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  Channel NewsAsia 28 Oct 05
Singapore on track for Green Plan 2012: ENV Minister
By Pearl Forss

MEWR NEWS RELEASE NO: 61/2005 28 Oct 05
MEWR Minister presents the SGP 2012 Award to six winners and launches "Our Environment Story" Exhibition

Channel NewsAsia 26 Oct 05
Clean and Green Week campaign to engage at least 250,000 people
 By Rita Zahara, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Fancy catching a bird's eye view of 120 countries in the heart of town? "Earth from Above", an aerial portrait of our planet, is one of the many highlights at this year's Clean and Green Week campaign.

The month-long campaign, to be launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on November 5, plans to engage some 250,000 people with activities from banana-boating to tree-climbing.

World-renowned French photographer and nature enthusiast Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been spreading environmental awareness messages through his pictures for the past 13 years. And Singapore is the first in Southeast Asia to host his works. This same exhibition has travelled to 70 other cities from Paris to Mexico City, London, Stockholm, Taipei, Budapest, Tokyo, Caracas, Chicago, Sao Paulo, Vienna and Geneva.

"People are not used to seeing our cities from the air. You drive everyday in your car on the street and you never see from the top," said Yann Arthus-Bertrand. "There are so many cars but it's not a big city. The distance is short. Why are there so few bicycles here?" he asked. Though Yann frowns upon the heavy traffic here, he is determined to include Singapore in his collection. Some 120 of his photographs will line the street from Liat Towers to Forum Galleria over the next three months.

Besides organising an outdoor photographic exhibition, this year's environment campaign also hopes to bond Singaporeans with water. For the first time, the launch of this year's campaign will be held in the waters of Bedok Reservoir.

And in the continued fight against dengue, it will also include educational messages for the young. Said Ng Meng Hiong, head of education and partnership at the National Environment Agency: "We have this inflatable mosquito sculpture for kids to play with and learn more about the features of mosquitoes. "We also have other innovative games and edutainment games that we've incorporated into the carnival to educate the kids."

The National Environment Agency and its partners will roll out over 300 activities island-wide from November 6.

Channel NewsAsia 28 Oct 05
Singapore on track for Green Plan 2012: ENV Minister
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Singapore is on track for its Green Plan 2012 but more still needs to be done, says Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim as he announced a slew of initiatives. Dr Yaacob was speaking at the launch of an environment exhibition at the National Library and the Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award on Friday.

Singaporeans currently use 162 litres of water per person per day and the government wants this reduced to 155 litres by 2012. To do so, it will encourage the installation of water-saving hardware such as dual-flush low capacity flushing cisterns in all new buildings.

And to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it wants to improve carbon intensity by 25 per cent by 2012 - when compared to 1990 levels. One way to do this is to make it mandatory for all major electrical appliances to meet minimum energy efficiency performance standards and to carry labels on their energy usage. In an online survey by the Ministry, 93 per cent of respondents support mandatory labelling on energy efficiency. The Ministry is now in the consultation process with the relevant stakeholders before any further legislation announcement.

A climate change action plan is also being developed. It will look at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and developing related industry and businesses.

To increase recycling, Singapore will now follow the practices of countries like Japan and Germany, where producers are made responsible for the environmental impact of their products. While the Ministry does not intend to legislate, it will work closely with producers to look into things like packaging design and proper recovery after disposal.

Another measure to promote cleaner environment is implementing a toilet grading system in hawker centres and coffee-shops.

Dr Yaacob said: "We talk a lot about environment ownership and that's the direction we want to take. Ultimately, I can get the company to do their parts, I can get the agencies to do their parts, but if Singaporeans continue to litter, waste water, waste energy, then we are in trouble."

Roy Adair, President and CEO of Senoko Power and Recipient of Singapore Green Plan Award, said: "We converted our old steam fire plant into state-of-the-art combined gas turbine. We have managed to reduce green house gas emissions by two-and-a-half million tonnes per annum. The project cost us S$600 million to implement but it positioned us for the future."

Professor Leo Tan, Chairman of NParks and Recipient of Singapore Green Plan Award, said: "We embarked on a project of re-establishing the mangrove that was there before they joined up two islands to form Semakau landfill. "At 13.5 hectares, it is one of the first projects in the world where we rebuilt a mangrove forest that had to be destroyed because of the reclamation. "Right now around the world, with the tsunami in Phuket and Sri Lanka, although it was sad that a lot of the mangrove was destroyed, it is not impossible to regenerate."

Other recipients include Dunman Secondary School, the National Youth Achievement Award Council, the South West Community Development Council and City Developments Limited.

The Green Plan 2012 is Singapore's blueprint for environmental sustainability.

MEWR NEWS RELEASE NO: 61/2005 28 Oct 05
MEWR Minister presents the SGP 2012 Award to six winners and launches "Our Environment Story" Exhibition

1. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, presented the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) 2012 Award to six recipients and launched “Our Environment Story” Exhibition today, at 4.00pm at the National Library at Victoria Street. Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award

2. The SGP 2012 Award was launched in 2004 to recognise outstanding individuals, organisations and companies that have contributed significantly to Singapore's efforts towards achieving environmental sustainability, and are role models for environmental protection. The SGP 2012 is Singapore's blueprint for environmental sustainability.

Six SGP awards were given out last year. Six award winners for 2005 3. Out of the 59 nominations received from 30 May to end July 2005, six were chosen by the SGP 2012 Award Selection Panel as 2005 award winners. The evaluation took into consideration inputs of representatives from the 3P (public, private and people) sectors.

The winners are:

Individuals:

a. Professor Leo Tan - for his sustained contributions in educating students, teachers and the public on marine biology and biodiversity conservation.

