Deforestation and its impacts on biodiversity and us
When I was a child growing up in the 1980s, I used to watch a BBC documentary series “The Living Planet”, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
I remember one particular episode where he showed how a certain species of organisms were thriving on algae in a stream in a volcanic region so much that they brought destruction upon themselves.
It happened that the algae eventually broke loose due to overconsumption by the organisms, and the water currents gathered momentum and swept all of them away.
I believe it serves as an important ecological lesson for us humans as well because it is a universal phenomenon.
For example, in spite of Singapore’s economic success the past five decades since independence, it is reaching a critical point where the natural environment is suffering from rapid deforestation and other unsustainable development practices, which in turn will affect us adversely.
In my previous article, I have outlined some of the environmental concerns, such as loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, increased urban heat island effect, increased stress on health and increase in the number of dengue fever cases.
In this article, I would like to share two more environmental concerns: risk of the next zoonotic pandemic and increase in flash floods.
According to National Geographic:
“While the world has stepped up to help those in need during the COVID-19 outbreaks, we might also start thinking about how to prevent the next zoonotic pandemic.
We have seen, again and again, that even though we don’t know what most of them do, all wild animals have important jobs that keep our biosphere running. If we’ve learned anything from our study of natural ecosystems as it applies to these recent diseases, it’s that instead of exterminating wild animals to stop the passage of disease to people, we should do the opposite: We should safeguard the natural ecosystems that are their homes and, if needed, help set them back on their path to maturity through rewilding.”
(“To prevent the next deadly disease, we must stop harming nature”, 20 July 2020)
As for the increase in flash floods, I learnt that they are mainly due to two factors: rapid urbanisation and (man-made) climate change.
According to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore:
“Due to the rapid urbanization, many new buildings and shopping malls have been constructed at Orchard Road. And for this to be done, trees were being cut down, and there is an increasing amount of concrete that is paved onto the land. As concrete is non-porous, when rain falls, the concrete lands were not able to absorb the rainwater. Thus, the rainwater flows off the surface of the land as surface runoff, unlike the past, where there were trees and grasslands, where soil could absorb the water. Due to this, during heavy rainfall, flash floods like the one in Orchard Road is more likely to occur, as more water collects on the land.
…
Thus, with minimal forestry areas in Singapore to act as a “sponge” to absorb rainwater, rapid urbanization may perpetuate the issue of flash floods in Singapore.”
And according to Earth Observatory:
“When we cut trees and build roads, we make it easier for the rains to erode the soils. And when the soils disappear, rainwater simply rushes to the lowest point in the topography, where it accumulates and causes flooding.”
So, how do the above environmental concerns relate to our need to conserve Bukit Batok Hillside Park in Singapore?
Is it a stretch of imagination to say that deforestation in this relatively small forested area can result in another zoonotic pandemic or another flash flood?
I believe that the conservation of Bukit Batok Hillside Park serves as a poster child for protecting our remaining greenfield sites, which will benefit not only our biodiversity and residents in Bukit Batok, but also the whole of Singapore.
If we don’t learn to conserve our few remaining forests and continue to destroy one forested area after another, it will continue to have a cumulative adverse effect on our health and well-being, and ultimately our survival.
Like those organisms which became overpopulated in the above-mentioned volcanic region and ended up destroying themselves, we too may become the next victim of our own short-sighted pursuit of material success and unsustainable development.
