Join NEA as we relive the journey since our formation on 1 July 2002. "Our Environment - Safeguard, Nurture, Cherish" covers how management of the environment has changed over the last decade, as well as how environmental standards have changed and improved.
Hear from the very people who have contributed to Singapore's environmental journey through the in-depth interviews featured. From the familiar hygiene and dengue inspection officers, to the lesser known radiation scientists and weather forecasters - find out how they have kept Singapore clean and green, and how too you can play your part.
"Behind this clean, green environment, and keeping it going day to day is the National Environment Agency (NEA). Its officers work tirelessly to control pollution, ensure hygiene in food establishments, make sure the waste we generate is taken care of, prevent dengue outbreaks and provide weather forecasts and air quality readings. They plan and put in place strategies and procedures to safeguard our surroundings. And, taking it one step further, they engage the community and industry to build a Singapore where everyone has a role to play in cherishing the environment. Without the work of these individuals, the environment we know and enjoy today cannot be sustained.
For all the work it does, the agency is surprisingly young. It was only in 2002 that the statutory board came into existence. Before that, day-to-day operations to protect and manage the environment fell on the Ministry of the Environment (ENV), now known as the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR). Today, the ministry takes charge of policy-making to ensure long-term environmental sustainability while NEA shoulders the operations of environmental management."
"When I point larvae out to the residents, sometimes they will make sounds of disgust, and say 'Aren't those worms?' 'No', I say, 'Those are mosquito larvae and they are very dangerous. You can die from it.' See, a lot of people do not know what larvae are, or what dengue is. So my job is important, to educate them, and explain to them. And this is my job and I represent NEA, so I must do it well."
Shaik Amina Bee, Environmental Health Officer
"My seven year old son asked me what my job is. And I said, 'I burn garbage'. He replied, 'You burn garbage, how come I don't smell the garbage when I sit beside you?' And this is the amazing part of my job. I'm in this industry and I face tonnes and tonnes of garbage every day. But technology has progressed to such an extent that we don't have to be associated with rubbish in a negative way any more. This job has got no lack of challenges. The plant takes care of the majority of the waste island-wide. I have to do my part to make sure that this plant serves Singapore. That in itself is a meaningful responsibility."
Joseph Boey, Senior Manager, Tuas South Incineration Plant (TSIP)