+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES
Perdana Botanical Garden is a 53-hectare garden situated in the Heritage Park of Kuala Lumpur, in the middle of the city centre adjacent to the National Museum, Kuala Lumpur Bird Park and Butterfly Park, and a walking distance from the Kuala Lumpur Central Railway Station. The garden is open daily to public from 7am to 7pm without entrance fees and is managed by the Landscape and Recreation Department of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
In 1888, A.R. Venning, the State Treasurer of Selangor, proposed an idea of a Botanic Garden to a British Resident, Frank Swettenhem. Upon approval, an area of 70-hectare along Sungai Bras was cleared and it took 10 years to transform the area into a public park known as the Lake Garden. In 1975, the Malaysia’s Second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak renamed the park as the Perdana Lake Garden.
Subsequently on 28 June 2011, the park was given a status as the Perdana Botanical Garden by the Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak. It was an initiative to foster the value of the garden as the city’s biodiversity centre.
BOTANICAL GARDEN
+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION
Starting from 2011, many infrastructures have been developed and upgraded to enable the Botanical Garden embarking on plant conservation, botanical research and educational programmes. People have become gradually more aware of the existence of the garden, together with its function to conserve plants and educate the visitors.
Not only does the garden have botanical collections but it also houses features that offer visitors the ambiance of being in a tropical rainforest, despite its location in the centre of a bustling metropolis. Together with the infrastructure upgrade, it has attracted more people to visit the garden.
To the Perdana Botanical Garden into a renowned garden, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has undertaken some initiatives with other agencies, such as Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and University Putra Malaysia (UPM). In cooperation with these partners, DBKL developed the Herbarium, established the Visitor’s Interpretive Centre, as well as research facilities in the garden.
+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS
After the upgrade of the park, the area is now planted with a diverse local and exotic species collection for ex-situ conservation. Park space has been further sophisticated by conducting plant inventory and conserving more plant species to provide references for educational and research institutions. Today, there are approximately 6,500 trees collections, which consist of 274 tree species. Although only at an infant stage, around 2,000 herbarium specimens have been cured, which was collected within the garden as well as from other fields.
The garden visitors will be amazed by the variety of flora - colourful flowering ornamental plants, palms, and some rare indigenous trees, among many others. There are also many unique exotic trees such as Rain tree (Samanea saman), Bottle tree (Moringa drouhardii), the Sausage tree (Kigelia africana), the Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) and the Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) planted along the pedestrian trails providing nice shade to the visitors.
In addition, there are many matured trees, for instance Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa), Mahogany (Swietenia mahogani), Khaya senegalensis (Meliaceae), Fagraea fragrans (Gentianaceae), Swietenia mahogany (Meliaceae) and Michelia spp. (Magnoliaceae) landscaping the garden. All these trees have become a canopy layer for the garden.
The park now stands as one of Kuala Lumpur’s efforts to procreate garden space in the heart of the city.
+ REPLICABILITY AND SCALABILITY
DBKL’s initiative to enhance the importance of the garden as the biodiversity centre has successfully attracted more visitors. However, the process entailed challenges, which need to be recognised by other cities that would wish to replicate Kuala Lumpur’s experience. The issues included preserving the existing heritage trees, harnessing the diverse plant collection with proper facilities and infrastructure for research and educational purposes, documenting/labelling plant inventory, etc. DBKL also underlines the need to collaborate with other related institutions for experience and knowledge sharing.
+ BUDGET SOURCE
Available upon request
