Speaker
Description
Small streams make up a large part of the river network in Germany and perform a variety of important ecosystem services, such as contributing to the preservation of biological diversity, water storage, and climate and flood regulation. Despite their great ecological importance, they have not been adequately covered by official monitoring to date and are mostly in poor ecological condition. This is why, participatory approaches are becoming increasingly important. Citizen science offers the potential to expand data bases, strengthen environmental awareness, and promote social engagement in watercourse protection. While such projects often focus on monitoring and data collection, the systematic implementation of practical, low-threshold renaturation measures by citizen scientists has received less attention to date. In this study, we explore the potential of the Germany-wide citizen science project FLOW for participatory stream restoration. The focus lies on the motivations, capacities, and skills of participants with regard to the planning and implementation of low-threshold restoration measures on small watercourses. In addition, challenges and support needs were identified. The results show a high level of intrinsic motivation among FLOW participants to actively contribute to the protection of water bodies and biodiversity. In addition to the desire to support scientific research, shared experiences, environmental education, and practical learning play a central role. The majority of respondents consider the data collected in the FLOW project to be a suitable basis for deriving restoration measures. At the same time, organizational and administrative barriers as well as limited time and human resources are seen as significant challenges. The implementation of low-threshold measures is generally considered feasible, but requires professional guidance, institutional and political support, improved networking with local actors, and access to knowledge regarding approval processes, responsibilities, and financing options.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| FOR TALKS: Poster Presentation Option | Yes, I’m willing to present as a poster. |