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 NSS had submitted a feedback report on the development to STB & National Parks Board (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. At that time the Orchid Gardens at the edge of the Night Safari area was not in the plan for the development. Although submitted in 2007, NSS concerns still holds today. At that meeting, we were told that they will be using the affected areas to lure and benefict 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/experience in the area apart from just seeing captive animals in the ZOO. They talked about having nature recreational facilities as well as conducting educational activities in the area. There was no mention about extending the Night Safari in these state lands nor any mention of transferring the Bird Park from Jurong to the area --- as mooted recently by some public figures in the mass media. These plans (Safari extension & Bird Park) if carried out will pose a serious threat to the integrity of the Central Catchment Nature Reserves CCNR). There are three major issues of ecological concern that any developers have to bear in mind concerning these suggestions that are out in the media: 1) Importance of the Project Areas as Buffer Zone: The buffer for the northern sector of the CCNR, east & west of the Mandai Lake Road, which currently is already in bad shape being extremely fragmented, will be seriously jeopardized. This buffer consists of the state lands east & west of the Mandai Lake Road (incl. the former Orchid Gardens space now vacated) as well as the MINDEF area to the west of Mandai Track 15, (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 open, grassy patch with patches of secondary forest at the 1 edges. The state land to the east of the road consists of orchards (durians, rambutans, etc.) now very wild & densely wooded and is directly contiguous to the nature reserve at the sector to the east of the Road (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 is 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 damage here didn’t 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 in the future especially when the green patches here are thinned out or wiped out by developments. 2) Importance of the Project Areas as Wildlife Corridor The areas affected by the STB/Temasek projected plan, east & west of the Mandai Lake Road, currently serves as a green corridor for wildlife that wants to move from the north-western sector of the CCNR to the north-eastern sector of CCNR (incl. the isolated nature reserve area north of Mandai Road to the north of Upper Seletar Reservoir) 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 this will definitely constrained further the movement of wildlife along the existing green corridor if extended from its current area. The same thing applies to the creation of a Bird Park, which will involves clearing or thinning of the green patches/forest and more fences, especially with the creation of a large flight-in aviary like that in the existing Bird Park or most probably a gigantic one (say very much larger than that at Jurong). 3. The Importance of the Project Areas themselves as Biodiversity-Rich Nature Areas. This is highlighted by the biodiversity consultant when STB commissioned it around 2006/2007. This covers only the Biodiversity and so is only a Biodiversity Impact Survey/Study (BIA). There is therefore a need for a comprehensive impact study --- an proper EIA, given the enormity of the plans mooted recently by well-known public figures affiliated to the Wildlife Reserves. It is heartening that the authorities had announced in the public media that there will be an EIA. The recommendation of the STB’s BIA is to leave the projected areas for development completely untouched/undeveloped because of the richness of its biodiversity, which incl. mammals like the Sunda Pangolin, 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 in the state lands 2 that is going to be affected by the projected development have become more mature, denser, and even grown larger, and as a such they may probably be richer in wildlife now. We are not just concerned with the ecological impact of developments 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 as dwelling (nesting/breeding) or foraging grounds. Of note is a natural stream (uncanalised), bordered on both banks by belts of trees, running right through the project area from the nature reserve --- to the west of Mandai Lake Road. Dr Ho Hua Chew Vice-Chair, 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.