Connecting Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches in Environmental Observing

Harnessing Insights from Indicators-Based Resilience Assessment for Enhancing Sustainability in the Gurage Socio-Ecological Production Landscape of Ethiopia

Even though the mosaic of different land-use/land-cover types has long contributed to the resilience of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Ethiopia, recent data indicate that their sustainability is under threat. This study aims to evaluate landscape resilience by adopting a set of indicators for enhancing sustainability in the Gurage socio-ecological production landscape in Ethiopia. The authors employed a toolkit of indicators in the production landscape through a community-based scoring approach (1-5 Likert scale). The information from household surveys, land-use/land-cover analysis, and satellite-based drought incidents assessment was integrated with the ranking analysis to support the evaluations. The results revealed that landscape diversity, ecosystem protection, local governance, and social equity indicators had the highest landscape resilience ranks. In contrast, lower ranks are associated with knowledge, innovation, livelihoods, and well-being indicators. The overall resilience of the Gurage socio-ecological production landscape was estimated to be below average. Thus, strategies that enhance the resilience and sustainability of this socio-ecological landscape are essential. The findings could help draw the attention of policymakers and natural resource managers to building and strengthening the resilience of the landscape. This study demonstrates that indicators could aid in evaluating landscape resilience status along with other ancillary information, particularly in data-sparse regions. Methods of assessing resilience must be creative in such regions, and this paper may inform such efforts. In addition, the study recommends that landscape resilience indicators be improved by reducing subjective matter and including spatial-explicit dimensions for evaluating resilience.

The promise and pitfalls of community-based monitoring with a focus on Canadian examples

Community-based monitoring (CBM) is a widely used form of scientific data collection in which local community members directly participate in ecosystem research and also help the process by sharing traditional ecological knowledge and local understanding of land and resources. This paper presents a review of the challenges and opportunities associated with CBM projects in Canada and internationally. While Canadian cases are the primary focus, international examples are drawn on to provide additional context. Based on our review of 121 documents and publications, we found that CBM helps fill science research gaps by providing access to continuous data sets on the ecosystems being studied. CBM also increases the credibility of the data among users, as the community itself takes part in the environmental monitoring process. CBM supports cross-cultural learning and the co-production of knowledge by using traditional ecological knowledge with science, thereby enabling researchers, scientists and community members to learn from one another. Our review suggests that although there are multiple successes, CBM faces several challenges that constrain its progress including funding shortages, lack of support for local stewardship, and inadequate training for local users in the operation of equipment and data collection methods. Data sharing and rights on the use of data are also constraining to the long-term success of CBM programs.

Posyandu Application in Indonesia: From Health Informatics Data Quality Bridging Bottom-Up and Top-Down Policy Implementation

The community’s mother and child health (MCH) and nutrition problems can be overcome through evidence-based health policy. Posyandu is an implementation of community empowerment in health promotion strategies. The iPosyandu application (app) is one of the health informatics tools, in which data quality should be considered before any Posyandu health interventions are made. This study aims to describe and assess differences in data quality based on the dimensions (completeness, accuracy, and consistency) of the secondary data collected from the app in Purwakarta Regency in 2019–2021. Obstacles and suggestions for improving its implementation were explored. This research applies a mixed-method explanatory approach. Data completeness was identified as the number of reported visits of children under five per year. Data accuracy was analyzed using WHO Z-score anthropometry and implausible Z-score values. Data consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, followed by qualitative research with focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and field observation notes. The quantitative study results found that some of the data were of good quality. The qualitative research identified the obstacles experienced using the iPosyandu app, one of them being that there were no regulations governing the use of iPosyandu to bridge the needs of the government, and provided suggestions from the field to improve its implementation.

Utilizing Marine Cultural Heritage for the Preservation of Coastal Systems in East Africa

This paper presents the key contributions of marine cultural heritage to the survival of coastal ecosystems and the communities that rely on them in East Africa. Marine cultural heritage (MCH) describes the evidence of past human interactions with coastal and marine space, encompassing tangible material culture remains and associated intangible cultural expressions within coastal communities. By incorporating the protection of MCH into local and regional environmental frameworks, we gain an essential indicator to monitor change dynamics in natural habitats, the cumulative impacts of climate change, and the development of social adaptation strategies. An essential aspect of this development is the move away from global sustainability strategies towards community-centric management and stewardship. Such processes utilise a combination of traditional knowledge systems and scientific approaches designed to harness targeted economic, ecological, and social sustainable development. To argue for the incorporation of MCH into local and regional environmental frameworks in the area, this paper presents four case studies from the Rising from the Depths Network, a challenge-led research network focusing on harnessing the potential of MCH to bring sustainable development strategies to East Africa.

