citizen science approach, we are actively partnering with academic & non-academic actors, including local and Indigenous stakeholders and non-governmental organizations in Iceland and Greenland who are supporting the installation and maintenance of the cameras. Additionally, through partnerships with high school teachers and students, we are also engaging young people to raise awareness of ongoing pollution challenges and explore actionable measures for mitigation and adaptation. By developing an interactive data-sharing platform, citizen scientists have the opportunity to upload their observations of any kind of pollution, serving as data crowdsourcing along with the data from the time-lapse cameras and drones. ICEBERG empowers communities to actively contribute to the process of identifying pollution sources, monitoring coastal litter, and developing meaningful interventions.
We will present our innovative approach for monitoring pollution on Arctic beaches, emphasizing the role of community engagement and potential future co-created solutions. By integrating artificial intelligence tools and fostering local collaborations, ICEBERG offers a sustainable and inclusive approach for addressing environmental challenges in vulnerable Arctic regions. Our presentation will highlight the use of citizen science to enhance Arctic resilience and governance, share preliminary time-lapse data from Svalbard and Iceland, and explore the opportunities and challenges of community engagement in Arctic environmental monitoring.
How to cite: Lion, V., Muhuri, A., Oppelt, N., Papakonstantinou, A., Liang, C., Jóźwiak, B., Nawrot, A., Lépy, É., and Herrmann, T.: Building Arctic Resilience through Citizen Science and Artificial Intelligence in Marine Pollution Control, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-8287, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8287, 2025.
In recent years, sustainability science has increasingly emphasized the integration of transdisciplinary knowledge and sustainability transitions, alongside approaches to facilitate transformative change for sustainable development. This highlights the critical importance of practices and facilitation methods in addressing the current challenges of sustainability. To tackle the complex environmental and climate challenges of today, it is essential to integrate local communities and stakeholder participation into practical solutions for real-world problems. Moreover, further research is still required to clarify the intricate connections, governance, and management interactions between social and ecological systems.
This study focuses on the Wu-Fu community as its research site and adopts a participatory action research (PAR) approach, where the researcher also assumes the role of a local actor to actively facilitate the planning and construction of ecological refuge ponds in farmland areas. Through the establishment of a local communication platform, the study promotes participatory co-design, ensuring community members' engagement and sense of ownership throughout the design process to achieve long-term sustainable management. Lastly, the study employs the lens of actor-network theory (ANT) to explore the complex networks between human society and nature in the local context. It also integrates the InVEST model to quantitatively evaluate the ecological refuge ponds' contributions to habitat quality, ecological benefits, and local development. Addressing the dual needs of agricultural production and ecological conservation, this research proposes a scientifically grounded and practice-oriented strategic framework to establish a successful model of coexistence between society and nature.
How to cite: Chen, H. C.: Participatory Co-design Model for Facilitating Local Community in Harmony with Nature: A Case Study on Wu-Fu Farmland Ecological Refugia Pond, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11857, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11857, 2025.
This Canadian Community Science Liaison (CSL) programme (based at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta) incorporates place- and curriculum-based Citizen Science projects into Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. The first module created, the Geological Bumblebee Programme (GBBP), had >800 Grade 2-9 students build and install ~400 bumblebee boxes to monitor and learn about local bumblebee populations. In southern Alberta there are 23 Bumblebee species, with box occupation rates above 30%, and colonies ranging from a few individuals to over 200. One student stated that “I used to be scared of bumblebees, but now I recognize their importance for pollinating”. We now have ethics clearance to start a longitudinal study of the impacts of the GBBP on students, their families and their teachers.
A new module on permafrost is now being trialled in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, in honour of the newly established International Union of Geological Sciences Geoheritage Site across the Mackenzie Delta Region. The permafrost module was co-created with a Grade 3 teacher, and Aurora Research Institute staff including the outreach coordinator, and two permafrost scientists. This participatory collaborative research starts with students doing some background research, then going into the field and collecting data, followed by evaluating and synthesising the data in the classroom. Activities include the use of geological and aerial maps, making their own pingo (ice cored hills), inputting data into applications such as Survey123 and the ‘good old fashioned’ measuring with a ruler.
