Process for new climate framework will be challenging: PM Lee

Channel NewsAsia 13 Dec 07;

"Our view is, if Singapore is to take on any commitment, if there are going to be any caps, it has to be taken into account that we are not quite favourably disposed as a country or favourably situated as a country, as compared to the resource-rich and energy-rich nations."

BALI, Indonesia: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the process to work out a roadmap for a new post-Kyoto Protocol framework will be a challenging one.

He gave this assessment on Thursday at the UN Climate Change Conference on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

For more than a week, representatives from some 190 countries convened on the island resort to try and work out a new climate change deal to replace the current one, which expires in 2012.

However, the process has been slow, with developed and developing countries taking diverging views on their responsibilities.

Although Mr Lee expects the road ahead to be a long one, he concedes the meeting in Bali is an important first step.

He said: "They will work out some agreement on the roadmap but the decision about what to do, how much to do, who to do it is expected to be very difficult. It's a complicated problem, but it's also one where the countries have very different perspectives and priorities."

One stumbling block, said Mr Lee, is the position that America has taken.

It is not part of the Kyoto Protocol and has not indicated that it will be part of a new framework.

But he added that this may change if there is a new administration after the US presidential elections next year.

"So I don't see the US position as being the last word," said the prime minister.

On Singapore's efforts to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases, Mr Lee said the Republic will continue to look into alternative energy like solar energy.

But Singapore may still have to depend on fossil fuels in the meantime as solar energy is expected to be an expensive alternative, at least for the next five to ten years.

Mr Lee said: "Our view is, if Singapore is to take on any commitment, if there are going to be any caps, it has to be taken into account that we are not quite favourably disposed as a country or favourably situated as a country, as compared to the resource-rich and energy-rich nations."

While in Bali, Mr Lee met various leaders who are also attending the conference.

He described the meeting with Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "good", adding that he would like to strengthen relations with the new administration.

Mr Lee also said he had a good discussion with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has been invited for a retreat in Singapore next year to discuss the progress of the Special Economic Zone that is to be jointly developed by both countries.- CNA/so

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Indigenous people fear double climate hit

Emma Graham-Harrison, Reuters 13 Dec 07;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indigenous people already struggling to cope with a warming world risk losing their homes under rich-world schemes to tackle climate change by using forests as carbon sinks, activists said on Thursday.

Groups that have been custodians of forests for generations fear projects will undermine their ownership of traditional areas, enforce land-grabs by corrupt regimes, encourage more theft, undermine biodiversity and exclude them from management.

And with U.N. talks in Bali close to agreeing guidelines for a pay-and-preserve scheme to tackle deforestation, they warned they are not strong enough to fight the financial interests of the multi-billion dollar carbon trading industry.

"There is concern about the developed world stealing our forests," Fiu Elisana Mata'ese, head of Samoan group the O'le Siosiomaga Society, told Reuters.

"This is an attempt to globally own the resources that are ours. We are concerned indigenous people who have managed forests for generations will not have a say in how they are run."

Under the scheme, called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD), preservation of forests could become a tradable commodity with the potential to earn poor nations billions of dollars from trading carbon credits.

Scientists say deforestation in the tropics and sub-tropics is responsible for about 20 percent of all man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and preserving what is left of them is crucial because they soak up enormous amounts of the gas.

Many environmentalists hope it could also create refuges for threatened animals and plants. But indigenous groups fear that they will be shut out from ancestral lands by the strict regulations and monitoring needed to earn credits.

Simone Lovera, managing coordinator of Global Forest Coalition, said small projects following a similar model to generate credits for people and firms looking to voluntarily offset emissions have already highlighted problems.

They have cemented indigenous groups' exclusion from the lands taken by force and sold on for REDD programs, she said.

They have also encouraged new land grabs by groups looking to cash in on healthy forests and hit diversity because companies wanting a quick buck create vast single-species plantations of fast-growing trees.

"Indigenous people are victims of climate change and now they are going to become victims of climate change mitigation," she said.

WORLD BANK CONCERNS

The World Bank on Tuesday launched plans for a $300 million fund to help create pilot projects for a wider REDD scheme.

But Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told the ceremony that indigenous people who had fought to protect the Amazon from ranchers, the Congo Basin from loggers and Indonesian forests from oil palm plantations, had to be included in the process and were still waiting for guarantees they would be.

"We, the indigenous peoples, are the ones who sacrificed life and limb to save these forests that are vital for our survival as distinct peoples and cultures," she said.

"There is a moral and legal imperative that indigenous peoples be truly involved in designing, implementing and evaluating initiatives," she added.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick defended the bank's record, as the noise of protestors outside briefly broke through to the secluded hall, and said the urgent challenge of climate change meant it was important to launch the project now.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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CNG engines help Prime Taxi to keep overheads down

Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: Prime Taxi bucked the trend this week when it announced its flag-down fares will not be raised for three months.

But come 1 January, meter rates and city area surcharges will go up.

Prime Taxi drivers said the company's decision is due to the fact that overheads are still manageable as rental rates of Prime's taxis are 30 percent below the market average.

Moreover, Prime's fleet of 100 taxis run on compressed natural gas (CNG) which costs 5 cents for every kilometre, compared to diesel which costs an average of 12 cents per kilometre.

But despite the lower costs, there are practical reasons for the low take-up of CNG cars, which make up less than 1 percent of the 23,000 taxis in Singapore.

Tan Soon Chye, General Manager of Taxi Division, Prime Taxi, said: "Currently, if they want to refuel CNG they will need to go to Jurong Island. However, this will cease to be a problem come January next year when more CNG kiosks are set up in Singapore."

Nonetheless, the company does not think there would be more CNG taxis on the roads anytime soon.

"99 percent of the taxis running on the road now are powered by diesel. In order to convert to CNG, they need a substantial amount of money and time," said Mr Tan.

Prime said it is raising meter rates and city area surcharges – in line with ComfortDelGro – to attract its drivers into the central business district during peak hours.- CNA/so

PREMIER TAXIS latest to raise fares
Leong Wee Keat, Today Online 14 Dec 07;

Premier Taxis is the latest cab company here to align its fares with those of market leader, ComfortDelGro. Besides raising meter fares, Premier said it would triple the city area surcharge and impose a 35-per-cent peak period premium to replace the flat surcharge.

On Tuesday, Smart Taxis had announced it would adjust its fares structure to match those set by ComfortDelGro. Prime has said it is raising only city area surcharges and lowering call booking charges.

Premier, the third largest taxi operator here with 2,300 cabs, notified the Public Transport Council about a fare adjustment on Wednesday. While acknowledging that following ComfortDelGro's adjustments may not be the best solution, Premier's managing director Lim Chong Boo said his company wanted to make it "less complicated" for commuters.

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World needs another 30 nuclear power stations

Charles Clover, Telegraph 11 Dec 07;

The world needs to build 30 nuclear power stations and the equivalent of two Three Gorges dams every year to prevent dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency has said.

It also needs to build 13,000 wind turbines and 40 coal and gas power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage technology each year between 2013 and 2030, the head of the Agency told the climate change conference in Bali.

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto climate change agreement, Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the Agency, said he didn't feel it was time to celebrate.

He said Kyoto's 5 per cent reduction target on 1990 levels by 2010 was getting "less and less relevant, unfortunately" because energy related carbon dioxide emissions are expected to rise 60 per cent by 2030.

Mr Tanaka said that this might seem like "scientific fiction" but an £11 trillion investment in alternative electricity generation technology was needed to meet the target of more than halving atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050.

Currently the world is lucky to build one nuclear power station a year.
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This is the amount the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed if global temperature rise is to be kept at an average of 2ºC or less.

Mr Tanaka said: "More than ever we need to act NOW. Much stronger action is needed everywhere to curb, stabilise and reduce man-made emissions in the foreseeable future.

"Do not think of energy as the problem, think of energy efficiency and technology as the solution," he added.

A Greenpeace spokesman said: "This reliance on nuclear power is not going to work. The Japanese nuclear programme has been an expensive catastrophe."

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China to clear 300,000-tonnes of "1,000-year-old" trash from mega-dam

Reuters 13 Dec 07;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Officials running China's huge Three Gorges Dam have vowed to clear the last of the "1,000-year old" trash mountains fouling the reservoir, state media reported on Thursday.

The 300,000-tonne slope of garbage teetering on the shores of the Yangtze River dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and has been rising rapidly in recent years, an official at Luoqi Town in southwest China told the Xinhua news agency.

"The large amount of domestic refuse exposed on the bank emits a foul odor and threatens the water quality of the Yangtze," the report said.

Environmental problems are common around the vast dam, as are official announcements of their impending solution.

Residents of Luoqi have no where else to dump garbage and every day they add over 400 kg (880 lb) to the rotting pile, the official said.

Residents will get an environmentally clean trash station early next year, and the ancient garbage mountain will be cleared by September, the official said.

