Citizen Science

Citizen Science for Ecological  Monitoring Program

Download a PDF of the 'Citizen Science for Ecological Monitoring' at the bottom of this page.

Citizen Science is research and monitoring conducted by communities in the public interest.  It is not directed by government or driven by the market and its participants are largely volunteers, or communities may fundraise to pay a few part-time positions.

Citizen science focuses on research and monitoring programs that governments or businesses can’t or won’t fund.  CCWA’s Citizen Science Program is designed to build capacity at the community level to fill gaps in government programs around ecological monitoring of the kind necessary to monitor the biological responses to climate change or long-term outcomes of biodiversity oriented natural resource management projects.

Citizen Science get involved!

The Conservation Council of WA has established a Citizen Science Network  and participants are involved in a variety of projects.

For more information you can download  a PDF of the WA ‘Citizen Science for Ecological Monitoring Handbook’ at the bottom of this page, or contact our Citizen Science Coordinator, Nic Dunlop (nic.dunlop@ccwa.org.au).

The Handbook is used for training and applied to three specific areas where citizen science could currently make an important contribution in monitoring; the ecological changes driven by climate change, the impact of development projects and in evaluating the medium – long-term effectiveness of biodiversity focused NRM projects.

CCWA envisages that variations of the training module could be targeted to service a number of interests including our own affiliate groups, other groups, the environmental education sector and the regional NRM Councils (to request a Citizen Science workshop).

Currently CCWA has 6 Citizen Science Projects and new ones are being developed with our  affiliate and other community groups. In particular, the Albany Environment Dredging Network is working with the CCWA Citizen Science program to develop marine monitoring. In May 2011, they released a report with some interesting findings about contamination in Albany waters. The report is available to download below.

Also, to benchmark the current frequency and dispersion of fugitive GM Canola plants a ‘citizen-science’ monitoring project was conducted in the Esperance region on 9 &10 September 2011. The participating groups were the Conservation Council (WA) Citizen Science Program, Esperance LEAF and GM Cropwatch. Below is the preliminary report.

Citizen Science Field Trips: March - August 2012