Yaqian WU, ucl, United Kingdom
The global challenges of sustainability are encapsulated in the UN Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), to which 193 member states are committed. However, a key challenge remains in
identifying appropriate methods, indicators, and the ability to monitor progress towards these
2030 Agenda goals. Citizen Science (CS), as a scientific activity in which non-professionals
voluntarily participate and cooperate with experts, has been used in Western countries to meet
this challenge. Whether it also applies to achieving the SDGs of Asian countries like China is
a question that needs to be answered with evidence. On this basis, the tasks of this study are
twofold: first, through a literature review, we identify CS projects relevant to water that are
happening in China; Second, we analyse the selected projects from three dimensions (scientific,
participant, socio-ecological and economic) under an adjusted CS evaluation framework to
determine their suitability in China. The results show that at least 19 water-related citizen
science projects emerged in China since 2005, most of which are dedicated to improving water
quality, with a few focusing on biodiversity monitoring. Multiple stakeholders, including non-
governmental (NGO)/non-profit (NPO) organisations, academic institutions, governments and
companies participate in these activities, with NGOs accounting for the most. CS has not
expanded rapidly in the past 15 years, but most of the projects are still active, which shows
the possibility of CS’s further development in China after a good strategic framework has been
formulated.
Keywords: Sustainable development goals|water|citizen science|environmental policy|China
A104099yW