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Green Plans in Action: Singapore: Management Strategies
Comprehensive Framework
Impacts of all developments on the environment are assessed and considered before development is allowed to proceed. The Pollution Control Department (PCD) is consulted and ensures new buildings are properly sited with the surrounding land use, and that industries will not pose unmanageable health and safety hazards or pollution problems. The Environmental Pollution Control Act (EPCA 1999) consolidated previous separate laws on air, water, and noise pollution and hazardous substances control, providing a comprehensive legislative framework for the control of environmental pollution. (More)
Urban Planning
Due to land scarcity and a dense population, a major component of Singapore's national land use planning authority, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), is to avoid land wastage. Through land reclamation, Singapore has grown at least 100 sq.km. from its original size before 1819. By combining facilities, land use is intensified, such as placing train and bus stations over each other, locating stormwater collection ponds under road flyovers, building stack factories, and underground facilities. Use of new technologies minimizes constraints on development, such as cleaner power station fuel reducing buffer zones of pollutive facories, and placing pollutive industries off shore. Judicious land use planning, with mostly high-rise buildings, and efficiently placed public transport and public amenities have enabled Singapore to enjoy strong economic growth and social cohesion with land safeguarded to support continued economic progress and future development. (More)
Transparency
Singapore is perceived to have the least corrupt public sector among Asian nations, and has a great deal of economic transparency, but less in the way of political transparency. It is ranked 5th worldwide according to the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2006. Many of Singapore's government efforts specifically include anti-corruption measures, involving numerous agencies striving not just to investigate and punish but also to inculcate values through training, publicity and other measures. These efforts are allied to concepts of good governance, laws and practices that contribute to transparency, integrity, efficiency, accountability and rationality in Singapore society. The extent to which they function in providing a high quality of service to the citizens and residents gives Singapore a competitive economic advantage and an ethos of meritocracy and fairness.
In Harmony with Nature
In seeking to balance industrial and residential needs with its environmental inheritance, Singapore has developed environmental policies with a strategic land-use plan to assure green space for rest and recreation in the midst of an urban city-state setting. These sites are identified as Nature Areas within Nature Reserves and follow three main principles: they must be rich in biodiversity, mature and not transient sites, and they must be sustainable. Active management measures in the larger Nature Reserves include reforestation of degraded areas, re-introduction of indigenous species, and continued enhancement of indigenous ecosystems. Revised targets resulting from the 2005 Report include establishment of more parks and green linkages, with educational and outreach centers and activities. (More)
Product Stewardship and Polluter Pays
A term used to describe a product-centered approach to environmental protection, product stewardship seeks to put some of the costs and responsibility back onto the producers and consumers of the products. This system leads to improvements in air and water quality as well as in the waste management system, as evidenced by the Singapore National Environmental Agency's (NEA) work with NGOs and industry associations in the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Program. (More...) In addition, NEA is working with industry to adopt cost-effective solutions for reducing packaging waste, which makes up about one-third of household waste. The government reached a Voluntary Packaging Agreement with manufacturers in June 2007 to use less packaging or opt for packaging materials that can be recycled. In conjunction with product stewardship, Singapore has adopted the 'Polluter Pays Principle', whereby a polluter bears the cost of mitigating pollution.
Four National Taps
Diversification of water supplies has resulted in the "Four Taps Strategy". The first tap refers to catchments, an integrated series of 14 reservoirs and extensive drainage system to channel stormwater into reservoirs and minimize flooding. It includes a Reservoir Integration Scheme to pump excess water from one reservoir to another for storage. The second tap is importation of water from Malaysia under two water agreements. Innovation and recent technological advances have created an affordable third tap of desalination for the island state. The fourth tap is reclaimed "NEWater" resulting 100% sewered water being processed through a comprehensive sewerage reticulation network and treated to acceptable effluent discharge standards at Water Reclamation Plants. It is then passed through advanced membrane technologies to a potable standard, confirmed by more than 30,000 scientific tests.
Tax Incentive Schemes
Intended to lower business costs and support sustainability, tax incentive schemes have been developed in Singapore. All expenditures on energy-efficient equipment or energy saving devices, and highly efficient pollution control equipment receive an accelerated 100% depreciation allowance tax incentive over a one-year period rather than the usual three to six years. Owners of green vehicles receive Green Vehicle Rebates consisting of upfront and road tax rebates. In 2004, a package was introduced to encourage owners of buses, taxis and other commercial vehicles to make an early switch from Euro II diesel vehicles to either Euro IV diesel vehicles or compressed natural gas vehicles before Euro IV standards were imposed in October 2006.
Air Quality Strategy
The National Environment Agency (NEA) is the custodian of air quality in Singapore, using prevention as their cost effective underlying pollution control strategy. All new industrial proposals are referred to the NEA during the planning stage for acceptance and appropriate building location. (More) After operation has commenced, ongoing monitoring of ambient air quality detects unhealthy trends enabling the NEA to evaluate the effectiveness of pollution control programs and fine-tune existing policies or create new ones. The NEA carries out surprise inspections of facilities, using persuasion and reasoning to encourage compliance. However, the NEA has the ability to ensure compliance through the Environmental Pollution Control Act. In addition, the NEA actively educates polluters on clean alternatives, and the general public on their personal role in protecting the environment.
Sewage and Wastewater Management
Green Growth
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