SeasonWatch Tree Monitoring Programme for Schools

SeasonWatch is an India-wide citizen-science programme in which schools and individuals track when common Indian trees put out leaves, flowers and fruit. Students observe registered trees once a week and record what they see.

Each participating school registers one or more mature trees on its campus or in the neighbourhood, gives every tree a number and a nickname, and assigns students to observe them. For each tree the observer records leaves, flowers and fruit separately as none, few or many, taking about five minutes per tree each week. Observations are uploaded through the SeasonWatch app or the website.

The programme is a three-way partnership between Nature Conservation Foundation, Wipro Foundation and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, and has been running since 2010. Observations from across the country build a long-term record of tree phenology that researchers use to study seasonal change and climate. Three Tree Festivals are held each year, in which participants add observations over a short window and all-India winners are named in a separate school category.