Save the whale. Again

Michael McCarthy, The Independent 19 Nov 07;

The humpback was spared from extinction in 1963, one of the first whales to be protected. Yesterday a fleet set out to start hunting this animal once more

They're the whales that behave like dolphins, leaping right out of the water in one of the most spectacular animal displays on earth. They've enchanted millions. And they're the ones the Japanese are now off to kill.

Not content with harpooning minke whales, fin whales, sei whales, Bryde's whales and sperm whales – all unnecessarily, all in the face of hostile world opinion and all in the laughable guise of "scientific research" – the Japanese whaling fleet set off yesterday to hunt the best-loved whale of all, the humpback.

It has been protected for more than 40 years, since long before the current international moratorium on commercial whaling came into force in 1986. It had been hunted so hard in preceding decades that its estimated numbers dropped to little more than a thousand in 1963 – even the whalers agreed to leave it in peace.

Since then it has recovered to some extent, and gone on to become the icon of the whale-watching industry in numerous parts of the world. To many people it is the most fascinating and appealing of all the great whale species.

Encounter close-up a fin whale, a sei, a minke or a grey whale and you'll no doubt be thrilled, but what you will see is a glimpse of dorsal fin, a spout perhaps, and a view of the tail flukes as the animal makes its dive.

Encounter a humpback and you're in for a different experience altogether. These are whales that, when the mood takes them, go in for "breaching" – hurling themselves entirely clear of the water, dolphin-style – despite the fact that they can be 50ft long and weigh 40 tonnes. It is an awesome sight, and to witness it is the single top whale-watching experience.

But the excitement and pleasure of watching humpbacks is running smack into the Japanese desire to kill them, and the ensuing row is certain to echo around the globe. It may well lead to direct clashes at sea between whalers and Greenpeace activists of the sort that electrified the world in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually led to the 1986 moratorium.

Japan ignores the moratorium, and has killed whales for years under the guise of "scientific research", a risible fiction believed by no one outside Japan, as the meat from the kills is sold on the open market.

This year, for the first time, it has awarded itself a "quota" of up to 50 humpbacks to be killed in the summer hunt in the Antarctic and Southern Oceans, which is starting now, to accompany the killing of as many as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales, in what Japan's Fisheries Agency says is its largest-ever "scientific" whale hunt.

It is a growing industry, despite enduring global protests. This season's target of up to 1,035 whales is more than double the number the country hunted a decade ago, and Japan continues to work actively within the International Whaling Commission to undermine the moratorium.

Yesterday, after a farewell ceremony in the southern port of Shimonoseki, four ships led by the 8,000-tonne Nisshin Maru left for Antarctica to begin the hunt. Families waved little flags emblazoned with smiling whales and the crew raised a toast with cans of beer, while a brass band played "Popeye the Sailor Man". Officials told the crowd that Japan should not give into anti-whaling activists. "They're violent environmental terrorists," the mission leader, Hajime Ishikawa, told the crowd. "Their violence is unforgivable ... we must fight against their hypocrisy and lies."

Greenpeace, long the most directly active of the anti-whaling environmental groups, said its ship Esperanza was moored just outside Japan's territorial waters and would chase the fleet to the Southern Ocean.

The Esperanza expedition leader, Karli Thomas, said she expected to spot the whaling fleet perhaps as early as last night.

"We are going to do everything in our power to reduce their catch," she said. "Japan's research programme is a sham. We demand [they] cancel it. This whaling programme is stealing money from Japanese taxpayers, and robbing other countries of much-needed tourist income. The threatened humpbacks targeted by the whalers are part of thriving whale-watching industries. The whaling fleet must be recalled now. If it is not, we will take direct, non-violent action to stop the hunt."

Other environmental groups issued strong protests. "Killing endangered whales for products that nobody needs is beneath the dignity of a great nation like Japan," said Robbie Marsland, director of the UK branch of the International Fund For Animal Welfare. "It is inherently cruel – there is simply no humane way to kill a whale."

The American Cetacean Society estimates that the humpback whale population has recovered to about 30,000 to 40,000, about a third of the number that existed before modern whaling began. The species is listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.

But Japanese fisheries officials insist that the population has returned to a sustainable level and that taking 50 of them will have no impact. The head of Japan's Fisheries Agency, Shuji Yamada, said at the Shimonoseki port ceremony yesterday: "The scientific research we carry out will pave the way to overturning the moratorium on commercial whaling, which will better help us to utilise whale resources," he said.

Greenpeace is collaborating with Pacific-based scientists through the Great Whale Trail project to demonstrate that whale research is possible without killing. The Great Whale Trail has been monitoring the location of tagged humpback whales as they migrate to the Southern Ocean from the Pacific. Its website will also track the Japanese whaling fleet.

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Iron dumping solution to global warming needs more research, warns IUCN

Proposed global warming solution needs more scientific research, IUCN warns
UN Observer 19 Nov 07; and IUCN website

A new method to combat global warming by dumping iron into the sea needs to be treated with caution, governments and scientists warn.

Gland, Switzerland, November 19, 2007 – Neither the safety nor the effectiveness of ocean fertilization – adding iron or other ‘micronutrients’ to the sea to encourage plankton to grow – have been established and the method should not be touted as a cure for climate change until they have been, cautions the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

This warning is based on a Statement of Concern endorsed by the Parties to the London Convention and London Protocol, the international agreements that regulate dumping of wastes and other matter at sea. According to an International Maritime Organization press briefing of 16 November 2007, Parties to the Convention and Protocol, unanimously adopted the June 2007 Statement of Concern issued by their scientific advisors that “knowledge about the effectiveness and potential environmental impacts of ocean iron fertilization is insufficient to justify large-scale operations”.

The idea behind the method is that micronutrients such as iron or urea will stimulate the growth of phytoplankton in the sea, which can absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many scientists have critiqued the technology based on studies showing little if any potential for long term sequestration but a high likelihood of damage to the marine environment. They have also noted the possibility that ocean fertilization could promote further climate change by stimulating the production of far more potent greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide. Nevertheless, some companies are already promoting this method and are selling carbon offsets to the public to support their research.

The IPCC Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change describes ocean fertilization as “speculative and unproven, with the risk of unknown side effects”. In that respect, Parties to the London Convention and Protocol called for “further study (of) the issue from the scientific and legal perspectives with a view to its regulation” and “urges states to use the utmost caution when considering proposals for large-scale ocean fertilization operations”.

Kristina Gjerde, High Seas Policy Adviser to the World Conservation Union, said: “Speculative technologies and unregulated voluntary markets for carbon offsets are a potentially lethal brew. This statement of concern sends a clear message to governments, soon to meet for next month’s UN climate conference in Bali, about the need to consider the full range of impacts of proposed geo-engineering fixes and to ensure that they are properly regulated to prevent adverse impacts on the environment.”

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Iron is a tonic for climate-saving plankton

Jim Loney and Michael Christie, Reuters 18 Nov 07;

MIAMI (Reuters) - From the deck of the research ship Weatherbird II, a California company hopes to prove a controversial theory that putting iron dust in the ocean can produce enough plankton to help save the Earth.

The mission of the company behind the ship, Planktos Corp., is to research whether "iron seeding," or "iron enrichment" -- dumping tons of pulverized iron ore into the ocean -- can catalyze the growth of microscopic algae that will then suck carbon out of the atmosphere.

If the research goes well, Planktos aims to make money by fertilizing the ocean, measuring the carbon its plankton forests sequester and selling carbon credits for cash on emerging world carbon markets.

Weatherbird left Florida this month on a mission that has caused consternation among scientists and environmentalists, many of whom do not think the theory has been sufficiently tested to try out on such a large scale.

Oceanographers, who unlike scientific colleagues in fields like pharmaceuticals have not been heavily exposed to business motivations, also appear uneasy about Planktos' aim of making money while fighting climate change.

But the company says it is interested in the potential greater good of iron-enrichment -- taking tons of carbon dioxide, a critical greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, out of the Earth's atmosphere, in the same way a rainforest on land works for the health of the planet.

"We might actually be able to save the planet from the ravages of fossil fuels," Planktos chief executive Russ George told Reuters.

DUST AS A VITAMIN

The theory of iron enrichment was proposed 25 years ago. Iron acts as a vitamin, oceanographers say, enabling plants to take up nutrients.

The theory was greeted as a joke. But it has gained traction since, and adherents.

The emergence of carbon markets, especially in Europe, in which polluters can offset emissions by buying carbon credits from countries or companies that plant forests, has given the proposal commercial allure.

In addition to Planktos, Silicon Valley-based company Climos intends to pursue iron enrichment.

Planktos' plans to seed a patch of ocean, 30 to 60 miles

in diameter, with 50 to 100 metric tonnes of raw iron ore in an area 200 miles west of the Galapagos Islands, one of the world's most unique ecosystems.

Weatherbird's mission, delayed for months by the late arrival of high-tech equipment, is steeped in secrecy. In a recent phone interview, George said he could not reveal details because of what he said were threats from "radical environmental groups" to halt the mission.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which patrols the Galapagos Islands to protect them from ecological threats, has pledged to stop Planktos.

George said the area near Ecuador's volcanic islands, which lie 625 miles west of the coast, is a perfect place for a test because iron from the islands feed a vast, natural plankton bloom that can serve as a biological control for the experiment.

Environmentalists fear that the test could go awry and threaten the islands, which served as the inspiration for British naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

But George said the natural Galapagos bloom drifts west, and so would the one that Planktos hopes to generate.

The iron ore to be used in the test is the same as dust blown naturally by the wind into the ocean, George added.

