The priorities outlined in JNCC’s latest strategy Together for Nature – our Strategy to 2030 include a need to respond to the global biodiversity crisis, advise on policy to progress nature recovery, and to advance our learning. To achieve these goals, reliable and long-term data about the state of biodiversity across the UK is needed. Our Citizen Science Monitoring Schemes capture information on a how a range of the UK’s biodiversity is changing over time.
There are a range of ways that biodiversity monitoring schemes have value. These are summarised below, but for more detail and examples see this report on the value of JNCC’s Terrestrial Evidence Programme. With such a range of benefits, monitoring schemes deliver excellent value.
Contents
- Value for science through delivering robust evidence
- Value for understanding impacts of pressures and conservation action
- Value for informing management and planning
- Value for reporting on the status of biodiversity
- Value through collaboration
- Value for skills enhancement and public engagement
- Value for public health
- Value of current approach working with volunteers
Value for science through delivering robust evidence
Each monitoring scheme has well-defined peer-reviewed methods, designed specifically to survey the species of interest appropriately. Schemes cover a wide geographical area; collect a large sample size (15,000+ sample points combined across more structured schemes); create long-term data sets; and collect environmental variables alongside species data, making them valuable sources of evidence. Several schemes are designed to sample the UK in a way that reduces bias, or are designed to suit volunteer recording, but correcting for biases during analysis. Each scheme has a rigorous and transparent verification process to ensure high standard and uniformity of all data collected; for example, in plant, butterfly and many of the bird monitoring schemes. With the correct processes, citizen science has been found to be reliable, and of high scientific value.
Value for understanding impacts of pressures and conservation action
Anthropogenic activities can have major impacts on environmental health, and there is an ongoing need to measure their influence. Annual long-term scheme data are used to explore how pressures such as climate change, urbanisation, and air pollution are impacting the natural world. Scheme data also enable us to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions, such as assessing the effectiveness of UK protected sites for conserving biodiversity.
Value for informing management and planning
Scheme data can help to evaluate land management and planning by assessing species responses, through changes in species presence records, population estimates and trends. For example, scheme data have been used to understand how bird populations are likely to change with different urban development designs, and developing risk maps for avian influenza. This evidence is critical in informing environmental policy, land use planning and management, and advising on conservation priorities. Data from butterfly and bird monitoring schemes have been used in evaluating the risks to nature and identifying priority areas to address these risks, while genetic data collected by bat monitoring scheme volunteers have contributed to cross-European research projects.
Value for reporting on the status of biodiversity
The high standard of the monitoring scheme data means trends produced are published as Official Statistics, and form the basis for a number of the UK Biodiversity Indicators (UKBIs). Datasets underpinning the Official Statistics are produced by JNCC and partners to the highest possible standard and contribute to the policy decisions made at a national level. The current UKBIs were designed to track progress towards the Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). UKBIs formed a key part of the UK’s 6th National Report to CBD in 2019.
Value through collaboration
JNCC’s Monitoring Schemes are run in partnerships with organisations that each specialise in a species group (referred to as a taxon or, in plural, taxa) and/or ecology. These partnerships bring together a range of skills and expertise that enable the design and running of effective monitoring programmes that no organisation by themselves could achieve. As well as our scheme partners, Country Nature Conservation Bodies and devolved governments work with us to steer scheme development and link evidence to policy. Altogether, these organisations form the collaborative UK Terrestrial Evidence Partnership of Partnerships (UKTEPoP), which works with many other UK environmental organisations as well. The Terrestrial Surveillance Development and Analysis (TSDA) partnership brings further value by undertaking combined analyses across scheme datasets, and assessing and implementing developments applicable to multiple schemes, including use of new monitoring technologies.
Monitoring scheme data are openly available to enable use in a variety of analyses, and we welcome greater use of the data within research.
Value for skills enhancement and public engagement
Schemes provide an excellent opportunity for engaging people with nature. Our scheme partners run specific training programmes to ensure standardised data collection across the country. The expertise of our partner organisations plays a huge role in ensuring volunteers are prepared for the monitoring tasks they have been asked to carry out and are able to access assistance, with many of our partners having dedicated county or regional experts who are heavily involved in the schemes. Before anyone is sent out into the field, they are provided with training and other resources such as online courses, identification guides, field courses, and community events.
Value for public health
Encouraging people to take part in the process of scientific research for nature recovery has multiple benefits to those individuals themselves, including health and mental wellbeing benefits from more time spent in greener spaces, and wider benefits from how people interact with the environment. Citizen science projects encourage this engagement, as well as helping people learn more about scientific research and processes.
Value of current approach working with volunteers
The scope of data needed to monitor biodiversity trends, produce official advice, and respond to change is massive, much more than JNCC could produce without our partners and their dedicated volunteers. Trying to collect the same amount of data annually across the whole UK, solely using professional ecologists and agencies would be expensive and challenging. Across the schemes, there is an estimated return of >20 times JNCC’s investment from volunteer recorder time contributions, making it a cost-effective solution. The fact that volunteers are dispersed across the country also helps to reduce the environmental cost of collecting this volume of data, although there is still scope for us to improve this. The dedication, expertise and local knowledge that volunteers bring to the schemes is invaluable.
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