18th S R Nathan Fellow –Shawn Lum
Shawn Lum is a Senior Lecturer at the Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University. Trained as a botanist and ecologist, he has spent most of his academic career studying the resilience and long-term viability of fragmented and disturbed forest remnants. He has also been active in the local and regional nature conservation community, primarily as a member of the Nature Society Singapore, which he served for two decades as Vice-President and President. Shawn is a throwback to the time when university faculty were routinely active in nature-related civil society. He has collaborated over his career with colleagues in academic institutions, government agencies, NGOs and the Singapore school system. He serves in an advisory capacity to various agencies, institutions and civil society groups in the area of biodiversity and environmental management. Born in Japan, raised in Hawaii and having spent his entire working career in Singapore, Shawn’s life has an unshakeable affinity for islands.
18th
IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Singapore, Nature and a World Reimagined
Singapore
is widely admired for being clean, verdant and maintained with purposefulness
and precision. The verdure is not accidental — Singapore as a “Garden City” was
a bold and strategic vision that went far beyond the greening of our city.
Singapore
developing into a “City In Nature”, however, was not preordained; its evolution
was decades in the making, requiring a combination of coordinated urban
planning, horticultural wizardry, ecological understanding, landscape design
expertise, raising capacity, hard work and more. Most of all, becoming a City
in Nature required a change in outlook, of how we view nature and its role in
society.
The
three-part IPS-Nathan Lectures on “Singapore, Nature and a World Reimagined”
makes a case for the value of biodiversity for our City in Nature and beyond.
The lectures will also suggest ways in which Singapore can better protect and
value biodiversity, how we can make nature an integral and indispensable part
of our lives, and how we can contribute to improving prospects for vibrant
ecosystems far beyond our shores.
Shawn Lum,
the 18th S R Nathan Fellow, is a scientist, a teacher and an active participant
in civil society. His experiences in the study and conservation of nature and
biodiversity are distilled into his three lectures, offering insights and
inspiration for Singapore’s continued journey as a City In Nature.
To find out more about the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore, please click here.