Speech by SMS Desmond Lee at the Festival of Biodiversity
Sep 3, 2016
A very good morning to all of you and thank you all for being here to support the fifth edition of the Festival of Biodiversity.
First of all, a very big thank you to all our volunteers, there are 30 over groups, for working so hard to set up these marvellous booths to share our biodiversity with fellow Singaporeans, and to excite them about our natural heritage. I know it is a warm day, but I hope that heats up your energy and passion to reach out to groups of visitors who come through these Gardens.
And certainly, thank you, DPM, for taking time out this morning to support our green community in our outreach.
Much to Celebrate, Much to Conserve
When we started this festival five years ago, some wondered why? What biodiversity could we possibly have in this small island of ours? Well, the short answer is that we are a biophilic city, packed with lots of biodiversity that we can celebrate and protect.
For instance, our island has over 10 different ecosystems and over 40,000 species of flora and fauna. Our first UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is right here, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, contains, with those who are familiar, six hectares of primary rainforest which harbours over 300 species of flora. Many of these plants, especially the trees, have been here even before Sir Stamford Raffles stepped on this island.
We are not just rich in local native biodiversity. We also play a part in global ecosystem, the global ecology. For instance, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, SBWR, is an important sanctuary for birds that traverse thousands of kilometres, north and south and vice versa, each year along the East Asian Australasian Flyway. And so we are an important stopover.
Sungei Buloh itself has over 200 hectares of mangroves, mudflats, ponds and forests. So it is the ultimate rest-stop for birds! This morning I got a note from Tham Pui San, who is our resident artist, and also Chairman of the Friends of SBWR, inviting all of us next week to an art exhibition that he and fellow artists are organising together with SBWR. Next week 10th and 11th of September, 9am onwards to 5 at Sungei Buloh – an art exhibition, but also for the community, to welcome the early start to the migratory season.
All of this did not happen by chance. What we have is the result of active and comprehensive conservation efforts. Not just the work of NParks and various agencies, but a close partnership with many passionate volunteers and the broader Singapore community.
We’ve had a number of recent successes because of this partnership. For example species like the Oriental Pied Hornbill and the Singapore Freshwater Crab are now at healthier population numbers – lots of work to get this going.
We re-introduced native orchids across Singapore, both in terms of streetscape and in our forests, like the Grammatophyllum speciosum, the giant tiger orchid. In fact those of you who came in by Tanglin Road, you would have seen on the trees, you would have seen the native cymbidium, the denrobiams, and of cos the tiger orchids on the trees, high up.
We’ve helped to recover populations of endemic plants under threat – endemic means only found on Singapore and nowhere else in the world. Like the Hanguana triangulata and Hanguana rubinea found in a secret place, and they are now planted in the Singapore Botanic Gardens and on the Istana grounds.
We will do more, and in a systematic manner. NParks has identified 46 native plant and animal species that are threatened – like the critically endangered raffles banded langur, actually, most of us know it as the banded leaf monkey. And we will focus recovery efforts on these 46 plant and animal species for a start, over the next few years.
New Discoveries through Conservation
We are also making new discoveries on our island all the time. Through NParks’ plant surveys, we have discovered species thought to be extinct in Singapore, or not known to exist, such as the Singapore Ginger, Zingiber Singapurense.
Discoveries are also being made in our Botanic Gardens’ laboratories. For example, Dr K M Wong, principal researcher at the Botanic Gardens’ Herbarium realised that a native flowering plant in our forest had been wrongly classified all this while. Through his research, an entirely brand new genus of plant has been created and named after Singapore. The genus is known as the Singaporandia and the species is Singaporandia macrophylla. If you tried to google it, you won’t find it, because it is newly classified. Researchers like Dr Wong are constantly working on the taxonomy of native plants, describing species and classifying them appropriately. This gives us a better understanding about plant attributes and allows us to better conserve them in Singapore.
Protecting our Biodiversity Together
As I said before, these achievements in conservation are not due to the Government alone. We have done this together – nature lovers, green partners, and ordinary citizens, partnering with NParks and other agencies.
The Bishan Ten otter family was even featured in a recent edition of The Economist. These otter families would not have re-settled or felt that Singapore was welcoming had we not banded together to clean our waterways over many decades and to conserve the habitats.
It is not just about otters. By combining our efforts, we have been able to enhance habitats like the Kallang River, established corridors like the Eco-Link to facilitate wildlife movement, and strengthen efforts in research. It is this spirit of collaboration and ground-up initiative and activism that allows us to do even more to enhance our conservation.
Enhancing Involvement in Biodiversity
I’m happy to add that corporations are also coming on board. For example, HSBC has been offering volunteers as well as financial support for our ongoing biodiversity survey at BTNR, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve – a major effort.
Through this survey, NParks has already made a number of interesting discoveries, such as the Soejatmia Ridleyi which was discovered in the current survey, a new species of plant discovered in this survey. It is the only clambering bamboo native to Singapore and found only on Bukit Timah Hill.
The Red-cheeked Flying Squirrel has also been sighted during the survey and first recorded in Singapore at Bukit Timah in 1996. It has only been spotted in the vicinity of the CCNR since.
We are all also very encouraged by the efforts of the next generation of green volunteers, the younger generation of green volunteers.
Sean Yap – please share with everyone your native version of Pokémon Go, you would have read about it in the Straits Times. Sean is an NUS life sciences undergraduate, he made a version that used our Pokémon characters and showed the Singapore native version. So this photo album has spread like wildfire throughout the community and beyond.
I was just scanning through Facebook, and we have a commando and two law students who recently believed that they discovered a species of gecko, I think it is the marble bent-toed gecko, that was not known to exist in Singapore – Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus. And so one commando, Serin Subaraj and the two law students, Law Ind Sind and Law Ind Thong, congratulations!
Something for Everyone at FOB 2016
Let me conclude by saying something about today’s Festival. They cater to Singaporeans of all ages. Our Biodiversity Roundtable has organised many activities, including art and craft workshops and the ‘amazing biodiversity race’. You can also get up close and learn about endemic, rare or threatened plant and animal species at the ‘Species Recovery Exhibition’. Families can also join the ‘Families for Nature’ programme which NParks is launching later today. This programme allows you to learn more and share your love for nature as volunteer guides or citizen scientists.
Thank you once again for lending your support to the Biodiversity Festival and to Singapore’s conservation efforts. Our biodiversity is a national treasure. I know that it is something that all of us here want to nurture and protect, and thank you for your commitment to this.
Thank you especially, to this citizen-driven, volunteer-led Festival, year after year, you bring it to a higher level, and this year, reach out to as many Singaporeans, especially younger Singaporeans, as you can, touch their lives, to appreciate and protect this natural heritage of ours.
Thank you and enjoy your weekend.