Singapore’s Green Strategy: Building our City in Nature

Image Credits: Unsplash (Rita Chou https://unsplash.com/photos/building-and-tree-during-daytime-D_Ie_5uBOQ4)

In this Policy Explainer, find out…

What is a City in Nature?
What has Singapore done to achieve the City in Nature vision?
How successful has Singapore been in achieving the City in Nature vision?

Introduction

Imagine tuning into your TV to hear an address by your local politician, with a twist: they are standing knee-deep in water.

While this may seem like a tall story, this is exactly what happened in Tuvalu, where a minister gave his COP26 speech standing knee-deep in seawater proclaiming one message: we are sinking due to climate change. As an island nation, Singapore is not immune to its effects, and this has inspired Singapore’s sustainable development vision.

In this Policy Explainer, we will explain why sustainable development is important for Singapore, the evolution and relevance of the City in Nature vision, and evaluate how effective current policies are in achieving this vision.

Singapore's Green Vision Towards Sustainable Development

Since the 1980s, Singapore’s annual mean temperature has risen by about 0.2 to 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade due to climate change, which has several knock-on effects on Singaporeans. These include rising sea levels (hence worsening flooding risks), decreased food and water security, and increased public health risks such as dengue and heat-related illnesses. To mitigate such effects, Singapore has been prioritising strategies to adapt to the impact of climate change, sustainable development being key amongst them.

Singapore Green Plan 2030

These sustainable development objectives were defined by the Singapore Green Plan; a whole-of-nation movement to advance Singapore’s sustainable development agenda. It charts actionable steps to help realise Singapore’s commitments in the Climate Action Plan including the long-term net zero emissions aspiration by 2050.

The Singapore Green Plan is spearheaded by five ministries, with initiatives classed under five pillars:

City in Nature;
Energy Reset;
Sustainable Living;
Green Economy; and
Resilient Future.

Evolution of the City in Nature (CIN) Vision

As a pillar of the Singapore Green Plan, the goal of the CIN is to create a green, liveable and sustainable home for Singaporeans. However, the vision for Singapore’s green development has evolved over time.

1. Garden City

The Garden City vision was introduced by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 11 May 1967 to transform Singapore into a city with abundant lush greenery and a clean environment, in order to make life more pleasant for the people. This vision was implemented in the form of an intensive tree-planting programme; over 55,000 new trees were planted by the end of 1970.

By the mid-1970s, the creation of parks had become an additional focus of the Garden City vision. Green corridors were established to link parks, with nature reserves set up to preserve natural wildlife.

2. City in a Garden

Unveiled in 2011 as the next phase of the Garden City vision, City in a Garden went beyond beautification and infrastructure alone. It sought to weave nature into daily life, creating more green corridors and linking parks, reservoirs, and built environments. It further enhanced Singapore’s greenery policies, with an emphasis on conserving natural biodiversity and involving the community in greening efforts.

3. City in Nature (CIN)

Introduced by the National Parks Board (NParks) in 2020, the CIN vision represents Singapore’s deeper environmental commitment: embedding nature not just for beauty or recreation, but for climate resilience and biodiversity conservation. This vision aims to build a city where residents will be able to enjoy a liveable, sustainable and climate resilient Singapore.

Strategies and Policies of the CIN

CIN comprises of five key strategies, namely:

Grow nature park networks;
Naturalise gardens and parks;
Restore nature in urban areas;
Connect green spaces; and
Enhance vet care and animal management

In this section, we will focus on three specific policies implemented, specifically Park Connector Networks, the OneMillion Trees movement, and the Wildlife Act, and explore how they align with the above five strategies to achieve CIN.

Park Connector Networks (PCN)

The PCN is a network of linear green corridors that links major parks and nature areas across Singapore. With more than 30 kilometres of green trails, it provides an abundance of space for Singaporeans to engage in recreational activities, and also enhances the ecological connectivity between natural habitats. The PCN corresponds with Strategy #1 (grow nature park networks) and Strategy #4 (connect green spaces) of the CIN vision.

The PCN helps to grow nature park networks by connecting nature parks, which are green spaces that create complementary habitats, together to protect and buffer nature reserves against future urban developments. As part of the Singapore Green Plan, the Government aims to grow nature park networks with 200 more hectares of new nature parks by 2030.

