France-Singapore Forum "Nature in the City"

The fr(MNHN),">span>(MNHN), France, organizes in May 2024 in Singapore, in collaboration with the ">span> and the ,">span>, a Forum for all audiences, focusing on the thematic of “Nature in the City”, in line with the Ocean Forums previously organized in Paris (March 2022), Lisbon (Sept. 2022) and Seoul (June 2023).

The Forum “Nature in the City” will be held on May 13th, 14th and 15th, 2024, at the Alliance française in Singapore. It is organized with the financial support of KERING Group for the MNHN.

The participation to the Forum is free, on registration.

The France-Singapore Forum “Nature in the City” is a scientific and cultural event which aims at raising public awareness of current issues related to the knowledge, importance, function and preservation of biodiversity in urban areas. The Forum will be opened by key figures from political and scientific institutions. It will then give the floor to French and Singaporean experts (researchers, as well as curators, business leaders, journalists, artists, associations…) through a series of conferences and multidisciplinary round tables, all followed by exchanges with the public. This Forum also has the objective of strengthening the bilateral cooperation of the MNHN with Singaporean institutions in scientific, academic and cultural fields.

The draft program of the France-Singapore Forum “Nature in the City” would be as following:

• An official opening session, including speeches by scientific, political and socio-economic personalities and an inaugural lecture by Gilles BLOCH, President of the MNHN
• An Introductory session focused on “The City Biodiversity Index, also called "Singapore Index"
• A series of three round tables, all followed by discussions with the public, on the following thematics:

1. Nature in the city hosted in zoological parks, aquariums, botanical gardens, museums”
2. “Wild biodiversity in the city and relationships with humans”
3. “Nature in the city: Innovation and nature-based solutions”

• A final session on perspectives of future cooperation between France-MNHN / Singapore

The Forum will also launch a study on ‘Nature-Related Practices and Strategies in Asia-Pacific’ presented by Centre for Governance and Sustainability, NUS Business School.

The France-Singapore Forum “Nature in the City” aims at gathering speakers from MNHN (Zoological Park of Paris, Botanical Gardens, Public Division, Multidisciplinary Research laboratories...) and City of Paris (Urban Ecology Agency) for France, and from various Singaporean institutions : NUS, NTU, National Parks Board, Mandai Wildlife Group, Singapore Botanic gardens, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National Museum of Singapore, ArtScience Museum, Center for Liveable Cities, Center for Sustainable Asian Cities, as well as representives of Singaporean civil society (corporation, architect, artist...).