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SINGAPORE: The United Nations says Asia is in a position to come up with environmentally-friendly technologies and products.
So besides becoming an economic powerhouse, the region can also play a bigger role in helping to save the earth.
The call came from the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme who cited Singapore as an example of using technology to help the environment.
Achim Steiner was speaking at the Global Business Summit for the Environment in Singapore on Thursday.
"If we talk about Asia today, we're talking about the continent that is the fastest growing economy - that is increasingly using both natural resources that is contributing to pollution, but is also becoming a major economic hub for production and innovation," said Mr Steiner.
The UN says Singapore has managed to develop the necessary technology to solve its problem of water scarcity.
And now, Singapore can even impart the know-how to other countries as well.
"A state like Singapore, an urban economy, can work on particular areas where innovation very quickly becomes, in environmental terms, also an efficiency success. Water use and the way Singapore, at the moment, is looking at the whole question of water supplies, reusing and recycling water," said Mr Steiner.
And such an effort, he added, needs the corporate sector to be involved as well.
Mr Steiner said the world is facing a drastic challenge and this calls for everyone to play its part.
The economic future is set to change, he warned, and companies cannot afford to ignore their impact on the environment, especially since profits are tied to how fast firms can innovate in the future to accommodate a different environment. - CNA/yy
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