Title
Citizen science in Bolivia: The experience of the 2019 Urban Naturalist Challenge.
Author(s)
Robert Wallace
Published
2021
Publisher
Boletín de la Asociación Boliviana de Ornitología
Abstract
In April 2019 La Paz, Bolivia, participated for four days in the fourth edition of the "City Nature Challenge" competing with 158 other cities around the world in the biodiversity registry using the Naturalista application, the second largest citizen science initiative in the world. After its launch and in parallel with training events, the City Nature Challenge La Paz 2019, defined five strategic lines to promote participation in the event within the metropolitan area of La Paz (>7.000 km2): 1) involvement of different media and communication methods with traditional press, spaces in strategic locations and social media, 2) invitation and promotion with existing environmental citizen groups in the city, 3) participation of municipal protected areas and the municipality of La Paz in the initiative, 4) identification of 35 schools and training with teachers and students to ensure participation, 5) organization of teams of experts to visit the most remote regions of the metropolitan area of La Paz. As a result, La Paz achieved second place worldwide in the number of registrations (almost 47,000 registrations), surpassing cities with much more experience. It also achieved third place in participation with 1,500 participants and eighth place in species recorded (3,022 species). We share the results in more detail and invite more cities in Bolivia to use the strategy applied in this experience and participate in the fifth version of the City Nature Challenge in 2020.
Keywords
naturalist; iNaturalist

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