The citizen science approach is based on mutual exchanges between citizens and scientists at each step of a project and is a potentially valuable approach as applied to sentinel landscape initiatives. In this presentation, CIFOR and IRD scientist Edmond Dounias gives an overview of the citizen science approach and its application to sentinel landscape initiatives, giving the example of bee-keeping in terms of bees and climate change: sentinels of the environment. This presentation formed part of the CRP6 Sentinel Landscape planning workshop held on 30 September – 1 October 2011 at CIFOR’s headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia. Further information on CRP6 and Sentinel Landscapes can be accessed from http://www.cifor.org/crp6/ and http://www.cifor.org/fileadmin/subsites/crp/CRP6-Sentinel-Landscape-workplan_2011-2014.pdf respectively.

1. Sentinel landscape meeting
CIFOR Headquarters
30/09 – 01/10 2011
Citizen science approach
as a means to mobilise
local communities in sentinel landscape
initiatives
edmond dounias
edmond.dounias@ird.fr

2. What is citizen science?
question and protocol
Simplicity
objectives and methods
citizens data
scientists Scheme
clear structure, well designed protocol
Feedback
results understanding results, maps, graphs available
education
Communication
press release, networking, attractive
Classical CS website, scientific publication and
educational output
More participatory
approaches
Devictor, V., Whittaker, R. J. and Beltrame, C. 2010 Beyond scarcity: citizen science programmes as useful tools for
conservation biogeography. Diversity and distributions, 16(3): 354–362.

3. Why should we pay attention
to Citizen Science?
Useful to address issues of large temporal and spatial extents
Generally more resilient to financial uncertainty
Citizens: the world’s largest research team? Public engagement
in R&D programmes; networking; study case comparison
Valuable in developing the preventive and educational
component for biodiversity conservation
Promote the reconnection between people and nature
Offer great opportunity to demystify scientific approaches
Highly enlightening for researchers

4. Don’t Worry, Be Apis!
Beekeeping and honey hunting over the ages

5. Diversity of Man and Bee
interactions

6. Diversity of honey hunting and
beekeeping procedures

7. Social insects, social humans
diversity of social relationships

8. Bees and global change
Sentinels of the environment
Natural ecosystem engineers & biodiversity maintenance
Crop pollinators: Induced production of food worldwide
Ethnoentomological knowledge with regard to ongoing
changes (sentinel landscape objectives)

9. Citizen science approaches
adapted to IPCLs
Cyber Tracker
cybertracker.org
Pygmies using GPS to save the trees
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7218078.stm
Citizen Science
Colloquescb.tela-botanica.org

10. Sharing local ecological knowledge on artisanal honey harvesting and
beekeeping in a changing world
http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/sentimiel
© P. Agland 1990