Citizen Science as Democratic Innovation That Renews Environmental Monitoring and Assessment for the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Areas

Cristian Alarcon Ferrari, Mari Jönsson, Solomon Gebreyohannis Gebrehiwot, Linley Chiwona-Karltun, Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Daniela Manuschevich, Neil Powell, Thao Do, Kevin Bishop and Tuija Hilding-Rydevik
Additional contact information
Cristian Alarcon Ferrari: Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Mari Jönsson: Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Solomon Gebreyohannis Gebrehiwot: Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources, Addis Ababa University, 15046 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Linley Chiwona-Karltun: Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Cecilia Mark-Herbert: Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Daniela Manuschevich: Department of Geography, University of Chile, 8331051 Santiago, Chile
Neil Powell: Sustainability Learning and Research Centre (SWEDESD), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
Thao Do: Sustainability Learning and Research Centre (SWEDESD), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
Kevin Bishop: Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Tuija Hilding-Rydevik: Swedish Biodiversity Center, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-9

Abstract: This commentary focuses on analyzing the potential of citizen science to address legitimacy issues in the knowledge base used to guide transformative governance in the context of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (henceforth SDGs). The commentary develops two interrelated arguments for better understanding the limits of what we term “traditional” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (EMA) as well as the potential of citizen science (CS) for strengthening the legitimacy of EMA in the local implementation of SDGs. We start by arguing that there is an urgent need for a profound renewal of traditional EMA to better implement the SDGs. Then, we present CS as a democratic innovation that provides a path to EMA renewal that incorporates, develops, and extends the role of CS in data production and use by EMA. The commentary substantiates such arguments based on current approaches to CS and traditional EMA. From this starting point, we theorize the potential of CS as a democratic innovation that can repurpose EMA as a tool for the implementation of the SDGs. With a focus on the implementation of SDG15 (Life on Land) in local contexts, the commentary presents CS as a democratic innovation for legitimate transformative governance that can affect socio-ecological transitions. We see this approach as especially appropriate to analyze the implementation of SDGs in rural settings where a specific resource nexus can create conflict-laden contexts with much potential for a renewed EMA to support transformative governance towards Agenda 2030.

Keywords: citizen science; democratic innovation; Environmental Monitoring and Assessment; Sustainable Development Goals; forests; legitimacy; transformative governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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