Nature groups call for stronger environmental safeguards over Sunset Way, Gillman Barracks housing plans

Mr Leong said large patches of secondary forests like Maju Forest are “very few and far between”.

“Once it’s cleared, it’s irreversible. You can’t replace it. It takes decades for secondary forest to grow,” he said, adding that secondary forests also contribute to the ecosystem by cooling the air and retaining rainfall.

HDB has proposed retaining a forest stream and most of the native-dominated secondary forest, which makes up about a quarter of the study area.

Mr Leong said that with a smaller forested area, animals might be forced out, increasing the likelihood of roadkill.

Mr Ho Xiang Tian, co-founder of LepakInSG, said the presence of nutmeg found deep within Maju Forest suggests it remains well connected to nature reserves.

“Keeping it allows animals to move from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve down to Southern Ridges and have habitats in between to stay at rather than be forced to keep moving,” he said.

After the development, the remaining forest will function less as a habitat and more as an ecological connectivity corridor, he said.

As part of mitigation measures, a directional clearance plan will allow animals to move to adjacent greenery.

Mr Ho said that LepakInSG, which was among the nature groups consulted, has raised that shepherding wildlife only means they will not be killed during development.

“But they would need to compete for space and resources with whatever animals are already in the place they are being shepherded to, so something is still going to die or get displaced by this development,” he added.