A low-lying Asian country’s defense against rising seas? Its very own ‘Long Island’

Experts warn rising seas could turn nuisance floods into a serious threat in Singapore

Editor's note: Design for Impact is a series spotlighting architectural solutions for communities displaced by the climate crisis, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies.

Singapore (CNN) — Waterlogged parks, submerged underpasses and streets engulfed by knee-deep water — low-lying Singapore is no stranger to what experts call “nuisance flooding,” which, though burdensome, poses no major threat to people or property. But in a tiny island nation that prides itself on long-term planning, the recent deluges are considered a harbinger of far worse things to come.

The Southeast Asian city-state estimates that the surrounding seas could rise by 1.15 meters (3.8 feet) by the end of this century. In a “high emissions scenario,” they could climb up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) by 2150, according to the latest government projections. Combined with extreme high tides and storm surges, sea levels may sometimes exceed today’s by up to 5 meters — higher than around 30% of Singapore.

The proposed solution? An 8-mile-long string of inhabitable artificial islands that will double as a seawall protecting the 31-mile-wide country’s entire southeastern coast.

Dubbed “Long Island” — a working title, for now — the project will likely take decades and billions of dollars to complete. The plan would see around 3 square miles of land (two and a half times the size of New York’s Central Park) reclaimed from the Singapore Strait.

The idea dates to the early 1990s, though it has gained significant momentum in recent years. In 2023, Singapore’s urban planning agency, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), unveiled an initial blueprint comprising three tracts of land connected by tidal gates and pumping stations.

Engineering and environmental studies are underway, meaning the islands’ shape and position remain subject to change. But there appears to be little doubt among officials that the plans will, in some form or another, go ahead later this century.

“It’s a very ambitious proposal,” said Adam Switzer, a professor of coastal science at the Asian School of the Environment at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU). “And it’s really a testament to the way that Singapore takes long-term planning into consideration for almost everything that it does.”

More than coastal defense

Singaporean officials say they considered a basic seawall but wanted to retain residents’ access to the coast. The URA’s plan would create over 12 miles of new waterfront parks, with land also likely available for residential, recreational and commercial use.

Lee Sze Teck, a consultant at Singapore-based real estate firm Huttons Asia, told CNN via email that Long Island offers the “potential to build between 30,000 and 60,000 homes” in both low- and high-rise housing projects.

Land in Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive property markets, is notoriously scarce. As such, creating space for housing ensures the project “can serve the community in a variety of different ways,” said NTU’s Switzer.

And there is another geographical vulnerability the proposal helps mitigate: Singapore’s water shortage.

Despite its tropical climate and heavy investment in desalination plants, the country has long relied on imported water (piped over the border from neighboring Malaysia’s Johor River) to meet demand. But amid ongoing disgruntlement among Malaysian officials over the decades-old deal — and with Singapore’s water use set to double by 2065 — self-sufficiency is a geopolitical priority.

By connecting to the mainland at each end, Long Island would create a huge new reservoir, trapping freshwater that would otherwise be discharged into the sea. Switzer, who advises government agencies but is not directly involved in the project, said the proposal could make a “major contribution” to Singapore’s soaring water needs.

“The government is looking for as many wins as possible,” he added. “It’s not just about coastal defense.”

Futureproofing the country

Officials say they expect Long Island to take “a few decades” to plan, design and implement. Once the land is reclaimed, it will then be years, or even decades, before it has settled enough to build on.

Singapore’s government is throwing its weight behind Long Island as an illustration of its long-term vision — a common theme in the island’s politics. (The country’s founding father and first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, famously said, “I am calculating not in terms of the next election … I am calculating in terms of the next generation; in terms of the next 100 years; in terms of eternity.”)

Lee’s eldest son and later prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said in 2019 that protecting the country against rising seas could take 100 billion Singapore dollars ($78 billion) over the next century. Earlier this year, his ruling People’s Action Party — which has won every election since Singapore’s independence in 1965 — featured Long Island prominently in its election manifesto, with the younger Lee’s successor, Lawrence Wong, also personally backing the project.

Land reclamation has always been central to Singapore’s futureproofing efforts. The country’s total area is, today, 25% larger than when colonialist Sir Stamford Raffles established it as a trading post for the British East India Company in the early 19th century. Indeed, the coast Long Island will be built off was itself reclaimed during the so-called “Great Reclamation” of the 1960s and 1970s, when almost 6 square miles of new land, including a long stretch of beach, was created in the country’s east.

Land reclamation comes with its own political and environmental challenges, however. The process requires huge amounts of infill (Long Island would need 240 million metric tons of it, by one estimate) which traditionally consists of imported sand. But the major Southeast Asian exporters, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, have all at various times banned sand exports, citing environmental concerns over its excavation.

Singapore is currently exploring alternatives that would reduce dependence on its neighbors. Research is currently underway, for instance, to see if ash from incinerated landfill could be used, alongside soil and construction debris, instead.

Nature Society Singapore has meanwhile expressed a range of environmental concerns, including the impact of land reclamation on the area’s horseshoe crabs, hawksbill turtles and nesting Malaysian plovers.

‘Much bigger picture’

Various other low-lying nations are — or are considering — using land reclamation to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Indonesia’s proposal for a giant seawall protecting its capital, Jakarta, remains mired in heated political debate more than a decade after the first plans were unveiled. Thailand and the Maldives are among the other countries to have suggested island-building as a response to rising sea levels.

In Denmark, construction of a controversial 271-acre artificial peninsula protecting the capital, Copenhagen, from severe flooding began in 2022, though it is still the subject of ongoing protests.

By contrast, there has been little significant opposition to Singapore’s Long Island thus far. Flood resilience appears to be a priority in a country that has spent 2.5 billion Singapore dollars ($1.9 billion) improving its drainage infrastructure since 2011.

The scheme may be the poster child for coastal resilience, but NTU’s Switzer said the wider strategy could encompass everything from sediment realignment to “nature-based solutions,” like building oyster beds or extending mangroves and offshore reefs.

“Long Island is just one part of a much, much bigger picture,” he added. “As a low-lying nation, incredibly dependent on our coastline, it has to be at the forefront of everybody’s thinking.”

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

Report a Typo