Developing Inexpensive and DIY Water Sensors to Advance Community-Led Nature-Based Conservation Solutions
Research Location:
Implemented: Madagascar
Conservation Partner:
Conservation International
Student Researcher (2024)
Leo Eichers, Major: Chemistry; Minor: GeologyStudent Researcher (2023)
Fiona Gordon, Major: Physics, Engineering Physics and Applied DesignStudent Researcher (2023)
Sophia Holincheck, Major: Chemistry; Minor: Computer ScienceFaculty Mentors
Dr. Nathan Kidwell and Jonathan FreyProject Description
A team of W&M and Malagasy students is working with Conservation International staff and faculty mentors to develop a low-cost, "do-it-yourself" (DIY) water sensor that will advance community monitoring of watersheds in Madagascar and in Virginia.
To effectively protect nature from the cascading impacts of climate change, there is a need to support local communities in designing, implementing, and evaluating solutions. Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are solutions where sustainable planning, design, environmental management, and engineering practices are used to weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience. However, NBS must be coupled with continued monitoring of how these interventions will affect water ecosystem services and local communities.
In support of Conservation International (CI)'s Priceless Planet Coalition Project, which supports Malagasy communities in restoration efforts that promote socioeconomic benefits to their communities, a team of W&M and Malagasy students are developing state-of-the-art tools and methods to gauge freshwater co-benefits derived from NBS. Fundamental to this is developing low-cost and convenient methods that communities could use to generate an evidence base for freshwater benefits for large-scale NBS. In partnership with communities (Indigenous peoples, local communities, and youth), CI hopes to empower these groups to become water monitoring champions. This is crucial because the sustainable use of NBS for the protection of freshwater depends on the creation of community-based monitoring schemes that ensure the effective participation of society in water management.
The use of cost-effective data acquisition techniques via DIY and citizen science will contribute to that mission while generating knowledge for sustainable water management.
