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DOWNLOAD GARDEN CITY Singapore's progress towards a City in Nature
is driven in large part by the community – the volunteers, residents and partners
who have come together as stewards of our green environment.
Building a Community of Nature Lovers
Residents have more opportunities to partner NParks even more closely to co-create and develop parks. In January 2020, some 9 ha in the future Pasir Panjang Park was set aside for stakeholders to reimagine the park-going experience. This means the community will work hand-in-hand with NParks in the park's design, development and management, resulting in Singaporeans having a bigger stake in shaping our homes.
More than 50 parks over the next five years will be included in this effort with the engagement process tailored to each location, according to the park's history and the demographics of its surrounding residents. This is an extension of the existing NParks Friends of the Parks initiative and part of the Singapore Together movement.
The contributions of the Friends of the Parks communities continue to make a difference in the greening of our island. For instance, members of the Friends of TreesSg community worked with United World College of South East Asia to plant trees in Jurong Lake Gardens in June while members of the Friends of Park Connector Network community helped to green up the bare spaces along park connectors running underneath MRT viaducts.
In addition, the Friends of Marine Park community has been co-developing activities its members will help curate on St John's Island. These will include cultural, experiential and recreational programmes as well as research and experiments to study the surrounding marine life.
To date, NParks has some 48,000 volunteers who assist in a wide range of activities including conducting guided walks, conservation programmes and biodiversity surveys. For example, in August, volunteers responded to a call to scour Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for the fruits of Dipterocarps. Many of the Dipterocarps from the Shorea, Hopea and Dipterocarpus genera form the emergent layer of our forests. A prolonged dry spell earlier in 2019 had triggered a mass fruiting and the seeds collected by volunteers were subsequently prepared for propagation at the nursery.
The artistic capabilities of volunteers were also activated. In October, several volunteers gathered at HortPark to paint logs and enhance the visitor experience at the Bee Trail there. In another hands-on activity led by volunteers, members of the mountain biking community came together to fix sections of the Bukit Timah mountain bike trail affected by erosion. Cycling enthusiasts including those from the Friends of Park Connector Network community also participated in islandwide rides as part of efforts to encourage residents to use the Park Connector Network in a responsible and safe manner.
The community has also been actively involved in conserving Singapore's natural heritage. In 2019, 4,900 citizen scientists participated in Community in Nature (CIN) biodiversity surveys including Bioblitz, Garden Bird Watch, Butterfly Watch, Dragonfly Watch and Heron Watch. Meanwhile, more than 115 volunteers also took part in Intertidal Watch, to help document and monitor the biodiversity of intertidal habitats along Singapore's coast.
Over the last few years, members of the business community have been increasingly working with NParks to green up Singapore. In October, JTC Corporation and NParks announced plans to intensify the greenery on Jurong Island, including the planting of 30,000 trees over three years. The additional greening of industrial estates will help cool temperatures, mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect, as well as enhance the site's attractiveness for business and talent.
Meanwhile up north in Seletar Aerospace Park, visitors can enjoy the first wetlands park in an industrial estate. Hampstead Wetlands Park was jointly developed by JTC Corporation and NParks, with a naturalistic habitat created from an existing pond through sensitive landscaping and the planting of many native tree species. This habitat enhancement project is part of the first community greening programme for an industrial estate.
Eager to learn about conservation efforts? NParks is enhancing outreach and community-led initiatives to train and empower youth to exercise stewardship and share their knowledge with peers and the wider population.
Then Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong joins participants of an engagement activity, where they can contribute ideas and help design part of the future Pasir Panjang Park.
Participating in an intertidal watch to record creatures found in the intertidal zones is a great way for the community to be actively involved in conserving and studying our marine life.
Community Takes the Lead in Conservation Efforts
Whether you are a heritage buff or a nature lover, events like Remembering Rail Corridor attract a healthy number of participants, reflecting the various stakeholders within the community who work together in our conservation and greening efforts.