Waste, industrial scrap and untreated sewage seeping into the Three Gorges Dam are just a few of the environmental hazards around the controversial project, due for completion in a year or two.

In September, a senior dam official warned of environmental havoc if the problems were not defused. But since then officials have said loud and often that the threats are under control.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley, editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Banks urged to go "green"

Reuters 13 Dec 07

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Banks are contributing to global warming by funding coal and oil exploration, and should adopt policies that cut their negative impact on the environment, according to a report by a network of NGOs.

BankTrack, a grouping of civil society organizations and individuals tracking the financial sector, said banks should end support for all new coal, oil and gas extraction and delivery projects, new coal-fired power plants and the most harmful practices in other greenhouse-gas intensive sectors.

"Banks are in a unique position to either finance business as usual and be complicit in causing further climate change, or help catalyze the necessary transition to a new economy," said BankTrack in a report called "A Challenging Climate."

U.N. talks in Bali, Indonesia, this week are trying to set a roadmap to a climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, but the United States is opposed to binding targets, while developing nations such as China want access to clean technologies.

Deutsche Bank has said government efforts to tackle climate change are creating a "megatrend" investment opportunity that should tempt even those skeptical about global warming.

By October, the German bank had attracted more than $8.5 billion into climate change funds, which target firms that cut greenhouse gases or help adaptation to a warmer world.

BankTrack said banks should assess and report on all greenhouse gas emissions associated with their loans, investments and financial services, and establish stringent portfolio and business-unit emissions reduction targets.

The report said banks should also increase support for the development of climate-friendly technologies, such as renewable energy production and energy efficiency -- but avoid "false solutions" such as nuclear power, large hydropower or biofuels. Morgan Stanley has said global sales from energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels could grow to as much as $1 trillion a year by 2030. The bank said last year it will invest $3 billion in carbon markets over five years.

"All large banks nowadays seem to have a climate initiative of sorts, but these barely scratch the surface of what really needs to happen," said Johan Frijns, coordinator of BankTrack.

Utrecht-based BankTrack is funded by private foundations and government agencies.

(Reporting by Neil Chatterjee, editing by Jan Dahinten)

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Norwegian oil spill raises Arctic fears: An "environmental bomb"

Wojciech Moskwa, Reuters 13 Dec 07;

OSLO (Reuters) - Favorable winds were set to keep a 23 square kilometer oil slick from reaching the Norwegian shore on Thursday although rough seas hampered a clean-up operation, energy group StatoilHydro said.

Called an "environmental bomb" by newspapers, it stirred debate about the risks of opening up new areas of Norwegian waters for oil and gas exploration, especially in the Arctic where similar spills would have bigger impact.

Norway's second biggest ever spill of some 25,000 barrels of oil occurred on Wednesday during loading onto a tanker at StatoilHydro's Stafjord field. The spillage is about a tenth of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster off Alaska.

"StatoilHydro's calculations suggest that the oil slick is dissolving and will not reach the coast," StatoilHydro said in a statement. Overnight, wind has pushed the oil slick slowly to the north-east, where it has reached the nearby Snorre field.

Weather permitting, StatoilHydro wants to implement mechanical clean-up measures and should have four vessels in the region of the North Sea spill by Thursday morning, it said.

A StatoilHydro spokesman said that Statfjord oil was light, making it easier to dissolve in the sea waters.

Environmentalists said the spill was a warning against exploration in the far north Norwegian and Barents Seas, where frigid waters and harsh Arctic conditions would make any spill harder to naturally dissolve or to clean up.

"This should be the final nail in the coffin of exploration in the north," Guro Haugen, head of climate and energy at environmental group Bellona, told daily Dagsavisen.

Norway is considering opening up wide swathes of its Arctic waters for oil activity after 2009.

During the night the weather conditions remained unchanged in the North Sea, with near gale conditions in the spillage area and waves of between four and five meters.

StatoilHydro said that according to the Storm Weather Center an improvement of the weather conditions can be expected from Friday night at the earliest.

"Under the prevailing weather conditions, however, the likelihood of the slick reaching the coast is now considerably reduced," StatoilHydro said.

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Cambodian 'River Guards' keep watch over a Mekong River treasure

Seth Meixner, Yahoo News 13 Dec 07;

The absence of fishing boats on this stretch of the Mekong river, just a few kilometres (miles) north of the eastern Cambodian town of Kratie, means military policeman Em Pheap is doing his job.

One of about 80 "river guards", he is part of a groundbreaking conservation effort which has been credited with helping pull the Irrawaddy dolphin back from extinction.

"There, there!" he pointed excitedly during a recent patrol on the river, shouldering his assault rifle and standing high on the back of the boat.

The pair of dolphins, dark slivers on the horizon, broke the surface with a gentle exhale of breath heard over the murmur of the current running through the submerged trees in this vast monsoon season flood plain.

The total number of Mekong dolphins is unknown, but marine specialists say the mammals remain some of the world's most critically endangered.

With their pale grey skin and blunt beaks, they dolphins resemble porpoises more than their sea-going cousins.

Their numbers already vastly reduced by Cambodia's drawn-out civil conflict -- dolphin blubber was used to lubricate machine parts and light lamps -- these graceful creatures are now falling prey to development and the attendant problem of over-crowding as this wild corner of the country opens up.

The Mekong is one of only five freshwater habitats in the world for this species of dolphin, and Cambodia supports its largest remaining population, thought to hover around 100 congregating in a handful of natural deep-water pools.

"The Kratie-Stung Treng stretch of the Mekong is their last stronghold," said Richard Zanre, the World Wildlife Fund's freshwater programme manager in Cambodia, describing a river habitat running 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Kratie to Stung Treng, Cambodia's last large port before the Mekong crosses over into Laos.

War and the ensuing lawlessness kept the region largely out of the reach of researchers for decades. But since around 2001, biologists and other wildlife experts have discovered an unexpectedly rich biosphere.

At its core are the dolphins, "a flagship species for the conservation of the river," says the WWF.

Desperate to revive a plummeting population, the government created the river guards, the first organisation of its kind and part of a conservation effort launched last year after a spate of mysterious dolphin deaths.

But while the guards appear to have had some success in bringing dolphin numbers back up, they have been met with hostility and sometimes violence from local villagers who make their living along the river.

"The most important thing is to cooperate with the people," said Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the government's Commission for Mekong River Dolphin Conservation.

"Without the participation of the local people in conservation, we will not be successful."

A spike in deaths among mostly dolphin calves last year left officials scrambling to re-think their conservation efforts as Cambodia prepared to launch one of its most ambitious tourism efforts to date: the Mekong River Discovery Trail.

The Trail, which hopes to bring tourism and development to one of Cambodia's most-neglected regions, roughly follows the dolphins' habitat.

The animals' survival is crucial to the plan's success, officials say.

"No dolphins means no tourism. No tourism means no development," Tourism Minister Thong Khon said last week as the Trail, a joint UN-Cambodian project, was announced.

The solution, according to Touch Seang Tana, was to try to radically change the economy of the river to make dolphins more valuable alive than dead.

Alternate means of livelihood would be introduced to villages along the river to take advantage of a booming tourism sector that has already benefited other parts of the country.

"My idea is... to try to get poor fishermen to change over to tourism," Touch Seang Tana told AFP. "I give them tour boats" to bring visitors to see the dolphins.

Reducing villagers' dependence on fishing is hoped to also see a drop in the use of gillnets.

Cheap and easy to use, gillnets are as efficient a killer of dolphins as they are of fish, said Touch Seang Tana, a marine scientist by training who blames this now illegal fishing method for "99 percent" of dolphin deaths.

But getting local fishermen to risk their livelihoods for an animal that is of little value commercially or as food has been hard, he explained.

"I tried to invite them to meetings to explain our actions, even tried to pay them money... But they didn't come, they sent their pregnant wives," he said.

"We decided then that we'll confiscate (fishing gear) and then they came. They came with knives, they wanted to kill the river guards," he added.

"They want to kill all of the dolphins because they are keeping people from making a living."

Since the introduction of the river guards, however, illegal net fishing, along with the use of explosives or electrical charges to catch fish -- practices that also inadvertently kill dolphins -- have dropped, said guard Em Pheap.

"Before it was a big problem, but now people are understanding more about this," he said.

The WWF's Zanre told AFP that while the number of dying dolphin calves is still dangerously high, "adult dolphin mortalities have declined" as a result of conservation.

Even before the Discovery Trail becomes a reality, its successes are evident in Kampi, where dolphins have become the local industry.

Aside from the boats lining up for sightseers, nearly every house along the narrow tree-lined road shadowing the river hawks tiny dolphin carvings.

"Everyone earns the money, even the children, from dolphins. You can see their livelihood has changed -- you can see televisions in houses, some people even have motorcycles," Touch Seang Tana said.

"The dolphin is so important. I tell them 'The dolphin is everything for you' and now they can see that," he added.

