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SINGAPORE: When it comes to global issues like climate change, experts warn that one should not be taken in by false messiahs because they may just create more problems instead of solving them.
This was a key issue raised Thursday at the Climate Change and Security Conference held at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University.
The projected consequences of climate change is a global rise in temperature of up to 4 degrees celsius by the end of the century.
Rising sea levels that cause flooding will hit many coastal communities, especially in Asia.
However, Singapore's National Environment Council's Chairman Simon Tay warned against missteps and false solutions in the rush to do good about climate change.
"I think nuclear energy could seriously be one of them," he explained. "This industry has faced 20 years of question marks and decline, and suddenly it's popped up and being promoted as being very light in carbon, and so doesn't affect climate change (because) it gives you carbon light energy.
"But there are other aspects of the environment - what to do with the nuclear waste, the safety of its operations and the huge financial investments, especially for developing countries."
The big picture aside, participants said one way to put a value to intangibles like clean air and water is to price their worth, for example, a piece of developing land.
Associate Professor Euston Quah from the Humanities & Social Sciences Department of Nanyang Technological University said: "There should not be a ready presumption that just because they have no (monetary) values that they are of little value to society.
"Increasingly in Singapore, we see people complaining about noise everywhere, so that is something perhaps where more should be done to put a price on quietude."
The conference, which ends on Friday, is jointly organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Swiss Embassy. - CNA/yb
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