Dear Friends,
When a forest is cleared, the benefits of development are often lauded by leaders, but the costs are borne locally by residents.
We in Pasir Ris have experienced this first-hand. A substantial part of our “green lung” was cleared for development.
Neighbourhoods that once felt open, green and peaceful can quickly become hotter, noisier and more crowded. This affects not only residents’ physical comfort, but also their mental wellbeing and overall quality of life.
There is also the loss of unique plant and animal life, the consequences of which have already been widely explained by environmental experts.
In recent years, significant areas of Singapore’s forests have been cleared or earmarked for development. These include parts of Dover Forest and Lower Seletar Reservoir, the “Serangoon River Forest, and now Maju Forest.
Together, these forested areas are estimated to be about the size of 200 football fields.
When the Government speaks about balancing development with conservation, we must ask: why are ordinary Singaporeans so often the ones expected to bear the brunt of these decisions?
What about the more than 500 black-and-white bungalows sitting on land estimated to be equivalent to around 300 football fields?
What about Good Class Bungalow estates, where a relatively small number of households occupy very large plots of land?
Ordinary residents should not simply be expected to accept the loss of the forests and green spaces around their homes while prime, low-density areas are rarely discussed with the same urgency.
This does not mean that the Government should suddenly demolish people’s homes. It means that our long-term land-use and redevelopment priorities must be examined honestly and fairly.
The Government also has a duty to examine underused state land, ageing commercial areas, surface car parks and other sites that could be redeveloped more efficiently.
Existing towns can be renewed carefully. Brownfield sites and previously developed land should be considered before thriving forests that took decades to mature are bulldozed.
Progress should not mean that ordinary citizens repeatedly lose the forests beside their homes while the most privileged areas remain largely untouched.
The SDA calls for Maju Forest to be preserved while a comprehensive study of alternative sites is carried out.
Residents, environmental groups and independent experts must be meaningfully consulted.
Government actions should be guided by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The public should also be given a transparent comparison of the available alternatives, including the environmental and social costs of each option.
The same principles of meaningful consultation, transparent analysis and open public discussion should apply whenever Singapore’s remaining forests are threatened.
Once our forests are gone, no speech, consultation or replacement-planting exercise can bring them back.
Desmond Lim
Chairman
Singapore Democratic Alliance
