SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) on Tuesday (Dec 10) launched an initiative, dubbed as Singapore’s “most extensive coral restoration effort”, to plant 100,000 corals.
Known as the 100k Corals Initiative, the aim is to plant the corals in Singapore’s waters over the next 10 years and beyond.
The plan was first announced by Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee during the 5th Asia-Pacific Coral Reef Symposium last year.
NParks then said that this will scale up existing coral restoration efforts to substantially improve the resilience of coral communities and reefs.
As part of the initiative, a new coral culture facility will also be established at the Marine Park Outreach and Education Centre on St John’s Island, NParks said in a media release on Tuesday.
It is targeted to be fully operational and open to the public in the second quarter of 2025.
At the facility, corals will first be cultivated by coral restoration experts and researchers from the National University of Singapore at the St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory.
They will then be transplanted into the marine environment to restore degraded reefs or establish new communities.
Launching the initiative at St John’s Island on Tuesday, Mr Lee said that climate change and human action pose a significant threat to Singapore’s coral reefs.
Coral bleaching is also happening “a lot more frequently”, he said, pointing to the fourth global coral bleaching event, which is the second in the last decade.
The minister said that Singapore has taken steps to conserve its coral reefs such as monitoring them for signs of coral bleaching.
He also pointed to the enhanced Sisters’ Islands Marine Park, which has a coral habitat and research site, as well as reef enhancement units to promote coral growth.
“While much has been done to monitor and restore our corals, we can do much more to ensure the long-term survival of our reefs,” he added.
Also in attendance at the launch was English zoologist Jane Goodall, who is known for her long-term research on chimpanzees. Dr Goodall shared on marine conservation during the event.
