SINGAPORE &mdash Singapore faces twin challenges from climate change and is seeking to a brand new coastal safety plan to protect the island&rsquo s most at-risk shores, the nation&rsquo s surroundings minister stated.

&ldquo Our twin challenges are coastal floods &hellip (and) extreme rainstorms that could cause more intense inland flooding. So we need a system that can help us manage both,&rdquo stated Grace Fu, minister for sustainability and the surroundings.

The venture, launched Tuesday by Singapore&rsquo s nationwide water company PUB, will collate science and information on how finest to mitigate and adapt to coastal injury earlier than making a roadmap of motion, Fu advised CNBC&rsquo s &ldquo Squawk Box Asia&rdquo Wednesday.

Singapore, a small Southeast Asian city-state smaller than New York City, has been working for years to protect its shoreline from sea stage rise and different environmental injury.

Much of the nation lies simply 15 meters above the imply sea stage, with about 30% of the nation lower than 5 meters above the imply sea stage. That has prompted authorities to implement a minimal land reclamation stage of 4 meters &mdash a determine that might probably rise quickly to five meters, stated Fu.

&ldquo We want to understand the impact of all these climatic scenarios on our environment, on the level of sea water, and also on the tidal differences that&rsquo s coming our way,&rdquo she stated.

The first area to be lined beneath the plan will probably be some 57.8 km of shoreline spanning Singapore&rsquo s Greater South Waterfront &mdash which incorporates town&rsquo s central enterprise district, the East Coast and Changi, dwelling to Singapore&rsquo s Changi Airport.

Singapore&rsquo s new coastal safety technique will supply non-public builders the prospect to assist redesign its future, Fu stated.

The research is launching with a $5 billion fund, and will probably be undertaken by a private-led consortium comprising Singaporean and Dutch consultancies over the subsequent 4 years. That course of will, in flip, open the door for different non-public firms to supply environmentally pleasant options, Fu stated.

&ldquo For the investments the government is making, I&rsquo m sure the private sector will be able to benefit in the construction and providing the engineering solutions,&rdquo she stated.

&ldquo Developers along the way will have some idea of the plan that we are going with,&rdquo she stated. &ldquo So when they build infrastructure, when they build buildings, when they build offices or they build recreation facilities, they will have to build with this science, these data, these assumptions in mind.&rdquo

The venture comes amid rising efforts to cut back the impression of climate change throughout the globe.