Mexico records more than 120 thousand observations of nature in the City Nature Challenge 2019

Mexico’s participation was strong in the world challenge to observe nature. Mexican cities were able to gather 129 thousand observations of nature during the City Nature Challenge 2019. This past April 26 – 29 cities all over the world competed in the international citizen science event known as City Nature Challenge to observe nature and record the greatest number of photographs of plants, mushrooms and animals in the mobile app INaturalist and NaturaLista in Mexico.

This challenge recorded more than 900 thousand observations worldwide, of which Mexico contributed 14%. It was sought to find the greatest number of species and to involve the greatest number of people. In the world a little more than 31 thousand species were recorded, including more than 1,100 rare or threatened species and species near extinction, and more than 35 thousand people participated. In our country 7,670 different species were counted with the participation of a little more than 4 thousand enthusiastic citizens.

Of the 160 cities of the world that competed, Mazatlán, Sinaloa came in 11th place ahead of cities like New York, recording more than 27 thousand photographs (observations) of 2,495 species, and with a significant citizen participation.

In the national version, in which 57 cities from 29 states of the Mexican Republic participated, the so-called “Pearl of the Pacific” came in first, followed by the cities of Monterrey, Toluca, Ensenada, Mexico City, Ocosingo, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Hermosillo, Playa del Carmen and Morelia.

In Mexico NaturaLista has become the largest citizen science social network for the observation of nature. Before the City Nature Challenge 2019, it had 48 thousand participants; now there are more than 51 thousand registered. In addition, the number of species recorded grew to 29 thousand and the number of observations of species that inhabit Mexico increased to more than 1 million 300 thousand.

The recording of photographs of nature on the digital platform NaturaLista shows us what species there are in our city or municipality and where they are located, which assists with their study and protection. The photographic records become part of the  National Biodiversity Information System and they can be consulted in EncicloVida www.enciclovida.mx.

NaturaLista is a platform that invites the user to enjoy contact with nature, learn about the diversity of species that live in Mexico and in the world and interact with the global community of naturalists, scientists and members of the public that share their observations.

This app was developed by iNaturalist.org together with the California Academy of Sciences and in current alliance with National Geographic. In Mexico NaturaLista (www.naturalista.mx) is led by Conabio and supported by the Carlos Slim Foundation.