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Similarly, it is possible to reduce pollution in a strait that is being used by ships from many countries.
Such balancing of environmental and economic interests is sustainable, said Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar yesterday at a maritime conference opening here.
He gave several examples which showed that in the rising tide of calls to protect the environment, economic interests need not be swept aside.
Take Singapore. It is the world's busiest transhipment port. Yet, its waters is home to 256 species - about 32 per cent - of the world's corals, and likely more than in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
It is no different on the international front, Professor Jayakumar said.
Many countries whose ships use the Malacca and Singapore Straits for trade agreed last year to help fund efforts to protect the marine environment. They include Japan, South Korea, Australia, Greece and the United States.
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) - the focus of the conference - is another example.
The treaty, billed a Constitution for the seas, grants coastal states sovereign rights to protect their marine environment.
But it gives ships from other nations navigational rights.
These navigational rights translate into economic interests: World shipping handles 90 per cent of global trade, and half of the world's oil shipments pass through the Malacca and Singapore Straits.
These interests are hurt when ships cannot freely travel on these waterways.
In the same vein, Prof Jayakumar sees a similar need to strike a balance between environmental and economic interests in the climate change negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many port cities, for instance, require ships that approach their ports to use less polluting fuel.
'Bearing in mind that ships carry more than 90 per cent of the world's merchandise, a balance should be found in greenhouse gas emission reduction by ships, the need to maintain freedom of navigation and growth of world trade and economic development,' he said.
Ultimately, environmental concerns cannot be seen in isolation from economic interests.
Even global warming has its economic implications.
The melting of icecaps, for example, may open up new routes to the resource-rich Arctic and Antarctic regions. Already, some states are scrambling for a stake there.
The need for laws to govern this rush of claims is also one reason the United States is looking to sign Unclos. Prof Jayakumar is hoping the US will be the 156th signatory.
Speaking before the minister, US Ambassador to Singapore Patricia Herbold said her country's Senate was expected to vote on ratifying the convention in the next few months.
Dr Sam Bateman, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, acknowledged the constant tug-of-war between safeguarding environmental interests and navigational rights.
However, the decision by many countries to share the burden of protecting the environment of the Singapore and Malacca Straits is 'a great leap forward', he said, because they were not obliged to do so based on their right to use the Straits.
The two-day conference at Orchard Hotel, co-organised by the school and the University of Virginia School of Law, will cover such issues as passage rights and protecting the marine environment.
