In pictures_ Nature is thriving in locked-down Singapore—is it time to rethink the city in a garden_ _ News _ Eco-Business _ Asia Pacific

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23/06/2020 In pictures: Nature is thriving in locked-down Singapore—is it time to rethink the city in a garden? | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific
whether the neat, image-conscious city-state should make wilder green spaces a permanent
feature after the lockdown is lifted.
The sight of rarely seen wild owers and the noticeable increase in butter ies, dragon ies,
grasshoppers and bees has delighted some residents, particularly children, in a city not known
for its tolerance of nature, leading to calls for less severe management of grassy areas that
allows biodiversity to thrive even in the busier parts of the city.
Singapore’s small but vocal community of nature lovers has
taken to social media to propose a reduction in grass-cutting
to help wildlife proliferate, and reduce labour costs. Local
natural areas have come to feel like new destinations and, for
some, the wilder green spaces around the city bring back
memories of a bygone era.
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Gary Lim, a supporter of Nature Society Singapore, a nature
conservation group, commented on Facebook: “In the 60s and
70s, whenever you stepped into an open eld, grasshoppers
would y in every direction. We would net grasshoppers to
use as bird feed. Nowadays the elds are empty. Little wonder
that our birds dine at hawker centres.”
CARBON & CLIMATE
Cuifen Pui, who focuses on community building of a sustainability network, Foodscape
Collective, said that as a child she remembers seeing large elds of lalang, long grass native to
tropical Asia. Such elds are mostly “interim” spaces planted with imported cow grass that will
eventually be built on, she said.
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