Singapore aims to be a 'City in Nature' and prides itself with having an extensive green vegetation cover despite being one of the densest cities in the world. NParks is doing a commendable job in maintaining and creating new parks and gardens. However we continue to clear existing forested areas like those at Tengah, Pasir Ris, Bukit Batok and Dover and even mature road side trees in the name of urban development. While it is important to have economic growth, bear in mind that the expansion of residential and commercial areas and public infrastructure like roads comes with a sacrifice - the disappearance of what little remains of our natural greenery and heritage.

In the current context of Climate Emergency, trees play an increasingly crucial role in mitigating rising temperatures by absorbing and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. By providing shade and transpiring water from the ground into the surrounding they cool the immediate vicinity and also ameliorate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Their extensive network of roots serves to ensure soil stability, preventing erosion and allowing rain to be absorbed underground. The foliage of tree crowns are effective at trapping harmful and polluting dust particles, reducing air pollution from haze or other sources. Last but not least, being in a forest or just having more trees in the environment has been scientifically proven to improve physical and mental well-being. Although efforts at reforestation or replacing felled trees with young saplings are laudable, smaller plants simply cannot compare with fully grown trees in the magnitude of amenities provided. In this case size certainly does matter!

Indeed, such ecosystem services provided by mature trees are considerable and likely to reduce the large financial expenses needed to:

• artificially mitigate flooding by digging a deeper drainage network;
• lower the higher ambient air temperature through greater usage of air conditioning, which ironically dissipates additional heat into the atmosphere, creating a vicious cycle of needing even more cooling;
• filter polluting dust particles from the air we breathe through usage of air purifiers and filtration masks

Trees need time to grow and mature, time that we can no longer afford as our living environment gets progressively worse with each passing year due to climate change and the UHI effect. Every large tree is now more precious than ever in our land and natural resource scarce island. Under the Parks and Trees Act (1975), approval must be obtained before such trees may be cut down, unless they pose an immediate threat to public safety. We wish to improve on the transparency and rigour of the approval process, by calling for mandatory review by a panel of independent experts to be incorporated. Such a review should include a thorough cost and benefit analysis on the proposed purpose for removal of the tree(s). Until this can be implemented, we urge the authorities (MND and MSE) to consider imposing a moratorium on the cutting down of trees above 1 metre in girth, with immediate effect. We deem this to be a more prudent and enlightened approach where the precautionary principle of conservation is observed.

Our fore fathers took great pains to green our home through a massive tree planting campaign that took decades. Are we at risk of undoing the good by replacing the resulting stands of majestic trees with concrete and bare, young trees? Show your support for this petition and insist that we stop cutting down the trees and lush mature forests that substantially enhance our environment and quality of life!