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A broad understanding of the aims and objectives of the international open science movement was recently adopted with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, expanding the focus of open science to include scientific knowledge, infrastructures, knowledge systems and the open engagement of societal actors. In response, recent discussions on science policy practice are shifting to the implementation of open science via national policies. While policy instruments to support some aspects of open science are well-studied, guidance on the emerging ‘social’ aspects of open science has lagged, prompting UNESCO to generate guidance. In this paper, several authors of the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit guidance document on ‘Engaging societal actors in Open Science’ synthesize the scholarly underpinnings behind its recommendations. This work draws upon a targeted search from academic, policy, and grey literature in the fields of open science and community engagement, with a special focus on citizen science, to derive guidance on how to overcome barriers to the uptake of societal engagement approaches. The results present building blocks of what an enabling environment for the open engagement of societal actors could look like, identifying key considerations and reflecting on opportunities and challenges for progressing and evaluating sound open engagement of societal actors into regional & national (open) science policies.

Access to accurate and trusted data for transboundary water management is important but not always sufficiently appreciated. Based on the Lake Victoria water levels decline, this technical note demonstrates that when a water crisis unfolds, tensions can arise because of absence of relevant data and uncertainty over data that are available. These may hamper the process towards agreeing on actions to be taken, thus delaying crisis resolution. This technical note demonstrates the importance of reliable data in a sensitive transboundary water situation. Countries therefore should allocate sufficient resources for adequately monitoring the state of transboundary water resources within their territories.

The effects of citizen science are wide ranging, influencing science, society, the economy, the environment, as well as individual participants. However, in many citizen science projects, impact evaluation is still overly simplistic. This is particularly the case when assessing the impact of participation in citizen science on the environmental attitudes, behaviour and knowledge of citizen scientists. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the state of the art in relevant scientific fields and citizen science, this systematic literature review identified best practices and approaches in the field of environmental psychology for measuring environmental attitudes, behaviour and knowledge. From the literature, five relevant and validated approaches were identified that can be used to measure changes in attitudes, behaviour and knowledge in citizen science projects. This would allow for improved understanding of the impacts of citizen science, as well as for improved project evaluation as a whole.

The proliferation of Citizen Science initiatives has increased the expectations of practitioners who need data for design, analysis, management and research in environmental applications. Many Citizen Science experiences have reported tangible societal benefits related to improved governance of natural resources due to the involvement of citizens and communities. However, from the perspective of data generation, most of the literature on Citizen Science tends to regard it as a potentially cost-effective source of data, with major concerns about the quality of data. The Ground Truth 2.0 project brought the opportunity to examine the scope of this potential by analysing the value of citizen-generated data. We propose a methodology to account for the value of citizen observations as a function of their complementarity to existing environmental observations and the evolution of their costs in time. The application of the proposed methodology in the chosen case studies that were all established using a co-design approach shows that the cost of obtaining Citizen Science data is not as low as frequently stated in literature. This is because the costs associated with co-design events for creating a Citizen Science community, as well as the functional and technical design of the tools, are much higher than the costs of rolling out the actual observation campaigns. In none of the considered cases did an increment in the number of preparatory events translate into an immediate increase in the collected observations. Nevertheless, Citizen Science appears to have the greatest value in places where in-situ environmental monitoring is not implemented.

