Box Story: NParks’ Ecological Profiling Exercise – Employing a Science-Based Approach in Stewarding Singapore's Natural Capital

Over the decades, Singapore has safeguarded and enhanced its natural capital even as the city has undergone rapid development. Approximately 78 km² of green spaces have been set aside, including four gazetted nature reserves, 4.5 km² of nature parks and nature areas, and more than 391 km of park connectors. These green spaces provide habitats for biodiversity and opportunities for public recreation. In 2020, the Ministry of National Development (MND) announced that NParks would work with the community to transform Singapore into a City in Nature, with the objective of ensuring that residents continue to enjoy high-quality green spaces in the face of continued urbanisation and climate change. City in Nature is one of the five pillars under the Singapore Green Plan 2030, and includes a new planning and development paradigm that will conserve and extend Singapore’s natural capital island-wide. The emergence and improvement of new technologies present opportunities for biodiversity research and management in Singapore’s urban context.

In 2021, as part of Singapore’s LTPR, NParks embarked on an island-wide Ecological Profiling Exercise (EPE), developing an agent-based spatial model to better understand dispersal patterns and a least-resistance pathway model to predict wildlife movement. The EPE sought to develop a more comprehensive picture of Singapore’s island-wide terrestrial ecosystem, and understand the role of specific sites in providing refuge and ecological connectivity for native biodiversity. By carrying out the study in tandem with the LTPR, the aim was to better guide upstream planning as Singapore seeks to realise its City in Nature vision, where natural assets are safeguarded and sensitively integrated into the urban landscape in its land use plans.

The terrestrial EPE was carried out through the following steps, in consultation with a 14-member scientific Advisory Panel which comprised academics and expert members from the nature community.

NParks’ least-resistance pathway model for terrestrial habitats identifies surface structures between core habitats and assigns a numerical value to each structure, with a lower value being more conducive for animal movement (National Parks Board)

Step 1: Identification of core (source) habitat—building upon existing scientific data and research models, source habitats were identified based on habitat quality such as native species richness, ecological maturity, and rarity of species and habitat.

Step 2: Mapping of buffer (complementary) habitat—in order to ensure that core biodiversity areas would be buffered from edge effects as well as the impacts of abutting developments, complementary habitats were mapped out based on their proximity to core habitats.

Step 3: Identification of ecological corridors—an ecological profiling tool was developed using a least-resistance pathway model that projects the movement of six targeted fauna species. The result is a projection of the connectivity routes that wildlife is likely to take to move between core habitats.

LTPR map showing island-wide ecological connections as identified through NParks’ EPE (National Parks Board)

Using Science to Establish Nature Corridors

Through the EPE, NParks identified four new ecological corridors around the northern, northwestern and northeastern parts of Singapore. With the identification of new ecological corridors under the LTPR, the intention is to ensure that key biodiversity areas, as well as ecological connectivity, continue to be maintained when development is needed at existing green spaces within the corridors.

Khatib Nature Corridor is one example that was established after considering the ecological profile of the area. This new corridor allows ecological connectivity to be maintained and enhanced between the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and the Khatib Bongsu Nature Park. It comprises a series of green spaces that will serve as “stepping-stone habitats” and double up as recreational spaces for residents, thereby enhancing the overall quality of the living environment.

Conclusion

In the face of continued urbanisation and climate change, Singapore must find innovative ways to meet diverse land-use needs while ensuring the city remains liveable. The EPE is a continuous iterative process that supports NParks’ overarching research efforts to develop holistic and science-based strategies that inform upstream planning to achieve the City in Nature vision—where greenery and nature are harmoniously woven into the built environment to support biodiversity conservation, and so that residents can enjoy the benefits of a healthy and biodiverse urban ecosystem.