City Nature Challenge 2026: Kangra District joins the global biodiversity count
The challenge
The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is a global citizen-science initiative in which cities and regions document their biodiversity on the iNaturalist platform: wild plants, animals, insects and fungi, recorded by ordinary people and contributed to global biodiversity databases.
Kangra district, in the Himalayan foothills, holds rich biodiversity across forests, wetlands, tea gardens and agricultural landscapes. HITA, in collaboration with Deer Park Institute (Bir), organised the district’s first-ever participation in the 2026 challenge, held from 24 to 27 April.
Targets
- 800+ participants
- 10,000+ observations
- 1,000+ species documented
- 20+ institutions engaged
- 10–12 field events
Where
Five urban clusters, each with a collaborating partner: the Dharamshala–McLeodganj–Yol–Dharamkot belt; Palampur (Palampur Awareness Club); the Bir belt (Deer Park); the Nurpur–Indora–Rehan belt (Deri College); and the Dehra–Jawali–Pong Dam belt (Himachal Pradesh Forest Department collaboration being finalised).
When
- 1–20 April 2026: awareness and training with orientation workshops in colleges and schools, iNaturalist training, volunteer mobilisation
- 24–27 April 2026: the observation period, with biodiversity walks, BioBlitz events, citizen observation drives
- 28 April – 10 May 2026: identification, with expert review, species identification sessions, data consolidation
The data generated will support research, conservation planning, and stronger collaboration between institutions, civil society and the Forest Department.