"Its future is their future."

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Poor hit hardest by climate change: but for Singapore "there is great potential to make money"

Michael Casey, Associated Press, Yahoo News 12 Dec 07;

The tiny city-state is itself vulnerable to global warming, but also realizes that "there is great potential to make money," said Peter Ng, who is part of the Dutch partnership called Singapore Delft Water Alliance. "If we play our cards right and do what we do well, other countries will come to us for help."

Surrounded by rising seas and short of water, the glitzy city state of Singapore has built one of the world's largest desalination plants and is paying Dutch experts tens of millions of dollars to devise ways to protect their island.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, is digging out from a cyclone that killed at least 3,200 and left millions homeless. The impoverished country wants to build up its coastlines to ward off the potentially devastating impacts of global warming, but has no money.

The disparities between the rich and poor in adapting to encroaching oceans and the floods and droughts that are expected to worsen with rising temperatures have dominated the U.N. climate conference on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

Many delegates touched Wednesday on the inequalities in both the levels of assistance and impacts of climate change when they spoke at the opening of high-level talks.

The haves — which pump the lion's share of pollutants into the atmosphere — are arguing about emission targets and high-tech solutions. The have-nots — which contribute little to global warming but are disproportionately among the victims — need tens of billions of dollars to save their sinking islands, to help farmers adapt and to relocate those in the path of destruction.

"The issue of equity is crucial. Climate affects us all, but does not affect us all equally," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates. "Those who are least able to cope are being hit hardest. Those who have done the least to cause the problem bear the gravest consequences."

The United Nations Development Program says 98 percent of the 262 million people hit by disasters from 2000 to 2004 came from impoverished countries, while the money to prevent disasters in the United Kingdom alone was six times what was spent in all poor countries.

The number of people affected by natural disasters has quadrupled over the past two decades — from famines in Africa to floods in South Asia, according to Oxfam International, though it is not clear how much of that is due to global warming.

But with scientists predicting that temperatures could rise by as much as 5 degrees Celsius — 9 degrees Fahrenheit — things are only expected to get worse.

The U.N. predicts that about 1.8 billion of the most vulnerable people across the globe will be hit by water shortages, 600 million more will go hungry and 32 million will be displaced by droughts and floods.

"Poor countries have really urgent priorities — putting food on the table, accessing water, health care," said Antonio Hill, a climate change expert with Oxfam. "On all these issues, climate change is making these things worse."

From Venice to New Orleans, the West is already taking action to fight climate change within their borders.

Canada said Monday it would spend $85.4 million on adaptation measures, including tens of millions of dollars to help its Inuit communities adapt to warming Arctic climate.

The low-lying Netherlands — which for centuries has built a vast network of canal systems, experience it is now passing on — is spending an additional $25 billion to improve its water defenses. Italy is doing the same.

Singapore, meanwhile, has built a 139 million desalination plant to boost its domestic water supply and teamed up with the Dutch engineering firm Delft Hydraulics as part of a more than $208 million effort to become a hub for climate change research — much as it has for biotech and the medical industry.

The tiny city-state is itself vulnerable to global warming, but also realizes that "there is great potential to make money," said Peter Ng, who is part of the Dutch partnership called Singapore Delft Water Alliance. "If we play our cards right and do what we do well, other countries will come to us for help."

Poor nations, in the meantime, are doing what little they can.

Some are creating early warning systems, building bamboo storm shelters on stilts or making plans to relocate island communities. But the money often does not reach villages hardest hit by worsening floods and the rising seas.

In Kaoakola located along Bangladesh's Jamuna River, for instance, Mohammad Sheikh complains he has been forced to move his house three times because of increased floods.

"We're very poor. We can't afford it," the 70-year-old said, adding that he has been forced to become a day laborer after his 300 acres were lost to flooding. "The river, the floods have taken everything from me."

The Maldives — a popular tourist destination made up of more than 1,000 low-lying islands — also exemplifies the limits of good intentions in developing countries. It has rolled out plans to move communities to a few, well-protected islands, but so far has only been able to come up with the money to build up one such island.

"Climate change has become a daily reality in the Maldives and other small island states," said the country's president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, recalling how his islands were being hit by storm surges and erosion while fish were dying of mysterious diseases.

Even if the maximum suggested assistance is approved, it won't cover the costs.

Up to $300 million will be available annually if a U.N. adaptation fund is created in Bali as expected, and up to another $1.5 billion a year if an international climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, is approved.

That still falls far short of the nearly $86 billion the UNDP estimates is needed annually by 2015, prompting some to suggest that additional mechanisms, such as a tax on bunker fuels or, as Oxfam demands, funding targets for industrialized countries.

Impoverished nations are also demanding a post-Kyoto agreement offer increased access to technology for adaptation and assurances the money for climate response won't be taken from already meager development aid.

"The money they put up for this adaptation fund is peanuts. It's nothing," said Khandaker Rashedul Haque, a Ministry of Environment comparing his problems in Bangladesh to those of New Orleans, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

"Why are they putting up a few billion for a city like New Orleans when they are putting up a few million for the entire world?"

Associated Press Writer Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh contributed to this report.

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South Korean oil slick spreading south: coast guard

Yahoo News 13 Dec 07;

Strong winds are pushing a huge oil slick south towards a scenic island, South Korea's Coast Guard said Thursday, hampering efforts to contain and clean up the country's worst oil spill.

The Coast Guard said it was using "all possible means" to keep the slick away from Anmyeon island, which is part of a national marine park, and Cheonsu bay, a habitat for migratory birds.

Some 21,600 people, 218 ships and 14 aircraft were fighting to contain and disperse the slick, or were cleaning up oil which has already washed ashore and fouled beaches and hundreds of marine farms around a west coast peninsula.

But waves up to three metres (9.9 feet) and strong winds were hampering work in the early afternoon, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

"Fishing boats which had joined the clean-up work returned home due to bad weather at sea," Myong Gwang-Sik, an official in Taean country 110 kilometres (69 miles) southwest of Seoul, told AFP.

He said snow or rain was also expected off the west coast.

The government, under fire for its response to the disaster, will provide up to 300 billion won (325 million dollars) in emergency funds to support small businesses and marine farmers, Kim Seok-Dong, vice finance minister, announced.

About 10,500 tons of crude oil leaked when a drifting barge carrying a construction crane smashed into the anchored 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered supertanker Hebei Spirit and holed it in three places last Friday.

Work to patch the holes with iron plates was suspended Thursday because of the worsening weather, the Coast Guard said.

The oil has since coated beaches and 227 marine farms in Taean and neighbouring areas. Environmentalists say the disaster will deal a heavy blow to a region popular with beachgoers and home to hundreds of marine farms.

Salvage workers have been desperately trying to stop the slick spreading into Garorim Bay, a major concentration of marine farms north of Taean.

The government has declared Taean and neighbouring affected areas a disaster zone, making residents eligible for quick aid and compensation.

Thousands of volunteers using buckets and spades have helped police and troops clean up the coastline.

The government is running short of equipment, especially absorbent material to soak up the oil. On Wednesday it asked the Northwest Pacific Action Plan -- part of the UN's Regional Seas Programme -- to provide 100 tons of absorbents.

The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper attacked the official response to the spill, but praised the thousands of volunteers.

"It's true that the accident could have been prevented with extra safety, that the uncoordinated responses of the relevant authorities have increased the environmental impact, and that the cleanup operation is not proceeding effectively because of the disorganised disaster response system," its editorial said.

"But a ray of hope shines through thanks to the volunteers..."

Some 1,500 people offered their help during a two-day campaign run by the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

The federation said it also received over 40 million won in donations over the two days it sought volunteers on its website.

"People are very eager to help," a spokesperson told Yonhap news agency, adding that American soldiers and high school students are among those coming forward.

High winds likely to spread South Korea oil spill
Lee Jae-won, Reuters 13 Dec 07;

TAEAN, South Korea (Reuters) - Strong winds on Thursday threatened to spread the devastation from South Korea's worst oil spill and cold weather hit already slow clean-up efforts by thousands of exhausted workers.

Six days after a crane barge punched holes into a huge oil tanker which then spewed 10,500 metric tons of its load into the sea, the government said it would make available more than 300 billion won ($325 million) in loans to help residents who say they face ruin.

The coast guard sent in dozens more ships and planes as high winds looked likely to carry the slick from the Hebei Spirit tanker to more of the west coast region, famed for its sandy beaches, oyster beds and nature reserve.

The ships are trying to break up the oil into smaller, more manageable slicks while planes spray chemicals to break it down.

"It is pretty devastating. There will be no fishing here for next 10 years, and I'll be past sixty," said Hong Sung-ku, a volunteer cleaner.

He had driven about 150 km (95 miles) southwest from Seoul at dawn and was working alone in the quiet port of Kemok, his favorite fishing spot, cleaning thick oil from oyster shells.

