NDR 2026: Western island plan raises question of whether Singapore can plan 50 years ahead for nature as it does for infrastructure

The proposal to join several southern islands into a larger western island offers a rare chance to assess environmental impacts over a 50-year horizon, argues NUS researcher Melissa Low. She calls for early public engagement and strategic environmental assessments before major land-use choices becom

SINGAPORE: Plans to study the creation of a “western island”, potentially joining Pulau Semakau, Pulau Bukom, Pulau Sudong and several smaller islands, should prompt Singapore to apply the same long-term thinking to nature that it already applies to infrastructure, a National University of Singapore researcher has argued.

In a commentary published on Wednesday (26 Aug), Melissa Low, Head of NUS Sustainability Academy and Research Fellow at the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, said the project, which may unfold over 50 years, offers something precious: time to get it right.

Low noted that recent public debate over developments at Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks had raised questions about how environmental considerations and public participation are weighed in the planning process. The western island proposal raises similar questions, but on a far larger scale and over a much longer timeframe, she wrote.

The southern waters contain a mosaic of coral reefs, seagrass meadows, intertidal areas and mangrove forests, Low pointed out. NUS research has identified Pulau Semakau as home to one of Singapore's three largest seagrass meadows, while seagrass has also been documented at Pulau Sudong. These ecosystems function as “blue carbon” habitats that capture and store carbon dioxide, she said.

Reclamation can bury marine habitats, sediment and increased turbidity can affect corals and seagrasses beyond the development footprint, and joining islands could alter ecological connectivity across a much larger marine landscape, Low wrote. She added that there is a cultural dimension as well, noting that shortly after Singapore celebrated its Orang Laut heritage at this year's National Day Parade with a performance referencing Pulau Sudong, the island was named among those being considered for the western island.

Low argued that environmental impact assessments are important but operate at the project level, whereas nature operates at a larger scale. Over decades, individual decisions can add up to an increasingly fragmented and less resilient ecological network, she said.

The western island presents an opportunity to assess environmental impacts strategically and cumulatively from the earliest stages, rather than relying only on project-level studies as individual components are developed, Low wrote. She urged that public engagement happen early, while alternatives are still being examined, so that different options and their consequences can be considered before choices become difficult or impossible to reverse.

A Ministry of Development (MND) spokesperson has said the government “recognises the biodiversity value of the western islands and its surrounding” and will conduct feasibility studies, site surveys and environmental studies to inform development plans, Low noted.

“If we are planning Singapore's energy and economic infrastructure 50 years into the future, we should plan the future of its ecological infrastructure over the same horizon,” she wrote.