Several Indians have signed up to become a citizen-scientists, as technology meets nature. Volunteers from over 30 Indian cities will participate in the City Nature Challenge (CNC) – an international bio-blitz from April 28 to May 1 which is free and open to volunteers – recording urban biodiversity on their phones/cameras and uploading them on the iNaturalist app.
The CNC was first organised in the USA in 2016 by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences as a competition between the two cities. Today, it’s become a global citizen-science phenomenon.
People from cities around the world gather to record observations of nature around them – trees, plants, flowers, animals, birds and insects. The city that records the most observations over the set period of four days wins this friendly competition (results are announced on May 8).
While one or two Indian cities have participated sporadically in the past few years, this is the first time that as many as 30 Indian cities are all set to take part, including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Institutions like The Bombay Natural History Society, World Wide Fund for Nature-India, and The Naturalist School have partnered to lead the event in the country, to train and help citizen volunteers in the event. As one of the world’s most bio-diverse regions, India is uniquely placed to make its mark in this competition.
In both Bengaluru and Mumbai each, over 50 people have registered to volunteer to conduct bio-blitzes across their respective cities. “Bio-blitzes are events of about 2 hours that we’re organising to involve the community in different spots across the city – it’ll be a free, registered event – to explore a natural spot and document it on the iNaturalist app. The event will help people to appreciate nature around them,” says Rashmi Swamy, CNC Project Head at The Naturalist School, which is spearheading the events in Mumbai and Bengaluru. There have already been a couple of online and in-person meetings to train volunteers on how to use the app and help others use it.
Participants click and upload photos onto the app. The AI and GPS-enabled iNaturalist app helps volunteers identify species, but it is also corroborated through crowd-sourced and community identifications. Once an observation is confirmed, it becomes available to scientists and researchers, and can then be used for research or to determine the biodiversity in a region.
Bhavik Shah, a 29-year-old marketing consultant in Bengaluru, has volunteered for the CNC. “It’s my first time participating in something like this. I want to know the kind of biodiversity around me and understand how we can contribute with our awareness, to this open source data that is being collated worldwide. I’ve never observed things around me from a scientific point of view before; I’m just curious otherwise. My focus area is around my house in Sheshadripuram, the Palace Grounds, Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park, and Kumara Park areas.”
For details and to volunteer check, visit citynaturechallenge.org.in
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