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ClimateWatch reaches education milestones in the citizen powered fight against climate change and biodiversity loss

16 November 2021

ClimateWatch reaches education milestones in the citizen powered fight against climate change and biodiversity loss

16 November 2021

At Earthwatch we believe that the power to save the natural world is in everyone’s hands. ClimateWatch is a network of citizen scientists observing nature and its rhythms across Australia, helping us see the changes in nature caused by a changing climate. We are proud to share that educators and students are taking action with ClimateWatch. 

Last week, world leaders made commitments to accelerate action on climate change at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). In October, commitments were made at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) to develop, adopt and implement a new set of goals for nature in May 2022 – the post-2020 framework to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

Our biodiversity crisis is compounded by the impacts of climate change; biodiversity loss could change critical planetary life systems. 

ClimateWatch now boasts an enhanced suite of educational resources to help teachers and students ClimateWatch from their own backyard. These resources were developed in partnership with educational experts, Cool Australia. 

We also run professional development training for teachers, and have trained over 210 teachers on how climate change impacts biodiversity in Australia. This work empowers educators to bring this science into the classroom and use ClimateWatch as a learning tool. 

Our ClimateWatch science, maths, and geography lesson plans have been downloaded over 7,500 times by an estimated 3,000 teachers since 2018. 140,000 students have learned about citizen science, phenology, and the environment just from these curriculum outlines. 

ClimateWatch is the first continental-scale phenology research program and tracking app in the Southern Hemisphere powered by citizen science. It is a tool to help understand the impact climate change has on our flora and fauna. It is free to use for all ages and backgrounds.

Thank you to the incredible schools, teachers, and students who have been involved in this initiative.

“We couldn’t have achieved 12 years of ClimateWatch without citizen scientists. Nor could we do it without our corporate supporters, whose investments in programs like ours are vital for a healthy planet and people. Thank you,” Fiona Sutton Wilson, Interim CEO.

We acknowledge all our supporters, past and present, that represent every sector: government, business, NFP, and more than 30,000 citizen scientists who have observed species for climate science with ClimateWatch since 2009. 

Our enhanced education resources were made possible by the Australian Government's support through the "Inspiring Australia- Science Education Program" and the Department of Education & Training (VIC) support for teacher training under the "Strategic Partners Program". 

Thank you to all ClimateWatch teachers, trail managers and to the public for supporting citizen science all across Australia.


The ClimateWatch app is available in the App Store and Google Play, download the app here: https://bit.ly/37suZOj