Speech by MOS Alvin Tan at the Ocean Collective Summit 2025
Oct 2, 2025
Good morning, and a warm welcome to our international delegates and friends to Singapore.
This morning, we gather in the shadow of sad news – The passing of Dr. Jane Goodall. I haven’t met Dr Jane Goodall, but the Jane Goodall Institute has a chapter here, just as the SeaKeepers do – established 10 years ago. But my wife who is in conservation as well has met Dr Jane Goodall, and she was a giant in many, many ways. So I thought Jane’s life had some resonance with what we are trying to achieve here in today’s Summit. Jane’s life and work reminds us effectively that science is not just about discovery, but also about responsibility. Jane showed the world that one person with courage and conviction can change how humanity sees its place in nature – and I think that offers many lessons for us.
As we gather together this morning, with partners like International SeaKeepers Society and with ocean explorers like Fabian Cousteau among us, we too are reminded to be guardians of life. Not only on land, but also in the vast, fragile blue that surrounds us. The sea connects us in many different ways as a small island nation. My grandfather who was from the Chinese island of Hainan in the South of China was a seafarer, and so too many immigrants coming to our shore in Singapore. And so, we all have a connection with the sea, one way or the other.
Like the ocean itself, the Ocean Collective Summit offers an important platform where our leaders, innovators, youth and communities can converge and discuss new ideas and learn. It’s also about gathering together to think about new solutions to tackle these wicked problems that confront us as we steward our fragile blue resource.
Singapore’s marine heritage
As a Singaporean, I’m grateful that our very tiny island nation has a role to play. Although we are small, we are surrounded by rich coastal and marine habitats. In fact, we sit at the gateway of the Coral Triangle (just west of it) – which is one of the most diverse marine regions on Earth.
Our waters are home to a remarkable diversity of corals, seagrasses, mangroves, and fish. Just yesterday, I was out in Pulau Ubin; I also visited the Southern Islands and our Sisters’ Island quite a bit.
These special ecosystems protect our shores, store carbon, provide food and support recreation.
Therefore Protecting our marine ecosystems is an environmental priority, and a social and economic imperative.
Yet, we live in a time when oceans around the world are under immense pressure from climate change and human activity.
That is why Singapore’s efforts to protect our natural capital under our City in Nature vision extends beyond our shorelines and into our surrounding waters. So please allow me to share what we are working on:
First, we designated Singapore’s first Marine Park at Sisters’ Islands in 2014 (about 11 years ago), with the intent to promote marine conservation, research and outreach.
The park has since been enjoyed by visitors and marine enthusiasts, especially on its reopening last year after the completion of enhancement works. I was in Sisters’ Islands just a couple of months ago at our turtle hatchery.
But we didn’t just stop there. Last year, we also announced plans to designate a second Marine Park at Lazarus South and Kusu Reef. This next step reflects our commitment to “What’s next”, taking tangible and actionable steps to safeguard our marine biodiversity.
Looking to the future, we must continue turning our “What If” into “What’s Next” – because we have agency.
So let me suggest two areas where we can make a real difference with concrete action - through collaboration, and through the communities that many of you represent this morning.
Key Areas of Change
First, let’s work across different sectors including policymakers, scientists, business and community.
The OCBC Seagrass Restoration Project, Singapore’s first seagrass restoration initiative, is a good example.
It is a three-year that project brings together NParks, researchers from St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory, and the National University of Singapore and is supported by OCBC through NParks’ Garden City Fund.
Together, they are pioneering innovative transplantation methods, filling critical knowledge gaps in seagrass reproductive biology, to ensure that seagrass meadows persist and endure in the long term.
We are combining private sector support from OCBC, policy direction from NParks, and academic rigour from NUS, to comprehensively address the complex challenges of seagrass conservation more effectively than any single organisation could alone. And I think that is the spirit of collaboration.
Beyond our shores, Singapore also shares our experiences and our expertise in urban biodiversity conservation at regional platforms. You all know that we are also at the heart of Southeast Asia – ASEAN – a population of over 670 million. And in Singapore, although we are one of the smallest, we try to play our part in biodiversity conservation.
For example, we are active in the ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, and the ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment through our partnership with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.
That allows us to pool our knowledge and play a role in advancing global conservation movements. It also shows how even a small, highly urbanised city-state can make quite a significant impact in safeguarding nature. We aren’t just a drop in the ocean!
We will continue to work with various sectors, learning from international counterparts at platforms like this, to protect and conserve our marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
Second, in addition to working with business, researchers and policymakers – and I see many young people here today – we must work with our community and our youth in our marine conservation efforts.
During marine incidents, our volunteers from the Friends of Marine Park helped survey and monitor impacts to our marine environment. In fact, I was with our Friends of Marine Park when we released our turtle hatchlings just a couple of months ago.
Our communities, effectively, are working with our conservation experts and our NParks colleagues to serve as our “eyes on the ground” in local waters, flagging unusual observations and reporting undesirable activities. So we work very closely with them.
On behalf of NParks, I thank our community partners – I know many of you are here today – for your dedication and I look forward to our many visits to the Southern Islands and continuing to do this important work together.
Now the most important in this room is our youths – the stewards of our future. You bring a fresh wave of perspective, digital fluency, creativity, and a deep sense of urgency to the conservation space.
Thank you to our SeaKeepers and their Asia chapter for co-organising today’s summit, and for their ongoing commitment to our youth and marine conservation efforts. Thank you in particular for
Backing school programmes and student research – and we now have more ideas on what to do and to leverage some of our existing initiatives;
Joining our Friends of Marine Park community in support of NParks’ efforts.
Earlier this year, SeaKeepers Asia also launched the International Junior SeaKeepers Program in Singapore. We are happy to do so, and I think our youths are actively engaged in this programme.
This programme equips motivated, passionate youths with skills in oceanographic research, science communication, and environmental advocacy.
Collectively, these efforts remind us that when we invest in young people, we invest in the future of our oceans. When we equip our youth with knowledge, skills, and opportunities, we empower them to become changemakers who will carry forward the work of conservation with energy and conviction – generational transfer, generational stewardship.
Once again, thank you SeaKeepers for your generous contributions. We look forward to deepening our partnership to come.
Conclusion
Friends, Dr Jane Goodall often said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
At this summit, our mission is to decide, together, the difference we want to make for our oceans. Not just words, but commitments. To close the gap between words and action.
So let’s challenge ourselves to leave this summit with more than words and inspiration. Let’s leave with action. To not only keep our head above water, but to rise above the tide.
To our researchers and our innovators, let’s think about how your specific discoveries can be translated into community action. And we are ready – we have the receptables to convert that into action.
To our advocates and educators, let’s continue building bridges between scientific knowledge- to convert and translate that into public understanding.
To our business leaders and investors here, thank you for your support and let’s consider how your resources can support scalable ocean solutions.
To our youth and community champions, let’s continue to lead with courage and conviction. Your voices and actions are vital in shaping the future of our seas.
Because the ocean is our collective inheritance, and its fate is our collective responsibility.
So friends, let’s honour Dr Jane Goodall’s memory, celebrate the Cousteau legacy and build on the vision of the International SeaKeepers Society. Ensuring that this Ocean Collective Summit is not remembered for its speeches, but for the actions and partnerships we forge.
If Dr Jane Goodall showed us the power of one voice, then together may we prove the power of many voices.
I wish you a successful summit ahead. Thank you.