one of the first notions of biosphere reserves in singapore was thought up by the then-singapore botanical gardens supritendent n. c. cantley who, in 1882, proposed that select areas of land be preserved. in as early as 1883, the bukit timah nature reserve (as it is now known) was established, making it the inaugural biosphere reserve in singapore. the singapore nature reserves act officially came into action in 1971. in 1984, biosphere reserves took up some of the country's land. this figure has been increased to , as of 2009.