Singapore to study threat of rising sea levels

Grace Chua Straits Times 30 Nov 10;

A STUDY will be done to map out those parts of Singapore's coastline being threatened by rising sea levels.

The Building and Construction Authority study, to be carried out by the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), will start next year and last until the end of 2013, says Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.

This will dovetail with an ongoing national climate change study, which has found that daily temperatures and mean sea levels could rise by the century's end.

Dr Yaacob spoke to reporters here yesterday just as a high-level United Nations climate meeting was starting in Cancun, Mexico. A Singapore negotiating team is already there preparing for the meeting, a follow-up to last year's Copenhagen talks. Dr Yaacob and Senior Minister S. Jayakumar will be representing Singapore at the summit.

Singapore's domestic policies to deal with climate change take two tacks: Mitigation measures to stave off climate change, and resilience measures to build bulwarks against its effects.

It faces the twin challenges of being a low-lying island state vulnerable to rises in sea level, and of lacking alternative energy resources like wind.

Besides the coastal risk-map study, Singapore has a separate study on carbon pricing, which is the practice of putting a sticker value on carbon emissions, whether through a tax or emissions trading.

Professor Jayakumar said carbon pricing is being studied closely because of the cost implications it will have.

NUS sustainability researcher Kua Harn Wei said that, to be effective, a carbon tax has to send a clear signal all the way to consumers' wallets: 'However, a cost-benefit analysis may indicate that such a tax can adversely affect the financial bottom line of a company. The challenge is how to reconcile the needs for economic competitiveness and greenhouse gas abatement.'

Carbon pricing aside, Singapore is testing solar panels on HDB blocks, improving its rail network and building cycling paths. It has also put in place measures and incentives such as a fund companies can tap to train energy managers and buy green technology.