Citizen Science

From December 2012 World Rivers ReviewA graphic look at why our rivers need a citizen science movement. Click on the image to download it.

From December 2012 World Rivers Review Rivers in the US have been under siege since the age of industrialization began. They’ve been dammed (the US is the second most dammed nation in the world, with 5,500 large dams), dewatered for large-scale agriculture, deforested and polluted. This wide scale destruction brings urgency to the need to understand the health of entire river systems in order to protect and rehabilitate them. The best way to gain this understanding is to measure the vital signs of a river through the whole watershed. But monitoring thousands of miles of river is a gargantuan

From December 2012 World Rivers Review Mapping the Mekong: In 2011, villagers mapped fishing grouds, river-bank farmland, river morphology and sub-ecosystems. Photo TERRA The Mekong is not a one-size-fits-all river. One of Asia’s longest rivers, it begins in Tibet and flows through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Ask someone in one of these countries how they depend on the Mekong River, and you will get a unique answer that reflects the local realities of the village, city, or culture you are visiting. More than 60 million people live and work here. For the poorest vill

It may surprise many that India is second in the world in freshwater fish production. More than 75% of fisherfolk in India depend on freshwater fisheries for their livelihoods. Though there is no systematic assessment of livelihood dependence on rivers, nearly 11 million Indians depend on rivers for their livelihoods and nutrition.

From December 2012 World Rivers Review Green Hunan, founded in 2007, is the only civil society organization focusing on basin-wide environmental issues in Hunan Province’s Xiang River watershed. Katy Yan asked them about their citizen-science projects to protect water resources in the watershed. WRR: Describe your citizen science efforts. How does it work? How many people does it take? GH: Our current “citizen science” projects include the volunteer Observation and Action Network of Xiang River Watershed, the Vote for the Top Ten Environmental Events in Hunan Province, and a Pollution

Commentary: December 2012 World Rivers ReviewAt International Rivers we’re known for our effectiveness at critiquing and campaigning against destructive dam schemes. This important, frontline work defending rivers in solidarity with dam-threatened communities is crucial and courageous. Yet, our end-goal lies well beyond stopping short-sighted dam projects. Ultimately, we seek proactive solutions that take the long view in recognition of living rivers as a necessary component of a viable, thriving Earth: solutions to propel truly sustainable energy pathways; solutions for watershed practices