The leak is about a third of the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of crude oil onto Alaska shores, the costliest on record at $9.5 billion including settlement of claims.

PAINFULLY SLOW

Recovery of the oil has been painfully slow since the spill last Friday. The maritime ministry conceded it was not properly prepared for such a disaster and did not have enough equipment.

Cold air pushed into the area by winds is further hampering workers, already exhausted and some overcome by sulfur fumes.

Resource-poor but factory-rich, South Korea is one of the world's largest importers of oil, most of it arriving by single hulled tankers such as the Hebei Spirit.

The government has said it will not tighten rules to phase out the use of such tankers beyond its commitment to a 2010 deadline. Some European countries are phasing them out more quickly.

More than 21,000 workers, mostly volunteers and local residents, are trying to clear the beaches, now black and stinking of sulfur fumes.

Some were critical of the latest offer from the government, which has already declared parts of the Taean region a disaster area, so entitling it to aid to pay for clearing up the mess.

The plan will allow people to borrow from state banks for as little as one percent interest and defer payment on existing loans.

"Wouldn't you expect the government to actually do more?" complained Chung Nak-joong, a resident of Mallipo beach where he said most residents make a good living running motels and small restaurants.

($1=923.3 Won)

(Writing by Jack Kim, editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Grant McCool)

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New Australian PM vows to defend whales

Yahoo News 13 Dec 07;

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd pledged Thursday to protect whales in a bitter dispute over Japan's hunting of the giant mammals.

Rudd's centre-left Labor party, which won elections last month, had called while in opposition for Australia to send the navy to monitor Japan's whaling fleet.

Japan's ships set sail last month on the country's largest hunt yet which for the first time since the 1960s will kill humpbacks, one of the most popular animals for Australian whale watchers.

"We take seriously Australia's international obligations on the proper protection of whales," Rudd told reporters in Bali, Indonesia, where he was taking part in a UN conference on climate change on his first foreign trip as premier.

"We are therefore actively considering the appropriate measures for the collection of data which could assist in any future legal case which the government may embark upon," he said, as quoted by the Australian Associated Press.

He said he would offer further details next week but that he was not ruling out using "Australian assets" to document Japan's whaling.

Japanese officials earlier scoffed at Labor's suggestions of sending the navy against the whalers, arguing the catch is fully legal.

Rudd's defeated conservative predecessor, John Howard, also rejected involving the military, saying it was best to work through diplomacy.

Japan plans to kill more than 1,000 whales in the Antarctic on its annual hunt using a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research" on the giant mammals.

Japan makes no secret that the meat goes on dinner plates and accuses Western nations, usually among its closest allies, of cultural imperialism.

Only Norway and Iceland defy the whaling moratorium outright.

Rudd, who took office last week, also laid a wreath at the Australian consulate in Bali in memory of victims of 2002 and 2005 bombings that killed a total of 92 Australians on the popular resort island.

Rudd earlier said he discussed stepping up security cooperation when he met this week with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Australian navy may track Japan's whaling fleet
Reuters 13 Dec 07;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's new government may send a navy ship to Antarctica to track Japan's whaling fleet and gather evidence to mount a legal challenge, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Thursday.

Japan's whaling fleet plans to hunt 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and for the first time in 40 years, 50 humpback whales for research over the Antarctic summer, with the fleet already on its way south followed by anti-whaling activists.

"We take seriously Australia's international obligations on the proper protection of whales," Rudd told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. environment summit in Bali.

"We would not rule out the use of Australian assets to collect appropriate data including photographic evidence concerning whaling activities," he said, adding a decision on sending a ship was likely next week.

Humpbacks were hunted nearly to extinction until protected by the International Whaling Commission in 1966.

Australia is a strong opponent of whaling and Rudd's government is mulling a legal case against Japan in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Japan's fisheries agency, confident its whaling rights will be confirmed, has challenged any country to take it to the court for a binding judgment.

Japan's new ambassador to Canberra, Taka-aki Kojima, this week said Tokyo was aware of widespread anger in Australia over Japan's whaling plans, but said research whaling was lawful in accordance with international conventions.

Kojima said new Australian Foreign Minister Steven Smith had promised stronger action against Japanese whaling than Australia's previous conservative government.

Japan has long resisted pressure to stop scientific whaling and says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition.

The meat, which under commission rules must be sold for consumption, ends up in supermarkets and restaurants, but the appetite for what is now a delicacy is fading.

Rudd's center-left Labor government has flagged sending warships beyond Australian waters into the country's self-proclaimed Antarctic territory, not recognized by other nations and which includes a whale sanctuary.

Australian international law specialist Don Rothwell earlier this year warned naval patrols would breach the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which deemed Antarctica to be a demilitarized zone, and possibly spark an international incident.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Johor floods: Segamat, JB worst hit

Nelson Benjamin, The Star 13 Dec 07;

JOHOR BARU: Segamat and Johor Baru continue to be the worst hit by floods, accounting for about 85% of the 11,402 victims in the state.

According to figures from the state flood operations room, there were 2,747 families housed in 84 flood relief centres state-wide at of 8am this morning.

Segamat was the worst hit district with 6,063 victims in 50 centres followed by Johor Baru with 3,672 victims in eight centres and Muar with 886 victims in 12.

Mersing has 302 victims in four centres followed by Kluang with 244 victims in one relief centre while there were 207 victims in seven relief centres in Batu Pahat.

There were 28 victims in two relief centres in Kota Tinggi.

The floods have forced the closure of at least seven roads while 10 others are only assessable to heavy vehicles. All the affected stretches are in Segamat, Muar and Mersing.

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Something's eating the world food production system

Robert Samuelson, Business Times 13 Dec 07;

IF PEOPLE can't eat, they can't do much else. One of the great achievements of the past century has been the enormous expansion of food production, which has virtually eliminated starvation in advanced countries and has made huge gains against it in poor countries.

Since 1961, world population has increased 112 per cent; meanwhile, global production is up 164 per cent for grains and almost 700 per cent for meats. We owe this mainly to better seed varieties, more fertiliser, more mechanisation and better farm practices. Food in most developed countries is so plentiful and inexpensive that obesity - partly caused by overeating - is a major social problem.

But the world food system may now be undergoing a radical break with this past. The 'end of cheap food' is how The Economist magazine recently described it.

During the past year, prices of basic grains (wheat, corn) and oilseeds (soyabeans) have soared. Corn that had been selling at about US$2 a bushel is now more than US$3; wheat that had been averaging US$3 to US$4 a bushel has recently hovered around US$9.

Because feed grains are a major cost for meat, dairy and poultry production, retail prices have also risen. In the US, dairy prices are up 13 per cent in 2007; egg prices have risen 42 per cent in the past year. Other countries are also experiencing increases.

Higher grocery prices obviously make it harder to achieve economic growth and low inflation simultaneously. But if higher food prices encouraged better eating habits, they might actually have some benefits in richer societies. The truly grave consequences involve poor countries, where higher prices threaten more hunger and malnutrition.

To be sure, some farmers in these countries benefit from higher prices. But many poor countries - including most in sub-Saharan Africa - are net grain importers, says the International Food Policy Research Institute, a Washington-based think-tank. In some of these countries, the poorest of the poor spend 70 per cent or more of their budgets on food.

About a third of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

That proportion has barely changed since the early 1990s. High food prices make gains harder. What's disturbing is that the present run-up doesn't seem to be temporary. Of course, farming is always hostage to Mother Nature, and drought in Australia has cut the wheat harvest and contributed to higher worldwide prices. But the larger causes lie elsewhere. One is growing prosperity in China, India, other Asian countries and Latin America.

As people become richer, they improve their diets by eating more protein in meat and dairy products. The demand for animal feed grains rises. This has been going on for years and, until recently, was met by the steady gains in agricultural output from improved technology and management.

It's the extra demand for grains to make biofuels, spurred heavily in the US by government tax subsidies and fuel mandates, that has pushed prices dramatically higher. The Economist rightly calls these US government subsidies 'reckless'. Since 2000, the share of the US corn crop devoted to ethanol production has increased from about 6 per cent to about 25 per cent - and is still headed up.

Farmers benefit from higher prices. Up to a point, investors in ethanol refineries also gain from the mandated use of their output (though high corn prices have eroded or eliminated their profits). But who else wins is unclear. Although global biofuel production has tripled since 2000, it still accounts for less than 3 per cent of worldwide transportation fuel, reports the US Agriculture Department. Even if all US corn were diverted into ethanol, it would replace only about 12 per cent of US transportation fuel (and less of total oil use), according to one study.

Biofuels became politically fashionable because they combined benefits for farmers with popular causes: increasing energy 'security'; curbing global warming. Unfortunately, the marriage is contrived. Not only are fuel savings meagre, so are the environmental benefits. Substituting corn-based ethanol for petrol results in little reduction in greenhouse gases.

