UF study demonstrates role of public participation in environmental policy decision-making
by Lourdes Mederos, University of Florida
October 10, 2024
As updates to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) usher in a new era requiring inclusive environmental reviews with robust public engagement, a new University of Florida study, titled “Citizen science as a valuable tool for environmental review” unveils a significant rise in the use of citizen science data within across the United States.
An environmental impact statement (EIS), as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), serves as a tool for decision makers to understand environmental consequences and to choose actions that minimize those adverse effects on the environment, particularly for major federal projects such as infrastructure development, energy production, and land management activities.
The study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, demonstrates how observations and data collected by people contributing to platforms like iNaturalist and eBird can significantly enhance environmental decision-making, particularly in areas of biodiversity conservation, species monitoring and ecosystem health assessment. The study used the University of Arizona’s NEPAccess platform, the most comprehensive source of information about NEPA in the country.
“Citizen science is rapidly evolving to become a critical component of environmental review and contributing directly to policy through environmental impact statements,” said lead author Corey Callaghan, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. “Our findings show that data collected by the public can play a significant role in documenting the presence of species, which is essential for mitigating biodiversity loss as part of the environmental review process.”
Read the Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2808