Citizen science for hydrological risk reduction and resilience building

Jonathan D. Paul*, Wouter Buytaert, Simon Allen, Juan A. Ballesteros-Canovas, Jagat Bhusal, Katarzyna Cieslik, Julian Clark, Sumit Dugar, David M. Hannah, Markus Stoffe, Art Dewulf, Megh R. Dhita, Wei Liu, Janak Lal Nayava, Bhanu Neupane, Arnulf Schiller, Paul J. Smith, Robert Supper

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In disaster risk management (DRM), an emerging shift has been noted from broad-scale, top-down assessments toward more participatory, community-based, bottom-up approaches. Arguably, nonscientist local stakeholders have always played an important role in knowledge risk management and resilience building within a hydrological context, such as flood response and drought alleviation. However, rap-idly developing information and communication technologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and social media have already demonstrated their sizeable potential to make knowledge creation more multidirectional, decentralized, diverse, and inclusive. Combined with technologies for robust and low-cost sensor networks, a 'citizen sci¬ence' approach has recently emerged as a promising direction in the provision of extensive, real-time information for risk management. Such projects work best when there is community buy-in, when their purpose(s) are clearly defined at the outset, and when the motivations and skillsets of all participants and stakeholders are well understood. They have great potential to enhance knowledge creation, not only for data collection, but also for analysis or interpretation. In addition, they can serve as a means of educating and empowering communities and stakeholders that are bypassed by more traditional knowledge generation processes. Here, we review the state-of-the-art of citizen science within the context of hydrological risk reduction and resilience building. Particularly when embedded within a polycentric approach toward risk governance, we argue that citizen science could complement more tradi-tional knowledge generation practices, and also enhance innovation, adaptation, mul-tidirectional information provision, risk management, and local resilience building.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1262
JournalWiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research consortium to which the authors belong is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Department for International Development (DFID) as project NE/P000452/1 (Landslide EVO) under the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience (SHEAR) program. WB, DMH, JC, JAB-C, MS, and AD acknowledge funding from NERC project NE-K010239–1 (Mountain-EVO).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oceanography
  • Ecology
  • Aquatic Science
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Ocean Engineering
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Citizen science for hydrological risk reduction and resilience building'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this