These place- and curriculum-based citizen science projects engage students while getting them out on the land, which is an important connection for the Indigenous communities across the Mackenzie Delta Region (Innuvialuit and Gwich’in in Inuvik). The data they collect will be used by scientists, while creating opportunities for schools to compare their results across permafrost regions, especially essential in a world with a changing climate. Schools in permafrost regions could also present their results to their southern counterparts to educate about permafrost and the impacts of climate change. This is particularly important in a country like Canada where 90% of the population lives within 300km of the southern border with the United States and most Canadians do not get the opportunity to visit the Northern Territories. One of the expected outcomes is for the students participating in this module to develop their own pride of place whilst illustrating the uniqueness of where they live.
How to cite: Dubois Gafar, A. and Boggs, K.: Citizen Science to ‘science with society’: an example from the Canadian Community Science Liaison programme, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-12384, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12384, 2025.
Recycling metals like iron and lead appears essential for sustainable development, yet it often has severe consequences for the quality of life in communities near recycling sites. Citizen science and transdisciplinary approaches—uniting researchers from the physical, natural, and social sciences, with citizens and non-academic partners—are increasingly recognized as vital to addressing such complex Anthropocene challenges. However, the role of co-produced knowledge in fostering the sustainable transformation of affected territories remains to be fueled by inspiring examples.
We present here the AirGeo project, a community-based participatory research initiative addressing the environmental and social impacts of metal recycling activities in West Africa, with a specific focus on air pollution. We focus on Sebikotane, Senegal, a rapidly urbanizing city located 45 km from the capital, Dakar, and home to three recycling plants specializing in steel and lead batteries. The project aims to co-produce, evaluate, and share data on air quality in this understudied area. The transdisciplinary team encompasses experts in geosciences, aerology, anthropology, literature, and botany, alongside artists, municipal authorities, NGOs, and local citizens, who are actively involved as non-academic partners.
We will present the use of passive bio-sensors made from tree bark, combined with environmental magnetism and geochemistry, to produce air quality data. Furthermore, the project leverages arts—forum theater, live sketching, literature, and design—as innovative tools to translate scientific concepts and disseminate knowledge. By combining participatory science with artistic expression, the AirGeo project exemplifies a novel approach to addressing environmental issues and promoting future sustainable transformations for this area.
How to cite: Macouin, M., Tastevin, Y.-P., Dutrait, C., Laffont, L., Delville, L., Leon, J.-F., Bassimbé Sagna, M., Gueye, M., Schreck, E., Drigo, L., Vedel, E., Bauchard, L., Kantenga Luongwe, M., Rousse, S., Cassayre, L., and Milard, B.: Passive air monitoring using bark: A participatory science approach to metal recycling impacts in West Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15480, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15480, 2025.
Design thinking is an approach typically used in product innovation and marketing that puts empathy for the end-user at the centre of the design process. Design thinking is a human-centred process that emphasizes creativity and collaboration, leading to facilitation of citizen engagement through improved recruitment and retention of participants. Here we present two case studies that use design thinking methodologies to better understand the citizen scientists involved.
CityCLIM (a European Union Horizon 2020 funded project) applied a stakeholder analysis technique called the Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) to better understand the motivations of the citizen scientists participating in a data collection campaign for urban climate. The project specifically identified a target group consisting of citizens who ride a bicycle primarily for commuting or as a hobby, with specific requirements in terms of route, duration and frequency. Using the VPC allowed organisers to formulate a targeted recruitment, participation, and communication strategy. This strategy is beneficial for retaining and motivating citizen scientists, but also for ensuring high quality spatial and temporal environmental data for the project.