"Hundreds of millions of tons of dust are landing in the ocean every year. How can anyone suggest that our 50 tonnes of rock dust will provoke some cataclysmic result?"

NOT ENOUGH PROOF?

Oceanographers critical of Planktos say scientists have simply not yet done the work needed to prove that phytoplankton blooms can sequester carbon safely and for the long term.

They also say that while surface water moves westward near the Galapagos, deeper currents go east, toward rich fishing grounds off South America.

"Many scientists think we should try to establish the facts and the downstream consequences of iron enrichment and there are a few non-scientists who think if it can make money we should do it now," said Kenneth Coale, a researcher at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California who has conducted leading work on the subject.

Few of the researchers who consider themselves experts in iron-enrichment appear to know who the scientists are that Planktos intends to take on its experiment.

"It seems more an effort to impress shareholders," Coale said.

There are also questions about whether decaying blooms might produce other, more powerful greenhouse gases.

INTERNATIONAL LAWS?

The legal situation on the high seas is unclear.

Scientists advising signatory nations of the 1972 London Convention on Dumping recently issued a statement of concern, and the members of the convention are expected to try to draw up regulations for iron enrichment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shares the concerns but was told by Planktos that it would not use a U.S. flagged vessel, an EPA spokeswoman said.

"At this stage to have companies out there already wanting to press ahead with commercialization is deeply unhelpful," said David Santillo, a scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories in Britain. "I think that from the last 15 years of science we know enough to say, 'don't do it."'

Despite the controversy, even the skeptics agree that something must be done to counter global warming, and that cutting pollution levels is no longer enough.

"The overarching thing is that there is definitely a panic about climate. If someone could come up with a quick bandaid fix to this problem they would be a hero to humanity," said Greenpeace research director Kert Davies.

(Editing by Eddie Evans)

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Nov 07

Little Froggies
An inspiring story about beating the odds on the nature scouter blog

Corpse Collector
a funky bug on the johora singaporeansis blog

Birds as Bees: Harvesting nectar
how the birds do it on the bird ecology blog

Teaching a bird to fish!
on the bird ecology blog

Daily Green Action: 18 Nov
Learning, planning, doing on the leafmonkey blog

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Bangladesh cyclone an 'ecological disaster': experts

Yahoo News 19 Nov 07;

Experts said Sunday they feared for the wildlife and ecology of the world's biggest mangrove forest after a deadly cyclone tore through the Sunderbans -- home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger.

Zunayed Kabir Chowdhury, a Dhaka-based mangrove expert, said he feared thousands of deer as well as many tigers and wild boar had been swept away by the massive tidal wave triggered by cyclone Sidr last Thursday.

"The eye of the cyclone hit the part of the Sunderbans which is known to be the most important habitat of the tigers and other wildlife," he said.

The nests of many birds would also have been destroyed, he added.

"Wildlife is vulnerable to this sort of natural disaster and much would have been washed away by the strong surge," said Shanti Ranjan Das of the government's livestock department.

"The cyclone has inflicted an ecological disaster," he added.

The vast mangrove forest, listed as a World Heritage Site by the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, is a natural barrier that stands between much of southern Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal.

It protects millions from the bay's many less serious tidal waves and cyclones.

But experts said even the Sunderbans had not been able to withstand the force of cyclone Sidr, which it is feared killed thousands of people.

Ainun Nishat, the World Conservation Union's country representative in Bangladesh, has said the storm flattened thousands of trees and that it will be some time before the full impact on the forest becomes clear.

The Sunderbans lies on the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta where it meets the Bay of Bengal and covers about 5,800 square kilometres (3,590 square miles).

There are around 200 lush forested islands, separated by a complex network of hundreds of tidal rivers and creeks. About 40 percent of the Sunderbans is in India.

Although not inhabited, the jungle is a magnet for thousands of impoverished villagers who live along its boundaries and work there as fishermen or collecting honey or wood.

The forest is home to an estimated 500 Royal Bengal tigers. There are only an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 tigers left worldwide, down from 100,000 in 1900.

Related news

World's largest mangrove forest ravaged by Bangladesh cyclone
Yahoo News 17 Nov 07;

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Investors Embrace Trees to Tap China Boom

Alison Leung, PlanetArk 19 Nov 07

HONG KONG - Investors looking for new ways to cash in on China's strong economic growth are turning to its emerging forestry industry, which is flourishing amid a clampdown on the global trade of unsustainable rainforest timber.

China is the world's largest importer of soft and hard woods. Total forest product imports more than tripled between 1997 and 2005 to 134 million cubic metres, accounting for around half the log exports from Papua New Guinea, Myanmar, Indonesia and Russia.

But with campaigns against deforestation prompting tighter rules on international trade, a handful of listed logging firms are looking to exploit China's 960 million hectares (9.6 million sq km) of forests, of which only 5 percent is in plantation use.

The fledgling industry is planting fast growing, high-yield trees such as eucalyptus to feed demand from explosive growth in home ownership and construction -- and trying to soothe investors by battling accusations it is harming the environment by using timber taken illegally or unsustainably from the world's forests.

China's insatiable demand for raw materials has helped push up the price of commodities from iron ore and palm oil to copper and milk powder and wood products are no different. Benchmark NBSK pulp prices have risen more than 30 percent in two years.

Analysts say firms such as Temasek-invested Sino-Forest Corp and China Grand Forestry Resources Group can cash in on rising demand and tighter supply.

"With China's significant imbalance of wood supply, upstream players should benefit from rising wood prices," said Chuan Tang, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

China Grand Forestry, which transformed itself from a garments maker formerly called Good Fellow Group, has seen its market value balloon nearly 18 times since the beginning of 2006, when it announced the purchase of Beijing Wan Fu Chun Forest Resources Development Co Ltd.

"Despite early scepticism, the market now recognises that the company's earnings model is sound," HSBC's Ken Ho said in a research report.

China Grand signed an agreement with Lee & Man Paper last month to supply the container board maker's pulp facilities in China with raw materials from its fast-growing, genetically modified paper mulberry trees.

China Grand also agreed this week to pay US$820 million for Yunnan Shenyu New Energy, a Chinese company that plans to make biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas trees.


DODGY LOGS?

But some analysts say investing in Chinese forestry firms is risky, as they are small and could be hit by unpredictable changes in government policy -- common for any nascent industry.

China is just beginning to regulate its forestry industry and detailed laws are lacking in many areas.

"They're mainly small-caps and investors may see difficulties when they want to offload the stocks," said Alex Tang, a research director at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International.

There is also the risk the highly cyclical pulp and timber markets fall, denting what forestry firms can get for their logs.

Chinese companies also face competition for forestry assets from both global timber operators and pension funds, which view growing trees as a good match for their long-term liabilities.

The world's top paper and board producer Stora Enso, which began the development of plantations in China's Guangxi province in 2002, has plans to plant a 160,000 hectare forest to support the establishment of a pulp and paper/board mill in the province, boarding Vietnam. It spent US$37 million buying suitable land for a mill in April.

Morgan Stanley singled out Sino-Forest among its best China materials plays, initiating coverage of the Chinese forestry and paper industry with an attractive view.

"Not only do we forecast demand growth for industrial wood to be robust for many years, but China's dependence on increasingly scarce imported wood should ensure strong pricing power of at least 10 percent per year through the end of the decade," Morgan Stanley's Charles Spencer wrote recently.

Apart from more established names such as Sino-Forest, a clutch of up-and-coming producers is getting in on the act.

At least half a dozen Hong Kong firms, such as China Timber and Venture International Investment, have either been bought by forestry operators or shifted their focus to logging and wood products manufacturing in the last two years.

They reason that with 42 percent of logging land owned by the state and the rest operated in deals with local governments, there is plenty of room for the private sector to expand.

And if their new plantations are eligible for carbon credit trade under the Kyoto Protocol, that could bring in extra cash.

"This is a sector with great potential, but it's new to many analysts and involves technical and government regulation requirements, so investment risks are relatively high," an analyst with a major European house said.

Firms are also dogged by environmentalist complaints about deforestation and illegal logging in tropical forests, often far from China.

Omnicorp Ltd -- which is buying a tropical rainforest in Suriname in South America -- has insisted it will practise "sustainable forest management", cutting selectively to maintain biodiversity.

But another Hong Kong-listed firm, Malaysia-based Samling Global, said last month one of its units was fined US$470,000 by the Guyana Forestry Commission for regulation breaches, including under-invoicing the trees harvested.

The firm denied the allegations and will appeal against the sanctions, which include the suspension of its sub-contracting operations relating to the concessions. But the stock has fallen more than 30 percent from a July peak of HK$3.55. (US$1=HK$7.765) (Editing by Dominic Whiting & Lincoln Feast)

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Tourism industry discusses climate issues at World Travel Market

Channel NewsAsia 18 Nov 07

LONDON: The World Travel Market in London is one of the tourism industry's biggest gatherings, where companies large and small get together to do business and discuss trends.

For the first time this year, a meeting of government ministers was held alongside the trade show, to discuss how the tourism industry can play its part in halting climate change.

Not surprisingly, South Asian countries were out in force at the show, as many seek to promote their valuable tourism industries.

Around 60 government ministers arrived at this year's World Travel Market, one of the most important industry gatherings.

At a special session, they were asked to discuss and ratify a declaration put together by environmental experts.

The declaration, which urges government, industry and consumers to play their part in halting tourism's contribution to global warming, will be submitted to the United Nations Bali Climate Summit in December.

Francesco Frangialli, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, said: "Tourism is both a contributor to the phenomenon of climate change – maybe something like five percent of the emission of carbon – and also a victim, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where a lot of destinations are suffering."