In October 2020, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) with many partners, supported by the European Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), held an international, hybrid conference in order to showcase, evaluate, and discuss the contribution of citizen science to frame and achieve the SDGs. The conference Knowledge for Change: A Decade of Citizen Science (2020-2030) in Support of the SDGs took place as an official event of Germany’s 2020 EU Council presidency. The SDGs are a scientifically based framework for the whole world to address hunger and malnutrition, health, environment as well as culture and justice, decided by the UN. Citizen Science, the contribution of lay people to scientific activities, may support the achievement of the SDGs – by providing data and insights, but also by adapting and prioritising research questions. Aim The conference presented, evaluated and discussed the exciting contributions that Citizen Science makes in framing and achieving sustainable development, specifically the UN SDGs. The conference brought together expertise from policy makers, institutional and citizen scientists, economists, NGOs and civil society to implement mechanisms and processes for the transition towards a more sustainable future. The Declaration A Declaration including policy recommendations resulted from the conference: "Our world – our goals: citizen science for the Sustainable Development Goals". The Declaration acts as a voluntary commitment by all partners to define the roles, competences and concrete potentials of Citizen Science to advance the SDGs. It was formulated in an open and participatory process. The Declaration groups the various important contributions of citizen science to the SDGs in three central recommendations: 1) Harness the benefits of citizen science for the SDGs, 2) strengthen citizen science and its connections with other communities, and 3) strengthen future citizen science systems.

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In response to the need for approaches to understand how citizen science is currently influencing environmental policy and associated decision making, we devised the Citizen Science Impact StoryTelling Approach (CSISTA). We iteratively designed instruments to be used as tools primarily for citizen science practitioners seeking to understand or communicate policy impacts. We then trialled the CSISTA and associated instruments on four exemplary citizen science initiatives, using different forms of inquiry and collaboration with respective initiative leaders. In this paper, we present CSISTA, with details of the steps for implementing inquiry and storytelling instruments. Additionally, we reflect on insights gained and challenges encountered implementing the approach. Overall, we found the versatility and structure of CSISTA as a process with multiple guiding instruments useful. We envision the approach being helpful, particularly with regards to: 1) gaining an understanding of a citizen science initiative's policy and decision-making impacts; 2) creating short policy impact stories to communicate such impacts to broader audiences; or 3) fulfilling both goals to understand and communicate policy impacts with a unified approach. We encourage others to explore, adapt, and improve the approach. Additionally, we hope that explorations of CSISTA will foster broader discussions on how to understand and strengthen interactions between citizen science practitioners, policy makers, and decision makers at large, whether at local, national, or international scales.

Citizen science has expanded rapidly over the past decades. Yet, defining citizen science and its boundaries remained a challenge, and this is reflected in the literature—for example in the proliferation of typologies and definitions. There is a need for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement within the citizen science practitioners community on what should be considered as citizen science activity. This paper describes the development and results of a survey that examined this issue, through the use of vignettes—short case descriptions that describe an activity, while asking the respondents to rate the activity on a scale from ‘not citizen science’ (0%) to ‘citizen science’ (100%). The survey included 50 vignettes, of which five were developed as clear cases of not-citizen science activities, five as widely accepted citizen science activities and the others addressing 10 factors and 61 sub-factors that can lead to controversy about an activity. The survey has attracted 333 respondents, who provided over 5100 ratings. The analysis demonstrates the plurality of understanding of what citizen science is and calls for an open understanding of what activities are included in the field.

Tracking progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires high-quality, timely, and accessible data, often in areas where data are rarely available. Problems exist due to socioeconomic variations between countries and the qualitative nature of certain indicators in their definition. Citizen science has the potential to contribute to several SDGs. However, whilst citizen science’s potential to contribute towards SDGs is well documented, limitations exist when measuring the impact that citizen science has made toward SDG progress. To better understand the issues and prospective solutions surrounding impact assessment towards SDG progress, this work presents the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with citizen science project coordinators. They reveal the complex nature of impact assessment within a citizen science context. Coordinators demonstrate greater confidence when the project is easier to relate to the SDGs, and the project methodology can objectively measure indicators. Issues exist, however, when considering SDGs with a broader, global context, those more difficult to link to project goals and when the project’s impact on them happens at timescales beyond the funding period. If the full potential of citizen-science contributions to the SDGs is to be realised, approaches are needed to fully consider practitioners’ needs and motivations.

