Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences最新文献

{"title":"Reflections on the potential of virtual citizen science platforms to address collective action challenges: Lessons and implications for future research","authors":"Cees Leeuwis ,&nbsp;K.J. Cieslik ,&nbsp;M.N.C. Aarts ,&nbsp;A.R.P.J. Dewulf ,&nbsp;F. Ludwig ,&nbsp;S.E. Werners ,&nbsp;P.C. Struik","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Rural communities in Africa are facing numerous challenges related to human health, agricultural production, water scarcity and service delivery. Addressing such challenges requires effective collective action and coordination among stakeholders, which often prove difficult to achieve. Against the background of the increased availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs), this article synthesizes the lessons from six case-studies reported in this Special Issue. The cases investigate the possible role of digital citizen science platforms (labelled EVOCAs: Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Action) in overcoming the challenges of integrating heterogeneous actors in collective management of common resources and/or the provision of public goods. Inspired by the seminal work of Elinor Ostrom, our expectation was that such platforms could help operationalize communication and information-related design principles and community conditions that are known to enhance the capacity to address environmental challenges.</p><p>This article presents some cross-cutting insights and reflections regarding the nature of the challenges identified by the diagnostic studies, and on the relevance and significance of Ostrom’s framework and analysis. It also reflects on the plausibility of our original ideas and assumptions by assessing what the various studies tell us about the significance and potential of key components of an EVOCA-type intervention: i.e. environmental monitoring, ICT, connective action, citizen science and responsible design. At the same time, we draw lessons for follow-up research and action in our research program and beyond by identifying several issues and themes that merit further investigation.</p><p>Based on the case-studies, we conclude that many collective action challenges are of a more complex nature than originally anticipated, and often cannot be resolved within clearly demarcated communities. While this complicates the realization of Ostrom’s communication and information-related design principles and community features, there may still be a meaningful role for digital citizen science platforms. To help address complex challenges, they must be oriented towards fostering adaptive and systemic learning across interdependent stakeholder communities, rather than focusing on the self-betterment of the communities alone. Such digital platforms need to be developed in a responsible manner that ensures complementarity with already existing patterns of communication and ICT-use, that anticipates dynamics of trust and distrust among interdependent stakeholders, and that prevents typical problems associated with the sharing of information such as privacy infringement and undesirable control over information by outsiders.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 146-157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42886311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Addressing socio-ecological development challenges in the digital age: Exploring the potential of Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Action (EVOCA)","authors":"K.J. Cieslik ,&nbsp;C. Leeuwis ,&nbsp;A.R.P.J. Dewulf ,&nbsp;R. Lie ,&nbsp;S.E. Werners ,&nbsp;M. van Wessel ,&nbsp;P. Feindt ,&nbsp;P.C. Struik","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate change, (a) biotic stresses and environmental degradation are adversely affecting the sustenance of farming communities in Africa. Addressing such challenges requires effective collective action and coordination among stakeholders, which often prove difficult to achieve. Timely and context-specific information on relevant environmental dynamics holds considerable promise to overcome these problems.</p><p>This paper investigates the role of citizen science in facilitating knowledge co-creation and sharing between academia, development actors and users in developing country contexts. In our approach, we focus on information sharing platforms (known as Environmental Virtual Observatories, EVOs) and their potential to facilitate adaptive decision-making in six rural case-study areas in Africa.</p><p>We complement the existing theory on EVOs with a focused exploration of the connective function of ICT-enabled multi-stakeholder exchange. We propose that increased connectivity may enable new forms of collective action (labelled ‘connective action’), relevant to addressing socio-ecological challenges. Along these lines, this paper presents the theoretical and conceptual grounding of a research program that aspires to develop Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Action (EVOCAs) and to explore their potential for improved crop, water, livestock and disease management in rural Africa.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 2-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42594839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Digital platforms for smallholder credit access: The mediation of trust for cooperation in maize value chain financing","authors":"Christopher Agyekumhene ,&nbsp;Jasper R. de Vries ,&nbsp;Annemarie van Paassen ,&nbsp;Philip Macnaghten ,&nbsp;Marc Schut ,&nbsp;Arnold Bregt","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Maize production is of critical importance to smallholder farmers in Ghana. Various factors limit the productivity of smallholder maize farming systems undergirded by the lack of capital for critical investments both at the farm and at national policy levels. Using a value chain approach, this diagnostic study explains how a complex configuration of actor interaction within an institutionally and agro-ecologically challenged value chain leads to the enduring absence of maize farming credit support. We find a cycle of credit rationing resulting from value chain challenges such as agro-ecological uncertainties, inadequate GAPs