Furthermore, by building a network of ecological corridors that links nature reserves and parks to heartland gardens, PCNs also help connect green spaces. By 2030, the Government aims to create 300 kilometres of nature ways and 500 kilometres of park connectors so that every household will be within a 10-minute walk from a park, ultimately bringing plants, wildlife, and people together.

OneMillionTrees Movement

Launched in April 2020, the OneMillionTrees movement aims to increase the number of trees planted throughout Singapore. Areas for tree planting include streetscapes, gardens, parks and park connectors, nature reserves and more. With approximately 50,000 trees aimed to be planted every year, NParks hopes to improve the urban environment and enhance the nation's resilience towards climate change. The movement corresponds with Strategy #2 (naturalise gardens and parks) and Strategy #3 (restore nature in urban areas) of the CIN vision.

The movement contributes to the naturalisation of gardens and parks in three ways. First, it taps on nature-based solutions to create green spaces and support our rich biodiversity. These solutions are wide-ranging, including but not limited to, transforming concrete canals into naturalised rivers, creating reservoirs which serve as naturalised lakes that retain rainwater, and restoring mangroves in parks and along coastlines. Second, it contributes to the creation of more therapeutic gardens and nature playgardens. These restorative spaces, with 30 planned to be built by 2030, can enhance the mental well-being of Singaporeans, both young and old. Third, it helps to promote native plant and animal conservation. With more restored ecological and coastal habitats, the movement contributes to species recovery plans for 100 plant and 60 animal species by 2030.

The restoration of nature in urban areas can also be achieved by greening our living environments. Singapore aims to have 200 hectares of skyrise greenery island-wide, and plant at least 170,000 more trees in industrial areas by 2030. In fact, NParks has observed greater public interest in parks, especially those with a more natural setting like nature reserves and nature parks; park visitorship was found to be higher after the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker restrictions were eased compared to before the pandemic.

Wildlife Act

The Wildlife Act, corresponding with Strategy #5 (enhance vet care and animal management) of the CIN vision, is a legal act that protects, preserves and manages wildlife to maintain a healthy ecosystem and safeguard public safety and health. To this end, the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), the main agency for animal and veterinary matters in Singapore, is responsible for overseeing animal health, management and welfare practices.

In 2020, amendments to the initial Wild Animals and Birds Act were made to ensure greater protection of Singapore's native flora and fauna. Under the current Wildlife Act, the NParks director-general of wildlife management will have the authority to issue directions to developers to implement wildlife-related measures for safeguarding wildlife and public health. This will ensure that timely preventive strategies can be taken to minimise wildlife death. Moreover, the feeding and release of wildlife, which was previously only banned in parks and nature reserves, will be made illegal islandwide.

Challenges in Policy Implementation

Land Scarcity

Park Connector Networks

Land scarcity poses a significant challenge to the creation and implementation of PCNs in Singapore. As former Minister for National Development Desmond Lee explained, most of Singapore’s park connectors are shared paths due to land scarcity. The limited space available for the development of our park connectors forces multiple stakeholders to share the same narrow paths, rather than building separate lanes or ensuring proper demarcation of the space.

The roadside space is already occupied by existing infrastructure such as roads, pipes and drains, hence it is difficult to find additional space to build a new park connector. Such constraints mean that new park connector routes are sometimes abandoned after much planning as the conditions are unsuitable, or other routes and solutions must be explored. For example, when developing Kallang Park Connector, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had to accommodate roads, expressways, flyovers and existing developments in its planning and construction. The conflicting demands for other infrastructure projects to use the land also require NParks to consult other agencies, and explore other approaches when planning our PCNs.

OneMillionTrees Movement

It is logistically challenging to find so many suitable sites to plant these trees due to the lack of land available. A large portion of land in Singapore is covered by roads and pavements. The tarmac and concrete occupies the land that could otherwise be occupied by soil for planting trees.

Furthermore, even if Singapore opens up more green spaces for tree planting activities, the trees planted may not be healthy in the long term. This is because the quality of soil in Singapore is not fertile enough to support plant growth. Hence, due to the lack of sufficient nutrients, the trees may not grow well and cannot thrive under Singapore’s weather conditions.

