Observe, snap, save
The City Nature Challenge (CNC), a global e¦ort to document urban wildlife, is poised for its biggest year yet with over 675 cities participating across seven continents.
Kicked o¦ on April 26, the four-day event encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals, and fungi using free mobile apps such as iNaturalist.
From April 30 through May 5 online communities will collaborate to identify species that were photographed during the challenge, with the total number of observations and highlights from around the world to be announced on May 6.
Notably, the number of participating cities grew from 450 in 2023 to more than 675 in 2024 — one of the biggest jumps in CNC’s history.
“Last year, India’s 20 participating cities had a much larger turnout than we expected, so it was clear there was a real need for community events like these,” says Ram Dayal Vaishnav, the Education Director at CitizenScience for Asia.
“Our goal was to have at least one participating city in every state and union territory of India, but as we involved more and more people, we soon found there was an overwhelming interest from every corner of the country. To manage such a big number of cities, city organizers volunteered to take up the role as central coordinators (catalysts), zonal coordinators, state coordinators.”
Gujarat has emerged as a standout contributor with registration from 23 cities, the highest among all states.
Meanwhile, Farida Tampal, State Director, WWFIndia Hyderabad O¯ce, says, “Last year, Hyderabad surprised us with their enthusiasm and interest in observing biodiversity. Expanding CNC to involve government departments, educational institutions, corporations, and civil society organizations shows a comprehensive approach to engaging all stakeholders in biodiversity conservation.”
The CNC format of friendly competition across cities globally make this an inclusive, fun event to raise awareness on planet-critical issues like biodiversity loss and urban wildlife.
“Tools like iNaturalist make it easy to be used by everyone, as they not only help to increase our awareness about nature around us, but also help scientists by providing valuable data collected by its users,” says Priya Venkatesh, Director of The Naturalist School.