Armed conflicts and insecurity can directly damage the environment and create and sustain the socio-economic conditions that can encourage environmentally damaging activities or exacerbate their consequences. These same conditions often prevent research into environmental change, and on pre-existing environmental issues, leaving vulnerable communities and ecosystems more at risk. 

During the last 15 years, earth observation and open source intelligence have radically improved our understanding of the environmental dimensions of armed conflicts and insecurity, leading to policy change and a growing appetite for field data. Participatory approaches have the potential to contribute towards field environmental data collection, as well as helping improve access to environmental information, empowering communities in environmental decision-making and contributing towards peacebuilding and accountability initiatives. 

Objectives

1. To explore the current and future potential of citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts.
2. To identify current and emerging best practice and to contribute towards the development of a community of practice.
3. To identify context-appropriate methodologies and contribute towards international efforts to enhance the documentation of environmental change in areas affected by armed conflicts.
4. To develop guidance to improve the effectiveness of research methodologies in areas affected by armed conflicts and to enhance the security of their participants.
5. To promote the potential of citizen science to stakeholders active in these settings.   
6. To explore the legislative, judicial, evidentiary and capacity considerations for citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts.