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As joint stewards of nature, NParks works with the community to conserve and restore our natural ecosystems, strengthen island-wide ecological and recreational connectivity, and enhance animal management and veterinary care.
New nature trails and parks are being built and existing ones enhanced to provide the community with more touchpoints to immerse themselves in our flora and fauna.
A series of trail enhancement works on the central and southern segments of the Rail Corridor has been completed. The 4 km stretch between Rail Mall and Bukit Timah Railway Station was reopened in March 2021, with visitors enjoying the user-friendly paths and improved entry points. The southern section of the nature corridor was also re-opened, creating a continuous 13.3 km trail from Rail Mall to Spooner Road. Improvement works along the northern stretch between Hillview MRT and Kranji Road will commence next.
There will be an upcoming green corridor connecting East Coast Park to Changi Beach Park, with a complementary network of community corridors linking residents to other parks and gardens in the east, to allow them to better access a range of nature-based amenities.
Plans are also underway for new recreational trails. A 25 km Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Northern Trail will connect Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to the future Khatib Bongsu Nature Park, and a 62 km C2C Southern Trail – the longest cross-island trail to date – will connect Tuas to Changi Beach Park. These trails will enable Singaporeans to experience a greater sense of space within our small city-state.
Meanwhile, the C2C app has garnered 36,000 registered users, surpassing its original target of 30,000 registered users by 2021. The mobile app was originally developed to help users navigate the 36 km C2C trail from Jurong Lake Gardens to Coney Island Park. It has since been extended to cover 18 parks and nature areas and 11 park connectors, making use of augmented reality to provide visitors with an interactive curated walking experience.
The Rail Corridor (Central) represents the green heart of the Rail Corridor, being in close proximity to nature getaways like the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and the Dairy Farm and Bukit Batok Nature Parks.
A new Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network, announced in August 2020, will expand our natural capital along the northern coast, as part of our City in Nature vision. It will safeguard Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and complementary wetland habitats so as to strengthen the conservation of wetland biodiversity.
This decision was reached after extensive research established the ecological connectivity and complementarity between the sites, with studies showing that migratory shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway stop and refuel at the Reserve and at the Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat. NParks also continued its tracking data analyses on migratory waterbirds which was presented and shared at the First East Asian-Australian Flyway Shorebird Science Meeting held online in November 2020. Our research and conservation efforts were further strengthened through international collaborations such as the ASEAN Flyway Network, for which Singapore is the lead.
Two new nature parks are being established to help conserve Singapore’s unique biodiversity. Announced in December 2020, the Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park and Bukit Batok Central Nature Park will add some 25 hectares to the network of green spaces in the area, enhancing ecological connectivity between Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the forested areas within the upcoming Tengah Town.
More floating wetlands were introduced in Pulau Ubin’s Pekan Quarry in September 2020, with NParks combining organic materials used in the previous floating wetlands with a more robust system that was developed by the Housing & Development Board (HDB). Covering a combined area of 4,000 m2, or the size of about eight basketball courts, this increases the size of usable habitat for wildlife such as herons, crakes, kingfishers and otters on the island.
View a virtual tour of Singapore's nature parks.
Gadwalls (Anas strepera), last sighted in Singapore almost 32 years ago, were spotted at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in December 2020, reflecting the Reserve’s important role as a feeding and roosting site for birds on their migratory journeys.
Since 2015, NParks has been piloting a floating wetlands system at the Pekan Quarry in Pulau Ubin. Since then, herons, kingfishers, otters, as well as dragonflies have been observed to be using the wetlands.
Role of Nature Parks
Singapore’s four nature reserves provide refuge for our biodiversity, safeguarding our most important and key representative ecosystems. The nature parks that buffer these reserves are complementary habitats for Singapore’s native flora and fauna to thrive, protecting them against the impact of urbanisation. They also enable visitors to enjoy nature-based activities such as hiking and bird watching with minimal disturbance to the nature reserves.
