The Nature Society (Singapore) or NSS, is a totally non-government, non-profit organization, registered as a Society (ROS0235.1954/CAS), as a Charity (Reg. No 2082) and as an Institution of Public Character (IPC 000639). It is dedicated to the appreciation, conservation, study and enjoyment of the natural heritage in Singapore, Malaysia and the surrounding region. Inaugurated in 1954 as the Singapore branch of the Malayan Nature Society, it then metamorphosed into the Nature Society (Singapore) in 1991.
Run by elected and volunteer members, the Society depends financially on subscriptions and donations from its members, sales from its publications as well as donations companies, institutions and individuals.
Regular activities include guided local nature walks, slide talks and overseas eco-trips. These can be of either general nature interest or specialist in relation to birds, other vertebrates, butterflies, plants, and intertidal or marine zones. The Singapore Bird Race is in its 26th year, and a programme of regular island-wide censuses of birds is now in its twentieth year. Most activities are for older teenagers and adults, but the Society also has monthly Fun with Nature programmes for youngsters aged 5 – 9 years, and a related sponsored programme for primary schools. Activities are announced in its Nature News newsletter every two months, whilst it also produces a quarterly magazine, Nature Watch.
The Society is at any time involved in a number of book projects, conservation or restoration projects and data gathering on specific areas for feedback to government and other bodies on proposed developments in or adjacent to nature reserves and nature areas.
In the past the Society successfully persuaded the government to set aside and manage Sungei Buloh as a wetlands park, which was so successful that it was later enlarged and gazetted as a nature reserve. It was also able to stave off, through its Environmental Impact Assessment report, proposals to develop part of the Peirce Forests, in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, into a golf course. It has relocated corals from several areas in advance of reclamation projects, and it joined with other nature groups to provide information to the government on the rich biodiversity of Chek Jawa, at Pulau Ubin, which led to the government deferring proposed land reclamation. It has published numerous conservation-oriented and biodiversity-based reports, checklists and guides, of which one of the earliest was the ground-breaking Master Plan for the Conservation of Nature in Singapore (1990).
Publications over the past 18 months have been “A Fieldguide to the Butterflies of Singapore” (February 2008) by the Butterfly Interest Group, and “Wild Animals of Singapore” (March 2008) by the Vertebrate Study Group and “The Singapore Red Data Book” detailing threatened species of animals (November 2008) and “Avifauna of Singapore” and “The State of Singapore’s Birds” by the Bird Group (May 2009). The Conservation Volunteers group has an active two-year old rescue and research programme in relation to Horseshoe Crabs at Kranji shoreline. In November 2008 the Society adopted Kranji Reservoir under the Public Utilities Board 3P programme, at to date is engaged in volunteer-based baseline surveys to help in conservation and restoration of the fringing freshwater marshland, public walks and training of additional guides for public walks.
Visit the Nature Society (Singapore) at http://www.nss.org.sg/.
Note: This article and images are provided by NSS.
