The buzz these days isn’t just from the race cars that are flying around Marina Square as part of the second annual FORMULA 1™ night race through the streets of Singapore.

With its skyline of gleaming office towers, Singapore has the buzz of a city-state that is open for business.

From its founding as a British trading colony, Singapore has become one of the world's most prosperous international trading partners with a highly developed and successful free-market economy and one of the busiest ports in the world. It is the Asia-Pacific region’s financial and high-tech hub.

A Hub for Engagement

Recognizing the importance of Singapore as a regional hub for business, policy and innovation, Conservation International is launching Conservation International Singapore, Ltd., an affiliate office. CI Singapore will provide science-based advice to businesses and governments on policies and practices for environmental protection and sustainable economic development. With Singapore’s growing importance in the world of business and policy, the office will also serve as the center of outreach for the Asia-Pacific region.

CI Singapore will take advantage of the unprecedented window of opportunity as the global financial crisis and the specter of climate change have awakened all societies to the reality that we must change the way we consume natural resources.

Peter Seligmann, Rob Walton and Enki Tan are leading a CI delegation in a series of events highlighting our new presence in Singapore. Rob Walton—Chairman of the Board of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.—is being honored with the “Distinguished Fellow Award 2009” at the Global Social Innovators Forum, co-chaired by CI and featuring the Team Earth initiative.

A Growing Presence in Asia

CI Singapore will capitalize on the work being done through existing CI field offices in 11 countries and its many partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.

Successful recent initiatives in the region involving CI and its partners include:

• helping to secure a historic Debt for Nature Swap through which the U.S. Government will forgive nearly $30 million of debt payments owed by Indonesia in return for increased protection of Sumatra’s forests;
• working with the governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste to sign the Coral Triangle Initiative, a landmark agreement for coral reefs, fisheries and food security;
• joining with PepsiCo China to educate millions of Chinese youth about the importance of water conservation via public service announcements during PepsiCo’s rock band competition during summer 2009; 
• partnering with DreamWorks to provide earthquake relief through the “Panda Guardian” program following the catastrophic May 12th earthquake of 2008 in Sichuan Province, China; 
• and working with GITI Tire Corporation to protect the habitat of threatened species in northern Sumatra (Indonesia) and the Mountains of Southwest China while reducing levels of atmospheric carbon.

CI is also forming a new Asia-Pacific Business & Biodiversity Council—with early membership commitments from Walmart Asia (Hong Kong), PepsiCo China and Giti Tire—to provide a forum for corporate executives from a wide range of businesses to share ideas and experiences and to explore new ways to pursue environmental leadership.

Future Focused

As businesses and governments around the world continue to demand credible, high-quality advice on environmental sustainability as well as demonstrations of corporate and government initiatives that produce tangible, positive results, CI Singapore will work to engage the people and businesses of Singapore on the challenges and opportunities facing the global community so that its corporations and governments are empowered to harness nature as a tool for business success.