Coastal and Marine Resources
Singapore became a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1994 and the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1995. Singapore submitted its 4th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010. Singapore’s Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) supervises the development of aquaculture, including coastal and open-water aquaculture.
Due to the lack of land resources, Singapore’s biggest natural resource is fish. Despite this, industry and not fisheries is the basis of the Singaporean economy. Currently, about 70% to 80% of Singapore’s coastal areas have hard wall or stone embankments, which help protect against coastal erosion, while remaining coastal areas are beaches and mangroves. Singapore is looking at the need to protect its foreshore and coastal areas through measures such as strengthening existing revetments.
Development pressures, such as the damming up of rivers (to form reservoirs), the canalisation of streams or waterways, land reclamation and natural degradation such as coastal erosion have resulted in the reduction of mangrove forests, which in turn drive out species dependant on mangrove habitats for survival.Rising sea levels also threaten to inundate coastal areas and mangroves. In recent years, mangrove planting and enrichment planting efforts have been implemented to help recover mangroves at various sites. Land reclamation along Singapore’s coast has decreased the coral reef cover by about 60 per cent. Development pressures and coastal modifications continue to be the main threats to Singapore’s remaining inter-tidal habitats. Sedimentation and water clarity issues stemming from coastal works also threaten the marine biodiversity in Singapore’s waters. Despite having constant pressure from reclamation and coastal modifications, Singapore’s waters still support a good variety of marine biodiversity. Singapore’s seagrass species diversity is relatively high, featuring 12 out of the total 23 Indo-Pacific species. Several species of seagrass were thought to have gone extinct when the extensive seagrass meadows on the south eastern shore gave way to reclamation, but populations of these species have since been rediscovered on the offshore islands. Coral reefs are currently estimated to cover an area of not more than 30 square kilometers and are mainly found near the southern islands of Singapore. These reefs consist of fringing and patch types, with live coral cover ranging between 10 to 60 percent of existing reefs. Synchronized mass spawning of corals has been observed at Singapore reefs, indicating that the reefs are healthy and breeding.
