The HARVEST project aims to enhance weather monitoring and crisis response through citizen participation in meteorological observations. Implemented through the RMI smartphone app 
in August 2019, the project encourages citizens across Belgium to submit their own observations of various weather phenomena, including potentially hazardous ones like fog, floods, thunderstorms, hail, and snow. Citizens can also attach photos to their observations. You can consult the observations in the app or on the RMI’s visualisation platform wow.meteo.be .
More information on citizen reports through the smartphone app can be found on the RMI website .
The RMI is collecting data from privately owned weather stations through the international WOW network (Weather Observations Website). This is an excellent example of crowdsourcing, where citizens or organisations actively contribute to a scientific project. You can consult the observations on the visualisation platform wow.meteo.be. More information on the personal weather stations can be found on the RMI website .
The climatological observation networkThe climatological network contains of about 200 stations spread over the whole country. It consists of voluntary observers recruited by the RMI, professional observers of Skeyes (civil aviation) or the Air Force (military aviation) and civil servants of the state, communities or private companies. Most observers are passionate enthusiasts of meteorology who record their observations dutiful. The climatological observation network is an excellent example of “citizen science avant-la-lettre”!
More information is available on the RMI website .
Weather and climate are of large importance in today's society. Increasing computer power enables to run weather models at ever higher resolutions, but this creates a need for more local weather data. This unique citizen science project gathers researchers, high schools and local partners to initiate a Flemish network of weather stations to collect meteorological data in landscapes where we do not have information today.
More information is available on the UGent website .
High air temperatures form a significant problem for human health, leading to an excess mortality of 6% or more than 2 000 extra deaths during the summers of 2003, 2006 and 2010 in Belgium alone. Projections show that climate change will induce increasing average air temperatures and will lead to an increased frequency and severity of heat waves. The consequences of these projections are even greater in urban areas where the urban heat island effect can significantly increase air temperatures within the city center compared to their rural and more natural environment. The creation and enhancement of urban green and blue infrastructures is one of the most promising solutions for mitigating urban heat through evaporation and shading. These cooling benefits are however highly affected by their composition and spatial configuration.
More information is available on the KU Leuven website and www.leuven.cool .
