Green Pulse Podcast: Reconciling forest loss with One Million Trees initiative
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
In this episode, National Development Minister Desmond Lee discusses how his ministry aims to walk the fine line between development and conservation in Singapore.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Follow topic:
Green Pulse Ep 46: Reconciling forest loss with One Million Trees initiative
13:33 mins
Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.
Last December, parts of a woodland in Kranji were cleared before environmental studies were completed. Investigations are ongoing to determine what happened and why. But the incident has also highlighted the growing affinity between Singaporeans and the green spaces in the country, and generated criticism of whether such deforestation projects defeat the purpose of Singapore's goal of planting a million more trees over the next decade.
In this episode, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee shares his response to this criticism with ST environment correspondent Audrey Tan. They also discuss how his ministry aims to walk the fine line between development and conservation in Singapore.
This podcast contains excerpts of an interview between Mr Lee and Ms Tan (see her interview) last month.
They discuss the following points:
How the One Million Trees is also an act of stewardship (3:17)
How to determine which green spaces stay, and which must go (6:22)
How science and technology were used to prove the value of the Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat, which will publicly open in mid-2022 (9:10)
How the National Development Ministry aims to strike a balance between development and conservation (10:23)
Listen to previous episodes with Mr Desmond Lee:
What has Covid-19 taught Singapore about sustainability: https://str.sg/Jj99
Transforming Singapore into a City in Nature: https://str.sg/Jj9C
Balancing development and conservation in land-scarce Singapore: https://str.sg/Jj9y
Produced by: ST Video & Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg)
Edited by: Adam Azlee
Subscribe to Green Pulse Podcast series and rate us on your favourite audio apps:
Channel: https://str.sg/JWaf
Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWaY
Spotify: https://str.sg/JWag
Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/J6EV
Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
Follow Audrey Tan on Twitter: https://str.sg/JLMB
Read her stories: https://str.sg/JLM2
Follow David Fogarty on Twitter: https://str.sg/JLM6
Read his stories: https://str.sg/JLMu