FAIR research data management as community approach in bioengineering

Research data management (RDM) requires standards, policies, and guidelines. Findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data management is critical for sustainable research. Therefore, collaborative approaches for managing FAIR-structured data are becoming increasingly important for long-term, sustainable RDM. However, they are rather hesitantly applied in bioengineering. One of the reasons may be found in the interdisciplinary character of the research field. In addition, bioengineering as application of principles of biology and tools of process engineering, often have to meet different criteria. In consequence, RDM is complicated by the fact that researchers from different scientific institutions must meet the criteria of their home institution, which can lead to additional conflicts. Therefore, centrally provided general repositories implementing a collaborative approach that enables data storage from the outset In a biotechnology research network with over 20 tandem projects, it was demonstrated how FAIR-RDM can be implemented through a collaborative approach and the use of a data structure. In addition, the importance of a structure within a repository was demonstrated to keep biotechnology research data available throughout the entire data lifecycle. Furthermore, the biotechnology research network highlighted the importance of a structure within a repository to keep research data available throughout the entire data lifecycle.

The Restoration of Degraded Lands by Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples

One of Earth's foremost ecological challenges is the degradation of land habitats. This degradation is often caused by deforestation and desertification resulting from the unsustainable management of natural resources. Land restoration seeks to reverse this trend and repair ecosystems to better health. Indigenous peoples and local communities have a key role in realizing long-term, sustainable land restoration. Local and indigenous communities often have intimate knowledge of the local ecosystems and an interest in preserving ecosystem services. Areas managed by indigenous peoples and local communities especially overlap with remaining intact ecosystems and suffer from less deforestation than unprotected areas. Here, we discuss how the knowledge and engagement of local communities can improve the management, implementation, and monitoring of habitat restoration. However, there are also challenges to land restoration, and scientists and policymakers that can align restoration outcomes with community benefits gained from environmental stewardship and knowledge, are more likely to achieve long-term sustainable restoration success.

How Can We Do Citizen Science Better? A Case Study Evaluating Grizzly Bear Citizen Science Using Principles of Good Practice in Alberta, Canada

Simple Summary

Citizen science offers an excellent opportunity to engage the public in scientific data collection, educational opportunities, and applied management. However, the practicalities of developing a citizen science program, from generating ideas to developing tools, implementing programming, and evaluating outcomes, are complex and challenging. To address challenges and provide a foundation for practitioners, scientists, and the public, the Government of Alberta developed a set of citizen science principles. Here, we use these principles as an evaluative framework to assess the outcomes of the GrizzTracker program, which was developed to help inform provincial species-at-risk recovery efforts. While the program experienced some successes, we identified challenges, including skepticism from the scientific community about the utility of citizen science and a lack of program leadership, staff capacity, and funding needs for long-term implementation. Reflecting on the principles, we provide policy recommendations that future citizen science programs can consider.

Abstract

Citizen science offers an excellent opportunity to engage the public in scientific data collection, educational opportunities, and applied management. However, the practicalities of developing and implementing citizen science programming are often more complex than considered. Some challenges to effective citizen science include scientists’ skepticism about the ability of public participants to rigorously collect quality data; a lack of clarity on or confidence in the utility of data; scientists’ hesitancy in engaging the public in projects; limited financial commitments; and challenges associated with the temporal and geographic scales of projects. To address these challenges, and provide a foundation upon which practitioners, scientists, and the public can credibly engage in citizen science, the Government of Alberta developed a set of citizen science principles. These principles offer a framework for planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating citizen science projects that extend beyond Alberta. Here, we present a case study using these principles to evaluate GrizzTracker, a citizen science program developed to help inform provincial species-at-risk recovery efforts. While we found that GrizzTracker applied each of the six principles in some way, including successful public engagement, strengthened relationships, and raising public awareness about northwest Alberta’s grizzly bears, we also identified a number of challenges. These included ongoing skepticism from the traditional scientific community about the utility of citizen science and governance challenges related to program leadership, staff capacity, and funding. By using the principles as a guideline, we provide policy recommendations for future citizen science efforts, including considerations for program design, implementation, and evaluation.

