Reviewed by Vidu Dassanayake of the Wildlife Society
The Youth Wing of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of SriLanka, in collaboration with the Wildlife Society of Trinity College Kandy, conducted an awareness programme for school students at the Main Hall of Trinity College on the 24th of April 2026. Awareness programmes were a segment of the inaugural City Nature Challenge (CNC) in Sri Lanka, which took place in Kandy from the 24th – 27th April 2026. The CNC is an international initiative that encourages people to observe, document and appreciate plants and wildlife in their own cities through a global collaborative field study held annually at the end of April.
The Wildlife Society of TCK was happy to welcome students from a few schools in Kandy: St. Sylvester’s College, Mowbray College, Mahamaya Girls’ College, Hillwood College, Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, Gateway College and Girls’ High School.
Mr Pasindu Dilshan Abegunawardhana, the keynote speaker of the Youth Wing of WNPS introduced the CNC to the student community and guided them to download the iNaturalist app onto their digital devices in order to record the observed species of plants and animal life. He and his team explained the importance of identifying and documenting lesser-known species of flora and fauna, many of which often go unnoticed or unrecognised by the public.
The speakers from the WNPS guided students on how to use the app correctly, following the guidelines and safety precautions that should be taken by everyone participating in this observation challenge.
What made this challenge compelling was that anyone, from anywhere in Kandy, could take part and contribute to the initiative. Another highlight of the programme was the series of nature walks organised by the Youth Exploration Society of Sri Lanka through several forest reserves around Kandy, providing participants with valuable opportunities to observe and document diverse species in their natural habitats.
All the attendees engaged in a Q&A session with the speaker to end the workshop.
Following this workshop, some members of the Trinity College Wildlife Society participated in the competition by visiting the observation sites. They made several verified observations on the iNaturalist platform, thereby contributing real -world data to the global City Nature Challenge 2026
The Trinity College Wildlife Society is grateful to the College Management Team: Vice Principal Mr Krishanthan Anthonydas and Mr Wasana Dissanayake- Director of the TCK’s Co-curricular Initiative for guiding them to plan the programme effectively.
