Discovery at the Botanic Gardens
swans, sculptures and stupendous trees on the discovery blog
Growing carnivorous plants
will encouraging cultivation without sharing where ordinary people can get specimens affect wild populations of these plants? on the garden voices blog
Telegraph 28 Nov 07;
Tim Passey says if you have the chance to work in Singapore, take it, it's a great place to be.
[A long article covering Climate, Accommodation, Money, Healthcare, Getting around, Eating, Shopping, Entertainment]
For such a small, heavily urbanised country, there is a surprising amount to discover. In the centre of the island Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and MacRitchie Reservoir have miles of walking and cycling tracks set in stands of what is, amazingly when you think about it, virgin rainforest. You’ll see a lot of wildlife, notably monkeys.
There are actually a lot of smaller parks and reserves to discover and when you do find them you’ll probably find you’re the only one who has – places that spring to mind are Kent Ridge Park, where the Allies made their last stand against the advancing Japanese, and the rocky shoreline at Labrador Park.
Read the full entry for all the details.
Tim manages a marketing agency for the pharmaceutical industry, and after having previously frequently visited Singapore for business, took the opportunity in 2005 to be based here.
Two years living and working on the island has provided a great opportunity to soak up the culture that - as the advertising goes - is ‘uniquely Singapore’.
If you have the chance to work here, take it, this is a great place to be.
Telegraph mentors are volunteers and any information they provide is for information only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice.
Channel NewsAsia 28 Nov 07;
SINGAPORE : The heavy downpour on Wednesday afternoon caused flooding in many parts of the island.
Several Channel NewsAsia viewers called MediaCorp's hotline to report water ponding at Orchard Road near the Scotts Road junction.
The owner of a shop at the basement of Lucky Plaza said the water reached ankle level and affected business.
There was also flooding near the Keppel Road-Cantonment Link junction.
Another caller reported an over-flooding canal at Delta Avenue.
Police also received several calls about floods at Havelock Road, Cavanagh Road, Tomlinson Road and Orchard Boulevard. - CNA /ls
WET, WET, WET
Loh Chee Kong, Today Online 29 Nov 07;
THE festive mood — and goods — at one of Orchard Road's busiest shopping malls were literally dampened by yesterday's persistent downpour.
With the Christmas shopping fever in full swing, doors to Lucky Plaza's basement were shut for some three hours after rainwater, gushing in from the street above, reached ankle deep.
When Today visited the shopping mall at 6.30pm, maintenance workers and shop owners in rolled-up pants and flip-flops were feverishly mopping up the water. Others, carrying cartons of goods, were tiptoeing and cursing the inclement weather for the damage to their goods and loss of business.
The scene was no less chaotic in other parts of the island during the afternoon storm. Callers to the Today Hotline and MediaCorp radios' Traffic Watch, reported flash floods along River Valley Road, Outram Road, Scotts Road, and the junction of Keppel Road and Cantonment Link.
Today reader J A Schooling, who was in a bus, said she saw two taxis and a car stalled in knee-deep water along River Valley Road.
"It was a freak flood," she said. "I've travelled this route for more than 20 years and have never seen anything like this."
Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director of catchment and waterways, said the intense rainfall, coinciding with a high tide, hit the central part of Singapore from 2.30pm.
"Low-lying areas in the city, such as Jalan Besar, Indus Road and Tiong Bahru, experienced flash floods," he said. "The flash floods subsided within an hour and PUB officers were on site in some of the areas to help motorists."
He added that the PUB had issued a flood advisory on Nov 2, warning residents and shop owners of the possibility of flash floods during the year-end North-east Monsoon.
Back at Lucky Plaza, shop owners said it took less than 10 minutes before the place was covered in inches of water and shops with direct access to the pedestrian walkway were the worst hit, including Giordano, where staff placed cardboard pieces on the parquet flooring to soak up the water.
Mr Mohamed Nasar, 42, who runs a moneychanger and silk store, said: "At about 3pm, they closed the doors and asked the customers to leave." He then scrambled to remove his goods, which remained undamaged. But he said he lost "about $500" in takings.
A neighbouring shop, which sells spectacles, was spared the hassle. The owner said: "I guess it helps to be prepared since this is not the first time it has happened. I place my goods a few inches off the ground."
A tailoring shop owner said this was "the third time in nine years" that the mall had been flooded.
"We have spoken to the management, but they said they can do nothing about it," said Mr Mohamed.
Lucky Plaza's maintenance office insisted the flooding was not caused by a building fault. A senior technician said: "The water flowed down from Orchard Road. We had to close the doors and clear the water into the manholes within the building."
PUB officials were at the site, assisting the landlord in its investigation. Mr Tan said: "The PUB has checked and found that the water from the drains did not overflow into the basement of Lucky Plaza."
The PUB said flash floods in low-lying areas would be alleviated when the Marina Barrage becomes operational next year. The PUB also has other flood alleviation projects, such as the $12.8-million canal construction at Commonwealth Avenue.
Flash floods hit central S'pore
Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
Knee-deep water left these cars stranded at the open-air carpark opposite Delta House yesterday.
A canal nearby had overflowed following the heavy downpour islandwide, which started at about 2.30pm.
This caused the carpark, located at the junction of Alexandra Road and Delta Road, to be flooded.
The authorities said the few hours of rain accounted for nearly half of the rainfall for the entire month.
To make matters worse, the storm coincided with a high tide, causing flash floods in many low-lying parts of Singapore.
In Orchard Road, customers looking for their afternoon caffeine fix were also affected when rainwater streamed into a basement Starbucks outlet.