While it is increasingly important to strengthen the existing knowledge base in Africa to adequately respond to the rising risks and impacts of climate change on water resources, a significant research gap remains to identify areas and mechanisms to cope with these societal challenges. The aim of the paper is twofold: i) to provide subject-specific insights by analyzing the current knowledge base in Africa given water-related challenges due to climate change, and ii) to offer methodological insights into how a knowledge base can be studied comprehensively. This study overcomes the limitations of existing studies by combining two different perspectives, namely a thematic focus on six societal challenges and a conceptual focus on five social innovation dimensions. It does so by undertaking an innovative qualitative analysis that combines both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. Top-down, it explores the extent to which five social innovation dimensions are included and addressed in policy agendas and action plans. Bottom-up, it explores the perception of African experts and practitioners in how these knowledge gaps should be addressed. The research identifies a strong bias in the policy arena towards water security versus other water-related societal challenges. Our research suggests that rather than focusing on traditional policy instruments, water-related societal challenges should be addressed by joint attention to all five social innovation dimensions. There is a strong call from practitioners and experts towards strengthening the existing knowledge base by engaging local realities and local stakeholders and for the involvement of business and private sector actors.

In response to the need for approaches to understand how citizen science is currently influencing environmental policy and associated decision making, we devised the Citizen Science Impact StoryTelling Approach (CSISTA). We iteratively designed instruments to be used as tools primarily for citizen science practitioners seeking to understand or communicate policy impacts. We then trialled the CSISTA and associated instruments on four exemplary citizen science initiatives, using different forms of inquiry and collaboration with respective initiative leaders. In this paper, we present CSISTA, with details of the steps for implementing inquiry and storytelling instruments. Additionally, we reflect on insights gained and challenges encountered implementing the approach. Overall, we found the versatility and structure of CSISTA as a process with multiple guiding instruments useful. We envision the approach being helpful, particularly with regards to: 1) gaining an understanding of a citizen science initiative's policy and decision-making impacts; 2) creating short policy impact stories to communicate such impacts to broader audiences; or 3) fulfilling both goals to understand and communicate policy impacts with a unified approach. We encourage others to explore, adapt, and improve the approach. Additionally, we hope that explorations of CSISTA will foster broader discussions on how to understand and strengthen interactions between citizen science practitioners, policy makers, and decision makers at large, whether at local, national, or international scales.

Citizen science has expanded rapidly over the past decades. Yet, defining citizen science and its boundaries remained a challenge, and this is reflected in the literature—for example in the proliferation of typologies and definitions. There is a need for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement within the citizen science practitioners community on what should be considered as citizen science activity. This paper describes the development and results of a survey that examined this issue, through the use of vignettes—short case descriptions that describe an activity, while asking the respondents to rate the activity on a scale from ‘not citizen science’ (0%) to ‘citizen science’ (100%). The survey included 50 vignettes, of which five were developed as clear cases of not-citizen science activities, five as widely accepted citizen science activities and the others addressing 10 factors and 61 sub-factors that can lead to controversy about an activity. The survey has attracted 333 respondents, who provided over 5100 ratings. The analysis demonstrates the plurality of understanding of what citizen science is and calls for an open understanding of what activities are included in the field.

WeObserve delivered the first European-wide Citizen Observatory (CO) knowledge platform to share best practices, to address challenges and to inform practitioners, policy makers and funders of COs. We present key insights from WeObserve activities into leveraging challenges to create interlinked solutions, connecting with international frameworks and groups, advancing the field through communities of practice and practitioner networks, and fostering an enabling environment for COs. We also discuss how the new Horizon Europe funding programme can help to further advance the CO concept, and vice versa, how COs can provide a suitable mechanism to support the ambitions of Horizon Europe.

