I think it is important that we at NEA routinely ask ourselves this question because the environment is a broad, almost all-encompassing term, and NEA's work in environmental control, public health and meteorology is as diverse as it is complex.

In keeping our skies blue, our land green and litter-free, promoting energy efficiency and recycling, stewarding our hawker centres as iconic, community spaces, combating dengue fever and providing warnings about natural disasters, there is so much to do that NEA may seem to mean the "Nearly Everything" Agency. Thinking about the big issues drives us to focus our attention, efforts and resources.

Certainly, "the Big Issue" is not this annual report itself, although that is its title. To the contrary, we have kept this published report slim. More articles and information are placed on our website, in an effort to increase transparency while saving paper. It is important that we at NEA lead by example in our environmental practices, and the redesign of our Annual Report is a small step in "walking the talk", as was our effort to achieve "Eco-office" status.

Without a doubt, the biggest public health issue we had to deal with in the past year was the battle against dengue fever. This was the worst outbreak ever in the history of Singapore, with the highest number of cases and, tragically, the highest number of fatalities. The upsurge was part of a regional phenomenon and, even within Singapore, the breeding of mosquitoes that spread dengue was increasingly within towns and within homes.

Although the number of dengue cases is currently well under control, stopping dengue is not something that NEA can accomplish on our own. We all have to understand that dengue kills, and that simple, everyday measures have to be taken by every home.

Yet many citizens seemed surprised by this. In fighting dengue, we found that too many in Singapore assume that government agencies can, and will take care of everything for them, and they need not do anything to help themselves. If something does go awry, they blame that agency and lose confidence.

To change this misperception for the better, our collective efforts were regularly communicated to the public via the news media. This was best captured in the vivid image of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong bending down to inspect a drain for mosquito breeding as part of the mass "carpet combing" exercises across the island. Through advertisements and TV clips, we reached out to help people understand what they can do in their own homes to keep themselves and their families safe.

I believe that this – knowing what the NEA and government agencies are doing about dengue, and knowing what they as citizens and residents can do – has helped to inspire public confidence in NEA during a trying period last year.

And perhaps, this is the real big issue for NEA. Not combating dengue or any one particular thing that NEA does, but how we do things: communicating what needs to be done for the environment, what the government is doing, what people can and should do to help in partnership, and inspiring confidence that Singapore can succeed.

While the importance of good communications cut across all areas of NEA's work, it is even more pressing as we deal with emerging issues such as climate change.

Climate change, in my view, is more than the fear that global warming will melt the ice caps, leading to a rise in sea levels that will swamp and submerge low lying islands, coasts and cities. It is also more than the fear that there will be an increase in sudden and severe weather phenomena, like the devastating hurricanes seen across the world last year. Climate change is of alarm because of the horizontal connections between environmental concerns and many other important issues, such as security and the availability of food and water.

But because the negative effects of climate change are not immediately apparent, it is tempting to put the issue on a back burner. Yet if we do not begin to act, we will leave a poor legacy to the children and future generations of Singaporeans.

Singapore acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in April this year. We will now give more focus on reducing our carbon emissions, and notwithstanding our small size, make our contribution to addressing what some see as the biggest issue facing the world.

There are many steps for NEA to climb as we deal with this big issue. We need to stir everyone into realisation that the big, global, and seemingly faraway issue of climate change has its roots in the things that each person, household and company do today.

At the same time, we must win over to our side those who are concerned that reducing carbon and emissions will impact energy use, raise costs for business and therefore negatively affect growth.
On the home front, we need to encourage more Singaporeans to make public transport their preferred mode of travel or go for green vehicles, if they must drive. We need to help people value energy efficiency in their appliances and layout of their homes and offices. We need to understand how new technologies can be harnessed to make transitions in our patterns of production and consumption to be more efficient and also cost effective.

There is also a need for us to present the other side of the coin, that tackling climate change can create opportunities for companies to save, and indeed make money. There are prospects in carbon trading and cooperation on clean development projects within ASEAN, and with growing Asian economies like China and India, for mutual, win-win solutions, for both governments and private sector companies, as part of Asia's rise.

There is clearly much for NEA to do in the year ahead. And NEA cannot succeed in its mission by working on its own. The people and the private sector must provide the needed push towards sustainability. To this end, NEA will find new ways of extending and deepening its partnerships with both the community and businesses – to encourage, engage, and enrol all, especially the young, to sustain our environment.

This is essentially the Biggest of all our challenges.