From 25 to 28 April 2025, people across Kazakhstan can once again join the City Nature Challenge—an international urban wildlife “bioblitz” that takes place simultaneously in hundreds of cities worldwide. The event is being organised by volunteers in partnership with the Institute of Botany and Phyto-Introduction, the Institute of Zoology, the Open Conservation Biology Lab and a range of other organisations and media outlets.
Born in California ten years ago, the Challenge has already become a real celebration for everyone interested in nature, science and urban biodiversity. Participants head out to parks, squares, suburban forests or the edges of their towns to photograph any wild organisms—plants, animals or fungi—and upload the shots via the iNaturalist app.
Last year Almaty and Karaganda took part on behalf of Kazakhstan and achieved strong results. This year three official cities have registered: Almaty, Balkhash and Karaganda. In addition, Astana, Aktobe, Shymkent, Petropavl and Kostanay are actively preparing to join in an as-yet unofficial capacity.
Anyone can take part—no special training is needed:
- create an account on iNaturalist.org;
- install the mobile app (available for Android and iOS);
- between 25 and 28 April, photograph wild plants, animals or fungi in your city and its surroundings; and
- upload your observations to the platform by 4 May.
Dedicated projects have been set up for each city on the platform, making it easy to track local activity. A national Kazakhstan leaderboard (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cnc-2025-kazakhstan) has also been launched so we can see which city proves to be the “wildest”—that is, the most active and observant of nature.
The organisers invite everyone to join in—on your own or with friends, organising shared walks and mini-expeditions. If you took part last year, please share your experience and encourage new participants.
The City Nature Challenge is not only a great way to spend time outdoors; it is also a contribution to science and conservation. Observations are exported to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, helping researchers track biodiversity trends worldwide and identify areas in need of protection.
For details, see this presentation, visit https://www.citynaturechallenge.org, or contact the organisers (co-ordinator Aleksandr Dubynin: adubynin@botsad.kz, WhatsApp +7 960 796 61 50, tel. +7 747 821 53 16).
22 April 2025