Arab Youth Climate Movement (Bahrain) - Citizen Science Program

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Information provided by AYCM - Bahrain.

As a citizen led initiative and movement, our core mission is to educate, empower, inspire, mobilize, and engage youth whilst ensuring that our Bahraini heritage is at the heart of our vision. AYCM BH deeply believe that every minute and contribution counts and hence, have decided to focus on embracing every opportunity and contribution available through including citizens from all walks of life through inviting public participation in our citizen science programs and accompanying activities.

Modern life often separates individuals from the environment that surrounds them, leading to the neglect and side-lining of one of the most important connections that we as humans have with our ecosystem and, more pressingly, our future. We hear this often however, many of us may find it difficult to rekindle that connection. Citizen science is a valuable concept and tool which aims to include public participation in scientific research.  AYCM Bahrain, sees it as an important element in bridging the growing gap between people and nature since it does not restrict people based on their background or field but instead brings together diverse skills and knowledge. Moreover, citizen science allows citizens to contribute towards scientific research through providing access to public engagement and participation which is crucial to understanding our environment better. We strongly believe that it is only through our direct participation as citizens in such initiatives that look at addressing important and pressing matters such as climate change, do we empower ourselves to becoming part of the solution.

In 2013, AYCM Bahrain initiated its first citizen science program titled “Log our biodiversity” which focuses on recording species present in the Kingdom of Bahrain as a way of encouraging citizens to take an effective role in conversation and promoting collaboration between citizens and experts in the field.  The program aims to:

• Create a database of species present in Bahrain through logging species encountered by the public to allow for temporal comparison by scientists to be able to detect change in species presence.

• Educate and informing citizens on species present in Bahrain through making information and data accessible online.

• Enable citizens to independently log data regardless of their location in Bahrain.

• Promote partnership between all stakeholders including  scientists, experts, government and members of the public.

The program in its current form is based on an app called iNaturalist which serves as an online social network that enables people to share biodiversity information. By allowing users to upload photographic observations of flora and fauna, it also acts as ‘a crowd sourced species identification system and organism occurrence tool’ thereby generating scientifically valuable biodiversity data. It is supported by a number of international institutions including the IUCN and National Geographic’s Great Nature Project.

AYCM Bahrain conducts regular sessions for the purpose of introducing the program to the public. Sessions typically are comprised of a short introductory presentation followed by a guided walk through the historic agricultural lands and palm groves surrounding Bahrain’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Bahrain Fort.

Participants are given the opportunity to take photographs of plant and animal wildlife in order to  document the various species that inhabit the site as part of the iNaturalist community whilst they discover the ancient site of Bahrain Fort which is known to be vulnerable to climate change impacts.