To connect the urban population of Bolivia with nature and involve them in research and conservation actions for urban biodiversity and habitat, WCS and the Institute of Ecology, as representatives of the institutional alliance that promoted the participation of La Paz in the City Nature Challenge, obtained second place in the social network popularity contest. This national competition is organized by the Urban Interventions Program of the Ministry of Development Planning, to reward citizen participation in environmental issues. The central theme of the WCS participation was the city of La Paz, its natural and cultural diversity, the challenges it faces in reconciling its development with the conservation of biodiversity and the opportunities that are open to keep cultural traditions alive, through citizen science initiatives that mobilize the inhabitants of the city in a collective effort to document urban biodiversity, as well as efforts to recognize the value of protected areas with the Identidad Madidi initiative, and the cultural and culinary potential of biodiversity and agrobiodiversity through the Sabores Silvestres effort.
The amount of the prize, 5,789 USD will complement other WCS funds to support the participation of La Paz in the City Nature Challenge 2020. The objective is to involve a greater number of people in the photographic documentation of biodiversity in the metropolitan urban and surrounding regions of La Paz. It will be essential to design more effective dissemination strategies by creating a specific website on citizen science, which centralizes other citizen science initiatives of naturalist groups. Digital tools for users (species identification guides, trail and route guides through the green areas of La Paz) will also be developed and the involvement of media and environmental institutions in the metropolitan region of La Paz will be secured.