The Green Corridor is a former railway while Bukit Brown is a cemetery, so different yet so similar. The Green Corridor and Bukit Brown both connects the past and future, and both involves heritage and the environment. I hope that all of you can support the preservation of Bukit Brown, just as you have actively supported The Green Corridor so far.

I supported The Green Corridor proposal by NSS because I feel that it would improve Singapore’s long-term resilience. The biggest threat to Singapore is apathy, and when Singaporeans do not feel a sense of belonging and are not bothered with what goes on here, then Singapore is in trouble.

For Singapore to survive and prosper in the long term, it is necessary to have more opportunities in preserving our shared memories and creating our shared vision. And keeping the railway lands as a Green Corridor is one opportunity not to be wasted.

Similarly, I feel that Bukit Brown is another excellent opportunity that enables Singaporeans to feel they belong here by remembering our past and creating our future.

Remembering Our Past

Bukit Brown tells the stories of our forefathers who built Singapore, and creates opportunities for history education and discovery. The cemetery connects Singapore’s past and present, and allows us to understand that Singapore’s success is built up by our forefathers’ sweat and tears, and should not be taken for granted.

We should preserve Bukit Brown because it helps us remember our past and keeps us rooted to Singapore.

Creating Our Future

Bukit Brown presents the opportunity for transforming the cemetery into a world-class living outdoor museum or heritage park. If this transformation adopts a bottom-up approach and with stakeholder engagement, it would allow us to come together, plan and work towards a future Singapore where heritage, nature and our economic needs can co-exist.

We should preserve Bukit Brown because it enables us to work together and build bonds and resilience, and to create a space where our children and their children can enjoy and be proud of.

Support Bukit Brown

Singapore is a young nation and needs more common spaces like The Green Corridor and Bukit Brown to remind us how we got here and why this is home, and to create opportunities for building our future social resilience. Support Bukit Brown, just as you have supported The Green Corridor.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Sign the petition to save Bukit Brown 100% at the SOS Bukit Brown – Save Our Singapore website.

2. Join the Heritage Singapore – Bukit Brown Cemetery Facebook Group to understand more about Bukit Brown and keep yourself updated.

3. Spread the message by sharing with your friends about Bukit Brown and urging them to sign the petition.

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy. – John C. Sawhill

By Eugene Tay

1) Prepare a proposal reframing Bukit Brown away from a cemetery

The government already has development plans for Bukit Brown, including the current road construction and future housing development. To potentially reverse the decision already made, the alternative option must be of equal or higher value than existing plans (not necessary in monetary terms). In Singapore’s context, positioning or framing Bukit Brown as a cemetery is not persuasive enough.

One possible idea is to reframe Bukit Brown as Singapore’s first outdoor museum (inspired by Skansen, the popular open-air museum in Sweden – http://www.skansen.se/en). A proposal could be prepared to explain the value of turning Bukit Brown into an outdoor museum, which would provide insights on Singapore’s past heritage and natural history in an open-air natural setting. Visitors can explore the tombs of Singapore’s prominent pioneers, which would be combined with stories, customs, crafts, physical buildings, structures and objects that are relevant to understanding our past pre-1965. Biological diversity, especially live native plants and animals, or preserved species found in the past, could be highlighted in the outdoor museum. The outdoor museum would be an unique place for Singaporeans and visitors to understand more about pre-1965 Singapore.

The above idea is only one potential idea and it is up to the campaign participants to come up with the ideas for preserving Bukit Brown in the proposal. Whatever the final ideas proposed, a written formal document highlighting the reasons for preserving Bukit Brown, combined with facts and figures, is necessary for engaging the government and as a tool for further discussion and negotiation. The proposal would be sent to the Prime Minister, all Ministers and MPs, and the relevant government agencies.

2) Consolidate efforts by various groups into a single platform and issue a call-to-action

A campaign website is needed and should be used as the “home base” linking to Facebook and other social media tools such as Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, and vice versa. The campaign objective is to 1) explain about the proposal and why preserve Bukit Brown, 2) unite all supporters and actively engage them, 3) show the government that there is strong support for the proposal, and 4) to archive all stories, photos, videos on Bukit Brown.

