There are generally no established measures for managing cicadas in tropical urban environments.
The lack of knowledge on this species in Singapore’s context makes managing its population and the associated impacts on residents challenging.
Continued monitoring and a deeper understanding of cicadas’ population dynamics would support the development of more targeted intervention measures, the organisations said.
While this year’s cicada emergence event has tapered off, the cicada management taskforce will continue to prepare for subsequent emergence seasons, they said.
Tampines Changkat MP Desmond Choo said: “Because there were no established good practices, we had to be innovative to protect our Changkat residents while being environmentally sensitive in our measures.”
“We are refining our measures with learning points from the pilot, while concurrently exploring other new measures to more effectively manage the cicada populations in Tampines Changkat,” he added.
Existing measures such as the wrapping of trees and the laying of tarpaulin or coconut husk mats will be deployed at appropriate times in anticipation of the next emergence season.
Additional measures may also be considered for severely affected areas, including the very targeted use of new pesticides, the organisations said.
“Before implementation, the taskforce will thoroughly review the use of new pesticides to ensure that they can be applied in a targeted manner with minimal impact on non-target biodiversity.”
NParks is also engaging town councils in other affected areas to advise them on suitable measures that may be adopted.