Citizen observatories are a relatively recent form of citizen science. As part of the flood risk management strategy of the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment, a citizen observatory for flood risk management has been proposed and is currently being implemented. Citizens are involved through monitoring water levels and obstructions and providing other relevant information through mobile apps, where the data are assimilated with other sensor data in a hydrological–hydraulic model used in early warning. A cost–benefit analysis of the citizen observatory was undertaken to demonstrate the value of this approach in monetary terms. Although not yet fully operational, the citizen observatory is assumed to decrease the social vulnerability of the flood risk. By calculating the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of three flood scenarios (required for flood risk management planning by the EU Directive on Flood Risk Management) with and without the proposed citizen observatory, it is possible to evaluate the benefits in terms of the average annual avoided damage costs. Although currently a hypothetical exercise, the results showed a reduction in avoided damage of 45 % compared to a business as usual scenario. Thus, linking citizen science and citizen observatories with hydrological modelling to raise awareness of flood hazards and to facilitate two-way communication between citizens and local authorities has great potential in reducing future flood risk in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment. Moreover, such approaches are easily transferable to other catchments.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a vision for achieving a sustainable future. Reliable, timely, comprehensive, and consistent data are critical for measuring progress towards, and ultimately achieving, the SDGs. Data from citizen science represent one new source of data that could be used for SDG reporting and monitoring. However, information is still lacking regarding the current and potential contributions of citizen science to the SDG indicator framework. Through a systematic review of the metadata and work plans of the 244 SDG indicators, as well as the identification of past and ongoing citizen science initiatives that could directly or indirectly provide data for these indicators, this paper presents an overview of where citizen science is already contributing and could contribute data to the SDG indicator framework. The results demonstrate that citizen science is “already contributing” to the monitoring of 5 SDG indicators, and that citizen science “could contribute” to 76 indicators, which, together, equates to around 33%. Our analysis also shows that the greatest inputs from citizen science to the SDG framework relate to SDG 15 Life on Land, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing, and SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation. Realizing the full potential of citizen science requires demonstrating its value in the global data ecosystem, building partnerships around citizen science data to accelerate SDG progress, and leveraging investments to enhance its use and impact.

Citizen observatories are a relatively recent form of citizen science. As part of the flood risk management strategy of the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment, a citizen observatory for flood risk management has been proposed and is currently being implemented. Citizens are involved through monitoring water levels and obstructions and providing other relevant information through mobile apps, where the data are assimilated with other sensor data in a hydrological–hydraulic model used in early warning. A cost–benefit analysis of the citizen observatory was undertaken to demonstrate the value of this approach in monetary terms. Although not yet fully operational, the citizen observatory is assumed to decrease the social vulnerability of the flood risk. By calculating the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of three flood scenarios (required for flood risk management planning by the EU Directive on Flood Risk Management) with and without the proposed citizen observatory, it is possible to evaluate the benefits in terms of the average annual avoided damage costs. Although currently a hypothetical exercise, the results showed a reduction in avoided damage of 45 % compared to a business as usual scenario. Thus, linking citizen science and citizen observatories with hydrological modelling to raise awareness of flood hazards and to facilitate two-way communication between citizens and local authorities has great potential in reducing future flood risk in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment. Moreover, such approaches are easily transferable to other catchments.

Citizen Science Projects: How to make a difference, is a massive open online course (MOOC). It was developed by the H2020 WeObserve project and ran on the FutureLearn platform from 2019. The course was designed to assist learners from all backgrounds and geographical locations to discover how to build their own citizen science project to address global challenges and create positive change. It also helped learners with interpreting the information they collected and using their findings to educate others about important local and global concerns. The main learning objectives for the course were: ∗ Discover what citizen science and citizen observatories are ∗ Engage with the general process of a citizen science project, the tools used and where they can be accessed ∗ Collect and analyse data on relevant issues such as environmental challenges and disaster management, and discuss the results of their findings ∗ Explore projects happening around the world, what the aims of these projects are and how learners could get involved ∗ Model the steps to create their own citizen science project ∗ Evaluate the potential of citizen science in bringing about change This course also provided five open-source, downloadable tools which have been tested in previous citizen science projects and created for the use of a wider range of projects. These tools are listed below and available in the research repository: ∗Empathy timeline tool ∗Community-level indicators tool ∗Data postcards tool ∗Future newspaper tool ∗Co-evaluation tool

