Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at Ubin Day 2024
Jun 22, 2024
Good morning everyone, and welcome to Ubin Day!
Looking Back on the Past Decade of The Ubin Project
This year is particularly special, as it marks a decade since we embarked on The Ubin Project.
In 2014, a diverse group of us came together to form the Friends of Ubin Network, or FUN, to drive the Ubin Project. Because although the Friends of Ubin Network is a lot of hard work, we also wanted to have fun!
The aim of the Ubin Project is to preserve Ubin’s rustic charm and heritage, through a combination of Government as well as ground-up community initiatives.
The Project’s initiatives are organised around five key pillars – and I remember when we thought about these pillars, we were here on Ubin, and it was the late Mr Subaraj who came up with some of these ideas. We crystallised them into five pillars and they are: (i) biodiversity conservation, (ii) education and research, (iii) nature-based recreation, (iv) sustainable design and practices, and (v) community, heritage and history.
Today, as host, I’m very privileged to be there to welcome our Guests of Honour, who are the pioneer members of FUN, who have been instrumental in shaping the island into what it is today. They are:
Mr Choo Yi Feng;
Dr Chua Ee Kiam;
Mr Marcus Chua; and
Ms Tan Beng Chiak.
There are many other pioneer members who are not here today – Dr Chua Ai Lin, Mr Joseph Koh, Mr Khew Sin Khoon, Ms Ria Tan, Dr Shawn Lum, Dr Siti Maryam, Mr Sivasothi, as well as the late Mr Subaraj, who is represented here today by his wife Ms Shamla Subaraj. And today, since we are all among friends and colleagues, we also take this chance on Ubin Day to honour the memory of Dr Leong Chee Chiew, one of our colleagues who left us recently. He was always here on Ubin Day and with our Friends of Ubin Network.
I want to thank all of you, our pioneer members of FUN, for your contributions to Ubin. Your passion and dedication have inspired many other FUN members and volunteers who have since joined us, and will continue to join us to drive this ideal of an Ubin Project. So even as Singapore continues to grow and develop, we want to make sure that this rustic charm allows us to go back in time – to remember our past and the values that brought us here.
We have worked together on more than 30 projects over the past 10 years.
For example, species recovery efforts, such as converting a site along Ketam Quarry into a bird nesting area and introducing floating wetlands to Pekan Quarry for herons and other biodiversity.
I am glad to share that many of these projects have led to successful outcomes – for example, the successful nesting of bird species such as the Blue-throated Bee-eater at Ketam Quarry and the first breeding record of the Lesser Whistling Duck on Ubin at Pekan Quarry in 2022.
Volunteers have been supporting mangrove restoration efforts at the Sungei Durian ponds.
And we have planted more than 15,000 trees with the community on Pulau Ubin, as part of our reforestation efforts.
We have been growing the Ubin Living Lab, an integrated hub for environmental education, field studies, and community outreach.
Last year, we hosted the inaugural “Ubin Connects: Learning Symposium” at the Ubin Living Lab, where we curated learning journeys for educators to discover Ubin’s potential as a living classroom.
Also, since 2018, over 200 NParks colleagues, researchers from NUS, and citizen scientists from nature groups have taken part in over 160 field surveys for various taxonomic groups as part of the Comprehensive Ubin Biodiversity Survey (CUBS).
Findings from CUBS and other surveys contribute to our understanding of the island’s rich flora and fauna, and I look forward to the publication.
To improve accessibility and allow visitors to learn more about Ubin’s heritage, we have over the years been enhancing wayfinding features by installing signage, and upgrading interpretive displays at prominent sites on the island.
There is also a wheelchair-accessible jetty at the Ubin Living Lab currently in the works.
In addition, we have enhanced our support for Ubin villagers, by repairing kampung houses, and improving drainage and fire safety on the island.
All this would not have been possible without the support of our partners and volunteers.
You play an important part in protecting our biodiversity and heritage.
The work on Pulau Ubin in the last 10 years was the result of close partnership, built on a foundation of trust, collaboration and open communication.
And we are applying these models of partnership across Singapore in other fields, tackling challenges where rather than Government doing it alone, we can do better by working with the community and stakeholders. That requires us to have a foundation of trust, understanding, collaboration and open communication.
These partnerships and networks also allow us to deal with large-scale challenges as one nation. And you see what’s happening when we had the recent oil spill – we are now coming together as a community to tackle the challenge that is confronting us.
