Singapore reclamation plan tests environmental trade-offs
Ecological impacts and alternative land uses must be studied before reclamation proceeds.
Singapore’s proposed western island hub could create space for future industries and energy infrastructure, but large-scale reclamation risks eliminating marine ecosystems whose economic and environmental value is not yet fully understood.
Dr. Olivia Jensen, Deputy Director of the NUS – Institute for Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR), said the project must be assessed against decades of uncertainty over Singapore’s industrial, energy and climate needs.
“So it makes sense to choose courses of action that keep our options open, and as far as possible, avoid those that sort of close options or make us less adaptable,” Jensen said.
Reclamation could support industries including advanced manufacturing, new forms of power generation, low-carbon maritime fuels and data centres as Singapore prepares for future economic demand.
“So I think in that context, large-scale land reclamation makes a lot of sense, and it opens up
opportunities for new industries, for new types of power generation, perhaps nuclear, which may become relevant to Singapore,” she said.
However, Jensen said reclamation could permanently remove coral reefs and seagrass beds that contribute to coastal protection, fisheries and wider marine ecosystems.
“It's unavoidably going to have a negative impact, destroying coral reefs and seagrass beds, which are becoming scarcer and scarcer around Singapore, and all of the benefits that those generated for coastal protection, for regional fisheries, for the ecosystem.”
She said environmental assessments should therefore precede major decisions, particularly because the remaining marine habitats are becoming more valuable and cannot be easily replaced.
“There is no way, even with this sort of transplantation, to replicate the benefits of 1000-year-old coral reefs which exist there.”
Jensen also questioned whether additional land is immediately necessary, noting that existing reclaimed areas such as Jurong Island and Pulau Tekong still have land available for development.
She said the immediate priority should be establishing a planning framework that evaluates economic, social and environmental uses rather than allocating the proposed site to specific industries too early.
“For me, what can be decided at this point and is extremely important is that the process through which that decision gets taken is one that's sort of transparent and allows for deep public engagement,” Jensen said.
The project remains under study, leaving Singapore to determine whether additional reclamation provides enough long-term flexibility to justify its irreversible environmental costs.