There are several existing Facebook Groups and Pages on Bukit Brown, which are doing great work. However, it would be good to consolidate efforts by the various people and have just a single platform to explain the proposal, provide the latest info and events, and engage all stakeholders. This helps to avoid confusion for supporters and to avoid diluting the numbers or duplicating efforts. It is important to note that for campaigning purposes, always use a FB Page and not a Group. The FB Page is better for engaging supporters and for analyzing statistics on usage. If resources are available, manage FB and Twitter accounts separately. If not, just link Twitter to FB, and let FB update the Twitter account automatically.

It is important to decide on the call-to-action for supporters. It should be easy and simple for supporters to show their support for the proposal. The call-to-action could be ‘liking’ the page and signing a petition, which should be posted prominently on the website. The numbers would be presented to the relevant government officials on a regular or monthly basis to show them that there is public support for the proposal. It is also necessary to encourage supporters to write in to their MPs and the media on the proposal. A written letter to the relevant Minister or MP would be best. It would help if a letter template and the MP email contacts are made easily available on the website.

3) Engage and communicate with stakeholders both online and offline

All stakeholders whether government, businesses, organisations and the public should be engaged actively online and offline. There should be one email for enquiries. Always link online and offline together, one can’t do without the other.

All offline events should mention the call-to-action and about spreading the word. A special walk involving ‘connectors’ who are people who know lots of people or have a significant online influence, should be organised to let them appreciate the value of Bukit Brown, and hopefully they would help spread the word further. Regular public walks must be organised to keep the momentum and interest going. Event info should be clear and directions or meeting points given. Maps of Bukit Brown should be prominent and easily accessible on the website.

Online engagement through FB should be on a daily basis, involving 80% content relevant to the campaign, and 20% fun and interesting content not necessary relevant to Bukit Brown. Make use of photos, videos, questions and polls to engage FB supporters. It is necessary to just trial and error, and see what works, and change accordingly and be flexible. Reply to every FB comment where possible, remove spam posts immediately, and tag government FB pages when necessary. Always post long articles on the website and place link on FB. Don’t write essays on the FB status updates, it’s only for short sentences. If you have a lot to write, use Notes.

We would like to thank all of you for supporting The Green Corridor through the Facebook page since Nov last year. It’s now 3 months to the closure and return of the railway lands on 1 Jul. Time is running out as we wait for the government’s reply on the proposal.

Today, we are stepping up our efforts and launching a new campaign website for The Green Corridor at http://www.thegreencorridor.org/. The website serves to:

1. Gather support for The Green Corridor and unite supporters (broadening the support base to include non-Facebook users, businesses and organisations)

2. Show the government that there is public interest and support for The Green Corridor (sending monthly updates to key government agencies on number of supporters and news)

3. Archive stories, photos and videos on the railway and The Green Corridor (allowing the community of supporters to share their experiences and vision)

You can help us to gather more support for The Green Corridor. We hope to reach 10,000 supporters by 1 Jul. Visit the website now at http://www.thegreencorridor.org/ and find out the various ways to show your support, spread the message, and share your stories.

Thanks.

Cheers
Eugene

The Green Corridor is not a dream but a responsibility to nature, our heritage and our children.

The second episode features:

• The spectacular living wall on the Musée du Quai Branly
• French eco-artist Mathilde Roussel-Giraudy
• Paris’s FedEx bike powered fleet

Click here to view the embedded video.

A message from We support The Green Corridor in Singapore:

As we come to the end of the year and start our celebrations, we would like to thank everyone for supporting The Green Corridor.

Next year, we will continue to post news and updates, and organise more walks along the railway lands, as we wait for the government’s reply to Nature Society’s proposal.

Currently, we have over 660 supporters since the Facebook page started last month. Our Christmas wish is to reach 1,000 supporters by the end of the year. We hope that you can help fulfill our wish.

If you support the proposal, here’s how you can help:

1) Share the Facebook page with at least 10 friends.

2) If you belong to an organisation or network, tell your members.

3) If you own a website, blog or publication, write something about the proposal.

4) Or simply share this message with your friends using the ShareThis button below.

Thanks for your support. Have a blessed Christmas and a great year ahead!

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy. – John C. Sawhill

Read more about The Green Corridor proposal and why we support it.

