In terms of natural resources, Singapore lacks the available space for agricultural land use when compared to its neighboring countries. This is due to Singapore’s rapid urban expansion. By 2014, the available space for farmland had dropped from twenty five percent to only about one percent, forcing Singapore to turn to food imports from other countries like Indonesia and Thailand to accommodate its necessities (Wai et al., 2020). Singapore is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, along with its neighboring countries like Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and more (Sadiq et al., 2022). These countries have similar natural resources, such as various metals like iron, aluminum, gold, copper, and even gemstones (Nawaz et al., 2019). Singapore, in particular, is well known for having an abundance of petroleum. Many of its neighboring countries rely on Singapore for oil exports. The neighboring countries that rely on Singapore for its petroleum exports include India, China, Vietnam, and more (E.I.A., 2021). While Singapore does lack food resources and must turn to its neighbors to meet its food requirements, it is able to maintain a good relationship by providing a consistent amount of petroleum.
What Singapore lacks in agricultural space, it has in marine biodiversity. The city-state hosts a wide variety of marine species, such as fish, and habitats like coral reefs and sea meadows (Lim et al., 2020). The types of fish Singapore’s growing fishing industry catches include seabass, snapper, tilapia, and catfish (SFA, 2021). While twenty percent of fishery production comes from capture fisheries, eighty percent is from the country’s industry (SEAFDEC, 2022). Ten percent of the fish consumed in Singapore comes from local fish farms (Lim, H. et al., 2020). Although Singapore is experiencing a water crisis, importing fifty percent of its water from Malaysia, many of its citizens don’t seem to bear the brunt of the water scarcity due to the country’s improved water management practices (Biswas & Tortajada, 2019). Overall, Singapore is a country that has a healthy trade system and relationship with the neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region.
