Ah Tan Blog
2020-12-14
【Climate Innovation Stories】Singapore’s Initiative on Food Resilience (I)
Writer: Katia Wong
The National Parks Board (NParks) has launched a “Gardening with Edibles” initiative among Singapore households in June this year, distributing seed packets for homegrown edible plants. The initiative received such an overwhelming response that it had to increase distribution from 150,000 to 400,000 households. A series of Gardening Masterclass, Hydroponic System online workshops were set out, with educational information of Gardening Etiquette to avoid environmental backfire such as mosquitos and chemical pesticide. Another 60,000 packets were distributed in October, which included 10,000 packets of more challenging species for masterclass graduates.
The initiative is part of the City of Garden Fund sponsored by the local bank and tote board. The fund has initiated 1600 farms in Singapore. It is also in line with the “30 by 30” national goal led by the Singapore Food Agency, hoping to cover 30% of the national nutritional needs, while enhancing the society’s food resilience.
Resilience is a concept emerged in 1980, in response to socioeconomic complexity and the unpredictable climate change and extreme events. Proposed by physical and social scientists, this concept suggests that when after going through a disaster, the society is not like an engine that would return to its original status upon repairing, instead, it would evolve organically, thus calling for long-term vision. This concept is beyond the common terms “mitigation” and “adaptation”, in which “adaptation” is not only about avoiding disaster or climate management, but to empower even the vulnerables to reduce the impact of disasters, and even aiming for a better quality of life. This is also part of the foundation of the 17 SDGs Goals set by the United Nations. Like Singapore, 90% of Hong Kong’s food supply is imported, but some local organisations are working to increase our current local vegetable produce and rooftop gardens are proliferating in the city. Apart from urban biodiversity and low-carbon, it is said that the satisfaction we receive from homegrown is a heal for the heart!
References:
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardening/gardening-with-edibles