Singapore and the UN Environment Programme
Environmental problems don’t care about borders. Pollution from one country drifts into another. Climate change hits everyone. For a tiny island nation like Singapore, what happens outside its borders matters just as much as what happens inside.
This is part of my retelling of “50 Years of Singapore and the United Nations” (Tommy Koh, Li Lin Chang, Joanna Koh, 2015, ISBN: 978-9814713030).
Chapter 24 is written by Hazri Hassan and Miak Aw, both from Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. Hazri is the Director of International Policy who handles global environmental diplomacy. Miak Aw worked as a writer for the Business Times and Eco-Business before joining the ministry. Together, they tell the story of how Singapore worked with the UN Environment Programme from the very beginning.
The Earth Summit That Changed Everything
The big turning point came in 1992. The UN held a massive conference in Rio de Janeiro called the Earth Summit. Its real name was the UN Conference on Environment and Development, or UNCED. It was one of the largest international conferences the UN had ever organized. More than 100 world leaders showed up.
And here’s where Singapore enters the story in a big way. Professor Tommy Koh was elected to chair the main committee. His job was to broker a deal among 179 UN member states. The negotiations were brutal. Long hours, late nights, and right up until the final stretch nobody was sure if it would succeed or fall apart.
But Tommy Koh pushed through. And the Earth Summit ended up producing some seriously important outcomes. Agenda 21, which was a global action plan for sustainable development. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. And three major conventions that are still the backbone of international environmental law today: the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biodiversity, and the Convention to Combat Desertification.
Singapore also released its own Singapore Green Plan 1992 at the summit. That was the country’s first formal blueprint for sustainable development.
Ten years later, in 2002, the UN held a follow-up summit in Johannesburg. Co-author Hazri Hassan was there with Professor Koh. He recalls that delegates from other countries still remembered Singapore’s role at the original Earth Summit and came over to congratulate Koh. Singapore’s delegation, led by Environment Minister Lim Swee Say, launched the updated Singapore Green Plan 2012 at this event.
What UNEP Actually Does
UNEP was created in 1972 by the UN General Assembly. It’s basically the voice for the environment within the UN system. Its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, which made it the first major UN organization based in a developing country.
Hazri describes his first trip to Nairobi in 2001 for the Global Ministerial Environment Forum. Ministers, officials, and civil society representatives came together to discuss things like the environmental impacts of energy, the link between pollution and poverty, the growing intensity of natural disasters, and international environmental governance.
Over its four decades, UNEP helped develop major international conventions including CITES (which protects endangered species), the Montreal Protocol (which tackles ozone depletion), and the UNFCCC. Together with the World Meteorological Organisation, UNEP also established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading global body on climate science.
Singapore supports UNEP’s approach: use solid science to identify problems, then push for strong policies. No guesswork.
Singapore’s Track Record
Singapore signed on to the multilateral environmental agreements under UNEP. And they took those commitments seriously.
Here’s one example. Singapore joined the Montreal Protocol in 1989, which required phasing out ozone-depleting substances. Singapore finished the job within six years. That was well ahead of the deadline. UNEP itself took note of that.
The chapter makes clear that meeting these international environmental standards isn’t easy for any country. National policies have to be adjusted. Industries have to cooperate. Technical support from organizations like UNEP helps smooth the process.
Champions of the Earth
One of the more interesting collaborations was the Champions of the Earth award. This is UNEP’s global environment award, launched in 2004 to recognize individuals and organizations doing outstanding work for the environment.
Singapore hosted the ceremony for three years running, from 2006 to 2008. The first ceremony was at the Shangri-La Hotel, attended by Singapore’s President S.R. Nathan and about 500 international guests. The National Parks Board even created a special orchid for the occasion, named “Dendrobium UNEP Champions of the Earth.” It had rare earthy orange-brown colors.
Among the award winners was Professor Tommy Koh himself, recognized for his lifelong contributions to the global environment, especially chairing the Earth Summit and the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Other winners included Egypt’s Mohamed El-Ashry, who championed sustainable development projects through the Global Environment Facility, and Iran’s first female Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar, who pushed for cleaner production in the petrochemical industry.
The events were broadcast across Asia-Pacific and covered by Time and Fortune magazines. Hazri recalls his pride when UNEP’s Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said that “Singapore is an inspiration for other nations striving to achieve the goal of sustainable development.”
Other Partnerships
The Singapore-UNEP relationship went beyond awards ceremonies. Singapore hosted the Business for the Environment Summit alongside the 2007 and 2008 Champions of the Earth events. The Building Construction Authority set up a Centre for Sustainable Building to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their building sectors. The National Environment Agency joined UNEP’s Asia Pacific Clean Air Partnership to tackle regional air pollution.
And there’s a youth angle too. The National Youth Achievement Award Council serves as the secretariat for UNEP’s South East Asia Youth Environment Network, coordinating youth environment activities across ASEAN. The idea is to build environmental awareness in young people who will eventually become the adults making decisions.
Looking Ahead
The authors end on a forward-looking note. The concept that environmental protection and economic development go hand in hand has gotten stronger over the years. UNEP’s motto says it well: “environment for development.”
As the world population grows and economic activity increases, the stakes keep getting higher. At the same time, awareness of why the environment matters has also grown. UNEP has gained more influence.
For Singapore, the calculus is straightforward. Singapore is a small island state. It’s vulnerable to global environmental problems like climate change and rising sea levels. Supporting UNEP and participating in global environmental efforts isn’t charity. It’s self-interest. Unless Singapore helps keep the planet healthy, everything else the country achieves could be for nothing.
About the Authors
Hazri Hassan graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from NUS in 1990 and joined the Ministry of the Environment as an engineer. He moved to the International Environment and Policy Department in 1999 and became Director of International Policy, handling bilateral, regional, and international environmental issues.
Miak Aw graduated from Nanyang Technological University in 2010 with a degree in Communication Studies. Before joining the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources in 2011, she worked as a freelance writer for the Business Times and Eco-Business. She works on MEWR’s international policy team advancing Singapore’s environmental diplomacy.
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