Members were yet to be sensitised to conservation and only journalist Ilsa Sharp wrote a piece in The Straits Times protesting its demise.
Subsequently, led by locals who had enthusiasm but no behind-the-scene contacts, the exercise to get these areas protected turned into a series of media confrontations.
In 1986, Richard Hale, a banker and birder, stumbled on a degraded mangrove area rich in migratory birds when out birdwatching.
[1][12][13] NSS's other success was in persuading government not to destroy a patch of mature forest in the Lower Peirce water catchment for a golf course.
[14] This catchment has always been a legally protected nature reserve and the announcement to clear a 142-ha area of forest for a golf course saw members up in arms.
[1] The controversy of Chek Jawa surfaced in 2001 when the discovery of its rich marine biodiversity coincided with the planned reclamation of this intertidal area.
[16] However, individuals like Joseph Lai, Ria Tan and N. Sivasothi organised a team of volunteers to help document the biodiversity of the area.
The resulting media and internet publicity attracted thousands of visitors, most unaware that such rich marine life could still be seen in a highly urbanized Singapore.
The groundswell of public opinion was too strong for government to proceed with the reclamation and at the last moment it agreed to give the area a reprieve.
In July 2011 a government spokesman assured the public that the greenery surrounding the railway line would be preserved and subsequently appeared in the 2013 URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Master Plan.
This committee was initiated by the Bird Group in the late 1980s with Richard Hale as chairman and R. Subaraj, Dr. Rexon Ngim and Dr Ho Hua Chew as members.
Marina South was, after all, a piece of reclaimed land that turned into a wetland as a result of poor drainage with waterfowl taking up residence soon after.
[19] For the next few years the group laid low, providing feedbacks to government agencies, assisting in the review of the Singapore Green Plan,[20] etc.
[23] A year later the researchers started using electronic tagging equipment to study their movements, homing instinct and hopefully locate their spawning sites.
Through a series of workshops with catchy titles like Fun with Frogs, Mad about Monkeys and Stuck with Sticks (insects), children were given a chance to interact closely with various animals, sometimes actually handling them, to remove their fear of the unfamiliar.
A roving nature exhibition entitled Singapore's Amazing Wildlife, was set up in 2004 that toured primary schools in order to reach out to students and receive their feedback.
A Circle of Life exhibition of digital art paintings depicting the native flora and fauna was launched in 2004 to celebrate the society's 50th anniversary.
This was followed by a celebration of the country's biodiversity where each participant, mostly children from various schools, held a Life Card, each depicting a native plant or animal.
In 2008 Vilma passed on the leadership to Gloria Seow so that she could spend more time with the educational based Cicada Tree Eco-place, the NGO that she set up earlier.
In the preceding years, under the leadership of Alan Owyong,[33] the bird group leveraged on the internet and adopted digitisation to reach a greater audience.
The Birds of Singapore, an Android app, was officially launched on 6 December 2014, developed by the SMU student team PentaxMatrix and Carl Zeiss Pte.
Jalan Hijau (Green Path) started as an independent group of individuals of diverse background united in their concern for the environment.
Under the leadership of Cynthia-Wee Hoefer, activities centered on brown issues like recycling, waste minimisation and green consumerism.
This led to the formation of the Marine Roundtable forum and the eventual drafting of the Singapore Blue Plan during the International Year of the Reef in 2008.
Earlier the group published a coffee table book, Singapore Waters – Unveiling Our Seas, highlighting the state of the marine biodiversity.
In 2006 the group got the society involved in Project Noah (Nurturing Our Aquatic Heritage), initiated by the Singapore Underwater Federation.
[39] The society threw in its support based on advice from the group, all of whom were recreational divers, as well as from the Conservation Committee, whose expertise has always been on birds rather than marine biology.
[40] Formed in 1999 to encourage plant appreciation among members, the group spawned a small number of fig enthusiasts popularly known as Figgies after a talk one evening by the then chairman, Dr. Shawn Lum.
These include banded leaf monkey (Presbytis femoralis), Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang), Malayan porcupine (Hystrix brachura).
A Photographic Guide to Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Freshwater Fishes is fully illustrated with most of the images taken in or adjacent to the animals’ natural habitats.