A number of recent policy documents and initiatives highlight the critical role of volunteers in environmental monitoring. Citizen science is not always explicitly mentioned but the desire to increase engagement and
participation to underpin environmental policy is evident. The Water Framework Directive acknowledges the crucial role of citizens and citizens’ groups for two main purposes. First, decisions on the most appropriate measures to achieve the objectives in the river basin management plan will involve balancing the interests of various groups. Second, it is anticipated that transparency in the establishment of specific objectives, measures and standards will enhance implementation and governance of citizens in environmental protection. The Sixth Environment Action Programme (EAP, “Environment 2010: Our future, Our Choice”) includes the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and Clean Air for Europe (CAFE). Over the next ten years there will be a focus on implementation of air quality standards and coherency of all air legislation and related policy initiatives
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/quality/index.htm). The appeal of air and water quality to citizen science is evident from an innovative project launched by the European Environment Agency in partnership with Microsoft. Eye on Earth (http://watch.eyeonearth.org/) is a two-way communication platform on the environment which brings together scientific information with feedback and observations from people across Europe. It currently includes information on the water (>22 000 bathing sites) and air quality (>1000 monitoring stations) throughout Europe. Eye on Earth is anticipated to expand to include information on other environmental themes with the ambition to become a global observatory for environmental changes including ground level ozone and other forms of air pollution, oil spills, biodiversity, and coastal erosion.
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The Natural Environment White Paper, “The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature”, was published on 7 June 2011 and a number of implementation updates have followed
(http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/natural/documents/newp-imp-update-20120717.pdf). The White Paper builds on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (June 2011), which assessed the social and economic benefits derived from the natural environment, and provides an example of the way in which policy documents are
highlighting the role of volunteers in environmental monitoring. The White Paper highlights commitment to further investment in the development of the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) and the creation of a new fund for biodiversity recording in the voluntary sector. However, recognition that the provision of evidence from such monitoring programmes is not cost-free is critical. Environmental monitoring relies on long-term support in terms of volunteer liaison, data handling, quality assurance, publication and statistical support for measuring trends. The White Paper highlights that people in the UK are motivated to protect nature. This notion is also supported at a European-level through the SEBI (Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators) “public awareness indicator” which reported that over two-thirds of EU citizens report personally making efforts to help preserve nature. The Pan-European SEBI initiative was launched in 2005. SEBI aims to develop a European set of biodiversity
38 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with regional and national indicator initiatives. Many of the headline indicators rely entirely on the availability of monitoring data and particularly datasets on biodiversity developed by volunteer naturalists (Levrel et al., 2010). The participation of volunteers in the development of these monitoring schemes is not only beneficial in collating large-scale and long-term datasets but also results in other advantages including improvement of the public’s knowledge of biodiversity (Cooper et al., 2007), support of public debates and reduction in the costs of biodiversity monitoring (Levrel et al., 2010).
The European Biodiversity Research Strategy 2010-2020, adopted through the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) in April 2010, documents the need to “develop links between science and public
engagement networks like natural history museums, science centres and citizen science programmes”
(www.epbrs.org/PDF/EPBRS_StrategyBDResearch_May2010.pdf). The overall aim of the strategy is to “Generate
and share the knowledge necessary to bring human societies into a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship with the living world” which aligns with the motives of citizen science. The EU 2020 biodiversity strategy was in
response to the CBD mandate through the establishment of biodiversity objectives and global commitments aligned to the Aichi Biodiversity targets.
In 2010 the CBD conference of the parties adopted the Aichi Biodiversity targets through a relevant overarching framework on biodiversity contributing to the Millennium Development Goals
(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). Aichi Target 1 explicitly states “By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of
the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably”. Citizen science has a role in
such awareness raising but also in providing evidence to evaluate the implementation of actions to address the Aichi targets. For example, the European Strategy on invasive alien species (IAS) is developing partly in response to Aichi Target 9 “By 2020, invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or
eradicated, and measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their introduction and establishment.” The
role of citizen science in ensuring early warning and rapid response of IAS has been recognised. Indeed the GB Non- Native Species Information Portal (GB-NNSIP) encourages people to submit records of species of concern to an on- line alert system. The killer shrimp Dikerogammerus villosus was detected in England and Wales in 2010. The critical role of anglers, boat owners and other recreational users of water bodies in surveillance to limit the spread of this species has been recognised by the Non-Native Species Secretariat. Additionally the volunteer recording community has provided much of the information within the GB-NNSIP (Roy, Bacon, Beckmann et al., 2012b).
Volunteering has been prioritised within the UK government’s policy agenda for many years (O'Brien et al., 2008). In 2006 a commission on the Future of Volunteering was established to develop a long-term vision for volunteering in England. The British Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive have all committed funds to build capacity within the voluntary sector, in general, and raise awareness of the important role of volunteers by making people aware of the opportunities and encouraging more people to volunteer. There have been concerns that end-users, including policy-makers, have not recognised the value of citizen science for
39 monitoring the environment and providing evidence to underpin policy (Grove-White et al., 2007). Indeed, there is perception that information collated through citizen science is of insufficient quality for high level use (Grove-White
et al., 2007). However, over the last few years there have been a number of publications that demonstrate the
utility of citizen science for policy and other purposes. UK examples are heavily biased towards structured monitoring programmes such as the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, UK Breeding Bird Survey and National Bat Monitoring Programme (Brereton, Roy, Middlebrook et al., 2011, Fox, Randle, Hill et al., 2011, Fox, Warren, Brereton
et al., 2011, Battersby & Greenwood, 2004, Gregory, Noble & Custance, 2004, Davey, Vickery, Boatman et al., 2010,
Butler, Brooks, Feber et al., 2009).