Tshwane residents urged to take part in City Nature Challenge

Pretoria – City of Tshwane MMC for The Environment and Agriculture Management Dana Wannenburg is calling on residents to participate in the 5th annual City Nature Challenge to find and document wildlife in their cities.

Wannenburg said the City of Tshwane challenged its residents to join the international bioblitz to capture and record plants or wildlife on their smartphones using the iNaturalist app between April 30 and May 3.

With Covid-19 having negatively impacted the financial wellbeing of the City nature areas, nature reserves like the Rietvlei Nature Reserves and Fountain Valley could find some joy as residents visit to observe and document wildlife and nature.

The annual challenge is run by the community science teams and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

It began in 2016 but has since grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in their cities.

Wannenburg said this was the time for Tshwane residents to showcase their love for nature and wildlife and use the four-day global bioblittz to gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people during the event.

He said starting this Friday, Tshwane’s residents are encouraged to record as much wildlife and plant life around them, whether at home, at the office, or in a nature area – using the iNaturalist app.

He said: “This could be anything living and wild, such as plant species, insects, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.”

“The Department of Environment and Agriculture Management manages many nature areas throughout the City which people can visit to participate in the challenge, or one can join group activities on prearranged bioblitzes.

Wannenburg said it was really easy to take part and all residents needed to do was to use their smartphones to download the iNaturalist app and start uploading pictures of wildlife.

“Your records will be verified by a community of naturalists and you can also help people identify what they have found. Get out there this coming weekend, start recording and show the world that Tshwane is a City rich in biodiversity.

Pretoria News