S’pore submits 20 targets on nature conservation to UN ahead of COP16 biodiversity conference

SINGAPORE – By 2030, the National Parks Board (NParks) hopes to get students here to be more aware of Singapore’s native wildlife, such as sunbirds and hornbills – the local equivalents of hummingbirds and toucans, which are well-known birds found only in the Americas. 

The effort to incorporate elements of native biodiversity education into school programmes – from primary school to pre-university – is one of 20 national targets that Singapore on Oct 20 submitted to the UN, ahead of the global body’s biodiversity conference taking place in Cali, Colombia, from Oct 21 to Nov 1.

This, and four other targets, had not been publicly announced before.

The others are:

• Keep the proportion of wildlife traded illegally through Singapore each year to below 0.5 per cent. This refers to the number of illegal wildlife trade cases trafficked into Singapore or through Singapore over the total number of permits issued for the import or export of wildlife under a separate UN convention that regulates the trade in endangered species. This proportion has held below 0.5 per cent since 2015.

• Make available to the public 1,000 records of native plant species on Flora Fauna Web, an NParks-managed database of plants and animals.

• Ensure development in the country will remain subject to biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning under Singapore’s planning framework. Currently, development projects close to sensitive nature areas are already subject to greater scrutiny and may be required to carry out more detailed environmental studies. The submitted target solidifies this approach as one of Singapore’s strategies of balancing conservation with development.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority said on its website that the findings of all environmental studies are carefully considered in the planning evaluation process in order to determine the extent of potential impact and the adequacy of proposed mitigation measures, before a project is allowed to proceed. 

As at Oct 20, Singapore has submitted 20 national targets, but NParks said it is still in the process of drafting more targets for the country.

These targets will be part of Singapore’s revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which will be the country’s first update of its plan since 2019. 

The biennial UN biodiversity conference, known as COP16, is the first one to be held since the Global Biodiversity Framework – often known as the nature equivalent of the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change – was adopted by almost 200 nations in 2022 at COP15.

The global framework outlines 23 targets for countries to work towards by 2030, in order to help stop and even reverse nature loss in the longer term. The UN has estimated that around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.

There is a target to restore 30 per cent of areas of degraded ecosystems, and to increase the area, quality, and connectivity of green and blue spaces in urban and densely populated areas, as well as one to raise awareness and education in biodiversity. 

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