the City Natural Contest 2025 is coming soon. I wonder if there is a map easy to find where I can see all the region taking part.
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Thank you very much!
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and if ‘your city’ is not competing
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2025-global-project
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Hello! My “City” is taking part and has been pretty successful in the last years. It consists of the city of Graz, the administrativ district Graz-Umgebung and additional every year another administrative district. tis year it is Südoststeiermark, I suppose the second largest district in Styria.
www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2025-graz-bis-zum-vulkanland,
As I am on Monday, April 28 th on the Island of Cres in Croatia with a group of herpetologists, I will also register at the “global project”..
Perhaps the City Nature Contest 2025 of Rijeka can extend their chosen area to the adjacent islands of the Kvarner region. It would also be nice if there will be founddt also some groups in the Area of Istria (Italy-Triest, Slovenia-Koper and the Istrian peninsula in Croatia) and in the state of Slovenia. I wish that at least one competitor exists in every member state of the European Union.
And it might be a wise decision to extend the region “Ciudad de Panama” to the zone of the Canal of Panama. And to create a group in Greenland, as long as it is possible.
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Cape Town, Hong Kong, La Paz, Graz.
It has been so fascinating to see different cities flying up the ranks each year. And such different cities with their biodiversity and varied habitats.
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Could I add a location? Only bangalore rural is present. A majority of the city is left out, including the ‘city’ part of the city (where i live). Shouldn’t the metropolitan area also be included?
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Well, the name “City Natural Contest” ist not the best choice! Ssomtimes there compete cities
including Metropolitan areas, but a lot of competitors have a large rural area included, too.
I just woud prefer from next year on the name “Regional Natural Contest (RNC)”.
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Those need to be organised well in advance - with a local team running it.
Maybe you can talk to the Bangalore organisers for 2026.
?
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It is possible to edit the geographic coverage of an existing “team” for the 2025 CNC (I requested such a thing one year and it was done) but you’re right that adding a new team is not possible until 2026.
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Including my area, Team Coastal NC: 32 counties! That vast area, encompassing not just cities but farmlands, beaches, salt marshes, and a National Forest, is hardly a fair competitor with a dense, urbanized area.
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What is the purpose of the event?
I would argue that the purpose of CNC is to engage people with nature, and maybe to pick up some iNat users who will become dedicated IDers etc. (maybe 1%?).
It’s like the Olympics: I guess the purpose is to put amateur sport on a pedestal.
Is it fair for China or the US or the former USSR, with hundreds of millions of athletes and basically unlimited resources, to compete with some tiny country with a few million people?
Of course they’re not competing on a level playing field. Same with association football and national teams competing in the World Cup.
But as long as it supports the purpose of the event — love of sport, bringing humans together in a friendly challenge, etc. — then everyone accepts the uneven playing field or David vs Goliath scenario.
The ‘competitive’ side is not fair in any way.
The areas vary hugely in size and habitat variety.
In the number of participants.
The potential number of species to be found.
It is not a contest as such. But I remember one year, with one young man determined to do a CNC all on his own. Very much in the spirit of iNat’s intentions!
Would be good to have some targets which ALL of the CNC participants could compete for.
Find something which is potentially extinct. But not after the CNC!
A range extension.
A new exotic invasive.
Restoration / rehab sp.
First time participant - a particular (and low) barrier to achieve.
?
The winner each year, since it is not a level playing field, it usually obvious within 2 or 3 days, once the 24/7 has reached everyone and the indentifiers have got to work, and then the pictures are all uploaded. Go …
Random example for CNC 2024 for Africa.
Flip the display to species.
Results range from Cape Town at over 3K all the way down to 2 sad projects with zero. That is no fun at either end. Somebody had the enthusiasm and interest to set up the disappointing zero projects 
Finally found the global 2024 results.
Led by Graz, Hong Kong and Cape Town 4 to 3 K.
With 88 coming in with zero to single digits.
43% 384K obs still at Needs ID today.
I don’t think they would listen to an 11yr old.
No reason why you can’t get in touch with your local organizers anyway. The local CNC projects are community organized – anyone can organize a CNC project for their city; I know of at least one very successful CNC that is organized by a teenager.
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Eleven-year-olds are EXACTLY the sort of people who should be involved in the CNC. Most of the hard-core and very competent naturalist and professional biologists I know started being interested in nature when they were kids. Do it on your own this year and contribute to the global project, but then organize your local CNC for next year. If nothing else, the CNC gives you the excuse to spend four full days out in the natural world as long as you possibly can. I find doing it exhilarating (and exhausting, but then I’m 60 years older than you).
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My suggestion is to create different competitive groups depending on the size and structure of the participanst. One categoriy could be Metropolitan areas and the other rural areas. In the Olympic games there is a 100 meter running competition, and there is the Marathon running. Though both is the sport of “running”, people do not compete in both..
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