FLASH FLOODS IN SINGAPORE
Washout for businesses as waters rise in town
Eateries and shops hit by sudden, heavy rainfall; cars also not spared
Carolyn Quek, Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
IT WAS 'high tea' at the Starbucks outlet in Liat Towers yesterday afternoon, as water rose to knee level.
Thanks to the sudden flash flood beginning at around 2.30pm, customers who had walked into the shop had to climb out of the knee-high water onto chairs laid out by the staff.
Two other shops also located on the basement level of Liat Towers - Burger King and Massimo Dutti, a boutique - were badly flooded.
The heavy thunderstorm yesterday dumped, in just a few hours, about 40 per cent of the monthly rainfall typically received in November.
The National Environment Agency said the highest rainfall recorded yesterday was 99mm, occurring around Somerset Road between 2.30pm and 5pm. The average rainfall for November is about 254mm.
Making matters worse, the intense rainfall coincided with a high tide which hit the central part of Singapore from around 2.30pm, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) said.
It led to flash floods in several low-lying areas in the city. Apart from the Orchard Road area, other flooded spots included Jalan Besar, Indus Road and Tiong Bahru.
But the floods subsided within an hour, the PUB said.
The store manager of the Starbucks outlet in Liat Towers told The Straits Times there had been minor flooding before, but yesterday's was the worst. 'We put out chairs for our customers,' said the store manager, who did not want to be named. Maintenance staff later pumped out the water in the basement.
Over at Lucky Plaza, businesses were affected when water started gushing out of a gap in the basement level of the shopping centre at 3.30pm.
According to Mr Yip Fook Chow, 70, an employee at Stitchwell Clothiers, which is located on the basement level, it was the third time in nine years that such an incident had happened.
The ankle-level flood subsided within an hour, but many shops remained closed.
'Our carpets and furniture were destroyed,' Mr Yip said.
Meanwhile, the open-air carpark in Lower Delta Road was so badly flooded that cars there were half-submerged.
Mr Brandon Quah, a financial planner who works at Valley Point, the building opposite the carpark, snapped some photos of the water-logged area and sent them to Stomp, The Straits Times' online interactive site.
The police said there were no road closures.
The PUB said heavy downpours are expected during this time of the year, with the onset of the North-east Monsoon.
More than 600 residents and shop owners in low-lying city areas have already been alerted to the possibility of flash floods, the PUB said.
It added that the Marina Barrage will help alleviate flash floods in low-lying areas when it comes into operation next year.
What a few hours of rain did
For several hours yesterday, Central Singapore was deluged with heavy rain causing flash floods, waterlogged shops and stranded cars. About 40 per cent of the average rainfall for November fell in just a few hours. Many Straits Times readers sent their pictures of the flood to online interactive portal Stomp.
Tempo Interactive 28 Nov 07;
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Jakartans are asked to be on the alert as high waves are still a threat for the capital city’s northern coast.
The Indonesian Naval Hydrology and Oceanography Agency has estimated that high waves will reach a peak this December 8.
“These could be worse than the current ones,” said Major Saroso, Head of the Oceanography Section at the Hydrology and Oceanography Agency, yesterday (27/11).
According to Saroso, on December 8, the high waves will reach their highest point of the whole year.
The reason is the date coincides with the dark of the moon, when as usual, in the cycle of Qomariyah moon system, tides will rise.
In addition, the high tides will culminate because in early December, it is predicated that Jakarta will have rain.
Strong winds from south of the equator at speeds of 12 knots will also pull sea water towards the land.
“This will enlarge the water flow,” said Saroso.
During peak of high tides, according to Suroso, the height of waves may reach 2.2 meters.
High tides reaching 1.2 meters have hit the Jakarta coast since last week.
The high tides breached the sea water dike in Muara Baru, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Monday evening (26/11).
In a short period of time, sea water flooded almost the entire north and west parts of Jakarta.
So that sea water flooding does not happen again, next year Jakarta Provincial Government will build a dike of one kilometer long in Muara Baru.
“We propose a budget of Rp15 billion,” said Public Works Service Head, Wisnu Subagyo.
Alister Doyle, Reuters 28 Nov 07;
OSLO (Reuters) - This year is set to be the sixth warmest since records began 150 years ago, cooler than earlier predicted which means a slight respite for European ski resorts or bears trying to hibernate.
"2007 will likely be near equal with 2006, so joint sixth warmest year," Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at Britain's University of East Anglia, told Reuters.
The unit, which provides global data for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), had predicted a year ago that 2007 could be the warmest worldwide since reliable records began in the 1860s. It cut the prediction to number 2 in mid-year.
A sizzling start to 2007, blamed on a combination of global warming and an El Nino warming of the Pacific Ocean that meant an abnormally warm winter in the northern Hemisphere, tailed off as the El Nino ended early.
Jones predicted that 2007 would be beaten by 1998, warmest ahead of 2005, 2003, 2002 and 2004. The U.S. space agency NASA says that 2005 was fractionally warmer than 1998.
The unusually warm start to the year was partly blamed for heating the Atlantic and cutting the extent of Arctic sea ice to a record low in summer. It also disrupted crop growth.
Many of Europe's Alpine ski resorts -- starved of snow a year ago -- have opened. In Switzerland 48 resorts, or more than half the total, opened about 10 days ago after good early snows and freezing temperatures.
In northern Europe, resorts such as Hafjell have opened weeks before last year, when temperatures were too high even for snow-making machines.
DOZING OFF
And bears in a Bulgarian conservation park are starting to doze off for winter hibernations, around the normal time, after last year's mild winter badly disrupted their sleep.
"Four of the bears are sleeping already. The weather was a bit warm but last week it became colder and it snowed so they have fallen asleep," said Raya Stoilova of the "Four Paws" foundation of 24 bears in a conservation park.