That harsh reality seems to be a concern for many involved in the tourism industry, even as operators and companies vie to increase their market share.

However, developing countries which are counting on their tourism industries to generate economic growth are likely concerned that consumers may chose the green option of not getting on a plane, and therefore holidaying at or nearer their home countries.

"If the message is 'don't travel in order to reduce the emission', there will be suffering so we have to make compatible the reduction of the emissions that is necessary and the achievement of the Millenium Development goals, and the reduction of poverty. This is absolutely part of our message and is very important," said Mr Frangialli.

He also said while developing countries in Africa and Asia have done far less than industrial nations in creating the problems of climate change, they must play their part in tackling global warming, or face being the victims of it.

For many operators, from small to established companies, concerns about climate change are real and must be tackled with a sense of urgency by the governments.

Jonathan Pereira, Kenya Wildlife Trails, said: "If I am doing my bit and someone else is not doing their bit, then obviously I'm just a drop in the ocean, but if it's a regulation from the top then it has to be done. It'll work."

While tourism development and environmental concerns are at odds with each other, those at the World Travel Market are taking steps to try to resolve the two, amid an increasing awareness of the seriousness of global climate change.- CNA/so

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Punggol's 'vibrant' coast: Green groups concerned about impact

$13m waterfront plan to jazz up its rustic charms
Zul Othman, Today Online 19 Nov 07;

ITS idyllic beachfronts and charming nature tracks make Punggol Point one of Singapore's best-kept secrets. While some prefer to keep its quaint surroundings untouched, most residents feel a facelift is long overdue.

Yesterday, Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean announced that the 4.9km waterfront would go through a two-year, $13-million facelift from the middle of next year.

Speaking at the Pasir Ris-Punggol Kampong Family Day, Mr Teo, who is one of the Group Representation Constituency's Members of Parliament, said the upgrade could turn Punggol into a vibrant seaside town.

However, some green groups are concerned about any impact on the area's wildlife.

Mr Grant Pereira, head of Green Volunteers Network, said: "Impact studies are important. The URA should gather feedback from environmental groups."

Mr Wilson Ang, of the Environmental Challenge Organisation Singapore, added: "I think it's important that they strike a balance between development and preserving nature, but my bigger concern is how people can get to appreciate the environment, with the littering in open spaces such as Punggol Point."



"Punggol is growing very rapidly and it's becoming a very vibrant town. But there are a lot of young families here and some are very adventurous, so the redevelopment will provide exciting things for everyone," said Mr Teo.

By 2010, residents can expect a promenade stretching from Punggol Point to Sungei Serangoon, and additional features include sea sport and recreational facilities, a nature trail and a return of its once-popular dining establishments.

These plans, which were drawn up in 2002, are also timely.

Said Mr Teo: "The Housing Development Board has indicated that it is building several thousand new flats over the next few years and a very large proportion of them will be in the Paris Ris-Punggol GRC, specifically in the Punggol and Buangkok areas, so many more residents can be expected."

To those concerned about Punggol Point becoming commercialised, developer Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) promised that the rustic charms of the area will be left intact.

Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, the URA's chief executive officer, said: "The facilities will improve the accessibility and connectivity of the area … Together with the new leisure attractions, the distinct character of Punggol Point will be enhanced and the area enlivened."

Walk along coast, golf in Punggol
Marcel Lee Pereira, Straits Times 19 Nov 07

A 4.9km waterfront promenade will feature a host of attractions by 2010

THE vision of Punggol as a vibrant waterfront town was given more flesh yesterday.

A $13 million plan to redevelop a part of its surrounding coastline will put at residents' doorsteps a 4.9km walking trail that opens up access to the Punggol coast.

Activities such as horse riding, golf and fishing will also feature in the area.

These attractions were unveiled by Mr Teo Chee Hean, an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

He noted that adventurous young families had already taken to walking along the coast, which is largely reclaimed land.

Mr Teo, who is also Defence Minister, told reporters that there was a bit of a track there, but not a whole lot of facilities, so the walking trail would 'enhance accessibility'.

The developments are part of the Parks and Waterbodies and Identity plans drawn up by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 2002.

The plan singled out five coastal areas - Changi, Pasir Ris, Coney Island, Pulau Ubin and Punggol Point - to develop as recreational destinations.

The waterfront promenade coming to Punggol will have three segments:

Punggol Point Walk: A 1.2km promenade will be added to this popular fishing and camping spot.

Nature Walk: A 2.4km stretch between Punggol Point and Sungei Serangoon will become a nature trail.

Riverside Walk: A 1.3km- long promenade will be built along Sungei Serangoon to make the riverfront more accessible.

The 4.9km promenade will link the proposed sports and recreational clusters in Punggol Point and Sungei Serangoon and the new park connectors along the Punggol and Serangoon rivers.

Construction of the promenade will begin in the middle of next year and will be completed by 2010. The work will not disrupt fishing or other activities there, said the URA.

The public will be invited to give feedback on the proposals, which went on show at a carnival in Punggol yesterday.

Many residents said they were looking forward to it.

Mr Roy Mathiew, 58, said: 'It is a good idea; it brings us closer to nature. I will definitely go there for walks.'

In August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong first unveiled plans for a jazzed-up and vibrant Punggol in his National Day Rally speech.

He described a waterway winding through the town, with parks, water sports and alfresco dining on its banks.

Mr Teo said yesterday that Punggol - with more than 18,000 households now - will grow as more flats, schools, shopping centres and an improved transportation network are added.

However, littering is a problem. The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council received more than 1,000 complaints of high-

rise littering last year. This year, there have been already more than 500 complaints by the end of last month.

Next year, the town council will launch a three-pronged campaign to promote graciousness and to rekindle the 'kampung spirit'.

Pasir Ris-Punggol MP Ahmad Magad said that with Punggol's population of young families, 'it was important to... sensitise them to what communal living and kampung living means to the entire community'.

Plans unveiled for Punggol waterfront park
Lynette Khoo, Business Times 19 Nov 07;
4.9-km promenade, lotus pond, horse riding centre, among amenities in pipeline

THE waterfront promenade coming up at Punggol Point will be a new sea sports and recreation centre with rustic seaside dining venues.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday unveiled the design proposals for the waterfront and park, which will add to the leisure amenities in the north-eastern part of Singapore.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean gave residents of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC a snapshot of the development plans for the Punggol Waterfront Promenade at the constituency's Family Day festivities yesterday.

A 4.9-kilometre promenade will be built to connect two proposed sports and recreation clusters at Punggol Point and along Sungei Serangoon. It will also be linked to new park connectors planned by the National Parks Board (NParks) along Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon.

Residents will be able to walk the entire stretch of the Punggol coastline from Sengkang Park to Punggol Park. The 4.9-km walk will comprise three thematic zones - Punggol Point Walk, Nature Walk and Riverside Walk.

Construction, estimated to cost $13 million, will begin in the middle of next year and is expected to be completed by 2010. It will be funded by URA and the project will be handed over to NParks for maintenance. URA said that it does not intend to close off the area from public use during construction.

Punggol Point was identified as one of the coastal areas with rustic charm in the URA's Parks and Waterbodies and Identity Plans that were drawn up in 2002. The Punggol coastline is currently interrupted by several drainage outlets with no continuous pathway for public access to the waterfront.

Punggol Point is currently a popular venue for activities like fishing and camping. Among new amenities coming up will be a lotus pond and a 0.6-hectare park. There will also be a horse-riding centre and food and beverage hub at Punggol Point. The site for the horse-riding centre has been awarded recently while the site for the dining development has been put on the Reserve List in the Government Land Sales Programme, up for bids by interested developers.

'More attractions will be built when the remaining land parcels are successfully tendered out,' Mr Teo, who is an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and adviser to the town council, said yesterday.

URA invites feedback from the public on the Punggol Waterfront Promenade before construction begins.

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Greenies or just wannabes?

YouthInk readers share their views on promoting environmental conservation
Straits Times 19 Nov 07

Introduce green legislation

GRASSROOTS activism aside, there is a pivotal tool that the Government can use to shift the burden of environmental sustainability back to individuals and businesses: legislation.

For example, South Korea introduced recycling laws in 1992.

Since then, the failure of households and businesses to dispose of waste in designated recycling bags is punished by a heavy fine, among other measures.

On a recent trip to Busan, I was surprised by the absence of complaints from the Korean people I met - young and old - when I talked about these 'inconveniences' they have to endure.

Recycling, after all, has become an integral part of their lives since young.

Why not make it mandatory for supermarkets here to charge shoppers for shopping bags? Or require new buildings to be environmentally friendly?

By introducing more green legislation, we can inculcate such green values in Singaporeans.

Kenny Tan, 21, is a second-year Economics student at the Singapore Management University (SMU)

It's a global responsibility

MY UNIVERSITY lecturer always says: 'For every complex problem, there is an answer which is simple, neat and wrong.'

The simple answer to the problem that is the Kyoto Protocol: Two of the biggest contributors to environmental pollution, the United States and Australia, are not parties to the full protocol.

We are aware of the plight to save our earth from pollution and global warming. Yet, we are also constantly reminded how small Singapore is.

Green gestures in Singapore to save the environment are grossly insignificant. Compared to America, Australia and our neighbouring countries, our carbon footprint is but a fraction.

Singapore's contribution to saving the environment, albeit well-intended, is just not substantial enough to counteract that of countries that put economical concerns ahead of the environment.

However, Singapore could leverage its economic and global trading position to encourage other nations to adopt green policies.

Our environment has suffered abuse for centuries; it would take everyone to help it heal.

