Singapore Faces Rare Public Protest Over Forest Rezoning for Housing

Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced last month that it intends to clear roughly 15 hectares of Maju Forest and at least 10 hectares of Gillman Forest to build new residential units, sparking an unusually vocal public backlash in a country where planning decisions are normally top‑down. The proposals have drawn more than 60,000 signatures on petitions and prompted a rally at Speakers’ Corner, the only venue where Singaporeans can legally assemble without a permit.

The plan to rezone the forested areas, part of the city‑state’s “City in Nature” strategy, has prompted residents, conservation groups and local politicians to question the balance between housing demand and environmental protection. HDB officials say the projects are needed to meet the oversubscribed demand for public housing, which is more than four times oversubscribed, according to Minister of State for National Development Alvin Tan. “Our choices are narrower than those faced by larger countries. We thus have to make the best use of our limited land,” Tan said in parliament.

Opposition has been led by long‑time Maju Forest resident Joanne Teoh, 68, who has documented the forest’s wildlife since 2021. Teoh told Al Jazeera that she fears the habitat will be lost “forever” if the plans proceed. “Even if you build homes on part of this forest, as my sons tell me, we don’t want to live beside the graveyard of a decimated ecosystem,” she said. A recent sighting of Himalayan vultures in the forest, a first for the birding community, has amplified the urgency of protecting the area, which hosts 113 animal species, including the critically endangered straw‑headed bulbul and the Sunda pangolin.

The debate has coincided with Singapore’s National Day on August 9, a time when the country reflects on its identity. “The debate has led to a rare bout of soul‑searching over what kind of progress Singapore wants to see,” said Rachel Tan, organiser of the independent advocacy group SG Climate Rally. Tan said the rally at Speakers’ Corner drew more than 2,000 people and highlighted a growing public awareness that environmental quality affects everyone’s wellbeing.

The government has responded by pledging to retain more green space than originally planned. The original proposals called for 40 % of Gillman Barracks Forest and 35 % of Maju Forest to be preserved. “We will work out exactly how much more, but we will have to accept that this means we can build fewer homes on both sites for fellow Singaporeans,” Tan said. The move follows earlier public pushback over the planned rezoning of Dover Forest, which led the government to keep a large portion as a nature park.

Singapore, which has branded itself a garden city since 1967, has committed to halting deforestation by 2030 under the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Yet a 2023 study in the journal *Sustainability* estimated that Singapore is on track to clear 7,331 hectares of forest for new development – 1.2 times the size of all its existing parks and nature reserves combined.

The conflict has also drawn attention to broader land‑use issues. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced plans during the National Day Rally to merge several southern islands into a larger landmass for industry, power infrastructure and defence, a move that will likely involve sand reclamation and could impact reefs, marine life and the heritage of the sea‑dwelling Orang Laut. Conservation groups have warned that the reclamation could damage remaining marine ecosystems.

Residents like Victoria, who moved to a housing estate near Gillman Forest partly for its natural surroundings, have taken to social media to organise support. Victoria, 30, started a Telegram group now near 800 members, helping neighbours navigate environmental assessments and draft feedback for authorities. “They can’t fight for themselves, so I figured I should do something,” she said.

The public response has forced the government to reconsider the trade‑off framing between housing and nature. While some activists argue that the government’s depiction of inevitable trade‑offs is misleading, it remains unclear whether the concessions will satisfy the growing demand for stronger environmental safeguards. Teoh has begun documenting the “consequences of progress” for Maju Forest on a dedicated Instagram account, hoping to preserve the forest’s legacy for future generations.