|
|
|
|
 | | |  |  | Singapore's green policies, beginning with the "Garden City" plan in the 1960s, and continuing into the next century as a "City in a Garden" vision, have transformed the city-state into a distinctive and vibrant global city. The clean and green environment mitigates the harsh concrete urban environment and improves our quality of life. This has allowed Singapore to meet the lifestyle and recreational needs of an increasingly sophisticated population, and enhanced Singapore’s attractiveness as a destination for foreign businesses and talents. |
| | | | With careful planning, Singapore has been able to increase its green cover from 35.7% to 46.5% between 1986 and 2007, even though the population grew by 68% from 2.7 million to 4.6 million. Currently, close to 10% of the total land area is set aside for parks and nature reserves. | | | | | | | | This sense of green space in the city is further enhanced by integrating natural ecosystems into parks, clustering parks with complementary ecosystems and activities, and connecting them in an island-wide network of green links. The lush green cover and warm tropical climate make Singapore a haven for rich biodiversity despite our small land mass. | | Increasing pace of urbanisation | According to the United Nations (UN), the world’s urban population has exceeded its rural population for the first time in year 2008. And it is expected to increase even further to 70% in 2050. Cities are also growing in size. By 2025, UN estimated that there will be 26 megacities, each with a population of more than 10 million As the pace of urbanisation quickens, economic demands from cities will place greater pressure on Earth’s natural resources and environment. To raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss, UN has designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). The theme is “Biodiversity for Development”. | | | Singapore, A Haven for Biodiversity | |  | | Despite Singapore’s highly urbanised environment and land constraints, do you know that we have a rich variety of biodiversity? Biodiversity is also relevant and important to life. |
|
| | | | | Some interesting facts: - Singapore has more than 2,900 species of plants, 270 species of butterflies, 120 species of reptiles, 75 species of mammals, 25 species of amphibians, 250 species of hard corals covering 55 genera, and 111 reef fish species.
- We have 360 species of birds, which is slightly more than 60% of the 568 species listed in the UK or 75% of the 467 species found in France.
- Singapore has 50% of seagrass species found in the Indo-Pacific region (which extends from the South Asia to Eastern Pacific region) – an impressive number given its limited coastal areas in comparison to other countries.
- Forests such as the tropical rainforests in Central Catchment Nature Reserve play important roles like cleaning our air through the capturing of carbon dioxide, lowering the ambient temperature by shading, and reducing soil erosion.
- Insects function as important pollinators so that we can enjoy fruits, while birds act as seed dispersal agents.
- Mangroves and seagrass meadows serve as nurseries for crabs, prawns, cockles and many of our marine organisms. They also help us protect our coastline from erosion.
- Coral reefs harbour several of our favourite seafood. They also provide us with beautiful diving sites for recreation.
| Singapore Celebrates International Year of Biodiversity 2010To celebrate International Year of Biodiversity this year, NParks is organising a slew of activities targeting at both schools and the general public. They comprise special programmes which will be held on designated dates such as Earth Day (22 April), International Day of Biological Diversity (22 May) and Environment Day (5 June), as well as other year-long activities. They include:
| | | Do Your Part – Take Action!There are so many things you can do to celebrate International Year of Biodiversity 2010: - Visit our parks, gardens and nature reserves or sign up for our guided walks to learn about the rich biodiversity in Singapore
- Plant-A- Tree. Do your part for the environment by donating and planting a tree in our parks/nature reserves.
- Do not litter. Discarded plastic bags look a lot like jellyfishes and can be accidentally consumed by turtles by mistake. Littering in forests also causes similar problems for many land dwelling animals.
- Do not feed the monkeys as it alters their behaviour and makes them dependent on humans for food.
- Do not feed fishes or other aquatic animals in the parks/nature reserves. Clean water is essential to the survival of aquatic animals and plants. It enables aquatic plants to make their own food. Fish and other aquatic animals also feed on these plants. When you feed the fish and other aquatic animals with human food, the water gets polluted.
- Think before you release pets and other animals into the wild as most of them do not survive because they cannot find food that they are used to or seek shelter to escape danger. They also outcompete our native species, our other Singapore citizens.
- Become our volunteer and help us enrich the understanding and appreciation of our biodiversity through various outreach and conservation activities. By sharing the responsibility of caring for our biodiversity, we can conserve and protect it for the benefits of our future generations.
| | | |  |
|
|
|
| |
