SINGAPORE — As part of efforts to create more green spaces in industrial estates, the Government has set a new goal to plant 170,000 trees in such estates by 2030.

This adds 70,000 trees to the 100,000 target first announced earlier this year.

The new target was put out on Monday (Oct 26) by National Development Minister Desmond Lee, who was joined by partners such as residents from West Coast Group Representation Constituency and 32 Jurong Island corporations to plant 100 trees on Jurong Island.

WHY IT MATTERS

The efforts are part of the One Million Trees movement by the National Parks Board (NParks), which aims to build Singapore into a “city in nature” over the next 10 years, while also mitigating the effects of climate change.

NParks said in March that some 100 individuals and more than 100 groups have pledged their support to this movement, which will take place at streetscapes, gardens, parks and park connectors, and nature reserves.

NParks said that the decision to raise the targets was in part to meet the strong interest displayed by the community in tree-planting events.

HOW MANY TREES IN INDUSTRIAL ESTATES?

Within Jurong Island, 21,000 more trees will be planted over the next two years to further “green” the industrial estate.

In total, NParks and industrial estate developer JTC aim to plant 34,000 new trees in the area by 2022.

Mr Lee said that with these efforts, there will be a total of about 100ha of new green spaces in industrial estates by 2030. These include the Jurong Innovation District, the Punggol Digital District and the Sungei Kadut Eco-District.

WHERE WILL THEY BE PLANTED?

The trees will be planted along the roads of the industrial estates. They will also be planted to resemble the “look and feel of natural forests”, Mr Lee said.

“They will also provide pedestrians with shade and respite from the heat,” he added.

The greening efforts will help to cool the industrial areas, which are some of the hotter areas in Singapore.

OTHER GREEN EFFORTS

The authorities also plan to deploy a network of environmental sensors within the Jurong area, Mr Lee said.

The 40 sensors will measure various aspects of the microclimate, such as the ambient temperature, relative humidity and wind speed.

The data collected will then be used to support ongoing research projects, which will help Singapore develop better greening strategies to cool the environment.