Lake drying and livelihood dynamics in Lake Chad: unravelling the mechanisms, contexts and responses

This article examines lake drying and livelihood dynamics in the context of multiple stressors through a case study of the ‘‘Small Lake Chad’’ in the Republic of Chad. Livelihoods research in regions experiencing persistent lake water fluctuations has largely focused on the wellbeing and security of lakeshore dwellers. Little is known about the mechanisms through which lake drying shapes livelihood drawbacks and opportunities, and whether locally evolved responses are enhancing livelihoods. Here we address these gaps using empirical, mixed-methods field research couched within the framework of livelihoods and human well-being contexts. The analysis demonstrates that limited opportunities outside agriculture, the influx of mixed ethnic migrants and the increasing spate of violence all enhance livelihood challenges. Livelihood opportunities centre on the renewal effects of seasonal flood pulses on lake waters and the learning opportunities triggered by past droughts. Although drying has spurred new adaptive behaviours predicated on seasonality, traditional predictive factors and the availability of assets, responses have remained largely reactive. The article points to where lake drying fits amongst changes in the wider socioeconomic landscape in which people live, and suggests that awareness of the particularities of the mechanisms that connect lake drying to livelihoods can offer insights into the ways local people might be assisted by governments and development actors

Participants in Citizen Science

The most important factor that defines citizen science is that non-professional scientists contribute to scientific research. Therefore, it is important to recognise the perspectives and experiences of these participants. Projects may provide ways for participants to contribute to scientific research at different stages of the scientific process according to different levels of engagement. Understanding what motivates citizen scientists to engage in a project, and subsequently matching the project to these motivations, will help project leaders to recruit and retain participants. In addition, it is important to understand what benefits participants gain from engagement in citizen science projects. For individual projects, this will help ensure that scientists as well as participants benefit. For the wider field of citizen science, this will provide evidence of the potential impact of citizen science on participants. However, participants may also encounter challenges during their engagement with citizen science projects. Project leaders and scientists should plan in advance to address these challenges and ensure that relevant expertise is present in the project team. Keywords Citizen engagement · Participant motiScience Communication and Societ

Revealing the diversity of values of nature and its benefits to people for a good quality of life: The IPBES approach

Nature and its benefits to people for a good quality of life is perceived and valued in starkly different and often conflicting ways, mainly due to different worldviews about the relationships between society and nature. This paper presents the rationale for an inclusive incorporation of this diversity of values in decision making, as well as approaches for doing so, as they co-exist and often compete in society. While developed within the context of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), this approach is more widely applicable to initiatives at the knowledge-policy interface, which inherently require a pluralistic approach to the multiple values of the natural world and its contribution to human societies. We argue that transformative practices aiming at sustainable futures would benefit from the recognition and orchestration of these multiple values in a wide range of policy and decision-making processes