Citizen science for hydrological risk reduction and resilience building

Paul, Jonathan D. and Buytaert, Wouter and Allen, Simon and Ballesteros-Canovas, Juan A. and Bhusal, Jagat and Cieslik, Katarzyna and Clark, Julian and Dugar, Sumit and Hannah, David M. and Stoffe, Markus and Dewulf, Art and Dhita, Megh R. and Liu, Wei and Nayava, Janak Lal and Neupane, Bhanu and Schiller, Arnulf and Smith, Paul J. and Supper, Robert (2018) Citizen science for hydrological risk reduction and resilience building. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 5 (1): e1262. ISSN 2049-1948

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.