Singaporeans' views sought in national climate change exercise

Photo credit: morguefile

Climate change has promised to be one of the major environmental problems that will beset us in the coming years.

The question of what a small country like Singapore can do was higlighted by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on 7 September, who announced the launch of a public consultation exercise by the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) and agencies under the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change (IMCCC).

DPM Teo, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, said e-consultations, focus discussion groups and public forums with community development councils will be held. This will seek views on how the city-state can address climate change issues in the areas of households, transport, business & industries, and cleantech opportunities. The feedback will help towards setting out the National Climate Change Strategy 2012, intended to articulate the government’s climate change-related policies and measures.

The paper, slated for a mid-2012 release, will outline the country's national strategy on how to tackle climate change and reach the unconditional mitigation target of 7-11 percent below business as usual (BAU) levels come 2020.

In his speech, DPM Teo said: "Climate change is a long-term and complex issue which affects all of us and our future generations. To address climate change effectively, we will require a national approach with the people, private and public sectors each playing its part. Through the consultations, we will incorporate ideas from individuals, businesses and the community into the national effort to address climate change."

The full speech can be found here.

During the event, prizes were also presented to the winning teams in the inaugural National Climate Change Competition 2011 organised by NCCS, and supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE), National Environment Agency (NEA) and the National Youth Achievement Award Council of Singapore (NYAAC). Over 140 entries were received, with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) beating the rest for the opportunity to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference in Durban, South Africa, in December this year.

Source: Singapore International Energy Week