more4nature

On this #WorldWaterDay, let us ask you: have you ever come across a water pollution risk and not known how to report it? 🌊 ⁉️ You’re not alone! We can agree that we all benefit from good #waterquality. It is striking that, despite widespread commitment and legislation at all levels (European, national and municipal), many bodies of water are below health standards. ⛈️ It’s true that changing weather patterns, such as heavy rains, and the limited number of monitoring and enforcement officers pose additional challenges for authorities in complying with water protection regulations. Don't you think that the role citizens could play in protecting water bodies is underestimated? Our partners from Coastwatch ( Irish Coastal Environment Group - Coastwatch) in Ireland are convinced. They have conducted three participatory workshops exploring the main water pollution risks, such as agriculture, sewage, chemicals and oil, and they have sought synergies between citizens and authorities to protect Ireland's water resources. We highlight the 4 main reasons they have identified that are limiting citizens from reporting pollution risks. This valuable information (and many more) is helping to shape #citizenscience initiatives to ensure collaborative #EnvironmentalCompliance Assurance. 📄 You can read their full report of the first workshop here: https://lnkd.in/dZ96fVu3  Coastwatch is hosting the third part of this workshop series next March 28 in Galway with a special focus on citizen-authority alert system prototypes. 🎟️ Get your tickets: https://lnkd.in/dWzF7nmM Do you have other experiences? We read you! 💬 Uta Wehn Karin Dubsky Eoin Dubsky Finn Danielsen Gitte Kragh Joan Maso Pau , Sasha Woods, María Relea García, Gabriela Dutrénit

Werk je aan het thema #bestuivers, ben je natuurbeheerder of heb je op een andere manier interesse in bestuivers en biodiversiteit? En wil je jouw ideeën delen over hoe we kennis kunnen omzetten in actie? Praat dan mee op 3 april! 🦋 Er is geen tekort aan data over bestuivers in Nederland. (Burger)wetenschappers en experts verzamelen al jarenlang waardevolle informatie, en overheden vertrouwen en gebruiken deze data. Toch verbeteren de trends voor de bestuivers niet. Waarom leidt dit nog niet tot actie? Wat is er nodig om bestaande kennis en data om te zetten in concreet natuurbeheer en effectief beleid? Dat is precies wat het NIOO wil onderzoeken in het Europese project More4Nature. Hiervoor organiseren we op 3 april een interactieve online sessie (±1 uur). De sessie gaat verder dan alleen kennisdeling: geen standaard presentatie, maar een dynamisch gesprek waarin we samen de knelpunten in kaart brengen. We kijken niet alleen naar wat we weten over bestuivertrends, maar vooral naar hoe we dat kunnen gebruiken voor betere bescherming. We zoeken met een breed scala aan mensen specifiek naar waar het vastloopt in beleid en uitvoering, en hoe bestuivers beter beschermd kunnen worden door verbeterde naleving en implementatie. Hiervoor brengen we beleidsmakers, wetenschappers/ecologen, citizen scientists en agrariërs samen. 📅 Wanneer? 3 april 2025, 9.00 - 10.00 📍 Waar? Online (link volgt na aanmelding)  📝 Meld je aan en praat met ons mee! > https://lnkd.in/ebspyTDQ Help je ons zoveel mogelijk relevante mensen te bereiken? Deel dit bericht dan of tag collega’s die erbij zouden moeten zijn. more4nature #citizenscience De Vlinderstichting (Dutch Butterfly Conservation) Naturalis Biodiversity Center IVN, Instituut voor natuureducatie Natuurmonumenten Natuur & Milieu Staatsbosbeheer Nature Today

