Close to 130 Singapore and international students from India, China and the Asean countries will spend the next five days learning about global environment issues.

They will make study visits to places like St John's Island and and attend lectures on climate change and marine life. The students will also have to present papers on energy, pollution and food security.

The programme, which is for 13 to 15-year-olds, was launched on Monday morning at the RELC International Hotel along Orange Grove Road. It is a joint initiative by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Technologies Endowment Programme (STEP),

Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Foreign Affairs, Ms Grace Fu said at the event: "We can't solve problems in isolation, in particular environmental issues, as they do not observe physical and sovereign boundaries. We need an approach of global inclusion and shared responsibility in finding solutions to our global issues."