Desirable Ecotourism Plan for Pulau Ubin in Singapore, towards sustainable development to support Singapore tourism industry

Abstract

Introduction. Over the past 20 years Singapore people’s awareness to the heritage and ecological conservation issues had become more intensive. The people had understood what they should left for the next generation just the biodiversity conservation, so it was a good idea to conserve it from now on. Then on 20th of Desember 2001 the Ministry of National Development had decided to defer the land reclamation works at Pulau Ubin and had retained the rustic island as the nature state. The promoting Pulau Ubin for ecotourism afterwards was the most important step. Some works must be planned in order to succeed the ecotourism, promoting conservation areas as well as of supporting the local communities. Objective. To discuss about desirable ecotourism plan for Pulau Ubin in Singapore. Methods. The research methodology was explorative descriptive qualitative. Data collection methods had used interviewing technique with purposive sampling, observation technique and documentation on various secondary data related. Results. Singapore had some natural resources in Pulau Ubin among others large granite crops, the diversity of habitats on the island which is from sandy and rocky shores to mudflats, from mangrove swamps to ponds. The older regenerated mangroves stand on pulau Ketam while the largest areas spread around Sungei Besar and Sungei Batu Kekek. There is a close relationship between local communities and their rustic island as well as with the wildlife. The first Malay inhabitants being mostly fisherman, lived right on the coasts while the first Chinese inhabitants being mostly quarry workers and shop keepers, lived further inland. Many plans had been arranged in which can be used as an input in order to arrange an ecotourism plan in Pulau Ubin.