Solution
Anju Lata answered on
May 18 2021
12
HSYP8102: AT4: Environmental Health Report for Singapore
Introduction
Singapore is a small island city state, having no natural resources. It has a population of 5,844,783 which constitutes around 0.08% of world’s population, with the total land area of 700 km2[1]. The state is identified to have common environmental issues like water, air pollution and deforestation. The common health issues are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension. This report highlights the contemporary population and environmental health issues influencing Singapore. The structure of report includes: 1. Describing Singapore, 2. Key cu
ent environmental and population health issues, 3. Cu
ent policies and practices implemented to address these challenges, 4. Conclusion.
Describing Singapore
Geography: Singapore involves the island of Singapore and 63 islets under the te
itorial waters. It is located in South Eastern Asia, as islands between Indonesia and Malaysia [2]. Total area is 647.5 sq km, with 637.5 sq km land and 10 sq km water. The coastline of Singapore is 193 km. It is known as one of the busiest seaports in the world. Lowest point is Singapore Strait (0 m) and the highest point is Bukit Timah (166 m).
Map showing Geography of Singapore, Source: [3]
Population Characteristics: 100% of the population of the state is u
an. The median age of people in Singapore is 42.2 Years. Life Expectancy is 84.07 Years for both sexes and infant mortality rate is 1.4 infant deaths per 1000 live births. The number of deaths in children under 5 years of age is 1.8 per 1000 live births [3]. Population is constituted of 3 ethnicities: Chinese (76.5%), Malaysian (13.8%) and Indian (8%).
Graph showing demographics of Singapore, Source:[4]. It shows rapidly growing population.
Natural Environment and hazard factors: The water and air is generally very clean in Singapore. It is one of the lowest ranking nations in Environmental Sustainability Index [3]. The human activities like overfishing and pollution have heavily threatened the coral reefs in Singapore. The primary hazardous environmental issues include limited resources of freshwater, industrial pollution, haze and seasonal smoke emerged from forest fires. Availability of limited land causes problems in waste disposal. The state has considerable level of ca
on dioxide emission, which causes climate change.
Social and Economic Development: Singapore is often refe
ed as growth miracle of late 20th century, as it has moved from a third world to first world country, within a time period of less than 50 years. The Wealth Report of 2012 had also ranked Singapore as the richest country in the world[4]. Its location aside to India, China and ASEAN offers consistent opportunities of growth to the state. Singapore is a main hub for logistics, transportation, finance, business services and transshipment activities. It is favorite location for the multinational firms, with more than 7000 firms operate in the state[4].
Graph showing Economic Freedom Indices, Source [5]
Multiple social welfare services and child care centers are provided by the government, for the helpless kids, aged and destitute people. The women are provided equal rights to men such as education, business, employment and civil liberties. 48% of the labor force is composed of women and are given good representation in their jobs [5]. The old age adults, low income families and people with disabilities are supported through social and public assistance in form of baby bonus, job placement, subsidies for childcare and cash grants etc. Singapore continues to offer lowest wages amongst high income countries and takes longest hours of work across the world [4]. According to the overview of World Bank, Singapore ranks first in Human Capital Development across the world [6].
Political Governance: The political system of Singapore is Constitutional and parliamentarian republic where the president is the head of Singapore. There is freedom of press (world rank 151/180) and political freedom (4/7) [6]. The cu
ent President of Singapore is Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister is LEE Hsien Loong from People’s Action Party (PAP). PAP is majority political party [6]. Extremely centralized beurocracy, and follows a socialist approach.
Key Health Issues in Singapore
Planetary health (Anthropocene): Due to u
anization several animal species are getting extinct leading to faster loss of biodiversity. The increasing level of ca
on dioxide in the air is disrupting the natural chemical cycles. The climate change and ozone depletion is already affecting the state causing global warming and floods. Threat of sea level rise and storms has given rise to coastal armouring to protect the newly made sea shores. The coastal landscape of Singapore is constantly altered shifting the shoreline seawards to accommodate the ports, homes, parks and infrastructure. Land reclamation is being used to increase the coastline, and to manage the local resources to safeguard the biodiversity and obtain sustainable development [7]. Ecological Engineering is being used to restore the natural shores and ecosystem.
Population growth: Singapore has shown a stable population growth in last few years, due to decline in the non resident population and reduced foreign employment opportunities [8]. Stable population growth over limited land, with rapid development has caused dynamic changes in the use of land. The agricultural land has converted into u
an space. There has been a reduction in...