Achieving good ecological status of surface waters by 2027 remains a major challenge. In 2021, only 39.5% of EU surface water bodies were reported in good or high ecological status. Not a single country was reported to be on track to achieve compliance. Citizen science can complement official monitoring, identify pollution hotspots and strengthen local stewardship. Integrating citizen science into the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Program of Measures (PoM) can enableauthorities to meet targets and ensure sustainable water management in the longer term. This policy brief has been produced as part of T4.5 within the more4nature project. more4nature is a Horizon Europe research and innovation project that aims to trigger transformative change in environmental protection by strengthening the role of citizens and communities in environmental governance. The project focuses on enabling citizens to contribute meaningfully to collaborative environmental compliance assurance (ECA) in the areas of zero pollution, biodiversity protection, and deforestation prevention. The goal of the policy brief is to strategically engage policymakers and national agencies, enabling them to act beyond individual “change agents” within their institutions and to bring about more systemic policy and regulatory change. T4.5 has therefore been tasked with producing targeted policy briefs that resonate with global, EU, and national policy processes unfolding during the lifetime of the project.
Education et al. (2026) studied this question.