Environmental safety in the digital age: new methods and approaches

The article analyzes current global trends in the study of various aspects of environmental safety in a digital society. The article considers the development and formation of interrelated research areas at the junction of ecology, social sciences and information technology – iEcology and conservation culturomics. To study environmental processes, assess the environmental situation and solve environmental problems in these areas, data (digital footprints) are used that ordinary Internet users generate in the course of their daily lives in the online space - communication, information search, work, etc. In this case, the data source is web pages, user search queries, social media posts, video platforms, books, and digital encyclopedias. An analysis of the scientific literature shows that digital footprints are already being used in environmental citizen science, to evaluate cultural ecosystem services and draw public attention to environmental issues, to study animal behavior in its natural habitat and animal trafficking on the Internet, and to obtain information about natural disasters and accidents.