Nature-based coastal defences

Sea level rise has led to an urgent need for shoreline protection. As a result, man-made coastal defences such as seawalls are quickly becoming the primary means of mitigating the risks of flooding and erosion. However, such structures require regular maintenance and have significant negative impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems and processes.

Faculty of Science (FOS) alumna Amanda HSIUNG (Life Sciences, 2008), an NUS Resilience and Growth (R&G) Innovation Challenge winner, worked with an interdisciplinary team to alleviate problems with mangrove seedling establishment and growth in Pulau Ubin.

Amanda’s team, comprising fellow FOS alumna Hannah YEO and Rania HARTANTO, started the project while they were in the Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory, collaborating with National Parks Board to deploy eco-engineered mangrove planting pods designed by Australian researchers.

Through their project, they also created smaller experiments for current undergraduates to get involved, including Bachelor of Environmental Studies student Ophelia ONG from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).

This project is one of the few in Singapore to apply hybrid ecological engineering techniques for mangrove restoration.

Amanda said, “The R&G grant enabled us to test out ideas that are experimented overseas. Through this project, we were able to collaborate with established scientists, designers and engineers from Australia and Singapore.”

Ophelia added, “The idea is simple – to plant mangroves, but there is so much complexity in it. It is a slow process, the antithesis of current societal ethos – instant gratification. I learnt to take things at my own pace, and the growth in knowledge is incremental when accumulated over time and experiences.”

Only time will tell whether these structures can successfully restore mangroves, but Amanda and her team are happy that they got to kickstart this project in Singapore.

Adapted from source article with permission: Office of Student Affairs - https://nus.edu.sg/osa/stories/details/Index/bringing-shorelines-back-to-life