Green challenges thrown up at "Youth for Environment Day" forum

Vimita Mohandas Channel NewsAsia 18 Apr 13;

Organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the event also sought to get youths thinking about ideas to create a sustainable future for Singapore.

SINGAPORE: Some 300 youths participated in the first forum aimed at encouraging them to take ownership of the environment.

Organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the event also sought to get youths thinking about ideas to create a sustainable future for Singapore.

Some of the questions thrown up: Will the country's reservoirs be depleted as the population grows? Does Singapore have plans to use renewable energy? How to keep Singapore clean?

Environment and Water Resources Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said lessons can be learnt from Japan. He related his personal experience.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "I asked a diplomat, 'I want to meet the street cleaner in Japan' and the answer was 'No, you cannot'. I said, 'Why can't I meet the street cleaner?' There aren't any street cleaners, so that made me puzzled because the streets are so clean.

"In Japan, everyone owns the street. In Japan, there's very powerful peer pressure. They are not afraid to go up to you and say you should not do this."

Some youths also shared their personal experiences when embarking on green projects.

One such project was Participate in Design, where two architecture students aim to give the community a greater say in the design of their neighbourhood.

Jan Lim, co-founder of the project, said: "For a typical architectural project, you have your paying clients, industry professionals and consultants. But for us, we always thought that the missing people were the users, the public and the wider community - where do they come in? We are trying to create ways for them to contribute as equals in their own right. They are experts of their own environment and that's what we see in them."

The project kickstarted in the MacPherson community where they worked closely with residents and stakeholders during the design process. They also came up with another project called Safe Street - a proposal to make changes in the streets to make it more safe.

Participants in Thursday's forum also broke into smaller groups for discussions where they brainstormed and presented their ideas. The best ideas will be finetuned in the next month as participants discuss how their solutions could be carried out in the community and how they would like to get involved.

- CNA/ir