Singapore buckles down to hard work, post-Bali

Maria Almenoar, Strait Times 17 Dec 07;

"From a Singaporean perspective, this is what we always wanted. Mr Lee mentioned that everybody has to play a part"

HARD work is the order of the day now that the two-week- long climate change conference in Bali has ended.

Singapore's Minister for Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday that the Government will have to sit down over the next two years to plan its next steps.

Areas for discussion include how to assist developing countries and the enhancement of national plans.

'The framework is actually quite adequate but the devil will always be in the details.

'So for the next two years, the negotiators now have a very broad parameter...That's the right spirit, the right framework. So I'm glad we have managed to achieve it even at the 11th hour,' he said.

Mr Yaacob was speaking to reporters after a community event in Kolam Ayer to promote youth involvement in community activities.

The 'Bali road map' launches two more years of formal negotiations to spell out what each country will have to do to slow emissions of global warning gases after 2012, when the current deal, called the Kyoto Protocol, ends.

From Singapore's perspective, the resolution is something the Republic has always wanted, said Mr Yaacob.

'Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has always said that everybody must do their part - we must be a responsible member of the international community. What that part is now, is the part that we will have to discuss.'

He also said that keeping the four 'building blocks' of adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance in mind, countries will then have to go to back to the 'drawing board' to see how funds can be better used, if the money is enough and how it can be used to help developing countries, among other things.

Asked about Singapore's plans to build dykes to combat the rising water levels due to climate change, Mr Yaacob said studies were still being done.

It would take about two years, he said, to study how such a project would affect the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.

Only then could they look at adapting the technology the Dutch have used to suit our island.

The Government has already made contact with the Dutch to tap their expertise in building dykes.

Just Singapore's shade of green
Bali roadmap on climate change 'what Republic always wanted', says Minister Yaacob
Nazry Bahrawi Today Online 17 Dec 07;

It was an eleventh-hour resolution reached after more than two weeks of wrangling — and the new Bali roadmap on climate change, adopted by nearly 190 nations on Saturday, is what Singapore had always wanted, according to Minister for Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.

The reason? It calls for action from all quarters, an element earlier highlighted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"From a Singaporean perspective, this is what we always wanted. Mr Lee mentioned that everybody has to play a part," he told reporters on the sidelines of a community event at the Kolam Ayer Community Club yesterday.

Hailing the resolution as the "best draft", Dr Yaacob added that the devil is now in the details.

"Now we have to discuss what (each country's) part is," he said. "For developed countries, it is enhanced actions. For developing countries, it is national programmes."

Still, the new roadmap lacks specific targets, unlike its predecessor the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Following protests by the United States, Japan and others, negotiators on Saturday decided not to adopt a recommendation by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for industrial nations' emissions to be cut 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Instead, they agreed to negotiate, by 2009, countries' targets and a blueprint for fighting global warming. "That gives us a timeline," said Dr Yaacob.

Singapore is "very happy" the resolution includes projects to slow deforestation, he added. The Republic will continue to support regional initiatives to protect carbon sinks — forested regions — that offset the damage of global warming gases, he said.

Last month, Singapore set aside $1 million to fund anti-haze projects in the Indonesian province of Jambi in Riau. Norway and South Korea had offered suggestions to help with deforestation, while others have pledged money, Dr Yaacob noted. Still, the Adaptation Fund — of about $67 million — set aside to help developing countries deal with climate change "may not be enough".

Meanwhile, Dr Yaacob said, Singapore is studying "very seriously" the possibility of hosting the next Water Summit in 2009. The event is organised by the Asia Pacific Water Forum, which had, two weeks ago, invited Singapore to play host. The forum is chaired by Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh.

Dr Yaacob also said a high level committee, comprising scientists and ministry staff, is looking at the IPCC's findings, and refining these for Singapore — especially concerning the direct impact that rising sea levels will have on the Republic.

"When we are more confident of those figures, then can we talk about adaptation measures," said Dr Yaacob, who was speaking at Project Graffiti, a community event to make the Kolam Ayer Community Club more attractive to youths.