Singapore National Research Foundation awards S$1.5m in scholarships for clean energy

National Research Foundation awards S$1.5m in scholarships to 3 students
Channel NewsAsia 19 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE: For the first time, three students have been awarded scholarships to pursue their PhD studies in clean energy overseas.

In total, they received S$1.5 million from the National Research Foundation (NRF). Each will receive S$500,000.

They are Darryl Wang, a Nanyang Technological University graduate, Joel Li and Zheng Cheng, both from the National University of Singapore.

Two of the recipients will pursue their PhD in the University of New South Wales, Australia, while the third will head to the University of California, Berkeley, US.

The three, aged between 22 and 26, were selected from some 40 applicants.

They will spend about four years overseas to pursue their studies and when they return, they will serve a four-year bond in the clean energy industry.

The monetary award is part of the S$25 million programme for clean energy scholarships. The programme was launched last year by the Clean Energy Programme Office.

"In the long term, I hope to promote the solar industry in Singapore, to encourage people to adopt solar panels in their homes and roof tops so that one day we'll see a cleaner, greener Singapore...and to encourage students from secondary schools, JCs and universities to embark on research projects in SERIS, the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, to spark off their interest in this area and hopefully the solar industry in Singapore will grow," said 24-year-old Joel Li, who will pursue his PhD in solar energy at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Joining him is 26-year-old Darryl Wang.

Darryl said: "It opens up a new chapter in my life. I'll be able to spend four years overseas and it'll be a new experience. Moreover, I'll be learning from some of the top professors in the world in the solar energy field. So it really means a lot to me. Without this scholarship, I wouldn't have the financial means to pursue my career path in solar energy research at the University of New South Wales."

Zheng Cheng, 22, will head to the University of California, Berkeley in the US.

The Chinese national, who received a prior scholarship for his graduate studies in Singapore, plans to make Singapore his permanent home.

He said: "I come to Singapore under MOE scholarship. With the scholarship, there are a lot of opportunities to develop myself and that's how you see me right now with first-class honours degree. I think in that sense, I'm indebted to Singapore, because you support me and without your support, I may not be what I am right now. Now, there's another scholarship supporting my further studies in the US, so I'm further indebted to this country."

Dr Tony Tan, chairman of National Research Foundation, said: "To be able to compete in the global market, Singapore has to differentiate itself by training an elite pool of talent who are well-versed in technology and innovation. This is one of the reasons why we decided to have the NRF Clean Energy PhD Scholarships programme. We know that for a robust clean energy ecosystem to be in place, manpower development is vital."

Over the next five years, the National Research Foundation hopes to sponsor more than 100 students to take up post-graduate degrees in the clean energy sector. This industry is a key growth engine for Singapore. It is expected to contribute over one billion Singapore dollars to the country's GDP and create 7,000 jobs by 2015. - CNA/ir

Three bright sparks in Singapore’s solar future
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 20 Jun 08;

CHINA-BORN engineering graduate Zheng Cheng sees a bright future for Singapore’s solar energy industry, and for this reason, he sees his future in this country.

The 22-year-old Singapore Permanent Resident, who recently graduated with First Class Honours from the National University ofSingapore, will receive citizenship before heading to the University of California, Berkeley, next August to do his PhD in solarenergy research.

“I feel solar energy is the most promising area of clean energy, and I’m determined to go into it,” said Mr Zheng, one of three recipients of the inaugural National Research Foundation (Clean Energy) PhD scholarships handed out yesterday by foundation chairman Dr Tony Tan.

Mr Zheng, a Chengdu native, plans to do research on batteries and other components in the solar cell system, to make them more “compatible for large-scale use”.

Also receiving the awards worth $500,000 each, were Mr Darryl Wang Kee Soon and Mr Joel Li Bingrui. Both will be starting their PhDs at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney next month.

Mr Wang, 26, worked at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) after graduating from the Nanyang Technological University in 2006.

He decided to venture into solar research after the Clean Energy Programme Office (Cepo) was set up last year, and after Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp pledged to build the world’s largest integrated solar manufacturing plant in Singapore.

Mr Wang plans to focus onsecond-generation solar cell research, and has dreams of having his own start-up offering breakthrough technology in solar cell design when he returns.

The scholars will serve four-year bonds doing research in the clean energy companies or research institutes here after their studies.

Mr Li, 24, was inspired to do something about global warming after he did a year-long exchange at Canada’s University of British Columbia in 2006.

He took one module on renewable energy and felt motivated to learn more — being immersed in an environment where consumers sorted out their trash and where public-private sector tie-ups such as the Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Programme took place, did not hurt either.

At the UNSW — an institution renowned for its solar cell research — Mr Li hopes to help developcommercially-viable solar celltechnology.

“My dream is to see solar panels on every roof top in 20 years’ time,” he said.

The three recipients were picked from a pool of 36 applicants, all of whom were interested in pursuing solar-related research, said the Economic Development Board, which heads the CEPO, launched last April to spearhead cleanenergy solutions.

