New rainforest species revealed

An expedition to the rainforests of Guyana has discovered species new to science.
BBC News 30 Jul 08;

A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary.

The group believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies that have not been described previously.

The finds are detailed in the BBC series Lost Land of the Jaguar.

The three-part documentary includes footage of the elusive South American cat.
Dr George McGavin (BBC)

"In a short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to science. It was unreal, unbelievable," exclaimed Dr George McGavin, a zoologist and one of the four presenters of the documentary.

He added: "Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and examining the species, comparing them to collections and books - seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal hundreds of hours in the lab.

Dr McGavin told the BBC News Website: "The expedition captured on film the discovery of the strongest candidates for new species - two fishes."

These are a small banded fish (Hemiodus sp.) netted near the expedition's base camp, and a parasitic catfish (Vandellia sp.) that fell out of the gills of a larger catfish.

The expedition also filmed the world's heaviest snake, the anaconda, "which looked like a pile of tractor tyres," said Dr McGavin. It also shows the world's largest eagle, the harpy eagle.

Dr McGavin's highlight, however, was holding the Goliath spider. "It was quite a thrill, luring this spider, the size of a soup plate, out of its hole and holding it. Although I can see that this wouldn't be everyone's idea of fun," he laughed.

The film aims to highlight the need to save this truly unique rainforest.

"We have a choice, we really are at the cross-roads now. We can decide to keep these rich hotspots of nature or see them razed to the ground," said Dr McGavin.

He added: "If we lose the species at the rate we are going, we will be losing untold riches."

Read more!

'Oil from algae' promises climate friendly fuel

Alok Jha, guardian.co.uk 31 Jul 08;

A liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil but which does not contribute to climate change when it is burned or, unlike other biofuels, need agricultural land to produce sounds too good to be true. But a company in San Diego claims to have developed exactly that – a sustainable version of oil it calls "green crude".

Sapphire Energy uses single-celled organisms such as algae to produce a chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract fuels for cars or airplanes. When it is burned, the fuel only releases into the air the carbon dioxide absorbed by the algae during its growth, making the whole process carbon neutral.

Major investors are already opening their cheque books: Sapphire has raised a total of $50m (£25m) in venture capital in recent weeks, the highest amount ever for an algae biotech company, including a significant investment from the UK's Wellcome Trust.

Algae are seen by many experts as promising a source of green fuel in the future: ranging from single-celled organisms to large seaweeds, they are the world's most abundant form of plant life and, via photosynthesis, are extremely efficient at using sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air to make organic material such as sugars, proteins and, under the right conditions, oils.

Yusuf Chisti at Massey University in New Zealand estimates that algae could produce almost 100,000 litres of biodiesel a year per hectare of land, compared to 6,000 litres a hectare for oil palm, currently the most productive biofuel.

'Green gasoline'

The money for Sapphire came flooding in after the company recently reached its most significant milestone yet, refining high-octane gasoline from their green crude. "The resulting gasoline is completely compatible with current infrastructure, meaning absolutely no change to consumer's cars," said a Sapphire spokesperson.

An added advantage is that their gasoline does not have contaminants such as sulphur, nitrogen and benzene that are contained in standard crude oil and the company believes the cost of their fuels will be comparable to standard fossil fuels on the market.

Many biotech companies around the world are working on using algae to produce ethanol or biodiesels that could replace traditional transport fuels while avoiding the problems raised by traditional crop-based biofuels, such as displacing food crops. A Sapphire spokesperson said that, with algae, there was no need to use valuable farmland to grow the basic resource. "In fact the process uses non-arable land and non-potable water and delivers 10 to 100 times more energy per acre than cropland biofuels."

Where Sapphire departs from other algae companies is that their aim is not to produce standard biofuels such as ethanol or biodiesel. Instead, they take their inspiration from the way crude oil was created in the first place, millions of years ago.

"Way back when, when the algae were responsible for creating the long-chain hydrocarbons like diesels and heavy oils, the biomass just got buried and compressed and formed crude oil," said Steven Skill, a researcher in how algae can be used to make organic chemicals at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and who is familiar with Sapphire's work. "Algae synthesise these long-chain hydrocarbons within the cells."

Sapphire would not reveal details of the type of algae they are using but Skill thinks it is probably using genetically-modified cyanobacteria, which used to be called blue-green algae. These organisms can grow quickly (some blooms can double their mass in just an hour), operate in high temperatures and some strains can even fix nitrogen from the air to make their own fertilisers.

"Sapphire claim they can engineer whatever they like now on the strain of algae they're working with," said Skill. The next step, he said, depended on developing the engineering and cultivation systems to grow the algae economically.

Commercial production

John Loughhead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Centre, said that research on algae was a crucial part of the work to develop green energy sources in the future. "I'd say it's a very sound idea but the question is, are they able to do anything practical in an efficient way? The key questions are the efficiency with which this process happens."

He added: "They also have the classic renewables problem in that you're dealing with the ultimate energy source, the Sun, which is quite diffuse, so you're only getting in peak conditions around 0.5KW per square metre. You need vast, great big farms."

Algae can easily be grown in open ponds, but these result in very low-density blooms and are therefore an inefficient way to produce lots of fuel. Skill said that Sapphire would need advances in technology called photobioreactors to make a successful leap to commercial production.

Photobioreactors are closed vessels that would provide plenty of light and carefully tuned conditions that could intensively grow the microorganisms. Several teams around the world are testing designs for growing algae in them but none have so far made it to market.

Also crucial to making the green crude commercially viable is to use the byproducts other than oil from the algae. "You can probably derive 40% of the algae's weight in oil and you've got 60% of other stuff and there's a lot of valuable components in that in terms of chemical feed stocks."

These extra ingredients, which include fats, sugars and proteins, could be used for animal feeds or even as replacements for other petroleum products used in everything from cosmetics to plastics.

Sapphire said it expects to be at a stage of commercial production of green crude within three to five years. Geoffrey Love, head of venture capital at the Wellcome Trust, said the investment was made with this in mind. "There was already in place a very strong scientific and management team.

"They'd already made milestone-based progress to proving they could make not just biodiesel, which plenty of other companies out there can do, but proper crude oil."

He added that the biomedical charity had its own scientific diligence work done before making the investment and that the backing of another investment group that Trust often worked with, Arch Ventures, swung their own decision.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said: "We urgently need to find ways of consigning the fossil fuel economy to history. Algae could offer promise, but to get a real grip on what this technology could offer we need far more information at our fingertips.

"The crucial requirement is that the end product can be produced in large quantities in a sustainable way, otherwise we're simply jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire."

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Wind farm a blot on Scottish greenness, says Bellamy

David Bellamy has described the wind farm decision as ’baffling’
Mike Wade, Times Online 30 Jul 08;

David Bellamy, the broadcaster and environmentalist, has lambasted the Scottish government's “baffling” decision to approve the construction of the huge Clyde wind farm in South Lanarkshire, describing the project as “an enormous blot on the credibility of Scotland as a green place”.

His comments are a stark contrast to those of Alex Salmond, the First Minister, who last week announced the scheme as a step on the road to making Scotland the “green capital” of Europe. A total of 152 turbines are to be installed in clusters in the South Lanarkshire hill near the village of Abington, close to the M74.

Dr Bellamy represents an increasingly vocal minority within a green lobby that has been largely supportive of wind power. He is deeply critical, attacking both its reliability and its impact on the environment. Some critics of wind farms even blame their fluctuating output for a widespread power failure in East Anglia in May, and for a massive blackout across Germany and parts of France in November 2006.

“These things produce a very wobbly amount of energy - they have to be backed up all the time by gas or coal to make sure that we have grid security,” Dr Bellamy said.

“Research in Holland has shown that the amount of energy produced is very small. Why are we despoiling great chunks of the countryside when there are other more economic ways of doing it? If the Scottish government goes ahead, it will only regret it.”

A decision by the Holyrood administration in January, to block plans for a wind farm on the Isle of Lewis, had delighted him. “That was about impugning the sanctity of a very important natural area, and a great hub of tourism. I had an extra glass of red wine after that announcement. But this decision is simply baffling,” Dr Bellamy said.

Supporters of the Abington scheme say that it will bring £600 million in investment and create 200 construction jobs when it goes on site next year. Since it stands alongside a motorway, one argument in the development's favour is based on the notion that this rural area has already been “industrialised”.

The project has bitterly divided the local community, where it is supported by some landowners who stand to benefit from rents, but opposed by others who believe that the turbines will ruin the view.

Opponents are appalled by the size of the turbines, which stand 300ft (91m) high and have blades the length of a jumbo jet's wing. To make matters worse, Dr Bellamy said, the installation of these turbines could be contemplated by power generation companies only because of massive subsidies that are ultimately funded by consumers. In that regard, he welcomed a report by the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee, which this week called for a windfall tax on energy companies that are said to have profited from the EU trading scheme for carbon emissions.

