环境课题近几年来备受关注，尤其在年轻群体中。16岁的瑞典环保主义者格蕾塔·通贝里（Greta Thunberg）是最典型的例子。本地也有不少年轻人参与环境组织，为大自然发声。杨志豪（26岁，摄影师）去年为了做一个关于人类和环境之间的冲突的毕业专题作业，发现自然环境教育组织Cicada Tree Eco-Place。
Cicada Tree Eco-Place将心系环境课题的新加坡人，不分种族或宗教，都聚在一起。（受访者提供）
Cicada Tree Eco-Place成立于2006年，旨在介绍本地生物的多样化，教育公众保护环境的重要性。该组织每年举办多项适合一家大小参与的活动，包括露营、大自然徒步等。受众年龄介于5至85岁。组织也会在官方网页发表和环境相关的文章。
修读传媒专业的杨志豪认为，新闻报道往往会平衡各方面的观点，“但大自然不能为自己发声，声音往往被忽略。相比保护环境，人类对大自然的伤害更是不成比例的。”杨志豪因为想继续为大自然发声，他完成毕业专题作业后，继续待在Cicada Tree Eco-Place。他目前负责拍照、设计组织网页，以及管理社交平台。
赵琴音（左）和杨志豪认为，环境课题能够将背景各异的国人聚在一起。
Cicada Tree Eco-Place目前有十多名活跃成员，包括创办人赵琴音（57岁）在内都不是全职员工。赵琴音认为，Cicada Tree Eco-Place将关注环境课题的人聚在一起。她说：“想和另四名朋友一起创立Cicada Tree Eco-Place是因为人类对环境已经造成非常严重的破坏。人们不能停留在知道地球已病危，必须通过实际行动，减少对环境的伤害。”
家庭主妇李慧丽（42岁）就于2019年带着儿子黄纬喆（12岁，学生）参与由Cicada Tree Eco-Place举办的一项到乌敏岛观鸟和种树的活动。李慧丽受访时说：“让孩子有机会接触大自然非常重要。过程中，孩子会意识到保护环境的重要性。”她举例说，儿子有次提醒她带塑料盒去打包食物，“他对环保的意识让我非常欣慰。”
At Cicada Tree Eco-Place, we believe that nature and culture are intertwined and people must play an active role in conserving the natural world.
Thank you for loving nature and please continue sharing this passion and knowledge with as many friends – together, we can make a difference!
Our team truly enjoyed viewing your creations, and we applaud all your efforts! After careful deliberation, we are happy to announce the winners:
Age 9-11yrs Category
Top 3 winners will receive a one-year free family membership at Nature Society (Singapore) worth $75 and a book prize. We will get in touch shortly on how you will receive your prize!
Raffles Banded Langur by Han Jia Qian, 11, Keming Primary School “I chose this vulnerable animal as it is rare and unique to Singapore. Their homes were destroyed to make space for houses and MRTs. We should build more rope bridges to help them cross our roads. “ Sunda Slow Loris by Juliette Eve Phang, 11, Hong Wen School “I hope this heartwarming image will appeal to people and let them know that anyone and everyone can play a part in saving this beautiful animal so it does not join the list of extinct animals and disappear forever.”Red Giant Flying Squirrel and White-Bellied Woodpecker by Aryn Tan, 11, Henry Park Primary School “I drew an excavator cutting down trees to show how their homes are being destroyed by human beings.”
Age 6-8yrs Category
Top 3 winners will receive a $50 book voucher and a book prize. We will get in touch shortly on how you will receive your prize!
Singapore Durian, Singapore Kopsia, Kerinting , Bulbophylium by Aashvi Muraka, 6, Montessori for Children “Aashvi often hugs trees, saying they are lonely as they stand alone throughout the night and day. We wanted to emphasise that without plants, there is no life and without life there is no ‘us’.”White-Bellied Woodpecker by Amaira Sharma, 8, Invictus International School “This woodpecker pecks on dead trees. I think it is very clever as it should be home to many kinds of tasty delicious bugs. Every living thing deserves a chance no matter how big or small it is.”Singapore Dendrobium, Monitor Lizard Fern, Singapore Freshwater Crab, Singapore Black Caecilian, White-Bellied Woodpecker, Raffles Banded Langur by Jayna Tan Zi Ning, 8 CHIJ Toa Payoh Primary School “We need to protect endangered animals and plants because it is important for humans. A well-balanced ecosystem purifies the environment, giving us clean air to breathe, a healthy water system to support diverse marine life and arable land for agricultural production. When ecosystems fail, our own health is at risk.”
Commendable
To thank you for participating and encourage more young eco-warriors, these commendable entries will be awarded a book prize as well. We will get in touch shortly on how you will receive your prize!
Keep up the good work and continue learning about the natural world and Singapore’s precious native wildlife!
View the entries below (click to enlarge):
Anthony Oshige, 9, Saint Anthony’s Primary School
Jane Tan, 10, Qifa Primary School
Meranda Chee, 9,
Haig Girls School
Ruyah Ji Lin’en, 9, CHIJ Our Queen of Peace
River Sim Jhan Yi, 10, Punggol Cove Primary School
Binnie Chan, 10, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School
Today is World Sea Turtle Day (16 June 2020). As we celebrate Sea Turtles, we remember the magical and fortuitous event which took place at East Coast beach of Singapore just weeks ago on World Turtle Day (23 May 2020). A critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) came ashore to nest!
