Progress report for
SANDWATCH - a Global Observatory of Changing Environments in SIDS based on citizen science
Achievement at a glance
- An international Sandwatch photo Competition was organized in 2014. 4 primary schools and 4 secondary schools from Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Vietnam were selected and given a price early 2015. These photographs of beaches and coasts are an important tool which provides useful information about the 20 years past changes.- Participants investigate past changes and future climate change scenarios at their local beach location, as a follow-up to their participation at the workshops organized by UNESCO in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific regions.
- The Sandwatch practitioners (both in schools and in community groups), including from Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, started entering monitoring data in the Sandwatch database to assess climate change and other impacts on their beaches, after having benefitted from trainings, the latest being organized by UNESCO in collaboration with the Sandwatch Foundation in the Dominican Republic (May and November 2015), in collaboration with the Cabo Verde National Commission in Guinea-Bissau (December 2015), and in collaboration with the SPC in Kiribati (December 2015).
Challenges faced in implementation
During the organization of the various workshops and trainings, the remoteness of some islands and their lack of internet access challenged the logistics arrangements, putting a lot of pressure on the limited human resources allocated to the organization of these workshops. The cost of travel is also very high in the context of SIDS and puts further pressure on the already limited funds.Next Steps
- Introduce the Sandwatch monitoring to new schools in participating SIDS; and into new SIDS across all world regions- Reinforce the Climate change and climate variability programs/curricula in SIDS education system, based on Sandwatch MAST (Measure, Analyse, Share, Take action) approach
- Train further and assist Sandwatch groups in using the Global Sandwatch Database and consolidate the scientific rigour of data collection
- Strengthen the Sandwatch network to build awareness and share lessons learned
- Encourage further community-based action
Beneficiaries
Children, youth and adults from the community, teachers, educators, trainers, curricula developers, representatives from government, NGOs, tertiary colleges and relevant community members.