中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园机构知识库

The Brazilian Semiarid Region is in a vulnerable state due to ongoing anthropogenic pressure. The lack of efficient regulation of regional economic development has resulted in deforestation, desertification, and soil salinization, threatening traditional communities, cultures and biodiversity. Although technological and scientific progress can help to address climate and environmental crises in the region, fragmented knowledge of biodiversity status and trends along with poor infrastructure to monitor environmental quality impede safeguarding ecosystem functions and cultural heritage. In this essay, we suggest a potential solution to fill knowledge gaps through citizen (or community) science. We discuss how public engagement can provide large-scale data, while raising public awareness with regard to conservation considering human and environmental aspects of the Brazilian Semiarid Region. We argue that converting laypeople into scientists through participative monitoring can efficiently increase our knowledge and public scientific literacy to support public policies to avoid biological extinctions and environmental injustice.