Guest blog. Giving Cities Their Wings Back: A Youth-Led Journey in Urban Biodiversity

Noticing What Cities Are Losing
In cities today, change is constant. Skylines are constantly rising, roads expanding and green spaces? Well they continue to slowly disappear into the concrete. While transformation like this is a signal for growth, I believe that it also quietly disrupts the natural ecosystems that once thrived within these spaces.

Growing up within a rapidly urbanising environment like Delhi NCR in a developing country like India myself, I began to notice not just the disappearance of trees and open land, but also the absence of smaller, often overlooked species. Among them were butterflies. The delicate yet vital indicators of ecological health that so often go unnoticed. Research shows that urban butterfly populations in India have declined significantly over the past few decades. This observation became the starting point for Wings of Change, my very own youth-led initiative I founded to restore urban ecosystems through humble efforts within butterfly conservation.

From Ideas To Action
In collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), I initiated the development of 10 butterfly gardens across schools and community spaces in Delhi. These gardens were carefully designed using native host and nectar plants. My aim was simple: to transform small, overlooked urban spaces into microhabitats that promote biodiversity by supporting pollinators.

I realised early on that long-term impact requires more awareness and participation. To address this, I developed the Wings in Action Citizen Science Primer, a volunteer-friendly guide introducing people of all ages to butterfly identification, habitat creation, and ecological monitoring. By making conservation more accessible, I hoped to encourage others, especially young people like me, to actively engage with their environment.

To further expand reach and growing interest in this area, I also created The City Flyers, which is a series of illustrated children’s storybooks that explore the relationship between urban life and wildlife. Through simple, relatable stories, the books aim to build curiosity and empathy among younger children, helping them understand that even small actions can contribute to larger environmental change.