Forum: It takes a village to turn Singapore green

A boy skates past ABC Waters at Sungei Simpang Kanan on Feb 23, 2020. PHOTO: ST FILE

It is exciting to read about the One Million Trees movement announced by the National Parks Board to plant another one million trees over the next 10 years.

I am particularly elated over the efforts that are lined up to bring nature closer to residents, such as the creation of nature ways, which are the forest-like structures and green corridors along the roads (S'pore's 2030 goal: More gardens, park connectors, March 5).

Singaporeans will also be able to play a more active role in building and maintaining Singapore's parks. In the next few years, we can look forward to greater greening efforts to make Singapore a true city in nature.

We should recognise that environmental stewardship is a shared responsibility. As it takes a village to realise these plans, it is heartening to see that organisations and individuals have already pledged their efforts to this end.

However, there still exists a general issue of plant blindness and the lack of interest in green spaces.

With more efforts to reach out to the community, including schools and partners, this is the perfect opportunity to include more stakeholders in making Singapore a liveable, biophilic country. Hopefully, with the flourishing of our green outcomes, we will eschew taking trees and nature for granted.

Ong Yao Min

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 11, 2020, with the headline Forum: It takes a village to turn Singapore green. Subscribe