Leaders in Sustainability
10 March 2023
7.30 pm
2022 was a year of many climate disasters. Viral photos of the great rivers of Europe and Asia as dried out riverbeds revealed the worst northern hemisphere drought in centuries. The devastating floods in Pakistan affected the lives of almost 33 million people. These extreme weather events not only reveal the dire impact of the climate crisis, but also highlight the urgency of climate action. What can we do to combat the climate crisis? How can we ensure climate justice in our fight against climate change? Can sustainability and consumption coexist?
Join our Leaders in Sustainability panel Koh Lian Pin, Adrian Loo and Andie Ang to engage with these questions, as well as hear from the personal experiences of Nichol Ng, Jasmine Tuan, and Kin Leonn.
The Speakers
Madhumitha Ardhanari
Senior sustainability strategist and researcher, Forum for the Future
Madhu Ardhanari
Madhu Ardhanari is an award-winning futurist and strategist who coaches businesses and organisations to respond to long-term sustainability challenges. A recipient of the Environment Special Award in the 2020 Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Awards, her work is to awaken agency and transformative action in the face of issues such as climate breakdown and socioeconomic inequity. She leads the Protein Challenge Southeast Asia Programme to explore just and regenerative food futures in the region.
Andie Ang
Wildlife conservationist
Andie Ang
Andie loves primates and believes more can be done to protect their habitats. As the senior manager of Primate Conservation & Singapore Programmes of Mandai Nature, she has recognised climate change as a threat to biodiversity. Her experience with the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group as deputy chair and the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) as President enable her to promote wildlife awareness. Today, she works with government and non-government organisations in Southeast Asia to advocate for the long-term research and conservation of endangered primate species.
Koh Lian Pin
Researcher, conservationist, and NMP
Koh Lian Pin
Professor Koh brings 20 years of research experience in the field of sustainability and environmental science, having worked across Switzerland, Australia and the United States. In 2020, he returned to Singapore to join the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore. He is the Director of the University’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Chair Professor of Conservation at NUS, Vice Dean of Research at the Faculty of Science, and Director of NUS’ Tropical Marine Science Institute. He currently serves as a Nominated Member of Parliament.
Adrian Loo
Group Director of the National Parks Board (NParks)
Adrian Loo
Adrian graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) studying palms in the montane forests of Peninsular Malaysia and was a post-doctoral fellow in Kew Gardens and then the National University of Singapore researching conservation genetics and biodiversity. He also chairs the Otter Working Group in Singapore, co-chairs the Long-Tailed Macaque Working Group and carries out forest restoration, species recovery, animal rescue and rehabilitation work in the nature reserves. Adrian is also part of a team in NParks that facilitates the One Million Tree movement in Singapore.
Rachel Cheang
Co-Founder of Energy CoLab
Rachel Cheang
Rachel Cheang is involved in various climate justice and divestment organising and environmental education initiatives. She organises with Students for a Fossil-Free Future (S4F), volunteers at Ground-Up Initiative (GUI) as a nature guide and farmer and is part of the LepakinSG PublicAction Team. Rachel also co-founded Energy CoLab, an initiative that recognises the power of youth in driving change towards a just, equitable, green-powered future and seeks to reduce the barriers that Southeast Asian youths face in engaging with and contributing solutions to energy issues.
Nichol Ng
Group CEO of X-INC and co-founder ofThe Food Bank Singapore
Nichol Ng
Nichol Ng wears many hats. Among them: Group CEO of X-INC, known for its food distribution and F&B services and co-founder of The Food Bank Singapore, a charity that collects food donations from farms, manufacturers, supermarkets and consumers and redistributes them to the needy. Nichol uses her expertise in the food industry to change the Singaporean conversation around food: reducing the level of food waste in the food industry, supporting local, sustainable produce, and critically, reducing food insecurity in Singapore.
Jasmine Tuan
Sustainable fashion expert
Jasmine Tuan
In 2018, Jasmine started her zero waste journey and committed to zero fast fashion shopping – extremely challenging for a (then) shopaholic. Introduced to the concept of swapping in Malaysia, she found a way to enjoy fashion more sustainably. In 2020, Jasmine joined forces with Cloop to reduce fashion overconsumption in Singapore by introducing a circular way of enjoying new-to-you styles through swaps and resale. Together with their ISO-accredited recycling partner, Cloop hopes to double the textile/leather recycling rate by planting recycling bins around Singapore to close the loop for fashion for good.
Kin Leonn
Composer and producer
Kin Leonn
Singapore-born and currently London-based, composer and producer Kin Leonn brings listeners through a voyage of cosmically-detailed environments and redemptive emotional peaks. Soothing with peaking moments of grandeur, the experimental expeditions of Kin Leonn, which rely dominantly on instrumentals, bring to mind visions of landscapes. Nature is a recurring motif that pervades his compositions, and Kin Leonn uses it to convey narratives that enhance the stillness he forges. It is these detours from fast-paced reality, that most of us find ourselves trapped in, that attract listeners to his artistry.