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OPAL: A Unique National Public
Participatory Environmental Monitoring Project
By: J. Nigel B. Bell*
In 2007 the Open Air Laboratories
Project (OPAL) was established in England, as a unique 5 year programme
involving the public in a wide range of environmental monitoring projects across
the entire area of this part of the United Kingdom. While public participatory
projects have been carried out in the UK previously, the scope, extent and
duration of OPAL are on a scale far greater than any other exercise. Examples of
past projects, which in some ways form a model for key parts of OPAL, are
nation-wide surveys by school children of air and water pollution, using lichens
and invertebrates, respectively, in the early 1970s, the results of which were
published in the journal “Environmental Pollution.” Other more recent examples
some 20 years ago were carried out by school children measuring the acidity of
rain and biomonitoring tropospheric O3 with the sensitive tobacco
cultivar, Bel – W3. In the early years of the present decade a major European
Commission funded project, Eurobionet, performed a major biomonitoring programme
for air pollutants, utilising a range of plant species in cities across a number
of western and central European countries. While this did not involve direct
public participation, it had a high profile in terms of raising the awareness of
the general population of air pollution and its impacts.
The OPAL programme has extended
massively the scope of these earlier projects but incorporating much of their
underlying philosophy. It is funded by the Big Lottery Fund, which awards grants
for community based projects, using the profits of the UK National Lottery,
which was established in 1994. The total value of the award is around
£12,000,000, supporting the work of 15 partners and a total of 31 projects. The
main partners are Imperial College Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) and its
close neighbour in London, the Natural History Museum (NHM). The OPAL objectives
are:
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A change of lifestyle – a
purpose to spend time outside observing and recording the world around us.
The aim here is get over one million people more aware of their natural
environment and how to protect it.
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An exciting and innovative
educational programme that can be accessed and enjoyed by all ages and
abilities. Thus through a range of new approaches to learning, people will
become involved in natural history activities with consequent enhancement of
their knowledge and understanding.
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A new generation of
environmentalists. It is aimed to stimulate membership of natural history
societies, including from under-represented sections of society.
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A much greater understanding of
the state of the natural environment. This will ensure that everybody will
have the opportunity to monitor the state of the natural environment and
generate important scientific data on a vast scale. ‘Some of the most
disadvantaged communities will be helped to identify, quantify and highlight
environmentally deprived spaces.’
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Stronger partnerships between
the community, voluntary and statutory sectors. Scientists at 10
universities in different English regions, with the aid of specialist
national centres, will build connections with individuals and organisations,
which wish to improve local environments, aiming to involve over 500,000
people.
Central to the activities of OPAL
are 5 national surveys which are being carried out sequentially over the life of
the programme and overseen by a Biomonitoring Committee, of which I am the
Chair. The first of these, led by Imperial College, is on soil quality and
earthworm populations. This utilises a workbook and recording guide, carefully
designed, (as in all 5 surveys), by the Field Studies Council, for use by the
non-specialist in a laminated form suitable for use under field conditions in
the wet English climate! It contains a key to 12 common earthworm species,
indicator papers for pH measurement and instructions for a simple set of soil
quality tests, including porosity, compaction and particle size/distribution.
After a number of pilot studies, with subsequent modification of the pack, the
survey was launched in March 2009. Results are entered by the participants into
a web-site (as for the other surveys), which is continuously updated and which
can be interrogated by the public to determine the current distribution of
records. The data are being analysed statistically, seeking relationships
between worm populations and soil characteristics. At the same time they are
being subjected to rigorous quality assurance procedures to ensure the validity
of the data, which will be sufficiently robust for publication in international
refereed journals.
The remaining 4 surveys follow
essentially the same pattern as for the soil quality/earthworms. The second
survey on air quality is also led by Imperial College and was launched in
September 2009. This consists of two parts. Firstly the lichen flora of the
trunks and twigs of free-standing trees is surveyed, concentrating on 9 species
– 3 nitrogen-loving, 3 nitrogen-sensitive and 3 which are intermediate, which
will be related to the air quality at the sites of investigation, thus following
the long-established practice of lichen biomonitoring, but taking into account
recent changes in air pollution characteristics. The second part is a survey of
tarspot of sycamore, which is a fungal disease infecting the leaves that have
been shown to be adversely affected by both SO2 and NO2.
This involves counting the number of tarspots per leaf and calculating a tarspot
index, based on leaf size, which can then be related to the prevailing air
quality. The third survey on water quality is led by University College London
and will be launched in May 2010. It involves estimates of invertebrate species
and tests for water clarity and pH. The Open University (distance learning) will
run the Biodiversity Survey, which will start in September 2010. It is closely
associated with the OPAL funded Open University’s Biodiversity Observatory (“iSpot),
which is an online social networking site, connecting beginners to experts. The
final element, the Climate Survey run from the Meteorological Office, will
commence in March 2011. The exact nature of this is still being worked out, but
suggestions include chasing soap bubbles to record wind characteristics.
In addition to the surveys, centres
have been set up in Air, Soil and Climate Change (Imperial College), Water
(University College London) and Biodiversity (Open University). These act as
focal points for research into these areas, with a high level of public
interaction, as well as the relevant national surveys. In view of the
requirement for OPAL activities other than the surveys to cover all of England,
9 regional centres have been set up in local universities, which address
different environmental issues, of particular interest to the regions concerned.
Thus the University of Hertfordshire concentrates on the ecology of orchards,
covering the East Anglia region; Imperial College covers impacts of road traffic
pollution in South East England and the characteristics of the urban climate of
London; University of Nottingham studies heathlands, particularly the
deleterious effects of nitrogen deposition; University of Birmingham
concentrates on the environment of urban green spaces; University of Plymouth
covers effects of pollution on woodlands; University of York concentrates on a
wide range of environmental activities in Yorkshire and Humberside, with the
University of Newcastle-on-Tyne having a similar broad range of activities in
North East England; University of Central Lancashire operates in North West
England and concentrates on people’s experience, especially of communities which
have not had the opportunity previously to explore the delights of nature. All
these regional centres employ community scientists who are involved in a very
wide range of outreach activities.
OPAL has not yet reached its
halfway stage and, indeed, has only recently held its first annual conference.
However, there is every indication that it is proving to be an outstanding
success, amply fulfilling its original objectives. Thus all stakeholders are
benefiting, including academics, who are receiving a vast amount of original
data which will be published in the scientific literature. The survey packs are
immensely popular and are being progressively refined with each new survey, in
view of experience. Amateur societies are being encouraged, with a programme of
grants being awarded and the recent formation of the first Earthworm Society of
Britain. However, the most pleasing aspect is the keen involvement of many
marginalised and disadvantaged groups, such as handicapped children and adults,
black and ethnic minorities, the long term unemployed and even prisoners. Thus
many people are encountering nature for the first time and learning new skills,
not the least in plant and animal identification, which hopefully will lead to
opportunities of employment, filling the gap left by the decline in taxonomy
teaching in UK universities at a time when the demand for field ecologists is
growing rapidly.
While the OPAL programme is
restricted to England, there is considerable interest elsewhere in the UK and I
feel that it can form the model for transfer to other countries. As has been
discussed previously in Environews, biomonitoring is particularly suitable for
use in the developing world and I would love to see an OPAL scheme developed in
India and elsewhere. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to all the members of
the OPAL team, but in particular to its Director, Dr. Linda Davies, whose idea
it was entirely, arising out of her PhD research under my supervision into the
effects of changing air quality on London’s lichen flora.
*Professor of
Environmental Pollution, Centre for Environmental Policy, Mechanical Engineering
Building, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
E-mail:
[email protected] |
