Thailand joined the world in discovering the amazing biodiversity in the City Nature Challenge 2022 held during 29 April – 2 May 2022. Run by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the City Nature Challenge is an international event that motivates people around the world to find and document wildlife in their cities using iNaturalist application.

The challenge in Thailand took place in four cities, namely Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Hat Yai. An introduction and nature observation session was organized on 30 April 2022 at Benchakitti Park in Bangkok, in which NSTDA researcher Dr. Komsit Wisitrassameewong of the National Biobank of Thailand participated as one of the speakers.

Over the four-day challenge in Thailand, 242 people participated with a total of 5,829 observations made and 1,549 species found.

To help overcome language barrier, a Thai-language user manual of iNaturalist application was developed. The challenge in Thailand was supported by several organizations, including NSTDA, the National Science Museum, Botany Department of Mahidol University, the Green World Foundation, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network for Thailand, Nature Plearn Club, Mangrove for the Future, Dow Thailand Mangrove Alliance and Decathlon Thailand.

Globally, the 2022 challenge covered 445 cities across 47 countries, tallying over 1,690,000 observations; engaging more than 67,000 observers; and recording over 50,000 species worldwide, including over 2,200 rare, endangered, or threatened species.