I was kindly invited to speak about natural regeneration on artificial shores and
my wacky idea of imagining a Singapore ‘Great Barrier Reef’!
It was also exciting to learn about the science of natural regeneration on our artificial shores from Dr Karenne Tun talk's "Build it right and they will come". I really learnt a lot about coastal restoration at the
Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation: Aquatic Invasives and Coastal Restoration.
I'm not a scientist and I don't dive, so I could only share what I've seen growing naturally on our artificial shores and structures.
And propose a wacky idea of doing future reclamations Among the
massive reclamation plans outlined in the
Land Use Plan following the Population White Paper is extensive reclamation at East Coast Park. Although this was not reflected in the Draft Master Plan 2013, perhaps it is not too early to consider planning the East Coast reclamation to allow and encourage natural regeneration?
Allow reefs to settle on the outside of the seawall. Encourage mangroves and seagrasses to grow on the inside of the seawall and shallow lagoons. Naturalise canals leading to the sea for a continuum of freshwater wetlands to mangroves. Imagine what's possible! Kilometres of reefs and natural marine ecosystems at our doorstep. Singapore's 'Great Barrier Reef' on the mainland, for all in the City to enjoy.
Natural regeneration relies on existing natural 'mother' sites to provide a continual source of marine life 'babies'. Let's study the natural regeneration already going on. Scale it up for a City in a Reef!
These thoughts are consolidated in this one-page pdf which is available for
free download.
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| Download this pdf here |
It was most exciting that Dr Karenne Tun shared more about what scientific studies have found out about these observations and ideas.
Here's my tweets of Dr Karenne's talk "Build it right and they will come - strategies to maintain Singapore's shallow-water coral reef diversity"
