Conducting research with the help of local communities in the San Juan Bay Estuary in Puerto Rico
Citation:
Hanson, Alana, I. Cappielo Cosme, A. Oczkowski, AND E. Huertas. Conducting research with the help of local communities in the San Juan Bay Estuary in Puerto Rico. ECSA 59: Estuarine and Coastal Conference, Kursaal, San Sebastian, SPAIN, September 05 - 08, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Tropical urban estuaries are understudied in the field of environmental research. In San Juan, Puerto Rico lies the San Juan Bay Estuary which has been heavily impacted from urban development. It is also heavily impacted by human driven inputs that lead to dangerous water quality conditions to the detriment of the estuary and nearby communities. Working with people living in these underserved communities is essential to completing robust environmental studies in these urban areas. Without incorparating the input and assitance of locals in the community, we would not be able to complete sample collection. Also, their input is essential to guiding the parameters of the research, targeting their areas of concern. The experimental design and citizen science contributions demonstrated here serve as model for fellow researchers and are an example to expand where and how environmentals choose to conduct research. This also serves as an example for federal researchers to follow to conduct their research in coordination with local communities, NGOs, and state governments.
Description:
Tropical, urban estuaries are understudied and demand more research by those in the ecological scientific community. Since 2015 we have conducted research in the San Juan Bay Estuary (SJBE) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Located in the middle of the SJBE is the Caño Martín Peña (CMP), a channel which has been nearly completely clogged due to human impacts, and upon which San Juan’s most densely populated and underserved communities live. The communities that live along the CMP, the land trust, and NGO (non-governmental organization) groups that support them have been essential to conducting our research, particularly because our laboratory is located 2500 km away from San Juan, in Rhode Island, United States. Throughout our research we have worked directly with the community to conduct our sample collections. This has included bringing a community member out with us each time we visit field sites, asking homeowners to install data loggers on their properties, and soliciting the input of locals on optimal sample sites. Most significantly, we have followed the interests and needs of the community members to guide our research. We have held meetings with the NGO and communities to share our data and plans, and then have asked them what areas of research were most important to their interests. This community engagement led us to conduct research studying flooding levels throughout the area, because that was the ecological and health impact most concerning to the people living along the CMP. We will share successes from conducting research directly with local communities and hope to encourage others to seek out collaborative research endeavors in understudied and underserved communities by utilizing the skills, knowledge, and assistance of local citizens.
