EMPS # 67 - People and Places

 

2 avid photographers trying to photograph some birds at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserved.

 Opened in 1993, this 87 hectare wetland refuge is of supreme importance during the migration of waders and shorebirds between the summer breeding grounds of North Asia (Siberia, China etc.) and the wintering grounds of the Southern Hemisphere (Australia etc.). This migration route is the East-Asian Flyway.

The migratory birds are attracted by exposed mud flats in the long-abandoned prawn ponds. Water levels in the prawn ponds are still controlled by sluice gates; the aim is to maintain some exposed mud flats at all times, even during high tide, thereby attracting waders and shorebirds. In addition to tidal systems there are a small number of freshwater ponds and patches of secondary forest which add to the reserve's biodiversity.

On 10 November, 2001, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced that Sungei Buloh would be one of two parks to be gazetted as Nature Reserves. On 1 Jan 2002, 130-ha of Sungei Buloh was officially gazetted as a nature reserve and renamed as Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to better reflect its status.

In the same year, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve was recognized as a site of international importance for migratory birds with Wetlands International presenting the reserve a

certificate to mark its formal entry into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network, which include Australia's Kakadu National Park, China's Mai Po and Japan's Yatsu Tidal Flats. Sungei Buloh became Singapore’s first ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003.