Abstract Confronted by daunting environmental risks and disasters, communities in the Caribbean–particularly those in economically disenfranchised areas–face disproportionate consequences from climate change, such as hazardous air and water quality. Chronic conditions of poverty and marginalization constrain their capacity to mitigate these environmental exposures. Many tools have been developed to provide communities with scientific data for mitigating these conditions, but often these tools are only accessible to individuals with technical expertise. Via community engagement techniques, this study explored how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Observation (EO) resources could be leveraged by La Margarita, a community in Salinas, Puerto Rico for addressing environmental justice (EJ) concerns. Three phases of this study–community interviews, an in‐person collaborative session, and community reactions to the summary results –led to the successful identification of La Margarita's top EJ concerns, a curated list of relevant NASA EO resources, and scenarios of how these resources could be applied to support EJ efforts. Collectively, these efforts highlight the critical importance of integrating community insights into scientific processes, thereby ensuring that the benefits of technological advancements are equitably distributed and address their most pressing needs. Additionally, the intentional team design, emphasizing relationship and trust dynamics between the research team (Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University and Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust), NASA staff, and La Margarita residents, employed in this study offer key lessons for developing scientific resources for use by non‐scientific end users.
Abstract Community science is a community‐led scientific mode of inquiry, sustained by social learning, for the purpose of transforming environmental governance. We present a case study of a community science initiative from Mexico's Water Forest, where a grassroots organization, the Milpa Alta Biological Monitoring Group, co‐designed a vegetation monitoring protocol with a university team to evaluate a community‐designed intervention to restore the understory of mixed forest‐grassland ecosystems that had been degraded by dense tree plantations. Through this partnership, we developed a technically sound, accessible line‐point‐intercept sampling protocol suitable for evaluating the restoration intervention aimed at increasing canopy openness through tree thinning to restore understory vegetation. As expected, plantations had poor understory development compared to natural areas, but there were no significant differences between managed (thinned) and unmanaged plantation stands. Nonetheless, we detected highly significant positive associations of canopy light and understory vegetation development when all plantations were pooled. This apparent contradiction was clarified through a collaborative data analysis process that combined the review of statistical results with collective memories of the management process. This dialogic analysis showed that the lack of significance likely stemmed from a failure to manipulate treatment sufficiently during the management. We also identified shrubs as a proxy for ecological associations of the plantation understory, which revealed an assemblage from mixed communities. A key lesson is that, while feasible data collection is necessary, our experiences show that advancing a community science project also depends on fostering conditions and mutual capacity for collaborative data interpretation and analysis.
Abstract Provision of safely managed drinking water is a key pillar in achieving public health. Particularly in regions where water quality data may be limited, participatory science approaches offer the potential to bridge data gaps with allied benefits such as community engagement and knowledge exchange. Here, we explore the suitability of participatory science approaches for monitoring water quality in the Indian state of Bihar. A simplified methodology for water sample collection was adapted, with local input, for participatory science approaches. Volunteer participants, ranging from secondary school students to professionals, collected ∼600 water samples, following training. Samples were analyzed for arsenic (As), uranium (U), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), fluoride (F−), and nitrate (NO3−). Comparisons were made between samples collected via this participatory science approach and samples obtained via conventional approaches in a geographically similar sampling frame. The comparisons revealed that the exceedance of contaminants against reference guideline values were broadly similar (<10%–15%) between approaches. However, more nuanced differences were observed when comparing cumulative distribution curves of concentration or geochemical associations. There was no statistically significant difference for As distributions arising from participatory science versus conventional sampling, but there were statistically significant differences for other parameters. Differences were plausibly because of the spatial heterogeneity of groundwater chemistry, sample handling/preservation and/or sites. Optimized selection of participating institutes' locations could improve the spatial representativeness of future participatory science initiatives. Results show that integrating participatory science approaches for water quality monitoring offers benefits of knowledge exchange and higher resolution data sets, particularly in data‐scarce regions.
