After 4 years of construction, a drab concrete canal along a section of Sungei Tampines has been given a makeover, and is now a naturalised waterway with greenery.
Rain gardens that help cleanse stormwater run-off, support more native biodiversity and enhance flood protection have been incorporated. Plants grown using soil bio-engineering techniques also help stabilise the soil.
This is just one example of how nature-based solutions and engineered solutions are being integrated to create “green-grey” infrastructure that helps Singapore mitigate and adapt to climate change, said Koh Lian Pin, professor at the National University of Singapore and the director of its Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions.
Alongside moves to decarbonise the economy through the use of cleaner energy production systems, nature-based solutions are also part of the toolkit in the transition to a circular economy.
Termed “closing the loop” by some, this refers to a production and consumption model where the life cycles of products are extended as long as possible through reuse or recycling.
Nature-based solutions are, simply put, about using nature to improve the state of the world. These solutions could provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, said GenZero, an investment platform dedicated to decarbonisation solutions.
According to a report by state investment firm Temasek in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and strategic economics consultancy AlphaBeta, nature-based opportunities across 3 systems — food, land, and ocean; infrastructure and the built environment; as well as energy and extractives — could deliver US$4.3 trillion of annual economic value and generate 232 million jobs by 2030 in Asia-Pacific.
August 29, 2022
