COMMUNITY MONITORING
COMMUNITY MONITORING
Introducing Community Environmental Monitoring
"We all monitor the environment. We look, feel, smell and listen."
(1)
"Community monitoring is a locally-based process of documenting chemicals or their effects in a given community."(3)
Monitoring is basic to human understanding. The right to monitor pollution, chemical residues and even toxic use reduction initiatives is a critical element of the community’s right to know. Throughout the world, community and environment groups, students and independent researchers are taking soil samples, testing water, monitoring air quality and consolidating sampling results from the blood and bodies of wildlife, marine mammals and humans in an attempt to alert us to environmental change and degradation.
Community environmental monitoring gives groups and individuals an effective way of demonstrating their concerns over the degradation of the environment and human health from agricultural practices and pesticide spraying, industrial pollution or the emissions and waste products from a particular industry.
Through monitoring, communities gain a better understand of the environmental and pollution issues, thereby increasing their knowledge and skills to help reduce the contamination of the land, water, air and all living things. Through monitoring communities can be empowered to take action to protect themselves and their families from chemical contamination.
Community monitoring can involve either direct sampling in the environment or the collection and consolidation of previously unavailable information such as the amount of waste coming in and out of a facility. Whatever form community monitoring takes, its aim is to inform and empower and in some cases provide a 'passport' into the decision making processes of government and industry.
The Community Monitoring Working Group (CMWG) works with communities and public interest groups involved in community monitoring and body burden testing.
Reference:
1. Alexandra, J Haffenden, S & White, T "Listening to the Land", A Directory of Community Environmental Monitoring groups in Australia" Australian Conservation Foundation, Aust. Print Group 1996
2. Healtoxics - Community Monitoring www.healtoxics.org
3. Coming Clean network - Community Monitoring Handbook www.chemicalbodyburden.org
IPEN Body Burden Community Monitoring Handbook - 2005
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