Mumbai: A city-wide movement to map and rebuild Mumbai's biodiversity was launched at The Nest, Malabar Hill on Tuesday. The movement called Wings & Roots launched by environmental NGO NatureRe and supported by the BMC, will enable citizens to log the trees, birds, insects, and other species they encounter, while also helping create and care for native habitats across Mumbai through the Wings & Roots app https://wingsandroots.life/ .
Project Aims To Create Biodiversity Pathways Across Mumbai
The aim is to create stepping stone habitats, biodiverse spaces that strengthen ecological connectivity outward from Sanjay Gandhi National Park. "We have partnered with the BMC to build urban forests in Mumbai, which includes The Nest on Malabar Hill and Captain Namdeo Lotankar Park in Mahalaxmi. The idea is to create more such habitats across Mumbai to create a Green Corridor that allows biodiversity movement across the city," a green expert from NatureRe said, which is seeded by the RPG Foundation.
She added that the city's landscape was once rich with native forests, mangroves, and wetlands that sustained a wide diversity of urban wildlife. Yet research estimates that Mumbai has lost nearly 40% of its green cover since 1991, while much of the greenery that remains is fragmented and often dominated by exotic species with limited ecological value.
The Nest Becomes First Stepping Stone In Green Corridor Plan
“The Nest was the first stepping stone. Wings & Roots is how Mumbai builds the rest of the path, a city-wide invitation for citizens to map the wildlife around them, and grow native habitats of their own, right where they live. Every garden, courtyard, and rooftop that joins in becomes another stepping stone in the chain, extending the reach of SGNP, one neighbourhood at a time,” said Radha Goenka, Founder of NatureRe and Director of the RPG Foundation.
"NatureRe is inviting all of Mumbai to do the same. Wings & Roots is a city-wide citizen movement that invites people to discover, document, and strengthen the nature around them. Through the Wings & Roots app, citizens can log the trees, birds, insects, and other species they encounter, while also helping create and care for native habitats across Mumbai. Together, these actions can help build a richer picture of the city’s biodiversity and contribute to a more connected green corridor," a statement issued by the NGO said.
"Wings & Roots addresses ecological fragmentation through two simple avenues for participation: Wings: Citizens observe, photograph, and upload biodiversity sightings to a shared platform, helping build a growing, localised record of Mumbai’s birds, insects, animals, and other species. Roots: Citizens create, nurture, and monitor native habitats by planting native saplings, documenting existing trees and plant life, and adding them to a shared map of Mumbai’s green spaces," the statement added.
While formal environmental surveys remain critical, citizen contributions expand the reach of biodiversity documentation into everyday urban spaces. By empowering residents to scale this network, NatureRe is establishing a continuous green corridor capable of naturally lowering temperatures and improving air quality, it said.
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