Singapore

Marine biologists are being asked to assess the impact of a land-reclamation project off Singapore which, neighbouring Malaysia charges, could damage mangrove swamps and other important ecological features.

In September, Malaysia appealed to the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), asserting that the project infringes on its territory and that Singapore has failed to undertake the environmental assessment required by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And last month, the tribunal ordered the two countries to assemble a group of independent experts to assess the impact of the 33-square-kilometre project, which began three years ago and aims to expand the island of Pulau Tekong, which sits near the mouth of Malaysia's Johor river.

The group is due to report by next October. But in the meantime, some experts are already criticizing the project. Ving Ching Chong, an ecologist at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, says that it will probably damage mangrove forest at the mouth of the river. He says that the swamps are valuable spawning grounds for marine life, and protect the land behind them from storms.

Chong adds that the project, by constricting the area for water flow, will increase the tidal flow and river current, and wash away the soil in which the trees stand. “They won't be able to take it. They'll just topple over,” he says.

But a Singaporean marine biologist, who declined to be named, says that the project is well under way and has had no impact on the mangroves.

Other Singaporean researchers allege that Malaysia's real gripe about the project concerns the access of ships from its ports to shipping routes in the area's crowded seas.