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde

Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) has submitted a proposal, The Green Corridor: A Proposal to Keep the Railway Lands as a Continous Green Corridor, to the Singapore government on 21 October 2010. NSS proposes to retain the current KTM Railway Land as a Green Corridor after the train operations cease.

Background on the Railway Lands

On 24 May 2010, Singapore and Malaysia leaders agreed on the issue of the Malayan Railway Land in Singapore. Malaysia will move the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB station) to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint by 1 July 2011, and will co-locate its railway Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facility there. Both leaders also agreed that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Passenger Terminal building would be conserved given its historical significance, and that the old Bukit Timah Railway Station building at Blackmore Drive can also be conserved.

Both countries will also set up a company, M-S Pte Ltd, by 31 December 2010, with Malaysia having a 60% share under Khazanah Nasional Berhard and Singapore having a 40% share under Temasek Holdings. The company will handle the joint development of the three parcels of KTM land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands, and another three pieces of land in Bukit Timah.

On 20 September 2010, Malaysia agreed to accept the land swap offer by Singapore for four land parcels in Marina South and two pieces in Orphir-Rochor in exchange for the land parcels of KTM land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji, Woodlands and Bukit Timah. This means that all the railway land would be available to the Singapore government for development after 1 July 2011. There is no announcement yet on how the government would develop the land.

The Green Corridor Proposal

The least challenging and most unimaginative “solution” would be for policy makers, planners and developers to parcel the land out as real estate, dismantle the line, erase the railway and its memory from the public domain and relegate it to textbook history. That would be a costly mistake. – Dr Geh Min

In The Green Corridor proposal, NSS refers to the Railway Lands as “several plots of land, at Tanjong Pagar, Kranji, Woodlands and Bukit Timah, the two main lines of track, the Woodlands – Tanjong Pagar and Jurong lines and other small disconnected stretches. The combined area for the Railway Land is 173.7 hectares, almost three times the size of the Botanical Gardens (63.7 hectares), and 0.24% the land mass of Singapore.”

It Connects Many Green Spaces Together

The Railway Land connects many green spaces together and is “already like a nature park; much of it a mix of secondary forest growth, grasslands, and small scale fruit and vegetable farms. Open areas are interspersed with canals, streams and marshland on both sides of the tracks.” There are 6 main green areas that the Railway Lands connect:

1. Southern Sector
2. Clementi Woodlands
3. Jurong Line
4. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
5. Bukit Panjang / Chua Chu Kang / Pang Sua
6. Kranji / Mandai Mangrove & Mudflats

NSS emphasised that preserving the Railway Land as a Green Corridor “will not only make it possible for Singaporeans to hike from the wetlands in Kranji to Rainforests in Bukit Timah and the hilltops of Henderson through a continuous nature trail; the Green Corridor is also important for preserving our Natural Heritage by acting as a connector for flora and fauna movement across the island, to some extent mitigating the effects of the fragmentation of our Nature Reserves.”

It Connects Many People Together

The Green Corridor has the potential to serve 1.2 million people living in estates along the entire stretch of the railway by transforming the areas into parks, recreational areas, or for community gardening and farming. NSS explains that there are “currently scenic vistas of forests and rivers, canals and wetlands right at our doorstep. The construction of simple walking trails, lighting, resting points and directional signage would make all of this accessible and inviting to hundreds of communities nearby. A pedestrian link between communities could also enhance neighbourliness and a sense of “kampong” atmosphere along the Green Corridor.”

A Clean and Green Transport Route

NSS proposes that the Railway Land can be converted, with creative planning and without a high level of investment, into a transport route through the heart of Singapore from North to South. The transport route could include the following:

• A cycling and pedestrian path can be built on either side of the railway tracks
• The existing railway tracks could accommodate low speed forms of trams powered by clean energy sources or even human power
• The continuous length of the Green Corridor can host all forms of Sports and Recreational Activities including long distance running or cycling activities

NSS explains that: “With increasing numbers of Singaporeans adopting a healthy and active lifestyle, there is an urgent need to provide spaces conducive to such activities. The Green Corridor allows not just a place to play sports and exercise, it also opens up spaces for gardening, fishing and camping. Increasing the amount of greens spaces for recreation is imperative if we seek to increase our population and improve our standards of living at the same time.”