A $25 million programme for clean energy scholarships was launched by Cepo last year. It hopes to award over 100 NRF (Clean Energy) PhD scholarships over the next five years, said Dr Tan at the ceremony.

Trio win study awards to do solar research
Each receives a $500k scholarship to study ways to tap sun's energy
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 20 Jun 08;

THE Government has handed out three postgraduate scholarships worth $500,000 each in an effort to cultivate the next generation of experts in clean energy.

The awards, the first of their kind, will go to a trio of recent engineering graduates heading abroad to study ways of converting the sun's rays into power.

The scholarships come as Singapore aims to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Officials also want the country to become a regional centre for clean energy research.

The Government hopes to develop a renewable energy industry that will generate $1.7 billion of added value and create 7,000 new jobs by 2015.

The industry is likely to have a hard time filling positions. National Research Foundation chairman Tony Tan said that the sector was growing by 30 to 50 per cent annually.

He presented the scholarships to the recipients yesterday.

'To be able to compete in the global market, Singapore has to differentiate itself by training an elite pool of talent well versed in technology and innovation,' he said.

In all, $25 million has been set aside for 100 scholarships at the PhD and master's levels over five years to meet the country's need for leading researchers.

The three scholarship winners are among Singapore's brightest hopes in the field of clean energy, said Mr Kenneth Tan, a spokesman for the Clean Energy Programme Office (Cepo).

All the recipients were picked by Cepo.

The three of them had won top honours in their engineering classes and are expected to return by 2012 armed with doctorates in the field of solar cell research, he said.

Mr Zheng Cheng, from Chengdu, China, is the youngest scholarship winner at 22 and a mechanical engineering honours graduate from the National University of Singapore (NUS). He leaves next year for the University of California in Berkeley.

'The best career I could possibly have is to one day be able to help formulate Singapore's policies related to clean energy issues,' said Mr Zheng, the only non-Singaporean among the winners.

The two other winners were Mr Darryl Wang, 26, and Mr Joel Li, 24, electrical and electronic engineering graduates from Nanyang Technological University and NUS respectively. They will head to the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and study with world-renowned names in solar cell research.

Mr Wang and Mr Li are keen to pioneer ways of making solar cells as efficient as possible and turning them into Singapore's preferred source of power.

Mr Li said: 'Eventually, I'd like to set up my own company to research more efficient solar cells, which can one day be manufactured and exported globally.'

The winners of scholarships to foreign universities must serve a four-year bond in research and development in Singapore's clean energy industry. If they do not do this, they will have to return the total value of the scholarship, with interest.

The clean-energy sector develops renewable sources of power. Such sources of energy include turbines driven by solar rays, wind or water.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUMATHI V SELVARETNAM

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Two dead, 5 injured in Tuas shipyard accident

Channel NewsAsia 19 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE: Two foreign workers died and five others were injured in a shipyard accident in Tuas Crescent on Wednesday.

Details are not available, but the police have confirmed that all seven workers involved are from India.

They were sent to hospital but two of them, who were in their 20s, died a few hours later.

Sources said the accident involved a gas leak, but this has yet to be confirmed.

The police and the Ministry of Manpower are investigating. - CNA/de

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Satellite for tracking sea levels set for launch

Jean-Louis Santini, Yahoo News 19 Jun 08;

The French-US satellite Jason 2, slated for lift-off Friday from California, will provide precise monitoring of rising sea levels and currents and track the effects of climate change.

Weather permitting, the high-tech oceanography space lab will be launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1946 GMT, when a nine-minute window of opportunity for the launch opens.

Fifty-five minutes after take-off, it will reach its orbit some 1,335 kilometers (830 miles) above the Earth.

"We are set to fly," NASA launch manager Omar Baez said on the Spaceflight Now website.

Jason 2 is programmed to maneuver into the same orbit as its predecessor Jason 1, which was launched in 2001, and eventually replace the older craft.

Rising sea levels is one of the most serious consequences of global warming, threatening dozens of island nations and massively populated delta regions, especially in Asia and Africa.

Data from previous missions showed that sea levels have risen on average by 0.3 centimeters per year since 1993, or twice as much as they did in the whole of the 20th century, according to marine measurements.

But 15 years of data is not enough to draw accurate long-term conclusions, say scientists.

The three-year OSTM (Ocean Surface Topography Mission)/Jason 2 mission will help create the first multi-decade global record of the role of the ocean in climate change, according to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

It will also provide more accurate forecasts of seasonal weather patterns, and near real-time data on ocean conditions.

"Without this data record, we would have no basis for evaluating change," said the mission's project scientist, Lee-Lueng Fu, in a statement.

Fu compared the sea level record begun in 1992 with the continuous measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide initiated in the 1950s at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

"The Mauna Loa data proved that carbon dioxide levels were indeed rising as had been predicted, and they were the basis for our understanding of the greenhouse effect," Fu said.

