iNaturalist nature initiative launched in the east
iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, and its app helps people to identify any plants and animals around them.
Tshwane officials for the local environment and agriculture management department met at the Moreletakloof nature reserve on Friday morning, to capture and record biodiversity on the iNaturalist smartphone app.
Tshwane MMC for environment and agriculture management Dana Wannenburg joined national and provincial government’s environmental departments and agencies, along with NGOs, for the initiative.
iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, and its app helps people to identify any plants and animals around them.
Connected to an international community of over a million scientists and naturalists, it adds to research-quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature.
“I feel very honoured to be here today, as we all by now know that our eco-system is in danger,” Wannenburg said.
“We need to educate each other, learn from each other and pave the way to a better future for our nature reserves in Pretoria.
“I feel blessed to be involved, and we aim to create numerous new forests in our beautiful city in the coming years. This app is a stepping stone to a more involved biodiversity community.”
As part of the Water Week educational campaign, the event drew attention to the importance of freshwater to urban biodiversity.
The Moreletakloof nature reserve has an abundance of bird life, small game, indigenous forest, several types of freshwater resources and plenty of aquatic life.
In the spirit of valuing water and biodiversity, participants in Friday’s bio-blitz, recorded as much fauna and flora as they could find or come across.
As discoveries are captured, it adds to databases that help inform biota distribution and protection levels.
Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed.
Your findings are shared with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use your data. All you have to do is observe.
Members from Tshwane metro, councillor Marike Kruger-Muller, the public, friends of Moreletakloof nature reserve and various volunteer groups and NPOs like Hennops Revival attended to experience this historical day in the biodiversity industry.
“We urge people from all over to make use of this app, to operate with it and use it to your advantage. We are here to help each other and to preserve our foliage in areas like this.
“We are fortunate in our journey of hard work to save and develop our nature reserves, boasting with exceptional animal and plant life,” Wannenburg concluded.
Dana Wannenburg talking about the importance of the iNaturalist app:
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