Why mudflats are vital for dwindling numbers of birds that stop over seasonally.

Synopsis (headphones recommended): In this new 4-part environment podcast series for 2024 - Green Trails - The Straits Times hits the ground with experts in spaces that are critical to the interlinked crises the planet faces: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. The next episode drops in June.

For this inaugural episode, our team heads to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the local haven for birds that travel across the world to refuel at.

The society - one of the island's oldest non-governmental organisations - convinced the government to preserve Sungei Buloh as a wetland reserve by showing officials the diversity of birds that depend on the spot.

ST journalist Ang Qing takes a walk with representatives from the Nature Society (Singapore) - Veronica Foo and Tan Gim Cheong.

They talk about the lesser-known Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat, which is key to supporting the thousands of migratory shorebirds that stop over in Singapore between August and March, and why it should also receive full protection from the law.