Abstract Groundwater is a critical resource for agriculture, ecosystems, and communities in California. However, unsustainable large‐scale agricultural pumping has depleted aquifers in many areas, causing well failure in disadvantaged communities and for small farmers, threatening habitat, and causing subsidence. Fairmead—an unincorporated disadvantaged community in California's San Joaquin Valley—exemplifies how excessive groundwater pumping impacts vulnerable communities. California is currently incentivizing the strategic repurposing of irrigated cropland to less water‐intensive uses, a process known as multibenefit land repurposing that aims to produce multiple social and ecological benefits. New land uses can include less water‐demanding crops such as agave and pasture, and alternative uses such as groundwater recharge basins and community parks. This study presents the Fairmead Groundwater Resilience Project, which engages residents and farmers to codevelop sustainable water management solutions. Our team facilitated discussions between the community residents and farmers to collaboratively identify the most pressing community issues, the best uses for the land to achieve multibenefit solutions, and landowners willing to change their land use practices. Our collaborative process resulted in a partnership with a willing farming family to transition their completely groundwater‐dependent high‐water‐use crop (almonds) into a multibenefit project. This project will include a stormwater basin to provide flood risk reduction and incidental groundwater recharge, native vegetation for habitat improvement, and a walking path to create recreational space for the community. This community‐centered approach offers a replicable model for promoting groundwater sustainability across California while advancing environmental justice.
Abstract Quantification and understanding of how heat, rainfall, and air quality vary within cities are needed to identify the area with the worst conditions, develop solutions to extreme weather, and assess the impact of proposed policies. However, neighborhood‐level variability is not well quantified because there are few environmental measurement stations within cities. In Baltimore City, a community‐based network of weather stations to address this issue has been developed through a partnership between universities, state agencies, and Baltimore residents. The weather stations are hosted by community partners, and the data collected are enabling the mapping of urban weather across the city and the testing of models and proposed mitigation strategies. In addition, the network provides direct community involvement, with resulting benefits of increased community engagement, education, and empowerment. Researchers have an opportunity to democratize the scientific process and ensure that local knowledge and lived experiences of city residents inform future decision‐making. The approach could be used as a model for other cities that apply similar monitoring instruments for other environmental exposures.
Urban regions situated along major river systems are increasingly facing flood risks, driven by the combined effects of rapid urbanization and intensifying climate change. The Quad Cities region, comprising Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois, is vulnerable to flood hazards caused by extreme precipitation, fluvial surges, and extensive impervious surfaces. Historical records indicate 10%–20% increase in annual precipitation, with a rise in high-intensity rainfall. Projections under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, using statistically downscaled MIROC6 data, predict a continued increase in short-duration high-magnitude rainfall events. To quantify flood inundation scenarios, this study developed a coupled hydrologic-hydraulic (HH) model over a 35.5-mile Mississippi River corridor. Simulations indicate that, without intervention, flood depths could rise by 20%–45% and the inundation extent of flooding could expand significantly in low-lying areas of Rock Island and East Moline. To mitigate these risks, the study tested eight nature-based solutions (NbS), including bioswales, rain gardens, riparian buffers, infiltration trenches, and detention basins. HH modeling showed that the combined implementation of NbS can reduce peak discharge by up to 69.4% and increase water infiltration by over 25%, resulting in an estimated 37% reduction in flooded areas by the end of the century. Through over 30 stakeholder interviews, three public forums, and participatory mapping workshops, residents identified priority flood zones and proposed NbS strategies. This integrated approach helped develop a streamlined framework that combines high-resolution flood modeling with community-led planning, creating robust and socially equitable adaptation pathways for riverine urban systems.
To increase the understanding of shellfish toxin risks and support safe harvesting practices, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska develops and organizes environmental education programs. This study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05247229) evaluates the Tribe's new middle school program, drawing on the theory of planned behavior to investigate pre-post-program shifts in beliefs and behavioral intentions related to shellfish harvesting and mitigating exposure risks by checking a tribally run website with near real-time toxin level data. Participants included 50 middle school students across three Southeast Alaska communities—Sitka, Hoonah, and Juneau. Research activities included pre- and post-program surveys and interviews. We used generalized estimating equation linear regression of survey data to investigate pre-post-program changes in beliefs and behavioral intentions related to shellfish harvesting and risk reduction and how changes in beliefs relate to changes in behavioral intentions. Interviews contextualized beliefs and behavioral intentions measured in surveys. Following the program, participants reported more positive perceptions and increased behavioral intentions related to shellfish harvesting and checking toxin levels, although differences emerged across sites and Alaska Native identity. Participants' understanding of the risk reduction strategy and confidence in abilities to check toxin levels also increased, suggesting that integrating risk perception in the theory of planned behavior and practical risk reduction strategies in environmental education tailored to local ecological and cultural contexts can be effective in promoting safe behaviors. Additionally, participants emphasized the influence of their family's harvesting practices on their beliefs and behaviors, suggesting the importance of family engagement in environmental education.
Smallholder farming has in China been viewed as a practice needing transformation. Its relationship with rural development and economic growth has been frequently analyzed in China. Government-led initiatives promoting the integration of smallholder operations with industrialized agriculture have resulted in collaboration models between smallholders and large-scale agribusiness. Circular agriculture understood as an agricultural practice that enhances economic and ecological sustainability represents one of the mechanisms through which such collaboration can take place. While this collaboration provides smallholders with opportunities for increased productivity and income, it also carries the risk of marginalization. This study examines the collaboration between agricultural capital and smallholders in southwest China focusing on an integrated pomelo planting and a pig breeding project. The varying interests and risks faced by smallholders, government agencies, agricultural cooperatives, private enterprises, and financial institutions are explored. Findings suggest that local governments play a key role in facilitating the introduction of capital and affording the initial costs of organizing smallholders, while agricultural cooperatives decoupling smallholders from capital are central to the operation of large-scale production models. However, findings also show that local government involvement is often politically motivated, that smallholders' autonomy and voice in decision-making are limited, and that a risk of exploiting their interests under the guise of institutional innovation remains. The viability of these collaboration models lies thus rather in its ability to attract new producers and create jobs particularly for returning migrants or local smallholders. The findings could offer a potential pathway for addressing the agricultural transformation challenges facing China.
In an era marked by ecological precarity and growing demands for knowledge systems that are more inclusive, situated, and responsive, grassroots initiatives have begun to challenge dominant models of science and expertise. Among these, citizen science has emerged as a powerful mode of inquiry that brings together university-based scientists with communities to highlight lived experience, local knowledge, and collective sense-making. One such initiative, which is grounded in a commitment to care, justice, and co-creation is the project Diamonds on the Soles of our Feet (DSF) which originated as a locally rooted water literacy project in the province of Limpopo in South Africa. Since its inception in 2019, the project has evolved in unexpected, generative and at times even unfathomable ways. From its start in one rural village, it grew into a multi-sited, transnational, and increasingly entangled exploration of environmental justice and relational care. This paper seeks to make sense of these developments through the conceptual lens of a ‘fungal turn’ and the aesthetics of care. Engaging with the entanglements of citizen science, we found, can open up forms of learning that stretch beyond conventional scientific frameworks. Here the image of the fungal as a (dis)organizing principle allows us to contrast it with the more rigid image of science as a container. As DSF networ(ld)s extend into uncharted geographical terrains, the application of an ethics of care, coupled with fungal imagery, offers a valuable lens to interpret the unexpected and indeterminate textures that characterize our unfolding DSF journey. By equipping both learners and educators, DSF aims to create a collaborative model that supports long-term behavioral change and where authentic, value-transparent conversations become the fertile ground for meaningful engagement. We thus aim to create a pedagogy of connection, one that links ecology, identity, and imagination, resisting the impulse to fix, explain away or simplify, but instead to cultivate the capacity to remain present with the troubling complexity of it all. Once we took citizen science out of the container, we began to inhabit a space where encounters became unpredictable, often uncomfortable and occasionally deeply troubling. By resisting the impulse to command, to classify and to control and by resting instead in the minor key , meaning in the unfolding process rather than the singular event, we allowed ourselves to become entangled. Mushrooms offer more than a biological metaphor; they become a lens to reimagine ecological entanglement and the often-invisible networks that shape our understanding of science, learning, and care.