Enforcement Is Resource-intensive Yet Ineffective

Park Connector Networks

To ensure the safety of all stakeholders who use PCNs, the Government has mandated that the speed limit on PCNs is 25 km/h. Despite this, there have been instances of e-bikes and e-scooters travelling on park connectors at speeds of 40 to 50 km/h.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has deployed enforcement officers with speed guns to hold individuals accountable if they have been caught exceeding the mandated speed limit. However, despite their presence, some e-scooter riders are not daunted by them. In 2020, an e-scooter rider was riding at 40 km/h along Punggol Park Connector when he crashed into an enforcement officer while trying to avoid being arrested. This shows that the presence of enforcement authorities may not always be sufficient to deter people from flouting the law.

OneMillionTrees Movement

Planting trees is an important first step, but maintenance is equally important for their survival. Tree inspections must be conducted every six to 24 months to ensure that they remain safe and strong. For trees that are deemed unhealthy or weak, they are cut down to protect public safety. Tree maintenance contractors must have certified arborists in their teams, and there are currently about 250 arborists in NParks.

Before the launch of the OneMillionTrees movement, Singapore had about 7 million trees, and the movement aimed to increase the number of trees to 8 million. This may bring about significant operational challenges as there is now a greater need for regular inspections, which will place greater pressure on the small number of arborists in Singapore.

There are also high costs involved in planting trees. In 2021, insurance corporation AIA Singapore donated S$5 million to Garden City Fund, a NParks registered charity, to plant just 16,666 trees in various green spaces in Singapore. This only meets one-sixtieth of the overall target of one million trees planted. With this statistic, it is estimated that the cost of planting one million trees amounts to S$300 million, which is a very hefty sum that the Government must find sources for.

Wildlife Act

Despite the strict ban imposed on illegal wildlife trade, many people do not adhere to it and continue to engage in such activities. In response to this, various organisations have intensified their efforts to curb this illegal trade.

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), an animal welfare charity, has carried out many covert investigations since 2001 to examine the extent of illegal wildlife trade in Singapore. In just a short span of two years, it found that listings for banned wildlife on Telegram almost doubled from 333 in 2021 to 660 in 2023. The number of sellers selling such banned wildlife also increased from 66 in 2021 to 387 in 2023.

Despite the significant time and effort dedicated to investigations, there are three main challenges that often lead to inconclusive outcomes. First, buyers and sellers are often anonymous online, which makes it difficult for the authorities to establish their true identities. Second, there is a lack of direct evidence, as authorities rely primarily on circumstantial evidence that may suggest that illegal wildlife trades are taking place, but cannot provide definitive proof needed for prosecution. Finally, buyers are unwilling to serve as witnesses for such investigations, possibly because they are aware that purchasing wildlife is illegal and they do not want to expose themselves to punishments. These three factors limit the effectiveness of enforcement efforts against illegal wildlife trade.

NParks has also been conducting islandwide enforcement operations to curb the illegal sale of wildlife. From 2022 to 2023, it has conducted raids at more than 50 locations, which led to the seizure of over 180 animals. The Immigrations and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) has also stepped up its efforts at Singapore’s borders to detect animal smuggling. Together with NParks, it detected 42 cases of animal smuggling, an increase from 35 cases in 2023.

The efforts taken by these organisations are extremely resource-intensive and may not be sustainable in the long run. Investigations, enforcement operations and border control require significant manpower, time and funding. Furthermore, as these operations are always ongoing, organisations must allocate resources for the long run. This could place a heavy burden on their resources.

Conclusion

In conclusion, CIN is an important pillar of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, as it increases the liveability and sustainability of our home. The integration of park connectors, trees and wildlife into our urban environment allows Singapore to achieve our national development goals sustainably.

As the famous adage goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Similarly, it is impossible to develop a City in Nature in just a short span of a few years. While these initiatives have already shown promising results in the short run, their long term success depends heavily on the consistent efforts from both Government agencies and citizens, who must work together to build on the foundations that have strengthened this pillar.

Perhaps some day in the future, when we tune into our TV to listen to a national address, our political leaders will not be knee-deep in water. Instead, they will be standing in the lush and thriving greenery that Singapore has to offer, thanks to the successful City in Nature vision that was envisioned all those years ago.

This Policy Explainer was written by members of MAJU. MAJU is a ground-up, fully youth-led organisation dedicated to empowering Singaporean youths in policy discourse and co-creation.

By promoting constructive dialogue and serving as a bridge between youths and the Government, we hope to drive the keMAJUan (progress!) of Singapore.

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