Unauthorised clearing of trees in nature reserve planted under OneMillionTrees initiative under probe

SINGAPORE – The National Parks Board (NParks) is investigating the unauthorised clearing of native saplings and shrubs that had been planted in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve under Singapore’s flagship greening programme OneMillionTrees.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, NParks’ group director for conservation Lim Liang Jim said an NParks staff member inspecting Lower Peirce Reservoir Park on the morning of June 2 discovered that about half of the original tree planting site had been cleared by a contractor for the temporary storage of materials without approval.

“NParks had earlier communicated to the contractor’s site supervisor on a few occasions that the area was not suitable for their storage space and had advised them to use an alternative location,” he said.

“However, the contractor went against NParks’ direction and proceeded to clear the area on May 29 without informing NParks.”

Lim said NParks had immediately instructed the constructor to stop its work and remove the items from the affected area, which measures about 40 sq m, or about half the size of a badminton court.

The board will not hesitate to take action against errant parties, he added. Those who cut, collect or displace any tree or plant in a national park or nature reserve without approval can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for a maximum of six months, or both.

Launched in 2020, the OneMillionTrees movement aims to restore nature across the island by planting a million trees over ten years.

The unauthorised clearing off Old Upper Thomson Road has sparked outrage among members of the local nature community.

News of what had happened was highlighted on June 2 by a member of the public, who posted photos on social media and informed the Raffles’ Banded Langur Working Group, an alliance of conservation organisations, universities, and agencies dedicated to protecting the shy, tree-dwelling monkey.

In collaboration with NParks, the group had planted 87 native shrubs and saplings at the site in January 2025. Two of the planted species were chosen to supply food for the critically endangered monkeys native to Singapore and southern peninsular Malaysia.

Photos taken on June 2 showed contractors moving construction materials onto flattened soil and saplings on the site. By the time The Straits Times visited the site at about 5.30pm that day, the materials had been removed, and a striped cordon was erected around the barren patch. Only a few lone saplings remained intact.

Signs displayed near the site off Old Upper Thomson Road stating that the construction of a nearby park connector is underway.

ST PHOTO: ANG QING

Just metres away, a sign declared the forest as part of Singapore’s largest nature reserve – the Central Catchment Nature Reserve – that is a sanctuary for native flora and fauna conferred the highest protection in the Republic.

Dr Andie Ang, who chairs the working group described the clearance as shocking, noting that the severity of the clearance is compounded by its location in a nature reserve.

“The questions I have surround proper processes, checks, and accountability,” Ang said. “Have our workers been properly briefed? Is there supervision on the ground?”

She added that the incident raises broader concerns about whether saplings planted under the OneMillionTrees movement are actively monitored, what their survival rates actually are and how widespread the removal of planted saplings could be.

N. Sivasothi, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Biological Sciences who has organised multiple OneMillionTrees plantings, agreed that the incident is alarming given its occurrence in a legally protected area.

Calling the clearance a “significant setback”, he stressed that these volunteer plantings are not merely decorative, but carefully planned ecological efforts to provide food, shelter, and connectivity for wildlife.

“That this planting was undermined reflects a distressing breakdown in site coordination, which requires systemic analysis,” he said.

He added that for tree-planting initiatives he has been involved in, NParks and NUS conduct follow-up visits to evaluate competing vegetation growth, survival rates, and casualty replacements.

The biologist noted that each sapling represented months or even years of nursing.

He said: “Propagating seeds is painstaking work — flowering in the forest is irregular, not all seeds can be harvested to avoid ecological impact, germination and growth rates can be low, and young plants need careful attention before they are ready for planting in the field.”

He warned that such incidents threaten NParks’ narrative of a “City in Nature”, where nature is woven into the urban landscape.

He noted that critics have already questioned the movement, in the wake of perceived over-pruning of mature trees, unexplained tree removals, and forest clearances for development.

“I am regularly challenged about whether the movement is about performative planting to appease forest removal elsewhere,” he added.

Notwithstanding the clearance, Ang and Sivasothi said they will continue supporting the movement, but called on the authorities to restore public trust by addressing the issues surfaced by the incident.

Sivasothi called for a systemic assessment of Singapore’s greening vision to enact structural reform that incorporates ground observations and comments. He also suggested that authorities develop forest enhancement plans in consultation with nature groups to buffer green spaces from further disturbances.

Development projects should also be required to compensate for the forests that are cleared, he added.

“This is not about area substitution which is rarely possible, but of habitat restoration of our many degraded green sites, and with community participation,” Sivasothi said, adding that such changes must trigger broader improvements to ensure a mature and sustainable greening vision.

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