Environ Health Glob
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Environ Health Glob · Dec 2014
A conceptual approach to a citizens' observatory--supporting community-based environmental governance.
In recent years there has been a trend to view the Citizens' Observatory as an increasingly essential tool that provides an approach for better observing, understanding, protecting and enhancing our environment. However, there is no consensus on how to develop such a system, nor is there any agreement on what a Citizens' Observatory is and what results it could produce. The increase in the prevalence of Citizens' Observatories globally has been mirrored by an increase in the number of variables that are monitored, the number of monitoring locations and the types of participating citizens. ⋯ In this paper, we first propose a conceptual framework for a Citizens' Observatory programme as a system that supports and promotes community-based environmental governance. Next, we discuss some of the challenges involved in developing this approach. This work seeks to initiate a debate and help defining what is the Citizens' Observatory, its potential role in environmental governance, and its validity as a tool for environmental research.