The Great Southern Hemisphere Bioblitz, an international initiative that brings together biologists, conservationists, university students and the general public to record observations of organisms on the iNaturalist platform, promoting greater knowledge of biodiversity in the southern hemisphere, took place between 20 and 23 September 2024.
In Mozambique, the Bioblitz was organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) as part of the project ‘Building Biodiversity Knowledge for Action in Southern Africa: Biodiversity Assessment, Prioritization and Spatial Planning in South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia’ (SBAPP Project), funded by AFD and FFEM.
To ensure the active participation of stakeholders, with an emphasis on university students, the WCS team held training sessions at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Pedagogical University of Maputo and the Faculty of Sciences of Eduardo Mondlane University. The training consisted of presentations on the importance of the iNaturalist platform and a short practical session. In addition, publicity campaigns were implemented and the iNaturalist community in Mozambique was reactivated on WhatsApp which currently has around 500 members from various regions of the country.
Mosaic with some of the pictures taken in Mozambique
This Bioblitz, the second organized by WCS in 2024, resulted in around 3,270 observations, covering 706 species and involving 114 observers. In countries like Mozambique, where biodiversity studies are underfunded, the use of the iNaturalist platform is critical for encouraging society to collect and share biodiversity data. Citizen science initiatives also serve to increase public awareness and interest in biodiversity.
The results are still provisional, as the process of identifying and analyzing species continues. Participants have until 7th October 2024 to upload their photographs, thus contributing to the identification of the specimens and enriching the data on Mozambique's biodiversity.
Find more informations about the Mozambique project on iNaturalist here
Find more informations about SBAPP here