Harnessing Collaborative Citizen Science for Environmental Security in the Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific region grapples with increasing volatility due to geopolitical tensions and the multifaceted impacts of climate change. In this context, both military and civilian stakeholders urgently require comprehensive biodiversity data. Collaborative citizen science initiatives, leveraging platforms like iNaturalist, offer a powerful means to address this demand.
Drawing on experiences from marine biodiversity projects in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Palau, conducted alongside defense conferences and field expeditions, this article examines the challenges, opportunities, and implications of such efforts. It offers practical recommendations to strengthen citizen science initiatives in collaboration with defense entities, bolstering environmental security across the region.
The Rise of Citizen Science in Environmental Monitoring
The term “citizen science” refers to initiatives where volunteers, typically not professional scientists, collect data for research purposes. Mass participation projects involving citizen scientists have predominantly occurred in the fields of ecology and astronomy. Notably, modern oceanography originated from a collaboration between the British Royal Navy and naturalists during the Challenger Expedition (1872-1876).
While military personnel have traditionally been involved in military science, their direct participation in modern environmental or citizen science has been limited, with exceptions such as weather monitoring and butterfly tagging. A notable contemporary example is seen in coral restoration efforts in Sri Lanka, where the military has been directly involved.
iNaturalist: A Global Citizen Science Platform
iNaturalist operates as an online social network where individuals share biodiversity information to enhance mutual understanding of nature. It serves as a crowdsourced system for species identification and recording organism occurrences. As the largest citizen science network globally, iNaturalist boasts over 158 million observations encompassing 431,284 species, contributed by 2,826,318 observers and 327,490 projects.
In recent years, citizen science projects have been launched alongside major defense conferences and workshops in the Indo-Pacific region. For example, in 2022, a project was initiated at the Kurumba Resort on Vihamanafushi Island in the Maldives, encouraging conference participants to engage in snorkeling, photographing marine life, and uploading their findings to iNaturalist. This project has generated 497 observations representing 227 species, with data collection ongoing.
Benefits of Citizen Science for Defense Entities and Communities
Engagement in citizen science projects by defense entities offers both regional and personal advantages. These include enhanced community, scientific, and policy knowledge, as well as personal benefits such as improved health and well-being, heightened scientific literacy, and positive shifts in attitudes and environmental stewardship.
Participation also fosters increased feelings of responsibility and success, alongside cognitive, political, social, and economic empowerment. For the scientific community, citizen science offers numerous advantages, including the ability to fill data gaps in regions of scarcity and expand monitoring beyond the constraints of research or authority budgets.
The role of citizen scientists in environmental research is pivotal. While professional scientists face limitations in data collection due to constraints in time, funding, and manpower, the military possesses ample resources and an increasing interest in environmental security. Citizen science provides a popular platform for education, data-driven management, and fostering stronger community connections.
Challenges and Opportunities in Leveraging Citizen Science
Despite the potential benefits, citizen science data often exhibit an “unstructured” nature, meaning that the times and locations of samples lack adherence to statistical design. A persistent concern regarding citizen science revolves around data quality, as low-cost sensors cannot attain the precision of contemporary research-grade instrumentation.
However, advancements in super materials and artificial intelligence may be narrowing this gap over time. To strengthen citizen science initiatives in collaboration with defense entities, the following policy recommendations are proposed:
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Project Design and Implementation: Design and implement at least one citizen science project in collaboration with partner countries, organizations, and communities, leveraging existing projects in regions like the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Palau for comparison and continuity.
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Training Initiatives: Provide comprehensive training for defense personnel and community members in citizen science methodologies, including online and field training on technology, project management, and communication.
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Resource Allocation: Ensure adequate resources for citizen science participation by providing compensation and necessary resources to defense personnel and civilians involved in priority projects.
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Data Reporting: Establish a system for rapid and accessible data reporting at local, national, and global scales, utilizing platforms like iNaturalist for efficient data management and dissemination.
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Climate Neutrality: Prioritize climate neutrality in all projects and activities, ensuring that greenhouse gas emissions are measured, mitigated, and offset to minimize environmental harm.
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Marine Plastic Pollution Reduction: Address the serious threat of marine plastic pollution by implementing measures to reduce, recycle, and clean up marine debris.
Conclusion: Strengthening Environmental Security through Citizen Science
We emphasize the pivotal role of environmental security in safeguarding both human and national interests across the expansive Indo-Pacific region. Military-civilian collaboration through citizen science emerges as a paramount practice, poised for expansion through bilateral and multilateral partnerships.
The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States underscores the imperative to bolster collective regional capabilities for addressing environmental and natural threats, alongside combating transnational issues. Citizen science offers a tangible, mutually beneficial avenue to operationalize this strategy, fostering enhanced leadership, regional capacity building, and knowledge exchange between defense entities and local communities.
As global security challenges like climate change, extreme weather events, marine plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss escalate, there is a growing imperative for defense entities to engage, collaborate, and proactively address these issues alongside civilian stakeholders. By embracing the strategic recommendations outlined in this article, defense entities can fortify their commitment to environmental security while fostering resilience and cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region.
