Currently under development, the Custodians Earth Solution Project is BioDesign Foundation’s initiative to develop a citizen science encyclopaedia which will provide a forum to all parts of society, thereby connecting “those who see the challenges of the world” with “those who have the means to resolve them”. The first part of BioDesign Foundation’s efforts to strengthen citizen science initiatives in the domain of environmental protection, was launched in June 2023 in form of The Custodians App – an interactive application, designed to enable citizens to geo-localise zones of contamination, and facilitate and coordinate overregional clean-up efforts.

Participants from all parts of society register challenges on the online forum. A team of factcheckers from BioDesign Foundation research the given challenge and provide further scientific information to guide the subsequent open-format online discussion about possible solution approaches.

Once concrete solution approaches have been established on the forum, in collaboration with partner universities, scientific research centres the BioDesign Foundation Research Hub develops concrete interventions, business plans and secures funding for the implementation of the solutions. Up to date data gathered from research trials and the roll-out of solutions are shared with the community on the forum.