The U.N. climate panel has blamed human activities, led by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars for stoking global warming. Eleven of the 12 years from 1995 to 2006 were among the 12 warmest years on record, it says.
The world's environment ministers will meet in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3-14 to seek ways to widen the fight against climate change.
They will aim to launch two years of talks on a new climate deal to succeed the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol and seek more involvement by Kyoto outsiders such as the United States and big developing nations led by China and India.
RELATED ARTICLE
UN: Greenhouse gases hit high in 2006
Eliane Engeler, Associated Press, Yahoo News 23 Nov 07;
Thousands caught by surprise as water floods homes and closes road to airport
Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S environment minister has blamed global warming for floods in some parts of the capital on Tuesday which forced thousands of people to flee inundated homes and cut off a highway leading to the airport.
The authorities used pumps to lower water levels, which rose to 1.7m in the worst-hit areas and washed 2km inland from the sea, said Mr Iskandar, an official with Jakarta's flood crisis centre.
'I have not seen it this bad in several years,' said Mr Toki, a policeman directing traffic at a flooded area near the international Sukarno-Hatta Airport.
Thousands of people were stranded or trapped yesterday, forcing many flights to leave with only a handful of passengers.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said global warming was partly to blame, with rising sea levels making coastal cities such as Jakarta especially vulnerable to flooding and monsoon storms.
But the authorities also ignored warnings about exceptionally high 18-year tide cycles, flood expert Jan Japp Brinkman told the Jakarta Post newspaper yesterday, and the situation was exacerbated by a failure to fix a sea barrier that was breached more than a week ago.
Mr Iskandar said at least 2,200 houses were inundated.
An official at one of the affected districts, Mr Satiri, said the government had warned residents of the possibility of a high tide, sending a circular asking them to prepare for it on Nov 26 or Nov 27.
But the residents, local officials and the city apparently ignored the warnings.
'Most of the wealthy residents went to stay at their relatives' homes or apartments, while others evacuated to the nearby mosque,' Mr Satiri said.
Resident Goang Rusdianto said he did not see the flood coming because he thought the embankment was fine after it was repaired last year.
'We have got used to floods here. However, this time, the water came too quickly,' he said.
Local officials and the police were also not prepared, and residents had to help regulate traffic.
Mr Ahmad Pasha, a security guard, said he blocked access to a flooded street despite protests from motorists.
In an e-mail to the Jakarta Post, Mr Brinkman said the flood would be worsened by North Jakarta's low coastal defence.
He predicted that tidal levels would continue to increase until 2009, and would drop slowly to their lowest levels in 2018.
He added that the cyclical high tide was not related to climate change.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
To reach the targets for water and sanitation in Asia, the money needed is about US$8b a year in investments
Ke Seetharam, Business Times 29 Nov 07;
GETTING water to flow out of a tap and be available 24 hours a day is still a distant dream for millions of people across Asia. We don't deliver milk in taps; we get it to people through other means. Similarly, if we are to solve Asia's water problem, we may need to think out of the box to make drinking water accessible for the poor.
Water is indispensable for healthy living. According to the WHO (World Health Organisation) definition, each individual needs about one to two litres of potable water per day. That is a very small quantity and one can argue that there are ways to deliver this water to individuals through other ways than pipes.
Technologically, we might want to supply water through pipes so that it is available all the time, and you can drink it anytime. If not, which is the case in many countries right now in Asia, the water is provided to people one or two hours in a day. They must collect it, then spread its use over their 24-hour requirements.
These one to two litres helps keep people in good health and ensures good hygiene within homes. If we can think about water like a food item or a medicine, then we should endeavour to supply it quickly and, if necessary, differently - for example just like how a bottle of juice or a can of milk is supplied to people.
For millennia, people in Asia have seen water as a free resource; historically people didn't pay for it. But there is now a lot of evidence that people are willing to pay for water - just like they pay for fruit juice and milk.
Moreover, there is a lot of literature, which shows that, in fact, poor people pay more for each litre of water they get than the rich, because they don't have access to the normal public piped water systems.
In many developing countries when the government is not able to provide adequate water requirements to citizens, people make their own arrangements to cope. For example, some people dig their own ground well, and they might have their own booster pumps.
They might have their own overhead tanks. Some people even use small treatment facilities in their homes. These are all investments. People are paying for them from their pockets. It's just that they are not paying to the government.
It only requires a little bit of intuition to add up all these costs and appreciate that there are potentially huge economies of scale if the government, or another agency, were to provide these services in a more efficient manner.
To illustrate with a different analogy, we all know that vegetables grow in a garden, but if everybody were to have his or her own small vegetable garden, then produce would be more expensive. That's why we have farmers who grow vegetables in bulk, which are delivered to us through large and efficient supply chains.
We have estimated that to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for water and sanitation in Asia, at a minimum, the money needed is about US$8 billion a year of investments in the sector. This would be the required annual investment for the next 10 years to reach the MDG target. This money is available in that there is an appetite in the capital markets and in money markets to invest in the region.
However, investors want to invest in facilities and infrastructures that are sustainable and can recover the costs of investment and operation.
We require the political will to embrace the right kind of reforms and put proper policy frameworks in place, which would help to sustain such investments.
For example, if it is a water infrastructure investment to improve water networks and treatment plants, those who are putting up the money need to know how they will be paid back and earn some return on their investments. There is an important role for governments to play here, and this is where political will can make all the difference.
We all know that water comes from the sky, flows through rivers and eventually into the sea - which is free. But when we want good quality water in our homes, coming out of taps, this requires a substantial infrastructure behind it, which has to be paid for. Governments have to take the lead in ensuring that this can happen.
