SINGAPORE, Dec 13: Singapore, as a low-lying island country, has raised reclamation levels to mitigate the threat posed by climate change which would raise the sea levels in the next 100 years, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.
Singapore takes climate change seriously and will do its part to ease its impact on the island state, Lee said, while addressing the leaders from the 10-member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korean President Park Geun Hyu yesterday.
Expressing his concerns about climate change, Lee said standards for reclamation and new buildings have been raised to ensure land surfaces in Singapore are higher than the projected sea levels in the future.
The minimum level for newly reclaimed land in Singapore has gone up since 2011 to 2. 25 m above the highest recorded tide level, The Straits Times reported today, citing the Prime Minister.
“If the sea levels rise by 1 m, which is more than what people presently expect, I think over 100 years, there are quite a lot of things we can do,” said Lee.
The Prime Minister said the upcoming expansion of the Changi Airport would take place on higher ground to guard against rising sea levels.
The reclaimed land on which it will stand will be built up to provide a buffer that will withstand more than the projected 18-inch (46cm) rise in sea levels in the next 100 years, he said.
Sea levels are rising as global warming causes polar ice caps to melt, and scientists have warned that large swathes of coastal areas could be swallowed up by the end of the century.
This poses an immediate threat to coastal populations in ASEAN countries, Lee pointed out.
Lee has called on ASEAN and South Korean leaders to join hands in advancing negotiations at the United Nations climate change conference in Paris next year.
Lee urged all sides to work together to tackle the threat of climate change as well as diseases, natural disasters and terrorism.
These “non-traditional security issues” require a global response, he said. (PTI)
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