Local governments and environmental nonprofits are increasingly using trash traps to intercept and remove escaped plastics and other litter from stormwater systems and surface waters. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of these devices for collecting data that provide insights into riverine litter sources and solutions. Between 2021 and 2024, seven Waterkeeper organizations in North Carolina maintained 21 in-stream trash traps in watersheds across the state and trained staff and volunteers to record the types and quantities of litter during cleanouts. Over this period, Waterkeeper organizations and their volunteers documented 150,750 pieces of litter captured by traps. Captured litter overwhelmingly comprised plastic that floats and is resistant to biodegradation. Litter accumulation rates were moderately positively correlated with the percentages of developed land and impervious surface as well as road and ambient population density in the associated watershed. In some traps, litter accumulation rates were also positively correlated with precipitation rates. Beyond understanding riverine plastic pollution, this paper also provides insights on challenges and opportunities that arise from using trash traps to collect data on riverine litter.
This research aims to understand how frontline communities and community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve them conceptualize themselves, their communities, success, and their needs. Frontline communities experience the “first and worst” impacts of climate change due to industrialization, pollution, changing ecosystems, and other societal issues. CBOs serving frontline communities often face difficulties building organizational capacity and fostering growth in their communities. These challenges emerge from combined factors, including resistance from business and government stakeholders. Funders and scientists alike have shown interest in supporting frontline communities; however, top-down conceptualizations of success drive existing norms for intermediaries and are often inconsistent with how CBOs define success. To understand how frontline communities conceptualize themselves, success, and their needs, we conducted a mixed-methods study of CBOs within the network of an emerging intermediary organization supporting frontline communities. Using natural language processing, a survey, and semi-structured interviews, we identified themes pertaining to how frontline communities conceptualize themselves, capacity building, and success. We find that frontline communities seek four things when engaging with intermediaries: understanding of being frontline as a state of active resistance, unrestricted and destigmatized funding, technical assistance, and reciprocal relationships with resource providers. Our results suggest that self-definition of being “frontline” as active resistance impacts how frontline communities define success and therefore affects best practices for engagement. Based on this definition, we emphasize the importance of equitable relationship building and hierarchy deconstruction in the philanthropic and scientific sectors.
Co-production is becoming an increasingly important approach to facilitating integrated climate, environmental, social and earth systems research to achieve societal impact. Across the research and science-policy ecosystem, there are multiple indicators of its growing prominence as means to engage the public and generate research that is more likely to address real-world problems and community priorities. Power plays a key role in co-production, as power imbalances can affect participation, decision-making, and the distribution of benefits. Addressing power imbalances, through a focus on equity in co-production, helps to ensure past harms are addressed and participants have the resources and opportunities to contribute effectively. This special issue includes articles that explore equity in co-production. Articles describe the results of projects that used co-production approaches, social scientific findings that can inform equitable co-production, and some that do both. Across the submissions, inclusive decision-making, strengthening capacity at multiple levels, and fostering trust and respect were key themes. The collection provides practical lessons and future directions to advance equity in co-production processes, meeting the urgent demand for more inclusive and impactful environmental science practices.
