National Parks Board (NParks) published a 2010/2011 coastal and marine habitat map of Singapore derived from high-resolution satellite imagery. The GEOJSON layer classifies mangrove, seagrass, coral reef, and related coastal habitats to support monitoring and conservation planning. Environmental scientists and coastal managers can overlay the map when assessing habitat loss from reclamation or shipping impacts. The study underpins Singapore’s effort to track vulnerable nearshore ecosystems that provide erosion control, nursery grounds, and water-quality benefits.
Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs are three of the most important coastal habitats of the world. Mangroves not only provide valuable ecosystems services such as coastal erosion protection, water filtration and the areas for fish and shrimp breeding, they also harvested as building materials and are used as medicine. Seagrass beds provide feeding and nursery grounds for many organisms, such as dugongs and juvenile fish. They also anchor sediments, protect shorelines from erosion, remove nutrients and help control coastal water quality. However, these habitats are also the most vulnerable ecosystems worldwide and experienced a dramatic decline. They can be affected or degraded by oil pollution and water sedimentation due to shipping activities and coastal reclamation. To protect and preserve the coastal habitats, it is necessary to monitor the status of habitats regularly. In order to achieve that, a map with detailed classification of the habitats plays an important role in the understanding, monitoring and aid in the decision making process for an effective management of the coastal habitats. The objective of this study is to generate a large scale habitats map of Singapore using high resolution satellite imagery.Coastal Habitat, Marine Habitat, Mangrove, Seagrass, Coral Reef
GeoJSON habitat map from the National Parks Board classifying Singapore’s coastal and marine environments circa 2010/2011, including mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef areas derived from high-resolution satellite imagery. Conservationists and coastal managers use the layer to monitor vulnerable ecosystems, plan protection, and assess impacts from reclamation or pollution.