Residents can look forward to more recreational spaces along the Rail Corridor (Central). On-going works such as trail improvement, habitat enhancement and restoration to infrastructure will create a lively community node for all to enjoy when ready.
Several stretches of the southern half of the Rail Corridor have been opened with the Friends of Rail Corridor community, part of NParks' Friends of the Parks initiative, leading the way in activating these spaces through events and community involvement. For example, nearby residents and students from schools in its vicinity gathered for the Remembering Rail Corridor event held at the Bukit Timah Railway Station. They took part in curated walks to learn about nature photography, as well as the birds and heritage of this unique green space.
The community is also leading the way in the development of the future Rifle Range Nature Park. Organisations as well as schools and neighbourhood groups such as Keppel Corporation, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and volunteers from Bukit Timah Community Club and Friends of Bukit Timah Forest community came together over the past 12 months to remove Dioscorea sansibarensis, an invasive climber that smothers other plants, from the nature park. Such activities help secondary forests to regenerate.
Similarly, the Friends of Chestnut Nature Park community worked with students from the National University of Singapore to plant 100 trees and taught enthusiastic residents in the neighbourhood how to conduct guided tours to educate even more people about the flora and fauna in the park.
Celebrating Biodiversity
A series of events and activities was organised during Biodiversity Week for the community and schools to commemorate the International Day of Biological Diversity, observed globally on 22 May. Kickstarting the week was a Nationwide BioBlitz cum Habitat Enhancement programme held in Kent Ridge Park, where surveys of birds, bees and butterflies were conducted. Volunteers also led the way in planting some 100 trees in various locations such as Chestnut Nature Park and Coney Island Park.
This NParks Community in Nature (CIN) initiative drew 650 participants from schools and corporate groups. A total of 444 species was recorded in 22 sites and more than 90 species of plants were planted across 13 sites.
Biodiversity Week for Schools was celebrated by more than 38,000 students from over 360 schools, who participated in a series of fun and educational activities. These culminated in the 8th Festival of Biodiversity held on 25 and 26 May 2019 at HDB Toa Payoh Hub. It attracted more than 25,000 participants eager to learn about conservation efforts and to celebrate Singapore's natural heritage.
On the international front, NParks organised the ASEAN-India Workshop on Urban Biodiversity and Application of the City Biodiversity Index from 24 to 26 September 2019. Attended by participants from ASEAN countries and Indian cities, this workshop highlighted the importance and value of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services and was a platform for participants to share and learn from each other. It was also a means for NParks to share information about the City Biodiversity Index as a monitoring tool and encourage participants to apply it when evaluating their biodiversity conservation efforts.
NParks also hosted the 2nd Biophilic Cities Network Summit, organised by the Biophilic Cities Network, from 17 to 19 October 2019. Participants representing some 26 cities and organisations discussed biophilic solutions and their practical applications in cities, and visited some of our parks and nature areas to learn firsthand from staff there. Prior to this, participants attended a workshop to discuss the application of the Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity in light of emerging trends in urban biodiversity conservation.
Watch video to view highlights of the Biodiversity Week for Schools.
Impacting the Younger Generation
The young have an innate interest in the natural world, such as this little boy who spots a caterpillar at the NParks booth at the Early Childhood Conference. Throughout the year, we use interactive plays, activity books and field trips to continually pique children's curiosity about the plants and animals around them.
Watch video to learn more about the Every Child a Seed programme.
NParks continued its collaboration with My First Skool, helping to set up more than 70 community gardens in its centres and conducting garden design workshops for over 150 of its educators during the year in review. This complements the "Every Child a Seed" programme that provides planting kits with seeds of edible plants for about 40,000 primary school children yearly.
Beyond gardening, over 19,000 children from 271 pre-schools learnt about marine biodiversity through a video and interactive activity book that follows a dugong in search of its octopus friend, under the 2019 NParks CIN Biodiversity Week for Schools programme.