🐝📉 In Portugal, the decline of #pollinators poses a serious threat to the health of nature and crops. Together, we can turn this around. Thanks to our more4natue partners at Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, we are strengthening alliances between public institutions, researchers and citizens to collectively conserve and restore pollinator populations. 🎯 Check out what we’re achieving! In the context of the PolinizAÇÃO initiative, the more4nature team is working with Portuguese national and regional institutions, governmental agencies, research centres, citizen scientists and NGOs in the co-production of Action Plan for the Conservation and Sustainability of Pollinators in #Portugal. We have organized two insightful workshops and laid the foundation to strengthen existing activities and launch new ones that foster collaborative environmental compliance through monitoring and enforcement. We also visited the municipality of #Oeiras to explore challenges and opportunities for pollinator conservation on the ground. Representatives from the city council, local citizen science initiatives and inhabitants of the municipality took part in two working sessions. Together, we identified and developed a shared vision with concrete collaborative actions about some pressing issues affecting pollinators in Oeiras such as:  🚧 Non-sustainable construction practices  🌷 Existing green areas covered only with grass 🙋 Difficulties to keep citizens informed and engaged with solutions. Overall, these workshops highlighted that knowledge sharing, mutual understanding, and collective learning create new opportunities and bring us closer to reversing the decline of pollinators in Portugal. We are committed to continuing this collaborative journey. Thanks to all the participants who joined these workshops and special mention to TERRA Associate Laboratory and the Municipality of Oeiras for their support in hosting these events. Are you involved in similar initiatives? We’d love to build a community — share your experiences in the comments! 📢  Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF) Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet Programa Ciência mais Cidadã Rede Portuguesa de Ciência Cidadã Uta Wehn Gitte Kragh Joan Maso Pau Karin Dubsky, Sasha Woods, Ida Theilade

Ciência Cidadã e conservação de Polinizadores em Oeiras 🦋 No passado dia 19 de fevereiro, realizou-se o workshop "O papel da sociedade civil na Garantia de Conformidade Ambiental de polinizadores no Município de Oeiras", no Parque dos Poetas 🫱🏻🫲🏾 Esta iniciativa, organizada pelo projeto europeu More4Nature, com o apoio do Município de Oeiras, reuniu especialistas, investigadoras e projetos de Ciência Cidadã para debater a importância da participação ativa da comunidade na proteção dos polinizadores 🐞🌱 O Programa Ciência + Cidadã e o Município de Oeiras estiveram representados entre as participantes, reforçando o papel da ciência cidadã como ferramenta essencial para monitorizar e preservar os polinizadores 🐝 💡 A colaboração entre ciência, comunidade e decisores políticos é essencial para garantir um futuro mais sustentável e equilibrado! Município de Oeiras ITQB NOVA GIMM European Union #CiênciaCidadã #Biodiversidade #Polinizadores #Sustentabilidade #More4Nature #MunicípioDeOeiras

🔎💸 Are you a citizen science project looking for funding, mentoring and training? IMPETUS for citizen science! has an open call for its Accelerator Grants and EU Prize for Citizen Science projects. Give it a try! IMPETUS supports and recognizes #citizenscience initiatives by enabling access to innovative #funding. Their 3rd Open call is now open for: 🏃 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺:  - #Grants up to €20.000 for mentoring and #training support.  - Especially looking for new or ongoing projects focused on supporting circular communities and a fair and just society.  - 🗓️ Apply before March 13th. 🥇  𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲:  - €60.000 Grand Prize and two €20.000 special awards.  - Honorary mentions for other 27 projects.  - 🗓️ Apply before March 10th. All the information about the open call at: https://lnkd.in/evtk9ktQ Finn Danielsen Gitte Kragh Uta Wehn Joan Maso Pau Karin Dubsky, Sasha Woods, María Relea García, Gabriela Dutrénit Ida Theilade

Curious about how to empower communities to drive environmental action? more4nature is on a mission to galvanize environmental protection thanks to citizen-science 🔎 👩🏽🔬 The project - led by IHE Delft Institute for Water Education - unites 21 partner organizations spanning Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. We lead the communication work package and are responsible for branding, designing and developing the interactive more4nature Knowledge Platform: your go-to hub for methodologies and resources 🛠️ 📊 Follow the more4nature consortium on its four-year journey to integrate community engagement through innovative data tools and provide solutions that boost citizen empowerment and enhance environmental stewardship. Learn more about the platform in the slides below 👇🏽

🛟 🌊 Searching for ways to foster collaboration between citizens and authorities to tackle water pollution? Here's the workshop you need.