He said: “If these hidden subsidies were taken away, there would not be a single wind turbine built in Britain. It costs a lot of money to build a wind farm - and it's the offshore people who fund it. Scotland is one the most amazing bits of Europe, and it hasn't been buggered up yet.”

David Mundell, the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, echoed Dr Bellamy's comments and criticised the project as “an abomination”.

David Bruce, of the Scottish Wind Assessment Project, who grew up near Abington, said that the development was a disaster for the local environment. He said: “The Lewis site was heavily designated under European law for its wildlife. Abington is in South Lanarkshire and the countryside there is a forgotten jewel. It is not designated, so there is an open season for industrialisation. It should not be thrown away on a whim.”

Some environmental groups, including the WWF, have backed the Clyde wind farm. A spokesman for the Scottish government said that it represented an important step in the development of renewable energy in Scotland and in meeting European targets.

“It is another step towards making Scotland the green energy capital of Europe,” he added.

“All forms of renewable energy - including onshore wind energy projects such as this - will have a crucial role to play in realising Scotland's vast green energy potential and cutting the harmful emissions that cause climate change.”

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 31 Jul 08

Our coral nursery
more about what you can expect at the booth during Reef Celebrations, on the ashira blog

Silver-eared Mesia feeding fledgling
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog

ARTivate Movie Screening
environmental themed movie screenings on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Read more!

Water at Pasir Ris Beach contains bacteria also found in human faeces

May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 30 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE: Based on a new international water quality guideline by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pasir Ris Beach has been identified as one where swimming would not be recommended. However, activities like canoeing and kayaking can continue.

The beach scored a fair grading because it contains an abnormal level of a type of bacteria traditionally found in human faeces and warm-blooded animals.

Accidentally consuming the water at the beach could cause gastro intestinal illnesses and conjunctivitis.

For the first time, advisory signages against swimming will be erected at Pasir Ris Beach from Thursday.

However, authorities said that does not mean the water quality at Pasir Ris has worsened. It is simply because the new WHO standard have now become more stringent.

The other five beaches, like Sentosa Island scored a "Very Good" grading, while East Coast Park and Changi were rated "Good".

The National Environment Agency, which monitors the water quality on a weekly basis, will take necessary actions for Pasir Ris Beach after a year-long study.

The new WHO water quality guidelines apply to all water bodies like the reservoirs which are open for recreational use. - CNA/vm

Fancy a dip? Water quality's fine in most areas
NEA tests show it's good in all spots except Pasir Ris; fish from its farms are safe
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

BATHERS may have been warned not to swim off Pasir Ris Beach yesterday, but doing so in other areas is fine.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), which carried out tests at several other spots, said water quality at Seletar Island, Sembawang Park, Changi and East Coast Park is 'good'.

Sentosa came out tops - the water quality at its beaches was deemed 'very good'.

Water quality at all functioning reservoirs here was also tested and given the thumbs-up.

Only that at the Marina Reservoir, which is still under development, was not cleared.

The NEA decided to warn against swimming off Pasir Ris Beach because high levels of bacteria normally found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals were found in the water.

It said the action was taken because Singapore has adopted new, more stringent water-quality standards based on World Health Organisation guidelines, and not because water quality in the area was worsening.

It is not clear where the bacteria in the water comes from, NEA said.

Mr Tan Qwee Hong, its pollution control director, said there could be a number of possible reasons, which will be studied and determined by next April.

'It could be riverine activities, storm water run-off after heavy rains, or even animal or sea bird waste, but it is not from permanent point sources such as treated effluent or sewage flowing into the sea,' he said.

A report commissioned by Malaysia and Singapore in 2006, however, said several rivers leading to the Johor Strait caused pollution from untreated sewage, and wastewater from industries and agriculture at source.

Meanwhile, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said yesterday that seafood from seven fish farms off Pasir Ris Beach is safe to eat despite the levels of bacteria found there.

The farms produce fish such as snapper and sea bass, as well as crab and other shellfish.

AVA said it conducts regular checks for microbes in the water which can cause poisoning in fish, and none is present.

Swim at your own risk
Pasir Ris Beach has high bacteria count but a quick splash won’t hurt
Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 31 Jul 08;
Additional reporting by Ooi Boon Keong

A PICNIC on the sand is fine, but rule out a dip in the sea if you’re hanging out at Pasir Ris Beach this weekend.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has issued an advisory that cautions against swimming, wakeboarding and waterskiing in the waters there because of “high bacteria content” — specifically, the enterococcus bacteria found in human and animal waste.

The good news? Five other popular beaches around Singapore have been given a clean bill of health, based on the NEA’s new guidelines on recreational water quality for beaches and reservoirs.

Its grading system is based on World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines revised in 2003. Asked why it took Singapore almost five years to roll out its own guidelines, the NEA said it had to localise the WHO standards and collect three years’ worth of weekly data first.

The enterococcus bacteria can cause stomach pain, breathing problems and eye or ear infections. But to date, the Health Ministry has not gotten reports of health problems associated with poor water quality at beaches.

While the WHO leaves it to each country to decide on the suitable water activity for each grade, the NEA has adopted more stringent criteria — such that any “primary contact activity”, involving long periods of whole-body immersion or where water is likely to be swallowed, is discouraged at beaches that earn anything less than a “good” or “very good” grade.

Activities such as kayaking and dragonboat racing, however, are still deemed safe.

What of frolicking or sun-tanning on the sand at Pasir Ris Beach, which got a “fair” grade?

The NEA advises taking basic precautions, such as not touching one’s mouth and eyes with sandy hands, and washing one’s hands before handling food.

Advisory signboards (below) went up yesterday along Pasir Ris Beach — but beachgoers were slow to take the hint.

When Today’s photographer dropped by in the afternoon, several families with young children were spotted splashing around in the sea. No one paid the signs any heed. But when these were pointed out to them, parents hurried their children out of the water.

One parent, Mr Teng Eng Tiek, takes his three young children to the beach two to three times a month, but said he would think twice about visiting Pasir Ris next time; he would probably head to East Coast Park instead.

The NEA, however, points out that short-term exposure, such as a quick splash-around, carries a low health risk.

Asked what constitutes prolonged exposure that carries a risk, the NEA would only point to a study

cited by the WHO, which counted “three head immersions” within a 10-minute swim as “an exposure”.

Said the NEA spokesman: “For sailing or kayaking, even if participants were to fall into the water accidentally, the chance of such exposure is low as they are required to put on life jackets.”

Putting matters into context, Mr Satish Appoo, head of Environmental Health at NEA, said the “fair” grading that Pasir Ris Beach was not because the water quality had deteriorated over time,

Rather, “the standards have gotten more stringent, so the beach has not been able to meet the new criteria”, he explained.

As to why the seawater there has such a high bacteria count, and how its quality rating can be improved, the answers are yet to come.

The NEA will conduct a study, with results expected next year.

NEA grades water quality of beaches, reservoirs
Pasir Ris beach found not suitable for swimming
Diondi Tan, Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

TO swim - or not to swim. That is the gist of the water quality advisories that the National Environmental Agency will post regarding six of Singapore's most popular beaches, and all of its freshwater reservoirs starting yesterday afternoon.

These water quality advisories are based on the new World Health Organization water quality guidelines for recreational use, which were released in 2003, and are more stringent than the previous guidelines that the NEA was using to monitor the water quality at various bodies of water in Singapore.

These guidelines concern what the NEA terms 'primary contact activities,' or those that involve whole-body contact and immersion in the water, such as swimming, wakeboarding, waterskiing and so on.

Measurement parameters for the beaches include two microbial indicators: Enterococcus, a type of bacteria usually found in human and animal faeces which can cause gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses, and chlorophyll-a, which is used to measure the extent of blue-green algal blooms, which can produce harmful toxins.

The beaches will have only Enterococcus measurement, while the freshwater reservoirs will have both measurements as part of their water quality control.

Each of the six monitored beaches - Sentosa Island (Siloso beach, Palawan beach and Tanjong beach), Seletar Island, Sembawang Park, Changi, East Coast Park and Pasir Ris - will be graded in five steps from 'Very Poor' to 'Very Good.' Only those beaches that attain a water quality grade of 'Good' or 'Very Good' will be recommended for primary contact use by the public.

Out of the six beaches, only Pasir Ris scored 'Fair' under the new guidelines, while the rest got a 'Good' or 'Very Good.' Advisory signs warning beachgoers that the water is not suitable for swimming was posted at the beach, around 3pm yesterday.

All the freshwater reservoirs in Singapore, big and small alike, are undergoing the same programme, to ensure the users of the reservoirs, whether for primary contact activities or not, are enjoying excellent water quality, S Satish Appoo, director, environmental health, National Environment Agency, said during the meeting. All of the current reservoirs in Singapore have passed the guidelines' requirements, and are deemed safe for recreational use.