The Arctic Highlights Our Failure to Act in a Rapidly Changing World

In this perspective on the future of the Arctic, we explore actions taken to mitigate warming and adapt to change since the Paris agreement on the temperature threshold that should not be exceeded in order to avoid dangerous interference with the climate system. Although 5 years may seem too short a time for implementation of major interventions, it actually is a considerable time span given the urgency at which we must act if we want to avoid crossing the 1.5 to <2 °C global warming threshold. Actions required include co-production of research exploring possible futures; supporting Indigenous rights holders’ and stakeholders’ discourse on desired futures; monitoring Arctic change; funding strategic, regional adaptation; and, deep decarbonization through transformation of the energy system coupled with negative carbon emissions. We are now in the decisive decade concerning the future we leave behind for the next generations. The Arctic’s future depends on global action, and in turn, the Arctic plays a critical role in the global future.

A Review on Plant-Mediated Synthesis of Bimetallic Nanoparticles, Characterisation and Their Biological Applications

The study of bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) has constantly been expanding, especially in the last decade. The biosynthesis of BNPs mediated by natural extracts is simple, low-cost, and safe for the environment. Plant extracts contain phenolic compounds that act as reducing agents (flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, and alkaloids) and stabilising ligands moieties (carbonyl, carboxyl, and amine groups), useful in the green synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs), and are free of toxic by-products. Noble bimetallic NPs (containing silver, gold, platinum, and palladium) have potential for biomedical applications due to their safety, stability in the biological environment, and low toxicity. They substantially impact human health (applications in medicine and pharmacy) due to the proven biological effects (catalytic, antioxidant, antibacterial, antidiabetic, antitumor, hepatoprotective, and regenerative activity). To the best of our knowledge, there are no review papers in the literature on the synthesis and characterisation of plant-mediated BNPs and their pharmacological potential. Thus, an effort has been made to provide a clear perspective on the synthesis of BNPs and the antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, antidiabetic, and size/shape-dependent applications of BNPs. Furthermore, we discussed the factors that influence BNPs biosyntheses such as pH, temperature, time, metal ion concentration, and plant extract.

Creating Synergies between Citizen Science and Indigenous and Local Knowledge

Citizen science (CS) is receiving increasing attention as a conduit for Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in ecosystem stewardship and conservation. Drawing on field experience and scientific literature, we explore the connection between CS and ILK and demonstrate approaches for how CS can generate useful knowledge while at the same time strengthening ILK systems. CS invites laypersons to contribute observations, perspectives, and interpretations feeding into scientific knowledge systems. In contrast, ILK can be understood as knowledge systems in its own right, with practices and institutions to craft legitimate and useful knowledge. Such fundamental differences in how knowledge is generated, interpreted, and applied need to be acknowledged and understood for successful outcomes. Engaging with complementary knowledge systems using a multiple evidence base approach can improve the legitimacy of CS initiatives, strengthen collaborations through ethical and reciprocal relationships with ILK holders, and contribute to better stewardship of ecosystems.

The Use of Digital Platforms for Community-Based Monitoring

Environmental observing programs that are based on Indigenous and local knowledge increasingly use digital technologies. Digital platforms may improve data management in community-based monitoring (CBM) programs, but little is known about how their use translates into tangible results. Drawing on published literature and a survey of 18 platforms, we examine why and how digital platforms are used in CBM programs and illuminate potential challenges and opportunities. Digital platforms make it easy to collect, archive, and share CBM data, facilitate data use, and support understanding larger-scale environmental patterns through interlinking with other platforms. Digital platforms, however, also introduce new challenges, with implications for the sustainability of CBM programs and communities’ abilities to maintain control of their own data. We expect that increased data access and strengthened technical capacity will create further demand within many communities for ethically developed platforms that aid in both local and larger-scale decision-making.

The Concept, Practice, Application, and Results of Locally Based Monitoring of the Environment

Locally based monitoring is typically undertaken in areas in which communities have a close attachment to their natural resource base. We present a summary of work to develop a theoretical and practical understanding of locally based monitoring and we outline tests of this approach in research and practice over the past 20 years. Our tests show that locally based monitoring delivers credible data at local scale independent of external experts and can be used to inform local and national decision making within a short timeframe. We believe that monitoring conducted by and anchored in communities will gain in importance where scientist-led monitoring is sparse or too expensive to sustain and for ecosystem attributes in cases in which remote sensing cannot provide credible data. The spread of smartphone technology and online portals will further enhance the importance and usefulness of this discipline.