Speech by MOS Desmond Lee at Tree Planting at Windsor Nature Park and Launch of "Rainforest in a City"

Feb 14, 2015

It is my pleasure to see all of you here so early this morning and to all the couples who are here, the husbands and wives, a very Happy Valentines’ Day. Where we are all gathered today is the site for the new Windsor Nature Park. I am sure it will be a wonderful place for us to spend many more special occasions in the years to come.

NParks’ Conservation Initiatives 

We will all be planting trees in a short while and I think the couples here should be holding hands as you plant the trees, because of the significance of this special day. It is also especially significant because it kick-starts the habitat enhancement efforts for this new 75 hectare nature park. We will be sensitively enhancing the existing trails that surround this park and put small stretches of boardwalks in areas where the soil has become compacted. When we complete the work for this park next year in 2016, you should expect more lookout points, new stream crossings as well as basic amenities for you to enjoy the nature in this park. 

Now what is the difference between a nature park and a community park? I think many of us may not recognise the difference. Apart from being places for recreation and exercise, and some romantic hand-holding on a moonlit night, nature parks serve as green buffers for the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Catchment Nature Reserve. They help to reduce visitorship pressure on the core Nature Reserves by providing alternative green spaces for people to visit. Together with the Springleaf Nature Park that we launched last year, you can expect two other green lungs, the Chestnut Nature Park as well as the Thomson Nature Park, which will follow in the next few years. These nature parks fringing the core nature reserve will help to provide the green buffer to allow visitors to not only enjoy the nature reserves but also to visit the nature parks, and take some pressure off the trails in the Central Catchment area. 

Because our country is small and densely populated, we have to be all the more conscious in balancing development and conservation and to find ways to enhance and strengthen the precious biodiversity that we have. 

For instance, the Eco-Link@BKE was constructed not for people, but to reconnect both the Central Catchment and Bukit Timah Nature Reserves. If you take a google map and you take a look at the satellite image of the area, you would see that the BKE slices right through and separates the two reserves. With this Eco-Link bridge, with ingenuity, with close cooperation with our friends who are passionate about the environment and engineers, we have managed to build this bridge to allow animals, insects, birds and other wildlife to cross.

Nature through the Lenses 

The rich biodiversity that we encounter in our Nature Reserves is breathtakingly beautiful and intriguing. Prominent NParks volunteer and very well-known nature enthusiast, Dr Chua Ee Kiam, my “Shi-Fu”, has captured this beauty in his photography book titled “Rainforest in a City”. I encourage all of you to get a copy, and since he is here, please get an autograph! I was captivated by the myriad of fascinating plants and animals captured through the lenses of Dr Chua and his photography buddies, some of whom are also here today. This is photographic evidence of the rich biodiversity that exists in our very own Nature Reserves, in the heart of Singapore. 

Any nature photographer will tell you that capturing the perfect moment on camera is a combination of three things - skill, luck and sheer perseverance. In Dr Chua’s book, he recounts the great lengths that he and his team of photographers had to go through to in order to capture the most beautiful moments of nature, manoeuvring their way through the dense vegetation, not only in the day but also in the dead of night, so as not to miss out on nocturnal wildlife. I can attest to that because I had the privilege of joining Dr Chua and his very passionate team one evening last year. We were supposed to end at 11pm, but it was so intriguing that we completed way past 1am early the next morning, in Nee Soon Swamp Forest, which is a very precious habitat for us. I understand that to capture a shot of the critically endangered Blue-spotted Bush frog, Dr Chua and his team had to balance precariously like gymnasts on top of a pipeline in order to capture that shot. I applaud and thank Dr Chua and the team for giving us this wonderful opportunity to appreciate Singapore’s wildlife in the comfort of our own homes. It is indeed my honour and privilege, together with all of us here, to launch Dr Chua’s book today.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Comprehensive Survey 

Our Nature Reserves contain the rich biodiversity captured in Dr Chua’s book, and in the books of many of our passionate nature enthusiasts here. I ask for signed copies from many of our green activists, including Luan Keng, who shared a book with me on Singapore’s Mangroves. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for instance contains at least 40% of Singapore's native flora and fauna even though it occupies only 0.2% of Singapore’s land area. The Reserve was officially declared an ASEAN Heritage Park in October 2011, and is part of a regional network of 30 protected areas forming the entire spectrum of representative ecosystems in the ASEAN region, in Southeast Asia. 

NParks has been working in tandem with the Nature Reserves Scientific Advisory Committee on strategies to uphold the ecological integrity of these Reserves. The last survey of our Nature Reserves was carried out in 1993, all the way to 1997. It is timely therefore that we embark on another survey for our Nature Reserves now. I am happy to announce that NParks will initiate the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Comprehensive Survey next month, in March. This survey will be carried out over a period of two years. 

The work will be conducted by our NParks colleagues, in collaboration with experts and scientists from academic institutions. It will focus on key groups of animals and plants which are responsible for a healthy forest ecosystem. It will also study the primary forest core containing one of the largest forest patches in Singapore that has never, ever been cleared. We will also rope in researchers and experts who have helped us in the last survey to ensure some continuity, for us to build on top of our experience and knowledge. The findings will provide us with a sound basis for systematic long-term monitoring and management of our Nature Reserves, and help us ensure a sustainable Nature Reserve for future generations to enjoy. As I look at these boys and girls in front of us, more eager to get involved in planting the trees and running around the park than listening to me, I think that we are doing this for them, and for their children. 

I am particularly encouraged to learn that HSBC has pledged a donation, as well as staff volunteers’ support for our survey. Everyone has a role to play in our conservation effort. No effort is ever too small so please don’t discount what you can do. So, whether it is appreciating and respecting in keeping our biodiversity-rich areas clean and safe, contributing to the field of knowledge through academic research, or taking part in citizen science activities, I encourage all of you to take part and step forward. We will roll out more of these citizen science activities later this year. I hope that we will all continue to play our part in conserving our precious natural heritage. 

It is a wonderful glorious day today. The sun is shining, not too warm, weather is holding up and we have lots people here from different schools - some primary schools, secondary school, polytechnics, many green enthusiasts and friends from HSBC. Please take the opportunity to network and make friends, because these community events, these nature-based environmental events, not only allow us to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty in the work that we do, but also wonderful opportunities for community to come together, make friends and bridge divide. With that, please enjoy the rest of the morning. Thank you.