Sustainability of an Urban Forest: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore

Abstract

Singapore, an island republic, is situated south of the Malay Peninsula, between 1o09 N and 1o29 N and longitudes 103o38 E and 104o06 E. The main island and 60 small islets cover an area of about 710.2 sq km and support a humid tropical type of vegetation. At the time of the founding of modern Singapore in 1819, practically the whole of the main island was forest covered. Land clearance for development was done in massive scale during the colonial times. After the first forest reserves were set up in 1883, efforts to conserve parts of the forested areas have evolved. In 1951 legal protection was given to Bukit Timah, Pandan, Labrador and the water catchment areas. When Singapore became an independent state in1965, there were five nature reserves in all (Wee & Corlett, 1986). Since its independence in 1965, in an effort to develop its economy and infrastructure, Singapore has continued to clear forests to provide land for industries, residential use, military purposes, and infrastructure. With one of the highest population densities in the world, pressure on land is the driving force that has influenced the extents of the forests. But Singapore has managed to provide legal protection to retain some land as reserve forests. Till the 90’s nature conservation was a mere governmental task to maintain the forested areas of the island. About 4.5% of the total land area is given to forests and there are a total of four protected nature reserves in Singapore. Of these, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Water Catchment Reserve are the inland tropical rainforests, with some interior areas of primary rainforest. Protected under the Parks and Trees Act of 2005 for the protection of the native biodiversity, a total area of 3,043 ha is given to these two forests which were contiguous till 1995. Since then a six-lane highway cut through the heart of the forest, segregating Bukit Timah from its much bigger counterpart, into a 164 ha of some secondary and some primary forest. The actual closed forest covers only 75 ha of this. Though small, it is recorded as having 1000 species of flowering plants, 10,000 species of beetles, and many other organisms and does retain an authentic ‘feel’ of a primeval rainforest in the interiors. The forest is a mixture of lowland and coastal hill dipterocarp forest and some secondary forest, lying on the flanks of the highest (163.6m), mostly granitic hill in Singapore. It is only 12 kms away from the city centre and is surrounded by a fast-growing condominium belt of Singapore. Tagged as the country’s flagship nature reserve, Bukit Timah represents the constant struggle and compromise between increasing pressures of urbanization and the commitment towards nature conservation currently faced by all countries.