Coastal Protection: Harnessing

Nature’s Typologies in Singapore

Karenne Tun & Jonathan Tan
Outline
• What do we need to protect?
• What are Nature-based Solutions?
• Coastal Nature-based Solutions in Singapore
• Future Research
• Knowledge Gaps
• MCCS
Impacts of climate change on Singapore

Photo Credit: AsiaOne Photo Credit: AsiaOne Photo Credit: The Straits Times

Rising temperatures Extreme weather Rising sea levels

Urban Heat Island effect
• Increased intensity and • Average sea level
• Max daily temp could reach frequency of heavy around Singapore 14 cm
35 – 37oC by 2100 rainfall events above pre-1970s levels
• 1 m rise by 2100
 East Coast; (Chensiyuan, Creative Commons)

What do we need to protect?

Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat (Gov.sg)

National Day Rally 2019 (for illustrative purposes only)
Flooding and Climate Change
Flooding

Inland Coastal

Sea Level Rise;

Heavier Peak
Storm Surges
Rainfall

Reduce Increase Runoff Drain Runoff Prevent Reduce

Surface Detention Rapidly into Inundation Erosion
Runoff Capacity Sea

Flooding has both Inland and Coastal

components
-> Need to deal with this as an integrated system

Coastal Protection deals with Inundation

and Erosion
Inundation and Erosion
Inundation is driven by
• Sea levels (rising)
• Storm surges (stronger/more
frequent)
• High spring tides (monthly,
annual, and 18.6 yr lunar nodal
cycles)

Erosion is driven by
• Wave action (exacerbated by
sea-level rise)
Vitousek et al (2017)
• Storms (stronger/more
frequent)
• Ship wakes (shipping lanes)
Nature-based
Solutions

Mangrove revetment @ Pulau Tekong

Launched in Feb 2021

City in Nature as one of the 5 pillars of SGP 2030:

Green, Liveable and Sustainable Home for Singaporeans
 Plant 1 million more trees, and have every household within
a 10-min walk from a park by 2030

Add over 130 ha of new parks, and enhance around 200 ha

of existing parks with more lush vegetation and natural
Enhancing and landscapes by end-2026
extending our natural Add 1,000 ha of green spaces by 2035
capital across our island
City in Nature for Climate Resilience: Addressing climate
change impacts using nature-based solutions
 Traditional Coastal
Protection
• Relies exclusively on hard
infrastructure

Marina Barrage (PUB) • Effective in coastal protection

• Limited or no biodiversity value

• Can have some recreational value
e.g. Marina Barrage

• Not able to self-repair or grow

with sea level rise

Jurong Island (JTC)

 Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
What are NbS?

• Solutions that tap on natural systems to

address societal challenges effectively and
adaptively

• These solutions should also provide human

well-being and biodiversity co-benefits

• Where possible, protect, sustainably

manage, and restore natural or modified
ecosystems

• Where hard engineering solutions are

needed, soften up for recreation and
biodiversity

IUCN
Nature-based Solutions (NbS)

Liveability Why NbS?

Solve multiple problems:

Flood & • Coastal Protection
Coastal Protection
• Social/Recreational Spaces
• Ecological Resilience

Economic Case:
NbS* • Potentially cheaper to build/maintain
• Can have better cost-benefit returns due to
Recreational Restoring
multiple uses
Opportunities Nature • Bishan-AMK Park: cost less, and higher returns

Potential to grow with/adapt to sea-level rise

• Mangroves
• Coral Reefs
• Seagrass Meadows
 What kind of NbS for Singapore?
• Singapore has limited land and sea space;
little room to advance or retreat
• Soft NbS to prevent coastal inundation (e.g.
sand dunes) not feasible due to high land-
Before take required
• Most NbS for protection against inundation
will be hard or hybrid eco-engineering
• Seawalls where there are critical assets or
minimal land availability, and softening to add
recreational and ecological value
• Hybrid systems for recreational areas e.g.
beach berms with seagrass lagoons and
offshore artificial reefs

• Soft NbS (e.g. mangroves) can still mitigate

erosion, with hard edge inland to prevent
Sungei Api-Api (Nathaniel Soon) inundation
Possible Coastal NbS for Singapore
Reclaimed Lagoons Mangrove Restoration
Intertidal Terrace and Pools
Upper Beach Berm Intertidal Seawall Reefs

Sisters’ Islands Pulau Semakau

Changi Beach Park
Biodiversity Tiles Perched Beach Intertidal Bays
(Not trialled in SG) Tanah Merah

Artificial Reefs Subtidal Seawall Reefs

Changi Bay East Coast Park

Marina East
Floating Reefs Mangrove Revetment Outlet Drain Intertidal Flats

Sisters’ Islands Southern Islands

Keppel Marina Pulau Tekong Tanah Merah

Hard (Artificial) Hybrid Soft (Natural)

Image credits: MSE, NUS-Deltares, The Straits Times, Loh Kok Sheng, Lynette Loke, Jonathan Tan, Kikuzawa Yuichi, Nathaniel Soon, Ria Tan
Existing Coastal
NbS in
Singapore

Mangrove revetment @ Pulau Tekong

 Seawall Enhancement (Hard eco-engineering)
• Artificial tidal pools or biodiversity enhancement tiles can be added
onto seawalls
• Create microhabitats for marine life e.g. algae, molluscs, crabs

Before • Placed at higher shore, more accessible/visible to people

• Largely experimental or pilot projects

Tidal Pool units at Changi Beach Park BioBOSS tiles (Lynette Loke)
Floating Reefs: Marina at Keppel Bay
• Built to allow currents to freely flow through, bring nutrients and larvae
• Strict controls on boat wakes, use of biodegradable detergents
• Rich variety of corals grow on the floating pontoons
• Marine life includes seahorses, sea turtles, clownfish etc.
• Increases biodiversity and recreation value of adjacent vertical
seawalls

Photos by DHI Photo by The Straits Times

Artificial Reefs: Sisters’ Islands
• In 2018, JTC installed 8 multi-storey artificial reefs at Sisters’
Islands Marine Park
• Quickly overgrown with algae, sponges, shellfish etc.

• Within a few months, large numbers of fish appeared

• Within a year, new corals recruited onto the reef
• Mature corals have also been transplanted there

• Deliberately minimised hydrodynamic impact; future units could

be modified to break waves instead

Photos by DHI Photo by The Straits Times

Mangrove Revetment: Pulau Tekong
• Northeast Pulau Tekong (92 ha) – largest pristine
mangrove in Singapore
• Suffering from severe erosion
• Hybrid rock-mangrove revetment built 2011
• Erosion successfully arrested. Mix of planted saplings
and naturally recruited saplings now grow amongst the
rocks

Photo by Ong Kiem Sian on

 Mangrove River Naturalisation
• Many mangrove rivers have been linearised and cleared
• Some of these have regenerated on their own: Berlayer Creek, Sg Pang
Sua
• Sungei Api-Api: joint project between HDB and PUB 1980s
Before • Banks high enough to avoid flooding
• Channel wide enough to allow stormwater to drain quickly

Sg Api-Api; Nathaniel Soon

Berlayer Creek
 Mangrove Planting
• Construction of Semakau Landfill (1999) caused mangrove loss
• As compensation, the seabed was raised to create two new mudflat plots
bounded by a rock bund
• 400,000 mangrove saplings (mostly Bakau i.e. Rhizophora spp.) were
planted by NEA
Before
• Wall of Bakau roots likely an effective erosion barrier; more study needed

Pulau Semakau; NEA • Mangrove planting also ongoing in Sungei Buloh

Sungei Buloh; Mendis Tan Sungei Buloh; The Straits Times Pulau Semakau; Ria Tan Pulau Semakau
 Ecological Mangrove Restoration
• 1989: Pasir Ris mangroves impacted by reclamation
• 5 ha patch retained and connected with Sg Tampines.
• 1 ha of levelled ground allowed to be tidally inundated. Colonised
by mangroves within 3 months

Before • New areas continue to be restored to mangrove by lowering

platform levels
• Restore Ubin Mangroves (RUM): Community effort to modify
Mangrove restoration at Pasir Ris Park hydrology in former prawn ponds and allow mangrove regeneration

Surveying works for Restore Ubin Mangroves; Ria Tan

“Accidental”
Coastal NbS

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal

Seawall Reefs
• Some seawalls and revetments have been naturally settled by hard corals (Tanah
Merah, Marina East, Tuas, Southern Islands)

• Coral density and diversity can exceed some natural reefs due to the stable substrate
(granite boulders)

• Principles to learn:

• Coral reefs can regenerate naturally on seawalls with right conditions

• Gentler inclines support more coral

• Highest coral densities from 0.0 to -3.0 m CD; maximise surface area at these
depths e.g. plateaus, gentler slopes

• Potential to attenuate wave action, further protecting the coast

Photos by DHI P. Semakau (Kikuzawa Yuichi)

 Perched Beaches, Reclaimed Lagoons, Outlet
Drain Tidal Flats
• Sandy beach or outlet drain protected by revetments e.g. East Coast, Southern
Islands

• Seagrasses and corals colonise sheltered zone; revetments colonised by coral

• Recreational potential for lagoons: beach activities, sea sports, intertidal walks

• Principles to learn:

• Right bathymetry essential - Intertidal life richest below 0.4 m CD, but if
too low (below 0.0 m CD) then not accessible to public.

Tanah Merah (photo by Loh Kok Sheng) • Aim for sheltered, gently sloping or flat lagoons

Marina East (photo by Nathaniel Soon) East Coast Park (photo by Loh Kok Sheng)
Sisters’
Kusu Island Islands
(photo by Bob (photo by Heng
Tan, Creative Pei Yan
Commons)
Perched Beaches, Reclaimed Lagoons, and
Outlet Drain Tidal Flats

East Coast Park and Tanah Merah

Marina East East Coast Park East
Marina (Photos by Loh Kok Sheng)
 Past NbS in Singapore were not designed to
We want to hear from you! deal with climate change; questions remain:

Gaps in Knowledge • How much erosion protection can

mangroves, coral reefs, or intertidal flats
provide?
• How well can natural ecosystems keep
pace with rising sea levels?
• If natural ecosystems cannot stop
inundation, how do we integrate them with
hard engineering solutions that can?
• How can we integrate coastal protection
NbS with inland flood control NbS?
• NParks and other agencies will work to
address such questions through research
• Marine Climate Change Science
Programme (MCCS)
• City in Nature pillar of Cities of Tomorrow
R&D Programme (CoT)

Mangroves growing on rock revetment; Pulau Hantu (photo by Ria Tan) Send in your ideas to
info@urbansustainability.sg
Key Takeaways
• Nature-based solutions offer multiple co-benefits over traditional solutions
• Most nature-based solutions in Singapore will be hybrid or hard eco-
engineering
• Hard barriers (walls, earth mounds, tidal gates etc.) still essential to prevent
inundation, but can be softened with natural elements
• Build it right and biodiversity will come on its own for free, for all to enjoy
• R&D is needed to help build the knowledge we need to deploy NbS
effectively
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