MANAGEMENT FOR LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF MARINE HABITATS IN SINGAPORE: A SCIENCE-BASED APPROACH

Long-term sustainability of biodiversity and natural habitats is a common global objective. In the complex and constrained physical, socio-economic and political environments present in Singapore, the need for a science-based approach to management is more acute. This management approach is illustrated in the Singapore experience in terms of maintaining up-to-date biodiversity baselines, minimizing impacts from coastal development works, enhancing survey and monitoring methodologies and maximizing survival potential of existing biodiversity. Many aspects of this approach could be adapted for other tropical coastal cities; however, in the face of increasing physical and socio-economic pressures, the science-based approach needs to be closely integrated with other management approaches to ensure coastal habitat sustainability in the long term, especially with challenges from increasing urbanization and global climate change.