Capacity Building: The key to Citizen Science

It is an undeniable fact that in this modern world, knowledge is the key to the success of any enterprise. This knowledge is only acquired by unstinting effort or study in any chosen field of endeavour, which goes by the moniker “Capacity Acquisition”. The capacity so acquired when passed on to others by some form of rigorous discipline can be called “Capacity Building”. Only by these capacity building exercises can successful “Citizen Science (CS)” programmes be launched and when sustained, will benefit the entire community well into the future.

The concept or idea of Citizen Science has been prevalent in many western and scientifically advanced nations for more than a century and a half. These kind of movements are also gaining ground in India, where a collective or a group of people are coming together under the umbrella of some common interest and encouraging the members to engage in their mission-oriented activities in a scientific manner. The members themselves may or may not completely possess the scientific knowledge in the beginning in their chosen field of action. However, when led by an expert or experts in the field of action, they gradually acquire the skills that are necessary to succeed in their collective mission. This judicious combination of knowledge acquisition and practical implementation, also known as “Capacity Building” is key to Citizen Science. Some of the major organizations that come to mind who engage in Citizen Science in the world are the National Audubon Society and its various local chapters in the USA and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Great Britain. In India, the foremost example would be the Bombay Natural History Society.

I started the Perur Lake Forum (PLF) with the help of a few volunteers in early 2014 to conduct scientifically oriented bird surveys in the Greater Coimbatore area. I had the good fortune of not only having the help of dedicated volunteers but also possessed the foundational knowledge acquired by being a graduate of the Seattle Audubon Society’s Masterbirder Programme. This programme selects a group of people and gives them top-flight training in the art and science of bird identification, taught by experts like Dr Dennis Paulson and Dr Bob Sundstrom to name a few, along with field trips to gain practical experience and all of them free of cost. In return, these graduates sign a pledge to donate a certain amount of time to train others in the same field and thus build the capacity of volunteers, who will serve the organization i.e. Seattle Audubon at a higher level. This is precisely the model that Perur Lake Forum has functioned for the last five years, with the emphasis more on the practical fieldwork of Monthly Bird Surveys in Perur Lake and Anuvavi Temple. These monthly surveys not only train the interested citizenry in avian systematics, but the scientific analysis of the data collected helps the elected leaders and decision makers to arrive at conservation actions for the benefit of the entire community.

G. Parameswaran.