Two new parks will be part of a nature corridor that connects the Central Nature Park Network and the future Tengah Forest Corridor.

The first, Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park, will be located between Bukit Batok West Avenue 2 and Bukit Batok West Avenue 5. The 8.9ha facility, about the size of 12 football fields, is slated to open in 2024.

The second, the 16ha Bukit Batok Central Nature Park, will be in the forested area next to the Civil Service Club @ Bukit Batok, but its launch date has not been set.

The two parks will be part of the newly announced Bukit Batok Nature Corridor, which will consist of over 125ha of nature parks and 10km of trails, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee yesterday.

The National Parks Board (NParks) said it has been working with other agencies on linking Tengah and the Central Catchment area since 2014, with other features in the corridor, like the Bukit Gombak Park, set to open next year.

Mr Lee said the parks act as stepping stones within the existing network of green spaces between Bukit Timah and Tengah, and provide food and shelter for native flora and fauna to thrive.

He also acknowledged that there have been concerns about the impact of upcoming developments in Bukit Batok and Tengah on biodiversity in these areas, and said the Government aims to strike a balance between development and nature conservation in its planning approach.

One result of such an approach is the upcoming Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park. The Ministry of National Development said in October that it conducted an environmental impact assessment to guide the development of the site, and engaged members of the nature community in August last year on the development of the Bukit Batok Hillside Nature Park area, adding that their feedback and suggestions shaped the findings and recommendations of the study.

It also said then that both the stream and a catchment area will be retained in the future park, as per the study's recommendations, which nature groups supported. The two features lie in an area that was rezoned from residential use to park use in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Masterplan.

Mr Lee yesterday also announced enhancements to the Dairy Farm Nature Park, which is located in Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan's Cashew ward in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and part of the Central Nature Park Network. A new exhibition at the Wallace Education Centre, located in Dairy Farm Nature Park, was opened by Mr Lee yesterday.

It is the largest permanent exhibition in Singapore on British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that introduces visitors to Wallace and his theories of evolution and natural selection, NParks said. The centre is open every Tuesday to Sunday from 8.30am to 5pm.

Also part of the enhancements is an extension to the Wallace Trail within the park from the original 1km to 2.2km. The extended trail stretches to Hillview MRT station, and includes a new deck that gives visitors an unobstructed view of the secondary forest in Dairy Farm Nature Park. It is open from 7am to 7pm daily.

Together with six other nature parks and the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment nature reserves, the Dairy Farm Nature Park is part of the Central Nature Park Network. Mr Lee said they "act as buffers to protect our central nature reserves, which are some of the richest sources of our natural capital, against the impact of urbanisation".

An eighth park - Rifle Range Nature Park - will join the network when it opens in 2022.

Besides enjoying the parks, the public is encouraged to contribute to green spaces and corridors.

Opportunities include tree planting and habitat enhancement activities under NParks' One Million Trees movement, which was launched in April and aims to plant more than a million trees in Singapore over a decade.

To support the propagation and nurturing of saplings planted under the movement, at least 10 community nurseries will be set up across the island over the next three years, including one at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and another at Pasir Panjang Nursery.

The first such nursery was launched yesterday at Dairy Farm Nature Park, where volunteers can grow nature plants that were collected as seeds or wildlings on trails in the area. When they reach a suitable maturity, the saplings will then be replanted in the forest.

The nursery was set up with the support of a $160,000 donation from HSBC to NParks' registered charity, the Garden City Fund.