Presentation short abstract

Through two accounts of how communities use citizen science and technologies such as smart phones or sensors to monitor and adapt to ecological degradation, this paper reflects on citizen (techno)science and collaborative methods as resisting extractive research logics and environmental governance.

Presentation long abstract

This paper examines how communities engage in citizen science using phones, GIS, sensors and participatory mapping to monitor environmental degradation and redefine conservation and knowledge production. Drawing on research in Mexico and Costa Rica, it shows how communities go beyond expert-centric knowledge and amplify place-based perspectives to reshape environmental governance, scientific practice and social relations.

In Baja California, artisanal fishers and local NGOs deploy low-cost sensors, mobile applications and biodiversity monitoring tools to document oceanographic conditions and ecological change. This initiative does not position citizens as mere data collectors; rather, participants are trained to interpret data and mobilize this in cooperative assemblies and reporting to fishing authorities. Sensor data has detected hypoxia ahead of state agencies and contributed to decisions on catch limits, seasonal closures, and the establishment of no-take zones.

In northwest Costa Rica, women communal water-board members and firefighters experiment with open-source sensors and GIS mapping to track forest fires and water points. These women tinker with and repurpose the technologies to fit local conditions and water circuits. In gatherings, they decide collectively on what to monitor, sensor placement, interpretation and application of the data. This provides clues (and invites further discussion on) how citizen science can function as a way of reworking relations among citizens, scientists, technocrats and policy makers.

In these practices we discern citizen science emerges as a fragile yet generative space for centering local problem definitions, sustaining plural, place-based knowledges, shifting conservation practices, and building more inclusive, adaptive and community-led forms of environmental governance.