Citizens unite for Nature: City Nature Challenge: CNC2023 - Gaurav S. Soman. 2nd May 2023
The City nature challenge is a worldwide bio-blitz event organized each year by the iNaturalist community and this year the citizens of Mumbai participated for the first time. In India, this event was facilitated by Naturalist School with assistance from partners such as WWFMaharashtra and BNHS among many others. Mumbai City and Suburban areas as well as parts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts were included in the study to represent diverse geographical ecological areas. The challenge lasted for four days from 28th April to 1st of May, 2023, during which the participants explored different green spaces in Mumbai, including Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra Nature Park and Bhandup Mangroves.
A week prior to the event, a series of introductory online meetings were conducted for the participants, introducing them to the objectives of the CNC. Participants were also informed about how to use the iNaturalist app, a mobile application that enables users to record and share their observations with users around the world. The idea here is to highlight the importance of biodiversity mapping and the community’s contribution towards its conservation. A WhatsApp community was started to assist the participants during the event. It also helped to spread the event updates quickly and aid in identification/analysis proceeding the event. The participants
were encouraged to work in teams, making the challenge a fun and social activity. A challenge like this also provides an opportunity for participants to meet like-minded people bridging new friendships. Together, we were able to record over 1600 observations with more than 60 participants contributing to the study. Commendable efforts from all the volunteers deserve a mention here, who prepared detailed sheets for observation sessions, and an information booklet and coordinated the events.
As a butterfly enthusiast, I had set up a personal goal to enlist at least 100 pollinator-friendly plants within the city, and ended up getting double the number. A lot of native vegetation and shrubs still find a place in the city providing habitats for insect life cycles. Mumbai also has its share of curated gardens and I could observe a lot of ornamental/variegated plants alongside. A few of these introduced plants such as the Cassias and Passionflowers are now naturalized in the area and act as larval hosts for butterflies. Birds and other insects which form important parts of the ecosystem were also documented in fair numbers, despite the hot summer weather.
Gaurav S. Soman for Butterflies of Mulund, Mulund (East), Mumbai 400081
