CAP-2030 Nepal: Biodiversity datasets
Features two datasets collected on the biodiversity in Kavre. Categorisation and geolocation of local plants, insects, birds, and other organisms captured via photos in Kavre.
These two excel sheets "cap-iNaturalist-Kavre1.xlsx" and "cap-iNaturalist-Kavre2.xlsx" provide biodiversity-related data captured by adolescent secondary school students during a "Citizen Science" project in the district of Kavre in the central hills of Nepal during April 2022. The project was part of a CIFF-funded Children in All Policies 2030 (CAP2030) project.
The data and images were captured on android tablets using iNaturalist, an online app used to collect and share biodiversity data (mainly plants and animals) by comparing a photograph of the observation with a digital database. The app had been localised with Nepali language prompt by Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL). Most of the data in these files are not useful to analysis but serve to demonstrate the data collected in the 'back-end' of the iNaturalist app which are processed by the app and presented in a data dashboard. Data on local names, broad taxa and probable species are recorded as well as the geolocation and time/ date of capture. The point of taking the images was to enable Nepalese youth to engage with and identify the biodiversity in their locale and to engender a sense of environmental stewardship, so the data are not arising from systematic sampling or survey methods. The data are useful to demonstrate what can be collected by Nepalese adolescents after and short training session. The photographs taken and the process of using iNaturalist are described in a paper entitled "Citizen science for climate change resilience: engaging adolescents to study climate hazards, biodiversity and nutrition in rural Nepal" submitted to Wellcome Open Research in Feb 2023. The data contributed to Figure 5 of this paper.