As the Singapore Cruise Center (SCC) turned 20 yesterday, it gave itself the best present it could give: a good cause.
The cruise-terminal operator has teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness about the Coral Triangle in the neighbouring waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
When renovation of the SCC-owned HarbourFront cruise terminal wraps up in 2012, booths, donation boxes and educational material about the Coral Triangle will be rolled out.
These activities will also take place at SCC’s ferry terminals at Tanah Merah and Pasir Panjang, letting WWF’s message reach the five million passengers who pass through the three terminals each year.
They will get to know about the rich biodiversity of the waters here and how their actions can have an impact on the Coral Triangle eco-system and economies which rely on them.
The Coral Triangle is one of the largest centres of biodiversity in the world, carrying 75 per cent of the world’s coral population and over 2,000 species of reef fish.
‘If anything happens to the waters here, potentially six of the seven turtle species which rely on the Coral triangle will be wiped out,’ said WWF Singapore director of corporate engagement Carine Seror.
SCC chief executive officer Christina Siaw said that as more Asian travellers discover the charms of cruise travel, they would naturally head to the nearby Coral Triangle.
‘The message is going to dovetail with a lot of (cruising) traffic,’ she said. ‘It is a timely thing where we have to think about sustainability and to be responsible for our actions.’
Besides reaching out to the public, the SCC will work with its food and beverage tenants in HarbourFront Center to not serve species of seafood that are on the WWF’s ‘Avoid’ list.
Moreover, SCC will introduce the conservation message into a Maritime Passenger Service course it helped develop at the Institute of Technical Education in April next year.
In the future, Ms Siaw hopes that SCC will be able to enlist the help of cruise lines which berth at SCC’s terminals to minimise their impact to the Coral Triangle.
‘In the near future, there’s nothing to stop us from incentivising the cruise lines to be more environmentally conscious and to take steps to protect the environment,’ she said.