The author is the principal water and urban development specialist at the Asian Development Bank
Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
Sony Ericsson and Samsung come out tops in list of nature-friendly companies
AMSTERDAM - GREENPEACE gave Microsoft and Nintendo abysmal rankings on their efforts to phase out toxic chemicals from their game consoles.
Nintendo became the first company to score zero out of a possible 10 points in the Greenpeace ranking of 18 leading electronics companies.
The company provided no information to consumers on the substances it uses in manufacturing or on its plans to cut hazardous materials, the environmental organisation said on Tuesday.
Microsoft, judged on its Zune MP3 player and Xbox game console, lost points for its pledge to eliminate toxic chemicals only in 2011 and for having no voluntary take-back programme for electronic waste. It took 16th place.
Microsoft said in a statement that it is committed to environmental progress.
'In our consumer electronics business, we comply with and exceed all environmental guidelines and regulations', while ensuring the durability, safety and performance of products, the company said.
A public relations firm working for Nintendo said it was unaware of the Greenpeace report and was checking.
Greenpeace judges companies on their mechanisms for collecting used hardware and on their timelines for eliminating vinyl, or PVC, and fire-retardants that can be dangerous when released into the environment.
It does not weigh companies' overall environmental portrait, though it will look at energy efficiency next year, said Greenpeace spokesman Iza Kruszweska.
Greenpeace added television and game consoles to the sixth issue of its two-year-old ranking in recognition of their growing importance, especially as Americans cast off old TVs for digital receivers.
Shipments of game consoles grew by nearly 15 per cent last year to 62.7 million units worldwide, Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace said TV producers Royal Philips Electronics and Sharp also have poor policies on taking back and recycling outdated products.
The most nature-friendly companies on Greenpeace's list were Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Samsung, which each scored 7.7 points.
Greenpeace punished cellphone maker Nokia, the list's former leader, and its competitor Motorola for breaking pledges to take back used hardware in five of six countries where the environmental organisation conducted spot checks.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Green factor
GREENPEACE judged companies on their mechanisms for collecting used hardware and on their timelines for eliminating vinyl and fire-retardants that can be dangerous when released into the environment. Here are the results of the ranking:
1. Sony Ericsson
2. Samsung
3. Sony
4. Dell
5. Lenovo
6. Toshiba
7. LG Electronics
8. Fujitsu-Siemens
9. Nokia
10. Hewett-Packard
11. Apple
12. Acer
13. Panasonic
14. Motorola
15. Sharp
16. Microsoft
17. Philips
18. Nintendo
Greenpeace raps naughty Nintendo
Yahoo News 29 Nov 07;
Games console maker Nintendo "completely fails to show any environmental credentials," Greenpeace said in its latest report measuring the policies of electronics companies on toxic chemicals and recycling.
Nintendo, the maker of the hit Wii console, scored zero out of 10 in Greenpeace's "Guide to Greener Electronics," which aims to encourage manufacturers to get rid of harmful chemicals.
Manufacturers of television sets and games consoles were included for the first time in the latest edition of the quarterly guide.
"Nintendo completely fails to show any environmental credentials and Microsoft and Philips do little better," the report said.
Swedish-Japanese group Sony Ericsson took first place, with Samsung and Sony in second and third.
Nokia and Motorola fell in the rankings after Greenpeace investigations in six countries showed company staff unable to help consumers with enquiries about product recycling.
"Nokia representatives in the Philippines, Thailand, Argentina, Russia and India were not informed about their companies' own programmes and in many cases provided misleading information," the report said.
Motorola staff in the Philippines, Thailand and India were unable to direct customers to collection points, according to Greenpeace.
"Many companies have made big strides to improve their products and recycling schemes ... but no company has so far succeeded in offering an entire range of products free of the worst toxic chemicals or a comprehensive, free, global takeback scheme to ensure responsible recycling," the report concluded.
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
HYBRID cars first hit the roads here in 1999 and, after a slow start, sales are finally picking up.
In the first 10 months of the year, 516 of these 'green' cars were snapped up, more than the entire population of 379 hybrids on the road as of the end of last year.
Hybrids are vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine as well as by one or more electric motors. The latter are driven by onboard batteries which are recharged when the car is running on petrol and when it brakes.
They consume 15-40 per cent less fuel than conventional models of the same size and produce less tailpipe emissions.
In Singapore, buyers enjoy a 40 per cent rebate on such cars' open market values. Even so, they cost 10 to 20 per cent more than conventional cars.
The most popular make here is the Honda Civic Hybrid, which attracted 308 buyers in the first 10 months. It was followed by the Lexus RX400h (109 units sold), the Toyota Prius (78 units) and the Lexus LS600h (21 units).
Mr Vincent Ng, product manager at authorised Honda agent Kah Motor, said: 'We could have sold a lot more, but the factory could not supply us with more.'
The green Civic is priced between the 1.8 and 2.0-litre conventional Civic models, at around $80,000. Mr Ng expects supply to rise next year. He also said that two more hybrid Honda models will arrive by 2009.
Mr William Choo, Borneo Motors' director of Lexus sales and marketing, said another Lexus hybrid sedan - the GS450h - is due in the second half of next year.
Mr Choo said that Toyota has a wide range of hybrids and Borneo Motors is negotiating to import more of them.
'I envisage the hybrid Camry to have a much higher sales volume,' he said.
Parallel importer Richburg Motors sells a hybrid multi-purpose vehicle, the Toyota Estima.
Consumers who have warmed to these environmentally friendlier cars said they are happy with their choices, especially in a climate of record petrol prices.
The Singapore Environment Council's executive director Howard Shaw, who owns two Priuses, said: 'I used to visit the petrol station four times a month. It's down to twice or once a month.'
Mr Shaw attributes the higher hybrid sales to two other factors. 'Hybrids have been around for some time, so people are less paranoid about the new technology.'