Recovery plans were implemented for 54 plant species and 20 animal species in the reporting year. Ten species of reef-building hard corals were added to the species recovery programme, which seeks to conserve, restore and enhance key habitats to help endangered species to recover.
In the Comprehensive Ubin Biodiversity Survey, a total of 20 new species of fauna were recorded, including one new to science and others new to Singapore or Pulau Ubin. They include four types of spiders, a butterfly, a bird new to Singapore and other species of bats, birds and dragonflies new to Pulau Ubin. Among the recent discoveries is a species of Piranthus, a spider newly known to science.
In another significant achievement, NParks successfully implemented GPS tags on two critically-endangered Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) at East Coast Park and a Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea) at Pasir Ris Park. This provides researchers with a better understanding of the movement and nesting habits of these species and will help us identify suitable conservation sites and devise effective management strategies to safeguard the species. In August, two batches totalling 186 Hawksbill Turtle eggs were hatched at Pulau Satumu and East Coast Park. Another 96 eggs were successfully hatched and the hatchlings released at the Sisters’ Islands Marine Park as well.
In the area of plant research, there were 10 records of new species native to Singapore and the rediscovery of two native species that were previously thought to be extinct. Nervilia singaporensis , an endemic species of orchid and Nitella singaporensis, an endemic algal species, were found at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve respectively. This reinforces the importance of nature reserves as core biodiversity habitats for native species.
At Woodlands Waterfront Park, habitat enhancement works were initiated after the discovery of rare forest butterflies such as the Common Birdwing (Troides helena). Other habitat enhancement efforts also took place at Marsiling Park and Sengkang Riverside Park with the involvement of volunteers, resulting in native species such as Neolitsea cassia and Memecylon caeruleum being planted as part of restoration work.
A permanent exhibition showcasing Singapore’s rich biodiversity was opened at Dairy Farm Nature Park to introduce visitors to local flora and fauna. The exhibition includes scientific discoveries made by Alfred Russel Wallace, who explored Singapore’s forests between 1854 and 1862. He was also the other ‘father’ behind the theory of evolution, having contributed to Charles Darwin’s work on the subject.
Learn more about our habitat enhancement and species recovery efforts for bats.
As part of our science-based approach to conservation, staff have started tagging visiting Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). Each tag’s unique code will be recorded and uploaded onto an international database, enabling researchers to track the turtle’s movements.
The orchid Nervilia singaporensis was recently discovered at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. The genus was previously thought to be locally extinct as this was the first time that a Nervilia was recorded in Singapore since 1889.
In addition to a trick-eye wall, visitors to the Wallace Education Centre can explore the natural world in the Citizen Science Lab and learn about the biogeography and biodiversity of our region.
Comprehensive biodiversity surveys are being carried out in the Southern Islands as well as in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and its surrounding areas as part of a long-term plan to improve conservation efforts through the study of terrestrial and marine habitats.
The two-year Southern Islands Biodiversity survey that began in January 2020 focuses on more than 10 islands including Sisters’ Islands Marine Park, Pulau Biola and Pulau Jong. The Central Catchment Nature Reserve survey is expected to span five years. It will cover nature parks such as Windsor, Thomson, Springleaf and Zhenghua, as well as the Eco-Link@BKE.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, digital tools were used to continue engaging citizen scientists. More than 400 volunteers were trained virtually to help carry out biodiversity surveys of birds, butterflies and dragonflies under the Community in Nature (CIN) initiative.
To comply with stay home measures, certain sessions of the Garden Bird Watch were conducted from participants’ homes. Findings from these surveys will facilitate biodiversity conservation efforts.
Participants were able to spot fauna such as the Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis), Common Amberwing (Brachythemis contaminata) and Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus) as part of our Community in Nature Biodiversity Watch series. This help from citizen scientists enables us to collect large amounts of data that contribute to conservation efforts.
NParks is creating more avenues to foster stewardship among youths in City in Nature initiatives through the launch of Youth@SGNature. The initiative comprises a selection of existing and new programmes where youths can learn more about and contribute towards urban greenery and biodiversity conservation. These programmes include the new Youth Nature Explorer and Youth Stewards for Nature under the Biodiversity Friends Forum and Green Friends Forum. In January 2021, more than 80 youths and over 20 NParks staff mentors attended a virtual orientation session to kickstart the Youth Stewards for Nature programme.
NParks also collaborated with Outward Bound Singapore under the Youth@SGNature initiative to incorporate more activities that open conversations on deeper issues relating to the environment into the Ministry of Education-Outward Bound Singapore Challenge programme. NParks is conducting annual training for its instructors to support the initiative, which is expected to reach 14,000 students per year.
More than 40,000 students from over 350 schools participated in the Biodiversity Week for Schools programme. A new NParks Spotlight series on YouTube was presented by staff, who introduced viewers to habitats and interesting flora and fauna species. The 12 video series garnered more than 12,000 views.
To recognise schools, educators and students who have been advocates for biodiversity, the new NParks CIN Schools Award was presented to 25 students, teachers and schools in recognition of their passion for conservation.
CULTIVATING A LIFELONG LOVE FOR NATURE
This past year, work started on a set of preschool resources to help pupils appreciate the urban ecosystem and better understand humanwildlife interactions. The resource package will teach children aged 4 to 6 about civic responsibility, sharing the environment with animals, as well as how to be a responsible pet owner. Comprising a picture book, posters, educational cards, videos, a model construction kit and teaching guide for educators, the package will be sent to more than 1,900 pre-school centres in Singapore in 2021.
Participants of the Youth Stewards for Nature programme conducting a site survey along Punggol Nature Way to analyse the species planted and the kinds of fauna they want to attract to this area.
NParks has produced a resource package that includes a picture book, information cards and a model construction kit to equip pre-school educators with tools to share about the companion and community animals, as well as wildlife, that call our island home.
Community stewardship continues to drive many conservation and greening initiatives. In December 2020, NParks partnered with the Friends of Marine Park (FoMP) community to launch a series of education, outreach and research activities at Bendera Bay on St John’s Island. The FoMP community, part of NParks’ Friends of the Parks initiative, will spearhead efforts to balance the different uses of the area, which was previously inaccessible to the public, and schedule the programmes that will take place there.
The community is also playing a key role in shaping how some upcoming green spaces will look. In October 2020, a group of stakeholders under the Friends of the Parks Engagement initiative carried out a plant propagation session. The group prepared close to 120 cuttings which will be nurtured and subsequently planted in the upcoming Pasir Panjang Park. Similar outreach programmes have been conducted to involve members of the public in the design of Cambridge Linear Park and the Villa Verde Park extension.
NParks has some 54,000 volunteers who contribute towards activities such as Community in Bloom, conservation programmes, biodiversity surveys and conducting nature tours. For instance, volunteers from the Friends of Bukit Timah Forest community, World Wildlife Fund, United World College of South East Asia, and residents of the Sime Road neighbourhood helped remove invasive plant species from the MacRitchie forest. These efforts, which contribute to the Forest Restoration Action Plan, help strengthen the resilience of our native rainforests by restoring ecological processes, and enhancing the biodiversity and ecological connectivity in these areas. The Friends of Chestnut Nature Park community also organised guided nature walks for small groups in September 2020.
View the NParks Spotlight Series on Finding Community in Conservation.
Volunteers from the Friends of East Coast Park community working with staff to paint log ‘cookies’ with safe distancing messages to remind park users to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friends of Pasir Panjang Park volunteers nurturing cuttings during a plant propagation session. These will be planted in the upcoming Pasir Panjang Park, fostering a greater sense of community stewardship.
Volunteers removing invasive weeds around recently planted saplings to aid their growth at the upcoming Kranji Coastal Nature Park. Partnering greenery enthusiasts enables us to better maintain and enhance habitats for native flora and fauna.
The amended Wildlife Act took effect from June 2020. Previously known as the Wild Animals and Birds Act, the enhanced legislation features a set of new restrictions on the feeding and release of wildlife, and higher penalties to deter wildlife-related offences. It serves to protect, conserve and manage wildlife to ensure a healthy ecosystem whilst safeguarding public safety and health.
Work in the area of animal health and management continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic. When Circuit Breaker measures were introduced in April 2020, NParks conducted a study – part of the Pigeon Management Plan in partnership with town councils – to look at how reduced food from human sources affected the foraging behaviour of pigeons. Results showed that limiting human-generated food sources is an effective strategy in managing the pigeon population.
Such findings will contribute towards initiatives to remind the public not to feed wildlife. NParks is working with partners such as the Singapore Food Agency and National Environment Agency to reach out to hawker centres and coffee shops to reduce food sources for wildlife.
NParks also continues to collaborate with enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal wildlife trade and played a key role in the conviction of a man under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act for smuggling about 22 kg of rhinoceros horns. The horns were from the White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Learn more about why we should not feed pigeons.
People who feed animals such as the Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and Wild Boar (Sus scrofa ), may do so out of kindness. However, under the amended Wildlife Act, anyone caught feeding wildlife in Singapore can incur a fine of up to $10,000.
DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE
Contrary to the belief that feeding wildlife is an act of kindness, it can actually be detrimental to the animals:
1
Wildlife population size increases as animals breed from an abundance of food. However, this growth is unsustainable because the natural habitat area supporting the animals remains the same.
2
It changes the animal’s natural behaviour. For example, feeding Wild Boars may encourage them to venture beyond their natural habitats and into urban areas, leading to potential conflicts with humans.
3
The food we give to wildlife such as sweetened pastries or processed food like chips often do not meet their nutritional requirements. These foods may even make them sick.
Working closely with stakeholders and the community, the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) continues to leverage technology and science to improve animal health and welfare standards.
In August 2019, AVS embarked on the Pet Sector Review. Engagement with key stakeholders such as breeders, boarders, veterinarians, academia and Animal Welfare Groups (AWGs) in the pet sector remains integral. For the pet breeding sector, revisions will be made to raise the standards of commercial breeders. These include improving veterinary healthcare and the living environment for breeding dogs, and strengthening requirements on traceability.
In the area of pet boarding, AVS intends to license boarders operating on farmlands and approved commercial premises. Revised standards now include other pets such as cats and small mammals.
Pet licensing is one measure that enables AVS to ensure animal identification and traceability. It is critical in protecting public and animal health and enables AVS to react expediently in the event of a disease outbreak. To make it easier for pet owners to license their pets, AVS introduced one-time licensing for sterilised dogs from September 2020. This means owners of sterilised dogs can apply for a licence which will remain valid throughout the animal’s life.
In October 2020, AVS established the multi-stakeholder Rehoming and Adoption Work Group (RAWG) to develop community-based standards and guidelines for improving rehoming and adoption practices. AWGs, veterinarians and dog trainers were invited to contribute views and discuss how to increase post-adoption support for pet owners and enhance the standard of dog trainers. Public views on the draft standards and guidelines will also be sought.
To champion the well-being of stray animals and better manage their populations, AVS and AWG partners, together with veterinarians, administer sterilisation programmes for cats and dogs. Since its launch in 2011, 20,910 cats have been enrolled in the Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme (SCSP). In June 2020, Causes for Animals Singapore and Noah’s Ark Cares joined the SCSP, working with existing partners, the Cat Welfare Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on the programme.
The Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage (TNRM) programme is one example of a science-based and humane approach to managing Singapore’s stray dog population. Working with AWGs, together with veterinarians, AVS has enrolled more than 2,200 strays under this programme since its launch in 2018. The dogs are subsequently rehomed or released at suitable locations to live out their lives naturally.
