City Nature Challenge 2024 is a walk in the park

The event sees Te Whanganui a Tara urban centres compete against over 100 cities worldwide and across Aotearoa to record as many species as possible in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge.

Wellingtonians really answer the call of nature when it comes to the annual fun and whānau-friendly competition, topping the national leaderboard with a total of 12,123 observations and 2,058 species recorded by 269 people last year – with a handful of species being recorded in the region for the first time.

Wellington City Council’s Manager Urban Ecology Daniela Baggio says Wellingtonians are proud of how nature is thriving in our capital, they have a strong connection to nature and actively work to retain and restore our native treasures. 

“Citizen scientists play a crucial role in monitoring and understanding our urban ecosystems, providing valuable data for land managers, researchers, and policy makers.

“By harnessing the power of community engagement through easy-to-use citizen science platforms like iNaturalist we can effectively monitor changes in urban biodiversity.

“The challenge gives us a new lens through which to look at nature, and by learning about new species and noticing more of the amazing natural treasures around us we strengthen our connection to nature.

“The iNaturalist observations also form an important layer in our bird monitoring programme across the city. It is one of the ways we work together to deliver a city where people and nature thrive.

“We hope with Wellingtonians help we can do even better this year, so download the app, get some friends and whānau involved, and head outside and give it a go!”

How to get involved:

• Download the iNaturalist app for Android and for Apple and get out in nature to start making observations. 
• All observations recorded from 26 April – 29 April within the Wellington Region boundary during the challenge will automatically be added to Wellington’s tally.
• Come along to one of our events – keep an eye on our City Nature Challenge webpage for information.

You can keep up with Wellington’s results on our project page, and the progress other Aotearoa cities are making on the international City Nature Challenge website.