"The height of the ocean is another fundamental measurement of our climate. The key is to have rigorous, well-calibrated data collected over a long period of time."

Global sea levels are expected to rise in the coming years as the Earth warms, scientists have said.

The oceans act as the planet's thermostat, and absorb more than 80 percent of the heat from global warming, with the rest absorbed by the atmosphere, land and glaciers, NASA scientists have found.

Warming water and melting ice are the two main factors contributing to rising sea levels.

The OSTM/Jason 2 mission is a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the French National Center of Space Studies (CNES) and the European satellite agency EUMETSAT.

Jason 2's most powerful onboard instrument is CNES's Poseidon 3 radar altimeter, which can measure the height of ocean surfaces in relation to Earth's centre with a margin of error of 3.3 centimetres (1.3 inches).

GLOBAL WARMING
Eye-in-the-sky to keep tabs on sea level
Michael Richardson, Straits Times 20 Jun 08;

SCIENTISTS and other specialists who study global warming are eagerly awaiting the launch of a satellite today that will measure the rise of the world's sea level more accurately than ever before.

If the Jason-2 satellite and its advanced radar altimeter are successfully lofted into orbit from a base in California, they will map almost all of the world's ice-free oceans every 10 days for at least the next five years, reducing the margin of uncertainty to within 2.5cm.

The satellite is part of a joint space venture between European and United States space and weather agencies. The information it beams back from nearly 1,340km above the Earth's surface will shed more light on one of the most controversial areas of climate change - the extent to which the sea level will rise in future.

The issue is of critical importance to Asia. With more than four billion people, it is the world's most populous continent. Nearly 40 per cent of Asians live within 100km of a coast, many in low-lying deltas. These include the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas in China, the Mekong in Vietnam, the Ganges-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh, the Chao Phraya in Thailand and the Irrawaddy in Myanmar, which was ravaged by a cyclone last month.

The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 100 million people in the great Asian deltas could be displaced by a sea level rise of more than 1m.

Summarising available scientific evidence on global warming, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year forecast sea level rises ranging from 18cm to 59cm this century, after an increase of 17cm in the 20th century.

The IPCC suggested that most of the projected rise by 2100 would be the result of water in the oceans expanding as it warmed, with little being added by the discharge of water from the melting of the ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica.

But some scientists point to recent signs that vulnerable parts of these two vast ice sheets are melting at an alarmingly fast rate. They warn that this indicates that sea level rise this century could be several metres, rather than the maximum of 0.6m predicted by the IPCC.

If the unstable sections of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets were to melt completely, sea levels around the world could rise by 10m to 12m.

Dr Eric Rignot, a scientist working for Nasa, the US space agency, believes that unchecked warming in the 21st century could result in a metre of global sea level rise from water flowing off Greenland, a metre from Antarctica and half a metre as the remaining alpine glaciers melt.

The IPCC report said that coastal zones, especially the densely populated mega-delta regions of South, South-east and North-east Asia, would be at greatest risk due to increased flooding from rising sea levels and storm surges.

Some of these deltas will also be at risk of flooding from overflowing rivers. Mountain glaciers in the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau may shrivel away, unleashing too much water at first - and then too little for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on their flow.

'The crux of the problem is that we are moving into an era where we are observing changes in the climate system that have never before been seen in human history,' says Dr Gerald Meehl, a scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research and a coordinating lead author of the latest IPCC report.

'Ice sheets fall into that category. Quite simply, at this time we don't have a good upper-range estimate of how much the sea level will rise and how fast.'

Having the Jason-2 satellite aloft should help. Variations in the height of the sea surface, when combined with measurements from other satellites and tidal gauges at sea level in various parts of the world, will improve weather and climate system models. Whether this will prompt the IPCC to predict a much higher sea level by 2100 than it did last year remains to be seen.

There appear to be some contrary factors at work. For example, warmer air can absorb more moisture and may, paradoxically, bring more snow to Greenland and Antarctica, thus thickening and stabilising the cores of the ice sheets, despite some peripheral melting.

There is also more to the dynamics of sea level rise than just a single, global rise, explains Mr Mikael Rattenborg, director of operations for the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, one of the agencies supporting the Jason-2 launch.

'Although we have seen, overall, global sea level rise, there are areas that have decreased for long periods, followed by an increase,' he says.

'We can only analyse the significance of regional variability of sea level rise if we have altimetry data. Jason-2 will help us model and explain this evolution.'

The writer is an energy and security specialist at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Jun 08

Dr James posts about Cyrene Reef
featuring some of our blogs and zoanthids of course on his MISE@University of the Ryukyus (JD Reimer Lab) blog

Toddycats @ Envirofest’08 (Sat 28 Jun & Sun 29 Jun)
on the Toddycats blog

“Start a Sea Change: Join us for an international cleanup!”
a video clip on the News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore blog

November shares
in an interview with the Straits Times on how she got into the environmental scene and more on the leafmonkey blog

Reply on the URA Draft Master Plan 2008
speaking up for our shores on the wildfilms blog

Frogfish on Changi
on the wildfilms blog

Blue-eared Barbet and its black gular sac
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Hornbills and pigeons
on the tidechaser blog

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Whale Sharks 'Fly' Like Fighter Pilots

LiveScience.com Yahoo News 18 Jun 08;

Monster sharks can execute underwater "flight" moves that would have put some fighter pilots to shame, two researchers announced this week.