The ICEBERG project (a European Union Horizon 2020 funded project) applied a product design technique called Empathy Mapping, which provides deeper insights into the citizen’s and community’s needs, rather than thinking from the researcher's point of view. Empathy Mapping was used to identify barriers to implementing a community-based environmental monitoring program, in order to brainstorm solutions and opportunities for participation. These insights (some of which draw from experiences of the consortium members working with the case study communities) were used to reflect on researcher conduct when engaging the community and planning citizen participation activities.
How to cite: Liang, C. Y., Ködel, U., Schütze, C., and Dietrich, P.: Think before you link (with citizen scientists): Design thinking methodologies for citizen engagement, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-14698, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14698, 2025.
A climate-neutral transformation of the heating sector is essential for the energy transition, and geothermal energy offers substantial potential to achieve climate protection targets. While the importance of the energy transition is widely recognized, deep geothermal projects often face challenges resulting from unfavorable public perception. Induced seismicity, in particular, raises public concerns and significantly influences social acceptance. Several factors contribute to these concerns, including inadequate or poorly communicated information about the complex scientific processes involved, ineffective dialogue between project developers and local communities, and limited opportunities for public participation in research or project development. To address these concerns, effective communication and active public participation in projects are identified as key solutions. This study presents a conceptual framework for participatory monitoring of geothermal projects and explore its influence on factors related to risk perception and technology acceptance. We focus on a citizen science approach that enables non-experts to actively participate in seismic measurements around a geothermal project through various formats, using plug-and-play seismometers. The individual, societal, and scientific implications of this approach are examined by integrating and connecting established sociological concepts within the context of deep geothermal energy. The conceptual framework is illustrated through a case study conducted within the DeepStor project, where Raspberry-Shake© seismometers serve as a central tool for fostering dialogue and collaboration with citizens and schools, enabling joint seismic data collection and hands-on learning experiences. We present results of initiatives where we are using the tool in educational projects and public science events, while preparing it for distribution to volunteers interested in contributing to the measurement network. The sociological and geophysical benefits of the initiative are discussed in relation to the conceptual framework. The findings of this study can provide guidance for a successful integration of participatory and co-creation approaches into geothermal research and industrial applications.
How to cite: Bremer, J., Azzola, J., Schätzler, K., Bauer, F., and Kohl, T.: Engaging Schools and Communities in Geothermal Monitoring: Theoretical Framework and Case Studies from the DeepStor Research Infrastructure (Germany), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16396, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16396, 2025.
Namibia's rapid urbanization has led to an increase in informal settlements, with an estimated 40 % of the country's urban population living in these communities. These settlements are characterized by unregulated land occupation, limited access to municipal services, and a lack of tenure security. The prevalence of poor housing conditions in informal settlements contributes to prevailing cycles of poverty, social exclusion, and vulnerability to environmental hazards. In order to support socio-economic progress, existing research emphasizes the need for inclusive urban planning, secure land tenure, and infrastructural development. Despite community-driven efforts, such as negotiations for group land ownership, water management, and participatory informal settlement profiling and household mapping by organizations like the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, various challenges that hinder sustainable improvements remain. At the municipal and national levels, these challenges include insufficient geospatial data for planning and cadastral purposes.
To address these issues, we rely on advancements in open-source geospatial software and the capabilities of commercial drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs). Together, these advancements allow for removing barriers when generating high-resolution geospatial data products. UAVs offer high-resolution imagery with centimeter-level accuracy that can potentially be employed for cadastral purposes, and their deployment is faster and more cost-effective compared to conventional field surveying methods. At the same time, open-source software, specifically OpenDroneMap, allows for the generation of geospatial data products, such as orthophotos, digital elevation models, and textured 3D models from captured drone images without additional licensing costs.
