City Nature Challenge O‘ahu: Meet-and-Greet Gathering

Thursday, May 2, 2024
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Atherton Halau
FREE with RSVP

This year, in celebration of the City Nature Challenge (CNC) on O‘ahu, Bishop Museum will host a meet-and-greet gathering for CNC participants, nature nerds, and anyone who wants to learn more about biodiversity to connect in person and share stories over food, drink, fun activities, and a special presentation. All ages are welcome!

The CNC is an annual event where cities around the world compete to document biodiversity on iNaturalist (iNat). Bishop Museum and the University of Hawai‘i are hosts for our city region, which covers the entire island of Oahu, and we are competing against over 500 other cities. The competition takes place over 10 days, split into two parts. During the observation period, participants go out and find wild plants, animals, fungi, etc., take photos, and upload them to iNat. During the identification period, the community works together to identify the photos that were found. This year the observation period is April 26 – 29 and the identification period is April 30 – May 5. Learn more about the CNC and how to participate here.

Goals of the competition are to:

• Bring communities together to celebrate and learn about biodiversity
• Capture a yearly ‘snapshot’ of biodiversity in urban areas
• Promote citizen science

The meet-and-greet gathering takes place after the observation period and during the identification period, when participants can recap their findings, share knowledge, ask questions, and connect with others. Even if you did not participate in the City Nature Challenge this year, all are welcome to join and learn about biodiversity on O‘ahu.

Program Timeline

5 p.m. Doors Open, Pupu & Drink
5:30 p.m. Welcome by CNC Team + Presentation “Levels of Biodiversity” by Brian Deis, Lecturer at Kapi‘olani Community College
6 p.m. Informal Storytelling & Biodiversity Activities
7 p.m. Pau