Sharing about our shores at the EDGE Programme

Yesterday, I had a great time sharing with enthusiastic participants of the Executive Development & Growth Exchange (EDGE) Programme organised for young civil servants by the Centre for Liveable Cities.

I was delighted to meet among the participants, some who had already been introduced to our shores as volunteers! I also learned a lot from Shawn Lum and Eugene Heng who also spoke at the event.


I was quite nervous to be in such illustrious company!

Dr Shawn Lum, President of the Nature Society (Singapore) gave a great talk about the celebrated history of the Society and some of its recent efforts. Among them, the Cross Island Line. See also the NSS Discussion and Position Paper on the Cross Island Line (pdf).

Eugene Heng of Waterways Watch Society, as usual gave a great introduction about the importance of water and how we need to look after it. His points about how Singapore is a cleaned city and not a clean city is sobering.

It was also the first time that I was doing this talk focused on "The People Sector" and the work done by volunteers with "The Public Sector". As those of you who have discussed this with me before will know, I feel there isn't a clear artificial line between the groups. That people with passion will find their way to various positions where they can act for what is close to their hearts. This can be in any 'Sector' and often people do move from one 'Sector' to another.

Volunteers can help support policies and efforts by providing a better understanding of the ground situation on our shores. From mass fish deaths to general surveys and sightings.

I also shared about how 31 volunteer groups came together to offer organic events with heart and soul on Ubin Day! Other issues I covered included the effort for Chek Jawa, how the Sisters Islands Marine Park came about, of course my favourite idea for a Singapore Great Barrier Reef and more. After the talks, we had lots of interesting questions from the participants.

I was touched to see that the Wild Singapore coffee table book was among the broad spectrum of reading materials provided for the participants to browse through!

Thanks to Michelle Chng and her team for letting me be part of this programme!