Indeed, the demand for biofuels encourages deforestation in developing countries; The New York Times recently reported the clearing of Indonesian forests to increase palm oil production for biofuel. Forests absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

This is not a case of unintended consequences. A new generation of 'cellulosic' fuels (made from grasses, crop residue or wood chips) might deliver benefits, but the adverse effects of corn-based ethanol were widely anticipated.

Government subsidies reflect the careless and cynical manipulation of worthy public goals for selfish ends. That the new US farm bill may expand the ethanol mandates confirms an old lesson: Having embraced a giveaway, American politicians cannot stop it, no matter how dubious. -- The Washington Post Writers Group

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Best of our wild blogs: 13 Dec 07

Dolphins sighted at St. John's
we are totally jealous of siyang! on the urban forest blog

Labrador Nature Reserve: Trashed?
update on concrete slabs and other debris on the wildfilms blog

Labrador speaks a thousand words
will we hear her? on the justin dive blog

Disturbed by red dye
on the mollymeek blog

Discovery at Hort Park
on the discovery blog

Raptor migration in Malaysia
on the bird ecology blog

Protest Props beat Bali fatigue
Protesters are also wilting and delegates are tired of the same cold, soggy $10 sandwiches everyday on the Asian Wall Street Journal blog

Bali: Everything and Nothing happening
thoughts on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Breakthrough Generation
a new progressive movement, one that leaves behind the old generation’s narrow and complaint-based politics, on the It's Getting Hot In Here blog

NParks job vacancies in Marine programme
from the eco-tax mailing list quoting NParks website
Coastal and Marine Environment Programme, an inter-agency initiative to strengthen Singapore's capacity in areas related to the coastal and marine environment
Positions available
Administrative Assistant (CME Progamme Office)
Administrator (CME Progamme Office)
Senior Programme Officers/Programme Officers (CME Progamme Office)
Data Manager (CME Progamme Office)
Analyst/Modeller (CME Progamme Office)
Assistant Director (CME Progamme Office)
Dragonfly Project Officer

Read more!

Making money among Singaporeans' top goals

Alvin Foo, Straits Times 13 Dec 07;

SEEING the world, learning something new and making money.

These were the top three aspirations of Singaporeans, according to a recent OCBC Bank-commissioned survey conducted by research agency AC Nielsen. The results were released yesterday.

The top three aspirations ranked above even health and family. The survey involved telephone interviews with 500 Singaporeans aged between 18 and 64.

It was undertaken to help the bank better understand the goals of Singaporeans, so it can try to help them meet those goals.

The bank plans to share the findings via its 'Ask OCBC' booklets, which will be given out on a quarterly basis.

At the top of the dream list was travel. One in two respondents, or 51 per cent, wanted to explore the world.

Said Ms Ng Li Lian, OCBC's head of marketing services: 'We thought that money and retirement would be highest up on the priorities list, but it turned out to be travel.'

Next on the Singaporean dream list was self-improvement, followed by making money, buying a house and good health.

Then came family and children, charity and volunteering. Completing the list of 10 dreams were owning a car, starting a business and retiring early.

The AC Nielsen survey is the start of a process through which OCBC aims to find out more about Singaporeans' aspirations.

Ms Ng added: 'It's a method through which we can reach out to customers in a more meaningful way, on their own terms rather than on our terms.'

Retiring early low on the list
But charity work is surprisingly among Singaporeans' Top 10 dreams: Survey
Ng Jing Yng, Today Online 13 Dec 07;

It might come as little surprise that Singaporeans' top dreams include travelling and making money.

What would raise eyebrows: The fact that they rate doing charity work even above owning a car or starting a business.

And only three in 100 dream of retiring young, while barely one in four would want to live to be 100 years old.

This, at least, is according to a telephone survey commissioned by the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) to discover what dreams people here would like to see come true in the next 10 years. Conducted by AC Nielsen, the survey involved 500 Singaporeans aged between 18 and 64.

On the list of top-ten dreams, "charity and volunteering work coming in at No 7 is surprising, as it shows how the usual assumption of Singaporeans as materialistic is not true", said Ms Ng Li Lian, head of marketing services at OCBC's Department of Consumer Financial Services.

Respondents cited doing mission work overseas and "building a free soup kitchen" for the needy as one of their goals.

One in two Singaporeans want to see the world. But only one in 50 would want to migrate.

In line with becoming a nation of lifelong learners, 23 per cent yearned to pursue further studies or interests such as calligraphy. And asked for their biggest regrets, nearly a third said they would have studied harder or further.

While 13 per cent want to buy landed property, only 9 per cent — who tended to be male, single or in the 18-to-24 age bracket — were interested in buying a car.

That retirement came low on the list of aspirations did not surprise Ms Ng. Financial freedom was the more impor- tant overarching theme for Singaporeans, she noted.

Asked what would be key in achieving their goals, the majority cited saving up or earning more money. Just 4 per cent of respondents opted to leave it to the luck of the 4D or lottery draw.

But, even as the nation grapples with longer lifespans and a later retirement age, only 26 per cent of Singaporeans would want to see their 100th year — men, Malays and those married with young children are more inclined to desire this.

The survey kicks off a series of "dialogues", via SMS, the Internet and more, by OCBC to understand Singaporeans' aspirations, so as to tailor its services and products to their needs.

And as part of this move, it will be publishing — on a quarterly basis — "Ask OCBC" booklets with information on how to achieve their dreams, such as travel ideas, home improvement advice, and financial tips.

Come Monday, 200,000 Today readers will receive free copies of the red booklet. Today is the only paper to be distributed with the English version of the booklet, the first edition of which will include a pull-out calendar, fridge magnets and family activities.

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NParks to study impact of global warming

HSBC-funded research will assess how climate change has affected biodiversity here
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 13 Dec 07;

THE National Parks Board (NParks) will launch a study early next year to gauge the effects of global warming on Singapore's wildlife, officials said yesterday.

'There have been a lot of changes to our climate in the last 15 years,' said Ms Sharon Chan, NParks' assistant director of central nature reserves.

'What we want to know is, with all these changes, what has the impact been like on our biodiversity?'

The three-year effort will see volunteers cataloguing animals and plants in the country's nature reserves. The findings will be compared to data gathered in 1992 and 1997.

NParks plans to use the results to evaluate how successful it has been in taking care of Singapore's nature reserves and wildlife.

The study will be sponsored by HSBC to the tune of $300,000.

Yesterday, the chief executive officer of the bank's Singapore office, Mr Guy Harvey-Samuel, handed over a $100,000 cheque at a ranger station in MacRitchie Reservoir.

The money will be used to kick-start the first year of the programme. Funding for the programme's second and third years will be raised later, according to HSBC.

Half of the $100,000 presented yesterday was raised in the bank's Green Sale held in June. The drive saw HSBC donate $2.80 for certain banking transactions and 28 cents for every online fund transfer and every customer who made the switch to Internet banking.

Referring to climate change as 'the biggest challenge' faced by mankind, Mr Harvey-Samuel said: 'I'm tremendously excited that HSBC can be involved with this sort of thing...Anything we can do to bring the importance (of saving the environment) to the forefront is valuable.'

Ms Chan, who conducted the first study in the 1990s, will be leading the new study as well.

NParks will oversee the project, while Six National Youth Achievement Award Youth Leaders and HSBC staff participating in its Green Volunteers programme will assist in data collection.

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Shell lets sun set on its solar business

Today Online 13 Dec 07;
Like rival BP, it sheds green cloak and goes back to its roots

LONDON — Shell, the oil company that recently trumpeted its commitment to a low carbon future by signing a pre-Bali conference communique, has quietly sold off most of its solar business.

The move, taken with rival BP's decision last week to invest in the world's dirtiest oil production in Canada's tar sands, indicates that Big Oil might be giving up its flirtation with renewables and going back to its roots.

Shell and BP are among the biggest producers of greenhouse gases in the world, but both have been keen to paint themselves green through a series of clean fuel initiatives.

BP, under its former chief executive John Browne, promised to go "beyond petroleum" while Shell has spent millions advertising its serious interest in the future of the environment.

But at a time when interest in solar power is greater than ever, with the world's first "solar city" being built at Phoenix, Arizona, a small announcement from Environ Energy Global of Singapore revealed that it had bought Shell's photovoltaic operations in India and Sri Lanka, with more than 260 staff and 28 offices, for an undisclosed sum.

The sell-off, to be followed by similar ones in the Philippines and Indonesia, comes after another major disposal executed in a low-key way last year, when Shell hived off its solar module production business.

The division, with 600 staff and manufacturing plants in the United States Canada and Germany, went to Munich-based SolarWorld. Shell has, however, formed a manufacturing link with Saint-Gobain and promised to build one plant in Germany.

The Anglo-Dutch oil group confirmed yesterday that it had pulled out of its rural business in India and Sri Lanka, saying it was not making enough money.

"It was not bringing in any profit for us there, so we transferred it to another operator. The buyer will be able to take it to the next level," said a Shell spokesperson in London.