Citizen science has expanded rapidly over the past decades. Yet, defining citizen science and its boundaries remained a challenge, and this is reflected in the literature - for example in the proliferation of typologies and definitions. There is a need for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement within the citizen science practitioners community on what should be considered as citizen science activity. This paper describes the development and results of a survey that examined this issue, through the use of vignettes - short case descriptions that describe an activity, while asking the respondents to rate the activity on a scale from ‘not citizen science’ (0%) to ‘citizen science’ (100%). The survey included 50 vignettes, of which 5 were developed as clear cases of not-citizen science activities, 5 as widely accepted citizen science activities, and the others addressing 10 factors and 61 sub-factors that can lead to controversy about an activity. The survey has attracted 333 respondents, who provided over 5,100 ratings. The analysis demonstrates the plurality of understanding of what citizen science is and calls for an open understanding of what activities are included in the field.

This document attempts to represent a wide range of opinions in an inclusive way, to allow for different types of projects and programmes, where context-specific criteria can be set.The characteristics outlined below are based on views expressed by researchers, practitioners, public officials and the wider public. Our aim is to identify the characteristics that should be considered when setting such criteria (e.g. a funding scheme), and we call upon readers to determine which subset of these characteristics is relevant to their own specific context and aims. These characteristics build on (and refer to) the ECSA 10 principles of citizen science as a summary of best practie – and projects are expected to engage meaningfully with them. Where it is especially pertinent, we refer to them in the characteristics below. The rest of the document covers the characteristics of citizen science under five sections: (1) core concepts; (2) disciplinary aspects; (3) leadership and participation; (4) financial aspects; and (5) data and knowledge. Further explanation and background are provided in the ‘ECSA’s characteristics of citizen science: explanation notes’ document.

This explanation document provides an interpretation of and explanation for the characteristics document, which was kept short to make it useful to different stakeholders. In this document, the characteristics document is represented, with the original text in blue and an explanation in black.

The contribution of citizen science to addressing societal challenges has long been recognized. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as an overarching policy framework and a roadmap to guide global development efforts until 2030 for achieving a better future for all, could benefit from the potential that citizen science offers. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the value of citizen science, particularly in addressing the data needs for SDG monitoring, among the UN agencies, national statistical offices, policy makers and the citizen science community itself. To address this challenge, we launched a Community of Practice on Citizen Science and the SDGs (SDGs CoP) in November 2018 as part of the EU Horizon 2020 funded WeObserve project. The SDGs CoP brings together citizen science researchers, practitioners, UN custodian agencies, broader data communities and other key actors to develop an understanding on how to demonstrate the value of citizen science for SDG achievement. The initial focus and the main objective of the SDGs CoP has been to conduct a research study to understand the contribution of citizen science to SDG monitoring and implementation. In this talk, we will present the work of the SDGs CoP. We will first discuss existing data gaps and needs for measuring progress on the SDGs, and then provide an overview on the results of a systematic review that we undertook within the CoP, showing where citizen science is already contributing and could contribute data to the SDG framework. We will provide concrete examples of our findings to demonstrate how citizen science data could inform the SDGs. We will also touch on the challenges for and barriers to the uptake of citizen science data for the SDG monitoring processes, and how to bring this source of data into the scope of official statistics.

The reliance of environmental management on comprehensive, high quality, timely and (ideally) affordable data and information has given rise to the need for ‘shared environmental information systems’ (SEIS). Community-based monitoring and information systems or ‘citizen observatories’ are a form of SEIS whereby citizens are involved in new roles such as data collection for environmental monitoring, data and knowledge sharing for joint decision-making, and cooperative planning. Despite the technological advances and the notional potential, many efforts to implement community-based monitoring systems (CBM) are facing difficulties with engaging the core stakeholder. The success of CBMs relies on the active participation and commitment of all involved stakeholders: citizen, decision and policy makers, and (private) data aggregators and scientists. This requires in-depth understanding of their motivations, incentives and barriers for participating. This paper draws on the Theory of Planned Behaviour as an organising theoretical framework and reviews the (dispersed) empirical insights from the literature in order to generate an integrated overview of the incentives and barriers of the aforementioned stakeholders to participate in CBMs. The insights from the literature allow us to take stock of the state of research into motivations for CBM participation, to identify complementary and conflicting incentives for the respective actors, and to indicate gaps to be addressed in future research.

