Environmental Issues

Video : The Haze Issue in Singapore

 Small and large-scale farmers in Riau province, Sumatra, have been blamed for the recent choking smoke smothering Singapore and parts of Malaysia. But scientists in Indonesia have added a third category of 'mid-level entrepreneurs'. These entrepreneurs buy unregulated access to land for oil palm and clear it by burning, seemingly unrestrained by government.

The Implications

Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Global Insight, warned that if the haze situation deteriorates for a prolonged period of time, the Singaporean economy will be negatively impacted.
"Singapore has been highly successful in creating its brand as a top class tourism destination, so it is particularly galling that these efforts are being eroded by the slash and burn techniques being used in Indonesia," said Biswas.
According to Biswas, tourism is a key contributor to the Singapore economy and generates 4 percent of gross domestic product growth directly, with around 14.4 million tourist visitors and S$23 billion ($18 billion) in tourism-related earnings in 2012.
"If the number of tourist visitors fall sharply for several months, this will hurt Singapore's GDP numbers for the third quarter of 2013, at a time when the manufacturing sector has already been adversely impacted by weak orders," he said.

Singapore 'has learnt 5 key lessons from haze crisis': Ng Eng Hen

Singapore will be even better prepared for the haze if it returns with a vengeance, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, pointing to five key lessons learnt from the latest episode.
At a press conference last Friday to assess the recent haze crisis, he added that the authorities will continue to monitor the situation and fine-tune contingency plans.
Dr Ng, who heads an inter-ministerial committee to tackle the haze problem, said: "I think we are better prepared, both our people and agencies. If the haze does return we are confident that Singaporeans will take it in our stride."

1) Haze is a long-term issue
2) Better early warning system
3) Information management is key
4) The Singapore System is robust
5) Singaporeans are resilient

Conclusion

Environmental pollution issue often appear as a worldwide problem in a row with the advancement of the human life. This also related to the ethical issue which is have been arise when environmental regulations in host nations are inferior to those in the home nation. Many developed nation have substantial regulations governing the emission of pollutant, the dumping of toxic chemicals, the use of toxic materials in the workplace and so on. Those regulation are often lacking in developing nations, and according to critics, the result can be higher level of pollution from the operation of multinationals than would be allowed at home. From the above example environmental issue, it is caused by the other country but the consequences are most badly effects toward Singapore. So, it can be concluded that the root cause of this problem are from unethical behavior in organizational culture.