EARTH DAY - ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Channel: A Singaporean
Date: 2021-04-22

EARTH DAY - ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Singapore will face more dangers from climate change as it continues. 

Immediate Danger - Flash Floods

Rainstorms will grow more frequent and intense, threatening to overwhelm our drainage systems. Just last Saturday, flash floods occurred in Ulu Pandan, as 110% of rain normally seen in a month fell on Singapore in one day. On that day, drains and canals in western Singapore exceeded 90% of their capacity, placing much of Singapore in harm's way.

Our response to this is to continue building more drainage improvement works, widening and deepening canals, improving rainwater storage systems and using Diversion Canals to redirect rainwater away from overwhelmed areas.

Long-Term Danger - Sea Level Rise

Singapore and the rest of ASEAN will be threatened by rising sea levels. When the polar ice melts due to global warming, places along the equator, like Singapore, will face disproportionately higher sea level rise.

The rate of sea level rise is also expected to accelerate from a few millimetres per year right now to a few centimetres per year if nothing is done to curb global warming.

By the end of this century, sea levels will rise here by 5 metres, partially submerging East Coast Park and even the Sports Hub.

Singapore has a two-pronged strategy to tackle this pressing issue.

First of all, we will take the relatively cheaper option of utilising the environment to create natural barriers. Mangroves, which can be found at our shores, help to resist the rising tide by reducing coastal erosion, as the plants have roots that hold on to soil, preventing the dirt at our coasts from slowly being chipped away into the sea. Mangroves are also 3 times more effective than taking in carbon dioxide than forests, making them a key contributor in the fight against global warming. Mangroves all over Southeast Asia are however being threatened as they cannot relocate inland due to urban development and resource exploitation reducing suitable soil available for them to escape to, hence wiping many of them out as sea levels rise.

The second approach to the issue is to implement hard engineering solutions, such as sea walls and stone embankments, that currently already protect 70% our coastline, as well as elevation of critical infrastructure, such as Changi Airport Terminal 5 and Tuas Port, keeping them safe from harm.

Singaporeans are encouraged to write into the coastal protection department of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) for ideas on how to protect the sustainability of our coastlines.

Singapore's Role in solving Climate Change

Singapore aims to become a climate solution hub by investing in research on the relatively underdeveloped field of climate science in tropical regions. This will allow us to develop more accurate models of sea level rise for this region, reducing our dependence on less reliable global forecasts. The National Sea Level Programme under the Centre for Climate Research Singapore is working with many regional non-governmental organisations and officials to preserve natural habitats.

Singapore also introduced the Singapore Green Plan 2030, which provides financing for sustainable and renewable projects, with the sustainability sector expected to create 55 thousand jobs over the next decade. Singapore's Green and Sustainability Linked Loan Grant Scheme will help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce the cost of obtaining Green Loans.

The development of sustainable smart cities worldwide is needed, as cities produce 75% of all carbon emissions worldwide. This means that efficient energy usage in cities is crucial in saving the environment and providing cost savings. Singapore, which is aiming to become a sustainable smart city, will encourage the adoption of electric vehicles by deploying 60 thousand charging points, requiring cars on the road be clean-energy models by 2030, and then phasing out all internal combustion engine models by 2040. 

Singapore will also install 5 times the current number of solar panels on HDB flat rooftops by 2030, with the ability to power 350 thousand households at peak energy output. Singapore will additionally serve as a commercial test hub for green technologies like hydrogen and battery storage capabilities.

Because Singapore lacks land for traditional agriculture, we will continue constructing vertical farms and sustainable aquaculture through the $60 million Agri-Food Cluster Transformation Fund. Singapore will also serve as a plant-protein production hub, as well as a plant-protein and cell-cultured protein research hub for the region.