Chained to Our Roots

So today I went for my first public protest at Hong Lim Park even though it was a pretty quiet one.
The event is called Chained to Our Roots, its an event aimed to raise awareness about the Cross Island Line cutting through CCNR.

CCNR is a nature reserve that holds a small part of whatever's left of Singapore's primary forest. Its important because it holds alot of biodiversity and endemic (species that are only found in a particular area and no where else). Losing a habitat where endemic species are found means that the species will disappear from the face of Earth.

There are a few reasons as to why I feel pretty strongly about this issue.

1. CCNR is a nature reserve and being a nature reserve, its suppose to have the highest protection status that any green space that Singapore law offers.

According to the National Parks Act, 

No person shall carry out any activity within any national park or nature reserve which he knows or ought reasonably to know causes or may cause alteration, damage or destruction to any property, tree or plant within the national park or nature reserve.

And failure to comply will result in,

fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of $500 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.

If a nature reserve that has been preserved for so many years has to make way for Cross Island MRT Line, what does it say of the protection status of the other 'nature reserves' in Singapore? If even nature reserves can be destroyed, what about other areas that are simply 'protected'? What about places like Mandai mangrove?

2. CCNR is one of the last remaining primary forest patches in Singapore and holds alot of significance.

Endemic species, historical significance, home to so many animals and plants. What more can I say? People might argue that Singaporeans are not allowed to enter most parts of CCNR so they are not really attached to it. But places like Macrithchie and Pierce Reservoir will be affected if CCNR is damaged. These are places where city dwellers go to to unwind. I'm sure there are many other side effects that we can't even think of if CCNR is damaged. Air quality, watershed problems, soil erosion.

3. CCNR is an intrinsic ecosystem, if any damage is done to it, it will most probably be irreversible.

You don't even have to cut down trees to damage the delicate ecosystem. Everything is intrisically linked. Disturbing the soil will result in erosion, loss of nutrients, disturbance in watershed, water storage and what not. The list really goes on and on. And its not as simple as just planting trees back to help the ecosystem to recover. Its so so complicated. Why disturb the place, only to spend more money trying to recover it? Chances are that recovery isnt going to work. That much I have learnt being a biology student.

4. I really don't want/need another lousy MRT at the expense of CCNR.

MRTs drive me mad. Trains have been moving like snails and breakdowns are all too common. Instead of pumping money into a new line, why not spend it on improving on what we already have? I think our public transport is pretty good and I don't need any more additions to it. I just want them to make the existing lines better. Its a pretty high opportunity cost if we are gonna trade CCNR for lousy MRT lines. I'm not saying that MRT lines are lousy, just that more can be done on maintainence.

The list goes on.

Whatever it is, I learnt a few things today.

My aim is similar to that of the protestors but I don't really agree with how 'radical' they are. Sometimes, I feel that the more radical they are, the more public gets turned off. They will just dismiss us as extremists who want to save the forest at all costs and won't really take us seriously. Which means they might not even want to hear what we have to say. Maybe its just me being judgemental.
A better way can be to hold outreach events? Like do what the toddycats do, guiding and delivering messages through sessions. Or like how Siva conduct his talks, make people aware before telling them what is happening.

Its also rather depressing given the number of people that turned up for the event. You mean only these handfull of people care about our nature reserve? Even though I don't really agree with how they were raising awareness, I was glad that I was there to support them and to let them know that they are not alone in this battle. I hope we really brought cheer to them today.

It was a good experience overall I guess. Maybe I will go for these events more often now. Because I think people like us need the moral support, to know that we are not alone in this battle to save the wild green spaces of Singapore. Ultimately, we want the best for out biodiversity so even if the way we work towards it is different, we should still support each other.

Thanks TK, for asking me along. I probably won't have had the discipline to go all the way down if I were to have gone alone. I always wanted to have a group of buddies that I can attend stuff like these with:) I don't have to worry about being quiet because I know that we are that sort of people. Its kinda like acceptance in a way I guess.








 If you would like to join us in saving CCNR, do sign the online petition:)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1huPW-Qzb7FXSX9fu8RqsSdZVYAcPK9N50NsvfkZcpY8/viewform