(Please note, this post as well as the article was written a few weeks before the Gardens received its UNESCO World Heritage Site certification.)
For many of us living in Singapore, a walk in the Botanic Gardens is a regular affair. Each year, over 4.4 million people (both locals and tourists), visit the 156-year old Gardens, making it one of the most visited botanic gardens in the world.
The Gardens have also played an instrumental role in shaping the early Southeast Asian economy. It is only befitting that this urban oasis is Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination.
The decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is expected to be announced in mid-July. While Singapore anxiously awaits the outcome of the bid, I explore the long and colourful history of the Gardens, in an article for the Jul-Aug’15 issue of PASSAGE (the bi-monthly magazine of the Friends of the Museums Singapore).
(Reproduced with the permission of the Editor)
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You can read more about the wildlife/natural history of Singapore in the following posts:
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No Roads Barred 