Madam Chair, I'd like to say that MP Cannings and his entire family are kind of science superheroes for the rest of us, and the contributions they've made are just unbelievable.
It's a real delight to have a chance to chat with you about such things.
Citizen science puts the process of data gathering, and sometimes even the complexities of data analysis, in the hands of members of our communities. We sometimes call it participatory science. This is one of the ways in which we can open the doors of the ivory tower and make sure that the light gets in but also ideas get into the ivory tower. That goes in both directions. We want everybody to be able to have a conversation about issues that are relevant in their local communities or that they are personally passionate about.
I think we both know there is no more passionate group of naturalists than birders. Things like the breeding birds survey and the breeding bird atlases have enabled literally tens of thousands of people across more than half a century of time—nearly 60 years now, if memory serves—to monitor and detect that the world is changing in ways that affect people but also affect nature.
Citizen science made that possible. It wasn't us scientists in the ivory tower. However hard we work, we have nothing like the power of our communities to step out into nature and to detect things.
I should say that although my own personal predilections in this topic go very strongly toward looking at biological diversity, there are many applications for citizen science that go far beyond counting birds or butterflies. Things like looking at the status of bridges, for example, would make a great citizen science program, or detecting lyme disease risks. There are a million things that can be done. Citizen science puts that power in the hands of our communities, and I think that's a really good idea.