training, weak farmer groups and market insecurity. This condition is sustained by an interplay between mistrust, insufficient information across the value chain and inadequate control strategies in the maize credit system. We argue that Digital Platforms (DPs) show potential to help overcome some information and communication gaps and related uncertainties that impede traditional value chain credit arrangements. This is promising in terms of aiding awareness and coordinated responsiveness to agro-ecological farm conditions and the development of farming records databases. Thus, DPs could generate new networks and forms of cooperation in the maize value chain in this regard. As a tool for mediating trust in value chain credit cooperation, strategic use of these DP contributions could help initiate an entry point for recalibration of trust perceptions. Significant considerations and improvements are however needed to harness DPs effectively in mediating trust for maize credit provision, not least being farmer digital inclusion in DP implementation, effective intermediation and network governance arrangements and digital contributions towards cost-effective agro-ecological controls in the erratic maize farming context. This approach to trust building should therefore not be viewed as a quick fix but as a process of trial and error, and learning by doing.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 77-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.06.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48341453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnosing the potential of hydro-climatic information services to support rice farming in northern Ghana","authors":"Emmanuel Nyadzi ,&nbsp;Andy B. Nyamekye ,&nbsp;Saskia E. Werners ,&nbsp;Robbert G. Biesbroek ,&nbsp;Art Dewulf ,&nbsp;Erik Van Slobbe ,&nbsp;Hoang P. Long ,&nbsp;Catrien J.A.M. Termeer ,&nbsp;Fulco Ludwig","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Hydro-climatic information has a potential to improve agricultural productivity under climate variability. Recent developments in information sharing platforms (Environmental Virtual Observatories, EVOs) could make information provisioning more actionable. Here we present the results of a diagnostic study for the development of a hydro-climatic EVO that enables rice farmers in Northern Ghana to deal with climate variability and water shortage. The hydro-climatic EVO aims to combine data from scientific and indigenous forecast systems, facilitating information exchange using two-way interaction with stakeholders to co-produce knowledge. Data was collected through informal interviews with field practitioners, through focus group discussions with farmers and content analysis of documents. Results show that both the biophysical and socio-institutional circumstances need be taken into account for the development of the EVO. Existing governance and information exchange arrangements and lack of collaboration between actors were found to limit current hydro-climatic information flow, interpretation, and use. Our study reveals existing models of information exchange and their limitations in the study area. We discuss the proposed design of a hydro-climatic EVO from a responsible innovation perspective, considering possible future eventualities in a process that aims to be anticipatory, inclusive, reflexive and responsive. We conclude that such a hydro-climatic EVO has a potential to contribute to rice farmers’ adaptive decision-making in Northern Ghana, but there are challenges that need to be considered. The diagnostic study has helped to refine these challenges and offers concrete suggestions to improve both the design and implementation of the proposed platform in a responsible way.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 51-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42751077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Techne meets Metis: Knowledge and practices for tick control in Laikipia County, Kenya","authors":"Faith Mutavi ,&nbsp;Noelle Aarts ,&nbsp;Annemarie Van Paassen ,&nbsp;Ignas Heitkönig ,&nbsp;Barbara Wieland","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.08.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.08.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Prevention of tick borne diseases is often through tick control practices. This article diagnoses tick control practices, knowledge underlying these practices and how knowledge is shared at the wildlife-livestock interface in Laikipia County, Kenya. It identifies diverse land use and tick control practices by different land and livestock owners from a scientific knowledge-based (techne) and context driven experiential knowledge-based (metis) perspective.</p><p>Interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documents yielded qualitative data to unravel i) the historical development of tick control in Kenya ii) techne and metis tick control practices within three ranches and among pastoralists in Laikipia County, and iii) status of tick knowledge sharing between stakeholders.</p><p>Historical tick control measures date back to about 100 years ago, with increasingly strong veterinary measures over the decades under government control. However, the veterinary control system collapsed around 1991 and livestock owners took tick control into their own hands. All respondents indicated having relevant techne available about tick ecology and tick management practices. To adapt to the changing social, economic and institutional context, they further developed metis, integrating the known techne. Metis and techne complemented each other. Our study reveals that metis is developed within stakeholder groups. The data also suggest that metis practices sometimes develop risky effects to animal, human and environmental health. Knowledge on tick control is mainly shared within a social group, not between groups. We esteem, knowledge sharing between different stakeholder groups (ranchers, pastoralists, DVS) may provide opportunities for better informed decision-making based on fruitful combinations of techne and metis for effective and safe tick management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 136-145"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.08.