Singapore is setting up a grand, green vision for itself as a nation. In the next ten years, the country aims to transition from being a garden city to a city surrounded by gardens. This includes increasing greenery and biodiversity to foster better, healthier places to live in. Poon Hong Yuen, the chief executive of the country’s National Parks Board, says:

The difference might sound very small, but it’s a bit like saying my house has a garden and my house is in the middle of a garden. What it means is having pervasive greenery, as well as biodiversity, including wildlife, all around you.

The announcement was made last June, roughly a year before the tentative opening of the 1 billion Singaporean dollar (US $829 million) project called Gardens by the Bay, where biodiversity will play a significant role.

The first phase of the 101-hectare (250-acre), green site known as Bay South Garden, is set to open in June 2012. The National Parks Board hopes that newly resurgent species, including hornbills, kingfishers and dragonflies, will find a haven there.

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Singapore National Parks Board