He also pointed to the 'healthier' tax rebate - double the previous rate - which took effect in January last year.
While sales have picked up, hybrids still constitute less than 1 per cent of total new car sales.
Letter from LAWRENCE Ong Lee Chong and Theresa Ng Li Lian Today Online 29 Nov 07;
I refer to the reports, "Use of solar energy still limited due to higher cost: Lim Hng Kiang" (Nov 12) and "Subsidies to fuel solar power's future" (Nov 28).
In view of Singapore's effort to promote clean energy, the question is whether replacing the current fuel-generated electricity with renewable solar-derived electricity is feasible.
At the recent Parliament sitting, Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said: "Solar-derived electricity is two to three times more expensive than our electricity tariffs for households."
As solar energy is free and renewable, the only costs for solar-derived electricity will be for equipment and maintenance. As the technology matures, the manufacturing cost of solar panels will decrease. Improvements in technology will reduce maintenance costs and increase efficiency.
In comparison, 55 per cent of our current electricity cost comes from fuel costs, which are pegged to oil prices that are expected to rise. And both solar-derived electricity and fuel-generated electricity come with their respective maintenance costs.
We would like more information from the ministry on how "two to three times more expensive" is derived. We would also appreciate it if the relevant authorities could explain the rationale of not subscribing to solar energy with a cross-comparison and why it is not feasible.
It came as a great surprise when Mr Lim dismissed the use of solar-derived energy altogether.
Even if a complete replacement of the electricity generation equipment from fuel to solar is too expensive, there are still alternatives such as solar-powered lamps and heaters for individual Housing and Development Board blocks or private houses.
In our effort to go green, it would be a pity to ignore our greatest and "greenest" energy source — the sun.
Ooi Giok Ling. Today Online 29 Nov 07;
But are commuters making transport choices because of costs or because of the consciousness that public transport is a more sustainable option?
A "polluter pays principle" may have prevailed in the environmental management agenda in Singapore, but it does not appear to have been a major influence in choices made by commuters.
SUDDENLY, world leaders and regional associations from the European Union to Apec and Asean are sitting up and taking seriously the issues of global warming and climate change.
It may have been the impact of Al Gore's Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, or the Nobel Prize he won jointly with the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Or, it may have been the spate of natural disasters around the globe — drought in Australia, floods in China and Latin America, earthquakes in Indonesia, typhoons in South-east Asia and bushfires in California.
Yet, political leaders have said that it is difficult to translate the impact of global warming into localised, individualised terms. This poses a real challenge to placing sustainability on policy agendas.
For land transport, the challenge in cities like Singapore is to develop the consciousness among urban commuters that consumption choice, such as the use of public transport, is the sustainable way forward.
But are even savvy consumers aware of their impact on carbon emissions and global warming, when they choose private transport over public?
For the most part, public commuters are conscious that our land transport policies have kept our roads congestion-free and our businesses competitive, since there have been scary statistics about the cost of traffic jams in most of the region's large cities.
Air pollution, however, peaked in Singapore when traffic volumes increased during the 1970s because of industrialisation and urbanisation. At the time, addressing air pollution was a task for the Anti-pollution Unit set up in the Prime Minister's Office.
But, while environmental concerns have thus been very much a part of policymaking, there has been some ambivalence about the policy principles underlying the provision of public transport.
Due to policies introduced to "tame" the car — making the costs of car ownership and usage so expensive — public transport fortuitously became the main mode of transport in Singapore, once commuters decided they were unwilling or unable to pay the price for a car.
Here, Singapore has done wonderfully to ensure that the public transport option would be a viable and convenient one. Now, the challenge has shifted somewhat towards making commuters regard public transport as the preferred mode of transport.
But are commuters making transport choices because of costs or because of the consciousness that public transport is a more sustainable option?
A "polluter pays principle" may have prevailed in the environmental management agenda in Singapore, but it does not appear to have been a major influence in choices made by commuters.
It is therefore worrying that bus, train and taxi fares are inching up. This is tantamount to penalising commuters who pollute less than car owners.
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) costs are supposed to help discourage car usage. But instead of conceding that — as major polluters and contributors to global warming — they have to pay their dues, car owners complain that the ERP hikes are not solving the traffic congestion problem.
Singapore needs commuters to commit to what will prove to be a more sustainable form of urban transport in the long term.
Here, the authorities may want to weigh in on the side of commuters choosing to take public transport even when they can afford to buy a car.
Instead, the many advertisements for the completion of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway tunnel in the local newspapers seem to presage things to come in land transport: The new expressways are meant to save car owners and users commuting time; to allow them to speed and travel more smoothly as they opt for a private and less sustainable mode of moving about the city. This is not exactly reassuring.
For many cities in the region struggling with their traffic and air pollution woes, Singapore's urban land transport network is a dream that is proving elusive at best.
Adding sustainability to Singapore's land transport mission would keep the city ahead of the pack, as energy prices skyrocket and mobility costs and convenience pose possible future challenges.
This means commuters, the Land Transport Authority and public transport agencies all have to shift towards an understanding that will ensure competitive public transport fares, support for public transport operators to provide 24-hour services as well as services to less-frequented routes, more frequent and regular trips and denser coverage of the city by bus and train.
There is great scope for the "greening" of public transport that will mean lower carbon emissions and reduction of noise pollution.
Sustainability needs to be placed more firmly on the land transport agenda, and commuters need to develop a greater consciousness of their decisions when they move around the city, in terms of the consequences for long-term global environmental interests.
Ooi Giok Ling is a professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. The views expressed are her own.
Or inequality, global warming will only worsen, says report
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 29 Nov 07;
Developed countries can more than afford to help, said National University of Singapore Associate Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart yesterday, speaking at a seminar here in conjunction with the launch of the report.
