The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is a large citizen science event covering cities around the globe. It was first held in 2016 by the California Academy of Sciences and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This is a competition that brings cities from around the world together. Citizens of participating cities record local wildlife with the free app iNaturalist. After species identification, the city that records the greatest number of species will win the competition. Data collected during the competition would contribute to the global biodiversity database and assist scientists in ecological research.
After 2023, OWLHK will continue to be the volunteer city organizer for the City Nature Challenge 2024 (Hong Kong Region). This year’s competition period will be on 26-29 April, 2024, and the uploading and ID Period is going to be 30 April-5 May, 2024. Besides, the result will be announced on 6 May, 2024.
How to participate
- Download the free iNaturalist mobile app and register an account.
- Within the competition period, explore wild animals and plants in the Hong Kong area and take good quality photos.
- Upload the photos of wildlife to iNaturalist and fill in information such as location and date. (Observation records made from 26-29 April 2024 will be automatically included in the Hong Kong CNC project.)
- Species identification: wildlife, including native and non-native species in Hong Kong.
- The observation records will be identified from 30 April to 5 May 2024 and the results will be announced on 6 May 2024.
- Let’s take part in the competition and strive for the championship for Hong Kong!
For more information, please visit the Hong Kong City Nature Challenge website.
Notes
- Please do not submit photos of selfies, pets, indoor or outdoor potted plants, as it may affect the authenticity and accuracy of the database.
- Protect and preserve nature, please try to reduce your interference with the environment, animals and plants during the competition.
iNaturalist User Guideline
Hong Kong Region Result
We sincerely thank you for every citizen scientist's active participation in the Challenge, Hong Kong has continued to achieve outstanding results this year!
This year, Hong Kong has recorded a total of 4,775 species, ranked the second among 690 participating cities globally. In the “Eurasia/Africa/Oceania” competition category, Hong Kong has even ranked in the top 3 in ALL three categories, while ranking the 1st in the species amount!
Despite constant adverse weather during the Challenge period, Hong Kong has 968 observers participated, with a total of 36,463 observations submitted in this year’s Challenge. What’s more, over 40% of the records have attained “Research Grade”. It could contribute to relevant research development. On the other hand, the records of insects and plants are similar to the one in previous year, covering nearly 80% of all, while the 3rd and 4th species being recorded the most are fungi and arachnids (i.e. spiders) respectively.
Through the Challenge, we hope that everyone can be more aware of the valuable local nature and ecology and join the league of nature protection. Additionally, after the Challenge, you could still continue using iNaturalist in daily life to contribute to the database.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again in next year’s Challenge, and let’s achieve brilliant results for Hong Kong again!
