The City Nature Challenge (CNC) in Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull has been selected as DAISY’s UK seed innovation case study to explore and amplify the role of digital apps as educational tools for enhancing biodiversity knowledge and nature-society relationships, as well as digital citizen science tools for aiding eradication of invasive alien species.
The eleventh annual City Nature Challenge – the largest global biodiversity census – has concluded, yielding more than 3 million wildlife observations globally made by over 106,000 participants. From 24-27 April, community scientists across six continents used the free mobile app iNaturalist to document the amazing diversity of wild animals, plants, and fungi that share our planet. All verified observations (including those of critically endangered and elusive species, and sightings outside of known species ranges) collected during the CNC can be used by scientists to track real-time changes in our planet’s biodiversity, especially in urban areas.
Started in 2016 by the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as a friendly competition, the City Nature Challenge has expanded to 754 cities and regions around the world. One of these is Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull.
Although no longer billed as a competition, 250 people observed 1285 different species across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull during this year’s CNC, placing the region 5th of the 28 UK regions that took part, with the 7-spot ladybird topping the Most-observed species chart. Community events were organised over a gloriously sunny weekend by a wealth of partners including Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, Coventry University, the Sherbourne Valley Project and Coventry Diocese.
Since the challenge ended, researchers from Coventry University held a workshop with the region’s organisers both to reflect on this year’s event and explore what the City Nature Challenge could look like in the future, and how DAISY might support this vision for biodiversity and equity.
