Each scenario includes a brief description of the challenge for citizen science, an example citizen science initiative and the opportunities and risks involved. 

You can use this as a reference to use in your activities, such as:

• holding a roundtable/seminar to explore the opportunities and risks for these alternative futures
• running a backcasting workshop to explore the steps required to reach a particular desired future (see more below about getting involved)
• using them as inspiration for designing new citizen science projects.

Addressing the long-term effects of climate change and the heat island effect is an urgent issue to mitigate collectively. Crippling heat waves and a surge in the cost-of-living crisis have resulted in less volunteering capacity, as people struggle to engage due to the extreme climate and limited resources for extracurricular activities. 

The Extreme Heat Climate Adaptation Initiative (EHCAI) was established by a grassroots activist group in 2024 to mobilise citizens struggling with the impact of extreme heat in Barcelona, Spain. The EHCAI aims to empower citizens to become agents of change by raising awareness about urban extreme heat and providing tangible routes to action. Though resources and access to funding are limited due to the overall cost-of-living crisis, the group ran a crowdfunding campaign and managed to purchase a large amount of heat sensors. 

Over time, the EHCAI has developed a network of volunteer members that generate evidence of the impact of extreme hotspots to campaign for adaptation measures to public spaces. As a result, they have gathered a municipality-wide rich dataset of sensitive, geolocated data on extreme hotspots across the city. The EHCAI creates a private data network, and through a community voting system network members decide the terms and recipients for selling the data back to the municipality and other private companies.

Collective data governance mechanisms could create an opportunity for citizen science initiatives to generate revenue by selling access to their data. Those involved in the initiatives can decide the best ways to distribute this revenue.

A lack of expertise and resources to ensure data interoperability could create challenges for citizen science initiatives, particularly around data security. A lack of investment in citizen science could lead to significant challenges around inequality of data access to those who can’t pay. 

• How can we support increased data interoperability and adequate resourcing for innovation to ensure responsible data practices?
• How could we create an enabling environment for collective data governance and encourage new forms of data stewardship?

Scenario inspired by: 

CALOR - Climate Adaptation: Local Knowledge and Resilience

Data Trusts Initiative