Preserving History

The railway line serves as a reminder and a physical historical record of the relationship between Singapore and Malaysia. NSS proposes that “the whole stretch of the railway line can be turned into an outdoor ‘museum’ with ‘walking commentary’. Because of its linearity, points of historical interests can be planned along the route to educate the public about life in the 50s, 60s and up to the 70s.” The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, the Bukit Timah Railway Station, and the cast iron railway bridges across Bukit Timah Road, Upper Bukit Timah Road and Ulu Pandan Canal should be preserved. The Railway Land also has the potential to be an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

NSS concludes with:

There are so many compelling reasons to preserve the Railway Land as a Green Corridor. It is readymade Nature Corridor, Recreational Space, Eco-friendly transport route all rolled into one. It is a valuable piece of ecological and historical heritage that should be preserved for future generations of Singaporeans.

Why We Should Have The Green Corridor

The NSS proposal has eloquently stated the need to keep the Railway Lands as a green corridor based on environmental, social, recreational, and historical benefits. Others have also made good comments on the economic benefits of having a green corridor, that it is “a key competitive advantage that helps attract or retain top talent and brings more economic development to Singapore. It could well bring other financial benefits, too, including increased property value for nearby residents.”

We support the proposal by NSS and feel strongly that we should have the Green Corridor because it will improve Singapore’s long-term survival and resilience. The biggest threat to Singapore is not terrorism or slow economic growth. The biggest threat to Singapore is apathy, or you could call it indifference, bochap, can’t be bothered, or none of my business. When Singaporeans do not feel a sense of belonging and are not bothered with what goes on here, then Singapore is in trouble.

At a recent forum, the following discussion took place between a young Singaporean and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong:

“This is your country,” SM Goh replied. “What do you want me to do to make you feel you belong?”

“For my part, don’t worry about me,” Mr Lim said. “I will definitely do something, if I can, for Singapore. But I can tell you honestly that the sentiment on the ground is a bit different.”

“If this is happening, it is very serious,” said SM Goh.

“If the majority feel they don’t belong here, then we have a fundamental problem. Then I would ask myself: What am I doing here? Why should I be working for people who don’t feel they belong over here?” asked SM Goh.

We think that the government can make Singaporeans feel they belong here by preserving our shared memories and creating our shared vision.

Preserving Our Shared Memories

The Green Corridor will strengthen our shared memories by preserving our past with Malaysia, the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, the railway bridges, and also creating opportunities for history education and discovery. This is necessary and urgent as the pace of erosion of our memories quicken in our urban city.

When we talk about our shared memories, it brings a smile to us and brings us closer together, knowing we have experienced the same history. Without shared memories across different generations and between different immigrant groups, we would feel like strangers and find it harder to understand each other.

We remember watching Royston Tan’s Old Places and discussing it with friends, and how it brought back shared memories and how we feel a sense of belonging and connection even though we may not be familiar with all the old places.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We should have the Green Corridor because it helps us to preserve our shared memories.

Creating Our Shared Vision

The Green Corridor will strengthen our shared vision by creating opportunities for different groups, sectors and communities to come together, plan and work towards a common vision of a Singapore where nature and our economic activities can co-exist. The long stretch of the Railway Lands connect communities and spaces, and allows greater cooperation and collaborative partnerships from North to South. This is something new and not seen before, and if a bottom-up approach is adopted, it would allow Singaporeans to have a shared vision and to actually turn it to life, with creativity and innovation.

When we talk about our shared vision, it excites us and motivates everyone to work together for a common good. When we work with our own hands and sweat together,  we are building bonds and resilience. Without a shared vision, everyone does things on their own and are not bothered with what the others are doing.

We should have the Green Corridor because it helps us to create our shared vision.

Support the Green Corridor

For Singapore to survive and prosper in the long term, it is necessary to have more opportunities in preserving our shared memories and creating our shared vision. And keeping the Railway Lands as a Green Corridor is one opportunity not to be wasted.

Show your support:

1. Read the NSS proposal – The Green Corridor: A Proposal to Keep the Railway Lands as a Continous Green Corridor

2. Send your feedback and suggestions to Nature Society (Singapore)

3. Share the proposal with everyone

4. Like the Facebook page “We support The Green Corridor in Singapore” and share it with your friends. You can share your memories, stories and photos of the railway lands, and share your vision for The Green Corridor. What types of environmental, social, cultural and historical activities do you wish to see happening there?

5. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/greencorridorsg and share our tweets with your friends.

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy. – John C. Sawhill

Source and images credit: Nature Society (Singapore)

Love Letters To Earth is a new 6-part TV series featured on OKTO, and tells the stories of how environmentalists and nature lovers helped to protect and conserve the remaining nature reserves and wildlife in Singapore. Love Letters To Earth is shown on OKTO every Sunday at 9:30pm, with repeat telecast on Wednesday at 11:30pm.

The first episode shown last Sunday featured how four bird lovers managed to conserve Sungei Buloh. The four heroes from the then Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch) included:

• Richard Hale who discovered the site in 1986 (former CEO of HSBC in Singapore)
• Dr Ho Hua Chew (Chairman of the Nature Society Singapore Conservation Committee)
• Subaraj Rajathurai (wildlife expert and guide)
• Dr Rexon Ngim (plastic surgeon)

They found Sungei Buloh to be a place where many migratory birds visited and decided that the place is worth conserving. So they wrote a proposal to the government titled ‘A Proposal for a Nature Conservation Area at Sungei Buloh’, and sent it to all the ministers, including the late President Wee Kim Wee.

President Wee made a personal visit to Sungei Buloh to take a look for himself and perhaps helped to convince the government to designate Sungei Buloh as a nature park in 1989. In 2001, Sungei Buloh was gazetted as a nature reserve and renamed as Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Remember to catch Love Letters To Earth for more stories of these amazing and dedicated  nature lovers and environmentalists who contributed to nature conservation in Singapore. The second episode this Sunday is about Pulau Semakau.

Source credit for Love Letters To Earth image: OKTO (image from their Facebook page)

The United Nations declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) and celebrations throughout the year are led by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There will be various initiatives to promote the protection of biodiversity and to encourage organizations, companies and individuals to take action.

In support of the International Year of Biodiversity, a new website Celebrating Singapore’s BioDiversity! has been set up to showcase biodiversity in Singapore. From the website, here’s what you can do:

• Leave a comment in the guestbook. Share your thoughts and hopes for our biodiversity.
• Subscribe to the blog to get the latest updates in your reader or via email.
• Be a fan of the Facebook page so you can also receive updates via Facebook.
• Put the IYB2010 Singapore banner on your blog or website. To spread the word about our biodiversity to your readers.
• Add your wildlife photos to the Singapore Celebrates IYB flickr group site and Facebook page.
• Post a link to your biodiversity blog entry on the Facebook page.
• Tell your friends about International Year of Biodiversity!

Check out the Celebrating Singapore’s BioDiversity! for news and activities, and learn all about the biodiversity in Singapore.

As part of its Primate Research Initiative, from 2010 the Singapore office of the Jane Goodall Institute will offer grants for projects related to the study and the conservation of primates in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia.

Singapore, January 8th 2010 – From 2010, on a yearly basis the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) will be offering grants of S$500-S$5000 to fund projects aimed at researching and conserving primates and their habitat in Southeast Asia. Applications for the 2010 grants are already open and the final application deadline is 15 February 2010.

The Primate Research Grant is part of the Primate Research Initiative launched in June 2009 by the founder of the organisation itself, Dr. Jane Goodall, during her last visit to Singapore. It aims to encourage the non-invasive study of primates in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia, with the hope that it may contribute findings as groundbreaking as Dr. Goodall’s own original work.

Applications for the Primate Research Grant are open to Singapore-based primatologists, researchers, conservationists or students with an interest in primates and their habitat, for projects undertaken within Southeast Asia. Submissions will be accepted annually from December to February and judged by a panel of primatologists, unaffiliated scientists and conservationists, commercial representatives and academics. Awards will be announced in April.

Grants will be awarded in two categories, depending on whether project proposals are aimed more at research or at conservation. Research projects should contribute to the understanding of behavioural biology while conservation projects, whether research or applied projects, should aim to resolve practical issues in primate conservation. In both cases, applicants are expected to have a background in the behavioural sciences, biology, conservation, forestry, ecology, or wildlife research and/or be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to primate and rainforest conservation.

About the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore):

The Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) is a branch of the global non-profit organisation, the Jane Goodall Institute for wildlife research, education and conservation (JGI), founded by world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall in 1977. In addition to its original purpose of supporting field research on wild chimpanzees, its mission has expanded to focus on empowering individuals to take informed and compassionate action on behalf of all living things. The Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) supports research on primates and their habitat in natural settings, as well as increasing awareness of environmental issues through its Roots & Shoots programme. Roots & Shoots is a youth-driven initiative which inspires the young to plan and implement community-based projects helping people, animals and the environment, connecting and strengthening the bond between Singapore’s youth and their unique natural heritage.

The Primate Research Grant follows in the footsteps of such JGI success stories as the Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem Project in Western Tanzania. JGI conducted biodiversity and socio-economic surveys throughout the region, helping to determine the distribution of chimpanzees in the face of illegal hunting, unsustainable agricultural practices and uncontrolled timber harvesting. It also identified environmental resources and brought local villagers and scientists together to provide essential local knowledge to help conservation efforts, monitor forests and preserve biodiversity.

For further information on the Primate Research Grant or the Jane Goodall Institute please visit www.janegoodall.org.sg or email info@janegoodall.org.sg.

The word “green” probably has many meanings in different nations with different culture and religions. Green could mean envy, money, nature, health and life. Green is also the official religious colour in Islam. Recently, there seem to be a unifying meaning for green. The word green is now seen to convey the message of saving the environment.

In Singapore, the word “green” would imply energy saving light bulbs, biodegradable products, solar powered houses, green buildings and of course, not forgetting the 3Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle. But why is the word “green” not directly linked to protecting and conserving biodiversity? Is it because we humans are selfish?

We forget that we take actions to reduce our energy consumption not just to save our precious fossil fuels and reduce gas prices, or to reduce global warming and the resultant erratic weather patterns. We take actions ultimately to save the environment and its highly inter-linked and complex ecosystems and biodiversity.

Singaporeans has learnt about how to recycle, or take the public transport instead of driving but many are unequipped with the knowledge on the importance of ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. Once we understand these concepts, we will realize how our daily actions have such big impacts on the millions of species on Earth whom we share with.

Plants, animals and the natural world are fascinating, and we have spent centuries learning about them and from them. Many of our problems are solved by solutions from nature – using bacteria as medicine and discovering gravity from apples falling. While we try to change and adjust our bad human habits that lead to the destruction of Earth and the extinction of species, we ought to also put in more “greener” efforts to help the environment directly.

As a small nation with little natural resources, let us not forget that even the flora and fauna in Singapore are also defined as resources. These plants and animals are part of the ecosystem, which humans depend on. Singapore has already given up a large portion of its original tropical rainforest to build Singaporeans a better home, causing the extinction of many species that once used to live alongside with us. Now that you feel a tinge of guilt, you ought to do a part in protecting whatever nature spots we have left in the form of fragmented forestland, mangroves and swamps.

This remaining precious land is home to many species, some of which are unique only to Singapore. Going green is on one hand, like what we have been told, saving water, switching to fans instead of air conditioners, reducing the use of paper and plastic bags, and changing our light bulbs to energy saving ones, etc. On the other hand, it is also to do our part to protect and conserve the biodiversity that we have as a nation, because these plants and animals are born and bred here. They too, are “Singaporeans”.

There are many ways to care for our flora and fauna directly, like actively participating in mangrove and beach clean ups which are organized by environmental groups such as Toddycats, Nature Society, and the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. Not littering in parks and rivers will also help. As the future lies in the hands of the children today, education and sparking interest among the young in areas of biology and biodiversity will shape Singapore towards a future of being a nature loving society.

Last but definitely not the least, one can also provide resources and support to the organizations that help to preserve and conserve our environment. Singapore is very lucky to have agencies like the National Environment Agency and the National Parks Board that do their part in protecting the environment and conserving nature in Singapore.

Even with the current nature enthusiasts, there are still many more “positions” that are open to help protect Singapore and the Earth. These positions have almost no criteria except to be passionate in preserving Nature’s creation. I hope you would send your resume in for this position soon.