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International, 22 Nov 04 Marine Conservation in Singapore Hello and welcome to Ecowatch. I’m Yvonne Gomez. Marine biodiversity in Singapore is not often talked about, as many are still unaware that Singapore even has some semblance of marine life and environment. However, as visitors flock to our beaches and other areas that support a marine ecosystem, they inevitably leave their rubbish behind, which threatens the flora and fauna populations that call these places home. For more on the subject, I spoke to Leong Kwok Peng from the Nature Society of Singapore’s Marine Conservation Group. Kwok Peng first told me about a new book that been published by the Group. It’s called Singapore Waters: Unveiling Our Seas. LKP: It basically documents the marine biodiversity in Singapore, and it also has a sort of little history that sort of showcases how our coastline has changed over the years. It includes two maps, one of which is a 1950 map which shows our natural coast line, and an updated map that shows our coastline in 2002. It shows the blight of our marine areas in Singapore and how much we’ve lost. Can you elaborate on that? How much have we lost? LKP: When I say marine sites, it includes forests, sandy and mud flats, as well as coral reefs. In terms of mangrove, according to statistics, we only have about 1% of the original mangrove forests left, and if you’re talking about coral reefs, I think we’ve lost slightly more than 65% of our coral reefs now. And where are some of the main marine conservation areas in Singapore? LKP: Depending on the kind of marine area you’re talking about, like for mangrove, it’s still found in the northern islands like Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong, as well as our northern coast like Sungei Buloh, Kranji and in some areas of the southern islands including the live firing areas like Pawai, Senang and Semakau. Coral reefs are mainly found around the southern islands. We still have quite extensive patches of coral reefs, in particular in islands like Pulau Hantu and the western portion of Semakau, the parts that’s not under the landfill, and all the islands like Senang, Pawai and Sudong, which is part of the live firing area, as well as the St John cluster of islands, like St John’s Island, Sisters Island, Lazarus and Kusu. How would you gauge the level of awareness of marine conservation amongst Singaporeans? LKP: I think the awareness is picking up. If you go to the websites, there are already quite a number of websites that highlight marine life in Singapore. I think the awareness is growing but it’s still very much in its infancy stage. I understand there was an international coastal clean-up held recently in Singapore. Can you tell me more about this? LKP: It’s an annual event that basically engages a lot of volunteers, both from among the public and various schools and organizations, to go to various locations. Some of the locations include mangrove areas. It’s basically to study the kind of litter that we have, and not so much as to completely clean-up the area. The International Coastal Cleanup in Singapore is in its 13th year, and usually involves removing several tonnes of marine debris from beaches and mangroves around Singapore. Between 2001- 2003, some 10 tonnes of trash were removed from just the mangroves at Kranji alone! The trash collected is categorised and recorded, and the data is used to educate and to encourage positive changes to Singapore’s marine environment. links Related articles on Wild shores of Singapore |
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