Chek Jawa
Encyclopedia
Tanjong Chek Jawa is a cape
and the name of its 100-hectare
wetland
s located on the south-eastern tip of Pulau Ubin
, an island off the north-eastern coast of the main island of Singapore
. Chek Jawa is among the last few places left with a natural rocky shore.
The wetlands are unique as several ecosystem
s can be observed in one area — sand
y beach
, rock
y beach, seagrass
lagoon
, coral
rubble, mangrove
s and coast
al forest
.
In December 2001, the government called off reclamation plans of the Chek Jawa area after a biodiversity survey conducted by conservationist volunteers. State use of the land will be deferred for the next 10 years. However, Chek Jawa may still be re-used by the government in and after 2012.
was discovered almost by chance during a nature outing at low tide. News on the impending land reclamation
works planned by the government on the area sparked a rare show of public-led and coordinated effort to reverse the reclamation plans. A group of volunteers, headed by botanist Joseph Lai (who first discovered Chek Jawa's rich ecosystems in December 2000), conducted a biodiversity survey months before the area was to be reclaimed in 2001. This survey was captured on the documentary Remember Chek Jawa
by Eric Lin Youwei. The volunteers then submitted a report and petitioned to the government for the preservation of the natural habitat.
The Singapore Government, in turn, surprised many when they acceded to these requests in December 2001. They agreed to leave the Chek Jawa area untouched for the next ten years. The area has been fenced off due to an increase of tourists into the area, damaging the ecosystem in the area. Conservation
efforts were made by the Ministry of National Development
to preserve the area.
In 2001, the National Parks Board
(NParks) took over Chek Jawa's management. NParks conducts free guided tour
s of Chek Jawa a few times each month during low spring tide periods, and about 20,000 visitors have gone on its tours from 2002 to 2007.
s in December 2006. Freshwater
rains upset the wetlands' saltwater
balance, resulting in the widespread death of marine creatures such as sea anemone
s, seastar
s, sponges. Tours conducted by NParks were stopped in March 2007 to let the wetlands recover.
The Singapore Government added new amenities with a visitor management plan for Chek Jawa, at a cost of S$7 million. These included a 1.1-kilometre boardwalk
, a 20-metre tall viewing tower
and a visitor centre with a viewing jetty
.
The new boardwalk running along the coast and into the mangrove area allows visitors to get up close to plant and marine life such as fiddler crab
s and monitor lizard
s, without damaging the area. Special care was taken to construct the boardwalk, which is made from concrete
but simulated to resemble timber
. This is more environmentally friendly
as it cuts down on the use of wood
while still retaining its natural feel.
The seven-storey viewing tower called the Jejawi tower allows visitors to view the tree canopy
and observe birdlife such as the Collared Kingfisher
and Straw-headed Bulbul
.
At the visitor centre, which was converted from a Tudor-style
house built in the 1930s, visitors can learn more about Chek Jawa's wildlife.
Chek Jawa is made up of 7 interdependent ecosystems – namely, its coastal forest, mangrove forest, its rocky shore
, the sandy shore, sand bar, seagrass lagoon and the coral rubble. Within each of the ecosystems, there is an abundance of natural creatures, rare plants, local and migratory birds. These have attracted photographers, nature lovers, student groups and others to visit Chek Jawa.
, National Biodiversity Centre, TeamSeagrass and volunteers from the public regularly conduct surveys and monitoring of the seagrasses found in Singapore, in inter-tidal areas such as Chek Jawa and Pulau Semakau
. The seagrass lagoons at Chek Jawa is one of the monitoring sites. These surveys are part of Seagrass-Watch, a global seagrass assessment and monitoring programme spanning 18 countries with more than 200 monitoring sites worldwide. Non-destructive scientific surveying methods developed by Seagrass-Watch are adopted. Data gathered is then fed back to Seagrass-Watch Headquarters, which then analyses the trends and condition of seagrass habitats at the local, regional and global scale.
, National Biodiversity Centre and the Tropical Marine Science Institute jointly launched a collaborative project to survey and identify the intertidal sponges around Singapore. The inter-tidal area of Chek Jawa is one of the 24 locations. Although sponges are commonly found on our shores, they are poorly known due to the limited studies conducted.
