- Convenors:
-
Anna Berti Suman
(A SUD)
Doug Weir (The Conflict and Environment Observatory)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Roundtable
Short Abstract
Armed conflicts often affect the environment and prevent research on environmental issues, leaving communities and ecosystems more at risk. The roundtable discusses citizen science potential to document these impacts, empowering affected people and contributing to peacebuilding and accountability.
Description
Armed conflicts and insecurity can directly damage the environment and create and sustain the socio-economic conditions that may encourage environmentally damaging activities or exacerbate their consequences. These same conditions often prevent research into environmental change, and on pre-existing environmental issues, leaving affected communities and ecosystems more at risk.
During the last 15 years, earth observation and open-source intelligence have radically improved our understanding of the environmental dimensions of armed conflicts and insecurity, leading to policy change and appetite for field data. Citizen science approaches have the potential to contribute towards field environmental data collection, as well as to help improve access to environmental information, empowering communities in environmental decision-making and contributing towards peacebuilding and accountability initiatives.
As an occasion to introduce the newly formed ECSA Working Group on Citizen Science in Areas Affected by Armed Conflicts, the proposed roundtable will explore the nexus between citizen science and ‘extreme’ situations or situations of ‘crises’ caused by armed conflicts. The key aim is to trigger a debate on the current and future potential of citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts.
Invited themes include: current and emerging best practice in the field; context-appropriate methodologies that can contribute towards international efforts to enhance the documentation of environmental change in areas affected by armed conflicts; how to improve the effectiveness of citizen science methodologies in areas affected by armed conflicts and to enhance the security of participants; the legislative, judicial, evidentiary and capacity considerations for citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts.
Accepted contributions
Short Abstract
Armed conflicts cause hidden environmental damage. This talk presents a citizen science framework using sensors, participatory mapping, and satellite data to help communities and NGOs safely document impacts and support advocacy and post-conflict restoration.
Abstract
Armed conflicts leave unattended environmental destruction, from polluted water sources to impaired ecosystems, that frequently remains undocumented because of poor institutional access. This contributions presents how citizen science approaches can be adapted to conflict-affected contexts, filling the gap in data that such regions experience. The work will present a pilot framework integrating low-cost sensors, participatory mapping, and open satellite imagery (Sentinel-2, LIDAR) with which local communities, displaced people, and NGOs will document environmental impacts in a safe way.
The contribution will discuss ethical protocols to protect participants’ identities, data sovereignty challenges, and strategies to validate community-generated data under insecure conditions. By learning from existing grassroots monitoring efforts (e.g. CEOBS and partner organisations), it aims to highlight concrete pathways for integrating citizen-collected evidence into advocacy, remediation planning, and post-conflict environmental restoration.
Short Abstract
As war devastates Ukraine’s environment, hybrid citizen science (CS) emerges as a resilience practice, enabling communities to document damage and seek justice. Based on 8 student-led projects, this contribution shows how hybrid collaboration adapts CS to conflict, revealing strengths and challenges
Abstract
The ongoing war in Ukraine has inflicted severe damage on the country’s natural heritage, disrupting ecological research and amplifying risks for affected communities and ecosystems. In this context, hybrid citizen science (CS) has emerged as a resilience-driven practice, enabling communities to document environmental destruction, advocate for justice, and contribute to accountability and peacebuilding. This contribution explores how CS can adapt to conflict conditions through the lens of hybrid collaboration, defined as the interplay between face-to-face and digitally mediated participation.
Drawing on eight student-led CS actions conducted between March and June 2025 under the GROMADA Erasmus+ project, the contribution examines how hybrid modalities supported collaboration among university students in and beyond Ukraine. Using a qualitative approach and a SWOT framework, the contribution is based on research -that has been conducted by authors- to capture students’ pre- and post-project perceptions of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Findings reveal that digital tools, such as Telegram, played a pivotal role in sustaining communication, coordination, and data sharing, thereby mitigating barriers created by displacement, infrastructure damage, and safety risks.
At the same time, challenges such as unstable internet, reduced face-to-face interaction, and concerns over participant safety highlighted the fragility of such practices and the need for ethical safeguards. By situating hybrid CS in a conflict-affected context, this contribution demonstrates how innovative collaborative models can strengthen scientific inquiry, support environmental monitoring, and empower civic engagement, offering new insights into the role of CS in areas shaped by crisis and armed conflict.
Short Abstract
Citizen science in Palestine under occupation has operational, ethical, legal, and safety constraints but is done as a form of resistance and towards sustainable future. Done at small scale in difficult circumstances and with flexibility it provides a form of resistance to colonialism.
Abstract
Citizen science is a powerful tool for monitoring species, building local scientific capacity, and strengthening community stewardship. In Palestine, grassroots biodiversity monitoring (e.g., bird observations, flora and fauna records) has expanded through platforms such as iNaturalist and eBird and local organizations such as the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS). However, carrying out citizen science under occupation creates special operational, ethical, legal, and safety constraints: restricted movement and access to sites, surveillance and data security concerns, asymmetric control of infrastructure, and risks of data misuse. This paper synthesizes published literature, practitioner experience, and regional examples to (1) describe the landscape of citizen science in Palestine, (2) analyze specific obstacles and ethical questions that occupation raises, (3) offer practical protocols and methodological adaptations for safe, robust data collection, and (4) propose policy and institutional recommendations to maximize scientific value while minimizing risks to participants and communities.
