Addressing climatic change

As a densely populated city-state, Singapore subscribes to the principle of sustainable development and actively takes part in international initiatives on the environment. Singapore played an active role in ensuring the successful conclusion of the 1992 Rio Summit through Ambassador Tommy Koh's chairmanship of the Summit's Preparatory and Main Committees. We are committed to doing our part to realise global and sustainable development objectives, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development's Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Singapore is also a committed participant in global and regional environmental sustainability fora, such as the Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF), the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED) and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment.

Singapore recognises that a strong and effective international effort is needed to address climate change and every country must play its part. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) arose from the 1992 Rio Summit. The UNFCCC sets the framework for governments to cooperate on the issue of global warming, and it adopted the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Singapore ratified the UNFCCC in 1997 and acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in 2006. Singapore continues to support and actively participate in the international climate change negotiations. A Workshop for officials from the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS), was held in Singapore from 3-6 November 2008. AOSIS members are small, low-lying island developing countries, that are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The workshop allowed AOSIS countries to coordinate and agree on common positions for the key issues to be discussed at the 14th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Poznan in December 2008. The Workshop was well-attended with approximately 100 senior officials and climate change experts from 41 AOSIS countries, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UNFCCC Secretariat.

Under the aegis of the Singapore Cooperation Programme, Singapore has also hosted several training programmes on urban environmental management, including the Singapore Technical Assistance Programme for Sustainable Development and the Small Island Developing States Technical Co-operation Programme.

Singapore has ratified or acceded to the following key multilateral treaties on the environment:
• ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution
• UN Convention on Biological Diversity
• UN Convention to Combat Desertification
• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC
• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its Amendments
• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
• Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants