Beyond Buloh - connecting with Johor wetlands

A joint study is being conducted to develop a cross-border tourist attraction involving Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and three Johor Ramsar sites of Sungai Pulai, Pulau Kukup and Tanjong Piai. This was announced at the launch of the Sungei Buloh Master Plan yesterday.

Click on image for larger view.

Indeed, mangroves and shores of Johor and Singapore are actually one system, lying across the narrow Johor Strait.

At the launch of the Sungei Buloh Master Plan, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said in her speech:

Singapore is conducting a joint study with Johor to develop a cross-border tourist attraction involving Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and three Ramsar sites of Sungai Pulai, Pulau Kukup and Tanjong Piai at Iskandar Malaysia.

This joint study aims to provide a seamless travel experience for eco-tourists, and to enjoy the unique characteristics of each site. It also has the potential to move beyond eco-tourism to include collaboration on environmental and biodiversity conservation. We look forward to bringing this project to fruition with our Malaysian counterparts.

Full media articles about this proposal.

The Sungai Pulai estuary "possibly the richest marine bio-diversity spot in Malaysia" and gazetted a Wetland of International Importance in 2003. The area may be impacted by plans to develop a massive petrochemical installation there.

A team in Malaysia, Save our Seahorses, is working hard to raise awareness and to protect Sungai Pulai. They have done a survey to find dugongs at Pulai! And have recently come up with a guidebook for their shores, and all our familiar favourites are found here too.
Read more about their work in their report for 2008-2009.

More about Sungai Pulai and the other two Ramsar sites and the threats they face.

Hopefully, this plan will materialise into programmes that will allow more people to realise just how inter-connected the shores of Singapore and Johor are.

Just as we realised with the recent oil spill, what happens in the waters nearby will affect both Singapore and Johor. Similarly, activities on Singapore such as reclamation and dredging at Tuas, will also affect the wetlands of Johor across the Strait. And visa versa.

More links

• Dire Need To Protect Malaysia's Watersheds
  Melati Mohd Ariff, Bernama 20 Apr 09;
• Call to conserve seagrasses in Johor: Seagrass site of great value
  The Star 1 Jan 09;
• Seahorses in Johor under threat
  Ahmad Fairuz, The New Straits Times 8 Nov 08;
• Petrochemicals and seahorses
  New Straits Times 4 Jun 08;
  
• Do: Save our seahorses
  Debra Chong New Straits Times 30 Sep 06
• Marine Conservation Area proposed at Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor
  Bernama 9 Nov 07
• Sungai Pulai mangroves to be cleared; EIA not yet done
  An email from Save our Seahorses, 20 Nov 07
• Developer Allays Fears Over Project at Sungai Pulai Johor
  Nisha Sabanayagam, New Straits Times Red Orbit 3 Jun 08
• Petrochemicals and seahorses
  New Straits Times 4 Jun 08

Save our Seahorses is a non-profit organization committed to saving the seahorse and the Pulai River Estuary in Malaysia. SOS comprises a group of young scientists, students, public volunteers and local fishing communities.