Paper Short Abstract:

Practical knowledge gained through community-based environmental monitoring enables people not only to assert their rights, but also to verify the deindustrialization strategies. The paper shall outline aims of the ERICA project on environmental monitoring and initial results of pilot interviews.

Paper Abstract:

The fossil fuel industry, apart from being the major cause of climate change, also produces impacts on the local environment, including land degradation, waste production, water and air contamination and biodiversity loss. People living near oil, gas and lignite extraction sites are exposed to harmful effects of chemical emissions. However, in most cases there is a lack of independent and reliable information on the socio-environmental impacts of the fossil fuel industry. The need to address insufficient or unreliable information has led to the emergence of a global citizen science movement of community-based environmental monitoring. The capability to monitor the environment and the practical knowledge thus gained enables local communities not only to assert their rights in conflicts with energy companies, but also to verify the actions they undertake due to deindustrialization strategies. The paper shall outline assumptions of the ERICA (ERASMUS+) project on adult education in environmental monitoring and initial results of pilot interviews conducted in Konin Lignite Region in Poland - a territory covered by the Just Transition Plan.