Tabi tha Mok, 21, is a third-year medical student at the University of Western Australia

Start slow, but give it a go

I ALWAYS believe we can contribute to the 'green' cause.

Start with something manageable - pay for a plastic bag, use water efficiently, recycle paper.

Then proceed beyond - read more about the environment, donate to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

I started by taking buses and trains instead of taxis, using fans instead of air-conditioners, and using a backpack as a tote bag for trips to the supermarket.

Cynics will say these are too little and too late. Optimists will say these are too much and too alarmist.

But somewhere in the middle lies our hopes, dreams and recycling bins.

The world will still be imperfect no matter what we do, but why not try to give our descendants a clean and green one.

Berton Lim, 19, has a place to read business administration at the National University of Singapore (NUS)

Ignite green passion in youth

FOR Singaporean youths, environmental conservation rarely goes beyond the mandatory community involvement programme or project work.

We do it because we have to. It does not stem from a deeply rooted go-green passion, unlike our foreign counterparts.

Such a contrived situation will only have limited effects.

Being sheltered in our clean and green country makes it easier to be oblivious to the degradation happening throughout the world.

But instead of force-feeding our youth, we should try to ignite the passion in them.

Concerts like Live Earth, which capitalise on celebrity appeal to raise awareness, allow youths to become more well-informed, and hopefully inspire them to participate in the green movement.

We can implement as many programmes as we want, but ultimately the conviction that the green cause is worth pursuing must come from within.

Chew Zhi Wen, 20, has a place to read law and economics at NUS

Biggest problem today

TERRORISM and nuclear threats have always been regarded as key security issues, but not the environment.

Although often relegated to 'low politics', the potential effects of environmental degradation can be equally catastrophic.

This is evidenced by the 2004 Pentagon report, which admits the environment is inextricably linked to security, and it is in fact a bigger problem than terrorism.

In its 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that 30 per cent of animal species face extinction should temperature rise by 2 deg C.

Furthermore, environmental problems also create political threats such as armed conflicts over resources and mass migrations.

Simply put, climate change could be the biggest problem in the world today, even more so than most people see it to be.

To cite Al Gore's documentary, global warming has indeed become the 'inconvenient truth'.

Ian Cheng, 22, is a second-year international relations and history student at the London School of Economics

Read more!

The ASEAN Dream: What's in it for me?

Ng Tze Yong, The Electric New Paper 19 Nov 07;
THE ASEAN DREAM: WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?
As region pushes for integration, here's what it means for heartlanders

WHEN history is in the making, it isn't always wars and revolutions you see.

Sometimes, it's the boiling frustration of traffic jams and road closures.

That's how the average Singaporean is likely to experience the five days beginning today when more than 1,000delegates from 43 countries arrive here for the 13th annual Asean Summit.

Roads will be closed for security. Orchard Road, North Bridge Road and Empress Place will be affected.

The summit will see the inking of the Asean Charter, a document that will give Asean legal identity on the world stage.

The New Paper on Sunday asked Foreign Minister George Yeo earlier this week:

Without going into the philosophy, the history of Asean, and without using a diplomat's language, how would you explain to heartlanders why they should be excited about the Asean Charter?

'It will take time,' said Mr Yeo.

Look at Europe, he said. Long before it became what it is today, the European Union was just a construction of the elite.

'So step by step, deepening and enlarging...' said Mr Yeo.

'The challenge for us is how do we get our children to feel more Asean than we do.'

Nothing has done more in recent months to give a sense of relevance to Asean among ordinary Singaporeans than the situation in Myanmar, Mr Yeo pointed out.

'So maybe as we confront crises, as we will from time to time, it will help us define our common identity,' he said.

But what's in it for the ordinary Singaporean?

After all, it was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who threw down a challenge at policy-makers recently, during a dialogue with People's Action Party activists.

If a policy cannot be explained in five minutes, then it's too complicated, said Mr Lee.

Very well, we'll try to show you what the Asean Dream is like.

In, as PM Lee challenged, less than five minutes.

So if you find yourself stuck in traffic this week, take time to think about what Asean integration will mean for you - and your grandchildren.

LOWER TAXES?

Asean is aiming to become a single market by 2015.

And, as PM Lee said at the opening of the Asean Business and Investment Summit yesterday, this will benefit the people of Asean in many ways.

'They will enjoy cheaper and more easily accessible products. More jobs will be created as the region attracts new investments,' he added.

There will also be more opportunities for the lifting of tariffs, phasing out of barriers, streamlined customs clearance and free movement of professionals.

'And as the economy grows, taxes may fall,' said Asean expert Hiro Katsumata, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Sports, too, may go the same as the workplace.

'The S-League may start looking like the English Premier League, with more foreign players from Asean arriving,' said former Asean secretary-general Rodolfo Severino.

Will it mean cheaper domestic help?

'It will be more expensive to attract domestic helpers here because their economies back home will be developing,' said Dr Katsumata.

PAY IN 'ASEANS'?

Would you be paying in 'Aseans' one day? After all, Europe pays in Euros.

Imagine going on a weekend trip to Johor Baru, doing some shopping at the Giant hypermarket and having a plate of maggi mee goreng for lunch - all without having to visit the money-changer.

But that day, if it comes, may still be years in the future.

'A single currency is possible but difficult because of the different stages of economic development in Asean,' said Dr Terence Chong, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

PASSPORT-LESS TRAVEL?

Imagine hopping onto the train at Tanjong Pagar and taking it all the way to Vietnam without having to show your passport.

It'll be like travelling on Europe's rail network.

As convenient as this sounds, there may be problems too.

'Will we see more illegal workers?' asked Dr Chong. 'The more developed countries may not benefit from this as much.'

LITTLE HANOI, LITTLE PHNOM PENH?

'We may start seeing Little Hanois and Little Phnom Penhs springing up,' said Dr Chong.

But with that will come more xenophobia, he added.

'You may hear more of the same grumbling from university students of the foreign students who come here and are scoring straight 'A's,' said Dr Chong.

'People may start asking for a 'Singaporeans First' policy.'

But Singapore is already cosmopolitan, pointed out Dr Katsumata.

'Other Asean countries may have more trouble dealing with this issue,' he said.

BYE BYE, HAZE?

When Asean integration comes, will the haze go?

After all, environmental protection is high on the list of issues Asean hopes to address.

'Now, the goal and method of stopping the haze is clear. But the will is lacking,' said Mr Severino.

'As Asean integrates, there will be greater commitment. The problem may end one day.'

FIGHT FOR ASEAN?

Would our NS boys have to serve in Asean's hotspots on peace-keeping missions one day?

'It's possible because we already do send out troops and we already do train overseas,' said Dr Chong.

'But you die for your homeland; you can never die for a region. I wouldn't die for a part of Indonesia, for a people whose language I don't speak.'

But doesn't the African Union (AU) have a joint peace-keeping force?

'The AU has more than 50 members; Asean has 10. It wouldn't work to have nine countries fighting against one,' said Mr Severino.

'Asean will continue to look to the UN for peace-keeping.'

NUKES AT OUR DOORSTEP?

As Asean integrates, as its economies develop, its demand for energy will go up, said Dr Katsumata.

Countries like Vietnam and Indonesia may start building nuclear power plants, he said.

'Singapore will not have the option because it's all urban,' said Dr Katsumata. 'But it'll be something at the back of Singaporeans' minds: What if an accident happens?"

Read more!

ASEAN can do more on climate, activists say

Martin Abbugao, Yahoo News 19 Nov 07

Environmental groups are piling the pressure on Asian nations to do more to fight global warming ahead of a key climate conference next month, calling their pledges so far nothing but empty promises.

Leaders of 16 countries meeting in Singapore this week have agreed to increase the region's forest cover, promote the use of clean energy sources and protect marine ecosystems, according to draft statements obtained by AFP.

But activists say the declarations from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the wider East Asia grouping including China and India do not go far enough.

"We want to see a more proactive stance from both ASEAN and the East Asia Summit," Rafael Senga, the Asia-Pacific energy coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, told AFP.

He described the draft documents as "empty rhetoric," adding: "After making statements at the summits, nothing happens after that."

Athena Ballesteros, a climate campaigner with environmental watchdog Greenpeace, singled out leaders of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc for particular scorn.

"Outrageously, if this document is any indication, ASEAN has no intention to go beyond mere rhetoric. This response is not commensurate to the scale and severity of the climate crisis," Ballesteros said.

"The declaration recognises the severe impacts of climate change and yet the steps it is proposing fall far short of decisive action. Worse, it endorses false solutions such as nuclear power and supposedly cleaner fossil fuels."

Ballesteros called the lack of substance especially troubling as ASEAN member Indonesia is hosting a crucial UN-backed climate change conference next month in Bali.

"The very meeting that will determine the fate of the planet is taking place in ASEAN's backyard," she said.

Delegates there will try to thrash out a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, after the UN's Nobel-winning climate panel warned that the impact of global warming could be "abrupt or irreversible".

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he hoped this week's ASEAN and East Asia summits would build momentum towards the Bali meeting.

"Southeast Asia can also play an important role in climate change mitigation because of its rich forestry resources," which can absorb carbon dioxide emissions, Lee told the Straits Times newspaper.

But Senga said the 16 nations invited to the East Asia Summit -- including Japan, which he called the world's most energy efficient country -- could make deeper commitments in the post-Kyoto era.

India is the world's fourth biggest producer of wind energy and the Philippines is the world's second largest geothermal energy producer, while China is an emerging solar power producer, he said.

"Members of the East Asia Summit and ASEAN have the technologies and experience that they can share with each other," Senga said. "But right now, there are no workable mechanisms by which these countries can help each other."