The 1-year study yielded a total of 102 species of intertidal sponges. One species new to science, Suberites diversicolor, was described and a large number of 40 species of intertidal sponges were recorded for the first time in Singapore.
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
and the name of its 100-hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s located on the south-eastern tip of Pulau Ubin
Pulau Ubin
Pulau Ubin is a small island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. Granite quarrying supported a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about a hundred villagers live there today...
, an island off the north-eastern coast of the main island of Singapore
Pulau Ujong
Pulau Ujong or Singapore Island is the main island of the island country of Singapore. It forms the majority of the island country in terms of area and population...
. Chek Jawa is among the last few places left with a natural rocky shore.
The wetlands are unique as several ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s can be observed in one area — sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
, rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
y beach, seagrass
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
rubble, mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s and coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
al forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
.
In December 2001, the government called off reclamation plans of the Chek Jawa area after a biodiversity survey conducted by conservationist volunteers. State use of the land will be deferred for the next 10 years. However, Chek Jawa may still be re-used by the government in and after 2012.
Preservation
Previously a virtual unknown, Chek Jawa came into national prominence and focus only since the early 2000s when the area's rich biodiversityBiodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
was discovered almost by chance during a nature outing at low tide. News on the impending land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
works planned by the government on the area sparked a rare show of public-led and coordinated effort to reverse the reclamation plans. A group of volunteers, headed by botanist Joseph Lai (who first discovered Chek Jawa's rich ecosystems in December 2000), conducted a biodiversity survey months before the area was to be reclaimed in 2001. This survey was captured on the documentary Remember Chek Jawa
Remember Chek Jawa
Remember Chek Jawa is a 47-minute documentary made on digital video by freelance cinematographer Eric Lin Youwei. It documents a biodiversity survey conducted in 2001, by a small group of volunteer conservationists, headed by botanist Joseph Lai, months before the Singapore government's...
by Eric Lin Youwei. The volunteers then submitted a report and petitioned to the government for the preservation of the natural habitat.
The Singapore Government, in turn, surprised many when they acceded to these requests in December 2001. They agreed to leave the Chek Jawa area untouched for the next ten years. The area has been fenced off due to an increase of tourists into the area, damaging the ecosystem in the area. Conservation
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
efforts were made by the Ministry of National Development
Ministry of National Development (Singapore)
The Ministry of National Development is a ministry of the Government of Singapore that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to land use planning and infrastructure development...
to preserve the area.
In 2001, the National Parks Board
National Parks Board
The National Parks Board is a statutory board of the Singapore Government.The National Parks Board is responsible for providing and enhancing the greenery of Singapore. NParks manages around 300 parks, the park connector network and the roadside greenery in Singapore...
(NParks) took over Chek Jawa's management. NParks conducts free guided tour
Tour guide
A tour guide provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest...
s of Chek Jawa a few times each month during low spring tide periods, and about 20,000 visitors have gone on its tours from 2002 to 2007.
Temporary closure
In early 2007, Chek Jawa was closed to the public after being damaged by heavy rainRain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
s in December 2006. Freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
rains upset the wetlands' saltwater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
balance, resulting in the widespread death of marine creatures such as sea anemone
Sea anemone
Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...
s, seastar
SeaStar
SeaStar may refer to any of the following aircraft designs .* the AAC SeaStar, a two-seat biplane from Canada* the Dornier Seawings Seastar, an amphibious aircraft with two engines in a push-pull configuration...
s, sponges. Tours conducted by NParks were stopped in March 2007 to let the wetlands recover.
Re-opening and new development
On 8 July 2007, the nature preserve was re-opened to the public. Visitors going to Chek Jawa no longer need to join the free guided tours conducted by NParks. These are conducted only a few times each month during low spring tide periods.The Singapore Government added new amenities with a visitor management plan for Chek Jawa, at a cost of S$7 million. These included a 1.1-kilometre boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
, a 20-metre tall viewing tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
and a visitor centre with a viewing jetty
Jetty
A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...
.
