Terra, Expo City Dubai, is proud to host the City Nature Challenge. Taking place from April 25 to 28, this worldwide initiative rallies citizens across the globe to explore their surroundings and record plants, animals and fungi they find around their neighbourhood. The real-time data supports scientists in protecting urban biodiversity.
With a mission to transform the way people connect with nature, Terra is a hub for sustainability, citizen science and biodiversity conservation. This year, in collaboration with Emirates Nature-WWF, Dubai Holding Entertainment, and Nature Wave, Terra is proud to bring the challenge to Dubai, inviting local communities to rediscover the rich biodiversity woven into the city’s landscape.
“Expo City Dubai was designed to be more than a place — it’s a blueprint for what a sustainable city of the future can and should be,” said Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education & Culture at Expo City Dubai. “Anchoring this vision is Terra, where architecture, innovation, and education converge to bring sustainability to life in a tangible, impactful way. Through initiatives like the City Nature Challenge, we are not only inviting people to reconnect with nature — we are empowering communities to become part of something bigger: a movement to protect the planet, starting right here at home.”
Launched by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2015, the City Nature Challenge turns simple moments into powerful acts of conservation, logging over 7 million species across hundreds of cities to date, and helping scientists better understand and protect biodiversity worldwide.
Whether you are sipping coffee on your balcony, walking through a park, or lounging in your backyard, you can join the challenge by photographing any wild plant or animal and uploading it to the iNaturalist app between April 25 and 28.
If you are unsure what to look out for, don’t worry! From the chirping of purple sunbirds to the quick scurry of sand gecko, the flutter of salmon Arab butterflies or the rustle of miswak bushes, Dubai is teeming with life just waiting to be noticed. On rare occasions, you might even glimpse an Arabian red dwarf honeybee roaming the outskirts of the city. Download our guide from Terra’s website. If you would like to learn the ropes firsthand, join Terra’s team of biodiversity experts on Friday, 25th April from 9 to 10am for a hands-on introduction to the City Nature Challenge — open to all and free to attend.
“Nature doesn’t start at the edge of a forest — it’s all around us,” added Arabella Willing, Head of Conservation Outreach & Citizen Science from Emirates Nature in association with WWF. “This initiative empowers people to become scientists in their own communities. The data collected has real-world impact.”
The event also taps into Dubai’s competitive spirit. Cities like Singapore, Cape Town and Tokyo have already secured their spot on the leaderboard in previous years. The aim is to log the highest number of observations, species, and participants — turning a simple walk into a step toward global recognition.
As an added bonus, Terra is running a social media competition for the best wildlife photo captured during the challenge. To enter, simply upload your best wildlife photo captured during CNC and tag @visitterra.ae to be in with a chance to win four free tickets to Terra and a chance to get your photo featured in an exhibition at Terra.
The observation window runs from April 25 to 28, followed by an upload and identification period from April 29 to May 4. Final results will be announced on May 5, revealing how Dubai performed against hundreds of cities around the world.
To get started, sign-up to iNaturalist today and visit https://terra.expocitydubai.com/en/poi/city-nature-challenge for step-by-step guides. Whether you are eight or eighty, this is your chance to discover, contribute, and celebrate the wild side of Dubai — one snapshot at a time.