PART 3 | NATIONAL PARKS AND NATURE RESERVES |
| Establishment of national parks and nature reserves |
7.—(1) The areas designated in Part 1 of the Schedule are set aside as national parks.| (2) The areas designated in Part 2 of the Schedule are set aside as nature reserves. |
(3) National parks and nature reserves are set aside for all or any of the following purposes:| (a) | the propagation, protection and conservation of the trees, plants, animals and other organisms of Singapore, whether indigenous or otherwise; | | (b) | the study, research and preservation of objects and places of aesthetic, historical or scientific interest; | | (c) | the study, research and dissemination of knowledge in botany, horticulture, biotechnology, or natural and local history; and | | (d) | recreational and educational use by the public. |
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| Restricted activities in respect of trees, plants, etc., in national parks and nature reserves |
8.—(1) A person must not, except with the approval of the Commissioner granted under section 12 and in accordance with the terms and conditions of such approval, carry out any of the following activities within any national park or nature reserve:| (a) | cut, collect or displace any tree or plant or any part thereof; | | (b) | affix, set up or erect any sign, shrine, altar, religious object, shelter, structure or building; | | (c) | clear, break up, dig or cultivate any land; | | (d) | use or occupy any building, vehicle, boat or other property of the Board; or | | (e) | wilfully drop or deposit any dirt, sand, earth, gravel, clay, loam, manure, refuse, sawdust, shavings, stone, straw or any other matter or thing from outside the national park or nature reserve. |
| (2) A person must not carry out any activity within any national park or nature reserve which the person knows or ought reasonably to know causes or may cause alteration, damage or destruction to any property, tree or plant within the national park or nature reserve. |
| (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of $500 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction. |
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to —| (a) | the Commissioner, an authorised officer or a park ranger acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act; | | (b) | any other officer or employee of the Board acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act or any other written law; and | | (c) | any police officer or workman assisting a person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) to carry out his or her duty. |
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| Restricted activities in respect of animals, etc., in national parks and nature reserves |
9.—(1) A person must not, except with the approval of the Commissioner granted under section 12 and in accordance with the terms and conditions of such approval, carry out any of the following activities within any national park or nature reserve:| (a) | capture, displace or feed any animal; | | (b) | disturb or take the nest of any animal; | | (c) | collect, remove or wilfully displace any other organism; | | (d) | use any animal, firearm, explosive, net, trap, hunting device or instrument or means whatever for the purpose of capturing any animal; or | | (e) | carry or have in the person’s possession any explosive, net, trap or hunting device. |
| (2) A person must not carry out any activity within any national park or nature reserve which the person knows or ought reasonably to know causes or may cause injury to, or the death of, any animal or any other organism within the national park or nature reserve. |
(3) A person must not, except with the approval of the Commissioner granted under section 12 and in accordance with the terms and conditions of such approval —| (a) | bring or release into, or abandon any animal in, or cause any animal to be brought or released into, or abandoned in a nature reserve; | | (b) | release or abandon or cause any animal to be released or abandoned into any river, stream, canal or watercourse outside a nature reserve that the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, flows into or through the nature reserve; or | | (c) | permit any animal belonging to or under the charge of the person to stray into a nature reserve. [9/2017] |
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| (4) A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of $500 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction. |
(5) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) do not apply to —| (a) | the Commissioner, an authorised officer or a park ranger acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act; | | (b) | any other officer or employee of the Board acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act or any other written law; and | | (c) | any police officer or workman assisting a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) to carry out his or her duty. |
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| Destruction, damage, etc., of notices, boundary marks, etc. |
10.—(1) A person must not wilfully or negligently destroy, damage or deface any object of zoological, botanical, geological, ethnological, scientific or aesthetic interest within any national park or nature reserve.(2) A person must not —| (a) | destroy, damage, deface, alter or remove any notice or other sign erected by or on behalf of the Board within any national park or nature reserve; or | | (b) | knowingly destroy, damage, deface, alter or remove any boundary mark within any national park or nature reserve. |
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| (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000. |
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to —| (a) | the Commissioner, an authorised officer or a park ranger acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act; | | (b) | any other officer or employee of the Board acting in the performance of his or her duty under this Act or any other written law; and | | (c) | any police officer or workman assisting a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) to carry out his or her duty. |
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| Reinstatement notices as regards national parks and nature reserves |
11.—(1) Where it appears to the Commissioner that there has been a contravention of any provision of section 8, 9 or 10, the Commissioner may serve a reinstatement notice on a person who is carrying out or has carried out any activity in contravention of that provision requiring the person on whom it is served to carry out such repairs, work or alteration to any part of the national park or nature reserve as the Commissioner thinks fit to be carried out in order to remedy (wholly or in part) the contravention or to remedy any injury or damage to the national park or nature reserve caused by that contravention.(2) A reinstatement notice mentioned in subsection (1) may, in particular, require —| (a) | the alteration, demolition or removal of any sign, shrine, altar, religious object, shelter, structure or building; | | (b) | the carrying out of any building works or other operations; | | (c) | the cessation, either wholly or to the extent specified in the notice, of any activity; | | (d) | the removal from the national park or nature reserve of all property, material or animals used in connection with the contravention of section 8, 9 or 10, as the case may be; or | | (e) | the restoration of any part of the national park or nature reserve to its former state or, if such restoration is not reasonably practicable or is undesirable, the execution of such works as the Commissioner may specify in the notice to alleviate the effect of the contravention of section 8, 9 or 10, as the case may be. |
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| (3) A reinstatement notice must specify the date on which it is to take effect and the period (which runs from the date the reinstatement notice takes effect) within which any step required by the notice must be taken. |
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| Approval for restricted activities in national parks and nature reserves |
12.—(1) An application for approval to carry out or cause the carrying out of any activity referred to in section 8(1) or 9(1) or (3) must be made to the Commissioner in such form and manner as may be prescribed.| (2) The Commissioner may require an applicant to provide the Commissioner with such further information or documents as the Commissioner considers necessary in relation to the application for approval. |
(3) The Commissioner may, upon an application by any person for approval to carry out or cause the carrying out of any activity referred to in section 8(1) or 9(1) or (3) —| (a) | refuse to grant approval under this section; or | | (b) | grant approval under this section unconditionally or subject to such conditions as the Commissioner thinks fit. |
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(4) The Commissioner may, at any time, by written notice revoke any approval granted under this section if he or she is satisfied —| (a) | that any information given in the application for the approval or any document submitted to the Commissioner in respect of the application is false in a material particular; or | | (b) | that the person has failed to comply with any condition imposed under subsection (3)(b). |
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