The Next Bound of The Ubin Project
As we look back on the past ten years of community efforts, and appreciate and show gratitude to all the people who have come along and contributed to this, it is time to look forward and think about the next bound of the Ubin Project.
In fact, we have been having conversations with FUN on this since 2021.
Today, I am glad to share the next tranche of efforts, to ensure that Ubin remains a rustic island for Singaporeans to enjoy.
First, we will continue to intensify our habitat enhancement and species recovery programmes on Ubin. There is lots more work to be done.
As Ubin is one of Singapore’s key biodiversity hotspots, we will carry out a new in-depth biodiversity survey at the various mangrove habitats.
This survey is supported by OCBC, as part of their contribution to the development of the OCBC Mangrove Park, announced in 2022.
Findings from these surveys will inform future biodiversity conservation efforts on the island and beyond.
As part of NParks’ Species Recovery Programme, we will introduce the Cinnamon Bush Frog, a nocturnal species known for the spots on its reddish-brown body, to suitable habitats on Ubin.
Back in 2017 and 2018, we successfully introduced the Cinnamon Bush Frog, which is native but vulnerable in Singapore into the Rain Forest of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
These efforts will help to expand the natural habitats of this vulnerable species.
Second, we will be implementing a dedicated restoration programme for the kampung houses, to retain the rich cultural heritage of Ubin.
For a start, we will be restoring five vacant kampung houses and shophouses for community and commercial use.
We will then put these and other vacant kampung houses to adaptive reuse. I encourage the community to share with us ideas for new uses for these houses, in ways that will contribute meaningfully to The Ubin Project.
Third, we are rolling out an Ubin School initiative, in partnership with Outward Bound Singapore (OBS), and with the support of various primary and secondary schools.
Created with educators and the Ubin community, the Ubin School initiative will develop and roll out a suite of programmes aligned with the five pillars of The Ubin Project, to celebrate Ubin’s rich natural and cultural heritage.
Through the programmes, we hope to promote environmental stewardship among young Singaporeans through multi-disciplinary and experiential learning, and nurture a community of educators to share Ubin-centric resources and lesson plans. In short, we want to bring our educators, schools, and next generation onto the island, celebrate Ubin as a living laboratory and classroom, and make good use of the nature and heritage on this island to strengthen learning in our schools and communities.
These programmes will be based at the Ubin Living Lab.
This initiative follows NParks’ efforts with schools to pilot activities to strengthen sustainability education, under the MOE Eco Stewardship Programme.
These partners include Commonwealth Secondary School, Meridian Secondary School, North Vista Secondary School, and Zhangde Primary School. I am glad to see students from these schools joining us today. We hope to see all of you a lot more on this island, and make this your classroom.
In addition, we will work with FUN to explore how villagers can be involved in the Ubin School initiative, such as by providing opportunities for them to pass down traditional knowledge and skills to younger Singaporeans – and not just passing skills, but also share the story and transmit some of the values of days gone by which are evergreen in Singapore.
More details on the plans for the next bound of The Ubin Project can be found on NParks’ Ubin microsite.
We will engage the Ubin villagers on these plans.
And we will study the feedback received, and continue to refine, improve, adapt and adjust our proposals.
URA’s Recreation Master Plan
URA’s Recreation Master Plan exhibition for the North-east Region will be taking place at One Punggol over the next two weeks, starting today.
This particular exhibition will highlight upcoming recreational plans in the North-east Region, including those for Ubin. And when we talk about recreation, we are talking about sport, the arts, music, history, heritage, nature, parks, water bodies and so on – so it’s actually a very broad definition.
I encourage you to visit the exhibition, and share your feedback, ideas and suggestions regarding the types of recreational amenities you would like to see on Ubin as well as the northeastern part of Singapore.
Conclusion
Let me close by expressing my gratitude, as well as that of my colleagues’ to this year’s Pesta Ubin organisers:
Mr Chua Yong Liang, Mr Jonathan Chua and Mr Tan Hang Zhong.
They have brought together volunteers to organise over 30 land- and water-based activities on the island, such as photography, heritage and cycling tours, and mangrove kayaking.
This year’s Pesta Ubin also welcomed more than 800 participants from all over Singapore!
With the strong support of our partners and the community, we have made good progress under The Ubin Project.
As we embark on this next bound of our journey, we will continue to conserve and enhance Ubin’s rich heritage for present and future generations of Singaporeans,
And continue exemplifying the spirit of The Ubin Project.
I look forward to what we can achieve together.
Have a wonderful Ubin Day ahead.