Photo: ‘Mangrove jungle stock photo’, iStock/Joshelerry

NUS researchers are pioneering innovative solutions for sustainability in light of Singapore’s Green Plan 2030. In Season 1 Episode 4 of Channel NewsAsia’s Innovating for the Future documentary series titled Environment, Associate Professor Daniel Friess (NUS Geography) discusses the value of mangrove forests in Singapore and Asia.

Millions of people in the tropics rely on mangroves every day for their sustenance, building needs, and livelihoods. Moreover, mangroves can help mitigate climate change by acting as a source of blue carbon. They absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store them in their trees and soil, at a rate that is four times faster than what a tropical rainforest could capture. They also store carbon three to five times more densely, and thus efficiently, than tropical rainforests.

In Singapore, massive deforestation has transformed the coastlines, which were once lined with mangroves; less than 10% of mangrove forest cover now remains. Similarly, in Pulau Ubin, more than half the island used to be mangrove forest cover, but with the expansion of aquaculture in the 1970s to 1980s, mangroves were dug up to build aquaculture ponds, many of which were eventually abandoned in the 2000s.

As such, in 2014, A/P Friess brought together fellow academics, non-governmental organisations, and community partners to form the Restore Ubin Mangroves (RUM) initiative. The project centred around identifying the sites in Ubin where restoration was possible, and promoting the use of new restoration techniques.

In particular, ecological mangrove restoration was one new technique used by RUM, which is not commonly used in Southeast Asia. It entails getting all the physical conditions right before restoration work begins, such as fixing the drainage and the elevation, to ensure that the surrounding environment is conducive for mangrove growth. This is crucial for avoiding restoration failure. If done correctly, mangrove forests can regenerate faster than many would expect.

For places in Ubin where there is not much natural regeneration, the researchers also used hybrid eco-engineering. For instance, they planted mangrove saplings in pots that were artificially elevated, to monitor the growth rates across different elevations.

Implementing an interdisciplinary approach to mangrove restoration is important. Researchers start with the biology or ecology of mangrove trees to understand their growth, but we also need to understand the physical geography of the environment, and even the engineering component if hybrid structures are used.

Lastly, the RUM initiative engages residents on Ubin to raise awareness of the island’s biodiversity and the value of mangroves. Not only researchers, but also community partners like fish farmers, knock on people’s doors, organise roadshows, and do educational visits. One such community partner, who is also one of the founding members of RUM, Phillip Lin, highlights the importance of recruiting volunteers and assuring local residents that their livelihoods or homes will not be adversely affected. This is to get as many people on board with restoration work as possible.

Moving forward, the NUS Temasek Blue Carbon Project is a new five year project embarked upon by the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, where A/P Friess conducts his research. As a S$3 million project, it will be one of the region’s largest and most comprehensive blue carbon-monitoring academic projects, with three main intended outcomes. Firstly, the project aims to build a knowledge base on blue carbon as Singapore endeavours to become a carbon trading hub for the region and also the world. Secondly, it seeks to improve our monitoring, reporting, and verification of blue carbon projects in the region, by streamlining them and making them more cost effective. Thirdly, it intends to explore how science can aid in policymakers and business leaders’ decision-making, particularly regarding how they prioritise their investments, in order to ensure that blue carbon projects are financially sustainable.

Watch the documentary here.