Brazil has launched a nationwide biodiversity census campaign using a free smartphone app that invites citizens to photograph and report local flora and fauna. The app, supported by the Ministry of Environment and UNESCO, ties into real-time species mapping across the Amazon rainforest, Atlantic Forest, and Pantanal.
Data collected assists in tracking endangered species and deforestation areas. The app already has over 250,000 users, with schools encouraged to use it in environmental studies.
Conservation groups in Nepal and Bhutan are impressed and exploring similar apps, especially for documenting Himalayan wildlife and mountaintop vegetation.
