Essay Final Draft

Our Biodiversity, Their Homes

Global warming, loss of biodiversity, financial crisis and inequalities are problems faced in the modern world as a result of rapid globalization, as asserted by Goldin (2009) in his TED lecture.  He continued by reaffirming that as rapid globalization increases its influences and outreach, solutions have to be formulated to tackle these crises.

In order to keep up with globalization, government bodies have turned to urbanization in order to make space for various booming industries. This inevitably results in a loss of local biodiversity. The world’s biodiversity is diminishing. 75% of the world’s original biodiversity had been lost, as recorded in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2005). Singapore started off as a highly vegetated island. Progressively, we are deeply etched in globalization as well as development. Lands were cleared to make room for industries and housing purposes. Places used to be full of exuberant flora and fauna (Chang, 2003) were being replaced by modern appendages. Urbanization occurred gradually, resulting in a transformation of a country filled with biodiversity to one full of modernized buildings. Singapore is one of the few countries with a 100% urbanized population (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). Based on Goldin’s assertions and the evidence presented, it is inevitable to allege that Singapore has lost a huge part of her biodiversity as a result of rapid urbanization, fuelled by globalization. There are two main causes to the depreciating local biodiversity, namely land development and land reclamation. Although measures were taken in the past to retain the Singapore’s current level of biodiversity, the measures taken were insufficient. Many species were still on the brink of extinction as a result of loss of biodiversity (Barry, Navjot & Ng, 2003). In response, there are several viable solutions such as government initiatives and increasing the conservation activities of nature area.

Much land development had taken place since the days of British colonization, directly resulting in extensive deforestation. In 1819, Singapore was covered with lush forest (Lum, 1999), with more than 80% lowland forest. Today, there is less than 2,000 hectares of primary forest. This amounts to 3% of the total land area of Singapore (Corlett, 1992). This dramatic plunge in amount of biodiversity is a result of land development. Nature has to be forgone for housing development purposes. Forests were constantly being gazette to make way for high-rise buildings and industries. As compared to the “virgin” Singapore in the past, there is a remarkable spike in the number of industries and towering buildings, such as housing estates (Housing Development Board, 2009). Jurong used to be a swamp along the west coast of Singapore. As a result of Singapore’s industrialization program, Jurong has transformed into Singapore’s first industrial estate (Singapore Economic Development Board, n.d.). Tremendous biodiversity was being lost as a result of land development and urbanization.

Being the “little red dot”, land reclamation has been the most viable method to increase the availability of usable land thus far given the limited land spaces in Singapore. Land reclamation was initiated in 1960 and has been rampant up till today. Beginning with 578.1km², there is a 22.9% increase in amount of land as a result of land reclamation (NUS Faculty of Science, 2009). East Coast and Jurong Island are reclaimed lands for residential purposes and petrochemical industries respectively (Urban Redevelopment Authority, n.d.). However, it is happening at the expense of our biodiversity. Land reclamation has adversely affected the marine and coastal habitats (OSPAR Commission, 2008), with the coral reefs being reported as the most threatened species (NUS Reef Ecology Study Team, n.d.). Since 1986, Singapore has lost 65% of the coral reefs living in coastal and marine habitats (NUS Faculty of Science, 2009). To keep up with globalization, land reclamation for housing and industrial purposes is inevitable. As a result, Singapore’s biodiversity was perpetually and permanently lost.

In recognizing the evident loss of biodiversity, Singapore came up with mitigation factors such as the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) in 1992 (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). A total of 19 areas were designated as nature areas. However, no concrete actions were taken, resulting in the loss of 17 out of the 19 nature areas (Lim, 2000). The two remaining nature areas are Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Area. Khatib Bongsu, which is a designated nature wetland site, is under constant threat for development (Lim, 2000). These government initiatives have to be implemented in order to conserve Singapore’s biodiversity. To ensure effectiveness of the Singapore Green Plan and protection of the biodiversity, constant reviews and improvements should be made (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). The Singapore government can better enhance the conservation of biodiversity while developing herself by coming up with new initiatives. A new initiative derived was the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (National Park Board Singapore, 2011), which serves as a guide for ecological sustainable development strategies. The government can also preserve Singapore’s remaining biodiversity by increasing the number of parks and nature reserves. For example, Singapore National Park Board projected an increase in park connectors and nature areas within the next ten years (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). Such initiatives are crucial in mitigating biodiversity loss.

Globalization is a dual-edged knife. Singapore’s biodiversity is constantly put at risk as a result of globalization. In order to keep up with globalization, urbanization has encouraged rapid land development and reclamation. In turn, it has exacerbated the rate of diminishing biodiversity. Mitigation factors such as government initiatives and increasing nature conservation activities have been initiated to preserve our existing biodiversity. Whilst we are coming up with conservative solution, vast biodiversity had already been lost. Is it too late for a change and how much development are we willing to forsake for conservation?

References:

Barry W. B., Navjot S. S., Ng. K. L. P. (2003, July 24). Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Letters to Nature, Nature 424, 420-426. Retrieved from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/2004/030724-1.htm

Central Intelligence Agency. (2011). The world Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2212.html

Chang A. L. (2003, July 24). Singapore has lost half its animal species: Study. The Straits Time. Retrieved from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/2004/030724-1.htm

Corlett, R.T. 1992. The ecological transformation of Singapore, 1819-1990. Journal of Biogeo- graphy 19: 411-420

Housing Development Board. (2009). Key Statistics since 1960: Building Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10221p.nsf/0/d4a0f107613b79944825766200236310/$file/Key%20Statistics.pdf

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Lim K. S. (2000). Conserving Singapore ‘s Biodiversity. Retrieved from http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a082a.htm

Lum, S.K.Y. 1999. Tropical Rainforest. Pp 24-34 in Briffett, C. and Ho, H.C. (Eds.), State of the Natural Environment in Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore), Singapore.

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. (n.d.). Grab Our Resources: Singapore Green Plan. Retrieved from http://app.mewr.gov.sg/web/Contents/Contents.aspx?ContId=1342

National Park Board Singapore. (2011).  4^th National Report to the Convention of Biological Diversity. Retrieved from http://www.cbd.int/doc/world/sg/sg-nr-04-en.pdf

NUS Faculty of Science: Department of Biological Sciences. (2009). The Heritage of Singapore: Land Area of the Republic of Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.dbs.nus.edu.sg/staff/details/hugh_tan/Ch4%20Waste-%20and%20Reclaimed%20Land%20p.%2078.pdf

Commision. (2008). Assessment of the environmental impact of land reclamation. Retrieved from http://qsr2010.ospar.org/media/assessments/p00368_Land_Reclamation.pdf

Reef Ecology Study Team, NUS. (n.d.). Coral Reefs of Singapore. Retrieved from http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg

Singapore Economic Development Board. (n.d.). Our History: The 1960s: The development of labour-intensive industrialization. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/about-edb/company-information/our-history.html

Urban Redevelopment Authority. (n.d.). Designing Our City: Planning for a Sustainable Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline12/skyline12-03/special/URA_Designing%20our%20City%20Supplement_July12.pdf