Conservation Committee Report on the Singapore Tourism Board

Nature Society (Singapore) Conservation Committee Report on the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Project at Mandai (This document is endorsed by the Council of The Nature Society) Preface to Nature Society’s 2007 Report on the Mandai Lake Road Development Nature Society (NSS) had submitted a feedback report on the projected development to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and National Parks (NParks) in 2007 when the plan was first announced. We were invited to a meeting at that time ---- to be briefed on their plans and to get our verbal feedback. The Orchid Garden at the edge of the Night Safari area was at that time not in the plan for the development. Although submitted in 2007, NSS’ concerns still hold today. At that meeting, we were told that they will be using the project areas to lure and benefit visitors to the Zoo and to effect more than a daily visit. The plan was to create a resort with accommodation on an ecologically sustainable framework so that these visitors could have a few days and nights imbibing the jungle atmosphere of the Zoo’s environs --- apart from just seeing captive animals. They talked about having nature-oriented recreational facilities as well as educational activities. There was no mention about extending the Night Safari nor any mention of transferring the Bird Park from Jurong to any of the state lands at Mandai Lake Road --- high-profile suggested uses that were reported recently in the mass media. These suggestions (Safari extension & Bird Park) if carried out will pose a serious threat to the integrity of the Central Catchment Nature Reserves (CCNR). Pertaining to these suggestions, there are three major issues of ecological concern: 1) Importance of the Project Areas as Buffer Zone: The non-official buffer for the northern sector of the CCNR, east & west of the Mandai Lake Road, will be seriously jeopardized. The northern sector of CCNR is already in bad shape being extremely fragmented. The buffer here consists of the greenery or forested state lands east & west of the Mandai Lake Road as well as the forested MINDEF area to the west of Mandai Track 15. (Track 15 is no longer on the map; it runs in from Mandai Lake Road, at the military gate, to the MINDEF Firing Range.) Within the state land to the west of Mandai Lake Road is an elongated grassy patch with patches of 1 secondary forest at the edges. The state land to the east of Mandai Lake Road consists of phased-out orchard land now densely wooded with wild trees and undergrowth, and is contiguous to the nature reserve at the sector to the east of the Road, (which is shaped like a triangle with the apex jutting into Upper Seletar Reservoir). There are many roles to an ecological buffer, but one of these in relation to the area of our concern is the role of buffer against wind-throw, a violent example of which was seen in the wind-throw several years ago in the CCNR sector north of the Upper Seletar Reservoir, which is very close to the area of our concern. The wrecking did not reach the forest immediately to the east & west of Mandai Lake Road, but who knows what a similar event or a more violent one may do if it occurs again --- especially when the existing forest here are thinned or wiped out by development. 2) Importance of the Project Areas as Wildlife Corridor The areas, east & west of the Mandai Lake Road, as a whole serve as a green corridor for wildlife movement from the north-western sector to the north-eastern sector of the CCNR (including the isolated nature reserve area north of Mandai Road) and vice versa --- across Mandai Lake Road. The opening up of these areas for extensive development will seriously jeopardized this existing green corridor. There are of course many ecological impacts that can be mentioned, but if they are going to have an extension of the Night Safari into the area and a Bird Park (most probably a larger one) , one serious problem will come with the erection of extensive fences. Right now, the Night Safari has an extensive fence around it except for the shoreline, and if extended further into the state land, will definitely constrained more adversely the movement of wildlife along this existing green corridor. The same situation will apply to the creation of a Bird Park, which will involve clearing or thinning of the forest and more fences, especially with the creation of a large flight-in aviary like that in the existing Bird Park or a larger one. 3) The Importance of the Project Areas themselves as Biodiversity-Rich Nature Areas. This is highlighted by a biodiversity survey commissioned by STB around 2006/2007. It is heartening that the authorities had announced in the public media that there will be an EIA, which will have a wider scope than a biodiversity impact assessment (BIA) or survey. The recommendation of the STB’s BIA (2007) is best to leave the projected areas for development untouched because of the richness of their biodiversity, which includes species like the endangered Sunda Pangolin, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Straw-headed Bulbul, etc. (See the NSS report). It is now about 7 years down the road since that STB’s survey and since no development has been going on there from that time, except for some military facilities like training shades, the greenery there has become more mature, denser, and even grown larger, and as a such they may probably be richer in wildlife now. NSS is not just concerned with the ecological impact of development into the nature reserve zone but also the impact on the existing wildlife using the areas outside and contiguous to the nature reserve as well --- either 2 as nesting/breeding or foraging grounds. Of note is a natural stream (uncanalised) to the west of Mandai Lake Road and bordered on both banks by belts of trees, running right through the project area from the nature reserve. Aquatic/semi-aquatic life-forms, some of them typical of wooded streams, will be adversely affected by development. Dr Ho Hua Chew Vice-Chairman, Conservation Committee Nature Society (Singapore) 3 I) Introduction This report is formulated based on information provided by STB in two meetings on an eco-tourism project south of the Mandai Road area and on both sides of the Mandai Lake Road. In these meetings we gather that STB is looking at two parcels of land contiguous to the Central Catchment Reserve and these are: 1) Mandai Road Patch: An wedge-shape patch of about 15 ha --- bounded by Mandai Road, Mandai Lake Road and the boundary of the Western Catchment Reserve; and 2) Mandai Track-15 Patch: An elongated patch of about 18 ha --- between Mandai Track 15 and the Western Catchment Reserve up to the military firing range. The total comes to about 33 ha --- all of which are contiguous to but outside the boundary of the Nature Reserve. STB has not provided any detailed plans for the use of these areas except that they will be used for tourism and that the project will take into account and be sensitive to the biodiversity and ecology of these areas. STB has carried a biodiversity survey of these areas and we have been given a summary of the results. The results are very impressive and together with our field and map study of the area, we are extremely perturbed with the development project. We have arrived at the following conclusions and proposals, which will be spelled out below. II) Summary of STB’s Wildlife Survey (February 2007) This is given in the Executive Summary of the STB’s survey report, which states: “Of the selected faunal groups, 252 species of animals have been recorded within the survey zone so far. This involves 18 mammals, 114 birds, 24 reptiles, 15 amphibians, 21 fish, 37 butterflies and 23 odonates (damselflies/dragonflies). A total of 55 Locally Threatened animal species were recorded and this included the Globally Threatened Sunda Pangolin, Grey-headed Fish-Eagle, Red-crowned Barbet and the Straw-headed Bulbul. Of the animal species recorded, 43 may be considered Forest Specialists” “The Seletar Zone, despite its relative small area, is an important part of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. More than 20% of the animals recorded are considered Locally Threatened. ” We accept the results of this biodiversity survey report and we also agree totally with its conservation recommendation, which states that “it is best to leave area untouched.” 4 III) Serious Concerns from a Wider Ecological Framework Our concerns do not stem from merely on-site study of the ecological situation but also from a study of the wider ecological framework, covering the situation of the Central Catchment Reserve as a whole. This is also to take long-term view of the ecological health and viability of the Reserve given the foreseeable impacts of the STB’s project. A) The Fragmentation of the Forest Please refer to Google Map 1 attached. The forest is seriously in bad ecological shape due to severe fragmentation over the decades caused by the creation of golf courses, roads, pipelines, expansion of the existing reservoirs, etc. In fact, the whole of the forest Nature Reserve are now fragmented into roughly 7 patches, each standing in isolation from the rest through gaps in the forest cover. What we have now is what ecologists call ‘habitat islands’ rather than one homogeneous, integrated and compact forest. Fragmentation brings about population isolation among the various species as well as the well-studied phenomenon of the edge-effects.

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