Beach Cleaning at Tanah Merah Beach

Well, the original plan for the recess week was to head out to either one of two locations, St John’s Island or Coney Island. But well, the weather hasn’t been very cooperative recently as it has been raining daily over the past week. At the same time, ferries to St John’s Island have also been suspended due to the annual Kusu Pilgrimage. So I guess these locations have to be pushed back in the overall scheme of things.

Recent Reports

Anyways, I thought we could look at some recent reports in the papers regarding our complex socio-ecological systems in Singapore in lieu of actual visits.

Beach Cleaning at Tanah Merah (Sept 2016)

When we talk beaches in Singapore, the main beaches that tend to come to our mind are the beaches along the East Coast, Sentosa Island and Changi Village. These beaches are really quite well maintained as the majority of Singaporeans visit them for recreation and relaxation. However, there are more than just these few beaches in Singapore.

There’s another stretch of coastline near Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal that’s unused in the general sense due to its relatively isolated location compared to the earlier mentioned beaches. It was the focus of a recent clean-up operation earlier last month when volunteers went and cleaned up the beach as part of the 25^th International Coastal Clean-Up Singapore. All in all they cleaned up a half tonne of rubbish which is really quite amazing considering that the beach is only 800m and is quite rarely visited. Which implies that the bulk of the litter comes from marine pollution.

I feel that there are two main takeaways from this particular report. First, to whom should the governance of these areas be left to? Clearly the beach is unmanaged if the amount of litter is able to build up to such a significant amount. It is only cleaned up when volunteers actively organised themselves to clean up the beach. Therefore, should the authorities place more emphasis in ensuring these areas are kept clean?

Which leads to the second question which is a little controversial. Is it worth putting in the resources to manage this stretch of beach when it is currently not being utilised for any purpose? Why manage the location if there are no users enjoying the location? But well, one can always argue that people don’t come because the location isn’t well kept. Thus the importance of proper urban planning. I feel that the site should be managed more rigorously only if the area is earmarked for a specific use. Else it is just not economical as marine debris washing up on shore is unavoidable. In fact it might be better as at least the debris is no longer in the ocean.

The second takeaway is that of the spillover effect. Authorities cannot believe themselves to be 100% in control of all aspects of the system they are governing. This case highlights this salient fact because marine pollution could have drifted from far across the sea to Singapore shores. Thus the effects of actions taken outside of the system do have an impact on the area managed. Governing bodies must be able to react to these changes in order to ensure steps are taken to keep the ecosystem in balance.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/tanah-merah-beach-cleaning-drive-turns-up-500kg-of-waste/3135490.html