In this study, we conducted drone flights over informal settlements in Okahandja, a town in central Namibia that has not yet been mapped by the municipality. We conducted the fieldwork in close collaboration with the municipality and the informal settlements' residents, and drone flights were enabled by financial support from the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. Our team surveyed ground control point markers, visible in the drone imagery, using real-time kinematic positioning based on existing cadastral ground control points outside the informal settlements to improve georeferencing. As a result, we generated orthophotos and digital elevation models with centimeter-level georeferencing accuracy and an image resolution of 6 cm/px, which is sufficient for layout planning and cadastral applications. We shared the data products with the municipality of Okahandja, with technical support from the Namibia Housing Action Group, and published the orthophotos on the OpenAerialMap platform under a CC-BY 4.0 license to encourage broader use by stakeholders, such as researchers, local authorities, NGOs, and community organizations. As a result, the data generated supports the community-driven land formalization process.
Our work highlights the potential of combining UAVs, the availability of open-source geospatial tools, and open science principles to address critical challenges within Namibia's informal settlements. The procedure provides high-resolution data for the municipalities' planning and cadastral needs and supports participatory informal settlement upgrading efforts. By enabling community involvement through open science, we show how technological advancements and good scientific practice can enhance participatory decision-making in land administration - particularly where the scope for shaping outcomes by governance structures alone is limited.
How to cite: Riedel, C., Mabakeng, M. R., and Lewis, J.: Drones, Open-Source Tools, and Open Science for Participatory Land Administration in Namibia’s Informal Settlements, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-9803, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9803, 2025.
Achieving long-term effectiveness in natural disaster risk management needs a multifaceted approach. This approach should integrate the disaster’s impact with the region's social, economic, and physical characteristics. A variety of models have been developed to measure the disaster’s impact and propose risk reduction solutions. However, finding the optimal local solution is challenging. To enhance the sustainability of these solutions, it is crucial to consider the local pressing issues, which may be social, economic, cultural, or physical in nature. These issues manifest in the decision criteria when determining the most appropriate risk mitigation or management strategies. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods are instrumental in evaluating suitable solutions by integrating the outputs of risk assessment models with local priorities, which are represented as rankings of the decision criteria. Since the local experts and community representatives have the most practical information regarding regional issues, their input is essential in ranking the decision criteria. Various preference elicitation methods can be employed to capture experts’ perceptions on important issues.
When it comes to disaster risk mitigation and management, the elicitation of stakeholders’ collective perception on important issues is challenging. Different experts with different backgrounds, concerns, and visions for the future can have different perceptions on important issues that should be addressed by the disaster risk mitigation solution. This difference of opinion can lead to conflict of priorities. Since the disaster risk mitigation and management solutions are usually led to policy making or implementation of those solutions, the existing conflicts can have a negative impact on the effectiveness of these solutions. As such, it is vital to address these conflicts and elicit the collective priorities of local stakeholders.
In this research, a Simos-based silent negotiation process is developed for eliciting the stakeholders’ collective priorities for natural disaster risk mitigation and management. The developed process is designed to engage the representatives of local communities and other experts and decision-makers and systematically direct them to compromise on less important issues. The designed process benefits from different methods to increase robustness. By directing participants to compromise on their less important issues, this process provides the collective local priorities in mitigating disaster risk. Furthermore, it can gauge the level of conflicts among the stakeholders at the end of the silent negotiation. Additionally, it creates equal opportunity for all the participants to raise concerns and argue their point of view. This creates the opportunity to address issues and concerns from different communities.
The process is developed and implemented in the Horizon Europe project MEDiate (Multi-hazard and risk-informed system for Enhanced local and regional Disaster risk management). The MEDiate project is dedicated to creating a decision-support system (DSS) for disaster risk management that considers the complexities of multiple interacting natural hazards and fits the final disaster risk management solution to the characteristics, priorities, and concerns of the local communities and decision-makers. The MEDiate framework is implemented on four different testbeds (Oslo (Norway), Nice (France), Essex (UK), and Múlaþing (Iceland)), each of which has a different multi-hazard pair and different socio-economic characteristics.
How to cite: Yeganegi, M. R., Komendantova, N., and Danielson, M.: Engaging and Conflict-Resolution preference elicitation in Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Localized Mitigation Actions in Disaster Risk Management, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18473, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18473, 2025.
