CITIZEN SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING: WORLD TRENDS, SITUATION IN UKRAINE
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko national University of Kyiv, Khilchevskyi V. , Zapototskyi S. ,   Taras Shevchenko national University of Kyiv
Published: December 2022

The aim of the study was to characterize the main trends in the development of citizen science (CS), which has been attracting growing interest from society since the beginning of the 21st century, which is associated with the development of digital technologies, and the ability to connect to the Internet. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “Citizenship Science is the collection and analysis of data related to the natural world by members of the general public, usually as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists “. This movement has had significant activity in the countries of Western Europe, the USA, Australia, and in the last decade in China. An analysis of completed projects shows that citizen science has the greatest impact on research in the field of biology, ecology, and solutions to environmental problems and is mainly used for collecting and classifying data. The accuracy of the data obtained by CS representatives depends on the proper organization of research and requires constant monitoring and cooperation with professional scientists. Citizens’ motivation to participate in research can also influence the results of CS projects. Three general aspects are highlighted as motivation for participation in CS: a) raising the individual scientific and educational level and the desire to increase public awareness; b) filling gaps in government monitoring and identifying local problems; c) harnessing scientific knowledge to inform policymakers and decision-makers and ensuring consistency of actions at different scales. An important area of research in citizen science is monitoring the quality of water in water bodies, as evidenced by more than 800 works published during 2010-2020. In periodicals indexed by the Web of Science. It is relevant to involve representatives of citizen science in solving the tasks facing SDG 6 “Clean water and adequate sanitation”, one of the 17 global goals that were adopted at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development (2015) for the period 2015-2030. The participation of citizen science can be significant in the context of SDG 6.3.2 “Identifying the proportion of water bodies with good water quality”, as these studies relate to the monitoring of water bodies at the community level. The FreshWater Watch program, launched in 2012, is based on the continuous monitoring of freshwater bodies. The program has both a global and a local level. Global level – citizen scientists in different countries participating in the program work according to the same methods and register a common set of parameters that are loaded into the same database. Local level – working with local groups and scientists who have scientific questions about their specific water bodies. Thus, using global approaches, it is possible to answer local questions about water quality and the state of ecosystems. In Ukraine, the situation with citizen science is fundamentally different from that described above. There is no citizen science in the same form as in the countries of Western Europe, North America, Australia, and East Asia in Ukraine. This is connected both with the general economic situation of the country and, accordingly, the constant reduction of scientific institutions, a decrease in the interest of citizens in science and with moral and ethical aspects (from the skepticism of professional Ukrainian scientists regarding the activities of representatives of citizen science to the unwillingness of broad strata of citizens to spend their time on work in CS projects). But on Facebook (FB) there are groups of biological, hydrological, and geological orientations in Ukraine, which have their own sites in FB and carry out certain work. Ukraine’s integration into the structure of the European Union will contribute to the emergence of new opportunities for further development of civil society, including participation in citizen science projects.