Changing role of citizens in national environmental monitoring

During the last few decades the role of citizens in environmental monitoring has changed remarkably in Finland. In this chapter, we briefly describe this change by using examples of both traditional and modern monitoring systems. According to our findings, there are at least four important drivers challenging traditional monitoring systems. First, the monitoring is undergoing a rapid process of globalisation and e.g. the systems that earlier focused on national problems are today controlled by European legislation or influenced by international problems, agreements and practices. Second, public obligations for monitoring have grown much more rapidly than economic resources and it requires the monitoring systems to have a new kind of ability to adapt to changes. Third, the migration of people from rural areas to towns has reduced the potential of a voluntary workforce. The forth driver is the aging of the volunteers. All drivers, without new monitoring strategies, challenge both the performance and geographical coverage of monitoring systems. We expect that a combination of new technologies, such as remote sensing, the Internet of Things and Big Data, can empower new groups of volunteers and increase the social impact and effectiveness of voluntary monitoring to fulfil our national and international obligations.