The oil group said it was continuing to move its renewables interests into a mainstream business and hoped to find one new power source that would "achieve materiality" for it. Shell continues to invest in a number of wind farm schemes such as the London Array offshore scheme, which has government approval.

Shell has also been concentrating its efforts on biofuels, but declined to say whether it had given up on solar power even though many smaller rivals continue to believe that the technology has a bright future.

Environmental groups have always accused Shell of using clean energy initiatives as "greenwash" to deflect criticism from its core carbon operations, especially tar sands. The latest pullout has annoyed rival business leaders at London-based Solar Century and local Indian operation, Orb Energy, who fear the impact of a high-profile company selling off solar business.

Mr Jeremy Leggett, chief executive of Solar Century and a leading voice in renewable energy circles, said Shell was undermining the credibility of the business world in its fight against global warming.

"Shell and Solar Century were among the 150 companies that recently signed up to the hard-hitting Bali Declaration. It is vital that companies act consistently with the rhetoric in such declarations, and as I have told Shell senior management on several occasions — an all-out assault on the Canadian tar sands and extracting oil from coal is completely inconsistent with climate protection," he said.

He added: "This latest evidence of half-heartedness or worse in Shell's renewables activities leaves me even more disappointed. Unless fossil-fuel energy companies evolve their core activities meaningfully, we are in deep trouble."

Mr Damian Miller, former director of Shell Solar's rural operations and now chief executive of Orb Energy, said the oil majors, including Shell, had invested time and energy in promoting their plans for renewable energy in the press and on TV, but were not able to lead the transformation the world needs towards renewable energy and energy efficient solutions.

Shell declined to comment on these criticism or talk about where its priorities lay. But chief executive Jeroen van der Veer did make a number of comments last summer that could have paved the way for a change in policy. Alternative energy sources such as renewables would not fill the gap, he argued, forecasting that even with technological breakthroughs they could supply only 30 per cent of global energy by the middle of the century.

"Contrary to public perceptions, renewable energy is not the silver bullet that will soon solve all our problems," he said.

Meanwhile, BP has been accused by Greenpeace Canada of lining itself up to help commit "the biggest environmental crime in history". This follows its decision to swap assets with Husky Oil, giving it an entrance ticket to the Alberta tar sands, which are said to be five times more energy-intensive to extract compared to traditional oil.

A spokesman insisted BP remains committed to exploring the potential of renewables, adding that the group was "pressing ahead with 450 megawatts of wind production capacity in the US".

"The tar sands deal in Canada does not represent a change in direction, it was just a very good opportunity which represents a broadening of the portfolio," the spokesman said. — THE GUARDIAN

RELATED ARTICLES

Shell seeks to make diesel fuel from seaweed
Tom Bergin, Reuters 11 Dec 07;

'The biggest environmental crime in history'
Cahal Milmo, The Independent 10 Dec 07;
The Canadian wilderness is set to be invaded by BP in an oil exploration project dubbed ...'The biggest environmental crime in history'

Read more!

PUB steps up progress of flood alleviation projects

Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: As heavy rainfall is expected this month, PUB has stepped up the progress of its projects to prevent flooding.

It says at least eight of such projects will be completed this month.

Joan Road, off Thomson Road, is one area that is prone to flooding – that is why it is one of the locations where the PUB project is being carried out.

The works involve widening and deepening the existing drain to improve water flow.

Other locations for such projects include the junction of Mountbatten Road and Tanjong Katong Road, as well as Maple Avenue in the Bukit Timah area.

Ongoing works are also located at the junction of Cuscaden Road and Tomlinson Road, Kramat Lane, Bedok North Avenue 3, Commonwealth Avenue and Sims Avenue.

The biggest flood alleviation project is at the Marina Barrage. PUB says it will alleviate flash floods in the low-lying city areas when it is completed in mid-2008.

About 100 of PUB's staff and contractors are on high alert this monsoon season to make sure there are no blockages in drains that could affect water flow.

In the last 30 years, PUB has invested more than S$2 billion on drainage improvement works.- CNA/so

Flood-combat works near end
Today Online 13 Dec 07;

IN anticipation of the intense and heavy rainfall expected this month, the Public Utilities Board has been putting its flood alleviation projects into high gear.

At least eight such projects will be completed or are close to completion this month. These are at Bedok North Avenue 3, Maple Avenue in Bukit Timah, the junction of Cuscaden Road and Tomlinson Road, Kramat Lane, the junction of Mountbatten Road and Tanjong Katong Road, Commonwealth Avenue, Joan Road and Sims Avenue.

"We have a five-year drain-age construction programme but many projects were brought forward to alleviate flash floods in localised spots," said Mr Yap Kheng Guan, PUB's director of drainage.

PUB staff and contractors have been put on high alert to inspect drains and ensure there are no blockages. Said senior technical officer Thia Soon Swee: "We have often pulled out rags, styrofoam boxes and all sorts of rubbish from choked drains."

In the last 30 years, the PUB has invested more than $2 billion on drainage improvement. As a result, flood-prone areas have been reduced from 3,200ha in the 1970s to 124ha today. With the completion of the Marina Barrage by the middle of next year, this will be further reduced to less than 100ha, said the PUB.

Be ready for floods, it's going to be a wet Christmas
David Boey, Straits Times 13 Dec 07;

HAVE your umbrella close at hand, from now till year's end.

The forecast is a wet spell for the next two days, with possible flash floods soaking low-lying areas.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) and PUB, the national water agency, also red-flagged a flood risk for Christmas week, should rain again coincide with high tides.

Afternoon and evening showers with thunder, heavy at times, are expected today and tomorrow.

The two agencies said in a joint statement yesterday that a double whammy of 3m-high tides and heavy rainfall could trigger flash floods today and tomorrow.

Some 100 PUB staff and contractors are now on 'high alert', keeping their eyes peeled to ensure drains are not blocked by rubbish.

'Blockages in drains are the most common cause of localised flash floods,' said PUB senior technical officer Thia Soon Swee, 59. 'We have often pulled out rags, styrofoam boxes and all sorts of rubbish from choked drains.'

On the PUB and NEA's watchlist are low-lying areas in:

# Chinatown, including the area near UOB Plaza and shophouses around Mosque Street, South Bridge Road, Upper Pickering Street and Trengganu Street.

# Residential areas in Tanjong Katong, including Dakota Crescent, Dunman Road, Fort Road, Meyer Place, Mountbatten Road, Rose Lane and Stadium Road.

# Streets in Geylang, from Lorongs 26 to 32, Lorongs 4 to 22, Lorongs 101 to 106, Changi Road and Langsat Road.

Other areas cited include roads between Kitchener Road and Weld Road, as well as Lorong Buangkok.

The PUB said over 600 homes and businesses have been alerted. 'Motorists travelling along roads in low-lying areas are also advised to exercise caution if floods occur,' it added.

The Automobile Association of Singapore (AAS) is girding its tow trucks for a busy spell to rescue stalled vehicles involved in traffic accidents on wet roads.

The AAS's tow truck drivers have already seen their daily workload climb from the usual 60 calls to 68 in the past week because of the showers.

The NEA said heavy showers this month are typical of the north-east monsoon, which blows moisture-laden clouds into the region from the South China Sea between November and January.

Last December, 765.9mm of rain drenched Singapore - the wettest on record. In the first 12 days of this month alone, 351mm of rain have fallen on the island.

Far East Flora, a florist near MacRitchie Reservoir hit hard by last December's deluge, is not taking any chances.

Senior manager Sarah Yong said staff have pre-positioned some 100 sand bags to dam up the premises.

Last year, waist-deep floodwaters destroyed 'a few hundred hampers' and Christmas trees during the company's busiest period.

'All retail staff and florists have been briefed to watch out for floods,' she said.

Flood relief
Straits Times 13 Dec 07;

Singapore's national water agency, PUB, expects to have eight flood management projects finished or nearly completed this month. Work has been pushed into high gear ahead of the heavy monsoon rains. 'We have a five-year drainage construction programme, but many of these had been brought forward to alleviate flash floods in localised spots,' said Mr Yap Kheng Guan, PUB's director of drainage.

Location: Commonwealth Avenue

Flood relief: Work on a $12.8-million canal is 85 per cent done. Despite this month's intense rain, the area has remained flood-free.

Location: Maple Avenue in Bukit Timah

Flood relief: Improvements to drainage system completed last month.

Location: Junction of Cuscaden Road and Tomlinson Road

Flood relief: Work on raising road level to be completed this month. Wider drain being built.

Location: Kramat Lane in Orchard Road area

Flood relief: Work on raising the road level, widening and deepening existing drains to be completed this month

Location: Bedok North Avenue 3

Flood relief: Roadside drains widened. Holes added to speed up drainage of water from the road.

Location: Junction of Mountbatten Road and Tanjong Katong Road

Flood relief: Drainage work will be completed this month.

