Speech by Dr Amy Khor, Mayor for South West District, & Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, at Singapore 2010 CAN! Green, in Conjunction with South West District Clean & Green Event

Dr Francis Chong, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee

Ms Angela Liong, Artistic Director, Arts Fission Company,
CCC Chairmen,

Members of South West Environment and Health FC,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

Thank you for joining us at CAN! Green today. Today's event is organised in conjunction with the South West District Clean and Green Event and in celebration of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

Environmental sustainability is a challenge. As part of this community, each of you play an important role in protecting and caring for the earth. I am glad that youth will learn about Environment as part of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games' Culture and Education Programme (CEP).

An Environmentally-friendly Games

Works are currently in progress to make the Youth Olympic Village, situated at the NTU/NIE campus, a green and environmentally-friendly hub. The 3,600 athletes who will stay there for 12 days next August will be able to experience "Living Green at YOV", with the use of equipment such as energy-efficient lightings with motion sensors, water-saving devices and energy-efficient air-conditioning units. These features will help reduce the carbon footprint of the hostels at the NTU/NIE campus and also benefit the generations of university students long after the YOG.

Announcement of HortPark as CEP Programme Partner

The Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC, pronounced "SHIOK") also believes that education plays an important role in raising environmental awareness among youth. That is why SYOGOC has designed a Culture and Education Programme that includes environment-themed activities. Under one of the seven CEP formats – Exploration Journey – athletes will have the opportunity to better appreciate the environment, to learn about green practices and their role in protecting the earth through the adoption of such practices.

I am glad to note that HortPark will be one of the two official CEP venues for Exploration Journey during the Games next August. I hope that the young athletes will not only have an enriching, educational and enjoyable time here, but also return to their own community to share and practice what they have learnt here during the YOG.

Community Involvement in Green Initiatives through Singapore 2010

Singapore 2010 also aims to share the environmental education message with the local community. I am glad to know that the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee is working towards creating a "Litter-free YOG". During Games-time, volunteers from ECO Singapore (an NGO) will interact with spectators to encourage them to dispose of their litter responsibly.

Even before Games-time, Singaporeans can be involved in celebrating Singapore 2010 and practising positive environmental habits. This is why The Arts Fission Company, together with SYOGOC, has organised CAN! Green: to spread the green message through creative ways. You can start making a difference now by doing your part to ensure that today's Singapore 2010 CAN! Green event is a 'litter-free' event.

You may notice that we have some student volunteers stationed at ten recycling points in Hort Park to encourage residents not to litter at the event site as well as to promote a proper recycling culture with residents sorting recyclables and placing them in the correct recycling bins. This new volunteer programme, "Recycling and Litter-Free Ambassadors @ South West", is initiated in response to a recent survey by NEA, which found that whilst awareness and practice of green habits such as energy efficient practices have improved, hygiene and cleanliness standards in public areas remain lax. Many Singaporeans also do not sort their recyclables.

For a start, we have trained 150 student ambassadors to assist in this year’s Clean and Green Singapore 2010. Over the next 12 months, we will recruit and train 1,000 student ambassadors to be deployed at community events to help us spread recycling and litter-free messages.

We also want to enable young environmental champions to realise their green projects. Youths who want to spread the word about environmentally-friendly practices can also tap on the Singapore 2010 – Young ChangeMakers Grant to organise green events in celebration of Singapore 2010 and Create Action Now! I hope that youths will be inspired to come up with their own ideas to contribute more actively to helping Singapore achieve greater environmental sustainability.

South West CDC's green initiatives

Another initiative that the South West CDC is launching today is the "Pledge a Plant – Carbon Offset Challenge @ South West", where we want to challenge our youths and public to pledge to adopt clean and green habits. For every pledge garnered, our corporate partner, Borneo Motors (Singapore) will donate $10, up to a maximum of $60,000 towards the planting of 2,000 trees, shrubs and plants in the district to offset carbon emissions from our daily living activities. This would help towards making our community a cleaner and greener environment for our citizens and for the YOG athletes in August 2010.

South West District is proud to be part of Singapore 2010. With both the Youth Olympic Village and HortPark located in the South West District, we are excited to be involved in this exciting journey of integrating sports, culture and education for our youths. As we gear up to welcome the athletes to Singapore next year, our community in South West District look forward to practising positive green habits and embracing the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.

Conclusion

Managing environmental issues is complex, but it is extremely encouraging to see so many of you here today; committed to tackling these issues in your school and community.
On this note, I wish all of you an enjoyable time at CAN! Green this morning.

Thank you.