Singapore is right to frame climate change as a national-security issue

TO TREAT climate change as an issue of national security may seem drastic - but it may be the right approach. Climate change is an existential threat, and countries need long-term planning, forward-thinking and significant financing to adequately address one of humankind's "gravest" challenges.

Those sentiments echo Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally 2019 speech, in which he outlined the need to "understand, mitigate and adapt" to climate change to ensure the future security and resiliency of Singapore. A large portion of his major policy address was devoted to how the low-lying city-state will adapt to climate change, mainly through investing in climate-resilient infrastructure.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that sea levels will rise by a metre by 2100 due to the accelerating rate of melting ice sheets. By 2050, Singapore would be one of the many cities experiencing unprecedented climate shifts, including a much hotter climate and distinctly heavier rainstorms.