As part of the SIREN project (Saving Italian hydRological mEasuremeNts), a citizen science initiative hosted on the Zooniverse platform (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/siren-project/siren-project), thousands of volunteers are contributing to the digitization of the hydrological yearbooks produced in the past by the Italian National Hydrological and Mareographic Service. These yearbooks represent an invaluable repository of hydrological data but remain difficult to access due to their paper-based format. Moreover, the quality of these old books is deteriorating due to ageing, with fading ink and handwritten corrections that make the digitization with optical character recognition software challenging.
The involvement of citizens in the project serves a dual purpose: their participation enables a reliable interpretation and digitization of these historical data in a shorter time frame, while simultaneously raising public awareness of environmental issues such as hydrological risk and water resource management.
To better understand the profiles of the volunteers engaged so far and to broaden the project's reach to a wider segment of the population, an anonymous survey was conducted in recent months.
Initial data analysis reveals a diverse range of participants. One group consists of users with technical or scientific backgrounds in line with the project topic. Another group is motivated by the opportunity to contribute to a public utility initiative, putting into practice their skills and previous knowledge. The survey has also provided valuable insights into the participants' interests, their motivations for contributing, and their understanding of the project's significance.
Since students from high schools and universities seemed to be underrepresented, several workshops and dissemination events were planned to increase the scientific impact among youth. These activities were performed as part of the IMPETUS Accelerator, a seven-month structured programme that aims at maximising the scientific, social, economic, democratic, and environmental impacts towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the Green Deal targets.
This collaborative effort highlights the potential of citizen science to bridge gaps in hydrological data accessibility and awareness, fostering a community of engaged individuals committed to preserving and utilizing this invaluable historical resource.
Thanks to this initiative, for the first time, a complete dataset of daily discharge measurements will be available for the Italian territory.
How to cite: Mazzoglio, P., Bertola, M., Mattozzi, A., Listo, T., Princivalle, L., Sacco, C., Lombardo, L., Viglione, A., Laio, F., and Claps, P.: SIREN: a citizen science project for the recovery of the Italian hydrological data, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-1395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-1395, 2025.
Solid waste governance in India has traditionally relied on linear, centralised capital-intensive systems such as landfills and incineration. These approaches have led to severe environmental degradation, public health crises, and the marginalisation of informal waste sectors. Despite democratic decentralisation efforts, the persistence of top-down governance has stifled local governments' ability to address these challenges effectively. Furthermore, unlike large cities, smaller towns face significant technical, financial, and institutional capacity constraints in developing context-specific solid waste management solutions.
The situation in South Indian state of Kerala mirrored this trajectory until widespread protests and legal interventions in the early 2010s prompted a shift towards decentralised solid waste governance. In response to these systemic failures, Alappuzha municipality in Kerala pioneered a participatory, decentralised waste management model. Supported by wide-ranging citizen engagement, expert collaboration, and political leadership, this initiative improved waste management practices and inspired the state’s 2018 Solid Waste Management Policy. However, as the model was scaled up across cities, the focus shifted from the process to the outcomes, reducing success to a few indicators, such as elimination of waste dumping spots and implementation of household-level on-site treatment systems. This shift overlooked participatory processes and highlighted the persistent institutional capacity deficits and socio-political complexities, mandating the need for sustainable participatory governance frameworks.
To address these challenges, CANALPY was launched in 2017. This transdisciplinary initiative, jointly undertaken by the Centre for Policy Studies, IIT Bombay, and the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, focuses on capacity building, knowledge co-production and community-led solutions. By integrating local knowledge with academic knowledge, CANALPY created ‘deliberative platforms’ for dialogue and collaboration, addressing issues of sanitation, water pollution, and solid waste management. Being closely associated with CANALPY since its formation, the authors trace the evolution of participatory solid waste governance in Alappuzha, analysing the drivers, enabling conditions, and challenges associated with co-creation. It highlights how CANALPY has facilitated knowledge sharing, bridged capacities, and informed policy-making. At the same time, it critically examines socio-political and institutional barriers while scaling up.
