How to measure the ecological performance of cities so people and nature can thrive
We are now an urban animal: 68% of people will live in urban areas by 2050. Tackling the health of nature in cities is key to our wellbeing and prosperity.
Dr Lena Chan is the Senior Director of the International Biodiversity Conservation Division, National Parks Board (NParks) of Singapore. Some initiatives that Dr Chan has worked on include the development and updating of the Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity, drafting of NParks’ Nature Conservation Masterplan, and supervising the Pulau Tekong Coastal Protection and Mangrove Enhancement project, etc.
Lena’s current official duties cover being the National Focal Point for the Convention on Biological Diversity, a Governing Board member of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Co-Chair of the ICLEI City with Nature Knowledge & Research Hub, a member of the Biophilic Cities Network’s Advisory Board, etc. She has published scientific papers on ecology, parasitology and women and the environment, and chapters in books on conservation biology. She co-edited supplements of the Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore that were dedicated to a biodiversity survey of the Central Nature Reserve published in 1997 and a comprehensive biodiversity survey of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve published in 2019.
She obtained her M. Sc. from McGill University and her Ph. D. from Imperial College, London.
We are now an urban animal: 68% of people will live in urban areas by 2050. Tackling the health of nature in cities is key to our wellbeing and prosperity.
Our expanding cities, as well as rural areas, must be at the forefront of efforts to protect ecosystems – a key realization at the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration