Marine Climate Change Science (MCCS) Programme

The Marine Climate Change Science (MCCS) programme aims to serve as a national focal point for multi-disciplinary marine climate change research. This will advance the core sciences of marine climate change, and develop solutions to help address the challenges faced by our coastal and marine environment arising from climate change, such as sea level rise, increasing sea surface temperatures, and extreme storm events. The programme places emphasis on multi-disciplinary and translational research, in order to inform the development of evidence-based interventions and solutions. This will help to safeguard our coastal and marine ecosystems against climate change, and leverage existing natural capital in our blue spaces. This is part of NParks’ efforts to transform Singapore into a City in Nature, as well as contribute towards a nationwide effort to build climate resilience.

Led by NParks, this multi-stakeholder research programme will involve key partners across government agencies, research institutes and industry partners.

Research efforts under the MCCS programme will cut across various disciplines, as encompassed by the following core research verticals (Vs) and enabling horizontals (Hs):

• V1 Blue Carbon Science – to provide solutions that will reduce Singapore’s carbon footprint while conserving our coastal and marine ecosystems, through building a foundational science for developing a marine carbon credits economy in Singapore.
• V2 Eco-Engineering – to protect our coasts against sea level rise and extreme storm events via sustainable engineering measures, while incorporating nature-based solutions which will also enhance our marine environment and create new habitats, thereby providing a sound basis for the sustainable development of Singapore’s islands and coasts.
• V3 Ecological Resilience – to better understand the impact of climate change on marine species, habitats, ecosystems and connectivity, so as to inform measures to enhance marine ecosystem resilience against climate change-induced disturbances, and safeguard our natural marine capital through science-based management approaches.
• H1 Marine Climate Impact – to develop predictive models for projecting how climate change may alter existing biogeochemical processes in Singapore’s marine environment, so as to inform the formulation of interventions and strategies that are relevant to the anticipated changes in our local marine environment.
• H2 Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning – to explore how the social sciences can add important methods and perspectives towards climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in our marine environment.

• Host Institution: NUS
• Duration: 3 Years (2023 – 2026)
• Research Theme: V1 Blue Carbon
• Project Synopsis: This project will undertake national blue carbon accounting, mapping and predictive modelling, so as to increase understanding of Singapore’s blue carbon dynamics, by investigating various factors affecting blue carbon stocks and fluxes in Singapore’s mangrove, seagrass and mudflat ecosystems. It will map the distribution of blue carbon across Singapore, and understand how Singapore’s blue carbon stocks and fluxes may change over time, and develop a framework to allow Singapore to incorporate quantitative targets for blue carbon into national greenhouse gas reporting mechanisms for the first time.

• Host Institution: TCOMS
• Duration: 3 years (2024 - 2027)
• Research Theme: V2 Eco-Engineering
• Project Synopsis: This project will characterise the functional baselines and the effectiveness of mangroves, seagrass meadows and coral reefs in attenuating wave energy, and particularly for mangroves and seagrasses, in contributing to sediment accumulation, through combinations of physical experiments and numerical simulations. It aims to deepen our understanding of the potential of mangroves, seagrass meadows and coral reefs in protecting our coastline and develop engineering design guidelines and standards for implementing nature-based solutions along Singapore coastlines.

• Host Institution: NTU
• Duration: 4 years (2024 – 2028)
• Research Theme: V3 Ecological Resilience
• Project Synopsis: This project is the first quantification of the survival thresholds and ecological tipping points for mangrove and coral reefs in Singapore, to assess their long-term viability as nature-based solutions. It takes a multi-disciplinary approach which combines sedimentary geological archives and field ecological surveying with high-resolution climate models to establish the ocean conditions required for successful climate change adaptation and mitigation using these natural ecosystems.

• Host Institution: NUS
• Duration: 4 years (2023 – 2027)
• Research Theme: V3 Ecological Resilience
• Project Synopsis: This project will study how micro-organism communities in coral reefs may help to sustain well-functioning reef ecosystems that are resilient to climate change, and develop the science and application of securing the ecological resilience of our coral reefs, in the context of a tropical urban port environment. It seeks to inform the development of an overall suite of ecological and microbial solutions that can be deployed on various urban coral reef sites across Singapore, so as to enhance their climate resilience.

• Host Institution: NUS
  
• Duration: 4 years (2024 – 2028)
  
• Research Theme: V2 Eco-Engineering
  
• Project Synopsis: This project addresses the challenges of coastal urbanisation and climate change by developing cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions for enhancing natural capital and ecosystem services in the built marine environment through the development of multi-dimensional and multi-functional coastal defences that integrate engineering, ecological and social consideration. The project encompasses physical design, ecological assessment, and long-term sustainability evaluation of green-grey infrastructure solutions, including biodiversity enhancement tiles.

• Host Institution: SIT
  
• Duration: 3 years (2025 – 2028)
  
• Research Theme: V3 Ecological Resilience
• Project Synopsis: Project REFOREST aims to develop an innovative floating modular system that supports mangroves and seagrasses along Singapore’s coastline, addressing both environmental conservation and urban development needs. The project focuses on designing, testing, and implementing cost-effective floating planters that will increase blue carbon sinks, provide habitat restoration, and act as wave barriers. Comprehensive testing and monitoring seeks to validate the effectiveness of these floating modules in supporting local marine species, enhancing biodiversity, and contributing to coastal defence.

• Host Institution: NTU
• Duration: 4 years (2025 – 2029)
• Research Theme: V3 Ecological Resilience; H1 Marine Climate Impact
  
• Project Synopsis: This project investigates the resilience of Singapore’s seagrass ecosystems to climate change and seeks to understand their environmental tipping points and the role of their microbiome. Through field and aquarium experiments, the research aims to identify critical environmental thresholds for key seagrass species and develop innovative microbiome-based solutions to enhance their resilience. The project seeks to contribute to more effective conservation strategies for seagrass habitats under changing environmental conditions.