Senga called on ASEAN and its partners to cooperate more fully so they can "harness these strengths of individual countries in terms of sustainable energy."

Close-up of the Forestry Outlook in Asia and the Pacific
Fe Panaligan Koons, Inquirer, the Philippines, 20 Nov 07

Southeast Asian nations at the ASEAN summit in Singapore are focusing on energy efficiency and to take action on climate change. These leaders of 16 countries have agreed to increase the forest cover and promote the use of clean energy sources and protect marine ecosystems.

But the environment activists say the declarations from ASEAN and the wider East Asia grouping that includes China and India do not go far enough.

Rafael Senga, Asia-Pacific energy coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, said that delegates need to act and not just give statements. Athena Ballesteros, a climate campaigner with environmental watchdog Greenpeace, said that “ASEAN has no intention to go beyond mere rhetoric. This response is not commensurate to the scale and severity of the climate crisis. Worse, it endorses false solutions such as nuclear power and supposedly cleaner fossil fuels."

The necessity of increasing the forest cover in Asia and the Pacific and around the world is a continuing campaign of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Last month in Chiang Mai, Thailand, participants of the international conference, “The Future of Forests in Asia and the Pacific for 2020” came up with major perspectives on forestry.

Patrick Durst, a former US forester who wrote “In Search of
Excellence: Exemplary Forest Management in Asia and Pacific” and has been in the Philippines and Asia for many years, stressed that FAO in the region continues to provide various consultations with NGOs, country representatives, stakeholders and governments in order to focus on forestry challenges in relation to hunger and environment. “

Durst, a FAO senior officer, added that “FAO provides support to agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development. It has helped to shape the region’s perception about forests, offered services in innovative ways and assisted countries in addressing forest management.”

Frances Seymour of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) pointed out that “for forests to have a future, constituencies for forests need to influence policies and engage institutions outside the forestry sector and beyond the Asia Pacific region. There should be efforts to promote reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, and decentralization of the forest management authority and increased roles for community based management.”

Participants from the Philippines like Dr. Florentino Tesoro, consultant to the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau said that the Philippine Congress still needs to pass bills on sustainable forestry management and biofuels that would utilize biodiesel and ethanol instead of fossil fuel.

Farther in 2020, Tesoro said, the Philippines will increase forest plantations and forestry would be a source of energy in biodiesel. He added that there is apparently more involvement of the local government units and other stakeholders in efforts for reforestation and alleviation of climate change.

Raquel Lopez, a Filipina with the Center for Development Research in Bonn, Germany, pointed out that there should be more of a social dimension in forestry programs. “Many of the village folks are in need of livelihood programs and income generating projects in the countryside so that they will not have to cut down trees and resort to illegal logging to earn money for their own survival.”

Trixie Clemente a master’s graduate at the University of Wales, hopes to apply what she has learned when she returns to Bicol where she has served as a councilperson. “Bicol has many problems in particular, in dealing with mining and natural disasters. We really need to pursue development programs in a holistic approach.
Forest management that improves livelihoods for local people, ecosystem management and socio-cultural dimensions,” Clemente emphasized.

The Philippine Action Group for the Environment (PAGE), a nonprofit environmental justice organization based in California, is now seeking funding to assist the fisherfolk of Guimaras impacted by the disastrous oil spill of the Petron Philippines tanker last year.

Many of the participants both from the Philippines and around the world underscored the importance of seeking ways to adapt to the changes in the coming years. They expressed the need to restore degraded forests and strengthen forest management programs as well as for the Philippines to summon the political will to finally stop corruption and illegal logging.

Forestry is a major global concern in these critical times and the conference mood was the necessity for revolution, with people, public and private institutions strongly united to survive and stop global warming. Reforestation and regeneration of trees redounds to human benefit. Transparency in government must combat corruption breeding profit from illegal logging, but above all, livelihood must be part of forestry programs fir farmers and peasants who bear the vital burden of providing food for the world.

Read more!

Climate 'will undo Asian success'

BBC 19 Nov 07

Climate change will reverse decades of social and economic progress across Asia, campaigners claim.

A report by a coalition of environment and aid agencies calls for urgent action to avert the threat.

The Working Group on Climate Change and Development says industrialised countries must cut carbon emissions massively by mid-century.

The coalition calls on the UK government to set an example by championing renewable energy.

The report - Up In Smoke? Asia and the Pacific - says Asia is "effectively on the front line of climate change", as it is home to almost two-thirds of the world's population.

And with half of this population living near the coast, billions are directly vulnerable to sea-level rise driven by a warming world.

The report says Asia is where the "human drama of climate change" will largely be played out.

The report's author, Andrew Simms of the New Economics Foundation (Nef), said: "If those painfully won improvements in social and economic conditions can be blown away in a few but increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, we have to rethink about how we go about meeting people's basic needs."

The coalition's 21 members include ActionAid International, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF.

Nef, together with the International Institute for Environment and Development, organised the report's production.

The coalition previously published a study in October 2004 saying global warming threatened poverty reduction and urged industrial countries to cut their carbon emissions dramatically. It said such action now was "even more pressing".

UN talks

The report comes as world leaders prepare for UN climate change talks in Bali next month.

Nazmul Chowdhury, from the Disappearing Lands project, says: "Before the Bali meeting, we must make our voices heard, and demand international leaders take urgent and ambitious action.

"Without this, Asia's vulnerable will continue to suffer, as will communities worldwide who are contributing least to climate change."

Andrew Simms said he hoped the talks would help bring a "paradigm shift in the attitude of developing countries".

"We need to start talking about emissions reduction targets that are in line with the science rather than in line with what negotiators think they can get away with," he told BBC News.

As well as cutting global emissions by at least 80% by 2050, the report calls on richer counties to lead by example and champion renewable energy.

The coalition says Asian countries need to be convinced not to go down the fossil fuel energy route of "get rich quick, stay poor long".

Mr Simms said: "Practical difficulties and a lack of rich country leadership on climate change mean Asia is unlikely to abandon fossil fuels in the near future."

He added: "It is useless to turn around and point a finger at China's rising emissions if we are not showing the will and making the resources available to provide the changes necessary."

Asia Must Act Fast to Lessen Climate Change - Report
Jeremy Lovell, PlanetArk 19 Nov 07;

LONDON - Asia, home to nearly two-thirds of the world's people, must take urgent action to lessen the effects of climate change but needs considerable help from rich nations elsewhere, a report said on Monday.

"Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific," the last in a series of reports from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) think-tank, appears just after leading scientists said the effects of global warming would be all-pervasive and irreversible.

"Wealthy industrialised countries must act first and fastest to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but emerging Asian countries also need to contribute to climate change mitigation," it said.

The report called for sustainable development policies including ending deforestation and promoting energy efficiency and environmentally sensible renewable energy sources, and said booming palm oil production posed a problem in this regard.

More than half Asia's four billion people live near the coast, making them highly vulnerable to rising sea levels from melting glaciers, and all are open to the vagaries of the water cycle affecting food production, it said.

"It has become clear that Asia will see some major changes as a result of climate change, and several of these are becoming evident already," Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) head Rajendra Pachauri wrote in the report.

"Even more compelling are the projections of future climate change and associated impacts in Asia," he added.

The IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace Prize this year along with former US vice president Al Gore, issued the leading scientists' warning that climate change was irreversible.

DIRTY AIR, POLLUTED WATER

The NEF echoed the message in its report on Asia, saying climate change was likely to have a dire effect on air quality and to increase the pollution and scarcity of water, while the rising population put growing demands on scarce resources.

The report said Asia contained nearly 90 percent of the world's small farms -- China accounting for half and India one quarter -- which produced much of the food but faced major climate change-induced difficulties.

"To cope with a changing environment, Asian small-scale agriculture will need dramatically increased support," it said.

The report, like that of the IPCC, is aimed at a meeting of UN environment ministers next month on the Indonesian island of Bali whose subject is climate change and how to deal with it.

The goal of the Dec 3-14 Bali meeting is to agree to start urgent talks on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon gas emissions, which expires in 2012.

Scientists say there is no time left for failure, either in Bali or in the global negotiations the Bali talks should launch.

"There are less than 10 years before global emissions must start to decline; instead, emissions from Britain and other wealthy industrialised countries are still rising remorselessly," the NEF said.

Officials involved in preliminary discussions say the mood about the Bali meeting is good, but many major problems remain and there is no certainty of a positive outcome. (Reporting by Jeremy Lovell; editing by Tim Pearce)

Climate change threatens Asian development: report
Yahoo News 19 Nov 07;

Decades of development in Asia will be reversed by climate change, threatening the lives of millions of people, environmentalists and aid agencies warned Monday.

The Working Group on Climate Change and Development, an umbrella group of greens and aid groups, said Asia was on the frontline of the climate change threat.

"Asia is at a critical juncture as the home to almost two thirds of humanity. It has made real advances in reducing poverty but lies on the frontline of impacts from climate change," said co-author Andrew Simms.

"Now if it follows a fossil-fuelled Western economic development path, it will set in train an irreversible course of events that will guarantee a great reversal in its own progress," added Simms of the New Economics Foundation.

The coalition's Up in Smoke report calls on industrialised nations to act "first and fastest" to cut emissions, ensure technology transfer and increase adaptation funds to help Asia deal with the effects of global warming.

"To prevent catastrophic global warming, the only feasible alternative is for wealthy countries to dramatically reduce their 'luxury' greenhouse gas emissions, so that the 'survival' emissions of people in poor countries do not cause disaster," said Simms.

Over half of Asia's four billion-strong population lives near coasts, putting them in danger from sea-level rises, while more extreme weather patterns threaten the whole region, the report says.

