HIDDEN_ADDENDA, MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT & WATER RESOURCES

MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES: DR YAACOB IBRAHIM

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources

Building a quality living environment

Through years of careful environmental management, we have built a clean, green and healthy living environment that has benefited all Singaporeans. Our sound management of the environment has garnered international recognition and is an important factor in attracting investors, tourists and talent to Singapore.

Moving ahead, we will continue to work closely with the community and businesses to enhance Singapore as a model city for environmental sustainability, where all can share and enjoy our environmental and water resources, whilst pursuing robust economic growth.

Ensuring water for all

With the construction of the Marina Reservoir and other new reservoir schemes, our local water catchment areas will be significantly enlarged. This, together with continuing expansion of our NEWater production capacity and investment in new technologies, will ensure the sustainability and resilience of our water supply. We will also continue to work with the community and businesses to promote water conservation and manage the demand for water.

Through the Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters Programme, we will enhance the quality of life by creating more aesthetically pleasing community spaces for everyone to enjoy. We will facilitate more water-based lifestyle activities in the waterways and waterbodies, adding to the vibrancy of our living environment.

Upholding high public health standards

We will continue to actively monitor our ambient air quality and put in place measures to ensure that the air quality is one of the best among major cities around the world.

To maintain a high standard of public cleanliness, the Ministry will step up efforts and work with the community to keep public premises litter-free, in addition to continuing efforts on public education and enforcement. We will strengthen our surveillance and vector-control programmes in partnership with the community to prevent and curb the spread of dengue and other vector-borne diseases.

We will also intensify efforts to encourage households to take greater ownership to reduce, re-use and recycle, and work with industry to minimise the volume of waste generated.

Addressing climate change concerns

Climate change is one of the major environmental challenges of our time. We have consulted extensively with our stakeholders in developing our national climate change strategy. The Ministry will identify the necessary adaptation and mitigation measures to better respond to the challenges posed by rapid and disruptive climate change.

Through public awareness programmes, we will encourage everyone to play an active part in protecting our environment through energy efficiency and conservation. This will ultimately translate to cost savings for industry and households.

Seizing opportunities in the environment and water industry

A vibrant environmental and water industry in Singapore creates business and job opportunities for Singaporeans. We will attract global research laboratories and companies to Singapore, groom local companies and build up a pool of specialist manpower to lead in research and commercialisation of new technologies.

We will also leverage on the expertise and excellent track record that we have built up over the years to offer environmental and water capabilities and services to meet growing demands in the region and beyond. In doing so, we will work with strategic international partners to respond to the needs in various overseas markets.

Engaging the community

We will reinforce our close partnerships with the 3P (People, Private, Public) sectors to strengthen the community ownership of environmental and water initiatives. We will reach out more to young Singaporeans to tap their ideas and energy on issues like recycling, water conservation and public cleanliness.

Hawker centres are a special feature of Singapore and our way of life. We will continue to upgrade hawker centres and engage the stakeholders to organise more activities in and around the hawker centres.

Through our efforts to further deepen commitment among Singaporeans to the environment, we will make Singapore a city which citizens can be proud of, and which residents and visitors find attractive. In doing so, we will achieve a higher quality of life for ourselves and future generations.