IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 1 of 20 ADVERTISEMENT IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE SINGAPORE IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife BY CHEW HUI MIN 21 AUG 2020 After the announcement this week of plans to create a new nature park network in the northern part of Singapore, CNA looks at the country's changing relationship with its natural environment and the efforts to ensure it can flourish while urban development continues. ADVERTISEMENT RECOMMENDED TELEVISION Powerpuff Girls coming back in live-action series as 'disillusioned… CELEBRITY The lyrics are out there: X-Files stars reunite to sing theme tune with… A hornbill in flight in Singapore. (Photo: Bernard Seah) SINGAPORE https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 2 of 20 INGAPORE: On the way to dinner one Sunday evening, this Singapore is getting an IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE S journalist spotted five hornbills flitting across a road junction to Apple store that sits on rest in some trees - as much a part of the city landscape as the water, a world's first Velocity@Novena Square mall behind them and the lanes of traffic below. CELEBRITY Opera singer Placido In the housing estate just across from the mall, oriental pied hornbills Domingo denies preening their black-and-white plumage and chomping on fruit with abusing power, seeks… their curved bills are a regular sight. The large bird with a distinctive casque on its beak is hard to miss but for nearly a century, they were a rare sight in Singapore. They vanished from Singapore in the late 19th century and the first recorded return of wild oriental pied hornbills was on Pulau Ubin in 1994. Dr Ho Hua Chew, a long-time conservationist, was among the Nature Society Singapore (NSS) members who spotted the birds back then. "The bird is a spectacular species and being regarded as extinct in Singapore up to that date, it was a thrilling experience to see a comeback PEOPLE for such large forest species – especially two birds at that," he said. Creative Capital: The Dr Ho said the hornbill sighting instilled hope in him for nature food stylist selling conservation in Singapore, which for decades was "all gloom and doom" doughnuts with a… with the country's nonstop construction and development. Recommended by An oriental pied hornbill on Pulau Ubin. (Photo: Yong Ding Li) But following a conservation project to bring back the birds, hornbill sightings have become far more common. By installing nest boxes in trees for the birds to breed in, the Singapore Hornbill Project’s collaborators, who include the National Parks Board (NParks), Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and researchers, got visiting birds from neighbouring countries to settle here and raise their babies. https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 3 of 20 The hornbills are an eye-catching example of the many projects in IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE Singapore aiming to preserve what is left of its biodiversity in an urbanised landscape - a movement that has grown gradually over the last couple of decades. These include not just species recovery initiatives, but also efforts to restore habitats and connect them through nature ways - routes planted with specific trees and shrubs to facilitate the movement of animals. Many of these projects are part of Singapore's continually updated green master plans. An oriental pied hornbill rests on a tree near a condominium in Novena. (Photo: Guy Hoh) Dr Yong Ding Li, ornithologist and scientific adviser for the Nature Society's bird group, estimates that the population of oriental pied hornbills here has been expanding steadily in the last two decades and now number in the “low hundreds”. The birds, which live on the forest fringes, have established themselves sufficiently and there is now no need to intervene, according to Mr Lim Liang Jim, group director of NParks' National Biodiversity Centre. NParks’ greening efforts have contributed to this, as there are now enough mature trees for birds which nest in tree holes - like the hornbills and parrots - to breed in. Dr Yong added: “I think there's a role that greening has played in allowing hornbills to recolonise the main island. Now the interesting thing is that on mainland Singapore, the hornbills are largely not in our central nature reserves.” Want to know why there are more hornbills and otters in Singapore now? https://t.co/bTNzrtK2Bf pic.twitter.com/1L55mkdJkx — Chew Hui Min (@ChewHuiMinCNA) August 22, 2020 OTTERS RETURN https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 4 of 20 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE A family of otters in Singapore. (Photo: Facebook/OtterWatch/Tan Yong Lin) The return of such wildlife is a side effect of policies that can be traced back to founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s vision to green Singapore and clean up its waterways - efforts which were meant to improve the welfare of the island’s human inhabitants and to enhance Singapore's reputation abroad. Environmental activist and National University of Singapore biology lecturer N Sivasothi said that the city’s smooth-coated otters found that Singapore’s clean waterways, some of which have been naturalised, also suited them. “So the river cleanup was not about supporting wildlife, it was about providing clean water for people,” he said. “Although otters were missing in Singapore for a few decades, as we cleaned up for people … suddenly they were seen.” But not every species can thrive in an environment built for people, and as Singapore continues to develop, will there be room for wildlife? https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 5 of 20 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE Asian small-clawed otters, part of the 14 birthed at the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, gather during feeding time during a media tour to showcase newborn animals at the Singapore Zoo January 11, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su For instance, the urbanised smooth-coated otters’ prominence is in contrast to the fate of its rural cousin, the small-clawed otter. “(The small-clawed otter is) a small mangrove stream-dwelling kind of animal. The modified environment it can deal with is maybe padi fields, but it can’t deal with modified urban environments, so its fate is hanging in balance in (Pulau) Ubin and Tekong,” said Mr Sivasothi. Much of Singapore’s wildlife are hidden in the pockets of forest that remain in the heart of Singapore, and some, like small-clawed otters, persist on the north-east islands. “What happens is the urban adapted species are prominent but the ones that cannot hack it, you don't see,” said Mr Sivasothi. “If you talk about wildlife conservation, ultimately what must you do is conserve habitat. We should invest a lot of effort into restoring, recovery and then connecting (them).” ► READ: Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network to be established, includes new Lim Chu Kang Nature Park ► READ: Singapore to plant 1 million trees, develop more gardens and parks by 2030 That effort to conserve, restore and connect natural habitats is a major part of the City in Nature vision, announced by National Development Minister Desmond Lee in March. On Wednesday, NParks announced new plans to create a 400ha nature park network that will envelop the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the Kranji Marshes and other nature areas - in another step to protect Singapore’s four nature reserves. https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 6 of 20 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE Kranji Marshes, a core habitat in the Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network, is one of Singapore’s largest remaining freshwater wetland. (Photo: Facebook/NParks) (Infographic: Rafa Estrada) A network of buffer parks has already been added to Singapore’s Central Catchment and Bukit Timah Nature Reserves. These buffers protect the central nature reserves from developments that abut them and give the public alternative green spaces to visit so as to ease pressure on the reserves. The development plans for Sungei Buloh take into account its role as a key node for migratory waterbirds along a flyway that stretches from the arctic to New Zealand - a science-based and ecologically friendly approach that is increasingly evident as Singapore tries to protect what is left of its natural heritage. “IF YOU LOSE THEM HERE, YOU LOSE THE WHOLE WORLD'S POPULATION” As the sky lightened and the forest awakened, bird calls and macaques’ chatter punctuated the keening of cicadas at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. In ever-changing Singapore, this patch of primary rainforest is a reminder of what much of the island looked and sounded like 200 years ago. https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/trending/singapore-wildlife-conservation-city... 25/8/2020 IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife Page 7 of 20 On any given day, the nature reserve is filled with hikers and panting IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife SHARE joggers labouring up and down its slopes, but few see most of the flora and fauna that call it home.