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41690240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Governance arrangements and adaptive decision-making in rice farming systems in Northern Ghana","authors":"Andy Bonaventure Nyamekye ,&nbsp;Art Dewulf ,&nbsp;Erik Van Slobbe ,&nbsp;Katrien Termeer ,&nbsp;Cristina Pinto","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate variability has consequences on water availability in rice farming systems. In Ghana, rice farmers in the Northern Savannah are amongst the most vulnerable to long periods of drought and erratic rainfall conditions. Within the Kumbungu district, farmers engaged in both rain-fed and irrigated rice farming are no exception. Coping with uncertain water availability conditions requires adaptive decision-making for sustained productivity in rice cropping. From an adaptive governance perspective, the extent to which formal and traditional governance arrangements enable adaptive decisions amongst rice farmers remains a key question. Using an exploratory research design, the study investigates three key questions; what water-dependent decisions rice farmers take and how these are adaptive to changing water availability conditions; what formal and informal governance arrangements rice cropping decisions are embedded in; and how existing governance arrangements enable or constrain adaptive decision-making. Rice farmers in twelve communities around the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme in the Kumbungu District in the Northern region were engaged through individual interviews and focus group discussions. The study reveals that farmers take six major water-dependent decisions throughout the cropping season; decision to or not to plant rice, land preparation, planting, weed control, fertilizer application and harvesting. Farmer decisions are most adaptive to water availability conditions during planting and fertilizer application. Both formal and traditional governance arrangements influence the extent to which farmers are able to adapt to changes in water availability conditions. The paper also reflects on the potential of hydro-climatic information and the place of Environmental Virtual Observatories (EVOs) in adaptive governance and decision-making.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 39-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43631560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A citizen science approach for malaria mosquito surveillance and control in Rwanda","authors":"Marilyn Milumbu Murindahabi ,&nbsp;Domina Asingizwe ,&nbsp;P. Marijn Poortvliet ,&nbsp;Arnold J.H. van Vliet ,&nbsp;Emmanuel Hakizimana ,&nbsp;Leon Mutesa ,&nbsp;Willem Takken ,&nbsp;Constantianus J.M. Koenraadt","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite the implementation of a number of interventions aimed at controlling malaria, Rwanda is experiencing a countrywide resurgence of simple malaria cases over the past five years. To support malaria control, mosquito surveillance activities, such as systematic reporting of the distribution, the diversity and the infectivity rate of malaria vectors throughout the country, have been undertaken. However, mosquito monitoring programmes are not carried out to monitor the impact of all vector control interventions or to determine the distribution of mosquito species in all areas, especially in the remote regions of the country. With a target of reducing malaria mortality by 2020, implementation of mosquito surveillance in those regions is urgently needed as well. In this paper, a Citizen science approach as a capacity resource for malaria vector monitoring for the Rwandan National Malaria Control Programme is presented. The ultimate aim is to complement existing mosquito surveillance currently in place by providing key information on the spatio-temporal distribution of mosquito nuisance and malaria vectors. This will contribute to an insight into the ecology of malaria vectors and thereby to a better understanding of malaria transmission patterns in Rwanda.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 101-110"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48344208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farmers’ knowledge and practices of potato disease management in Ethiopia","authors":"Shiferaw Tafesse ,&nbsp;E. Damtew ,&nbsp;B. van Mierlo ,&nbsp;R. Lie ,&nbsp;B. Lemaga ,&nbsp;K. Sharma ,&nbsp;C. Leeuwis ,&nbsp;P.C. Struik","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Effective management of potato diseases such as bacterial wilt and late blight depends to a large extent on farmers’ knowledge of the diseases as well as on the integration of recommended management methods in their daily practices. Late blight has continued to be a dominant potato disease for many decades in Ethiopia, whereas bacterial wilt has emerged more recently with a devastating impact on the country’s potato production systems. A survey of 261 randomly selected farmers was carried out in three major potato growing districts in the central highlands of Ethiopia to examine farmers’ knowledge and management practices of the two diseases, and to analyze the role of relevant knowledge in their practices. Considering their different characteristics, three groups of farmers were distinguished: producers of quality declared seed, producers of normal seed and producers of ware. The study shed light on the vital role the lack of knowledge about the diseases plays in shaping farmers’ daily potato production practices. Most farmers could recognize symptoms of the diseases on infected leaves and stems. However, they had very limited knowledge of the diseases including their causal agents, spreading mechanisms, and effective management methods, although they knew a little bit more about late blight than about bacterial wilt. Therefore, to effectively manage the diseases, farmers need to learn about the diseases and how to manage them in their local context applying a feasible combination of management options through a community-based approach. The effectivity of such an approach could be enhanced by stipulating operational standards in bylaws and through continuous monitoring of changes in farmers’ practices and environmental monitoring for disease occurrence by leveraging an interactive mobile-based platform.