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It is clear that the triple planetary crisis – climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and pollution – creates environmental injustice by disproportionately affecting marginalised communities. Environmental injustice can take many forms, including an unequal burden of environmental hazards and unequal access to environmental amenities, as well as underrepresentation in the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental policy.
Citizen science – the active involvement of non-scientists in the scientific research process – can be a powerful tool with which to combat environmental injustice. Not only can it facilitate a hands-on role for marginalised communities in research, but also its incorporation of elements of engagement, education and empowerment can enable all people to deepen awareness, develop knowledge and hone skills to help create meaningful action. Through community-led data collection in projects such as Tiny Forests (the creation of high-density forests the size of a tennis court) and the Great UK WaterBlitz, citizen science is amplifying underrepresented voices and promoting equity and inclusion in environmental decision-making.
The persistent decline in global biodiversity is highly concerning, as less biodiverse ecosystems are less resilient to challenges such as climate breakdown, pests and diseases. Access to natural, biodiverse spaces is also associated with better health and wellbeing outcomes, but UK citizens measure lowest for their connection to Nature out of 14 European nations. Perhaps this is unsurprising, when 84% of people in the UK live in towns and cities, and – in England – one in three people don’t have access to Nature-rich spaces near their homes.
Strikingly, it is the people living in more deprived areas, minority ethnic groups and younger people who are more likely to live in areas with less access to green space.
Urban tree planting can provide a number of functions that enhance environmental, social and economic wellbeing: moderating urban temperatures, managing stormwater, improving air quality and supporting biodiversity, as well as improving human health by reducing stress and enhancing mental wellbeing.
However, to fully realise the socio-environmental potential of urban trees, community needs must be considered. In Detroit, US, for example, residents declined new trees because they felt that their values – particularly around decision-making about tree species selection – were not taken into account, while in Zagreb, Croatia, tree-based urban green spaces were negatively viewed due to perceived inadequate management.
The Tiny Forest project puts community engagement at the heart of tree planting. An application of the Miyawaki urban tree planting method – developed in Japan and known to be effective for rapidly creating forest cover on land that has previously been used for other purposes – Tiny Forests act to inspire local communities, facilitating their involvement and fostering environmental awareness and ownership of local green spaces.
Together with volunteers, Earthwatch Europe has planted one of the largest networks of Miyawaki forests outside of Japan – more than 280 across the UK – and engages people to monitor the benefits of those forests through citizen science. In 2024, over 2,000 citizen scientists from local communities took part in 48 monitoring and engagement events, conducting an impressive 108 hours of biodiversity monitoring in one year.
Notably, data shows that participating in these Tiny Forest engagement events significantly benefited participants’ self-reported feelings of connection to Nature, on average moving from D to E on a scale between A and G, where A is total exclusion and G is total inclusion, particularly striking when over 50% of Tiny Forests are planted in areas that score 4 or below on the Index of Multiple Deprivation, delivering benefits to biodiversity and broader society alike.
Urbanisation and our growing disconnect from Nature have also contributed to the freshwater crisis. Worryingly, without urgent action England’s public water supply could be short by 5 billion litres a day by 2055.
Research demonstrates that public trust and satisfaction in water companies is falling, with the vast majority of people not believing that water companies act in the best interests of the environment. Driven by a desire to better understand their freshwater environments, many communities are signing up to take part in campaigns such as the Great UK WaterBlitz, a four-day biannual event in which citizen scientists assess their local rivers, lakes, ponds and streams for nutrient pollution. The campaign creates snapshots of freshwater health across the UK, pinpointing pollution hotspots and helping to hold polluters to account.
In April 2025, almost 8,000 citizen scientists analysed more than 4,000 sites, 66% of which turned out to have unacceptable levels of nutrient pollution. The county of Rutland was shown to have the worst water quality in the UK, and, armed with this community-generated knowledge, Rutland County Council’s scrutiny committee wrote to water companies servicing the county to advocate for their precious freshwater environments.
Beyond enabling community advocacy, citizen science data has the potential to support official monitoring frameworks for water quality, ensuring better representation at a policy level.
In Sierra Leone, for example, Earthwatch is empowering communities to support progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 by monitoring the “proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality” (SDG Indicator 6.3.2). Working with UNEP GEMS/Water Data Centre and Sierra Leone’s National Water Resources Management Agency, citizen scientists have been equipped with the necessary tools to double the number of water bodies being monitored. Importantly, the data citizen scientists generated was incorporated into official monitoring towards SDG6 by the National Water Resources Management Agency, demonstrating the potential for all people to contribute to monitoring and shaping environmental policy through the power of citizen science.
In the face of environmental injustice, citizen science is not just a tool for data collection. It is an act of resistance and repair. By raising marginalised voices, grounding decisions in community experience, and building bridges between people and policy, it offers a way forward: one in which science serves society, and stewardship is shared by all.