The water quality of the under-construction Marina Bay reservoir did not meet the standards of the guidelines, and it is still in the process of transitioning from sea water to freshwater. Therefore, as a precaution, PUB will not allow primary contact activities in the reservoir, said Mr Appoo.

A damper on this water sports hub
Marina Reservoir not safe for waterskiers, wakeboarders but one-off events allowed
sheralyn tay, Today Online 31 Jul 08;

IT WAS TO be abuzz with wakeboarders, jetskis and sailboats, but the new recreational water standards may have put a damper on some of these plans to turn the Marina Reservoir into a water sports hub.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the water quality does not meet the revised quality standards. This is partly because, as the largest catchment in Singapore, the reservoir collects rainwater runoff from some of the oldest developments here. Also, it is “still in transition” from being a seawater body to a freshwater one.

But while swimming, wakeboarding and waterskiing will not be allowed in the Marina Reservoir, “one-off events” will still take place — such as for the upcoming National Day Parade which will feature a wakeboarding performance.

“We are really just taking precautions and playing a little on the safe side,” saidMr Yap Kheng Guan, director of 3P Network at PUB. As for the risk the performers would be running, he said: “The primary contact time is very short and they (the wakeboarders) :are skilled, so the risk is very low.”

Since the World Health Organization guidelines are based on the amount of time a person is submerged or in contact with the water, Mr Yap said, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, river cruises and even water racing: will still go on, adding to the vibrancy of the “lifestyle reservoir”.

The PUB will continue to monitor the water quality.

Partly due to the new guidelines, the Wakeboarding and Waterski Federation is moving its operations to Bedok Reservoir. For years, the nearby Kallang River has been a haunt of local waterskiers.

Vice-president Derek Leong said they have had no problems with the water quality before. “We’ve being using the area since 1987 and not a single person has fallen sick. I’ve ingested water on more occasions than one.”

Other wakeboarders Today spoke to were also disappointed.

Ms Sasha Champion, 15, one of the wakeboarders performing on National Day, had been looking forward to wakeboarding being part of the water recreational sports hub that the Marina Reservoir would become.

“Wakeboarding is a spectator sport, so it would have been nice to hold our activities (in the Central Business District),” she said. “It would have helped raise public awareness and support for the sport. So in that sense, we lose out a bit.”:

The $226-million Marina Barrage will form Singapore’s 15th reservoir. Mr Yap said it is due to go freshwater next year and become a functioning reservoir by 2010 or 2011.

Read more!

Going green: Improved website, public exhibition

Reply from MND and MEWR, Today Online 31 Jul 08;

WE WOULD like to thank Mr Lee Kuok Ming for the feedback in “Green initiatives merely lip service?” (July 30).

Everyone has a stake in our good living environment and can play a part in further enhancing it.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development has invited the public to offer their views and suggestions on how we can make Singapore more lively and liveable, via our websitewww.sustainablesingapore.gov.sg.

We are heartened by the enthusiastic response we have received to date through our website and other feedback channels, and would like to take the opportunity to thank the public for their views.

Views will be sought over the next few months from a wide range of stakeholders, including the Community Development Councils, NGOs, businesses, schools, professional associations and the public through platforms such as focus groups, smaller group discussions and briefing sessions.

We plan a public exhibition in November to seek views on the various initiatives proposed. We will improve the website interface to create a better feedback experience, as suggested by Mr Lee, and will consider posting some of the feedback received on the website to spur greater discussions.

We welcome detailed proposals from members of the public, which can be sent to us via email or post, as indicated on the website.

Dalson Chung
Director, 3P Network,Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

and Lee May Lin
Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Ministryof National Development onbehalf of the IMCSD Secretariat

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Act to prevent last great global land grab

Letter from Shawn Lum, President Nature Society (Singapore), Straits Times Forum 31 Jul 08;

A REPORT two weeks ago by the Rights and Resources Initiative suggests that by 2030, about five million sq km of additional land - equivalent to roughly two-thirds the size of Australia, or seven times the area of Borneo - will be required to meet rising global demand for food, biofuels and wood. The report estimated that more than half of those land needs could come at the expense of tropical forested areas unless action is taken now to prevent what it called the 'last great global land grab'.

We don't need to be ecologists, hardcore 'greenies' or 'tree huggers' to realise that, if our forests are in trouble, all of humanity will soon be in trouble too.

Forests provide services no amount of technology, manpower or money can replicate. They regulate climate and facilitate rainfall, they absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, they reduce the risk of floods and landslides associated with excessive rainfall runoff, and they are the 'green lungs' of the planet.

Forests provide us with food, are a source of medicines, and supply us with many other necessities. Tropical forests also provide a home for at least 50 per cent of all life on land, while occupying a small fraction of the world's land area. Forests are more than a collection of trees, and provide their services when they are maintained as intact, functioning ecosystems.

People in Singapore, like others in developed nations, have the luxury of choosing what to consume, how much to consume, and how to invest one's hard-earned income. Making simple choices about what to eat, how much we recycle, minimising our throwaway habits, or examining the environmental track records of the companies we decide to invest in can determine how much we contribute to harming - or healing - the natural world.

We need to treat the forests that support us with greater respect. We need to see the link between our everyday lifestyle choices and their impact on the environment. And we each need to make a link between the head and heart, between what we know and what we choose to do about it, and that goes for tree huggers and non-tree huggers alike.

Shawn Lum
President and Chairman, Plant Group
Nature Society (Singapore)

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When economic growth comes with hefty price

Unthinking pursuit at odds with preservation of the environment and ecological balance
Anthony Rowley, Business Times 31 Jul 08;

SCARCELY a day passes when I, like thousands of other journalists and analysts, do not use the term 'economic growth' in writing reports and analyses. We employ these words in a rather unthinking fashion, taking it for granted that if we can report economic growth in one place or another in the world that is a 'good thing' whereas economic slowdown is a bad thing. But does this interpretation make sense any longer, if indeed it ever did?

The futility of an unthinking pursuit of growth as a kind of panacea for all ills was highlighted during the recent G-8 summit in Hokkaido. Leaders of the world's great powers fretted over the recent economic slowdown and promised to do all in their power to speed things up again. They then turned their attention to the damage that global economic expansion is wreaking upon the global environment and promised to fix that too.

This is a cynical impossibility, a contradiction in terms; a circle that cannot be squared. Environmental damage is a man-made phenomenon that increases exponentially with the pursuit of economic growth. We can slow the process, especially in its most insidious form of global warming, through technology. But essentially economic growth (read: greed and avarice) is incompatible with preservation of the environment and ecological balance.

Using expansion of output as a target for achieving human welfare and happiness begets the question as to how we are supposed to know when this end has been achieved. Perhaps when the earth's six billion inhabitants all have one (or maybe two) smart dwellings, one (or maybe more) automobiles, access to endless shopping malls and consumer goods and the ability to travel round the world as and when they please.

This must be the logical outcome of continuing and equitable economic growth. Or is it to be assumed that the rich will continue to get richer into infinity while the poorer will achieve just sufficient incremental gains in wealth to keep them quiet? If we accept that neither of these extreme scenarios is possible without ravaging earth's natural resources - air, land and water as much as others - then the myth of perpetual growth must be challenged.

If it is not questioned on an ecological (or ethical) basis, the pursuit of an ever-rising growth in world output will be challenged on economic and financial grounds before long. Indeed, this process has already begun, in the shape of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It may seem a little far-fetched to draw such a connection and yet it is a very direct one. It requires monetary stimulus above all to feed economic growth - and that brings inevitable nemesis.

Without going too deeply into economic theory, there is a limit to the extent that output can be expanded by increases in productivity and by the use of comparative advantage through trade.

A far more potent stimulus to economic activity is an increase in money supply and credit, and it is a device that has been used to colossal effect in so-called advanced economies in recent decades. The stupendous increase in lending that has taken place has been predicated upon securitisation of mortgages and other loans that rendered risk anonymous and credit expansion almost infinite.

The inconvenient truth is that trouble will always 'out' in the end and once some little corner (the sub-prime market) of the soaring debt edifice became exposed, the frailty and rot of the entire structure was revealed. It is crumbling now - in slow motion rather than with a crash - and with it not only the mega increase in asset values which a succession of monetary bubbles has engendered but also the frenetic economic activity which they have supported.

There is not a small number of experts who believe that all this will end in a lengthy period of economic contraction in 'advanced' nations. It is part of the 'natural' economic cycle as values and prices adjust to a new reality and as the base of economic activity sinks to a level from which it can rise again.

All other things being equal, this would provide a breather for the environment as economic activity and resource depletion slows.

But all other things are not equal. China, India, Russia, Brazil and other emerging market powers are involved deeply nowadays in global economic expansion. Even if their economies are slowing, they show little sign yet of following advanced natinto recession (even if it has still to be shown that emerging economies that are notions addicted to US-style spending can sustain growth without the stimulus of credit-induced external demand).