The group said India and China, the region's two biggest economies and emerging global giants, should move away from coal in favour of renewable power which could provide them with long-term energy security.

Chinese agricultural productivity will fall by 5-10 percent if no action is taken, with the production of wheat, rice and corn decreasing by up to 37 percent in the second half of this century, it noted.

Countries such as Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to climate change in the form of flooding and droughts.

India meanwhile could be threatened by energy and food supply insecurity, reduced fresh water supplies and increases in extreme weather events, the report says.

The Working Group comprises aid agencies and green organizations including ActionAid, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF.

Read more!

Go-Karting at Punggol

Faith Teo, The Electric New Paper 19 Nov 07;

Motorsport Experience - Punggol Way
GO GO-KARTING

IT'S all systems go for the K1 Karting Series of heartland go-kart racing events.

On 30 Dec, Punggol Way will be closed to traffic, and turned into a race track for a day.

It will be the first of more than 10 such motorsport events scheduled till July next year - all in heartland locations.

While professional kart races will be the highlight, spectators will also be able to catch souped-up race cars in demonstrations along the 1.5km stretch of road.

The Motorsport Experience, as it is called, will include both sprints and drifting.

And all this won't be happening on a straight road. The end of Punggol Way is a tight hairpin turn, enough to test the skills of the best of drivers.

The organisers, CS Racing, are creating a carnival atmosphere, to cater to the whole family. The public can try fun-carting, which involves slower go-karts.

The organiser's aim to educate the public about racing as a sport led the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to lend its weight to the privately run events.

Mr Fan Chian Jen, SSC's deputy director of motorsports and corporate development, said the events are in line with the Government's aim to make motorsport big here.

RACING IN HEARTLANDS

He said the K1 series, spearheaded by CS Racing and Singapore Motorsports Association, came about after they approached the People's Association with the idea of taking racing to the heartlands

'It's a very commendable effort, and K1 will be seen in history as the seed that grew into a motorsport industry in Singapore,' said Mr Fan, 33.

'This education is very important. If the public participates in the K1 Series, they will get a first hand experience of what karting is. And karting is the starting point of motorsport.

'We want kids to learn about motorsport, and see that it's a sport like any other sport.'

So what's in store for Singapore racing enthusiasts in the near future, besides next year'sF1?

A feasibility study done by several government agencies explored the potential and consulted foreign race series owners and track developers. It culminated in the decision to build the Changi race track.

A tendering process for the track will be launched in May next year, and it is slated for completion in 2011.

'We want to introduce motorsports to the masses, and nurture young talents. We hope to have a Singaporean racer in the international races one day,' said MrFan.

It took F1 to wake up an otherwise languishing local motorsport industry.

'There is a lot of interest in the Changi race track, because it will be a big one... there is so much enthusiasm that a track is being built in Tuas on private money.

'Now, the public can look forward to world-class racing events that will be hosted in Singapore. We have a geographical and branding advantage.'

ACCESSIBLE TO MASSES

So, how accessible will the Changi track be to the average enthusiast with his souped-up saloon?

'The project is driven by the SSC, and it is our priority to make motorsports affordable and accessible to the masses. That was the consideration when we decided to build the Changi track. But it is a private venture, and has to be commercially viable,' said Mr Fan.

What about car racing on closed streets? After all, it is now going to be done for kart racing.

'There are pros and cons when it comes to a road race. It causes inconvenience to businesses and residences. There are risks because roads are not designed for racing and the curves are too sharp. There are a lot of safety issues,' he said.

'But we do see that a street race is a spectacular, exciting experience. If it happens in the city, like F1, the benefits the race brings need to be very big.'

Read more!

Singapore has world's most reliable power grid: Survey

Tania Tan, Straits Times 19 Nov 07;

It is also tops in cheap network charges with consumers getting the best deal

SINGAPORE has chalked up a new superlative: Its power grid is the most reliable in the world.

Compared with 26 other cosmopolitan cities, Singapore logged the fewest electricity outages last year.

And each customer on the grid suffered just half a minute in outages stemming from network failure last year - less time than people in Tokyo and New York, which had three and 12 minutes in power outages respectively.

These figures come from an international survey commissioned by Singapore Power (SP) and carried out by international electricity consultancy Kema International early this year.

Singapore also emerged tops in cheap electricity network charges, with consumers here getting the most bang for their buck. Power is cheaper here than in cities such as Paris, San Diego and Seoul.

Kema International senior consultant Virendra Ajodhia said: 'International benchmarks show Singapore has one of the world's best performing electricity networks.'

A high-tech monitoring system which keeps a close watch on the pulse of the nation's electricity grid is key to an efficient power grid.

Made up of a complex network of cables buried underground, the system keeps tabs on the condition of the cables.

An SP spokesman explained: 'Wear and tear are inevitable, so it is important to ensure we repair cables before any damage affects the system.'

The monitoring system works like the medical procedure in which a dye is injected into a person's blood vessels to locate blockages in his circulation system, she explained.

There have been no power outages related to network failure since 2004. That year, the outage was the result of an interruption in imported natural gas supplies to power stations here.

The 1.2 million households and businesses here also paid less than people in Paris, San Diego and Seoul in electricity network charges, the fees payable by consumers to be on the grid.

These charges make up between 20 and 30 per cent of one's electricity bill.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said that promoting competition in the electricity market has helped bring power costs down.

They could come down more in future, if a pilot project by the EMA is successful.

Launched last month, the Electricity Vending System will allow more than 1,000 households to choose the electricity plan which best suits their usage needs, just as one would pick a cellphone price plan.

The pilot project, slated for completion in mid-2009, will open up the market to five new electricity retailers, including Senoko Energy and Keppel Electricity.

However, the power network will still be managed by SP PowerGrid.

Read more!

Singapore business response to oil price rise: Conserve and survive

Business Times 19 Nov 07;

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC
Conserve and survive
How is the rapid increase in the price of oil, and of energy generally, affecting your industry and the economy? What can businesses do about it?

Sam Yap S G
Group Executive Chairman
Cherie Hearts Group Int'l

THE surge in energy prices, no doubt, has a negative impact on businesses in general as the cost of operations rise. Fortunately, Cherie Hearts is not badly affected as the childcare industry is not energy-intensive. Nonetheless, we keep a tight control over our energy consumption by adopting energy-saving measures such as installing energy-efficient refrigerators and light bulbs.

We also constantly remind staff to join in our efforts to conserve energy by adopting best practices. Furthermore, being in the business of education, we make it a point to inculcate in our children the importance of saving energy and playing our part in conserving the environment. After all, the energy crisis is not just about costs but also about the sustainability of our environment - it is critical that the young generation joins in the energy conservation effort!

Noboru Oi
Group CEO
Fujitsu Asia

A SPIKE in oil prices will probably put upward pressure on costs and downward pressure on profits. This is generally due to the imbalance between the global supply and demand for black gold, with the latter currently far exceeding the former.

The supply-demand mismatch is beyond the control of local companies, and thus they will not be able to guard against oil-related cost components (jet fuel prices for airlines, for instance). Hence, to safeguard profitability, businesses will do well to adopt measures for reducing the cost components that they have control over.

For example, companies must improve various aspects of their business processes by streamlining operations, eliminating redundancies and other methods. They can achieve this by adopting creative IT solutions aligned with their overall business goals.

Regardless of the sector in which they operate, large local companies generally need robust and scalable data centres, secure and stable IT networks, front or back-end applications and other systems. With a sound understanding of their needs, Fujitsu Asia is able to provide customised solutions for companies in the local financial sector to improve their operational efficiencies.

Cost savings realised via successful IT implementations may balance or even exceed cost increases brought about by high oil prices. Not only that, companies will also be able to enjoy gains in operational efficiencies regardless of what oil prices are. Therefore, the current high oil prices serve as a wake-up call for companies to examine every aspect of their business operations, and identify ways of doing things better, cheaper and faster. And that is a good thing!

Brenton Smith
Managing Director, Asia South
CA

RISING energy prices impact the software industry in terms of development cost. Software development requires time and rigorous quality testing on various platforms, all of which need power. As in other industries, this hurts the bottom line by increasing business cost.

Firms should set policies for staff to turn off unused electrical appliances, or like CA, deploy power management software that can monitor and shut down idle computing equipment. They should also use renewable energy sources where feasible, deploy video-conferencing solutions in branch offices to cut down on business travel, install intelligent lighting and air-conditioning control systems, improve building insulation, and encourage recycling to reduce the need to purchase new materials.

R Theyvendran
Chairman/Managing Director
Stamford Media International Group

SINCE oil is a basic commodity, higher energy costs inevitably translate into higher cost of doing business. Even with increased income, surplus and profit margins are unavoidably affected. Businesses must realise that when a commodity is absolutely vital for the economy, then the ordinary demand and supply principle must be re-examined.

As a nation with no natural resources, our entire energy needs are imported. To some extent, businesses can be prudent and reduce consumption. On an individual level, we can encourage our employees to adopt ways to conserve energy - switching off lights when not needed is one simple example. However, on an organisational level, we need to look at more substantive savings. As an example, the use of solar panels, which can be retrofitted onto existing buildings to provide another source of electricity, could be given further thought.

In the short term, the industry and nations either must think of oil banks to reserve energy so that the economy can continue to function even if there is a catastrophic increase in energy prices - and in the long term, explore alternative forms of energy, like biofuel and even nuclear energy.

Ravi Rajendran
General Manager, Asean
Hitachi Data Systems

WHEN you consider how it is estimated that a data centre with 500 servers will use enough electricity in a month to power 84,000 homes annually, this truly becomes a problem at a time where oil prices are rising drastically.

