Researchers at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment surveyed 115 people who had recently participated in citizen science projects in India with the Wildlife Conservation Society, US, and the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore.
The study, led by PhD student McKenzie Johnson, found that in addition to gaining environmental knowledge and skills such as population monitoring and species identification, participants in the projects often became environmental advocates, sharing their knowledge within their social networks.
Previous studies have shown that citizen science helps boost environmental literacy and raise public awareness, Weinthal noted, but this is the first to demonstrate that it also helps build environmental networks.
Fifteen of the people surveyed reported that they had gone on to create their own conservation organisation after participating in citizen science projects. Others changed careers to become full-time wildlife conservationists.
"I hope this study demonstrates the potential for citizen science to not only engage individuals in scientific activities and learning, but to have an advocacy impact that could potentially reverberate in communities far beyond the actual project participants," Johnson said.
The study was published in the journal Global Environmental Change.
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