Normally seen cruising slowly at the surface, the whale shark, which does not harm humans, can transform in the deep, hurling itself into a swift, steep dive like a pilot, soaring up and then down again in a series of great bounds, said researcher Rory Wilson of Swansea University in the Wales.

Whale sharks are the world's biggest fish. They are not whales or mammals.

"It is like the way a bird dives, then soars, using its momentum and gravity to conserve as much energy as possible. It flies like a bird - but in this case, a bird as large as a bus!" Wilson said. Such behavior has never been observed in a fish before, he said.

Wilson worked with Brad Norman of Australia's Murdoch University to track whale sharks in the Indian Ocean, off Ningaloo, on Australia's western coast. The team equipped several whale sharks with an electronic device that records in minute detail - eight times a second - the giant creature's every action, including speed, depth, pitch, roll and heading, along with every beat of the fish's tail.

"For the first time, we have an insight into what it is that these magnificent creatures get up to when they are out of sight of humans - and it isn't what we expected," said Norman, who received a Rolex Award in 2006 for his project employing "citizen scientists" worldwide to help study and protect whale sharks through an online global photo ID library.

"It's a real Jekyll-and-Hyde existence," said Wilson of the contrasting behaviors of the sharks revealed by his electronic wildlife monitor. The device is helping to reveal details of the lives of more than 50 animal species in the wild, a project that won Wilson a Rolex Award, also in 2006.

The devices were attached in late May to eight sharks up to 26 feet (8 meters) long off Ningaloo. The devices are designed to release from the sharks and can be recovered by tracking them. The recovered data documented every move of the giant fish over several hours.

Eventually, the devices could reveal how and where whale sharks feed and breed, enabling those localities to protect the giant fish from human impacts such as hunting or pollution.

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Swimming with the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium

Atlanta visitors willing to pay can get up close and personal with the world's largest fish, but some experts call it a bad idea.
By Richard Fausse, Los Angeles Times 19 Jun 08;

"It'd be the equivalent of you being in a bedroom for the rest of your life after having had the ability to walk around freely, and then having 20 people come join you in your personal space every so often."

ATLANTA — Vikas Chinnan stood over a tank at the world's largest aquarium, peering down at the world's largest fish species. He was wondering what it would be like to jump in and frolic beside the whale sharks.

The creature approached, eerily quiet. It was longer than a Ford Expedition, impossibly elegant as it banked into a turn at the tank's edge, flexing its gray, massive, mottled form into a parabola of living flesh.

"Oh man," muttered Chinnan, 32, one of eight divers who had paid $290 for the privilege. "I hope they fill up our [air] tanks, because I'm going to be breathing hard."

Whale sharks are as harmless as they are imposing, preferring plankton to people. But with the Georgia Aquarium launching its "Swim With Gentle Giants" program this month -- allowing a dozen swimmers and divers per day to enter the sharks' habitat -- marine experts fear it is the humans who could pose a threat.

Much of the trepidation has to do with the 2 1/2 -year-old aquarium's track record with whale sharks. Last year, two died for reasons that baffled staffers. Today, the "best hypothesis," according to spokeswoman Meghann Gibbons, is that they reacted poorly to a chemical treatment used to combat parasites.

Jean-Michel Cousteau -- son of famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau -- was critical of the swim-with-the sharks program, given that the aquarium was not 100% sure why the animals died.

"They think maybe those sharks died because of some chemical treatment," said Cousteau, founder of the nonprofit Ocean Futures Society in Santa Barbara. "I certainly don't think there's something to learn from someone swimming with a whale shark."

George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, agreed. The whale sharks, which roam hundreds of miles in the wild, already are stressed by their confinement, he said. And they are likely to be harmed further by close proximity to humans -- and by potential exposure to germs exotic to them.

"It'd be the equivalent of you being in a bedroom for the rest of your life after having had the ability to walk around freely," Burgess said. "And then having 20 people come join you in your personal space every so often."

The Georgia Aquarium is not the only one is the U.S. to offer visitor diving programs. But it is the only one outside of Asia to attempt to keep whale sharks, a little-understood animal that can grow as long as 60 feet. The controversy over the swim program has magnified a tension inherent in many big-ticket aquariums, which have proliferated around the globe in recent decades.

Though they typically promise to bolster marine education and advocacy, they also are entertainment venues competing for tourist dollars. Another world-class aquarium, in Chattanooga, Tenn., is only a two-hour drive from Atlanta.