Location: Joan Road, Caldecott Hill valley

Flood relief: Existing drain in the low-lying valley area being deepened and widened to double its capacity.

Location: Sims Avenue

Flood relief: Larger drain being built. Temporary pump diverts water to larger drain.

Flood alleviation projects completed or close to completion this month
Channel NewsAsia 13 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: At least eight flood alleviation projects are being completed or close to completion this month.

The works are in anticipation of the intense and heavy rainfall expected in December.

At the junction of Cuscaden Road and Tomlinson Road, the long-term solution is to raise the road level to prevent water from collecting.

The PUB said the works there will be completed this month and a wider drain is also being constructed.

On Commonwealth Avenue, construction work on a canal is now 85 per cent complete.

The other flood alleviation projects are at Joan Road, Kramat Lane, Sims Avenue, Bedok North Avenue 3, the junction of Mountbatten Road and Tanjong Katong Road, and Maple Avenue in Bukit Timah. - CNA/ac

Read more!

Vietnam considers Singapore a good model for development

Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 07;

In the next phase of Vietnam's development, Mr Goh suggested that the government considers the impact of fast growth on the society. The government would also have to consider the impact of Vietnam's economic development on the environment.

HUE, Vietnam: Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has likened the process of Vietnam's economic development to a marathon race and said the country's run could be an uphill task in the coming years.

He made this point in discussions with Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh at the Party Headquarters in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Mr Nong Duc Manh told Mr Goh that Vietnam considers Singapore a good model for its development and looks forward to further cooperation.

He also sought Mr Goh's views on developments in Vietnam.

Mr Goh, impressed by what he had seen in the last two days, urged Vietnam to consider what it must do to sustain its economic growth – plans that include its macroeconomic policies.

He said Vietnam would also need to keep investing in physical infrastructure such as airports and sea ports.

To do that, the country would need to make a greater investment in its human resources, which includes acquiring the necessary management, technical and professional skills.

Although Singapore would continue to help Vietnam as much as it could, Vietnam would have to adapt Singapore's experiences to suit its needs.

In the next phase of Vietnam's development, Mr Goh suggested that the government considers the impact of fast growth on the society.

The government would also have to consider the impact of Vietnam's economic development on the environment and how inflation could be managed.

The senior minister added that he is optimistic about Vietnam's growth potential in the years to come.-CNA/so

Keppel to develop Ho Chi Minh City's first waste-to-energy plant
Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: Keppel has received the green light to develop a waste-to-energy plant in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.

It will be Vietnam's first such plant and also the biggest in Southeast Asia, outside Singapore.

It will be able to treat 2,000 tons of waste per day and generate more than 20 megawatts of green energy.

The plant will reduce the volume of waste by up to 90 percent.

This will extend the life of existing landfills and free up more land for commercial, industrial and residential uses.

Keppel says it will give details of the project when they are finalised.-CNA/so

Singapore a good role model, says Viet party leader
He asks SM Goh how Vietnam can keep up growth in harmonious way
Roger Mitton, Straits Times 13 Dec 07;

HANOI - THE head of Vietnam's ruling communist regime, General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, told Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong that Singapore was considered a good role model for his country's future development.

At Tuesday's meeting, Mr Manh, who as party leader is the country's paramount political figure, asked Mr Goh how booming Vietnam could continue to prosper in a harmonious, stable way.

The Senior Minister stressed that Singapore is a city state, while Vietnam, as a big, populous country, is different and would need to adapt Singapore's experience to suit its own context.

Still, as the two men are friends from their previous meeting in 2003, Mr Goh was able to offer his views in a candid and engaging discussion that lasted an hour.

Mr Goh said Vietnam's economic development could be compared to a marathon which had gone smoothly on a level stretch for the first few kilometres.

Now, however, it was likely to start going uphill, and Vietnam would need more energy and resources to keep up the pace of its economic growth.

Among other things, it must invest in airports, sea ports and highways, while also nurturing the 'software' to support the hardware for this infrastructure upgrade.

And that, said Mr Goh, would require greater investment in human resources to provide the required managerial and professional expertise.

In running this marathon, Vietnam would also need to face the hurdles of rising inflation and a widening income gap caused by its rapid economic growth.

Despite these challenges, Mr Goh told Vietnam's party leader that Hanoi should push for double-digit growth to generate the resources needed to tackle income disparity and assist poorer sectors of society.

Mr Ho Tong Yen, the Senior Minister's spokesman, said Mr Goh remained 'optimistic about Vietnam's growth potential in the years to come'.

'Singapore will continue to help Vietnam as much as we can, sharing our experience where it is relevant,' he said.

Mr Goh left Hanoi yesterday morning for the historic city of Hue in central Vietnam.

It was his first visit to the region, and he took the opportunity to extol its historic and scenic tourist potential.

As Vietnam's former imperial capital, Hue is the site of the Citadel, built in the early 17th century, which houses the Imperial Palace, Vietnam's answer to Beijing's Forbidden City.

As Mr Goh toured the attractions of the Citadel, he was surrounded by tourists, including parties from Singapore and Malaysia.

Last year, more than 105,000 Singaporeans visited Vietnam, an increase of 42 per cent over the year before.

Hue's other attractions include the elaborate tombs of many of the country's 13 former emperors.

Yesterday evening, Hue's provincial and city leaders met Mr Goh at the Imperial Palace in a room that was used by the emperors to receive foreign dignitaries.

There, provincial Communist Party secretary Ho Xuan Man told Mr Goh that Hue would like to attract more Singapore investment.

Mr Goh suggested that being a beautiful and centrally located city with excellent historic attractions, Hue could position itself as an international convention centre.

As a convention hub, Hue would naturally attract additional investments by hotels, and in turn draw more tourists, he said.

Later, Mr Goh was the guest of honour at a colourful gala dinner in the Vuu Hu Room at the Imperial Palace.

Today, he will travel south to the historic port town of Hoi An.

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Nuclear Power's "Green" Credentials Under Fire

Nick Trevethan, PlanetArk 13 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE - Nuclear power's claim to be the answer to global warming is being questioned by reports suggesting mining and processing of uranium is carbon intensive.

While nuclear power produces only one 50th of the carbon produced by many fossil fuels, its carbon footprint is rising, making wind power and other renewable energies increasingly attractive, according to environmental groups and some official reports.

The nuclear industry has come under fire over safety concerns for decades, but a growing recognition of the threat of climate change has put a renewed focus on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced throughout the energy chain.

"Nuclear is a climate change red herring," said Ben Ayliffe, Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace. "There are safer, more reliable alternatives, like energy efficiency and renewables as part of a super-efficient decentralised energy system."

While the earth's crust still has large resources of uranium -- 600 times more than gold -- much of the highest grade orebodies are already being exploited, forcing miners to develop more technically challenging or lower grade resources.

That means uranium mining requires much more energy.


CARBON COST

One example is Cameco's Cigar Lake project in Saskatchewan, which has been plagued with setbacks caused by floods at the underground mine, which may one day supply over 10 percent of the world's mined uranium.

The problems have forced Cameco to push back the production start to 2011 from 2007, and analysts this week said further delays out to 2012 or 2013 were likely.

"The potential is that nuclear will increase its carbon footprint due to the lower grade ores that remain," Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth said on the sidelines of a UN climate change conference in Bali.

The carbon cost at Rio Tinto's Ranger uranium mine Australia has also risen. The mine produced 17.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne of uranium oxide in 2006, from 13 tonnes in 2005, a Rio Tinto spokeswoman said.

She added that part of the rise was due to bad weather which restricted access to high grade ore, as well as an expansion in capacity, and the company was trying to reduce emissions again.

Uranium output at the mine was 4,748 tonnes last year, resulting in around 84,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Rio produced some 28.3 million tonnes of carbon across its business.

Despite these industry figures, Clarence Hardy, secretary of the Australia Nuclear Association and president of the Pacific Nuclear Council, says the environmental groups are wrong in their assumptions and that nuclear power is relatively clean.

"Carbon dioxide emissions from the nuclear cycle are very low. They are not zero, but they are low compared to fossil fuels and they are even low compared to hydro," he said.


URGENT SOLUTIONS

Over the life of a nuclear power plant, carbon emissions are between 10 and 25 grams of C02 per kilowatt, as little as one 100th of that of a coal-fired plant, Hardy added.

"Even wind and solar have higher C02 emissions than the entire nuclear fuel cycle from mining through to waste management," Hardy said, arguing that large volumes of steel and concrete -- both energy-intensive products -- were required for those products.

But UK data paints a different picture.

A UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology document on carbon emissions puts nuclear's footprint was around 5 grams of CO2 per kilowatt, similar to the figure for offshore windpower at 5.25 grams and above onshore wind at 4.64 grams.

Scientists at the conference in Bali said the world needed urgent solutions and emissions needed to peak within the next 10 to 15 years.

