Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) through the project ‘Building Biodiversity Knowledge for Action in Southern Africa: Biodiversity Assessment, Prioritisation and Spatial Planning in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Malawi’ (or the ‘SBAPP Regional Project’) funded by AFD/FFEM, held a webinar via Zoom, on 15th of August 2024, about the importance of citizen science and the use of iNaturalist. This event was attended by around 70 participants from research institutions, government, academia and NGOs.
The main aim of the event was to provide training on the use and importance of the iNaturalist app. The webinar was conducted by Suvarna Parbhoo, head of the citizen science programme at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Tony Rebelo, a scientist at SANBI with a passion for citizen science projects using iNaturalist, and Sergio Chozas, a professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, currently very interested in the use and development of citizen science. The three experts shared their experience on citizen science as a tool to promote involvement with the wider society in collection of biodiversity information in South Africa and Portugal. During the webinar they conducted a demonstration on the use of iNaturalist in its web version and mobile application.
This is the second training course on the use of iNaturalist organised in Mozambique through the SBAPP project. The use of iNaturalist promotes citizen participation in the inventorying and sharing of biodiversity information, as a way of helping to reduce the gap in the availability of primary biological data, especially in countries like Mozambique, where there are still limited human and material resources to carry out comprehensive studies and inventories throughout the country. In addition, citizen science initiatives are an opportunity to raise awareness and interest in biodiversity among the general public.
It is in this context that, between 20 and 23 September 2024, Mozambique will take part in the Great Bioblitz of the Southern Hemisphere, which will give participants the opportunity to highlight the immense biodiversity that occurs in the country and involve the public in learning about science and nature using the iNaturalist platform in the context of citizen science.
Find more informations about the iNaturalist project here
Find more informations about SBAPP here