Asked if she thought Singapore could become a leader in this cause in South-east Asia, Prof Hamilton-Hart said while Singapore has "great potential", the country lacked credibility.
THE contrast in how different countries face the impact of climate change can be stark.
In the low-lying Netherlands, citizens receive help to build their homes with foundations that can float in water, in anticipation of increased flooding.
In Vietnam's Mekong Delta, villages have to survive rising water levels with swimming lessons and life jackets.
Such a vast difference in the abilities of wealthier and poorer nations to cope with climate change will become a "powerful driver of wide inequalities", warns this year's Human Development Report, which was released yesterday.
"The poor are not in a position to manage added risks. When there is drought, they sell their seeds and livestock; they withdraw their children from school; the whole family starts skipping meals," said Mr Kevin Watkins, lead author of the report, which is presented by the United Nations Development Programme.
Hence, it is the responsibility of developed countries to provide "meaningful assistance" to poor countries to adapt to the consequences of climate change, such as flooding and drought. This is especially since the wealthier countries are responsible for the bulk of the world's carbon emissions.
Although China will overtake the United States as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide within 10 years, one American still emits five times more carbon dioxide than one Chinese, and 15 times more than an Indian.
Apart from cutting down their greenhouse gas emissions, developed countries are advised to set up a climate change mitigation facility to provide incentives and guidance to developing countries to show them a greener developmental pathway.
This is "essential" as developing countries will be responsible for an increasing share of emissions, said the report.
Developed countries can more than afford to help, said National University of Singapore Associate Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart yesterday, speaking at a seminar here in conjunction with the launch of the report. After all, the report said northern countries need to set aside only 0.2 per cent of their combined Gross Domestic Product to invest $86 billion annually in practical initiatives.
Asked if she thought Singapore could become a leader in this cause in South-east Asia, Prof Hamilton-Hart said while Singapore has "great potential", the country lacked credibility.
"The target here is to reduce energy intensity, but that's not the same as reducing emissions," she said. "To get other countries involved, Singapore needs to show a willingness to commit to bringing down its emissions."
The National Environment Agency said most of Singapore's air pollutant emissions — including carbon dioxide — are well within global standards, except particulate matter, half of which is from diesel vehicles.
Along with the report, the Human Development Index — measuring life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income — was also released. Singapore was ranked 25th out of 177 countries, putting it in the "high human development" category.
Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 29 Nov 07;
Yes, says Saudi petroleum minister, as the country is 'within five-year average'
As oil industry bigwigs gathered here on the first day of the Middle East and Asia Energy Summit yesterday, one question on everyone's mind was whether the Middle East can slake the raging thirst of Asian economies for oil? The answer from the Middle East was an unequivocal "yes".
According to Mr Ali Al Naimi, Petroleum Minister of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has upped its production to 9 million barrels a day but still has a spare capacity of 2.3 million barrels. And next month, Saudi Arabia will increase total capacity by another 500,000 barrels a day.
On oil prices, which were more than US$95 a barrel yesterday, Mr Al Naimi stressed that it was not a shortage of supply from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), but a weakening US dollar and speculators which had driven crude oil to almost US$100 a barrel.
He told the conference: "There is no relationship between the fundamentals and the price. There is a mismatch and anyone that tells you otherwise is wrong."
Opec members, which pump 40 per cent of the world's oil, are due to discuss production figures for the first quarter of 2008 at a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Dec 5.
Also in Singapore, Opec president Mohamed Al Hamli, denied rumours of a 750,000-barrel-a-day increase in production, saying the market was "well-supplied".
He said: "For producers, there is a real risk of wasting precious resources on spar production capacity that may not be needed."
He said that in the long run the producer group plans to spend US$150 billion ($217 billion) to boost production capacity by 5 million barrels a day by 2012, and $50 billion to add 3 million barrels a day of refining capacity in that timeframe.
At yesterday's summit speakers noted that energy security would continue to be a challenge for producers and consumers. They also underscored the need for greater collaboration and commitment from both.
Energy issues, speakers noted, had long been and will continue to be the fulcrum of an interdependent relationship between the Middle East and Asia.
With Asia accounting for some 60 per cent of the increase in exports of Middle Eastern oil between 2000 and last year, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who gave the opening address, said that the Middle East has a stake in Asia's stability and prosperity.
"If Asia catches a cold, it will also quickly spread to the Middle East through reductions in oil revenue," he said.
"Asia's drive to enhance its security of oil and gas supply is but the other side of the coin for the Middle East, whose oil revenue is increasingly fuelled by Asian growth."
He suggested four ways in which cooperation could be nurtured. Existing co-investment in energy infrastructure could be expanded; increased R&D collaboration was another possibility.
Energy security too — in the area of transit routes — is another area of partnership, he said. Mr Goh also urged more dialogue, noting that it was timely to discuss energy security issues at the next Asia-Middle East Dialogue in March.
Deborah Zabarenko, PlanetArk 29 Nov 07;
WASHINGTON - More than a quarter of all US bird species are vulnerable to extinction, according to a comprehensive list compiled by two conservation groups released on Wednesday. Global warming may be partially to blame.
The new WatchList 2007, compiled by the National Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy, found 178 species in the continental United States and 39 in Hawaii in danger.
Of those, 98 are on the "red list" of greatest concern, and 119 in the "yellow" category, indicating their numbers are seriously declining or the species is rare.
Global warming, the loss of habitat due to urban and suburban sprawl and the current US administration's policies on endangered species are all to blame, a co-author of the list said in a telephone interview.
"It's a sign that basically the human relationship with the environment is off-kilter and these are some of the species that are suffering from that," said Gregory Butcher of the National Audubon Society.