Participatory science (PS) merges non‐traditional scientist groups and mainstream research, and has been increasingly used to fill data gaps in research, engage and educate community participants, and, to a more limited extent, inform environmental policy and management among government actors. We see this limited extent, especially in the United States, as a missed opportunity to face environmental challenges in ways that synergize the capacities of government, institutions, and communities. This paper uses an expanded environmental governance (EG) framework to understand how PS projects, in relation to government and other actors, can successfully contribute to environmental management. From EG literature, we identified four criteria that could lead to successful PS projects: how local problems are identified; the nature of institutional linkages; data management practices; and quality assurance protocols. We then analyzed 5 PS water quality programs with divergent actor networks according to these four criteria to identify how each criterion determined success. We describe examples of PS program data's influences on environmental management decisions and recommend high‐impact PS practices. Overarching all of these factors is the issue of trust among actors in PS programs, although trust can be developed through different criteria in different project contexts. We suggest additional factors, such as technology and deeper attention to the political dimensions of PS projects, that should be explored in practice and research to extend the usefulness of PS approaches in environmental management. These findings may be useful in developing PS programs within and outside of government agencies that aim to deepen participation.
Federal and state health data sets often lack the granularity needed for medically underserved small towns. To address this, we conducted two community health assessment surveys in Knights Landing (KL), a rural agricultural town in California, to identify local healthcare strengths, barriers, and needs. Utilizing a Community‐Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) framework, our project centered on a collaboration between academic‐researchers and promotora‐researchers: community leaders who evolved from activists to empowered research partners over a decade. Data from an initial randomized survey in 2013 ( N = 88) informed the design of a follow‐up survey in 2018 ( N = 100). For the 2018 survey, promotora‐researchers made the executive decision to shift to snowball sampling, which provided a deeper understanding of the health experiences of the clinic's most vulnerable and historically underrepresented populations. Both surveys produced actionable community‐owned data that stimulated significant community organizing, led to expanded services at the student‐led clinic (KLOHC), and cultivated public health investments for Knights Landing. This study demonstrates how a decade‐long partnership, grounded in shared power and evolving into a Community‐Owned and ‐Managed Research (COMR) model, can generate a robust and adaptive health assessment tool. Ultimately, this work highlights the transformative power of community involvement in health research for creating impactful and enduring change.
Scientific research that addresses the complex impacts of climate change requires training researchers capable of conducting societally relevant and actionable research through equitable community science methods. In this article, we, a cohort of eight graduate students with the United States Geological Survey Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center 2022–2023 Natural Resource Workforce Development Fellowship, reflect on our experience learning and using community science skills as an interdisciplinary team through the lens of an experiential learning research project. Through this year‐long fellowship, we increased our competency in equitable community science skills identified in the literature, including transdisciplinary and ethical thinking, building interpersonal relationships, working as a team toward a shared goal, and self‐reflection. We also encountered several challenges in executing community science, some we had anticipated and some we had not, including our ability to develop meaningful and equitable collaborations within the fellowship timeframe. Our reflections highlight the importance of partnership development, flexibility, and clear communication in overcoming these challenges while also underscoring the need for longer‐term community partner engagement, mentorship, and institutional support to facilitate meaningful and equitable collaborations. We share and provide reflection for future students, educators, and practitioners on our experience as graduate students participating in a training‐focused fellowship to learn and engage in community science methods.
While research exploring factors related to farmers' mental health has been conducted more extensively in the past decade, much of the published literature in this domain focuses on acute stress and mental health challenges, rather than long term worries of agricultural producers. The purpose of this study was to use a systems‐based approach to explore farmers' concerns for the future of agriculture, both in the context of their own operations and the industry as a whole. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 31 managers and owners of small‐ to mid‐sized farms in Georgia. Interview recordings were transcribed, and inductive coding was used for data analysis. Farmers' concerns for the future of their own operations were driven by financial stress, challenges finding and retaining workers for their operations, increased regulatory pressure, and worries about farm succession planning. Many of these concerns were connected to larger concerns about the future of agriculture as a whole, which were primarily related to a widening disconnect between farmers and the general population, the gradual consolidation of farming operations under corporate ownership, and changing weather patterns that threatened established patterns of agricultural production and compounded other issues in the agricultural industry to threaten domestic food security. By focusing on future concerns rather than acute occupational stressors, this study highlights factors that impact farmers' mental health that fall outside the scope of community or individual interventions, and require a systems‐based approach to address institutional drivers of stress and poor mental health among farmers.
