A centralised approach to environmental management: The case of Singapore

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Abstract
The dynamic economies of Asian countries including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea have economic as well as environmental lessons to share. More attention however has been paid to the economic rather than environmental lessons. This paper examines Singapore's experience with balancing economic and environmental needs. It has been relatively successful at achieving this balance and this is evident in the two case‐studies which are discussed. The discussion highlights the centralised approach to policy decision‐making on both development and environment in Singapore and provides evidence in support of the argument that the success of such an approach to policy‐making must be attributed to the close coordination of state agencies that are implementing development programmes.