Staffers at the Georgia Aquarium have defended the program. The four sharks kept in captivity, they said, are loosely monitored. Bruce Carlson, the chief science officer, is confident they will coexist with the daily stream of visitors.

"If we're wrong and these animals look like they're having negative reactions, we'll pull the program," he said.

Spokesman Dave Santucci noted that the fish were already used to people: Last year, he said, humans made about 5,000 trips into the tank for maintenance.

Santucci also noted that the aquarium was funding significant whale shark research projects in Mexico. The goal in Atlanta, he said, is to turn visitors into lifelong advocates for threatened ocean creatures.

"It's one thing to come down here and see them through the glass," he said, "and it's another to get in the water and experience them in their environment."

Chinnan and seven other certified scuba divers were in a small classroom recently far from the aquarium's crowds, getting a briefing from lead dive master Edward Ryan.

The genial Ryan, who formerly ran the dive program at DisneyWorld's Epcot Center, told them to keep a five-foot distance from the whale sharks and the thousands of other fish -- spotted wobbegongs and leopard sharks, guitarfish and trevally -- in the 6.3-million-gallon tank. He exhorted the group to follow instructions from the three staffers who would be diving with them, and to stay close together "so that we don't stress the animals," he said. "That's the whole key."

Moments later, the divers were crawling down a ladder and into the tank. They swam in a group beside an acrylic viewing tunnel packed with tourists. Lisa Davis, 37, snapped pictures as her fiance, Aaron Douglas of Santa Monica, waved from inside the tank. Someone snapped a photo of the couple: one of them dry, the other submerged, standing nearly beside each other.

"I don't scuba, so it's awesome for us to be able to participate with him like this," Davis said.

A few minutes later, the divers had moved in front of a massive window, where visitors gawked at them as if they were another school of snapper. A diver named Kevin Chung broke into a flailing aquatic break-dance. A giant grouper that bore a strong resemblance to Don Rickles hung around.

The group posed for an underwater videographer, who would edit the experience into a $50 commemorative DVD. One of the whale sharks ventured close by, then cruised away, part of its incessant figure-eight ritual of confinement.

After the dive, Tracy Eden, 46, called it "amazing."

"I think this gives people a different appreciation for the ocean," he said.

A dripping-wet Chinnan added: "You're always on the other side looking in, right?

"I've been here 10 times and every time I was like, I wish I could just jump in."

In August, the aquarium may court more controversy when it begins building a $110-million dolphin exhibit. It's the kind typically opposed by activists like Cousteau, who say such confinement is particularly cruel to marine mammals whose world is defined by acoustics.

Gibbons, the aquarium spokeswoman, would not say if a swim-dive program for dolphins was part of the plan. "The specifics are still being worked out," she said.

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Tuas solar plant to begin output in 2010

$6.3B INVESTMENT
Chia Yan Min, Straits Times 19 Jun 08;

THE Norwegian firm building a massive $6.3 billion solar panel plant at Tuas announced more details of the project yesterday, including how the construction would proceed.

Building of phase one, which involves an investment of $3.4 billion, will start in September, with operations due to commence in 2010.

Renewable Energy Corp (REC) will make investment decisions on the next phase next year, and the entire facility will be up and running by 2012.

It will cover an area of about 1 sq km at Tuas View, and is likely to be the largest solar wafer cell plant in the world. Space will be set aside for supporting industries.

REC last year picked Singapore over almost 200 other possible sites to locate the plant. The company signed a deal with the Economic Development Board last October.

About 3,000 jobs, including 2,000 for skilled staff, will be created by the time the plant is operating fully.

The plant will make wafers, cells and modules used to generate solar power. Once it is fully operational, the facility will be able to produce products that can generate up to 1.5 gigawatts of energy every year.

This is enough to power several million households at any time.

Revenue is expected to be about $2.5 billion by 2012.


Building to start on Norway solar firm's Singapore plant
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 19 Jun 08;

(SINGAPORE) Rapidly growing demand for solar energy products, spurred by rocketing oil prices, has led Norway's Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) to start construction this month of phase one of a $6.8 billion plant here.

REC expects to decide next year on phase two of the Tuas View complex, which will add 'substantial capacity' to its Scandinavian and US facilities. The complex will be the world's biggest integrated solar manufacturing plant.

The facility - comprising separate wafer, cell and module plants - will incorporate cutting-edge technology, REC senior vice-president Oyvind Hasaas said yesterday.

The go-ahead for the Singapore investment comes despite REC's concern about rising costs and inflation here. Electricity tariffs, which have shot up 18 per cent to $200 per megawatt hour in the last eight months, are also an issue.

REC president and chief executive Erik Thorsen, who announced the plant in October last year, said via video-conference yesterday that 'our entry into Singapore ensures continued revenue growth beyond the significant growth to come from all the ongoing capacity expansion across all of REC's business activities'.