It was found that while knowledge co-production facilitates dialogue and collaboration, consensus building is crucial to translate knowledge into actionable outcomes. Without consensus, deliberative processes risk becoming prolonged exercises without tangible results, a notable critique of existing participatory research. Additionally, the study highlights the unsustainability of voluntarism in the long term. Participation often depends on individuals with intrinsic motivation or altruistic tendencies, leading to disengagement as such efforts fail to be institutionalised. Socio-political dynamics, including power imbalances and inequities, further restricts inclusive participation. To address these barriers, the importance of aligning incentives with participants' motivations is emphasised. Context-specific incentives, such as social recognition, skill-building opportunities proved effective in sustaining long-term engagement. Institutionally, the need for adaptive frameworks that bridge gaps between local governance structures, community aspirations, and academic collaborations was evident. The work demonstrates that academia can serve as a transformative platform for participatory governance by addressing these socio-political and institutional challenges. It offers a replicable framework for advancing transdisciplinary approaches to solid waste governance in small towns in Global South.
How to cite: Suresh Kumar, R. and Narayanan, N. C.: Co-Creating Solutions: Enablers and Barriers to Participatory Solid Waste Governance in Small Towns of the Global South, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16868, 2025.
The turning of geo-hydrological processes into disasters can be facilitated by the lack of awareness among people at risk. Accordingly, living in areas prone to floods or landslides with a general unpreparedness both in terms of self-protection behavior and long-term risk mitigation strategies, can lead to the loss of human lives and significant damage. Engaging citizens in disaster risk reduction is one of the main challenges to enhance resilience of communities. To this aim, various approaches are being developed including public engagement in citizen science activities. This approach allows people to be involved in different phases of the scientific process, enhancing their knowledge about natural processes and risk perception.
The HYRMA (Hydrogeological Risk Assessment through Collaborative Mapping) is a European Union financed project to promote direct participation of citizens in scientific research focusing on disaster risk reduction. The main goal of the project is to implement collaborative data collection to acquire, store, analyze, and share geo-localized data about hazard, exposure, and physical vulnerability of buildings located in selected landslide- and flash flood-prone areas of Italy. Researchers and citizens are connected by user-centered web applications designed through a bottom-up approach and made available free of charge on mobile devices. These web applications can be used by citizens in the field to collect different kinds of geo-localized data, by filling digital forms based on a very intuitive and user-friendly interface, as well as by capturing photographs and reporting notes or comments. The forms included in the web applications are developed considering hazards of the study sites, with the support of local stakeholders. The forms, specifically, allow collect datasets for the following purposes: 1) damage estimation in the aftermath of geo-hydrological events, or to assess physical vulnerability of buildings in areas at risk; 2) reporting real-time information on flood events.
In order to test the first version of the forms, students of public and private secondary schools were trained and engaged by researchers with the support of their teachers and volunteers of the local Civil Protection groups. Differently-abled students with specific interests in practical activities including the use of digital tools were also involved. The first tests provided encouraging results on several aspects, together with criticisms that are being exploited to improve some sections of the web applications. Students demonstrated an easy and intuitive use of the web applications and, interestingly, they well understood the research aims and citizen science principles. This preliminary feedback suggests a successful use of the participatory approach implemented in the HYRMA project for raising awareness of people at risk, and encourages similar activities with other citizen categories.
This project has received funding from the European Union – Next Generation EU, under grant agreement 2022NRAW3Z_PE10_PRIN2022.
How to cite: Esposito, G., Molinari, D., Sterlacchini, S., Zazzeri, M., Voltolina, D., Chelli, G., Cavalli, R. M., Milella, M., and Salvati, P.: Public engagement in field data collection for flood and landslide risk mitigation, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11706, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11706, 2025.
