During the National Day Rally 2019 speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted Singapore's vulnerability to rising sea levels and shared several engineering options to address the issue. SMU Associate Professor of Humanities Winston Chow expressed surprise that mostly engineering options were mentioned as there are other solutions which can use a combination of natural eco-barriers. Assoc Prof Chow, who is a lead author for the upcoming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said, "Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation could have been highlighted. One idea could be, after reclamation, allowing the coastal fringe to revert to its natural state of a mangrove forest, like in Sungei Buloh or Chek Jawa."