10-year plan to keep S'pore green

Green Plan 2012, to be framed with help from focus groups, aims for adequate clean air, water and land in the long term

By Sharmilpal Kaur

TOURISM is a big money-spinner here but Singapore must take care that the seven million visitors each year do not put too much of a strain on the local environment.

This, and other important environmental concerns, are now being mulled over before they are included in the forthcoming Singapore Green Plan 2012, the country's environmental blueprint for the next 10 years.

According to Mr Lim Swee Say, the Acting Environment Minister, the new plan differs from its 1992 predecessor with its emphasis on sustainability.

While the focus in 1992 was on ensuring adequate clean air, water and land to meet short-term needs, the new strategy will look further down the road to guarantee that future supplies will be adequate as well, said Mr Lim yesterday while introducing the three focus groups which will help draft the new plan.

The focus groups will be headed by Mr Chia Wee Boon, managing director of Hewlett Packard Singapore, Nominated MP Simon Tay, and Professor Leo Tan, director of the National Institute of Education.

'I joined because I believe corporations need to be responsible to the environment and not just be mechanisms to make money,' said Mr Chia.

Their draft plan will be unveiled on Nov 10 as part of the Clean and Green Week activities, at which time the public will have three months to make comments before the plan is revised and submitted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in South Africa in September next year.

This summit represents the second such global affair, the first being the 1992 Earth Summit, held in Brazil.

Mr Lim, who will chair a national committee to prepare for the summit, told reporters that Singapore must make better and fuller use of its natural resources.

'For example, every drop of water can be used more than once and every piece of product or raw material can also be used more than once,' he said, adding that the recession could even provide opportunities for Singapore to expand its efforts in developing new environmental technologies.

On Singapore's environmental challenges, Prof Tan said: 'The larger the population in any country, the greater the stress on the environment because you always need more resources. And Singapore I see as a very small, fragile ecosystem.'

Prof Tan also said people here need to take more responsibility for their environment, and not just rely on others to clean up after them.