Traditional data sources are not sufficient for measuring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. New and non-traditional sources of data are required. Citizen science is an emerging example of a non-traditional data source that is already making a contribution. In this Perspective, we present a roadmap that outlines how citizen science can be integrated into the formal Sustainable Development Goals reporting mechanisms. Success will require leadership from the United Nations, innovation from National Statistical Offices and focus from the citizen-science community to identify the indicators for which citizen science can make a real contribution.

The urgent need for innovation to address multifaceted and intertwined water-related challenges is becoming increasingly clear, acknowledged and responded to with cumulating sources and amounts of funding. Nevertheless, the water sector has been claimed to be less innovative than other sectors. This Special Volume on the dynamics of water innovation is based on the realization that, in general, there is a striking absence of academic studies on the dynamics of water innovation. This SV is therefore designed to lay the foundations for the field of water innovation studies, in an effort to integrate the emerging insights. Together, the contributions in this SV capture the current understanding of the dynamics of water innovation and provide insights into how the water innovation process can be fostered. The purpose of this introductory article is threefold, namely to frame the discussion on water innovation dynamics in order to contextualise the contributions of this SV, to provide systematic guidance for studying water innovation dynamics and to suggest the way forward for water innovation studies. It captures the extent of the field of water innovation studies with a review of the literature of the last three decades and frames water innovations. Based on five decades of innovation research and drawing on three areas (management, strategy and policy), we provide an innovation studies taxonomy that consists of four organising dimensions: type of innovation, stage of innovation, level of analysis and measurement. This taxonomy enables researchers to study the dynamics of water innovation from different combinations of conceptual and thematic angles, drawing on the field of innovation studies in a systematic fashion. Finally, we reflect on the way forward for water innovation studies with suggestions for future research.

Innovation systems theory stresses the central importance of knowledge and the transfer of knowledge between the different actors of an innovation system, yet there are no methodological tools to systematically analyse the dynamics of such relationships. In this paper, we propose a multi-disciplinary approach drawing on social psychology to integrate innovation systems and knowledge transfer theory. We focus the empirical efforts for validating this approach in the water sector. Although Water Operator Partnerships are conceptualised to share best practices via knowledge transfer, our findings based on empirical evidence indicate clear points of consensus as well as issues of conflict in the dynamics of knowledge transfer between water operators engaged in such partnerships. The results indicate qualitative differences in goals of knowledge transfer as well as sources of differences and asymmetries in motivations, pressures and capabilities in the knowledge transfer process.

To improve hydrological predictions, real-time measurements derived from traditional physical sensors are integrated within mathematic models. Recently, traditional sensors are being complemented with crowdsourced data (social sensors). Although measurements from social sensors can be low cost and more spatially distributed, other factors like spatial variability of citizen involvement, decreasing involvement over time, variable observations accuracy and feasibility for model assimilation play an important role in accurate flood predictions. Only a few studies have investigated the benefit of assimilating uncertain crowdsourced data in hydrological and hydraulic models. In this study, we investigate the usefulness of assimilating crowdsourced observations from a heterogeneous network of static physical, static social and dynamic social sensors. We assess improvements in the model prediction performance for different spatial–temporal scenarios of citizen involvement levels. To that end, we simulate an extreme flood event that occurred in the Bacchiglione catchment (Italy) in May 2013 using a semi-distributed hydrological model with the station at Ponte degli Angeli (Vicenza) as the prediction–validation point. A conceptual hydrological model is implemented by the Alto Adriatico Water Authority and it is used to estimate runoff from the different sub-catchments, while a hydraulic model is implemented to propagate the flow along the river reach. In both models, a Kalman filter is implemented to assimilate the crowdsourced observations. Synthetic crowdsourced observations are generated for either static social or dynamic social sensors because these measures were not available at the time of the study. We consider two sets of experiments: (i) assuming random probability of receiving crowdsourced observations and (ii) using theoretical scenarios of citizen motivations, and consequent involvement levels, based on population distribution. The results demonstrate the useful