These economies, apparent at the G-8 summit, claim a kind of moral right to undergo industrial revolution without being challenged by Western nations that have already undergone such a transition. There is a kind of perverse logic in this but it could be calamitous for the environment.

Even if global warming can be slowed, the drain on earth's resources, caused not so much by population increase as by the pursuit of growth and high material standards of living, cannot. This is not Malthusian pessimism: it is demonstrable fact.

Of course, we may yet be saved by the 'hidden hand'. The soaring price of oil has produced a salutary, if as yet marginal, drop in consumption and a search for other forms of energy.

Inflation in other commodity prices could similarly act as a brake on profligate consumption once the pass-through effect on prices is fully manifest. But such ultimately desirable outcomes could be thwarted or delayed by (panic) monetary expansion. The growth habit is a hard one to kick.

Read more!

Tree for two: Memories of trees in Singapore

Tara Tan, Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

IN A city where old trees are felled and blocks of flats demolished to make way for the new, where do your memories live?

Tree/House, a double-bill by Ho Tzu Nyen and Paul Rae, addresses this question of memory and remembering. It will be presented as part of the Singapore Theatre Festival next week.

Rae's Tree Duets, which was first performed at The Substation last year, was nominated for Best Script at last year's Life! Theatre Awards.

In the piece, he weaves several stories centred around trees. Some are autobiographical, while others are of past and present Singapore.

'Trees prompt us into remembering, they are repositories of personal, social and cultural memory,' says Rae, who is also an assistant professor of theatre studies at the National University of Singapore.

In the play, he speaks of a 100-year-old Bodhi tree growing at Jin Long Si Temple off Bartley Road.

'People pray to it, leave offerings. The tree is completely entwined with the temple's foundations and its devotees' lives,' says the playwright.

He also cites the brouhaha in 2002 over the felling of a 150-year-old Hopea Sangal tree, whose common name is the Chengal Pasir, in Halton Road. It was a tree so old that the area it was in - Changi - was probably named after it. But it was chopped down despite public protests.

'People have lost so much of what was pre-contemporary Singapore, that such trees are evidence of a continuity with the past,' says Rae. 'When they get chopped down, there is a sense of rupture.'

Destruction triggers the act of remembering, agrees Ho, who presents the performance lecture, House Of Memory, in the second half.

He was inspired by the block of flats in Holland Drive he lived in as a child, which was torn down in the 1980s.

'A house is often our centre of being. It protects us from the elements. We often attach a lot of ourselves to our homes. When this shell is destroyed, the emptiness becomes something else,' he says.

In the piece, Ho splices together footage of destruction he can recall having seen in films - from arthouse flicks to Hollywood blockbusters to old Chinese gongfu movies.

The connection between film and memory is a profound one, he adds.

'Film has the ability to be about memory, to enact memories and to become memory,' he observes.

'Even the experience of watching a film is recollection-in-action, due to the associative process that happens in the mind. You draw on the film's past to relate to its present.'

# Tree/House will be staged at the Drama Centre Black Box@National Library (Level 5) on Aug 7 and 8 at 8pm and on Aug 9 at 3pm. Tickets at $30 from Sistic (log on to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555).

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End of the road for 174 Seletar colonial homes

As aerospace park takes shape, many 'black-and-white' homes must go
Ven Sreenivasan, Business Times 31 Jul 08;

(SINGAPORE) The first phase of the $60 million Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP) project is nearing completion and Phase 2 is about to take off, so the agencies spearheading the redevelopment of the complex have been briefing residents and other tenants about the next step forward.

Agency officials, led by Edwin Ho, JTC Corp's assistant director for industrial parks, met tenants of the colonial 'black-and-white' residences last night to inform them that 174 of the 378 buildings could be demolished.

A significant number of the remaining units will be converted to offices and commercial outlets, including F&B and lifestyle clusters around The Oval/Parklane area.

But about 100 will be retained as residences.

All affected tenants will have to move out by this December, while those remaining will have to sign up to new tenancies.

Mr Ho assured everyone that all aspects of the development of SAP were being done with the input of 'all stakeholders' including residents, commercial tenants, aviation business operators, the Nature Society and other interest groups.

Other works in the upcoming Phase 2 of the massive project will be road widening and refurbishment of buildings which will be retained.

Phase 2 works will begin next January and stretch until 2013.

Phase 1 has essentially focused on the groundbreaking works for new tenants Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, and upgrading facilities for existing giants like ST Aerospace and Jet Aviation.

Besides the demolition of old buildings and refurbishment of others, key elements of Phase 2 will also include demolition of the old water reclamation plant located in the complex and the upgrading of the airport and the lengthening of the runway by some 300 metres.

The runway lengthening will be done for 14 hours a day for 18 months, starting this November, with works done at night.

Also starting next January will be works on construction of a new flyover from the Tampines Expressway, which will be the main entrance to the complex. There will also be some road diversions within the area.

A joint project of the EDB, CAAS and JTC Corp, the SAP will host an integrated aerospace industry cluster incorporating maintenance, repair and overhaul, design and manufacturing of aircraft systems and components, business and general aviation, and an aviation campus to train pilots, other industry professionals and technical personnel.

When completed in 2018, the SAP is envisaged to elevate Singapore's status as an aviation hub, contribute $3.3 billion a year or one per cent of GDP and create jobs for 10,000 people.

Lights out? Not for quaint lamp posts in Seletar
Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

ABOUT 30 lamp posts now at the old Seletar airbase will be preserved for use, after the area is transformed into a modern aerospace hub.

The lamp posts, which possibly date back to the British era, will be taken down progressively as the bulldozers roll in and put away for re-installation later, said Mr Edwin Ho, an assistant director in JTC Corporation, the industrial parks development group.

It is all part of preserving the charm and heritage of the former airbase, he told The Straits Times.

Giving an update on the plans for the 300 ha Seletar Aerospace Park, he said major roadworks for the area are slated to start next year.

They include the building of a new flyover to link Tampines Expressway to the new park and a major road with four lanes in each direction.

The roadworks are expected to be done by the end of 2013, with the final phase of the aerospace park following five years later.

The first phase, to be completed by the end of next year, will include premises for companies like Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Jet Aviation. These are existing tenants who are looking to expand their facilities at Seletar.

Engine makers Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney are also building new facilities there.

The airbase's existing runway will be extended by 200m.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore will also build a new control tower and fire station there, expand the aircraft parking area and build more taxiways.

These works will be done by 2010.

Seletar's transformation will also affect the 378 black-and-white colonial houses in the area.

Of the number, 174 will be demolished. Of the remaining 204, 131 will be retained as homes and the rest, redeveloped for non-residential use. They will, for example, house aerospace training schools and food-and-beverage outlets.

Residents living in the units to be demolished or redeveloped must move out by the end of the year.

Links

Postcards from Seletar a web resource by residents of Seletar

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LNG terminal project may be staggered: EMA

Move aims to cut construction and development costs
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 31 Jul 08;

(SINGAPORE) Rising engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) costs here could lead the developer of Singapore's $1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to stagger the project to more closely match local demand and control costs, says the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

'For example, the developer could choose to construct a single larger tank first and a second one later when demand for liquefied natural gas increases significantly,' EMA said on its website. 'This could reduce the overall construction and development cost of the terminal, which would ultimately benefit end-users.'

Given the Jurong Island terminal site can accommodate four large storage tanks, this suggests Singapore could proceed with just one quarter of the project's envisaged capacity.

Developers PowerGas (70 per cent) and Gaz de France (30 per cent) 'will review the necessary staging of terminal infrastructure in the basis of design', EMA said.

PowerGas, which signed a deal with EMA in April to build the terminal, said at the time that design and engineering were already under way to ensure the facility is ready by 2012 in time for the expected first deliveries of LNG.

Gaz de France - which is involved in the entire LNG value chain from liquefaction to shipping and receiving terminals and gas transmission - came on board as PowerGas's joint-venture partner this month.

BT understands that Australian engineering firm WorleyParsons is helping with the terminal's design and engineering.

EMA said on its website that a feasibility study found that 'up to three storage tanks can be developed' on the 30-hectare LNG terminal site and that 'there may be space for a fourth'.

The feasibility study recommended the terminal have initial capacity of two 150,000 cu metre storage tanks with send-out capacity of three million tonnes per annum (tpa) in the first phase, with provision for expansion to six million tpa.

Previous reports said construction is expected to start next year, with the complex expected to include a jetty, unloading facilities, regasification equipment and associated civil and utilities infrastructure.

Contractors reportedly lining up for the lucrative contracts include specialist engineers like WorleyParsons, Foster Wheeler, Japan's Chiyoda Corporation and France's Technip.

LNG demand here in 2012 is expected to be around one million tpa and to take four to five years, that is until 2017, to reach three million tpa.

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Singapore, HK vie for carbon hub status

Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

THE race is on as Singapore and Hong Kong battle to be Asia's carbon-trading hub.

Singapore was positioned well, given its close involvement with energy trading and substantial financial markets expertise, said Mr Henry Derwent, the president of the International Emissions Trading Association.

'I think there is huge determination in the Government here to grab hold of this rapidly developing market,' he said.The global carbon market doubled last year to 47 billion euros (S$101 billion).

Asia made up 80 per cent of carbon credits trading.

China made up more than half the total trade, putting Hong Kong in a prime position, said group director of carbon services firm Asia Carbon, Mr Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange commissioned a full feasibility study on how it can capitalise on the growing market. 'They have gone through the initial learning phase and, in that respect, they're ahead of Singapore in understanding the overall impact of the carbon market,' he said.

But he pointed to the Singapore Mercantile Exchange, which will operate by early next year and allow investors to buy and sell carbon credits for the first time. 'This platform could help Singapore take the lead,' said Mr Dinesh.

Mr Derwent and Mr Dinesh spoke at a press conference ahead of Carbon Forum Asia 2008, to be held here in November.

JESSICA CHEAM

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Proposal to kill wild horses angers US activists

Laura Zuckerman, Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

A proposal to kill thousands of mustangs roaming the western United States has angered animal welfare groups, which say horses are paying the price for years of bureaucratic mismanagement.

Around 33,000 wild horses are spread across 10 western states, while the US Bureau of Land Management, which floated its proposal in June, has said that the total needs to be reduced by around 6,000 horses. That is in addition to an estimated 33,000 excess horses in government-funded holding facilities.

It is the first time federal officials have proposed euthanizing wild horses since federal protections for the animals were introduced in 1971, when Congress described the animals as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."

Federal officials say downsizing the herd is necessary for the healthy management of public rangelands, sagebrush steppe and grasslands ravaged by drought and wildfires.

And they say a hefty portion of their budget for wild horses is now being funneled to pay for holding facilities, where costs have risen along with hay prices.

Authorities have also said the numbers of wild horses on public lands have increased because of fewer participants in the bureau's mustang adoption program, which has been hit by the sluggish US economy.

Soaring feed and fuel costs means fewer buyers of mustangs offered for adoption per year -- the majority at 125 dollars a head -- in a pattern that mimics the flagging domestic horse market.

But the prospect of killing mustangs or selling them for slaughter has angered animal rights campaigners, who say the move is unnecessary and could have been avoided.

Holly Hazard, officer with the Humane Society of the United States, said the bureau's suggestion it may have mustangs put down or sold for slaughter was "totally disturbing and completely unnecessary."

"This is a man-made management debacle," Hazard added.

Hazard said the agency has been slow to employ population-control strategies such as contraception even though animal advocates have for years endorsed the measure as a means of maintaining a stable wild horse population.

Fine art photographer Elissa Kline has been shooting the mustang herd in east central Idaho for almost five years and is among critics of the government's policy that places excess wild horses in holding facilities.

"It's heart-breaking," she said about a program that calls for organizing the animals by sex and age, often separating mares and their foals.

Heather Emmons, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada, home to an estimated 18,000 wild horses, said officials would prefer not to keep the animals in the holding facilities.

"It's not what we want to see," Emmons said. "In an ideal world, we'd love to see 33,000 people come forward (to adopt them)."

The ongoing crisis in Nevada, where officials say the mustang population is nearly 40 percent higher than the number land managers believe ideal for the environment, caused the BLM to call a temporary halt to other planned roundups such as the one scheduled this fall in Idaho.

Doug Busselman, executive vice president for the Nevada Farm Bureau, a powerful lobby for agriculture, faulted the BLM for its unwillingness in past years to aggressively control wild horse numbers.

He said ranchers must abide by government regulations concerning the timing and number of livestock released onto public lands for grazing, adding: "We're held accountable but the BLM is responsible for managing wild horses and they don't have the same accountability."

Tom Miles has been with the BLM for 32 years, serving the past five as head of the agency's wild horse program in Idaho.

Decades as a federal land manager has lent Miles perspective on what he characterizes as the government's no-win position.

"We're managing the land for multiple and often divergent uses, making it difficult to provide for all of them," he said. "Even when you come up with a good plan, trying to accommodate everybody without favoring one over another, someone is going to come away unhappy."

A decision on whether to proceed with the proposal to kill mustangs is expected later this year.

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Penguins wash up closer to equator in Brazil

Michael Astor, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

Penguins from frigid waters near the bottom of the world are washing up closer to the equator than ever before, Brazilian wildlife authorities said Wednesday.

Adelson Cerqueira Silva of the federal environmental agency said that about 300 penguins have been found dead or alive in recent days along the coast of Bahia state, better known for sunbathers in bikinis than for seabirds native to Antarctica and Patagonia.

Its capital of Salvador is roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) closer to the equator than Miami is and temperatures in the current Southern Hemisphere winter are in the mid-70s (low 20s centigrade).

"This is unheard of. There have even been reports of penguins washing up as far as Aracaju," Silva said, referring to a beachside state capital even closer to the equator.

Silva said biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents have pulled the birds north. Others have suggested the increase might be due to overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica that has forced the penguins to swim further in search of food.

Silva said the environmental authority was receiving hundreds of phone calls reporting penguin sightings.

"We're telling people if the penguins don't appear to be injured or sick to leave them alone so they can swim back," Silva said in telephone interview from the Bahia state capital of Salvador.

Rescued penguins have swamped a triage center for rescued birds, and Silva said about 90 of the birds found alive have since died.

Penguins have been sweeping up on Brazilian shores in ever greater numbers this year, for reasons that are not entirely clear.

While penguins commonly wash up as far north as Rio de Janeiro state in July and August — hundreds have done so this year. Bahia is roughly 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) northeast of Rio.

P. Dee Boersma, a conservation biologist at the University of Washington who works with penguins in Argentina, said that while she has heard of penguins occasionally washing up as far north as Bahia, the numbers washing up this year are extremely high.

"The last time that you got a lot of penguins was in 2000, mostly in Rio but some further north. That year the sea surface temperature was a degree lower than the 30 year average so the penguins just keep swimming in search of food without noticing where they're going," said Boersma in a telephone interview from Seattle.

She also said overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica could be a factor. In the past decade, penguins have had to swim an average of 40 miles (60 kilometers) further north to find food, Boersma said.

The majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are least able to outswim the strong ocean currents.

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Japanese plan world's largest clean-up

Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

An environmental group in Japan said Wednesday it is planning to hold what it hopes will be the world's largest clean-up, bringing 180,000 volunteers together to pick up trash.

U-Project, a private group based in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, said they were calling on citizens to join in the clean-up around Tokyo Bay on November 24.

"We are expecting at least 10 percent of the population of nine cities and towns in the prefecture in which we are calling for cooperation, which is about 180,000 people," said Ai Ueda, a staff member of U-Project.

"Our group started picking up trash on Sundays with just about 20 people, but now there are about 400 people who join our regular clean-up rally on Sundays," she said.

"We want to expand our movement to the whole prefecture," she added.

Guinness World Records currently lists the largest clean-up as a gathering in August 2005 in which more than 140,000 people took part in the southern Japanese prefecture of Oita.

"It's not about competition. It's about sharing goodwill, and it's about enjoying a nice feeling coming not only from picking up trash but also from working together and saying hello to passers-by," she said.

Links

For cleanup in Singapore, see International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

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UN goes green, orders drastic cut of air-conditioning use

Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

The United Nations on Wednesday announced a drastic cut of air-conditioning usage at its New York headquarters for the month of August that will raise the temperature from a crisp 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) to a balmy 77.

Under a directive from UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the air-conditioning in the 39-floor Secretariat building will be turned off on weekends.

Assuming the temperature change goes smoothly, the "Cool UN" initiative to cut down on energy costs and implement climate change solutions could be extended for a full year, saving the world body one million dollars and reducing the building's carbon dioxide emissions by 2,800 tonnes.

During the winter, the process would be reversed and the thermostat would be lowered by five degrees Fahrenheit.

"We have succeeded in moving climate change to the top of the international agenda for action, and this means that the UN must take action itself," Ban said in a statement. "We must lead by example and if we are to ask others to take action, we must do so as well."

As part of the initiative, Ban is encouraging staff, delegates and diplomats to relax clothing protocols and wear lighter attire or don their national dress rather than wear business suits as of August 1.

Asked whether the secretary general would be setting an example in this regard as well, Janos Pasztor, head of the the Secretary General Climate Support Team, told reporters: "He will be wearing lighter clothes as well, he has confirmed that."

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Bangladesh gaining land, not losing: scientists

Shafiq Alam, Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

New data shows that Bangladesh's landmass is increasing, contradicting forecasts that the South Asian nation will be under the waves by the end of the century, experts say.

Scientists from the Dhaka-based Center for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) have studied 32 years of satellite images and say Bangladesh's landmass has increased by 20 square kilometres (eight square miles) annually.

Maminul Haque Sarker, head of the department at the government-owned centre that looks at boundary changes, told AFP sediment which travelled down the big Himalayan rivers -- the Ganges and the Brahmaputra -- had caused the landmass to increase.

The rivers, which meet in the centre of Bangladesh, carry more than a billion tonnes of sediment every year and most of it comes to rest on the southern coastline of the country in the Bay of Bengal where new territory is forming, he said in an interview on Tuesday.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that impoverished Bangladesh, criss-crossed by a network of more than 200 rivers, will lose 17 percent of its land by 2050 because of rising sea levels due to global warming.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning panel says 20 million Bangladeshis will become environmental refugees by 2050 and the country will lose some 30 percent of its food production.

Director of the US-based NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, professor James Hansen, paints an even grimmer picture, predicting the entire country could be under water by the end of the century.

But Sarker said that while rising sea levels and river erosion were both claiming land in Bangladesh, many climate experts had failed to take into account new land being formed from the river sediment.

"Satellite images dating back to 1973 and old maps earlier than that show some 1,000 square kilometres of land have risen from the sea," Sarker said.

"A rise in sea level will offset this and slow the gains made by new territories, but there will still be an increase in land. We think that in the next 50 years we may get another 1,000 square kilometres of land."

Mahfuzur Rahman, head of Bangladesh Water Development Board's Coastal Study and Survey Department, has also been analysing the buildup of land on the coast.

He told AFP findings by the IPCC and other climate change scientists were too general and did not explore the benefits of land accretion.

"For almost a decade we have heard experts saying Bangladesh will be under water, but so far our data has shown nothing like this," he said.

"Natural accretion has been going on here for hundreds of years along the estuaries and all our models show it will go on for decades or centuries into the future."

Dams built along the country's southern coast in the 1950s and 1960s had helped reclaim a lot of land and he believed with the use of new technology, Bangladesh could speed up the accretion process, he said.

"The land Bangladesh has lost so far has been caused by river erosion, which has always happened in this country. Natural accretion due to sedimentation and dams have more than compensated this loss," Rahman said.

Bangladesh, a country of 140 million people, has built a series of dykes to prevent flooding.

"If we build more dams using superior technology, we may be able to reclaim 4,000 to 5,000 square kilometres in the near future," Rahman said.

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Birds fly north in climate change vanguard: study

Alister Doyle, Reuters 30 Jul 08;

OSLO (Reuters) - Birds have been moving north in Europe over the past 25 years because of climate change in the vanguard of likely huge shifts in the ranges of plants and animals, scientists said on Wednesday.

A study of 42 rare bird species in Britain showed that southern European bird species such as the Dartford warbler, Cirl bunting, little egret or Cetti's warbler had become more common in Britain from 1980-2004.

And species usually found in northern Europe, such as the fieldfare, redwing or Slavonian grebe, had become less frequent in Britain.

"The species are almost certainly responding to the changing climate," said Brian Huntley of Durham University in England of a report he wrote with researchers at Cambridge University and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The study tried to filter out other factors that would affect counts of rare birds, including growing public interest that could mean more sightings. Shifts in farming, pollution, expansion of cities and conservation efforts have all affected wildlife.

Birds and butterflies are among the first to adapt to climate change because they can fly long distances to seek a cooler habitat. Other creatures and plants can take far longer if their traditional range gets too warm.

"It depends on the mobility of the species. Birds and butterflies are two of the groups where there is the best evidence that species are already showing responses to the changing climate," Huntley told Reuters of the study in Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

GREENHOUSE GASES

The shifts in the birds' ranges since 1980 were also consistent with scientists' expectations because of global warming, blamed by the U.N. Climate Panel on human use of fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars, he said.

The panel predicted last year that warming will bring desertification, floods, melt glaciers, raise world sea levels, bring big shifts in the ranges of species and extinctions.

"This gives us greater confidence in the climate models we use for other groups of species -- butterflies, plants, reptiles and amphibians," Huntley said.

"We rarely have the opportunity to test these kinds of models. We can only wait around for 50 years and wait to see if we were correct. It's better to have historic data" as a benchmark, he said.

(Editing by Stephen Weeks)

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jul 08

Reef Celebrations 9 Aug (Sat)
Everyone is invited to this National Day celebration of our reefs and shores. With lots of exciting talks, kids events and exhibits. More on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Sotong
on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Rehabilitated Cinereous Vulture shot in Myanmar
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

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Accidents in Singapore's port waters down 89.2% over last 10 years

Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 30 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE : Despite more movements in Singapore's port waters, the number of piloted incidents dipped significantly over the past 10 years.

In 2007, there were only four such incidents, a decrease of 89.2 per cent from the 37 reported in 1998.

Between 1998 and 2007, the amount of movement in Singapore waters increased by 35 per cent - from 1998's 108,500 to 146,000 in 2007.

These figures were released by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore at its 6th Pilotage Incentive Award Ceremony.

Five pilots were commended for high safety and service standards at the awards ceremony.

Sam Goh Ek Kang, Hamzah Bin Ismail, Low Chong Lim, Jeremy Tan Hon Chai and Yap Kok Chua each received S$2,000 cash and a certificate of commendation. - CNA /ls

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Biotech firm finds fortune in prawn farming

Bionovar diversified its business to prove the worth of its product; its revenue last year was $1m - more than its original biotech sales
Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times 30 Jul 08;

BIONOVAR started out as a biotechnology firm four years ago, but customers for its microscopic organisms, which aid in chemical-free prawn farming, were hard to come by.

So the local start-up took a daring step: It diversified its business to become a major customer of its own product - by going into the prawn-farming business itself. And it has not looked back since.

The initial problem in attracting customers? The market was saturated with competitors touting similar products to jaded and sceptical customers.

To counter this, the firm reasoned that getting into prawn farming would allow it to demonstrate the worth of these microscopic organisms - and thereby attract customers.

The microbes that Bionovar has developed help prawn farmers keep their facilities clean and disease-free in an environmentally friendly manner.

The 2004 foray worked out so well that Bionovar has made prawn farming a business mainstay.

It now runs a 50ha prawn farm in Malaysia producing 600 tonnes of tiger and Pacific white prawns every year. It has more prawn farms in India and will be expanding into China soon. It has also started a farm for tilapia fish in Vietnam.

Earlier this year, it set up a distribution arm to sell its prawns to gourmet restaurants and households in Singapore.

Getting to this point, though, has been challenging.

For one thing, raising money to get off the ground was incredibly difficult.

While many Singapore investors were 'curious' about Bionovar, few plonked down their cash, said chief executive officer Chia Boon Tat.

This was probably because Singapore investors have little experience with agriculture, he added. Even the company's biotech billing cut no ice.

'Investors wanted to hear 'biohealth', not 'bioagriculture',' he said wryly.

In the end, though, the company managed to raise $1 million to conduct research into microbes. This sum came from the three founders' own pockets, along with some from the brothers of one of them, and more from investors.

Since then, Bionovar has raised another $5.7 million for its prawn farms.

Its founders, who come from varying backgrounds, are Dr Chia, 46, a telecommunications executive; microbiologist Angelito Abaoag, 39; and aerospace engineer Liaw Kok Eng, 39. The trio, who met in 2003, got together 'by chance', said Dr Chia.

Back then, all three had been leading comfortable lives working for multinational companies.

'But we were also at that age when we wanted to go out and do something on our own,' said Dr Chia.

Rather than just talking about how to 'make the world greener', they decided to put their words into action.

The plan: use a combination of microbes - nature's own rubbish collectors - and beneficial bacteria or probiotics to help farmers reduce their reliance on pesticides and antibiotics.

The heavy use of chemicals in agriculture, said Dr Chia, has been increasing the level of pollution. Meanwhile, over-reliance on antibiotics has created new strains of diseases increasingly resistant to the drugs.

This, he added, was one reason that the region's aqua-farming, already a 'high-risk' industry, was going into a 'downward spiral'.

For instance, the typical prawn farmer finds it increasingly difficult to rear bigger - and more profitable - prawns.

Today, most prawn farmers harvest the prawns after 120 days. Dr Chia said keeping prawns alive after this period is very difficult because of the build-up of sludge in the pond.

The sludge, a combination of prawn faecal matter, uneaten prawn food that has begun to rot and plankton, eventually causes the pond's ecology to crash - and the prawns perish.

Bionovar uses microbes to break down the sludge, said Dr Chia. Compared to using chemicals as an alternative, microbes are a 'non-intrusive way to nurse the pond back to its original healthy state', he added.

He said that when Bionovar first tried to sell its microbes, it found itself up against many more well-established companies, all peddling similar products.

Customers were sceptical of the company's claims, having been burnt once too often by competitors' unfulfilled promises.

In the end, Bionovar managed to sell only some 'tens of thousands' of dollars of biotech products.

The resulting move into prawn farming has produced good returns. He said last year's profits from selling the prawns has already surpassed its original biotech sales.

Last year's revenue was $1 million. This year's revenue is expected to be several times that amount.

The company's profit margins are fattened by probiotics - dietary supplements containing beneficial bacteria like those used in drinks like Yakult. They help boost the prawns' health and survival chances. Bigger prawns mean wider profit margins, said Dr Chia.

For instance, Pacific white prawns harvested after the typical 120-day cycle usually weigh 10g to 12g and retail at about $10 per kg. By comparison, the same prawns harvested after 180 days weigh about 35g and retail at $24 per kg, he added.

Bionovar, which believes its success in prawn farming is due to its biotech origins, continues to maintain a research facility at Nanyang Polytechnic to continue improving its microbes.

However, it no longer offers its products for sale. Instead, it keeps them for its own use and thereby maintains its competitive edge over other prawn farmers, But it does offer a profit-sharing scheme for those interested in working with the company.

Its early forays into prawn farming were not always successful, Dr Chia said.

While Bionovar's prawn-farming process, on paper, was sound, there were a few instances when the entire population of its prawn ponds died due to 'human error', he said.

Today, though, its 50 staff at its prawn farms are more reliable and such heart-stopping moments are a thing of the past, said Dr Chia. Bionovar has 15 more employees in Singapore doing research and development, sales and other functions.

Dangers that lie ahead include disease and industrial espionage, he added.

Disease has led to tiger prawns, previously the dominant species among cultivated prawns, being largely wiped out and replaced by the more disease-resistant Pacific white prawns, said Dr Chia.

He believes it is only a matter of time before a similar outbreak hits Pacific white prawns.

The company has already started working on anti-viral products aimed at suppressing such outbreaks among prawns, as well as improving their resistance to diseases.

And as for competitors looking to steal its biotech, Bionovar has put in place countermeasures to prevent them from reverse-engineering its products.

Any attempts to reproduce the biotech in large quantities will result in products with 'significantly reduced capability and potency', said Dr Chia.

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Green initiatives merely lip service?

Reader disappointed by government website
Today Online 30 Jul 08;

I REFER to “Sustainable if costs don’t tip the scales” (July 29).

Finally, the public can participate in the formulation of, and possibly even influence, policies surrounding the adoption of green living in Singapore.

I eagerly visited the site www.sustainablesingapore.gov.sg, but was dismayed at the small space provided for feedback. That says it all.

Either the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development is not expecting much feedback, or they are not expecting Singaporeans to think very deeply about this issue. I know of quite a few people who could probably write a thesis on the implementation of green living in Singapore and back it up with facts, figures, examples etc. How would such carefully thought through and well-researched opinions be submitted through this site?

I would also like to propose that such feedback be conducted via a forum platform, where the suggestions can be posted for all to see. Other members of the public can then also give their opinions on various suggestions. This format will allow the participants to exchange opinions and debate the merits of various suggestions, and in so doing, create a more vibrant and dynamic feedback process. It would also be a good step towards encouraging active citizen participation in issues that matter to them.

Public input for green plans
Straits Times 30 Jul 08;

HOW do you convince people to do the right thing? How do you change behaviour? Of course, there is the top-down approach, through legislation. But is it effective? The answer has to be, not always. For this reason, we welcome the approach the Government is taking in plans to build a more environmentally friendly Singapore: Find out from individuals, businesses and civic groups what they think, what they are passionate about and what their priorities are. Then, work with them. With such a 'buy-in', initiatives and plans will likely have greater support from the very start, as the public is involved in influencing the choice of programmes and of their design. In other words, the key is to determine the confluence between grassroots concerns and wants, and government intentions.

Towards this end, there will be opportunities through the Internet and forums for the public to share views and possible solutions to environmental challenges. For instance, feedback on home design for rubbish disposal and the habits might prove useful in designing ways that make it easier for households to recycle. And are there cycling groups out there, and what do they think it'll take to make the bike a commuting option? Enthusiastic public engagement with policy planners can lead to fresh ways of looking at old problems, and new insights from those closest to the issues, from consumers to small and big businesses and volunteer groups. The important thing is to get as many people involved as possible, so plans have the greatest resonance. This, however, is where difficulty might lie. Not all suggestions are workable, and they need to be sorted out without alienating people. This will take time and effort. Even before that, will the public respond in the number needed? While there is a good number of people who will relish the opportunity to have a say, there are also those who prefer to leave it to someone else. So getting people to become more involved will need some work.

It's one thing to seek responses to questions in a survey, and another to open up a dialogue with stakeholders. The former offers the possibility of crafting the best solution from a set of options. The latter, however, can offer solutions that hadn't even yet been considered. Whether it's energy conservation, recycling or reducing car use, changing entrenched habits isn't easy. But if the public is given a stake in how this might be reshaped, the bigger is the chance that it will stick.

Going green in Singapore
Business Times 30 Jul 08;

THE English economist, Thomas Malthus, famously if provocatively, asserted that world population growth would outrun food supply - and that this catastrophe would occur by the middle of the 19th century.

While his predictions fortunately didn't come to pass, the essence of his message did strike a chord - it still does today - and 'Malthusian' ideas and theories later proved highly influential in not only socioeconomics but even evolutionary science. Malthus laid bare the notion that human development, at the rate it was going even back in the 1800s, was unsustainable; mankind was living beyond its means.

Some 200 years on, the concept of sustainable development - now a rather loaded term that encompasses inter-related global issues such as environmental degradation, poverty and inequality - is a key UN priority, the subject of numerous global summits, and a policy initiative for many countries.

Singapore, as a near-mature First World economy in many respects, has now joined the global community in embracing the goal of sustainable development. It takes a straightforward approach: sustainable development for Singapore means 'being able to support future economic and population growth while maintaining a quality living environment that is clean, green and healthy', the government says. The motivations are both aspirational and plainly realist, driven as much by the Republic's vision to be an attractive, lively and liveable global city, as by the challenges of meeting growing resource demands amid severe constraints and rising fuel costs.

The committee of ministers leading the big drive has identified three main areas where 'green' initiatives will be focused - public transport, at the workplace, and where (or 'the way') Singaporeans 'live and play', which just about cover all bases. The ideas out of early feedback so far also hint at the costs and concerns involved in a subject that may still be a little foreign to most, both business and consumers. The Green Mark for property developers, for instance - which carries a cash grant of up to $3 million for green building and design features - has not seen widespread adoption. And already, the efforts to encourage greater use of public transport probably simply spells, for car owners here, ever-rising costs of driving, from ERP to parking charges.

Most interesting yet may well be the plans to promote cycling as a means of commuting, given the tweaks in road and footpath design - and pedestrian and driver attitudes - they entail. Indeed, the efforts on all fronts come down to, as the government notes, encouraging people and industries to adopt practices that are sustainable in the long term - a movement that calls for strong public education, and which, for the business sector, may well fail to gain ground in the face of more pressing priorities such as bottomline needs.

But both business and individuals must come around to the fact that going green in Singapore is no tree-hugging baloney; it is entirely in its own long-term best interests.

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These creepy crawlies can help recycle food waste

Have no fear, for the worms are odourless and will not escape from the containers
Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 30 Jul 08;

NOW apartment-dwellers can go green in more ways than one — by recycling their food waste and generating compost for their high-rise gardens. The formula? A can of worms.

Since its debut at the Singapore Garden Festival on July 25, some 300 Singaporeans have already indicated interest in having their own worm farms.

While the worms are already being bred by GreenBack Private Limited in Kranji, those eager to start their own worm fertiliser farms in their balconies or backyards face a six-to-eight-week wait before taking delivery of their special worm housings — called Can-O-Worms — as these have to be shipped in from Australia.

Ms Nancy Chong, a retiree, is one of those keen on the product. Said the 60-year-old: “I do grow some plants in my flat, so I thought this is a very good idea and I wanted to know more about the product. My friends in Australia are already using the system and they do their own composting.”

GreenBack director Enoch Chia said the system was ideal for home use.

“Consumers just have to feed the worms with leftover vegetables and the worms will produce worm casts that can be used as organic fertilisers for plants,” he said. “We hope that Can-O-Worms can encourage people to recycle their own food waste and be more environmentally friendly.”

The worm farm is also supposed to be odourless as the food waste is quickly eaten up by the worms.

There is also little danger of the crawlies escaping from their containers, assured fellow GreenBack director David Murphy.

“The worms will not escape since they have food to eat in the trays,” he said.

“They may only escape if there is overpopulation but that is not likely as the worms will regulate their own population.”

Asked about after-care service for the worm farm, Mr Chia said: “We do not anticipate any problems with the product as the system is supposed to be self-maintaining. But customers can always call us if they have any problems.”

He added that this is a good time to bring in the product because of the green movement.

“There is now greater awareness to recycle waste and the government is also encouraging people to go green.”

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Reflections on leading a Singapore social enterprise

Tan Suee Chieh, Business Times 30 Jul 08;

SOCIAL enterprises have existed for at least a century, but remain a relatively new concept to the man-in-the-street. Invariably, there will be some who confuse it with a charity, trade union or grassroots political organisation.