Short Abstract
Countries affected by armed conflict often struggle to monitor pollution and sustain healthy ecosystems. This segment examines Iraq as a post-conflict case, reflecting on challenges faced and lessons learned from introducing citizen science to its complex sociopolitical and governance systems.
Abstract
Conflicts around the world may differ in their contexts but play a similar role in environmental degradation and shifting institutional and social priorities to the detriment of healthy ecosystems. Human and animal populations in warzones suffer from the toxic remnants of war and are rarely equipped to cope with such environments, creating unforeseen health hazards. Concurrently, institutional capacity and political priorities in conflict-affected settings are frequently diverted away from environmental management toward “more urgent” reconstruction efforts.
Iraq, a country that has endured a long period of armed conflicts and instability, is struggling to survive record levels of pollution and dwindling environmental resources. Industrial and municipal waste frequently contaminates drinking water sources, while hazardous war residues remain neglected, posing serious risks to surrounding populations. The country’s escalating water scarcity crisis has become a pressing concern, at times fueling tensions between local communities. Yet environmental institutions, weakened by neglect and insufficient funding, have been unable to adequately monitor or mitigate such hazards. This gap has pushed civil society to assume a more proactive role in environmental monitoring within this sensitive context.
Citizen science presents a promising opportunity to foster a participatory form of environmental management, particularly in monitoring pollution and promoting peacebuilding. This contribution aims to reflect on ongoing efforts to bridge the gap in environmental action between civil society and decision makers, with special focus on citizen science. It lays out challenges faced and best practices learned from introducing citizen science into post-conflict Iraq within its complex sociopolitical and governance systems.
Short Abstract
Conflict in Sudan has led to severe urban tree loss, impacting vital ecosystem services. Using citizen science, 100 observations revealed widespread, severe tree damage—mainly in Khartoum—from bullets, overcutting, and burning, stressing a need for urgent restoration.
Abstract
The ongoing conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has triggered severe humanitarian, economic, social, and environmental repercussions, with urban tree loss emerging as an especially concerning issue due to the essential ecosystem services trees provide—including carbon sequestration, air purification, erosion control, and climate regulation. This study, supported by the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), investigates the impact of the armed conflict on urban tree cover within Sudan’s most affected states: Khartoum, Darfur, and Gezira. Utilizing a citizen science-driven methodology, the research gathered 100 validated reports between November 2024 and April 2025 via online submissions from local residents and volunteers. Contributors supplied detailed information on area type, tree species, the impact of conflict, and severity of damage, enabling an in-depth, location-specific analysis across a variety of urban contexts such as residential, commercial, institutional, roadside, farm, and parkland environments. Findings indicate the majority of reports originated from Khartoum (65%), with the rest from Gezira (20%) and Darfur (15%). Most affected sites were residential (58%) and roadside (21%) areas, with Acacia spp., citrus, palms, and Ficus spp. among the most impacted tree species. Conflict-related damages reported included bullet/shrapnel impacts (42%), overcutting (37%), physical injury (34%), general damage (49%), tree falls (15%), and burning (5%). Severity ratings were high (85%), medium (14%), and low (1%), particularly concentrated in Khartoum. This study underscores the effectiveness of citizen science for environmental monitoring in conflict zones and highlights the urgent need for urban ecological restoration measures.
Short Abstract
In the conflict-affected eastern DR Congo, the Kivu citizen observer network collects real-time natural disaster data, contributing to improved scientific understanding of processes, better land management and increased community awareness, while addressing security and sustainability challenges.
Abstract
In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where recurring insecurity and limited institutional resources hinder the systematic documentation of natural hazard disasters, citizen involvement offers a new avenue for monitoring and understanding their processes and impacts. The Kivu Citizen Observer Network, launched in 2019, mobilises 20 trained citizens equipped with smartphones to report floods, landslides, wind and hail storms, lightning and earthquakes in the provinces of North and South Kivu. Although it operates in a fragile and often difficult-to-access area, the network has already recorded more than 1,200 events, providing unprecedented information on the spatial and temporal dynamics of natural hazards and their impacts.
This data is integrated into a WebGIS and quarterly analytical reports distributed by civil protection to government agencies, NGOs and researchers to improve disaster response, land use planning and risk communication. The initiative also strengthens local ownership: citizen observers are identified as trusted members of their communities, promoting awareness and preparedness.
However, the project reveals broader challenges and lessons for citizen science in conflict-affected areas. Considering participant safety, maintaining motivation in the face of limited funding, and protecting data reliability require context-specific approaches. To this end, the establishment of a long-term institutional framework is essential.
The experience in Kivu demonstrates that, even in situations of armed conflict, citizen science can generate reliable environmental data, strengthen local resilience and bring communities closer to scientists and decision-makers through knowledge sharing. It thus transforms field observation into a lever for disaster risk reduction and social cohesion.