Paper Short Abstract:

This paper assesses how environmental organisations shape expertise on biodiverse landscapes in Singapore. Locating the design of multispecies landscapes within regimes of truth-making and practical ethics (e.g. Ong, 2005; Tsing, 2015), the ethnographic study reveals tactics for environmental repair and bottom-up climate activism.

Paper Abstract:

This paper assesses how environmental organisations shape expertise on biodiverse landscapes in Singapore. In 2020, Singapore’s National Parks Board launched the OneMillionTrees campaign, which sought to intensify urban greening efforts in the city. Exploring the entanglements between future orientations, climate advocacy and environmental care, the in-depth investigation explores how various lanscape experts, including park rangers, community gardeners, tour guides, plant farmers and conservationists, envision sustainable urban development. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Singapore’s parks and gradens, the main aim of the research is to gain a better understanding of the shaping of expertise in transitioning into post-fossil societies. Despite their commitment to educating the general public and the younger generation about practical ways of conserving biodiversity, Singapore’s landscape experts have to cope with increased uncertainty about the future of urban forests. Locating the design of multispecies landscapes within regimes of truth-making and practical ethics (e.g. Ong, 2005; Tsing, 2015), the ethnographic study reveals tactics for environmental repair and bottom-up climate activism.