'Based on this expansion, REC should be producing 2,400 megawatts (MW) of wafers, 780 MW of cells and 740 MW of modules in 2012, and this will secure a significant presence in key markets,' he added.

Phase one of the Singapore plant, expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2010, will reach full capacity of 740 MW of wafers, 550 MW of cells and 590 MW of modules by 2012. Its annual turnover then is estimated to be about $2.5 billion. Phase two will double capacity.

REC has four plants in Norway and Sweden and plans to double its Norwegian wafer capacity from 650 MW to 1.3 gigawatts (GW). Solar energy is expected to be at parity prices with electricity in some markets by 2012, with this varying from country to country depending on 'sun hours and energy (electricity) costs', said Mr Hasaas.

Demand for solar energy is growing 30-40 per cent a year, he added. REC has said that worldwide power output from solar products is expected to rise from the two GO now to 20 GO by 2010.

Cost is a key factor for REC. It disclosed yesterday that it 'carried out extensive value engineering over the past nine months, which has significantly reduced the capital expenditure for phase one'.

This includes compressing the site to optimise land use and reducing pipe racks and distances between its three plants.

'Cost levels should enable us to compete profitably at grid-parity prices in several markets, which is essential in building a robust business case,' Mr Thorsen said.

One of the main raw materials needed is specialised glass or solar polysilicon. Norsun, a Norwegian solar manufacturer that is setting up a US$300 million plant here, is sourcing this from Saudi Arabia as it is energy-intensive to produce.

REC officials said that the polysilicon will be shipped to Singapore from its US facility, which is the world's largest manufacturer of the raw material.

Phase one of its Singapore project will require about 80-100 MW of electricity, which REC is discussing with generating companies. It will eventually need about 200 MW of electricity when phase two is up and running. So it is considering building its own combined heat and power plant, or getting a genco to build, own and operate it on its behalf.

REC will employ 1,110 workers - wafers (360), cells (280) and modules (470) - in the first phase.

Economic Development Board managing director Ko Kheng Hwa said: 'We will work closely with REC to build a strong base of supporting industry, to help ramp up its manpower recruitment and to implement an extensive training programme for production to start in early 2010.'

Piling work on phase one - taking up 49 hectares of REC's 97-ha Tuas View site - will start at the end of this month, with 4,000 to 5,000 workers expected to be employed at the peak of construction.

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Take a good look at the 'Soul of the City'

Planners must consider behavioural economics to build great places to live, work and play
Peter Ong, Business Times 19 Jun 08;

THE year 2008 is when more than half of the world's population lives in cities, a trend that will gain velocity as we barrel towards 2050, where 75 per cent of the world's population will live in cities. The city, mankind's greatest invention, will only get more important.

Many a social scientist, economist, psychologist, not to mention politicians, public and private sector leaders are turning their attention to cities. Think about the competition for talents, economic success, societal progress, financial and business growth. Looking ahead, the playing field will be in cities, not just in countries and continents.

A man's home is his castle, so the saying goes. A collection of 'castles' is a community. In an urban setting, where 'castles' and communities are taken together, we see the makings of a city.

In 1900, there were 16 cities, each with a population of over one million, London and Paris being two very famous ones. In 2008, there are more than 400 cities, each with a population of over one million. In addition, we have mega-cities such as Shanghai, Tokyo, New York City, Mexico City and Seoul, with populations greater than or close to 10 million each.

For the person or family with the means and talents to be globally mobile, a wide variety of options exist on where to go and where to live.

Place has become very important. For many people, which community to site their 'castles', which city to belong to and live in, is a very important decision which they will reflect upon and act on, a few to many times in their lives.

Moving from city to city (from a macro perspective), or moving from community to community or 'castle' to 'castle' (from a micro perspective) are all part and parcel of life in today's global, connected world. Everyone aspires to a more favourable environment and a better life. This desire to progress which makes man so unique a species will make people all over the world continuously search for, go to, and settle in places with a strong sense of 'Soul'.

'Soul of the City', as a construct and metric, has found its time.

Whether a Chinese national moves from Sichuan to Singapore in search of a better life, a better job or whether a Singaporean family moves from Tuas to Bishan in search of a better environment and a more comfortable future; place and community, the 'Soul of the City' where one lives cannot to be ignored.

Gallup, which has been studying 'Soul of the City' for quite a while now, currently has 21 cities in its 'Soul' database. Singapore, together with Montreal, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, New York City and London, falls into the top one-third of Gallup's 'Soul' database.

For Singapore to be a 'Global City of Distinction' and to be the 'Best Home for All', leaders in Singapore will need to look beyond traditional factors such as jobs and economic growth, and population and urban planning to include softer, more intangible aspects to growing a city like 'Soul' and its components of well-being, personal expression and engaged citizenry.

In 2002, Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics. Dr Kahneman was a founding father in the field of behavioural economics.

Behavioural economics

Behavioural economics (the discipline that merges psychology, economics and other disciplines such as sociology) has many applications to city planning and society building.