Solving today’s environmental challenges requires interdisciplinary collaboration, cultural understanding, and community engagement. We present a model framework designed to integrate these critical elements into sustainability-focused education, tested through immersive projects in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. This framework connects students with real-world challenges, empowering them to co-create actionable, community-driven solutions.
The model framework consists of three core components:
- Interdisciplinary Teamwork: Students collaborate across disciplines to analyze sites, develop master plans, and design context-specific solutions.
- Cross-Cultural Learning: Through site visits, shared projects, and dialogue, students deepen their understanding of how social, economic, political, and environmental factors shape sustainability decision-making.
- Civic Engagement: Partnerships with local organizations and community members ensure that student designs align with lived experiences, priorities, and pressing local challenges.
This model framework emphasizes cultural responsiveness, teamwork, and real-world application, preparing students to address complex environmental challenges with creativity and inclusivity. By adopting this framework, educators can foster interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance cultural understanding, and strengthen community connections within environmental and geoscience education.
How to cite: Hall, C., Kokroko, K., Bugaj, A., Mexia-Alvarez, N., Munguia-Vega, A., Horley, L., and Davi, L.: A Model Framework for Integrating Bi-national Community-Engaged, Culturally Responsive Partnerships into Sustainability Education, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-12137, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12137, 2025.
Posters virtual: Thu, 1 May, 14:00–15:45 | vPoster spot 2
EGU25-18702 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS29
Experiences of citizen science and co-creation within the activities of the Italian chapter of the LOESS projectThu, 01 May, 14:00–15:45 (CEST) | vP2.4
The water engineering group of the University of Brescia is active in the Horizon Europe project LOESS (https://loess-project.eu/) since its start in June 2023, together with other nineteen European –of which two Italian– partners. The final goals of the project are to raise awareness on the importance of soil and of its functions, to increase soil literacy across Europe and to help developing innovative educational materials and practices.
To do so, we –together with the other two Italian partners– created an Italian Community of Practice (CoP) and engaged it in providing an overview of the current level of soil–related knowledge and teaching programmes and materials, in order to identify the gap between educational offer and needs amongst different levels of the society (from pupils to students to citizens). The Italian CoP, led by the University of Brescia, is composed of 60 members from both the higher education and the research community, as well as from the primary and secondary education levels (teachers and pupils), the productive sectors (farmers and spatial planners), the politics world (local administrators) and the civil society (NGOs and associations). The CoP, or various sub–groups of people from it, has been involved in multiple activities since the start of the project, and this contribution intends to report on them.
In March 2022 we launched the WormEx II experiment, an ongoing educational experiment and a citizen–based participatory research (CBPR) performed in the garden of the Liceo Copernico High School in Brescia, in view of attracting the students’ attention on the hydrological role played by macropores, by observing some aspects of earthworm digging activity.
On World Soil Day 2023 we –together with the other two Italian partners– performed a widespread infiltration experiment involving classes from 5 Primary Schools over the Italian territory, i.e. one in Lombardy, two in Emilia Romagna, one in Sicily and one in Sardinia. A total of 140 students and 7 teachers took part in the experimental phase, after which they all joined a virtual meeting where around 50 students (between 4 and 20 per school) volunteered in reporting the experiment result to the CoP, which had previously contributed in the design of the experiment itself.
Between November and December 2024 we organised and conducted three co–creation events on Augmented Reality applications for soil health education in two 3rd-year classes of a local High School in the province of Brescia. The activity produced 22 projects created with a commercial app–prototyping tool from an international project partner.
Finally on 5 December 2024 we –together with the other two Italian partners– organized and hosted a dissemination event about World Soil Day, with considerations regarding the links between soil, peace and sustainability. The public event involved two Primary School classes (one in Emilia Romagna and one in Sicily) that reported on a previously–held laboratory activity on the topic, as well as university students and professors.
These activities showed how much our society is interested in taking an active part in research if allowed.
How to cite: Peli, M., Barontini, S., and Grossi, G.: Experiences of citizen science and co-creation within the activities of the Italian chapter of the LOESS project, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18702, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18702, 2025.
