I want to understand what Citizen Observatories are by learning about the history of COs
Why is it relevant?
Citizen Observatories (also known as Citizens’ Observatories) have been around since the early 2010s. Many earlier initiatives can be characterised as Citizen Observatories, even if they did not use that term. There is therefore a sizable body of experience and examples that we can now learn from.
What is the history of Citizen Observatories?
Although Citizen Observatories have only existed under that name since the early 2010s, they have a rich and detailed history, which has resulted in the current Citizen Observatory landscape. Through various streams of funding, a wide variety of Citizen Observatories, focusing on various issues, have been set up over the past decades.
Origin of the term 'Citizen Observatory'
The term ‘Citizen Observatory’ comes from the fields of environmental monitoring and Earth observation via satellite technology. Citizen Observatories build on citizen science approaches and focus on understanding and looking after our environment. They are part of a movement to empower communities to monitor their local environment and access the information needed to make effective environmental governance decisions. Citizen Observatories aim to bring together citizens, scientists and decision makers for better governance informed by citizen science data.
The first use of the term Citizen Observatory, to our knowledge, appears in Prof. Jacqueline McGlade’s 2009 Earthwatch Lecture entitled “Global Citizen Observatory – The role of individuals in observing and understanding our changing world”, in which she stated that “it is no longer sufficient to develop passive lists or reports to ‘inform’ citizens of changes in our environment. We need to engage with citizens and ask how they can ‘inform’ us.”
In her abstract for the lecture, she calls for the use of Earth observation systems such as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) (now known as Copernicus) and the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS). Collecting and using local knowledge in this way will “help us empower citizens and … give us a better indication of what we need to do to be truly sustainable”.
The landscape of Citizens Observatories in Europe
To be able to report on the landscape of Citizen Observatories in Europe, the WeObserve project compiled a list of the Citizen Observatories that were funded under the EU FP7 and Horizon 2020 programmes.
These Citizen Observatories have been mapped on the WeObserve website in a Citizen Observatory Landscape Map that continues to grow as other practitioners and initiative leaders add their own Citizen Observatory initiatives to the picture. It illustrates the growing range of Citizen Observatories across Europe and can be filtered to highlight different aspects such as project, entity, domain, status, scope and/or funding.
Screenshot of the CO Landscape Map on the WeObserve Knowledge Hub (20/11/2020)
A comprehensive list of the Citizen Observatories and Citizen Observatory-type projects funded by the EU through the FP7 and Horizon 2020 programmes is shown in the table below. The list was taken from the “D2.9 Roadmap for the uptake of the Citizen Observatory knowledge base” (WeObserve Consortium, 2021).
FP7-funded
Focus
Timeline
H2020-funded
Focus
Timeline
Open design and digital maker practices, DIY environmental monitoring, air, water, soil and sound pollution
2015-2017
Combining citizen science, collaborative networks and environmental grassroots social activism to raise awareness and find solutions to the air pollution problem
2016-2018
Development of an open technology toolkit for Citizens’ Observatories focusing on air quality
2016-2018
Flood risk management, environmental quality of life, land and natural resources management, sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation
2016-2019
Integration of EO and Citizen Observations for a common approach to enhance urban environmental and societal resilience
2017-2021
Measuring impacts of citizen science, nature-based solutions, water quality and biodiversity
2019-2021
Adaptation processes to climate change through living labs, crowd-mapping and co-design
2019-2022
Interoperability and integration of Citizen Observatory technology and data with the European Open Science Cloud
2019-2023
Complementing EO data with farmer-based monitoring to inform CAP regulations and decision-making at farm level
2020-2022
Evolution of Citizen Observatories across funding prorgammes
Looking at the historical pathway from the first Citizen Observatories funded by the European Union, there are now also a range of examples supported by national funding schemes (e.g. in Spain and the Netherlands) and by private sector funding (e.g. Coca Cola Foundation).
Useful Resources
PROJECT REPORTS: From our research into the EU Landscape of Citizen Observatories within the WeObserve project, we produced three reports: a report that outlines frameworks which can be used to describe and compare Citizen Observatories, a report on the insights from the experiences of Citizen Observatories, and a Roadmap report that sets the stage for future Citizen Observatories.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: “Lessons from the WeObserve project to strengthen awareness, acceptability and sustainability of Citizen Observatories in Europe” – Presentation at the virtual ECSA conference 2020.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: “New Community Activity on Citizens’ Observatories and Crowdsourcing” – Presentation at the Citizen GEOSS Workshop in St Petersburg (Russia), 8 November 2016, by José Miguel Rubio Iglesias.
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I want to understand what Citizen Observatories are by learning about their characteristics.
This work by parties of the WeObserve consortium is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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