thumb|300px|Chek Jawa

thumb|Front Beacon during high tide at Chek Jawa Wetlands

Tanjong Chek Jawa (or Tanjung Chek Jawa or simply Chek Jawa) is a cape and the name of its 100-hectare wetlands located on the south-eastern tip of Pulau Ubin, an island off the north-eastern coast of the main island of Singapore. Chek Jawa is among the last few places left in Singapore with a natural rocky shore.

The wetlands are unique as several ecosystems can be observed in one area – sandy beach, rocky beach, seagrass lagoon, coral rubble, mangroves and coastal forest. The site forms part of the Ubin–Khatib Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant numbers of visiting and resident birds, some of which are threatened.

In December 2001, the government called off reclamation plans of the Chek Jawa area after a biodiversity survey conducted by conservationist volunteers. State use of the land has been deferred indefinitely.

History

Preservation

Previously virtually unknown, Chek Jawa came into national prominence and focus only since the early 2000s when the area's rich biodiversity was discovered almost by chance during a nature outing at low tide. News on the impending land reclamation works planned by the government on the area sparked a rare show of public-led and coordinated effort to reverse the reclamation plans. A group of volunteers, headed by botanist Joseph Lai (who first discovered Chek Jawa's rich ecosystems in December 2000), conducted a biodiversity survey months before the area was to be reclaimed in 2001. This survey was captured on the documentary Remember Chek Jawa by Eric Lin Youwei. The volunteers then submitted a report and petitioned to the government for the preservation of the natural habitat.

The Singapore Government, in turn, surprised many when they acceded to these requests in December 2001. They agreed to leave the Chek Jawa area untouched for the next ten years. The area has been fenced off due to an increase of tourists into the area, damaging the ecosystem in the area. Conservation efforts were made by the Ministry of National Development to preserve the area.

In 2001, the National Parks Board (NParks) took over Chek Jawa's management. NParks conducts free guided tours of Chek Jawa a few times each month during low spring tide periods, and about 20,000 visitors have gone on its tours from 2002 to 2007.

thumb|center|600px|A montage of Chek Jawa, [[Pulau Ubin, Singapore.]]

Notes and references

Further reading

  • Tan, Ria and Yeo, Alan, in association with The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, The National University of Singapore (2003) Chek Jawa guidebook Singapore: Simply Green
  • Chua, Ee Kiam (2002) Chek Jawa: discovering Singapore's biodiversity Singapore : Simply Green
  • National Parks Board – Chek Jawa
  • The Saga of Tanjong Chek Jawa
  • Chek Jawa by NUS
  • Chek Jawa by WildSingapore
  • Satellite image of Tanjung Chek Jawa – Google Maps
  • Paper including a list of fish species (Table A2) found in Chek Jawa