The new boardwalk running along the coast and into the mangrove area allows visitors to get up close to plant and marine life such as fiddler crab
Fiddler crab
A fiddler crab, sometimes known as a calling crab, may be any of approximately 100 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs which make up the genus Uca. As members of the family Ocypodidae, fiddler crabs are most closely related to the ghost crabs of the genus Ocypode. This entire group is composed...
s and monitor lizard
Monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
s, without damaging the area. Special care was taken to construct the boardwalk, which is made from concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
but simulated to resemble timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
. This is more environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
as it cuts down on the use of wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
while still retaining its natural feel.
The seven-storey viewing tower called the Jejawi tower allows visitors to view the tree canopy
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
and observe birdlife such as the Collared Kingfisher
Collared Kingfisher
The Collared Kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the family Halcyonidae, the tree kingfishers. It is also known as the White-collared Kingfisher or Mangrove Kingfisher. It has a wide range extending from the Red Sea across southern Asia and Australasia to Polynesia...
and Straw-headed Bulbul
Straw-headed Bulbul
The Straw-headed Bulbul is a species of songbird in the Pycnonotidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand and Singapore. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical moist...
.
At the visitor centre, which was converted from a Tudor-style
Tudor style architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
house built in the 1930s, visitors can learn more about Chek Jawa's wildlife.
Chek Jawa is made up of 7 interdependent ecosystems – namely, its coastal forest, mangrove forest, its rocky shore
Rocky shore
A rocky shore is an intertidal area of seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and make the ideal natural laboratory for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes...
, the sandy shore, sand bar, seagrass lagoon and the coral rubble. Within each of the ecosystems, there is an abundance of natural creatures, rare plants, local and migratory birds. These have attracted photographers, nature lovers, student groups and others to visit Chek Jawa.
Seagrass Monitoring
The National Parks BoardNational Parks Board
The National Parks Board is a statutory board of the Singapore Government.The National Parks Board is responsible for providing and enhancing the greenery of Singapore. NParks manages around 300 parks, the park connector network and the roadside greenery in Singapore...
, National Biodiversity Centre, TeamSeagrass and volunteers from the public regularly conduct surveys and monitoring of the seagrasses found in Singapore, in inter-tidal areas such as Chek Jawa and Pulau Semakau
Pulau Semakau
"Pulau Sakeng", "Pulau Seking" & "Pulau Sakeng Police Post" redirects here.Pulau Semakau is located to the south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. The Semakau Landfill is located on the eastern side of the island, and was created by the amalgamation of Pulau Sakeng ,...
. The seagrass lagoons at Chek Jawa is one of the monitoring sites. These surveys are part of Seagrass-Watch, a global seagrass assessment and monitoring programme spanning 18 countries with more than 200 monitoring sites worldwide. Non-destructive scientific surveying methods developed by Seagrass-Watch are adopted. Data gathered is then fed back to Seagrass-Watch Headquarters, which then analyses the trends and condition of seagrass habitats at the local, regional and global scale.
Survey on Intertidal Sponges
The National Parks BoardNational Parks Board
The National Parks Board is a statutory board of the Singapore Government.The National Parks Board is responsible for providing and enhancing the greenery of Singapore. NParks manages around 300 parks, the park connector network and the roadside greenery in Singapore...
, National Biodiversity Centre and the Tropical Marine Science Institute jointly launched a collaborative project to survey and identify the intertidal sponges around Singapore. The inter-tidal area of Chek Jawa is one of the 24 locations. Although sponges are commonly found on our shores, they are poorly known due to the limited studies conducted.
The 1-year study yielded a total of 102 species of intertidal sponges. One species new to science, Suberites diversicolor, was described and a large number of 40 species of intertidal sponges were recorded for the first time in Singapore.
Further reading
- Tan, Ria and Yeo, Alan, in association with The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, The National University of Singapore (2003) Chek Jawa guidebook Singapore: Simply Green ISBN 981-04-8832-7
- Chua, Ee Kiam (2002) Chek Jawa: discovering Singapore's biodiversity Singapore : Simply Green ISBN 981-04-6814-8
External links
- The Saga of Tanjong Chek Jawa
- Chek Jawa by National Parks
- Chek Jawa by NUS
- Chek Jawa by WildSingapore
- Satellite image of Tanjung Chek Jawa - Google MapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...