The key difference between a social enterprise and a commercial business is the social purpose of the former. This often revolves around providing essential goods and services for the masses, job creation for the socially disadvantaged or positive change in the environment.

While the distinction between the two is clear, the irony lost on many is that a social enterprise has to acquire many of the characteristics of a commercial business to thrive.

Throughout the world today, outstanding and successful social enterprises are run like any other commercial business, under sound and professional management practices, with a view to being sustainable for the long term.

There is a crucial difference between organisations with a social purpose and commercial businesses with a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. What basically separates the two is their core reason of existence, i.e. their purpose and philosophy.

Social enterprises put people at their heart of their decision making, with capital as an important and indispensable secondary. The reverse is true for businesses that count rewards for capital first - even for those with acclaimed achievements in CSR.

In other words, it is labour that hires capital at social enterprises, rather than a case of capital hiring labour for commercial enterprises.

Social enterprises trace their origin to philanthropic industrialists in the 19th century, who were called social entrepreneurs to acknowledge their genuine commitment to employees' welfare.

Over the years and over the world, technology, competition, globalisation, consolidation and heightened governance requirements have required social enterprises, especially those in the financial sector, to transform. Otherwise, they perish.

Notable examples such as Grameen Bank and British retailer John Lewis have stayed the course by adopting their respective industry best practices without compromising their social purpose.

The same cannot be said, however, for countless other ventures that floundered by downplaying the importance of sound management practices and capital management.

In his book Good to Great and the Social Sectors, Jim Collins used what he termed the Hedgehog Concept to explain how social enterprises could achieve the best long-term results. This is a model based on his research of the most successful social enterprises, premised on the notion that the best ones aligned themselves to what they were deeply passionate about, what they could be the best in the world at, and what drove their resource engine.

The latter comprises three basic components of time - how well the organisation can attract people, money, sustained cash flow, and brand, how well it can cultivate goodwill and support among its stakeholders.

These three attributes are reflected as three intersecting circles, whose point of intersection represents what social enterprises should ideally focus on.

The emphasis is not how much money the social enterprise can make, but how it can become sustainable to deliver superior performance relative to its social mission.

To succeed, Collins argues, social enterprises need to focus on their Hedgehog Concept. This would help them achieve superior results, which in turn would attract more resources and commitment they can use to build a stronger organisation. The latter would of course deliver even better results, creating the momentum for a self-perpetuating cycle of excellence.

The changes affecting many social enterprises around the world, as they transform and adapt to changing times, mirror those taking place at NTUC Income today.

As a homegrown social enterprise, we recognise the need to stay relevant and successful by modernising and professionalising the organisation, so that we can continue to attract both talent and customers. These measures include investing in professional systems and management tools for better decision-making, a more meritocratic career path for a more energised, motivated and professional workforce, and adopting more professional approaches and global best practices to strengthen our governance standards.

Our transformation is sometimes misunderstood as the commercialisation of NTUC Income and a betrayal of our social charter. The truth of the matter is that we remain ardently committed to place people, instead of capital, at the heart of our decision making. We just plan to do it more professionally, systematically and objectively.

Social enterprises that aspire to be truly great organisations need to have focus, discipline and the right processes in place.

But nothing can be more important than the values and purpose that guide them, and this will continue to be a key differentiating factor between social enterprises and their commercial counterparts.

The writer is the Chief Executive of NTUC Income

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Indonesia's coal miner denies operating in forest areas

PlanetArk 30 Jul 08;

JAKARTA - Indonesian coal miner, PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), has denied operating in protected forest, after an East Kalimantan regency ordered the firm to stop operating in some areas in a dispute over permits and land ownership.

East Kutai regency said on Saturday it had ordered KPC and another coal firm, PT Perkasa Inaka Kerta, to stop operating in these areas because the firms did not have permits from the forestry ministry for 40,000 hectares (98,840 acres) of land.

"Based on prevailing regulations, KPC's mining operation area is definitely not a forest area," the company said in a statement issued late on Monday.

KPC said that based on its contract of work, the authority to stop mining rested with the central government, represented by the mining and energy ministry.

"KPC has been conferred the status of a strategic national asset by the central government. Hence, KPC is requesting the central government to secure and protect the strategic national asset from any disruption. KPC is also examining its legal options in this endeavour."

The firm, a unit of PT Bumi Resources Indonesia's largest coal miner controlled by the family of chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, produced 38.9 million tonnes of coal in 2007, or about a fifth of Indonesia's total production.

Bumi Resources has said that its coal production at KPC was not affected by the order and was running normal.

India's Tata Power has 30 percent stake in KPC and another coal mining unit of Bumi, PT Arutmin Indonesia.

Perkasa Inaka Kerta is a unit of PT Bayan Resources Tbk, which aims to produce 9 million tonnes of coal this year and is set to raise US$529 million in an initial public offering.

A push towards greater regional autonomy since the end of the autocratic rule of former President Suharto in 1998 has often prompted companies to complain about having to deal with several sets of bureaucracy and double taxation.

It is often also not clear whether local decrees can be enforced or how they relate to contracts and central government regulations.

Indonesia is the world's largest thermal coal exporter and miners in the Southeast Asian country have gained from strong demand from China and India and record high coal prices.

Indonesia expects to produce 205 million tonnes of coal in 2008, with domestic demand seen at 52 million tonnes and the remainder to be exported, according to energy ministry data. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono, editing by Ed Davies and Lincoln Feast)

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Building boom sapping Senegal's shoreline

Julie Vandal, Yahoo News 29 Jul 08;

It may be against the law, but every dawn along the beaches of Dakar dozens of men gather to steal a vital ingredient to sell on to Senegal's booming construction industry -- sand.

The "thieves" then trade the sand to building firms to use in construction projects, fuelling the development of Dakar's coastline while eroding its beaches.

"This coastal strip we are trying to protect has almost completely disappeared, said Amadou Balde, head of the Senegal SOS Coastline association. On the shore below, three men were filling up their wheelbarrow with spadefulls of sand from a sandbank battered by the waves.

One of these three pre-dawn workers was Mamadou. As the handcart filled with a mound of damp sand, he owned up to making four or five such illicit thefts each day, "sometimes more".

The theft of beach sand from any of this West African country's 700-kilometre (435-mile) coastline is, at least in theory, banned.

But in reality there is a booming black market for the sand, which has grown to meet the burgeoning needs of the Senegalese construction industry, currently on the upswing .

With a growth rate averaging 12.45 percent from 2004 to 2007, the building industry makes up 4.6 percent of Senegal's Gross Domestic Product. That makes the sector one of the most dynamic parts of the the economy in this west African state -- which otherwise is plagued by high unemployment where about half the population lives below the poverty line, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.

At the centre of the boom is the increasing spread of the Dakar urban area, where new housing is springing up like a rash. Piles of sand several metres high block every pavement.

"Everyone will tell you the opposite, but, with the exception of a few works of art, 100 percent of building sites use sea sand," confessed one entrepreneur, who did not want to give his name. "We don't have any choice, there isn't any other," he added.

There's just one problem: "it is contributing to the destruction of our coastline," according to Pape Goumba Lo, lecturer in applied geology at the University of Dakar.

There is only one place where sand-digging is officially permitted, a quarry 27 kilometres outside Dakar at Mbeubeuss, where sand-extraction has also intensified in recent years.

All day long huge yellow lorries, their skips full to the brim with sand, come and go from the site, heading for Dakar.

"Just imagine it. That's 400 lorries a day, each carrying 10 tonnes of sand, so around 7,000 square metres (8,372 square yards) of sea sand are disappearing each day," complained ecologist Haidar El Ali.

In order to step up the fight against illegal sand-extractors, the police have created a dedicated ecological brigade, which patrols the coastline along the Dakar suburbs several times a week. It was set up in May 2006.

In a four-wheel-drive vehicle in the middle of the night, warrant-officer Abdourhamane Diop and his team are on the lookout for sand thieves. Several handcarts and horses are visible along the seafront, but there's no one in sight.

"It's difficult to catch them in the act," bemoans Diop. "The word goes round that we are about, and they regroup after our patrol is over."

In the two years the squad has been operating, 84 people have been arrested, 99 handcarts have been seized, as well as 21 vehicles. On average, culprits receive a short jail sentence (one to two months) combined with a fine, which can vary from 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros, 235 dollars) to a million CFA francs (1,500 euros).

However, the deterrent effect of such punishment is limited, Diop said. "Even if we catch them, they start again because demand is so strong they can make lots of money, up to 80,000 CFA francs (120 euros) a month."

His feet deeply embedded in the cool sand of the Guediawaye beach, Balde is distraught at the future prospects.

"The whole world is complicit in this: from the thieves with the handcarts to those building the houses," he railed.

"When the sea is lapping at the doors of these new houses, what will they have to say for themselves?"

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