Inspiring Singaporeans to take ownership of conservation

Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 24 Oct 11;

SINGAPORE : The new Clean and Green Singapore 2012 campaign wants to appeal to individuals' emotional links with the environment, to encourage more people to do their part for conservation.

The annual campaign will be launched this weekend.

"World Without Fences" won the National Environment Agency's (NEA) Eco-Music Challenge in August.

Produced by NEA, the music video was partially filmed on Pulau Semakau, an offshore landfill with scenic landscaping and vibrant biodiversity.

Organisers of the Clean and Green Singapore campaign hopes the video will appeal to viewers.

Pun Wui Mei, chair person of Clean & Green Singapore 2012, said: "We hope that through this emotional connection, people will actually have this desire, this feel to really care for the environment. That means they will start (taking) action. For example, they can start using fans instead of air-conditioning...all these little ways count."

Organisers hope people will recognise that small individual efforts count towards making a big difference by the community.

They said that while environmental awareness among Singaporeans is high, the challenge is to get them to put this into action.

So they are taking a "ground-up approach" this time round, by getting community groups, non-governmental organisations and schools to share their green efforts with individuals at the campaign's launch carnival, to inspire them to do their part.

Ms Pun said: "Involving the community, involving the community volunteers is also another way of emotional links that we hope to achieve because it is not what the National Environment Agency says, it is not what the agencies want to educate, but rather, this year, we hope to get the community volunteers to be the face, to be the voice.

"By sharing their experiences, we will create this emotional link between the community and the residents. So through this, they can start to translate what they know into actions because people have done it before, so they can do it too."

In conjunction with the Clean and Green Singapore campaign, the National Parks Board (NParks) is adding five new DIY trail guides to the existing 23 over the next two months. These will highlight historical landmarks and interesting flora and fauna. NParks started these trail guides last year and said they were popular among park users.

The new guides will cover Admiralty Park, Changi Point Coastal Walk, Lower Peirce and the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The guides can be found on NParks' website, and it said there have been more than 40,000 downloads for the guides in the first nine months of the year.

- CNA/cc/ms

NParks launches teaching aids for schools
Kezia Toh Straits Times 25 Oct 11;

TEACHERS can now use learning packages from the National Parks Board's (NParks') website to teach their students about conservation and biodiversity at parks and nature reserves here.

For example, students in history class can learn about the role of Labrador Nature Reserve in Singapore's maritime and defence history, and how the area was transformed from a thick coastal mangrove forest into what it is today.

Science and geography groups, meanwhile, can use a package on the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to learn about migratory birds and other wildlife there.

The lesson plans and worksheets are free to download, and are tailored for pupils and students aged from seven to 16.

The initiative was launched by NParks yesterday, in conjunction with the Clean and Green Singapore campaign.

It will benefit more than 300 primary and secondary schools.

There are currently eight learning packages, but NParks plans to expand this number to 20 by the first quarter of next year. They are also available on the Ministry of Education's 'Edumall' and its national education website.

Students have to cover pre-requisites in the regular syllabus before jumping into the material.

To begin the first lesson in the Fort Canning Park package, for example, students have to have studied the history of Singapore in their history syllabus, and natural vegetation in geography.

'It is linked closely to the regular syllabus, which is helpful because it makes itself so relevant,' said secondary school teacher Grace Tay, 25.

'But with so much material on the curriculum for kids these days, I am not sure I would have class time to cover the extra material.'

The Clean and Green Singapore campaign aims to use grassroots community campaigns to spread the message that individuals need only make a small effort to make a big difference to the environment.

Its activities include a recycling drive and workshops teaching people skills such as making soap from used cooking oil.

The long-running campaign was launched in 1990 as Clean and Green Week, and was rebranded as Clean and Green Singapore in 2007.

Over the years, it has evolved from a government-led campaign to one that reaches out more to the community - for example, by partnering Community Development Councils.

Clean and Green Singapore 2012 will be officially launched this Saturday by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at Petir Park in Bukit Panjang.