The OECD Principles on Water Governance set out various requirements for stakeholder engagement. Coupled with conceptualizations of social learning, this article asks how we define and enact stakeholder engagement and explores the actual practice of engagement of stakeholders in three fields of water governance. The results suggest that a key consideration is the purpose of the stakeholder engagement, requiring consideration of its ethics, process, roles and expected outcomes. While facilitators cannot be held accountable if stakeholder engagement ‘fails’ in terms of social learning, they are responsible for ensuring that the enabling conditions for social learning are met.

Increasing attention is being paid to the importance and potential of crowd-sourced data to complement current environmental data-streams (i.e. in-situ observations and RS data). In parallel, the diffusion of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) that are interactive and easy to use have provided a way forward in facing extreme climatic events and the threatening hazards resulting from those. The combination of these two trends is referred to as ICT-enabled ‘citizen observatories’ of the environment. Nevertheless, the success of these citizen observatories hinges on the continued involvement of citizens as central actors of these initiatives. Developing strategies to (further) engage citizens requires in-depth understanding of the behavioral determinants that encourage or impede individuals to collect and share environment-related data. This paper takes the case of citizen-sensed weather data using Personal Weather Stations (PWSs) and looks at the drivers and barriers for sharing such data via online amateur weather networks. This is done employing a behavioral science lens that considers data sharing a decision and systematically investigates the influential factors that affect this decision. The analysis and findings are based on qualitative empirical research carried out in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Italy. Subsequently, a model was developed that depicts the main drivers and barriers for citizen participation in weather observatories. This resulting model can be utilized as a tool to develop strategies for further enhancing ICT-enabled citizen participation in climatic observations and, consequently, in environmental management.

This study reviews the evaluation of capacity development, identifying capacity development (CD) modalities and the schools of evaluation currently in place. The research joins the results agenda debate, arguing that in dealing with CD interventions, pre-defined indicators fail to represent the process and the key elements that take CD recipients toward patterns of change. The study highlights the fact that CD deals with projects that, by their nature (consisting of change processes designed to initiate change in people, organizations, and/or their enabling environment), rely more on non-planned changes than on the pre-defined indicators and results to contribute to livelihood improvements and social transformation. The study recognizes the difficulty of evaluating CD under straightforward mechanisms. It concludes that the existing approaches are not adequate to truly capture or measure impact, as CD projects, restricted by previously agreed budgets, resources, and time frames, are usually not designed to evaluate the sustainability of change and its impact over the medium or long term. As resources are scarce, donor agencies and policy-makers need to know the value of CD in order to best prioritize their investments. However, due to the nature of these projects, measuring the return rate between the project cost and its impact remains a difficult task. There is a need for new, multi-path approaches to capturing changes in capacity in order to serve as a basis for decision-making regarding CD investments.

Transboundary data sharing is widely recognised as a necessary element in the successful handling of water-related climate change issues, as it is a means towards integrated water resources management (IWRM). However, in practice it is often a challenge to achieve it. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental agency established by Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, has adopted IWRM in its water strategy plan in order to properly manage the transboundary waters of the Mekong River. In this context, data sharing procedures were institutionalised and have been officially implemented by the four member countries since 2001. This paper uses a systematic approach to identify the extent of data sharing and the factors influencing the willingness of key individuals in the Vietnam National Mekong Committee and its Primary Custodians to share data. We find that the initial objectives of the Procedures for Data and Information Exchange and Sharing (PDIES) have not been fully achieved and, further, that Vietnam has much to gain and little to lose by engaging in data sharing in the MRC context. The primary motivation for data sharing stems from the desire to protect national benefits and to prevent upstream countries from overexploiting the shared water resources. However, data sharing is hindered by a lack of national regulations in the Vietnam context concerning data sharing between state agencies and outdated information management systems.