For example, one of the things which Dr Kahneman talks passionately about is 'moments'. Dr Kahneman believes that a person experiences as many as 20,000 'moments' in a day, and that these 'moments' are memorable only as long as there is a positive or negative emotion linked to the 'moment'. For example, one's drive to work is not memorable unless someone swerves into the driver's lane and creates a negative 'moment'. Likewise when one hears a favourite song on the radio, or does or learns something interesting, positive 'moments' are created.

When a city's leaders think about improving 'Soul', one of the ways is to look to the field of behavioural economics to design and implement policies that impacts and improves the 'moments' of the various population segments that reside in the city.

'We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them,' Albert Einstein once said.

As the competition for talents, jobs and businesses move to cities, as cities become the new playing field, and as the world and its inhabitants become increasingly mobile and more discriminating of where they want to live, work and play, the new lens of behavioural economics is very much needed.

Beyond traditional factors such as law and order, food and shelter, work, economics, and health, all of which (I must stress) are very important to a city's continued progress and success, 'Soul' should also be looked at.

All things being equal, cities and societies where behavioural economics and its various concepts such as 'moments' and 'Soul' are considered, are more likely to become great places to live, work and play.

The author is managing partner of Gallup in Singapore, Hong Kong and South-east Asia.

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To help or not to help: Animals in hit-and-run accidents

More readers have written in with their views on animals involved in hit-and-run accidents. Here are some of them

New Paper 19 Jun 08;

I REFER to Mr Adrian Choo Wai Ying's letter, 'Animals in road accidents: Where do we draw the line?' (The New Paper, 16 Jun).

Let me give my views from the perspective of pet owners.

To some people, the accident victim may be just a stupid animal. But to others, pets are part of the family.

So it is not difficult to understand why the same law applies if you are involved in an accident where an animal is injured, and you do not stop your vehicle to help the victim.

However, I believe the police will look at the situation on a case-by-case basis when such accidents take place.

By having the law, I believe the authorities are telling drivers to be careful on the roads, whether or not a person or an animal's life is at stake. Imagine the poor injured animal abandoned on the road and the next car running over it again.

Shanon Tam

DOES HE HAVE PETS?

I WOULD like to ask Mr Adrian Choo Wai Ying if he has pets.

Many people treat their pets as an important part of their lives.

To you, it may seen frivolous but to someone else, their dog or cat may be like a son or a brother.

As a driver myself, I do not see how difficult it is to stop at a busy road by just going to the left side and turning on the hazard lights.

It is people with such a bo chap (can't be bothered) attitude like Mr Choo that hit-and-run accidents, whether involving humans or animals, take place.

Govindan Danial Sofian

TAKE INJURED ANIMAL TO VET

WHILE I understand that a line has to be drawn on what type of animal you should stop to help, I feel it is selfish and irresponsible of Mr Adrian Choo Wai Ying to say that people shouldn't be helping animals at all, especially if they are the ones who knock the animals down.

The least drivers should do is take the injured animal to a veterinary clinic or hospital if they don't know how to get in touch with the SPCA, though it is best to wait for an ambulance in case the animal has broken bones and internal injuries.

Pet Movers has an ambulance service (6581 3688) on weekdays from 9am to 7pm, and weekends from 9am to 8pm. The Mount Pleasant Animal also has a 24-hour emergency number (6250 8333).

I also urge the authorities to set up an emergency number for animal ambulances and medical assistance like the 995 for humans.

In the US, most fire engines are equipped with oxygen masks for cats and dogs because they too are susceptible to injuries caused by fires and deserve to be helped.

As a taxpayer, I'm more than happy to have my money spent on saving lives, regardless of the victims' race, religion or species.

I applaud the authorities for having laws in place to punish such drivers and I hope steps are taken to ensure the laws are upheld.

Nuraishah Athly

IT'S ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY

I FIND Mr Adrian Choo Wai Ying's ramblings as ridiculous as the examples he gave, like 'the hermit crab who crawled under (your) car tyre' and 'the stray pigeon who flies into (your) path'.

It does not matter if the law sounds as ridiculous as what you make it out to be, but it's more about the morals and sense of responsibility.

I have read news reports about irresponsible drivers who have left victims behind with the assumption that help will arrive in time.

Muhammad Faliqh Abdul Rahman

DON'T LET ANIMAL SUFFER

ANIMALS involved in traffic accidents can suffer from a variety of injuries, including internal injuries.

Sometimes, there may be very little we can do for the animal.

However, what is disheartening is that we walk away from a suffering animal.

Be kind, and if it's not possible to stop and assess the situation, call the SPCA or a veterinary clinic.

Maymunah Mohd

24-HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE

I REFER to Mr Adrian Choo Wai Ying's letter.

In response to his suggestion that SPCA start an animal ambulance service for all creatures great and small, we do have a 24-hour (round the clock, seven days a week) emergency service for sick and injured animals.

