Is it feasible to build a sea wall around the island of Singapore?

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of ST Podcasts, we had our first podcast recordings in front of a live audience of 60 youths at the intimate Temasek Shophouse along Orchard Road recently.

One topic of the rising sea-level threat to Singapore was done for our Green Pulse Podcast series, and the other was about speaking up on youth mental challenges for our Health Check Podcast (which will be out in two days' time - see link below).

Sea-level rise in Singapore is expected to reach 1m by 2100, but this could go up to 5m during heavy rainfall and storm surges, when there is an abnormal rise of water. About 30% of Singapore's land is less than 5m above sea level.

For this episode, we had two guests - science content creator Ms Kong Man Jing, better known as BioGirl MJ in her YouTube and Instagram channels Just Keep Thinking, and Ms Audrey Tan, science comms & outreach lead at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions and the Tropical Marine Science Institute.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:25 Breaking down youth and general awareness of the sea-level rise threat to Singapore; progress of key solutions

7:45 Making sea-level science and overall climate issues relatable to youth and the wider public in general

13:26 From 2023 onwards, national water agency PUB will explore feasibility of using an underground drainage and reservoir system to combat inland and coastal flooding; how will it work?

16:10 Is it feasible to build a hard 'sea wall' structure around Singapore to protect the island?

20:00 Nature-based solutions: Recently, in June, Singapore announced reef restoration plan for 100,000 corals to be planted and grown in local waters from 2024