The NATIONAL UNIVERSITY of SINGAPORE
Office of Corporate Communications

PRESS RELEASE

7 September 2001

From: Santie Pillai
Tel: 874 4520
Email: vcosp@nus.edu.sg

THE INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEAN-UP SINGAPORE 2001

Coordinated by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore on Saturday 8 September 2001 from 8.30 am to 4.00 pm at Buloh-Kranji mangroves

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) at the National University of Singapore is spearheading and coordinating the clean-up of the mangrove section of the International Coastal Clean-Up Singapore (ICCS) 2001, as part of the Museum's educational programmes. The event will take place on Saturday 8 September 2001 from 8.30 am to 4.00 pm at the Buloh &endash; Kranji mangroves. Low tide clean-up operations will be from 8.30 am to 11.00 am while high tide trash removal will take place from 12 noon to 4.00 pm.

Now in its 10th year in Singapore, the International Coastal Clean-up 2001 is part of an international effort involving over a million volunteers in more than 100 countries, coordinated by the Centre for Marine Conservation in the USA. The objectives of the International Coastal Clean-up are to:

• To remove debris from the shorelines, waterways, and beaches of the world's lakes, rivers, and oceans;
• To collect valuable information on the amount and types of debris
• To educate people on the issue of marine debris, and
• To use the information collected from the Clean-up to effect positive change&emdash;on all levels, from the individual to the international&emdash;to reduce marine debris and enhance marine conservation.

The International Coastal Cleanup is the largest marine pollution cleanup effort currently in existence. The event heightens public awareness about the vast problem of marine debris, and more importantly unites citizens from many nations in an attempt to do something about pollution in their communities. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for such clean-ups by deterring people and industries from polluting our waters in the first place.

A mangrove section was initiated in 1997 in Singapore, and this is the 5th year of the mangrove clean-up. The site chosen, Buloh&endash;Kranji mangroves is off the Western Straits of Johore, east of Sungei Buloh Nature Park, and north-west of the Kranji Reservoir Outflow.

This year, more than 250 students from Catholic High, Commonwealth Secondary School's Girl Guides, St. Andrew's Junior College, Tao Nan Marlin Sea Scouts, Singapore American School, Middle School and SAVE, Temasek Junior College, Victoria Junior College, Woodllands Ring Secondary School and Yusof Ishak Scondary School are participating in the mangrove clean-up.

A briefing session was conducted for the first time this year at NUS for all participants to explain the rationale of ICCS and the value of Singapore's biodiversity. In addition, to better explain the depth and beauty of our mangrove ecosystems, an introduction to the mangroves was conducted for participants at the Sungei Buloh Nature Park. RMBR will also be working together with the Sungei Buloh Nature Park, the Nature Society (Singapore), the Singapore Amateur Radio Transmitting Society and volunteers attached to these organizations for this operation.

In an afternoon high tide operation, the Tao Nan Marlin Sea Scouts and volunteer sailors from the Raffles Marina will transfer the accumulated marine debris to Kranji Reservoir Park. The Western Environment Health District Office of the Ministry of Environment and Altvater Jakob Pte. Ltd. will assist in coordinating and hauling away the entire trash load at the end of the day.

The data accumulated at the end of this clean-up, like those from all over the world, is collated and submitted to the country coordinator, the Nature Society (Singapore). This is in turn submitted to the global coordinator, the Centre for Marine Conservation where the analysed data is used to raise legislative issues at the United Nations and at national level, to promote public education programmes.

Members of the media who are interested to cover the International Coastal Clean-Up Singapore (ICCS) 2001 are requested to meet Mr John Larkin, Media Officer for the event, on Saturday 8 September 2001 at 8.00 am at the Sungei Buloh Nature Park Visitor Centre.

For more information, please contact:

Mr N. Sivasothi
Research Officer
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
Department of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
NUS.

Tel: 874 8869
Email: sivasothi@nus.edu.sg

For other information related to ICCS, please check the following websites:

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (Mangrove Section)
Information about the background, data, partners, schools and links to other international efforts.

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, The National University of Singapore

Sungei Buloh Nature Park

Singapore Amateur Radio Transmitting Society

The Nature Society (Singapore)

Centre for Marine Conservation &endash; International Coastal Cleanup