Despite the considerable progress in engineering works, flooding continues and is now recognized as a major and increasing challenge. This realisation has resulted in a shift in flood risk management from leaning heavily on structural measures to the incorporation of non-structural initiatives, such as communication about flood risks that is considerate of the diversity existing within communities and that encompasses the entire disaster cycle. Communities that are more aware of flood risks and possess the knowledge to prepare for disasters appear to be better able to respond, mitigate and recover from their detrimental impacts. This paper examines the current practice of flood risk communication strategies of a local community in Doncaster, UK. The research findings are analysed with a view to identifying factors that positively and negatively influence the flood risk communication strategies and community resilience. Based on these insights, we provide recommendations for further improving the communication about flood risks, and ways in which it could be better targeted and used throughout the disaster cycle to help strengthen community resilience.

This study reviews the evaluation of capacity development, identifying capacity development (CD) modalities and the schools of evaluation currently in place. The research joins the results agenda debate, arguing that in dealing with CD interventions, pre-defined indicators fail to represent the process and the key elements that take CD recipients toward patterns of change. The study highlights the fact that CD deals with projects that, by their nature (consisting of change processes designed to initiate change in people, organizations, and/or their enabling environment), rely more on non-planned changes than on the pre-defined indicators and results to contribute to livelihood improvements and social transformation. The study recognizes the difficulty of evaluating CD under straightforward mechanisms. It concludes that the existing approaches are not adequate to truly capture or measure impact, as CD projects, restricted by previously agreed budgets, resources, and time frames, are usually not designed to evaluate the sustainability of change and its impact over the medium or long term. As resources are scarce, donor agencies and policy-makers need to know the value of CD in order to best prioritize their investments. However, due to the nature of these projects, measuring the return rate between the project cost and its impact remains a difficult task. There is a need for new, multi-path approaches to capturing changes in capacity in order to serve as a basis for decision-making regarding CD investments.

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Water lies at the heart of human development but the global challenges for meeting demands, coupled with increasing urbanisation, land degradation and human population growth, make the challenges of water use in the developing world particularly acute. Capacity development is crucial for creating and strengthening the knowledge base to address water-related development challenges via sound water governance. The UNESCO-IHE Institute of Water Education has a strong mandate and track record in capacity development within the water sector. As part of the review of its strategic direction, UNESCO-IHE undertook a review of its capacity development (CD) programme, using a variety of reflection modalities and involving a broad range of staff and external stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to capture the created, collective understanding and to outline the identified responses. In the face of increasingly complex challenges and demands at national and global levels, we find that it is imperative to strengthen the capacity of water sector organisations and not just the individuals inside them, and to pay attention to the needs for the development of complementary skills across the various sectors that play a key role at scales of water management from local to transboundary. Thus, the challenge for UNESCO-IHE and other capacity builders is how to shape their CD activities so as to maximize impact in terms of helping people and organisations to solve their water-related challenges by creating, transferring and applying knowledge for change and innovation. This can only be achieved if capacity builders practice what they preach for strengthening organisational capacity, namely carefully managing their own knowledge base (on CD), fostering knowledge sharing (on CD) among their staff and with their partners in the Global South, and considering each (CD) project a learning opportunity.

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) relies on co-ordination, co-operation and sharing of collected data amongst relevant organizations. This article presents the results of systematic research into non-technical barriers that influence IWRM-related data sharing in transboundary contexts, with a focus on the Mekong River Commission’s procedures for data sharing in Thailand. The current extent of data sharing is quite limited. The main bottlenecks hindering relevant Thai organizations’ sharing data across national boundaries appear to be a perception of limited gains, and concerns for national security. The article concludes that data sharing for IWRM implementation cannot be radically improved without significant changes in the mindsets of the relevant organizations, and suggests how to achieve this.