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 25-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.03.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45265414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovation intermediation in a digital age: Comparing public and private new-ICT platforms for agricultural extension in Ghana","authors":"Nyamwaya Munthali ,&nbsp;Cees Leeuwis ,&nbsp;Annemarie van Paassen ,&nbsp;Rico Lie ,&nbsp;Richard Asare ,&nbsp;Ron van Lammeren ,&nbsp;Marc Schut","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.05.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.05.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Agricultural extension in sub-Saharan Africa has often been criticised for its focus on linear knowledge transfer, and limited attention to systemic approaches to service delivery. Currently, the region is experiencing a new-ICT revolution and there are high expectations of new-ICTs to enhance interaction and information exchange in extension service delivery. Using an innovation systems perspective, we distinguish the roles demand-articulation, matching demand and supply, and innovation process management for innovation-intermediaries. The study explores literature on how new-ICT may support these roles, with specific interest in the possibilities of environmental monitoring and new forms of organisation enabled by enhanced connectivity. In order to contribute to the understanding of this area, the paper reports on a comparative study of two new-ICT platforms embedded in Ghanaian public and private extension organisations respectively. We assess the roles that these platforms (aim to) support, and document achievements and constraints based on interviews with extension staff and farmers. The findings indicate that while both platforms aim to support innovation-intermediation roles the focus areas and level of detail differ due to diverging organisational rationales to service delivery. In addition, we see that new-ICTs' potential to support innovation-intermediation roles is far from realised. This is not due to (new) ICTs lacking the capacity to link people in new ways and make information accessible, but due to the wider social, organisational and institutional factors that define the realisation of their potential. Therefore, more conventional modes of interaction around production advice and also credit provision continue to be dominant and better adapted to the situation. However, beyond the two platforms that were developed specifically by and for the extension organisations, there were indications that more informal and self-organised new-ICT initiatives can transform and enhance interaction patterns in innovations systems to achieve collective goals through standard virtual platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 64-76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.05.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47403102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Citizen science for development: Potential role of mobile phones in information sharing on ticks and tick-borne diseases in Laikipia, Kenya","authors":"Richard Chepkwony ,&nbsp;Severine van Bommel ,&nbsp;Frank van Langevelde","doi":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Ticks and tick-borne diseases (TTBDs) constitute a lethal and widespread problem in many tropical areas, with major ramifications for livestock production, wildlife management, and human health and livelihoods. Despite various control strategies applied, TTBDs remain a complex problem, and integrated approaches must be developed to control them effectively. To address this problem, Wageningen University and Research established an interdisciplinary project in 2015 – Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Actions (EVOCA) – that focuses, among other things, on mobile phone-based information sharing platforms for TTBDs in Kenya. This study in Laikipia, a semi-arid savanna area of Kenya, is designed to (i) identify issues that complicate effective TTBD control, (ii) explore whether and how local people use mobile phones to address problems, including TTBDs, and (iii) reflect on what citizen science can contribute to the development of mobile phone-based platforms for TTBDs. The study, conducted between November 2016 and August 2017, adopted a mixed-methods approach comprising 21 interviews, field observations, document reviews, and a workshop. Results suggest that the TTBD problem is compounded by a combination of local issues. Insecurity, human–wildlife conflicts, and occurrences of notifiable zoonotic diseases are among the most pressing issues that affect people and influence the kind of information that they share using mobile phones. The motivation to share information on insecurity and human–wildlife conflicts stems from the urgent need for people to collaborate and facilitate prompt action by the security agencies and expectations of compensation from the government for wildlife damages, respectively. Mobile phone adoption rate in Laikipia is ∼70%, suggesting that mobile phones (simple and smart) are widely used for various socioeconomic activities: to communicate with family members and friends and to access information on pressing issues, forming issue-based networks of communication. The widespread use of mobile phones for economic activities such as businesses and banking services have empowered people economically, improving their livelihoods, whereas those without access are probably excluded (disconnected). This study suggests that, despite the widespread adoption of mobile phones, sharing information on TTBDs does not seem to be a major priority for Laikipia residents, as other issues such as insecurity or human–wildlife conflicts take precedence. The design of mobile phone platforms and citizen science for TTBDs should consider such confounding factors to connect with the issues affecting local people.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49751,"journal":{"name":"Njas-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 123-135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48999661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}