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the value of incorporating evaluation into the process of co‐produced research in pursuit of climate services. We aim to spur interest in and expand the use of evaluation throughout the climate change and climate services scientific community, whether or not evaluation is a formally required component of funding. We use a case study from Southeast Alaska of the Ellam Yua co‐production model implemented among a research center at a large public university and three leadership entities in a small remote community with a majority Alaska Native population. We describe our experiences with evaluation and share what we learned through the process of evaluation, specifically that local workforce development and healing from trauma were significant aspects of project success. This case study shows how important evaluation is for documenting, analyzing, and planning for multiple definitions of success and successfully implementing equitably co‐produced research. It also underscores the significance of expanding typical conceptions of climate services to include a more holistic view of using Indigenous priorities and values to support local capacity‐building and psychological benefits. Building generalized capacities locally to respond to climate‐related stressors was a key part of climate services for our team. Only through Indigenous evaluation did the Kake Climate Partnership partners realize the full transformative potential of the Ellam Yua co‐produced research process–to produce climate services and to uncover new understandings of what climate services can be for communities.
Between 2018 and 2022, representatives of local Indigenous Māori communities and emergency management worked in partnership with physical and social scientists during the planning, deployment, and management of a temporary seismometer network around Taupō volcano. This deployment formed part of the Eruption or Catastrophe: Learning to Implement Preparedness for future Supervolcano Eruptions (ECLIPSE) project designed to increase understanding of the large caldera volcanoes in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Here we critically reflect on this co-production approach to geophysical network deployment and associated volcano research. We identified a central theme of the creating and holding of space for researchers and communities to engage in the activities through adopting a co-production approach, that embeds representatives of local Iwi (tribal groups) Te Arawa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa as key researchers within a broad project team. We worked to ensure we were respecting communities' time, protocols, and decisions; and to exchange knowledge about the research and results with landowners, community leaders, schools, and young people. Time spent kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) built relationships and trust within and outside the research team that have lasted beyond the scope of the ECLIPSE program. We detail our experiences in the hope of demonstrating that this approach to research is a possible and desirable path for future fieldwork-based research.
Small island communities are among the first and hardest impacted by sea‐level rise, though climate initiatives often focus on more heavily populated and economically productive coastal cities. Furthermore, most climate‐impact studies focus on regional scales that may be less applicable to small islands with locally unique morphodynamics. Little Cumberland Island, Georgia, located in southeastern USA, is one example of an often‐overlooked small island community. The island is minimally developed; a single dock and dirt roads connect ∼40 homes. Residents report that tidal flooding of low‐elevation roads has increased in frequency and magnitude over remembered history and is a primary concern for the longevity of island infrastructure. However, without site‐specific flooding predictions, they are unsure how or when to develop the roads. Through community science, this study (a) quantified the impact of wind velocity on tidal flooding, (b) predicted future flooding due to sea‐level rise, and (c) provided actionable results and advice to island residents. Superimposing predicted sea‐level rise onto observed tidal elevations suggests that the frequency of high‐tide flood events which inundate roads by at least 15 cm may nearly double by 2030 and nearly triple by 2040. We advise residents to develop flood‐resilient elevated roads within the next decade. This community‐driven project involved local knowledge, collective action, and social learning with external and internal expertise, though communal agreement on governance for resilient development would benefit from an alignment of conservation values and an extended period of time.
