I had the privilege of having a Nature Park Walk with a National Park Director of Wildlife, Dr Adrian Loo at Thomson Nature Park.
It was basically a personal guided tour led by him, he gave me an overview of Singapore’s green area history, an introduction to the native and invasive tree species the history of Thomson Nature Park, the future of what is in store for Singapore, his view on slow living with Biophilia and sprinkled with fun facts of the flora and fauna.
He even brought his trusty binoculars for some bird spotting. As he handed it to me so that I can experience it for myself, he mentioned that he used to bring his camera out to spot the birds. He slowly swapped to binoculars as not only was it lighter, but it also allow him to be focused on the behaviour of the birds instead of always looking for the “money shot”. He said that when he brings a camera, it felt like he was on a job of capturing photos, increasing the level of expectations which can hinder the true experience of slowing down and enjoying nature.
As we were walking down the newly created jogging path next to the one-way road, he mentioned how before the Thomson Park officially listed as a “Nature Park”, the jogging path we were on used to be the other half of the two-way road. To encourage more visitors, the road nearer to the park was converted to a walking path which leads to one of the main entrances.
Money does grow on trees....
Before entering, Dr Adrian stopped a few times to showcase the different tree species. As he got his PhD on botany, his knowledge on this walk was invaluable. One of the notable species that was mentioned was the Palm Oil Tree, Elaeis guineensis. It became one of the most destructive species in Singapore not because its not native or it grows fast, but it is because of how lucrative it is. “... one branch of fruits can give you 50 USD, and one tree has around 5 to 8 branches when it matures. Once cut, the branches will grow in a year’s time.” This incentives farmers to cut down native trees to plant this African one.
This was one of the many reasons why the native forest has shrunk up to 95% of its land area before the government led by the late Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, decided to reclaim back the native green spaces to what it is today.
In addition to the endangerment of native tree species, the local fauna in the ecosystem will get negatively affected too. The wild boar population exploded when Palm Tree plantations grew. This was because the fruit was so saturated in fats and oils, that it satiated the boars really fast, giving more time and energy to make more babies. “Animals only do three things: Eat, sleep and reproduce. Once they have enough food and shelter, they will start to reproduce. And the palm fruit will give them too much food will allow them to reproduce really fast”
He further elaborated why it is so dangerous when citizens feed the boars. They will get easily domesticated and will associate humans with food, when they are not scared of humans, they will come close and if the humans don't give them food, the boars might get angry and attack them. Which indeed has happened multiple times. This is why NParks has implemented a law where they will fine animal feeding no matter the location.
Singapore is currently quite healthy in terms of the amount of mature green spaces as the government has enough Nature Parks and Nature Reserves. Dr Adrian mentioned how the ground that we were on was actually slated to be a private residential area 10, 15 years ago. Urban planning in Singapore comes in 10 years cycle and NParks managed to convince the government to protect this land as it was an important habitat for many different fauna species such as the Pangolin, Porcupines and the Banded Langur. During that time, there were only 6 Langurs left in Singapore, but with this Nature Park, its number became around 20 in the present.
Nature Parks are different from Nature Reserves as the parks encourage people to come to visit with easily accessible trails that are more beginner-friendly. In the Thomson Nature Park, the designers made use of the old Kampung routes to create such trails so the land was not further impacted.
Nature Parks serve two purposes: the first is to allow the citizens to experience nature in the rawest form and the second is to deter citizens from exploring the more sensitive and pristine Nature Reserves as they might litter or disturb the habitats of many species.
The Thomson Nature Park used to house villages and old kampungs, so as mentioned earlier, NParks designed the park in a way that utilises the already existing infrastructure such as the paths and avoids removing the old structures such as the kampung houses and wells.
For the opening of the park, NParks has also invited the residents of these kampungs as the place can harbour a lot of memories for them.
The old village that was living here before it turned into a park. A lot of entrepreneurs came about this village according to Dr Adrian, one of them is the founder of the Han’s Restaurant chain and also a philanthropist who sells motorcycles and was related to Dr Adrian’s wife.
There are a few indicators of a healthy forest. One of them is natural flowing water streams, as they feed many flora and fauna. A way to spot a healthy stream how clear the water is and if there are dragonflies near.
Dr Adrian’s favourite time to have walked in such Nature Parks and Reserves is in the afternoon as there will be lesser people. He also likes the silhouette and shadows of the leaves getting casted from the trees due to the harsher and top-down light from the afternoon sun.
The Million Trees movement has made its way onto the built urban environment such as the roadside and it has helped with some endangered native tree species as mentioned in his interview at the NLB exhibition
Interview with Dr Adrian Loo (NLB)
The importance of Nature parks as it puts less human pressure on the native forest as they become buffers from the urbanisation and human presence
They are leverages from being slated for development
"When you get to know something so intimately, you naturally want to protect"
The one million tree movement helped with the ease of livibility in Singapore. One of the most impt one is the heat (tropical and climate change)and how trees can cool down though transpiration
Our waywards streets become conservation parks as it has become new habitats for the endangered species (Kopsia Singapurasis had only 10-20 individuals left. And they were grafted and proporgated ard)
Looking towards the future generation when we plant trees as how LKY started the Garden City movement which has come to pass
The roadside trees can help connect reserves and parks together, allowing the fauna to move around and diversify.
On the surface, a forest or park may look boring to the average cosmopolitan as one cannot do much as compared to a bustling shopping district. That can be true to a certain extent as that is one of the primary purposes of a park: to have agenda-less unfiltered access back to Biophilia. However, a forest is nothing but simple and boring. Once one enters a forest from the outside fast-paced world and observes the inner workings of its ecosystem, it is frighteningly complicated. The relationships that the flora and fauna have are amazing and complex. Some with symbiotic relationships and some species fight each other for survival. There is another layer of complexity when you introduce exotic or invasive species on top of the native ones. These are all extremely fascinating and I feel that many Singaporeans are missing out and desperately need this vacation from our fast-paced rat race of study and work to bask ourselves and be in the moment with nature.
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