Hitachi Data Systems helps customers reduce their data centre power, cooling and facilities costs by implementing more environmentally attuned data centres that utilise space and storage more efficiently with the help of our storage virtualisation technologies. We also design, manufacture and support environment- friendly storage infrastructure throughout their entire life cycle.

Tom Cheong
Managing Director, Singapore and Brunei
Cisco

CISCO has developed a technology infrastructure that enables our employees to work equally effectively, in or out of the office. This served the company well during the Sars outbreak and now as we see oil and energy prices start to spiral, it's serving us well again. This initiative to implement collaborative technology tools throughout the company is also tied into our green initiatives. Cisco committed under the Clinton Global Initiative to reduce carbon emissions from corporate air travel by 10 per cent. We also invested US$22.2 million in our own collaboration technologies such as TelePresence and unified communications to enable our employees to reduce their air travel.

In FY 2007, Cisco successfully reduced its air travel by 10 per cent and a large factor for this was our ability to hold productive remote meetings via TelePresence. In that same financial year, our employees held 25,000 meetings via our TelePresence units which are located in around 60 cities where Cisco has an office.

We are also piloting initiatives in San Francisco, Seoul and Amsterdam which make use of technology in urban infrastructure and management systems to help those cities reduce energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The project in Amsterdam is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 76,000 tonnes over five years.

Technology can definitely be used to save companies' money, especially with the rapid increase in oil and energy prices, but in the larger scheme of things, it can help in the fight against global warming.

Ng Kong Yeam
Group Executive Chairman
Sino-America Tours Corporation

THE rapid increase of oil and energy prices will definitely affect travel and tour businesses as air fares will rise significantly. It will also affect economies as inflation will take place.

Luckily, the government imposes a high tax on petroleum. It can thus reduce or even suspend the tax to ensure the economy's growth. The government policy should be to develop solar energy businesses as well as businesses that make products to lessen energy consumption.

Valerie Wong
General Manager
Rolls Royce Motor Cars Singapore

WE have seen car sales rise even with the rising cost of fuel. Human nature being what it is, there will be a process of adaptation - using lean techniques, hedging or reassessment of priorities. European motorists, for example, typically pay 1.47 euros a litre (S$3.11), and are living with it.I think it is also an opportunity for businesses to review how they can target new opportunities. As energy costs rise, there will be a shift in the balance of wealth to the oil and gas-producing countries and, therefore, customer purchasing power.

Gary Harvey
CEO
Wealth Management Asia, ipac

AS A service industry, we are affected by the secondary effect of the oil price change. In fact, the rise in oil price is less significant than the change in commercial rents in Singapore over the last few years. The true focus for companies now should be on efficiency issues and managing costs.

On the other hand, we should also view this issue from the perspective of clients in the investment business. The market has seen many different trends over the years but the fundamentals for long-term investing remain the same. It is critical that investors focus on the long term rather than the short term. If the client has invested in a portfolio of quality, well-diversified assets for the long term, then the recent news needs to be heard but not acted on.

Goh Chong Theng
General Manager, Singapore Branch
Rabobank International

MANY industrial products such as jet fuel, petrochemicals and plastics are derived from crude oil. And fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas are needed to generate electricity, treated water and other utilities. Hence, higher oil prices will increase supply costs of global industrial output, although the adverse effects are somewhat mitigated by the depreciation of the US dollar.

Food prices will also rise because agricultural produce is increasingly being diverted to energy production instead of food consumption. For example, corn and sugar cane crops are now converted to bioethanol while palm oil is now used to manufacture biodiesel.

From Rabobank's commercial standpoint, we are a global banker to many energy companies and agricultural producers, who are all performing very well because of a global commodity shortage. In addition, the quantum of financing for commodities in general has increased manifold and this has generally been good for our business.

From a socio-economic perspective, the double whammy of rising energy and food costs will affect every nation on the earth. These inflationary pressures will affect poorer countries more than richer ones, because energy and food expenditure typically account for a smaller proportion of overall consumption levels in developed nations relative to the Third World.

Being a developed nation, Singapore will experience rising inflation. In fact, Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said in Parliament recently that inflation is expected to continue to rise until the second half of next year. Rising living and business costs could form an inflationary cycle - increased costs force workers to demand higher wages and companies to impose price hikes, which raises costs even further.

As long as companies in Singapore can realise productivity gains that keep pace with cost increases, our economy will continue to be resilient. And as long as expenses are kept under control, with reasonable increases passed on to customers, we should be able to keep business and living costs manageable.

Mike Sim
Executive Chairman/CEO
Sinwa Limited

CONVENTIONAL wisdom holds that high oil prices are bad for business. But why should businesses be hindered by such conventional thinking? I think high oil prices might actually present great opportunities for some industries and companies.

Due to the current high prices, oil and gas exploration activities are intensifying all around the world. Therefore, if you can re-engineer or diversify your business to tap into this boom, high oil prices can be an opportunity instead of a threat.

This is what Sinwa has done since late last year. So far, we have established two joint ventures with separate partners, one to build and subsequently charter a jack-up rig and another to convert and subsequently charter a seismic vessel.

Given that oil prices are currently so high, we will continue with our strategy of seeking opportunities in the offshore sector. For example, in Western Australia we are focused on the oil and gas sector because exploration activity in that part of the world has increased rapidly in recent times. To give ourselves room for future expansion, we have enlarged our footprint and service capabilities in Western Australia by acquiring land for building a modern warehousing and logistics complex.

This is what I mean by not being bound by conventional wisdom - the trick to maintaining your business growth lies in identifying new business opportunities thrown up by the external landscape - and capitalise on them.

Liu Chunlin
Managing Director
K&C Protective Technologies

TO SOME extent, businesses are always expecting the unexpected. However, the recent oil and energy price surges bring back the spectre of the 1970s' energy crisis.

Huge and sudden price surges create havoc in the market and inflict deep cuts in the economy. Contracts committed earlier suddenly seem untenable and will place tremendous pressures on a company, which has other things like a manpower shortage to worry about. Marginal companies will have much to fear.

For us, it will mean greater uncertainty and inflation, as the cost of doing business will rise in tandem. In many cases customers expect you to absorb increased costs, but where it becomes unsustainable, adjusted prices will be reflected in new contracts. Companies certainly hope to see some stability as they otherwise become very conservative with large or long duration contracts.

Though everyone watches the oil and energy market with anxiety, for Singapore and for businesses here, we can only do what we have more control over. Namely, not to take our eyes off things like creating new market share, innovation, quality service, cost management, continuing staff development and productivity gains.

Berthold Trenkel
Chief Operating Officer, Asia-Pacific
Carlson Wagonlit Travel

IN THE travel industry it has become a common practice to pass at least part of the rise in fuel price to the traveller via fuel surcharges or increased air fares. While this is impacting the leisure side of the business, where consumers are more price sensitive, the corporate travel world has proven to be more resilient. The growing global economy is still driving demand for travel. Hence the CFO's attention has switched to managing the overall travel budget via effective travel management, the specialisation of our company. Clients are discovering how they can get more bang for the buck - be it via corporate air deals, travel programme compliance or better control of their meetings and events spend. All in all, a good thing - both for our clients and for us.

Teng Yeow Heng Michael
Managing Director
TR Formac

RISING oil and energy prices are not healthy for my industry. We are a manufacturer and a huge consumer of energy. The unrelenting increase of oil prices will also increase costs of transportation and raw materials. As it is difficult to pass on these costs to customers, our profit margins may be eroded.

We have to cope with increasing energy costs by further improving our production productivity, cutting other overheads, reducing waste and working smarter.

However, this scenario is not new to us. My company has thrived through several energy crunches before and come out stronger. In the past, many of our weaker competitors closed down as they were unable to cope with such hard times. Our market share increased because many of our competitors were eliminated. It is hard times like this that will differentiate us from the rest of the pack.

Tan Ser Giam
Chairman
Eastern Navigation

THE weak US dollar is the reason for oil exporting countries to increase the price of oil to maintain a real return on their exports. The US dollar is expected to weaken even further and this will reduce the purchasing power of the American consumer. Exports from Asia to America will, in the short term, slow down and affect Asia's growth rates. This will affect freight rates of shipping companies. Freight rates will, in the immediate future, have to increase to compensate for the increase in fuel prices. New ships will cost more as iron and steel, the basic component of ships, are very energy dependant.

I see a flattening of demand for new ships in the medium term if cargo expansion cannot meet the availability of new shipping space due to a slowdown in the US economy. As a shipping company, we instruct our ships to conserve fuel by running them at economical speeds. On the brighter side, the high oil price will spur demand for anchor handling tugs, supply vessels and rigs to support the increased demand for oil exploration.

Ross Wilson
Managing Director, Consumer Products and Services,
Apac Region
Trend Micro (Singapore)

I AM a little worried by the rising price of oil, but only inasmuch as it seems to be part of a perfect storm. The nose-diving dollar, the sub-prime lending fiasco, the increase in natural commodity costs and the escalation of unrest in the Middle East all point to a large correction of one sort or another. I think that the world's economies are global enough to weather this storm, but it will be a rough ride.

Wee Piew
CEO
HG Metal

FOR now, I feel that the impact of the higher oil and energy prices on the Singapore economy has not been as significant as it was in the past for a few reasons. Firstly, the increase in oil prices has coincided with the growing strength of the Singapore dollar. This has helped mitigate the impact of the higher oil prices in Singapore dollar terms.

Secondly, the Singapore economy has been resilient and is likely to remain robust in the next couple of years. The only fear is that higher oil prices may lead to higher inflation next year if oil prices continue their climb unabated. However, the government's recent decision to postpone $2 billion of construction jobs will help in reducing pressure on the construction sector.

