The citizen science project AmIAire publishes its public policy briefs, a document aimed at regional, municipal and national administrations with concrete proposals on environmental monitoring, mobility, urban planning and education.
The recommendations are based on evidence generated by more than 140 schools across 15 autonomous communities and on the evaluation questionnaires completed by participating teachers.
The document sets out five public policy briefs:
- Expand the coverage of the air quality monitoring network by integrating citizen science data, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas with a limited presence of fixed monitoring stations.
- Establish atmospheric protection zones around schools, with perimeters restricting access to motor vehicles during school hours and active mobility infrastructure.
- Integrate citizen science on air quality into the school curriculum, with the activity recognized within STEM and environmental education competencies.
- Create a mechanism for feeding results from citizen science projects back to participating communities, with defined deliverables set as an evaluable criterion in funding calls.
- Protect and expand urban green cover as a strategy for mitigating air pollution, incorporating this obligation into municipal urban planning schemes.
Each brief sets out the context of the problem, the evidence generated by AmIAire, and a concrete recommendation aimed at the bodies with competence in each area, including environment, education and urban planning departments, municipal governments and science funding agencies.
About AmIAire
AmIAire is a citizen science project focused on air quality, in which primary and secondary school students build their own sensors out of cardstock and petroleum jelly to capture suspended particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1). The samples are analysed using a digital image-processing platform developed specifically for the project. It is led by the Universidad de Deusto, together with Fundación Ibercivis and Scicling, with the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology – Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.