Marine Conservation In Singapore

Singapore is a unique city in many ways. One of our strengths is that we are able to balance development with conservation. Although we are a densely populated city , we have managed to co-exist with an unusually rich biodiversity. 9% of our land area is devoted to green space and nature reserves, which in turn is home to more than 2,300 species of plants, 300 species of birds and a large variety of animals.

However, Singapore is at risk of losing a significant and unique constituent of the natural marine heritage. Land reclamation is one of the major contributors to marine degradation. Due to urbanization, Singapore reclaims land to accommodate its growing population and urban development, causing these marine creatures to lose their precious homes.

Another major cause of marine degradation is pollution from both commercial and consumer sources. Each year, Singaporeans use an estimated 2.5 billion plastic bags, which results in about 19 million kilograms of waste.

Pulau Semakau is a good example of what we can do to conserve marine life in Singapore. Through careful management, Singapore have allowed a rich marine ecological system to thrive side-by-side with a landfill. Now, we can also boast of having a coral nursery close to the landfill. This is indeed an achievement that we can be proud of.

The coral nursery is located underwater at a site off Pulau Semakau. This is a two-year project that aims to grow as many hard coral fragments as possible. Coral reefs will be grown to sufficient size and transplanted to coral reefs off the southern coast of Singapore to enhance the ecological health of these coral reef habitats.

This first coral nursery makes use of 'corals of opportunity' that are coral fragments damaged by some impact. Unlike commercial nurseries that make use of fragments deliberately broken off from healthy colonies, no healthy colonies will be used here. Breaking fragments off from healthy colonies poses a risk to the donor colonies.

Labels: Marine Conservation In Singapore