Grassroots Biodiversity Logger and Community Species ID Platform

Objective: To empower rural students and citizen volunteers to document and identify local biodiversity using a collaborative mobile/web platform.

India's rapid urbanization, habitat loss, and lack of local ecological records threaten endemic and endangered species, especially in rural and peri-urban landscapes. Many vulnerable communities depend on these ecosystems for livelihoods, but have limited resources or awareness to monitor biodiversity loss. This challenge is aligned with SDG 15 (Life on Land), supporting grassroots conservation and informed action.

The proposed solution is an easy-to-use, multilingual mobile and web app that enables citizen scientists—particularly school and college students—to capture geotagged photos, upload field observations, and use AI-assisted tools for species identification. Community experts and local NGOs can validate records, creating a reliable open-data repository for under-documented regions.

Key features will include: offline data capture for remote areas, integration with India Biodiversity Portal and GBIF APIs, AI/ML-based species suggestions (using open models), community validation workflows, and exportable, standards-compliant datasets for researchers and agencies. The working prototype will be piloted with rural schools and local environmental groups.

Measurable impact includes increased biodiversity records from under-mapped regions, youth engagement in citizen science, and actionable data for local conservation. The platform is scalable across states and adaptable for other environmental monitoring needs, strengthening grassroots participation in SDG 15 outcomes.