Green study disregards Singapore's circumstances

Straits Times Forum 19 May 10;

THE study by the National University of Singapore and the University of Adelaide reported in Friday's article ('Is Singapore the worst environmental offender?') ranked Singapore, with Japan, Denmark, New Zealand and Iceland, among the 20 worst-ranked countries on proportional environmental impact.

The 10 best-ranked countries were Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Swaziland, Antigua and Barbuda, Niger, Grenada, Samoa, Tonga, Djibouti and Tajikistan.

However, the study compares cities like Singapore with large countries such as Australia, Britain and Japan. A more realistic comparison would be with cities like Sydney, London or Tokyo.

It is surprising that many of the findings are not borne out by facts.

For example, Singapore is ranked fourth worst in its water pollution index. It ignores our investing in a comprehensive used-water network to ensure that all used water is collected and treated prior to discharge into the watercourse.

Our treated used water meets even more stringent standards than the European Union's.

The study grossly inflates Singapore's emissions by including emissions from bunker fuels sold to ships and aircraft transiting Singapore.

This deviates from internationally accepted norms and unfairly penalises Singapore, which is a major international maritime and aviation hub. Under the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention for Climate Change, emissions from international bunker sales are excluded because the emissions take place outside of Singapore.

In fact, Singapore reduced its carbon intensity by 40 per cent from 1990 to 2007.

One author (Navjot Sodhi) claimed that Singapore lost 90 per cent of its forests due to rapid development in the last 30 years. This is untrue. Much original forest cover was lost prior to Singapore's independence in 1965. To preserve what remained, we have by law conserved nature reserves and implemented species recovery programmes.

This, together with an islandwide network of parks and streetscape, enabled Singapore's green cover to grow to almost 50 per cent of the island. Despite rapid development, we have retained a diversity of flora and fauna, including more than 2,000 native plant species and 350 bird species. We continue to discover new species and re-discover species previously thought extinct.

We recognise the need for a scientifically credible and robust evaluation tool to measure biodiversity conservation efforts in cities. That is why Singapore is developing a City Biodiversity Index, in partnership with the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity, as a tool for cities to evaluate their progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.

The index will be a more appropriate index to evaluate biodiversity and good governance in cities.

Mr Philip Ong
Director (Strategic Policy)
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

Mr Lim Chee Hwee
Director (Infrastructure)
Ministry of National Development

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