For the steel sector, higher oil and energy prices mean that the cost of steel production has increased and may continue to rise. Added to the already significant increase in the price of the major raw material - iron ore - steel prices have increased significantly in the past year. The higher oil prices also mean that transportation cost of steel - which is a significant cost factor - has also increased.

On the other hand, demand for steel is likely to continue to be strong given that major projects like the integrated resorts, the Marina Bay Financial Centre and numerous residential projects will gather steam in the coming year.

Dora Hoan
Group CEO
Best World International

THE price of oil has a deep impact on the economy of an oil importing country. It has the tendency to slow the rate of growth and may reduce the level of national productivity. There are a number of factors for its rapid increase. It reflects booming Asian demand. Phenomenal growth in China alone is expected to account for roughly 40 per cent of the increase in demand for oil. What happens is that all the fairly priced oil is being used up at breakneck speed. Supplies cannot keep pace and new production is expensive.

The challenge for business is how to maintain productivity and profitability given this backdrop. There's no question that high oil prices put upward pressure on the cost of other goods. There is, therefore, the risk of price increases as the cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer. But it is also true that oil price increases no longer have the same effect on modern economies that they used to have decades ago.

In this era of globalisation, the pressure to remain competitive has curbed businesses' ability to pass along the burden of price increases to their consumers. Therefore, there are others factors that come into play in today's market-driven economies. For instance, competition, outsourcing and cheaper foreign labour costs do help keep a lid on inflation.

There is real concern, however, for small businesses. When a business is keen on remaining competitive and cannot pass on higher prices to its consumers, then it will have to absorb them one way or another. However, it will require a higher capital base to do so.

Still, I am confident that the hike won't kill the bull. We have seen tough times and have stood up well against them. This threatening time, however, will require of us sound business principles, a strong, efficient organisation and the ability to innovate on products and services as well as on the business model in order to remain resilient.

Pinaki Rath
Managing Director
Gold Matrix Resources

WHILE the industry that we are in, base metals, has exhibited a strong performance in the last few years, it is unlikely to carry on with such fervour. Metals are ultimately driven by their own fundamentals but momentum factors on oil are creating humps. We have already witnessed a cooling off in base metal prices in the last few months. It may be presumptuous to relate it to the high oil prices, but on a sustained basis, high oil prices will dent the fortunes of base metals. High energy prices encourage designers/architects to make buildings, cars and aircraft as energy-efficient as possible, which means using light materials such as plastics in place of heavy metals. This may bring down costs in the short term, but it comes at the price of a not-so-green product coupled with question marks on safety and reliability. High oil prices can prove to be the biggest dampener to the economy and it's a ticking time bomb. If the rise is not checked, gargantuan problems are in store. The answer lies in switching to alternative sources like nuclear energy.

Lars Ronning
President, Asia-Pacific (excluding China and Japan)
Tandberg

OIL-EXPOSED industries, such as mining, chemicals, aviation (hedging notwithstanding), and small businesses, which are petrol-reliant, are put in a vulnerable position. A weakening dollar has softened the impact but governments - especially in emerging economies - need to do away with price subsidies and caps.

Companies should leverage technology to offset oil consumption. We are consistently working towards reducing organisational carbon footprint through video communication: technology that allows natural face-to-face communication reduces the need to travel. The corollary is reduced carbon emission. Yes, we are taking deliberate and imperative steps to building a globally responsible corporation.

Benjamin Low
Managing Director
S-E Asia, India
Secure Computing Singapore

I JUST went to my favourite petrol kiosk and topped up my car. For 65 litres, I paid $120 after the standard discount. The oil price increase has far-reaching consequences across the entire economic and food chain. From the cost of electricity to toast and coffee, everyday essentials have been or will be rising very soon. The impact on ordinary folk and businesses will become more pronounced as cost increases filter downwards. Managing a business in Singapore has become increasingly challenging. Rising GST and a drastic increase in property prices, coupled with the increasing cost of goods, have all resulted in a higher cost of living. Our customers are not paying more for our products; their technology and IT budget remain the same. With a diminishing profit margin, we will simply have to be more mindful about keeping costs down and work hard to increase our revenue through acquiring new customer bases and sales. There is simply no easy way out.

Douglas H Miller
Vice-President
Boeing International Corporation

THE rising cost of fuel is a key issue that the aviation industry is working hard to address. At Boeing, we have spent much time improving the performance of our aircraft so that the aviation industry as a whole benefits. For example, the 787 Dreamliner is not only made of advanced weight-reducing materials, but will also use 20 per cent less fuel than other similarly-sized aircraft. This will save airlines incredible amounts of money on fuel while also lowering noise and carbon emissions.

As a company, we are also conscious of the urgent need to conserve resources. We have put into place various regulations to conserve energy and recycle materials as much as possible. As a result, we have reduced electrical use in our factories and offices by 35 per cent in recent years and we continue to look at new ways to optimise energy usage.

Lim Soon Hock
Managing Director
Plan-B Icag

I BELIEVE the current oil price and energy crisis is a reaction to the strong global economic growth especially that of China and India. These two Asian economic giants are transforming the world's energy balance, with their multi-fold increase in energy consumption. The world economies today do not have any shock absorbers to tackle the imminent crisis, not even with all the modern mitigating measures taken by many countries, for example, to be less reliant on oil and to tame inflation.

The combination of the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis, depreciating US dollar and rising oil prices is a lethal cocktail that can send the global economy into a downward spiral towards possible stagflation.

Singapore businesses have to brace themselves to face the prospect of oil prices that are more than what the world can tolerate. The long-term rise of oil prices and the dramatic increase in energy consumption are demand-driven, which is different from what had transpired in the 1970s and again in the 1980s.

Businesses would do well if they go green more aggressively than before, and adopt processes that are energy-efficient and energy-saving. In addition, they can be more conservative with investments, contain and manage costs and watch inventories.

Annie Yap
CEO
The GMP Group

THE world is cringing as the price of oil and energy continues to surge, burning holes in every one's pockets from increased costs, whether transferred or absorbed. For businesses to weather the storm, innovation can prove to be a great way to accommodate something we so ubiquitously depend on.

A perfect example is how an American pizza store offers the option for customers to pick up their own orders and save on delivery charges.

In the same spirit, businesses should re-evaluate their operation methods most affected by the oil price rise and look for ways to get around the setback. Survival only occurs through change and adaptation. Sometimes it takes the smallest change to make that crucial difference.

Michael Reading
Managing Director
Island Power Company

THE rising price of energy is a concern for all businesses. As global energy demand continues to rise, the increasing price of energy that results has the potential to dent the financial performance of businesses and the economy.

In addition to oil, natural gas prices have recently risen as well. Gas is the most efficient source of fuel for electricity generation. Gas exporters are already facing governmental pressures to keep the gas for domestic use. Therefore, Singapore must treasure its gas imports and through technology make the most efficient use of it. Competition through a liberalised energy market, which includes both electricity and natural gas markets, will insure that electricity generators provide the most cost-efficient energy possible to their customers. The rise in energy prices highlights the need for Singapore to complete the liberalisation of its energy market.

Tan Kok Leong
Principal
TKL Consulting

THE root cause of the rapid rise in oil price is the unprecedented boom in the world economy, particularly China and India.

Rapid urbanisation, cross-state or country industrial production, improvement in transport infrastructure and use of cars, travel by hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians and the lack of upstream investment in oil production and expansion mean a higher average price of crude oil in the short and medium term.

Business is driven by energy, mainly oil. A higher oil bill eventually has to be paid by users.

David Miller
President of Asia-Pacific & Senior Vice-President
Lenovo

RISING oil prices are likely to directly impact the transportation industries that use oil for fuel - airlines, shipping companies and trucking firms. High oil prices will also impact food processing companies that use oil.

Even though Lenovo's business is not directly affected by the price of oil, we do see some impact. As a global business, we transport our components and finished products all over the world. Therefore, logistics costs are significant to us, and these are negatively affected by the increase in oil prices.

On the flip side, logistics and oil costs are denominated in US dollars, as are most of Lenovo's costs. Also, most of Lenovo's revenues are not in US dollars - rather, they're from currencies that have appreciated versus the US dollar. So the direct impact is not necessarily significant when we sell outside of the US market.

More importantly, the increase in oil and energy prices reminds us that we all need to be more responsible in the way we use our planet's scarce natural resources. Large organisations are often the biggest consumers of energy. Therefore, CEOs must take responsibility as powerful global citizens and make sure their companies continually strive to reduce the environmental impact of their operations and the products they create.

At Lenovo, we have invested heavily into producing some of the world's greenest and most energy efficient PCs. Technology leadership and innovation go beyond what's in the box. Environmental considerations should also be a central part of all companies' business practices.

Eric Hoh
Vice-President
Symantec, Asia South

THE rising fuel price is definitely an impetus for businesses and governments to do their part to reduce their carbon footprint and develop greener technologies that are energy-efficient. With the IT industry being one of the biggest producers of carbon, emissions, and waste, companies need to be educated that while there may be increased short-term costs associated with selecting greener technology, these are outweighed by the longer-term performance and environmental benefits.

At Symantec, for example, we have developed software products that help customers reduce data storage energy consumption by as much as 50 per cent and total data centre energy consumption by up to 25 per cent. Symantec's software also allows enterprises to exploit new energy-efficient servers and storage more easily, enabling them to continue conserving energy optimally.

Environmental responsibility makes good business sense as it results in concrete savings which ultimately makes taking the green path an effective tactic for retaining customer loyalty and trust.

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