🛟 🌊 Searching for ways to foster collaboration between citizens and authorities to tackle water pollution? Here's the workshop you need. Our partners at Coastwatch ( Irish Coastal Environment Group - Coastwatch) organize this workshop on #pollution risk detection and the development of notification and rapid response systems. The focus is set on the prevention of chemical and oil pollution. We will talk about herbicides, #pesticides, EPA licensed discharge, port management plans with citizen data, seagrass as an indicator, etc. Join us on Tuesday 25 February in Dún Laoghaire (Co. Dublin). We have planned a day full of activities, starting at Dún Laoghaire harbor with a visit to the Native Oyster Project hosted by Local Authority Waters Programme. Afterwards we will gather at the Dun Laoghaire County Council for three sessions on: 🧩 Woes, puzzles and joys encountered by volunteers, with Karin Dubsky.  ⏰ Water Pollution Prevention and Halt challenges, with experts like Noel Mc Gloin (Inland Fisheries Ireland ), Justin Ivory (Local Authority Waters Programme), Tim Ryan (Dún Laoghaire Harbour), Paul Buggy (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council). 🎯Collaborative #WaterQuality Protection Alert Response Systems: citizen and authorities. Don't miss out! Places are limited, so please register in the following link TODAY: https://lnkd.in/dQe5iG-P

Could ChatGPT help us to protect biodiversity? An international panel of experts has come up with 21 ideas where AI could revolutionize conservation 🤖🐛 In recent years, platforms such as #ChatGPT or #Midjourney have captured our imagination raising public interest in artificial intelligence. An international panel of 18 conservation scientists and 9 #AI and computer science specialists came together to explore how AI could make waves in biodiversity protection. The result is an article with 21 ideas sorted according to their potential to: 🧠 Expand the scope of human imagination or creativity.  📈 Generate advanced simulations and data representation.  📑 Help human experts to translate observations into new knowledge. If we specifically talk about #biodiversity conservation, AI has the potential to enhance our understanding of species distributions, to help pinpointing priority areas for conservation or even evaluating the effectiveness of policy actions or provide tools to track compliance with environmental legislation. As the experts note in the article, AI will be an invaluable tool in supporting conservation efforts, but it is not a cure-all. While the potential benefits are vast and the urgency of addressing biodiversity loss is critical, several risks associated with this technology must be carefully considered. These include AI colonialism, its high energy consumption, the erosion of essential #conservation skills, AI hallucinations, the replication of existing biases, and the potential for misuse by malicious actors. If not managed properly, these challenges could undermine the very efforts AI aims to support in preserving biodiversity. Do you already use AI in your biodiversity conservation work? What challenges are you facing? Finn Danielsen Gitte Kragh Nordeco Uta Wehn Joan Maso Pau Karin Dubsky, Sasha Woods, María Relea García, Gabriela Dutrénit

Today, the Kouy people in Cambodia do not give roses and chocolates for Valentine's Day. Instead, they wrap their trees with saffron robes to shield them from illegal deforestation. The Tree Ordination Ceremony in Prey Lang is a powerful reminder that #deforestation threatens not only forests but also socio-cultural roots. 🪵 🧣 Over the past 20 years, logging companies have wiped out more than 11% of Cambodia’s protected forest areas. Yet now, the very communities fighting to preserve these forests are frequently denied access to hold their sacred ceremonies within the protected areas.  The Tree Ordination Ceremony involves symbolically ordaining trees as monks, wrapping them in saffron robes, and chanting sacred blessings. Spiritually, it is a message from the group to the spiritual guardians of the forest but also offers a bold statement against deforestation. Some loggers have even been frightened away at the sight of the ordained trees.    🌲 Prey Lang is the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest—5,000 square kilometers of trees that serve as the pillars of a vital ecosystem, home to over 250,000 Indigenous people. The more4nature project is working with the Prey Lang Community Network, Prey Preah Roka Forest and Monk Community Forest in #Cambodia to engage more than 100 villages in forest protection. The so-called Forest patrols collect data on forest resources and illegal logging through the Prey Lang App. Since 2015, citizens have uploaded more than 30,000 records. The observations are published in forest monitoring reports that are shared with the authorities and the public to drive action. Do you know of other citizen initiatives calling for action against deforestation? #citizenaction