Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

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The wetlands of Sungei Buloh

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (Chinese: 双溪布洛湿地保护区) is a nature reserve located in the Northwest area of Singapore. It is the first wetlands reserve to be gazatted in Singapore in the year 2002, and its global importance as a stop-over point for migratory birds was also recognised by the Wetlands International's inclusion of the reserve into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network. It has an area of 1.30 square kilometres.

[edit] History

Previously unheard of as a nature area, the site gained prominence only in 1986 when a call was made to conserve the area by members of the Singapore Branch of the Malayan Nature Society. Particularly significant, was its unusually high variety of bird species, which included migratory birds from as far as Siberia on their way to Australia to escape the winter months. Their suggested was taken up by the government, and a site with an area of 0.87 km² was given nature park status in 1989, and officially opened on 6 December 1993 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong after careful development of the park in order to improve accessibility for visitors.

The future of the area was still in doubt, however, because there are no laws preventing the destruction of nature parks. With pressure from nature groups and societies in Singapore, the government formally announced on 10 November 2001 that the park will be accorded nature reserve status, a step which protects the area from any unauthorised destruction or alteration. The second phase of the park was opened, and the entire site of 1.30 km² officially gazetted on 1 January 2002 as the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.