WORKSHOP - Experience sharing on BioBlitz and other forms of citizen science

The aim for the session was to share a diversity of experiences regarding the aspects of citizen science with the particular focus on BioBlitz and also the link with nature conservation.

Among the invited speakers were:

Nejc Jogan, Biotechnical faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Kelly Martinou, Alien CSI Communication Manager, Cyprus (video contribution), David García del Amo, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (ICTA-UAB) “Autonomous University of Barcelona”, Spain, Emu-Felicitas Ostermann-Miyashita, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, Eduardo Sampaio, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Germany (video contribution), Marta Galloni, LIFE4Pollinators, Italy, Björk Þorleifsdóttir, Reykjavík Botanic Garden, Iceland (video contribution), Stefano Martellos, University of Trieste, Italy, Ioanna Angelidou, Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre (NGO) & Joint Services Health Unit British Forces Cyprus, Cyprus and Ellie Turner-Wallace, The Natural History Consortium, UK (video contribution). The session was facilitated by Baiba Pruse, VU Athena Institute, the Netherlands.

After the presentations, questions and answers followed: How do the participants envision citizen science (BioBlitz’s) and local ecological knowledge as part of their National Parks or other institutions: a) mapping the opportunities, added values and need of CS/LEK; b) outlining the issues, barriers and limitations implementing CS/LEK.

THe workshop ended by a Practical workshop outside in the park lead by Marta Galloni, who presented the monitoring of pollinators by citizen scientists through LIFE4Pollinators tools.