BIODIVERCITI aims to close the gap how to leverage engagement with biodiversity to simultaneously advance engagement with climate action. Therein, the project pursues four research questions:
- Which improvements in biodiversity indicators can be achieved?
- How do individual climate action and efficacy beliefs change?
- How may citizens and farmers collaborate for combating biodiversity loss and climate change?
- How may gardens and farmland provide conjunctive elements in habitats?
BIODIVERCITI is a multi-stakeholder citizen science project. The project involves and observes citizens and farmers and their respective gardens and cropland over the timeframe of two vegetation periods. Citizens and farmers receive personal advice on enhancing biodiversity, observe their garden/cropland and are evaluated how their attitudes and beliefs change. Each participating citizen is supported and trained in biodiversity-enhancing elements and techniques suitable for their garden, which species may benefit, and how to identify and monitor these species. Farmers are grouped by their participation in the Austrian agri‐environmental programme ÖPUL and supplementary organic farming certification. These interventions are evaluated in a pre-post design by comparing participants (1) by the degree they realise gardening and farming techniques, and (2) to their baseline biodiversity and climate activities and beliefs prior to the intervention.
BIODIVERCITI shall function as a demonstrator project for engaging citizens and farmers all over Austria for jointly tackling biodiversity loss and climate change. The project develops recommendations to sustainability NGOs, gardening associations, chambers of agriculture, etc. how to better align their activities for biodiversity preservation and climate action. Thereby, BIODIVERCITI aims to contribute to increased and accelerated action on the local and individual level, joining efforts on combating biodiversity loss and climate change. The results of the project will be of value to policy makers, the scientific community, the citizen and farmer participants and to civil society organisations.