The tapered head and beak-like jaw of the critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) are adaptations for it to forage in coral reefs to feed on sponges. Tragically, most sea turtles will ingest plastic in some form during their lifetime. We must keep our oceans and sea shores free of marine litter! PHOTO: Kevin Li (IG: @lkevyn)
Nesting in Broad Daylight
To the amazement of the few out exercising at East Coast Park beach during the COVID-19 lockdown, this Hawksbill Sea Turtle dug into the sand and laid her eggs in broad daylight before safely heading back to sea.
The closed beaches, off-limits to humans for their own good, meant more space, peace and quiet for our native wildlife to do their thing.
Sea turtles migrate long distances between feeding grounds and hatching beaches. Hatchlings will return to their natal beaches to lay eggs. However, sea turtles have to compete with humans to find suitable undisturbed beaches to nest on. In Singapore, excessive bright lighting along our beaches discourage nesting and cause hatchlings to wander inland to die. PHOTO: Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) by Kevin Li (IG: @lkevyn)
Flying Foxes Galore
Not long after, another rare phenomenon took place serendipitously on World Environment Day (5 June 2020) – a large colony of about three hundred Flying Foxes (Pteropus sp.) flew into the rainforest of our Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
Wow! Are those birds? Are they drones? Nope, just ‘foxes’ that fly! – Flying Fox (Pteropus sp.). PHOTO: Teresa Teo Guttensohn
Biggest Bats
With faces that resemble foxes and with a wingspan of about one metre, they are among the biggest bats in the world.
These Flying Foxes (Pteropus sp.) are members of a large colony which has come to roost in a tall tree in the rainforest on the fringe of Seletar Reservoir Park. As in the recent case of the Openbill Storks who had migrated to Singapore, it is likely that these mega-bats had been forced to leave their original home site in a neighbouring country due to disturbance of the colony, destruction of their habitat, or a lack of food sources. Unfortunately, it is currently not the fruiting or flowering season here in Singapore’s forests, which will make foraging difficult for these amazing flying mammals. PHOTO: Courtesy of Sabrina Jabbar, who first sighted them on 5 June 2020.
Mega-bats Under Threat
Flying Foxes are found in parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and some oceanic islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They can fly long distances to forage for food. In Singapore, resident colonies of the native Large Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus) have long been extirpated. Many species of Flying Foxes are threatened by hunting, habitat loss and deforestation.
An unprecedented wild sighting in Singapore! A large colony of about 300 Flying Foxes (Pteropus sp.) circling above their tree top roost in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. GIF: Teresa Teo Guttensohn
Time to Turn the Tide for Nature
As we witness more of such phenomenon, and with one million species believed to be facing extinction, will our children and our children’s children be able to see nature’s wonders as we now still have the privilege to enjoy?
If we all act decisively now, there is still time to turn the tide for Nature and ourselves!
“The food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable, all come from nature. Yet, these are exceptional times in which nature is sending us a message: To care for ourselves, we must care for nature.
It is time to wake up. To take notice. To raise our voices. It’s time to build back better for People and Planet. This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.”
THE UNITED Nations
The endangered Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) has serrated jaws adapted for feeding on sea grasses and algae. As they forage, they maintain the health of sea grass beds which provide nursery grounds for marine life, and which are the only feeding grounds of the endangered Dugong (Dugong dugon). Sea grasses were once common here up to the 1960s, with extensive meadows found off the eastern coast of Singapore and its offshore islands. The most damaging impact to sea grasses is total destruction due to land reclamation. We can help to conserve sea grass by not polluting or stepping on seagrass! PHOTO: Kevin Li (IG: @lkevyn)
Turtle Hatchery
To help save Singapore’s population of sea turtles, a protected turtle hatchery located in Sisters’ Islands Marine Park was launched in September 2018.
What can you do? To contribute to turtle conservation, volunteer with the ‘Biodiversity Beach Patrol’ by NParks to patrol beaches at night during the nesting season.
A glimmer of hope for the pangolin as authorities in mainland China make a momentous decision
The critically endangered Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica) is native to Singapore. PHOTO: Nicholas Yeo
China has delisted pangolin scales from an official list of ingredients used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), raising the level of protection of the critically endangered mammal.
Cicada Tree Eco-Place has been rallying to Save the Pangolin since 2010. Cicada Tree Eco-Place’s very first fundraiser was a bold initiative to raise funds for a dedicated researcher to work with TRAFFIC on the illegal trade in pangolin.
Reports indicated that the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia aims to curb use of pangolin scales, with authorities threatening imprisonment of up to 10 years for the hunting, killing and smuggling of the animals.
There are eight species of pangolins and all are under threat due to large-scale illegal hunting across Asia and Africa.
At least a million have been killed and sold over the past decade and half, according to CITES. The massive bloodbath was documented in a National Geographic report.
Conservationists have been fighting for decades to protect the scaly mammal, and momentum has also been building within China – activists there recently released a lone pangolin seized from poachers back into the wild, vowing that more would be done.
Chinese authorities have now moved to grant Class 1 Protections to three species, which include the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata).
“This is a good start … but this is not good enough. We will release a lot more soon.”
Dr Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Fund
Global wildlife regulator Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) – of which China is a party – has banned international commercial trade of pangolin in a bid to protect the animal.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the native Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), as critically endangered.
Their research — fast-tracked into publication in March to aid epidemiological research and the search for a vaccine or cure — identified cousins of COVID-19 or “SARS-CoV-2-relatedcoronaviruses in Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica) seized in anti-smuggling operations in southern China”.
The researchers conclude: “pangolins should be considered as possible hosts in the emergence of novel coronaviruses and should be removed from wet markets to prevent zoonotic transmission“.