Under Project ADORE (ADOption and REhoming of dogs), AVS and AWGs successfully rehomed about 1,640 mixed-breed dogs in HDB flats. From 1 March 2020, the height limit for dogs which can be rehomed in flats was increased to 55 cm and the weight criteria removed entirely, meaning more dogs can now find new homes.
Related to this, AVS continues working with the community to support the rehoming of shelter animals through adoption drives and pet-related events. To mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, AVS developed guidelines with AWG partners for activities such as Pets’ Day Out to continue, in line with prevailing safe management measures.
A new AWG partner in the reporting year is Hamster Society Singapore that actively promotes responsible care for pet hamsters. AVS now has 14 active AWG partners that we work closely with to promote stewardship and safeguarding of animal welfare.
On average, around 250 local mixed-breed dogs are rehomed under Project ADORE each year. With the revision in size limits, about 50 more mixed-breed dogs can be rehomed to HDB flats per year.
The Animal & Veterinary Service is partnering the Hamster Society Singapore to spread the message that hamsters require constant care, commitment and resources to stay healthy and happy.
New resources have been developed to introduce information on responsible pet ownership and behaviour to students. Working with the Ministry of Education and Early Childhood Development Agency, messages on pet care, animal health and ethology as well as human-animal interaction were incorporated into resources made available to pre-schools.
There are other opportunities for children to learn about pet care and animal behaviour, such as via a series of learning journeys at animal centres.
In December 2020, pre-schoolers visited a new animal classroom at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where they observed firsthand how to care for common pets such as hamsters, rabbits and cats. Lessons learnt during these journeys are reinforced by related storybooks and videos. More resources such as posters and 3D model construction kits are currently being developed.
Children can learn about responsible pet ownership through educational resources like jigsaw puzzles and by visiting a new animal classroom at the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens during a Learning Journey.
Together with the Singapore Veterinary Association, AVS developed the Singapore Vaccination Guidelines for Dogs and Cats to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination in safeguarding animal health and combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The guidelines include updated and science-based recommendations suited to our local context, advising veterinarians and pet owners on protecting animals against vaccine-preventable diseases.
In October 2020, the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology (CUGE), working with AVS, launched the Science Behind Animal Behaviour webinar series to deepen engagement with pet owners and raise the standards of service providers in the pet sector. Other webinars featured international experts in the industry, such as Dr Roger Abrantes from the Ethology Institute in Portugal and Dr Jenna Kiddie from Dogs Trust UK.
WHAT IS AMR?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat. As microbes become increasingly resistant to antimicrobial agents such as antibiotics, our ability to treat infections becomes compromised. Animals with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria can suffer from infections that are more serious, and such bacteria may even be transmitted between animals and humans.
View the webinar on Principles of Animal Behaviour Moification by Dr Roger Abrantes.
AVS adopts stringent multi-pronged and multi-stakeholder approaches to safeguard human and animal health, as well as animal welfare. New biosurveillance programmes have been developed to detect, contain, and manage diseases early.
When there was an outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS) in a regional country in September 2020, AVS imposed import restrictions on live horses and horse-related materials from the affected country and stepped up inspections of all local equine establishments. AVS engaged equine establishments to institute daily health screening of horses, strengthen biosecurity and vector control measures and developed contingency plans. AVS also worked closely with equine veterinarians to source for effective vaccines to be registered for emergency use and collected samples from local horses for further analysis and investigation.
AVS is working with the National Environment Agency on the surveillance of disease-carrying vectors and developing in-house capability to use advanced laboratory methods to meet these challenges. Through such collaborations, we have been able to quickly pick up cases of Leishmania and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, and advise pet owners and veterinarians on the strict biosecurity protocols to minimise disease transmission.
Veterinarians can refer to the Singapore Vaccination Guidelines for Dogs and Cats when administering vaccines essential for animal health.
Strong partnerships with agencies and veterinarians enable AVS to detect illnesses like the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease early. While this can be fatal to rabbits, it does not affect humans.