Last Saturday, our lead volunteer Sumita got the opportunity to bring Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on a short tour along the mangrove boardwalk of Chek Jawa Wetlands on Pulau Ubin.
During the session, she took the chance to share the beauty of mangroves with him, and talked about the importance of mangroves and nature areas in Singapore in protecting our small island nation against the effects of climate change.
During the session, the status of Chek Jawa was briefly touched upon, as it is still classified as a park and not a nature reserve.
Since Naked Hermit Crabs was started in 2007, we've always worked towards ensuring that we raise awareness on the marine environments that could be vulnerable to development.
Chek Jawa wetlands is last wetlands in Singapore to have six different key habitats, including mangroves, coastal forest and coral rubble.
In Dec 2001, due to the hard work by nature groups who raised awareness of the biodiversity found in the area, reclamation has been deferred for the area.
 |
| Screenshot of Heng Swee Keat's Facebook Post |
Minister of National Development Desmond Lee, who was also present during the walk, also highlighted that exposure to nature from a young age is very important in the development of motor skills in children.
At the same time, it was agreed that nature is very therapeutic and helps those who engage in nature to de-stress.
At the same time, Sumita also took the time to show Tan and Heng some drawings from our participants from our past walks.
 | |
|
We're glad to share that the ministers enjoyed seeing the drawings and messages for kids and adults and said that it would be nice to digitise these items.
You can access our digital guestbook here: https://padlet.com/nakedhermitcrabs/guestbook
Here's a compilation of some very old entries to the Guestbook
