Singapore The garden of

Singapore has a similar population to NZ’s on a chunk of land 374 times smaller, but its green tourism is inspirational, writes

We are walking through the world’s largest glass greenhouse, Singapore’s Flower Dome, with our guide Dino, when I mention my girlfriend owns 20 acres (eight hectares) of forest at home.

He looks momentarily bewildered. ‘‘Twenty acres? I love plants and gardening but all I have is a window box,’’ he says.

It is understandable. Owning your own forest is inconceivable in postage stamp-sized Singapore. Consider this: New Zealand’s largest farm, Molesworth Station, is more than two-and-a-half times the size of the whole of Singapore.

But while other destinations dither, Singapore is doubling down on going green, determined to lead the way in sustainable living and tourism. Let’s imagine your itinerary.

It starts with offsetting the carbon emissions on your flights to Singapore, Air New Zealand’s FlyNeutral programme or an independent one such as sustainabletravel.org.

Landing at Changi, you are at an airport consistently lauded as one of the world’s greenest. The abundant plant life includes the Terminal 4 Green Wall with more than 20,000 plants, the Sunflower Garden at Terminal 2, and the big showstopper at Terminal 1’s Jewel indoor forest with walking trails and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.

You are now in the famous Garden City, a nickname adopted in 1967 when the nation’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, declared Singapore would become ‘‘an oasis in Southeast Asia… a garden city, beautiful with flowers and trees, and as tidy and litterless as can be’’.

Your greenery-draped accommodation choices are remarkable. There is the Parkroyal Pickering Hotel, covered in a 15,000m2 garden; the 27-storey Oasia Hotel Downtown, clad in tropical creepers; or the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore’s original ‘‘garden in a hotel’’, freshly renovated to maximise its green profile – its own Urban Farm supplies 20% of the hotel’s food.

The one you can’t check into until May next year is the vertical rainforest origami of the stunning Pan Pacific Orchard. Once finished, this hotel will raise the bar on high-rise eco-accommodation, and feature four open-air terraces, with their own design concepts: Forest, Water, Garden and Cloud.

On an ebike, zip to Gardens by the Bay, 101ha of horticultural wonderland to explore the Flower Dome, and the Cloud Forest, featuring a Ma¯ ori ku¯ waha (entrance) carving Jacinda Ardern dropped off there earlier this year.

Next, head to the top of a Supertree. These are bioarchitecture in action, a grove of 18 trees that look like vegetationfilled Meccano, hosting 180,000 types of plants and 200 species of flowers.

The largest features the Supertree Observatory, with panoramic views of Singapore, including the Marina Barrage, home to the Sustainable Singapore Gallery, which has the latest intel on the country’s green initiatives.

One of the most recent is the Rail Corridor, a tree-lined track once used for the trains running between Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. While only a few stretches are now open, this will be a 24km-long nature trail across Singapore.

But the oldest green space in Singapore is the fabulous Botanic Gardens. Dating to 1859, it is still the only tropical gardens designated a Unesco World Heritage Site, and is home to the pretty climbing orchid called Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, the country’s national flower.

All this eco-adventuring is hungry work. Food and Singapore are virtually synonyms, so you will be pleased to discover chefs also create environmentally friendly dishes.

Downtown, SaladStop! has launched Asia’s first net carbon-zero restaurant, complete with furnishings from upcycled logs, recycled plastic floor tiles and a machine that turns leftovers into fertiliser onsite.

At Labyrinth, a restaurant offering a modern twist on traditional Singaporean cuisine, chef and owner Han Li Guang focuses on locally sourced ingredients, grown or produced sustainably. This is no mean feat in a country that currently imports more than 90% of its food. He is also dedicated to ‘‘cultural sustainability’’, guarding indigenous culinary traditions for future generations.

Refuelled, head to the 163km2 flora sanctuary Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a site of international importance for migratory birds.

If you just want to take the kids to Singapore for a holiday, head to Sentosa Island. Even Singapore’s famous megaattraction is aggressively driving down its emissions, vowing to be 100% carbonneutral by 2030.

Singapore’s eco-minded efforts are remarkable. Its latest Green Plan will see 120ha of new parks, mandate every household be within a 10-minute walk of a green space, add miles of new cycleways, and even demand all new car registrations be clean-energy vehicles.

This won’t save the glaciers, but small countries can still set an example. And Singapore might just be the inspiration we need as travellers to help turn this whole hot climate mess around.