To reach out to pre-school educators and parents, NParks promoted the value of outdoor learning at the annual Early Childhood Conference which attracted over 14,000 visitors over two days in September.
NParks also reinforced the importance of responsible pet ownership and civic-minded behaviours through talks and show-and-tell sessions that reached out to about 1,500 pre-schoolers for the year in review. Two new plays – "Lost and Found" and "We Beelong Together" – were staged for over 700 pre- and primary school students from January to March 2020. New paper craft activities were also created for about 40,000 Primary 4 students to encourage hands-on play whilst teaching them about pet-care and animal ethology.
Under the CIN Citizen Science school programme, 405 schools and 58,000 students were mobilised for biodiversity outreach, with 803 students trained to be CIN Student Ambassadors, championing the conservation message among their peers.
NParks also engaged young adults through a second run of the Biodiversity Friends Forum Biodiversity Challenge for youth which was held from February to June 2019. Participants attended field trips and spearheaded conservation-related activities to promote coexistence with wildlife and a deeper appreciation for Singapore's biodiversity.
Horticulture Show Makes Its Debut
Visitors were welcomed into a world of aquascapes and marveled at impressive displays of plants such as aroids, begonias, bromeliads and succulents in a horticulture competition. These were just some of the highlights of the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) Horticulture Show held at Jurong Lake Gardens from 27 April to 5 May 2019.
To generate greater interest in skyrise greenery, the inaugural Vertical Greenery Competition was held in conjunction with the show.
Selected finalists from the landscape industry re-imagined vertical greenery installations in our city landscape, demonstrating again that anyone can incorporate greenery into their lives.
This biennial show, an offshoot of the popular SGF, is a showcase for tropical horticulture excellence and platform for local industry partners, students and the community to display their talent and creativity.
Extending our Online Reach
Have you "liked" the AnimalBuzzSG Facebook page yet? This platform provides useful care tips to busy pet owners who can also pose petrelated questions to our veterinarians and animal behaviourists.
NParks expanded its online presence this past year, launching the NParks Buzz Telegram channel in end-2019. It attracted about 2,000 subscribers in four months. This extends our reach to the
e-community, where we now have some 123,010, 38,150 and 37,500 fans and followers on the NParks Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts respectively.
To connect with even more people, NParks started AnimalBuzzSG on Facebook to build an active animal-loving community and to raise awareness on animal ethology. Fans of this new group can also pose questions and receive advice on pet-related matters from NParks' veterinarians.
Something for Everyone
Whether you are a foodie, pet owner or adventure seeker, everyone can enjoy our green spaces. There were more than 3,300 events held this past year, attracting close to 1 million visitors in total.
The ever-popular NParks Concert Series in the Parks: Rockestra® was held on three occasions and attended by more than 15,000 music fans. It was a highlight of the Parks Festival which was held on 26 and 27 October at Esplanade Park and Empress Lawn. Close to 20,000 visitors to the Festival were treated to fun activities and good food set among verdant greenery in the heart of the city.
Heartlanders had the chance to enjoy green and sustainability-related activities at the Clean and Green Singapore Carnival held in Jurong in November 2019.
Grassroots leaders planted Small-leaved Nutmeg (Knema globularia) trees, an important local economic crop in Singapore's past, as part of the festivities. This annual event is organised by 11 government agencies and more than 20 non-governmental organisations, community partners and schools.
In another community activity, residents from Queenstown gathered in August to learn about the Heritage Trees in their neighbourhood.
Heritage buffs also had the chance to visit three scenic Heritage Roads – South Buona Vista Road, Mount Pleasant Road and Mandai Road – that are lined by majestic Heritage Trees. Organised by NParks, such learning journeys help reveal the stories of such trees to residents.
The NParks Concert Series in the Park: Rockestra® is a platform for local artistes to showcase their talents as well as an opportunity for the community to gather and enjoy time in our green spaces.
