The role of ‘Big Society’ in monitoring the state of the natural environment

MacKechnie, Colin; Maskell, Lindsay ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4006-7755; Norton, Lisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1622-0281; Roy, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-0331. 2011 The role of ‘Big Society’ in monitoring the state of the natural environment. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 13 (10). 2687-2691. 10.1039/c1em10615e

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Official URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011...

Abstract/Summary

Environmental monitoring is essential for assessing the current state of the environment, measuring impacts of environmental pressures and providing evidence to government. Recent UK government announcements have indicated an increased role for ‘Big Society’ in monitoring. In this paper, we review available literature concerning the use of citizen science for monitoring, present examples of successful volunteer monitoring work and highlight important issues surrounding the use of volunteers. We argue that in order to ensure that environmental monitoring continues to be effective it is important to learn from examples where volunteers are currently used, acknowledging constraints and identifying potential approaches which will help to maximise both their engagement and data quality. Effective partnerships between environmental monitoring organisations and volunteers may thus aid the UK in developing robust coordinated monitoring systems that will be less vulnerable to funding variances.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1039/c1em10615e
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 1 - Observations, Patterns, and Predictions for Biodiversity CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 1 - Monitoring and Interpretation of Biogeochemical and Climate Changes CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 3 - Managing Threats to Environment and Health
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Pywell Parr RIS (formerly KT)
ISSN:	1464-0325
NORA Subject Terms:	General > Science Policy Ecology and Environment Atmospheric Sciences
Date made live:	09 Jan 2012 14:29 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/16252

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1039/c1em10615e

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 1 - Observations, Patterns, and Predictions for Biodiversity
CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 1 - Monitoring and Interpretation of Biogeochemical and Climate Changes
CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 3 - Managing Threats to Environment and Health

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Pywell
Parr
RIS (formerly KT)

ISSN:

1464-0325

NORA Subject Terms:

General > Science Policy
Ecology and Environment
Atmospheric Sciences