Unraveling the secret to Hong Kong’s triumphant CNC 2018!
As cities around the world competed to see who can make the most observations of nature in a global City Nature Challenge (CNC), Hong Kong registered and participated in its first ever global CNC.
Between 27–30 April 2018, Hong Kong along with 67 global cities geared up, each vying to show off to the world its regions amazing wildlife and citizens.
The challenge was daring and fierce. Hong Kong was an underdog and inexperienced but got off to a flying start, with enthusiastic participants. The competitive spirit of Hong Kongers and the cities rich and diverse wildlife proved profoundly beneficial and earned Hong Kong a position among the top global contenders of the CNC.
The energy and enthusiasm the organisers brought to the challenge was incredible- Hong Kong racked up over 20,000 observations of nearly 3000 species. Global observations of rare, endangered, and threatened species were collectively recorded, with over 100 new species that had not previously been recorded on iNaturalist.
Visiting Professor Hiromi Kobori of Tokyo City University, a seasoned Citizen Scientist, delighted and keen to unravel the mystery behind Hong Kong’s great success travelled nearly 2000 miles to Hong Kong to meet with the organisers.
The Professor, along with Emu-Felicitas Miyashita and Maryam Babba from CitizenScience.Asia visited the Tai Tam Tuk Foundation (TTTF), a leading eco educational centre that offers learning programmes to empower students, teachers and the general public to engage more with biodiversity. Outreach strategies were discussed with Shaun Martin, Education Co-ordinator with TTTF and main co-ordinator of Hong Kong’s triumphant CNC, and Jenna Ho Marris, Director of TTTF.
In a fascinating, behind closed doors discussion, we learnt so much about the contributions education is making to the achievement of the conservational goals of TTTF. We came to understand the challenges and approaches the TTTF employed in order to scale up their outreach. In a very well-orchestrated plan, the TTTF team managed to influence the participation of local schools, international schools, NGOs, researchers and the public. The challenge got many citizens to take a renewed interest in nature and it was no surprise Hong Kong emerged a winner with a sweeping victory in Asia! Professor Kobori, delighted about discovering the blueprint to this success and keen on exploring it herself couldn’t help hide her pleasure.
TTTF is well known for organising BioBlitz in Hong Kong and issuing incentives in forms of equipment and training for teachers on eco techniques. BioBlitz has a huge potential! Not only can it be used to support STEM education in school, but aligns nicely with the core curriculum being taught. This added advantage coupled with the ease of the protocol, materials provided on how to use iNaturalist, hints and tips of picture taking and posters that went out to urban areas were amongst the promotional styles used to encourage the CNC performance in schools. Despite sharing with Professor Kobori the secret to the CNC, the TTTF is convinced and ready to drive Hong Kong to greater victory.
In the words of Sir David Attenborough “Cherish the natural world because you are a part of it and you depend on it” and as concerned citizens, we should all make it our mission to support the transformation of Hong Kong to Asia’s most sustainable city. How do we begin to do that? We can start by getting more involved in environmental action and support citizen science for earth’s well-being is vital to our prosperity.
It was a pretty strong and impressive performance by all the contenders! San Francisco Bay Area made a clean sweep across all the categories.
Congratulations to all the Asian cities that took part in the CNC this year:
Tokyo, Japan
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Klang Valley / Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mumbai, India
We will be looking out for you and any new contenders from Asia in next year’s challenge on April 26–29!
Unraveling the secret to Hong Kong’s triumphant CNC 2018! was originally published in The CitizenScience.Asia Journal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