Community Gardening Takes Root
Watch video to start on your gardening journey by growing baby greens in a box.
Community gardening has truly taken root in the hearts of residents. Some 96 new outdoor and 41 indoor gardens were established in the past year, bringing the total number of Community in Bloom (CIB) gardens to more than 1,500 across Singapore.
Demand for the allotment gardening scheme continues to sprout. There are now more than 1,000 allotment gardening plots across 11 parks. Meanwhile, Evergreen Garden, the first community allotment garden, was opened in Jurong Spring constituency in December 2019, enabling residents to tend to their vegetables literally at their doorstep.
As part of the Edible Horticulture Masterplan, CIB organised a series of workshops on edibles growing for more than 1,000 allotment and community gardeners. To meet the interest in this area, NParks collaborated with the Housing & Development Board to launch more plots including up to nine land parcels of 1,000 sqm each earmarked as allotment gardens in Tengah New Town.
A highlight for gardeners was the Community Garden Festival, with its third edition held at Jurong Lake Gardens in November 2019.
Themed Gardening through the Years, the three-day festival featured an outdoor centrepiece created by over 100 CIB gardeners and ambassadors while some 900 participants of the Community Garden Edibles Competition displayed their amazing vegetables and fruits, wowing close to 80,000 visitors.
Championing Animal Welfare with Stakeholders
Working with stakeholders like veterinarians, animal welfare groups and pet businesses, the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) organised the inaugural Pets' Day Out on 17 August 2019. Visitors brought their pets for health checks conducted by NParks' veterinarians and private veterinarian volunteers while children learnt how to be responsible pet owners through role-play, games and activities at the Petzmania programme. This event served to bring the pet community together and is a regular platform for shelter animals to be rehomed.
Project ADORE (ADOption and REhoming of dogs) is another partnership where AVS has been working with animal welfare groups, with the purpose of rehoming medium-sized local mixed-breed dogs into HDB flats. This past March, this initiative was expanded to include larger dogs, allowing about 20 percent more local mixed-breed dogs to find homes in HDB flats. The expansion also allows more mixed-breed dogs from the Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage programme to be rehomed.
Since December 2019, NParks has been managing The Animal Lodge, a facility for animal welfare groups, independent shelters and pet farms.
Enhancements such as clearer navigation signs and the planting of shady trees have improved the facility's physical surroundings. The service and conservancy charges for tenants have also been reduced, benefitting the animal welfare groups and shelters housed in the compound. More development works are planned for 2020 and 2021.
And with more animals in our communities, pet owners need more areas to bring them out for exercise. There are now 13 dog runs across our island, including two that were opened this past year. With plans to add another six more dog runs over the next few years, both animals and their owners will have even more opportunities to enjoy our green spaces.
Watch video to see what happens when some people try dog-sitting for the first time.
Listening to the Pet Community
AVS has been conducting focus group discussions and consultation with members of the pet sector. Issues raised and feedback provided will help shape policies that impact owners and animals.
To gather feedback to further strengthen animal health and welfare standards, NParks engaged the public as well as stakeholders in the pet sector, including breeders, veterinarians, academia and animal welfare groups, over four months starting in August 2019.
More than 5,200 responses were received through five focus group discussions and an online public consultation, with a majority saying that a robust animal traceability system was necessary. This is critical for AVS to react quickly to protect public and animal health in the event of a disease outbreak, particularly one that can be transmitted to humans from animals.
There was also agreement that improvements and higher standards were needed among pet breeders and boarders as well as in the veterinary industry. Currently, AVS is responsible for the regulation of more than 450 veterinarians and nearly 100 licensed veterinary centres in Singapore. With a 10 percent increase in pet ownership over the last three years, veterinarians now have an even greater role in managing pet health and welfare.
The general public had the opportunity to have their voices heard as part of a public consultation conducted from October to December 2019. Together, such feedback will be used to shape pet-related policies.
