Reading rivers from libraries: A participatory initiative to assess and improve urbanised rivers using citizen science

Abstract

Public libraries can serve as a key starting point for initiating citizen participation projects related to the local environment. To illustrate this, we implemented the Llegim el riu project, a citizen participatory initiative aimed at engaging citizens in the assessment and management of rivers close to urban municipalities in the province of Barcelona. After a training exercise led by researchers, citizens and stakeholders were involved in both the diagnosis and the co-creation process of measures. To that purpose, several approaches were used such as interviews, surveys, workshops, dissemination of science, environmental education activities and citizen science tools. In particular, the project comprises 8 steps, where steps 1–5 were considered as the first round of the project, conducted in a training format and dynamized by university researchers and an NGO, while steps 6–8 were considered as the second round and conducted as a reinforcement. These steps consisted of: (1) a local tandem training (i.e. environmental and library technicians from each municipality), (2) a stakeholder field trip using the RiuNet citizen science tool to assess an urban river from each municipality, (3) an analysis of all available data from each sampling site, (4) a co-creation process of measures, (5) a second local tandem training, (6) same as step 2 but dynamized by both researchers and local tandem, (7) a review of the co-created measures, and (8) an implementation of at least one of the co-created measures. The third and subsequent rounds were the same as the second, but entirely dynamized by the local tandem. Citizen participation enhances the effectiveness of adaptive river management approaches by creating resilient and sustainable solutions for urban rivers, crucial for tackling current and future global challenges.