The sea level rise caused by global warming puts pressure on bird populations, Butcher said.
Coastal bird habitats of species like the seaside sparrow and the piping plover are likely to be inundated, he said.
"And because there's so many people living close to the oceans, we're not sure that the natural habitats at the edge of the sea will continue to exist in the face of sea level rise," Butcher said.
'LOOMING THREAT'
Arctic birds that breed in Canada and Alaska, such as the puff-breasted sandpiper and the snowy owl, are losing their tundra habitat as the planet warms. "We're very concerned about those species due to global warming," Butcher said.
David Pashley, a co-author from the American Bird Conservancy, agreed that global warming was a "looming threat" but said, "This is not something the bird conservation community can tackle."
The problems of urban sprawl and the resulting loss of habitat are critical, Pashley said by telephone.
Both authors said the Bush administration's policies on endangered species had not helped.
"Unfortunately we've been seven years in an administration that really doesn't believe in the Endangered Species Act, so they've sort of been looking for excuses not to list species that should be added to the act," Butcher said.
Some of the "most imperiled" birds on the WatchList are not protected under the Endangered Species Act, the two groups said in a statement.
These include the Gunnison sage-grouse, whose numbers have been reduced by drought and habitat destruction in Colorado and Utah; the lesser prairie-chicken, which has isolated populations from Kansas to New Mexico; the ashy storm-petrel, whose breeding populations are restricted to the West Coast; and the Kittlitz murrelet, whose breeding and feeding habitat appears linked to Alaska's tidewater glaciers.
Thomas Bell Telegraph 28 Nov 07;
Secret filming by villagers has revealed the damage being caused to the Indonesian rainforests by uncontrolled logging and palm oil plantations.
The destruction of peat bogs in Indonesia, partly to grow supposedly "green" bio-fuels, releases more carbon dioxide every year than all of India or Russia, and three times as much as Germany.
According to recent research by Wetlands International, a conservation group, "the emissions in 1997 alone, which was a particularly bad year, were estimated to have reached 40pc of global CO2 emissions."
When Indonesia hosts a United Nation climate conference in Bali next week to prepare a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, the focus will be on halting the destruction of peat bogs and forests, and on the bio-fuel craze which is driving the problem.
Peat is made up of ancient plant material which never fully decomposed in wet conditions, forming a global carbon bank equivalent to 70 years of emissions at today's rates. But vast tracts of tropical bog on Borneo and the neigbouring island of Sumatra are being cleared, drained and burnt to grow palm oil.
Palm oil prices are at record highs, and future demand seems guaranteed.
European legislation requires that 2pc of all diesel must be biofuels, rising to 5.7pc in 2010 and 10pc by 2020. Elsewhere, governments including America's are promoting bio-fuels.
With so much money involved politicians have latched onto the industry as a source of economic growth and, critics allege, of big kickbacks. Indonesia hopes to add 24 million hectares of palm oil plantations to the six million already developed by 2015.
One of the biggest environmental disasters on Borneo is the Mega-Rice Project, a 3,860 square mile area of former peat bog once covered with tropical forest that was felled and drained for rice cultivation in the mid-1990s.
Where there were forests abundant in orangutans and other wildlife there is now a grid of canals, dusty earth and charred stumps.
Rice never grew here. The government had ignored scientific advice that the crop would fail in acidic soil. Environmentalists want to re-flood to preserve the peat, but the district government has drawn up plans to plant 440 square miles of oil palms here.
The Bali conference may offer a partial solution. Indonesia, and other countries with big tropical forests, are pushing hard for a scheme that would create a market in carbon safely stored in natural banks such as forests and bogs.
Under Kyoto, which expires in 2012, only carbon that has already been emitted by industry can be traded. Economists say the scheme would be a relatively cheap way to reduce global warming, costing the developed world GBP50bn a year to -in theory at least- end the destruction all together.
That would cut global greenhouse emissions by 20pc at a stroke.
"They don't have forests, but we do, so if we all want this one Earth of ours to survive, please share [the burden]", Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said this week.
Scheptics say such a scheme would be hard to design, or to implement in countries with widespread corruption.
But Indonesia has every reason to confront the problem - rising sea levels threaten to drown many of the coutry's 17 000 islands.
Logging damage revealed by secret filming
Paul Eccleston Telegraph 28 Nov 07
Secret filming by villagers has revealed the damage being caused to the Indonesian rainforests by uncontrolled logging and palm oil plantations.
# In pictures: Papua natives learn to use the equipment
# Watch interviews with tribes: Tears of Mother Mooi | Defenders of the Tribal Boundaries
The ancient way of life of natives in Papua is being threatened by the wholesale destruction of their forests.
The Indonesian province is inaccessible to outsiders and closed to journalists so it was left to the villagers to expose the activities of the logging companies.
They were given digital camera equipment and taught how to use it by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which investigates and exposes environmental and wildlife crime, working with the Jakarta-based NGO Telapak.
The two conservation groups have been working with tribal communities in Papua to help them protect their forests from unsustainable exploitation and illegal logging.
A series of films released simultaneously in London and Jakarta, show the scale of destruction being caused to the forests which the villagers rely on almost entirely for food and shelter.
One was shot by the Mooi people who live in the Sorong regency of West Papua. It shows the relationship between the Mooi and their dependence on the forest lands and features undercover filming of logging.
Once a stretch of forest has been stripped bare it is replaced with palm oil plantations but in the process much of the wildlife - pigs, deer and birds which the villagers rely on for food - is driven out.
The film questions whether the logging began even before a licence was granted for 32,000 hectares of Mooi land to be turned over for plantation in 2006.
The film shows workers clearing the ancient forests with chain saws before bulldozers move in to level it for palm trees to be planted.
