Green educational trails to be conducted at Lorong Halus Wetland

AsiaOne 18 Nov 12;

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) has launched a partnership with the North East Community Development Council (NECDC) to conduct monthly green educational trails at Lorong Halus Wetland for one year.

This first of its kind partnership seeks to raise environmental awareness among heartlanders and residents of the North East District, and foster a heightened sense of concern and ultimately action in line with environmental protection.

"Heartlanders represent a key target group in spreading the environmental message, as habits may be more deeply ingrained and require time and effort to change," said Mr Jose Raymond, Executive Director of the SEC.

SEC and NECDC will train volunteers from the district, who will in turn conduct the trails.

The trails will be conducted once a month at no charge to North East district residents. The duration of each trail is one hour and will cover topics such as water and nature conservation, as well as waste management.

To ensure quality control and audibility in an outdoor environment, the group size will be capped at 20 per trail.

To cater to different individuals, SEC is looking to ascertain the demographics of participants prior each trail to tailor the experience accordingly.

For example, based on the majority demographic of a particular trail, efforts will be made to translate key snippets into Malay, Mandarin or even in dialects, if necessary.

"The Green Trail@Lorong Halus Wetland serves two purposes. It heightens North East residents' awareness of the environment as this walk can enable them to learn more about nature in a location within our district. This is also a good bonding platform for neighbours and friends," said North East CDC's Mayor Teo Ser Luck.

Formerly a landfill site, Lorong Halus Wetland sits next to Serangoon Reservoir, Singapore's 17th reservoir.

The area was a dumping ground for Singapore's waste from 1970 to 1999, and occupied 234 hectares - more than 100 football fields - along the eastern bank of then Sungei Serangoon.

It has since been transformed to become an important source of water supply, and the wetland is now home to a myriad of biodiversity that provides opportunities for recreation, research and education.