'Invasive' Mosquitos in Urban Singapore

Photo: Tomas Cole

Tomas Cole

CASE 4. 'Invasive' Mosquitos in Urban Singapore

Aedes aegypti mosquitos, originally from Africa, are a highly effective vector of dengue and zika that are increasingly making urban Singapore their home. However, large-scale technoscientific projects to eradicate this ‘invader’ in the name of public health run the risk of also catastrophically reducing biodiversity.

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To avoid undermining biodiversity, permaculture farmers in Singapore delegate the killing of mosquitoes. They cultivate biodiverse spaces where natural predators flourish and keep the mosquito population in check.

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Selected publications

Dealing with Biodiversity Dilemmas in Ordinary Places: The Case of Invasive and Introduced Species

2024. von Essen, E., Ahlberg, K., Cole, T., Karlsson B. G., and Maček, I. Nature and Culture 19(3): 237-45. https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2024.190301

Critical Counterpoints: Human-Mosquito Relations From the Thai-Myanmar Borderlands to Singapore

2024. Cole, T. Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia (38). https://kyotoreview.org/issue-38/human-mosquito-relations-from-the-thai-myanmar-borderlands-to-singapore/