Apr 5, 2023
OTTAWA, April 5, 2023 Canadians coast to coast will compete against a record number of 460 cities from 43 countries in the 2023 City Nature Challenge, a massive effort to track and showcase global biodiversity.
“This is a friendly international citizen science event designed to connect people to nature while helping monitor wildlife species distribution around the globe,” said James Pagé, Species at Risk and Biodiversity Specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF). “I’m thrilled with the tremendous growth in participation as this data will be invaluable to scientific research.”
As part of the collaboration with CWF, 43 cities have united to represent Canada in the collaborative global competition to see which community can track the highest number of wildlife observations April 28 to May 1, 2023. Results will be announced after May 8.
Using a camera or the free iNaturalist app, the City Nature Challenge encourages people to upload species observations and sounds to the iNaturalist platform that become part of an international database of biodiversity. The present rate of loss of biological diversity is a growing global environmental threat facing humanity.
“During the City Nature Challenge and year-round, individuals can help scientists by contributing valuable observations for biodiversity research and conservation,” said Pagé. “We live in a big country and scientists can’t be everywhere, but by using smartphones and digital cameras as tools, iNaturalist helps everyday citizens connect with nature while helping to conserve it.”
While Canadian cities will compete against each other to see which one can engage the most people and accumulate the highest number of observations, the collective number will represent Canada’s total in the international competition. In 2022, almost 1.7 million observations were made and more than 56,000 species were identified including more than 1,300 rare, endangered, or threatened species.
In Canada, 76,984 observations were made of 4,551 species. Greater Victoria earned top honours with 7,847 observations and the highest participants per capita. This year’s event runs in two parts: recording observations from April 28 to May 1 and identifying observations May 2 to 7.
The City Nature Challenge was established by the California Academy of Sciences and Natural Museum of Los Angeles in 2016. For more information, and a list of Canadians cities competing in 2023 visit https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-canada-2023-defi-nature-urbaine. You can also contribute using iNaturalist all year by joining CWF’s Observation Nation project.
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RELATED LINKS:
- Canadian Wildlife Federation CNC Information Page
- City Nature Challenge Canada iNaturalist Project
- Canadian Wildlife Federation Observation Nation Project
- City Nature Challenge
About the Canadian Wildlife Federation:
The Canadian Wildlife Federation is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to conserving Canada’s wildlife and habitats for the use and enjoyment of all. By spreading knowledge of human impacts on wildlife and the environment, carrying out actions to conserve and restore species and habitats, developing and delivering conservation education programs, advocating for changes to government policy and programs, and co-operating with like-minded partners, CWF encourages a future in which Canadians can live in harmony with nature. For more information, visit CanadianWildlifeFederation.ca.
About the City Nature Challenge:
Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the teams at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national and in 2018 it became an international event.
CONTACT:
David DeRocco Sr. Manager, Marketing and Events davidd@cwf-fcf.org (613) 599-9594 x 279
PARTICIPATING CANADIAN CITIES:
Annapolis Valley NS
Barrie ON
Brandon MB
Calgary (Metropolitan Region) AB
Cape Breton NS (regional municipality) Carleton/ York County NB
Charlottetown PE
Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, BC
Delta BC
Edmonton metro area AB
Gatineau and Collines-de-l’Outaouais QC
Montreal (Greater Montreal) QC
Halifax, Reigonal Municipality NS
Hamilton ON
Kamloops, BC
Kingston, ON
London ON
Niagara Falls, ON
Northumberland/Kent County NB
Oakville ON
Okanagan Valley BC
Ottawa (Greater Ottawa) ON
Québec City metropolitan community QC
Peterborough, ON
Red Deer Area AB
Regina and Area SK
Richmond BC
Saskatoon SK
Sault Ste. Marie ON
St. Catharines ON
St. John's NL
Summerside PE
Surrey BC
Thunder Bay District ON
Toronto and Greater Toronto Area ON
Tri-City (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody BC
Vancouver (Greater Vancouver) BC
Victoria County BC
Westmorland County NS
Whitehorse YT
Winnipeg MB
Windsor, ON
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