But building a nuclear reactor typically takes decades.

"Even if we started scaling up nuclear power tomorrow we couldn't do that because it would take longer than that to get a serious impact from new reactors," Juniper said.

"The real answer is more renewable, sustainable energy and greater energy efficiency."

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Noteable Quotes at Bali Climate Talks

PlanetArk 13 Dec 07;

Following are quotes from world leaders and senior officials at the opening of the high-level segment of Dec. 3-14 UN-led climate talks in Bali or at press briefings.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON:

"This is the moral challenge of our generation. Not only are the eyes of the world upon us. More important, succeeding generations depend on us. We cannot rob our children of their future."

"Our atmosphere can't tell the difference between emissions from an Asian factory, the exhaust from a North American SUV, or deforestation in South America or Africa," he said.

INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO

"We are embarking on the biggest project in human civilisation," he said. "We must ensure that the United States ... is part of such post-2012 arrangements."

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER KEVIN RUDD

"For Australians, climate change is no longer a distant threat. Our rivers are dying, bushfires are more ferocious and more frequent and our natural wonders -- the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, our rainforests -- are now at risk."

PAULA DOBRIANSKY, HEAD OF THE US DELEGATION

"We want the world's largest economies, including the United States, to be part of a global arrangement. An approach in which only some are committed to acting cannot be environmentally effective."

"We don't want to be prejudging outcomes here," she said of US opposition to scientific guidelines for rich nations to cut emissions by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. "We dont want to be predetermining what will come out of this process."

PRESIDENT OF THE MALDIVES, MAUMOON ABDUL GAYOOM

"We believe that climate change must be viewed not only as a danger to natural systems, but also as a direct threat to human survival and well-being. We are convinced that this negotiation process must not be viewed as a traditional series of governmental trade-offs, but as an urgent international effort to safeguard human lives, homes, rights and livelihoods."

PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA, MICHAEL SOMARE

"The answer is simple. If we lose the world's forests, we lose the fight against climate change. Rainforests are our Earth's greatest utility -- our planet's lungs, thermostat and air-conditioning system."

PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK, ROBERT ZOELLICK

"Climate change policies cannot be the frosting on the cake of development; they must be baked into the recipe of growth and social development."

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE FAO, JACQUES DIOUF

"Low-income people everywhere will be at risk of food insecurity due to loss of assets, absence of alternative livelihood options and lack of adequate insurance coverage from extreme weather events." -- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/ (Compiled by David Fogarty; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Saudi Arabia Says No Need to Cut Oil Use to Fight Warming

Emma Graham-Harrison, PlanetArk 13 Dec 07;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday the world does not need to shift away from fossil fuels to combat global warming, suggesting pilot technology and greater efficiency as better options.

Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told UN-led climate talks that the world should focus on research to cut emissions while continuing to use its "huge reserves" of crude, gas and coal.

Riyadh is traditionally wary of anything that might undermine demand for the vast reserves of oil that have transformed it from a small desert kingdom to a powerful international player, and is currently earning near-record prices for its crude.

"The trend towards moving away from fossil fuel consumption as a means of addressing climate change does not represent a practical alternative to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly given the availability of technologies for energy efficiency and carbon capture and storage," Naimi said.

Many governments and groups such as the International Energy Agency are heavily pushing energy efficiency as a way to start tackling emissions problems with existing technology.

But no commercial-scale projects yet exist for carbon capture and storage, which is supposed to pump emissions from coal-fired power plants underground for long-term storage.

Naimi also criticised fuel taxes that aim to curb consumption in some countries, saying they were part of a system that unfairly favoured coal and largely emissions-free nuclear energy "despite their more adverse pollution and impact on the climate".

Naimi said the world should instead investigate "clean oil", including carbon capture and storage, although he did not explain how it might be possible to capture and then store emissions from the vehicles that consume a large portion of the world's oil.

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Seychelles promises to protect its sharks

Ed Harris, Reuters 12 Dec 07;

PORT LOUIS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Seychelles will protect its rapidly declining shark population, the government said on Wednesday, after a Taiwanese fishing boat was caught in its waters with an illegal load of fins.

Booming demand for shark fin soup in Asia, especially China, is driving the shark fishing industry and increasing the risk of extinction for some shark species, marine scientists warn.

Conducting searches around the 115-island Indian Ocean archipelago last week, a French navy ship found 650 kg of shark fins aboard a Taiwanese fishing vessel. The fishermen's paperwork said only 15 kg were caught in Seychellois waters.

"We could only get them for the 15 kg, not for the rest, but this shows you the volume of sharks caught," Didier Dogley, permanent secretary at the Seychelles' Environment Ministry, told Reuters by telephone.

"We are going to crack down on illegal shark finning ... We have already started with the patrolling."

The 650 kg of dried shark fin that was discovered would have come from about 13 tonnes of sharks, he added. Some shark fishermen cut off the fins before throwing the shark back into the water -- where they drown because they cannot swim.

Dogley was speaking as scores of delegates from around the world held the second of three days of talks in the Seychelles to discuss how to best protect shark populations.

The whale shark -- the largest fish species, growing up to 20 metres long -- visits the Seychelles between August and November.

"These sharks are very important for countries like us," Dogley said, referring to Seychelles' eco-tourism industry.

"If you're lucky, you can see about a dozen." (Additional reporting by George Thande in Victoria; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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Ivorians warn of Chinese fishing threat: union

Yahoo News 12 Dec 07;

Ivorian fishing groups warned Wednesday of the threat to acquatic flora and fauna in their national waters from "exploitation and abusive practices" by Chinese fishing fleets.

"Foreign boats, notably Chinese, are in the process of jeopardising the future of fishing in Ivory Coast," Ivory Coast Marine Fishermen Union (SYMAPECI) Secretary General Barthelemy Kouassi Yao told AFP.

"Today, in total disregard of national and international law, they use 'bottom trawling' which is dangerous and captures everything in its wake," Kouassi said, calling this an "alarming situation."

"We have observed a drastic decline in the local production because nothing is done to stop this pre-planned pillage. And we are far from the turning point of stopping the fall in production, unfortunately," he added, saying that part of the problem was due to the "complacency" of Ivorian authorities.

Since 2004, "nearly 40 Chinese ships operate in Ivorian territorial waters, some of which hold questionable agreements," he said. The Chinese presence symbolises a menace "for 4,000 jobs in the sector."

"In terms of the number of boats that sail here...if you let things be, in a few months all sea life will be gone from the waters of the Ivory Coast," Ivorian ship owner Richard Tchibanda said.

He said at least 20 years are needed for certain species to be able to replenish fish stocks.

On July 27, 22 African countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean, including Ivory Coast, spoke out against the "pillaging of more than 50 percent" of their fish resources by fishing boats without authorisation and which threatens the food security for the population.

"More than 50 percent of our fish resources are pillaged every year," said Ivorian Animal Production Minister Alphonse Douati, also head of the Ministerial Conference on Fishing Cooperation between the 22 African countries bordering the Atlantic (COMHAFAT).

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Scientists shed light on monster sea waves

Julie Steenhuysen, Yahoo News 12 Dec 07;

Ocean waves as tall as an eight-story building, once dismissed as maritime folklore, can be studied using waves of light, offering hope of predicting where these monsters may appear, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

"These giant waves have been featured in many famous literary works from the Odyssey to Robinson Crusoe, but they were just thought to be the subject of myth for a long time," said Daniel Solli of the University of California, Los Angeles, whose study appears in the journal Nature.

These rogue or freak waves can appear out of nowhere on an otherwise calm sea. Their extreme height -- reaching some 98 feet tall -- can batter a ship, smashing it to bits. "Even modern ships are not immune to damage from these things," Solli said in a telephone interview.

"Scientists thought these were just sailor's yarns," Solli said, until they spotted one in the mid-1990s off an oil platform in the North Sea.

Now they are studying how they form. Solli thinks the answer may be found by studying light waves, which behave similarly to water waves.

Solli was studying the properties of light waves traveling in glass when they discovered optical rogue waves, freak brief pulses of intense light similar to the freak water waves.

Solli, a physicist, knew the same physical effect could occur in different physical systems. He began looking at possible explanations and found a stark resemblance between the mathematical equations that describe rogue water waves and his rogue light waves.

"The more we looked into this, the more it became clear that what we were seeing was the optical counterpart of the same effect," he said.

When they examined these light waves further, they found a predictable change occurred that perturbed an otherwise normal-looking wave into becoming a rogue light wave.

He thinks the same thing may be happening in the sea.

"Essentially there is a sweet spot or tickle spot we found. If you tickle the wave on this particular spot, it develops into one of these rogue waves," he said.

"It is highly likely a similar effect is at work in the water waves," he said.

If he is right, the finding could allow scientists to study these rare monster waves in a table-top experiment.

"We hope it may be possible to develop more complete models and learn new ways to predict them," he said.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Sandra Maler)

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