Human-Wildlife Interactions in a ‘City in Nature’

PI: Dr Harvey Neo (LKYCIC, SUTD)
Co-PI: Dr Samuel Chng (LKYCIC, SUTD)
Team:  Ms Ariel Tan Jen Li, Mr Li Bayi,  Ms Sara Ann Nicholas, Ms Sarah Wong I-Mae, Ms Flora Du Yuting, Ms Rabi’ah Ghazali (LKYCIC, SUTD)

Human-wildlife encounters appear to be on the rise in Singapore. There may be three reasons for this:

1. Housing and other infrastructural projects are built ever closer to nature reserves and parks, causing wildlife to forage closer to human habitats.
2. Singapore’s desire to become a biophilic ‘City in Nature’ – where nature is interwoven with the urban fabric – has enabled wildlife to thrive in pockets of nature that have not existed before
3. Travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have compelled more Singaporeans to look to our own backyard for leisure activities, thereby increasing encounters with wildlife.

Human-wildlife encounters can easily escalate into conflicts, if public apathy towards animals is high while knowledge of animals is low. Yet, the rise in human-wildlife encounters present a golden opportunity for turning such encounters into interactions that are meaningful and sustainable.

Our study seeks to understand how positive human-wildlife interactions can be fostered in a ‘City in Nature’. We wish to understand the kinds of attitudes towards animals that lend themselves to positive interactions; and how these attitudes are shaped by people’s life experiences and knowledge about nature and wildlife.

The first phase of our study involves a population survey. The survey is expected to commence in Q2 2022.

If you’d like to learn more about the study, please write to us at humanwildlife@sutd.edu.sg. We’d love to hear from you!