We are pleased to announce the publication of the new open-access scientific article “Implementing Just Fossil Fuel Transition: Extreme Citizen Science To Enforce the Ban on Gas Flaring Activities in the Ecuadorian Amazon”, published in Environmental Research Letter on 28 September 2026.
The study, led by researchers from the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Just Fossil Fuel Transition, the international research group “Climate Change, Territories, Diversity”(Dep. ICEA) at the University of Padua and the Unión de Afectados y Afectadas por las Operaciones Petroleras de Texaco (UDAPT) presents an updated picture of gas flaring activity situation in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region since the Sucumbíos Court ruling supporting the campaign “Apaguen Los Mecheros, Enciendan La Vida!”
The study shows how open-access remote sensing, combined with extreme citizen science-generated ground evidence, can support independent, transparent and scalable verification of environmental compliance in politically contested extractive frontiers. It also shows why ground evidence and independent monitoring activities remains indispensable to have a ground-truth and real comprehension of the gas flaring activities which can remain understate from official reporting data and remote sensing analyses as presented below.
