Where is biodiversity in Singapore?

Surely not in these Singapore dollar notes which ICCS Otters Yi Yong and Kah Ming are examining so intently?

These coastal cleanup volunteers are at a training session for Raffles Museum Toddycats, the parent organisation of the ICCS Otters. Volunteers have been busy preparing for the Festival of Biodiversity to be held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens on 26-27 May 2012; see updates at festivalofbiodiversitysingapore.wordpress.com.

The Festival promises to be the biggest celebration of Singapore’s biodiversity in the calendar and has a wonderful array of activities lined up. We are motivated to help the public find out just where biodiversity is in Singapore and what it looks like.

The festival is organised by NParks and the natural history community who have come together formally (for once) to engage over issues as the Biodiversity Roundtable of Singapore. This first event we are collaborating on is part of worldwide celebrations of the International Day of Biodiversity.

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The international theme this year is Marine Biodiversity, something we are primarily engaged with. And the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore team will be contributing to the the Festival in various ways, at one of the talks, as part of a new Marine Exhibition to be unveiled at the Festival and at the Toddycats exhbition booth on the second floor at Singapore Botanic Gardens (Tanglin Gate). The Toddycats exhibition will have the company on the balcony of several groups including ACRES, Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Cicada Tree-Eco Place.

So come down and enjoy the talks, walks, exhibitions, artwork, games and of course interact and catch up with the community – we will be there!

Meanwhile, we have been hard at work preparing for the festival. After this volunteer training at NUS Lab 7 tonight, we’re down to shifting specimens over before it’s showtime!

About the dollar note inspection? Well the portrait series of Singapore dollar notes which carry the face of our first president Encik Yusof bin Ishak are also imprinted with a different species of cowry each – right up to the $1,000 note. We’ll settle for just showing the $2 notes though!

Thanks to Xu Weiting for the photos!