Citizen science and the nexus approach: unlocking synergies for sustainable development

This article explores how citizen science can contribute to achieving the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) by focusing on the complex and sometimes interrelated nature of sustainability challenges. Citizen science presents a unique opportunity to ethically engage communities in research by actively involving them in defining sustainability targets, gathering data, and analysing results, thereby generating actionable insights that directly inform both local and global sustainability efforts. The authors advocate for integrating citizen science with the nexus approach to environmental resources management, which examines the interrelatedness and interdependencies that are inherent within complex systems, emphasising the relationships among water, energy, and food systems. The nexus approach proposes strategies to enhance the role of citizen science in addressing sustainability challenges. These include strengthening collective interaction and knowledge exchange between the five subsystems described by the quintuple helix innovation model, namely policy, science, industry, society and environment. The article also highlights the importance of inclusive participation, co-defining localised sustainability indicators, and co-creating citizen-led actions. By empowering communities to engage in participatory knowledge production and promoting multi-actor collaboration, citizen science not only has the potential to contribute valuable data to monitoring progress on the SDGs but also to help deliver on the UN’s pledge to ‘leave no one behind.’ Ultimately, creating an inclusive environment for the participation of diverse societal actors in nexus-oriented research and innovation can unlock the full potential of citizen science in advancing the SDGs and ensuring a sustainable future.