Grooming the next lot of green ambassadors

Trio win Iceland trip to learn about climate change
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 28 May 09;

MR LIM Jun Ying, 21, has been a nature lover as long as he can remember.

When he was 15, he organised more than 30 'expeditions' for friends and peers to the Sungei Buloh and Bukit Timah nature reserves, to share his passion for the diverse species of animals and plants that thrive within these treasured eco-systems.

And during his college days, the former National Junior College student also initiated a project to collect 10kg of can tabs from family and friends, which were subsequently sent to Thailand to be recycled into prosthetic limbs for landmine victims.

He will pursue his passion for nature by reading zoology at Imperial College London in October.

He is among three youth to be selected for a seven-day trip to Iceland in July, to learn about the effects of melting ice glaciers on the environment.

They had won the HSBC/National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) Council's Youth Environmental Award, a decade- old award which recognises young people who have distinguished themselves through their leadership and commitment to environmental causes.

HSBC sponsored the trip for Mr Lim, together with fellow winners - National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduate Chen Zhirong, 23, and former Singapore Polytechnic student Daniel Chiam, 25 - to the tune of $9,000.

During the expedition, they will assist scientists in collecting and analysing glacial sediments, as well as learning about the consequences of glacial melting, such as the threat of flooding.

The three winners received a warm send-off from Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, and 175 students from schools and tertiary institutions such as Loyang Secondary, Cedar Girls', Singapore Polytechnic and NUS, at a ceremony held at the Environment Building yesterday.

Mr Guy Harvey-Samuel, chief executive officer of HSBC Singapore, told The Straits Times: 'The two important words here are youth and environment.

'Climate change is not going to be solved by my generation. We need to give the next generation every encouragement to understand the issues and to work with people who have the skills to solve those issues themselves.'

Professor Leo Tan, chairman of the NYAA Council, added: 'In an isolated world, we want to transform our youth into world citizens by equipping them with the skills to help build Singapore as a sustainable city; while helping them realise that what happens in one part of the world, such as the breaking of an iceberg for example, can have an impact on what happens at home.'

Mr Lim is looking forward to the experience.

'I hope to see how scientists gather and interpret data...It is very interesting because they are trained to be objective.'

Fellow participant Mr Chiam, an administration executive, is preparing for the physical challenges of the trip by running three times a week.

'We have been told to be prepared to walk more than 8km every day in extremely cold weather...so I will have to step up my fitness level,' he said.