Mooi women in the film say the destruction of vast swathes of their forest make it more difficult for them to continue with their traditional weaving crafts making household items and sleeping mats from tree bark.
And tribal hunters say they now have to travel great distances to find game where previously it was abundant in their forests.
Another film shot in the Prafi plain, in the Arfak region of Manokwari regency in West Papua Province tells of the consequences of state-sponsored palm oil plantations.
Senior community figures were sent by the government to Medan in Sumatra in 1982 to bring oil palm back to their area. The film shows the consequences to local people who lose their rights to the land and see it destroyed.
Promises that palm oil would sustain them for generations fail to materialise and the plantations fall into neglect as they become unprofitable.
Villagers tell in the film how their rivers have been polluted by discharges of undiluted palm oil from a factory and how they develop rashes when they wash in it.
Ananias Muid, one of the villagers sent to learn about palm oil admits he now regrets the communities' involvement with it.
Paul Redman, who has worked on projects for EIA in Indonesia for five years, said: "These are the voices of local people, the voices of the forest - explaining the issues that directly affect them and their lives.
"They are films made by Papuans, about Papua - they are the real thing. They were researched, written and filmed by them."
Some of the film-makers' identities have been kept secret because of security concerns. "These people have worked extremely hard to bring these films together, sometimes at great personal risk.
"For example, one film-maker waited for four days in the forest to get footage of illegal loggers. Logging is a multi-million pound industry which impacts upon where they live.
"For them, the forest is their supermarket - when it is gone they have nothing and no access to any income either.
"They want these stories to be told and these stories have to be told - without their land, they have no hope."
Yahoo News 28 Nov 07;
Concern is growing in China that rapid investment in mines, spurred by a global spike in metal prices, will have devastating environmental consequences, state media said Wednesday.
The ecological damage is particularly acute in small mines, the Beijing Business Today newspaper reported.
This is because of "reckless and disordered" digging, and low market entry barriers, meaning even companies with backward technology and poor management are allowed to set up shop, it said.
An official at the ministry of land and resources told AFP the ecological damage was mostly in the form of soil erosion.
The government will tighten supervision on key mining zones in areas such as the Xinjiang region in the northwest and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangze River to curb the investment, it added.
Other measures include plans to triple the resource tax on coal mining companies to 3 percent, said the China Business News on Wednesday. It did not say when the tax would take effect.
Experts from the land and resources ministry estimated that investment into the mining industry has reached tens of billions of dollars, encouraged by rising international metal prices, the Beijing Business Today said.
For example, the cost of nickel, used to produce stainless steel, has tripled in the past year to more than 50,000 dollars a tonne, with the prices of copper, lead, tin and zinc near record highs as well.
Maria Cheng, Associated Press, Yahoo News 29 Nov 07;
An outbreak in Europe of an obscure disease from Africa is raising concerns that globalization and climate change are combining to pose a health threat to the West.
Nearly 300 cases of chikungunya fever, a virus that previously has been common only in Africa and Asia, were reported in Italy — where only isolated cases of the disease had been seen in the past.
"We were quite surprised," said Stefania Salmaso, director of Italy's Center for Epidemiology at the National Health Institute. "Nobody was expecting that such an unusual event was going to happen."
While the outbreak was largely the result of stronger trade and travel ties, some experts believe it is a sign of how global warming is creating new breeding grounds for diseases long confined to subtropical climates.
Officials at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said the particularly mild winter in Italy allowed mosquitoes to start breeding earlier than usual, giving the insect population a boost.
"This outbreak is most important as a warning signal," said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a climate change expert at the World Health Organization. "Climate change affects the breeding of every mosquito on earth."
More mosquitoes will mean more disease. With warmer temperatures in the future, Europe and North America might be hit by outbreaks of diseases usually confined to southern continents.
"With more movement of people and a changing climate, there will be shifting patterns of disease," Campbell-Lendrum said. "We need to be prepared for more surprises like this in the future."
Italian officials first grew suspicious in July, when dozens of people in the country's northeast complained of fevers, joint pain, headaches and rashes. Local doctors thought they had been bitten by sandflies, but lab tests confirmed chikungunya fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes.
Officials believe the virus arrived when a tourist from India brought the virus to the Italian province of Ravenna. The Asian tiger mosquito, which can spread the disease, had reached Italy nearly two decades earlier.
Experts are also nervous because the Asian tiger mosquito might be capable of spreading more dangerous diseases like dengue fever and yellow fever.
"Dengue would certainly be more worrying than chikungunya," said Dr. Denis Coulombier, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's head of preparedness and response. "It is something we need to keep an eye on, because the possibility is there."
Most scientists think Europe's advanced health systems and high living standards will help avert widespread disease. Malaria was once endemic in much of Europe but disappeared once the swamps that bred mosquitoes were replaced by buildings and medicines to treat malaria became widely available.
But development doesn't deter all mosquitoes. Certain species prefer artificial breeding sites like rain-filled gutters and plastic containers. "If the climate gets suitable enough, then even very high living standards won't necessarily protect you," Campbell-Lendrum said.
Although Italy's chikungunya outbreak has been contained, "the big question is what is going to happen in the spring next year," said Coulombier.
Other European countries should pay attention: France also saw a few dozen cases of chikungunya last year.
"Italy is not the only country that needs to prepare for another outbreak," said Dr. Evelyn Depoortere, a chikungunya expert at the European Centre. "Southern European countries around the Adriatic coast like Greece, France and Spain are also at risk."
As long as temperatures keep rising, health officials say disease detection and response systems need to be reinforced.
"Climate change is one more factor pushing us in the direction of more disease," said Campbell-Lendrum. "With warmer weather, it is very likely we will have diseases popping up in Europe that no one had ever expected to see."
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