Organisations:

b. Dunman Secondary School - for its proactive efforts in promoting and practising waste recycling, both within the school and with other schools.

c. National Youth Achievement Award Council - for its continual efforts in grooming and nurturing youths to be environmental champions.

d. South West Community Development Council - for its proactive efforts in encouraging South West residents to take ownership of public health. Companies:

e. City Developments Limited – for developing environmentally-friendly properties, managing buildings in environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient ways, and fostering the community's environmental awareness and practices.

f. Senoko Power Limited - for its industry-leading efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emission from electricity generation, and school outreach programmes.

“Our Environment Story”: Singapore Green Plan 2012 Exhibition

4. “Our Environment Story” Exhibition is part of the SGP2012 three-yearly review. It presents: a. Singapore's environment story in six areas under the SGP2012 - Clean Air, Clean Water, Waste Management, Conserving Nature, Public Health, and International Environmental Relations, together with some new ideas suggested from the three-yearly review of the SGP2012; b. inspiring, personal environment stories of 38 Singaporeans; and c. tips on what each of us can do for our environment today.

Exhibition details

5. “Our Environment Story” will be exhibited for more than a month from 29 October till 4 December 2005 at the National Library, Victoria Street (29 Oct to 4 Nov), Singapore Science Centre (8 to 19 Nov), Toa Payoh Town Centre, HDB Hub Mall (21 to 27 Nov) and Jurong Regional Library (29 Nov to 4 Dec). Admission is free. Throughout the first week of the exhibition at the National Library, Victoria Street, there will also be environmental talks by representatives from the People and Private sectors to share tips, experiences in environmental programmes, and information on key issues. Share your environment story!

6. The public are invited to share their environment story - what they are doing for our environment today and/or their wish for the environment through the SGP2012 website at: http://www.mewr.gov.sg/sgp2012/ Focus Groups' Key Ideas Accepted

7. The three Focus Groups formed as part of the review since April have submitted their final recommendations in August, to the SGP2012 Coordinating Committee, chaired by Permanent Secretary (Environment and Water Resources). MEWR has since been studying their recommendations.

8. The following are selected key recommendations MEWR is in-principle supportive of. MEWR will consult relevant parties and study the details of these recommendations before implementing them, together with our 3P (Public, Private, People) partners.

Air and climate change

a. Aim to improve carbon intensity of our economy by 25% compared to 1990 levels by 2012.

b. Raise greater awareness on the important issue of climate change.

c. Explore making it compulsory for all major electrical appliances like air-conditioners and refrigerators to meet minimum energy efficiency performance standards and to carry labels on their energy usage.

Water

d. Reduce Singapore's per capita domestic water consumption from 162 litres per day in 2004 to 155 litres per day by 2012.

e. Encourage the installation of water-saving hardware such as dual-flush low capacity flushing cisterns in residential, commercial and industrial premises.

f. Partner the 3P sectors to generate better awareness on the importance of conserving, valuing and enjoying water and develop a sense of shared ownership towards our water resources. g. Introduce a Code of Conduct for regular users of our reservoirs and waterways.

Clean Land, Nature and Public Health

h. Promote producer responsibility in minimising waste, including product packaging.

i. Implement a Toilet Grading System for toilets in hawker centres and coffeeshops.

9. The SGP2012 will be updated, incorporating accepted Focus Group recommendations in early 2006. The SGP2012 action programme committees, with relevant government agencies, will look into implementing the revised action programmes. About the Singapore Green Plan 2012 three-yearly review

10. The three-yearly review was started by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources from 22 April 2005 to ensure that environmental strategies, targets and action programmes mapped out in the SGP2012 remain robust in the face of emerging environmental challenges. More than 3,000 Singaporeans have participated in the review so far. Key review milestones

11. To reach out to a wide spectrum of Singaporeans, views from our 3P (Public, Private, People) stakeholders have been actively sought. The key milestones of the review are:

a. April 2005: Three Focus Groups on Air and Climate Change, Water, and Clean Land, Nature and Public Health were formed, each meeting more than five times and separately consulted industry and interest groups.

b. May 2005: 2,800 gave their feedback through the Internet environment survey. The issue of Climate Change was discussed at the first Climate Change Roundtable on 27 May 2005.

c. July 2005: A lively public forum attended by 200 people was chaired by Dr Amy Khor, Chairman of MEWR's Government Parliamentary Committee, and the six Focus Group co-chairpersons, to discuss the Focus Groups' interim ideas.

d. August 2005: The Focus Groups submitted their final recommendations to the SGP2012 Coordinating Committee, chaired by Permanent Secretary (Environment and Water Resources). MEWR has since been studying their recommendations.

e. October – December 2005: Key ideas from the review are presented, together with Singapore's overall environmental strategies in “Our Environment Story” Exhibition from 29 October to 4 December 2005. f. Early 2006: The SGP2012 will be updated, incorporating accepted Focus Group recommendations. The SGP2012 action programme committees, with relevant government agencies, will look into implementing the revised action programmes.

About the Singapore Green Plan 2012

12. Launched in August 2002, the Singapore Green Plan 2012 (SGP2012) is Singapore's 10-year blueprint towards environmental sustainability. With a highly focused and action-oriented approach jointly formulated by partners in the 3P (People, Private, Public) sectors, the plan sets out Singapore's response to the challenges of sustaining a quality environment while pursuing economic progress.
links
More about the Singapore Green Plan 2012 on the Ministery of Environment and Water Resources website.
Related articles on Singapore: general environmental issues and Singapore: reduce, reuse, recycle
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