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Paper short abstract

Drawing on fieldwork in an urban forest in Nairobi, this paper reflects on citizen science and eco-ethnography, suggesting that participation may unfold through practices of collective presence, slowing down, and non-action, under conditions of ecological urgency.

Paper long abstract

This paper reflects on the promises and limits of citizen science and eco-ethnography through fieldwork with a youth-led tree nursery group engaged in forest conservation on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Here, participation has taken the form of light, informal practices, including the sharing of photographs, videos, and observations through a WhatsApp group, alongside moments of collective presence in the forest. While these practices align with participatory and citizen science approaches, they sit uneasily with dominant expectations of data production, measurable outcomes, and action-oriented engagement—particularly under conditions of ecological urgency.

Drawing on ethnography in Oloolua Forest, and a locally developed workshop that deliberately slows down action and suspends solution-making, the paper examines how urgency is lived and negotiated by environmentally engaged youth. Rather than gathering predefined contributions, the workshop foregrounds reflections on forest care as attentiveness and attachment, allowing urgency to appear not only as motivation but also as pressure, fatigue, and moral demand.

This paper suggests that while citizen science and eco-ethnography promise more inclusive forms of knowledge-making, they may inadvertently reproduce extractive logics when participation becomes synonymous with contribution. By attending to moments of non-action, delayed reflection, and participant-paced documentation, this case proposes an alternative orientation to participation — one grounded in presence rather than productivity. In doing so, it contributes to debates on citizen science and eco-ethnography by showing how participation may unfold through practices of collective presence, slowing down, and non-action under conditions of ecological urgency.