Last week, I attended an informal ministerial meeting on climate change in Pretoria, South Africa, and experienced first hand the enormous difficulties the negotiators are facing.

The crux of the negotiations is to achieve the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere. The current goal is to limit the rise of global temperatures to less than 2 degrees centigrade. This is the level that the scientists have told us is necessary to avoid catastrophic climatic instability. However, there is currently a big gap between this goal and the current pledges by the international community. The United Nations Environment Programme Report published last year indicated a clear gap of at least 5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide per year even in the best case scenario.

This has always been the time of the year when the number of people with dengue increases as the temperature rises in Singapore.

Last week, 227 people came down with dengue.

This was the highest weekly number in four years.

It was also the third consecutive week that the number of cases had gone beyond what is considered the epidemic level.

As of 26 July 2011, there were 31 active clusters, with five clusters having more than 10 cases.

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The addition of our 16th and 17th reservoirs means two thirds of Singapore’s land area is now water catchment zone. Another significant step in our journey towards water self sufficiency and sustainability.

I am grateful to everyone who has responded with many fascinating ideas and proposals for enhancing flood protection in Singapore over the past week. I believe that Singaporeans expect and deserve better flood protection. However, we must proceed in a proactive, careful and comprehensive way based on best available scientific evidence. We must also take advantage of innovative new technology and engineering solutions.

Appointment of Expert Panel to assist in formulating long term plans

I was woken up by thunder at 6:30 AM this morning. It soon became obvious that it would be a busy day. I couldn’t turn right from Farrer Road to Bukit Timah Road due to the flood and another car was stuck in front. I had to take a detour over the Lornie Road flyover and PIE to ultimately reach the MEWR Building.

When I arrived at the PUB Ops Room, they told me that the storm was even worse than last year, and there were floods in MacPherson, Balestier, Bukit Timah and Tanglin areas. In one morning, a 124 mm of rain had fallen in the central areas of Singapore – this is almost 80% of the usual rainfall for the whole month of June. In fact, more than half of the total, 65 mm, had fallen within half an hour.

Today is my final day at MCYS. It has been an exciting and deeply fulfilling journey over 7 years. I have been most privileged to have the support of wonderful colleagues, volunteers and members in the ministry, statutory boards, and the various committees and councils, as well as all my friends on this page.

When I first arrived at MCYS in 2004, I quickly discovered that the staff of MCYS are strongly motivated by deeply held values and a keen sense of mission. Many have dedicated their entire professional lives to helping the needy and vulnerable, to build a resilient and cohesive society and to inspire young Singaporeans. I remain awed by their passion and dedication.