It's official - Singapore Botanic Gardens a UNESCO World Heritage Site

I was at Botanic Gardens in the evening of Saturday, 4th July trying to catch sight once again of the Grey Headed Fish Eagle when my wife alerted me that Channel Newsasia reported just before 6 pm that Botanic Gardens was just declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a first for Singapore and the third Botanic Gardens in the world to received this accolade after the Padua Gardens (Italy) and Kew Gardens (England). This indeed is something worth celebrating for as it is win for Heritage and Nature preservation and conservation as a whole in Singapore. This accolade comes also an added bonus for Singapore especially for a year when Singapore celebrates SG50. Singapore Botanic Gardens was founded in 1859 and is currently 74 ha in size (roughly 100 football fields) with over 10,000 different type of plants.

The signs were up on Saturday itself 

My hope for another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Singapore 
The celebrations will continue for Singapore's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. However i will like to remind people who care and cherish heritage and nature that although we have gained a UNESCO World heritage site yesterday, but i lament the fact that we could have had gained 2 instead of one, if Bukit Brown Cemetery was given consideration in the first place. But i think we should not lose sight of it nor give up hope of Bukit Brown being included in the future however faint it maybe.

I believe the tours will still continue by All things Bukit Brown so as to reach out to the public and hope that more researchers will come forward to uncover more stories. For the participants and supporters, i hope they will continue to share about Bukit Brown and it's value to the leaders of Singapore especially those who have their mind share because only the Singapore Government can nominate a site. To do that, there must be enough voices from people from all walks of life asking them to do so.

Do read two of my older post where i state my case for Bukit Brown based on the universal values criteria of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1. Bukit Brown Cemetery,a UNESCO World Heritage Site.posted on April 2, 2013
2. Unesco Heritage site bid - Why not Bukit Brown too? posted on April 14, 2013

Birds of the Singapore Botanic Gardens
As for me, i did manage to capture some pictures of the Grey Headed Fish Eagle previously on 21 June and yesterday while waiting for it to make an appearance, i shot the Crimson Sunbird, Singapore's Unofficial National Bird.

Grey Headed Fish Eagle (Botanic Gardens 21 June 2015) 

Grey Headed Fish Eagle (Botanic Gardens 21 June 2015)

Crimson Sunbird (Botanic Gardens 4 July 2015)