Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the Launch of NParks' 100k Corals Initiative
Dec 10, 2024
Introduction
Good morning. I am delighted to join you today to launch the 100k Corals Initiative. We are honoured that Dr Jane Goodall is able to join us for today’s programme.
Dr Goodall is well-known for her work on primates, but not many know that she is also a marine enthusiast. I look forward to seeing the Oceans Are Us programme take root in Singapore through partnerships with our vibrant marine community.
Coral reefs are precious habitats that are home to biodiversity. They are crucial in our fight against climate change, serving as nature-based coastal defences that protect our coastlines from erosion.
Coral reefs also support healthy marine ecosystems that provide us with food and medicine.
Singapore’s Coral Conservation Efforts
More than a quarter of the world’s hard coral species have been documented in Singapore’s waters, reflecting the richness of our marine diversity. This is remarkable as our waters are some of the busiest in the world.
However, climate change and human action pose a significant threat to coral reefs.
Rising sea temperatures, pollution, and overfishing, among other reasons, are causing a rapid decline in coral reefs across the globe. Coral bleaching is also happening more frequently.
We just experienced the fourth global coral bleaching event, the second in the last decade.
We have therefore taken steps to conserve Singapore’s precious coral reefs. NParks conducts regular surveys to monitor coral health.
In July this year, NParks partnered the National University of Singapore (NUS) to monitor Singapore’s reefs for signs of bleaching following the global bleaching event.
In some areas, such as St John’s, Lazarus and
Kusu Islands, up to 55% of the coral colonies were bleached.
However, with temperatures dropping in recent
months, bleached corals have thankfully started to regain colour.
The findings will help us identify which
species are under threat and which species are climate-resilient, and also
narrow down suitable planting sites for future restoration efforts.
Most recently, at the enhanced Sisters’ Islands
Marine Park, we established a coral habitat and research site, as well as reef
enhancement units to promote coral growth.
While much has been done to monitor and restore
our corals, we can do more to ensure the long-term survival of our reefs.
Launch of 100k Corals Initiative
Today, I am glad to launch NParks’ 100k Corals
Initiative. This is the most extensive coral restoration project undertaken in
Singapore thus far.
Over many years, we aim to transplant 100,000
corals in Singapore’s waters. This will be done mainly by cultivating corals in
specialised tanks.
Once the corals reach a
healthy size, they will be transplanted into the natural environment to restore
degraded reefs, or establish new coral communities.
These corals will include several species under
NParks’ Species Recovery Programme, such as the Staghorn coral and table
Acropora coral.
Cultivating these coral species in specialised
tanks is an ambitious undertaking. It is a delicate process that requires
conditions such as lighting, temperature, water quality and flow to be just
right.
To support this, NParks is setting up a new
coral culture facility here at the Marine Park Outreach and Education Centre,
which uses technology to carry out large-scale coral cultivation.
The six specialised tanks at the facility can
hold up to 3,600 coral nubbins in total at any one time.
The cultivation of corals will be carried out
by researchers from the National University of Singapore at the St John’s
Island National Marine Laboratory (SJINML).
NParks has also been working with SJNML’s
researchers to develop methods to grow hundreds of corals within each tank.
One method is to attach small coral fragments
onto plugs that are attached to a specially-designed frame, optimising the use
of vertical space within the tanks.
These have come to be affectionately known
within the team as “coral HDBs”.
The tanks will be installed with a smart coral
culture aquaculture system set up by Delta Electronics.
The system records and transmits data on the
tanks’ water condition to our researchers. This allows our researcher to
monitor tank conditions remotely. The system also alerts researchers if any
intervention is required.
This system is part of the NParks-Delta Corals
Research Programme, a partnership between NParks and Delta Electronics.
Under the programme, we will also develop a
nationwide coral reef restoration plan, and a citizen science monitoring
programme for long-term data collection and outreach.
Findings from the research programme will allow
us to better understand which coral species are more resilient to climate
change, and what more we can do to
future-proof our coral reefs.
Community Stewardship
The success of the 100k Corals Initiative
depends not only on the right technical conditions, but also the collective
efforts of our partners and the community.
To date, we have received over $2 million in
support of the Initiative through the Garden City Fund, from donors such as
Delta Electronics, GSK-EDB Trust Fund, Deutsche Bank, Takashimaya Singapore and
KPI OceanConnect.
Thank you for your generous support towards
conservation.
I also invite the wider community to join us in
this important work. Members of the public can look forward to opportunities to
grow and cultivate corals.
For example, NParks, SJNML, and the Friends of
Marine Park will be establishing a training programme for volunteers to assist
with coral husbandry and underwater monitoring. More details will be shared
when ready.
Organisations and individuals can also
contribute by donating online via the Garden City Fund website to support the
100k Corals Initiative.
Conclusion
With your support, we will continue to press on
with our coral conservation and research efforts. And together, we can conserve
our precious marine and coral ecosystems for current and future generations to
come.
Thank you.