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Tracking Eutrophication with Citizen Scientists
Case study :
PEER
Partners:
USAID
Year:
2022
Location:
Ramsar, Stung Treng
It’s Clean if it Looks Clean
The current belief is that river water is good, and if it looks clean it is good/drinkable water. So convincing that their daily practices are potentially leading to water that looks clean but is actually not good for drinking or the fish will potentially be tricky, even causing friction.
Lack of Data on Hydrology
Limited or no information on water quality, and biology makes it challenging to protect the area and respond to potential disasters effectively.
The 17 member crew was divided into 4 groups to deep dive into:
i. The community’s perspective on the healthy water and river
ii. The changes in ecosystems around the Mekong river including water levels, fish population, upstream dams and flooded forests
iii. Land use and land change around the Stung Treng Ramsar site
Iv. Algae bloom in the Ramsar site
Impact
Designing it as a community-led water quality testing initiative ensured that scientific knowledge was disseminated to a larger caommunity, instead of staying in a university or government building, which helped in organic grassroots advocacy as well as a group of empowered locals who take ownership of testing their local water quality continuously instead of outsiders doing ad-hoc tests.
Learn more:
The 17 member crew was divided into 4 groups to deep dive into:
i. The community’s perspective on the healthy water and river
ii. The changes in ecosystems around the Mekong river including water levels, fish population, upstream dams and flooded forests
iii. Land use and land change around the Stung Treng Ramsar site
Iv. Algae bloom in the Ramsar site
A crew of 17 members comprising local authority, rangers, community fisheries’ chief, community fisheries member from 3 villages, including Koh Snaeng, Phum Thmey, and Orun Village, and the CEPA team was formed who engaged in understanding their own local ecosystem, training & collection of data and in sharing the results with the larger community.