Mr Choo also expressed his concern asking if human lives should be exchanged for one dying animal's life in relation to stopping and rendering assistance to an injured animal on the road.

The SPCA does not expect any person to risk their lives in such cases, but we would hope that any person who has run over an animal would stop and do what is possible or reasonable to help the victim, like call the SPCA (6287 5355) and remain with the animal until our staff arrive.

Deirdre Moss, Executive Officer, SPCA

If your hit-and-run victim is human: YOU GET FINED OR JAILED
If your hit-and-run victim is an animal: YOU COULD FACE SAME PENALTY
The New Paper 14 Jun 08;

IF you hit someone on the road and flee from the scene of the accident, you will get into trouble with the law.

But what if you knock down an animal?

Well, don't think you can just drive off.

Be it a person or an animal, the same law applies.

Under the Road Traffic Act, if you are involved in an accident where a person or an animal is injured, you have to stop your vehicle and help the victims.

If not, you can face a fine up to $3,000 or be jailed up to a year.

For a subsequent conviction, you can be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to two years.

Lawyer Luke Lee told The New Paper: 'Animals are protected under the same law as humans.'

And those who injure an animal in a hit-and-run case face the same penalties if the law is violated, he added.

Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), said: 'Most people, unfortunately, do not think that such cases are important just because (the victim) is an animal.'

Student Andrew Teo's dog was one such victim.

On 4 Jun, the 23-year-old took his 2-year-old miniature schnauzer, Vodka, for their usual evening walk.

At 9.45pm, they were about to cross Choa Chu Kang Crescent when a white van sped towards them.

Mr Teo said he was standing on the pavement while Vodka, who was on a leash, was already on the road.

On seeing the van, Mr Teo tried to pull the dog back, but Vodka slipped out of his collar and dashed across the road.

It was hit by the van and blood oozed from its right ear and nostrils.

Mr Teo saw the van had stopped a few metres away and two men came out. Mr Teo said that when they saw him, they quickly got back into the van and allegedly drove off.

But he managed to take down its licence plate number.

Three passers-by, two of whom are Mr Teo's neighbours, helped him move Vodka onto the pavement.

He said: 'By that time, I knew Vodka was dead. His body was intact, but you could feel that his skull had been crushed.'

Mr Teo took the dog to its vet to get a death certificate and then went to a police station to make a report.

A police spokesman confirmed Mr Teo's report and said they are investigating the accident, which happened between Block 662 and Block 691A at Choa Chu Kang Crescent.

The road has no pedestrian crossings or traffic lights, but Mr Teo and other residents said that it has low traffic even during the day.

The vet's medical report declared Vodka dead on arrival. It suffered severe trauma to the head and chest.

Mr Teo is upset that the van occupants did not stop to help and feels they must take responsibility and be punished accordingly.

AWARENESS NEEDED

Motorist William Neo, 28, was unaware that the penalty for hit-and-run cases is the same for both humans and animals.

The project coordinator feels that motorists need to be better educated on road rules.

He said: 'Most people would probably think hitting an animal is much less serious than hitting a person.

'Informing motorists of the consequences would make them think twice about driving off after hitting an animal.'

The SPCA said that when pets are injured in road accidents, the owners should alert the SPCA and try to move the animals to the side of the road.

But those with little experience in handling animals should not try to pick them up. They should wait for SPCA staff members to arrive, while alerting motorists to slow down and drive cautiously - the traffic police will generally assist in this area.

Teo Hui Min, newsroom intern

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Be compassionate to animals too: tribute to Acres

Letter from Nuraishah Athly (Miss) Straits Times Forum 19 Jun 08;

I REFER to the article, 'Not mad, just Acres of love for wild animals' (June 9). It's always inspiring to read articles on people who have a selfless devotion in helping others.

Mr Louis Ng and his Acres team have come a long way in protecting wildlife in Singapore and they truly deserve more than a round of applause. Having put in tremendous amount of time, energy and effort, Acres has made significantly remarkable accomplishments and increased public awareness on the importance of protecting wildlife.

Mr Ng is also a source of inspiration. When he was told that he was merely a small fry and will never be able to change big organisations, instead of being demoralised, it only fuelled his perseverance in protecting wildlife and motivated him to strive for his noble dreams. Such positive exemplary attitude should inspire Singapore's youth to persevere when pursuing their dreams in the face of global challenges. I also think that Mr Ng is a positive role model for children. I sincerely hope that the wildlife rescue centre can be up and running soon. So many animals will benefit from its protection and medical services.

Acres and many other organisations have done so much for the betterment of animal welfare in Singapore. However, others need to play their part too. Despite our society's tremendous progress in terms of finance, technology, biomedical and various other areas, sadly we are still behind in terms of animal welfare. For example, stray cats and dogs are still being rounded up and put to sleep by the authorities, not to mention the number of animals that suffer from various forms of abuse by the public everyday. Traditional Chinese medical halls are still selling illegal products from animals and shark's fins that are generally acquired in a cruel way are still considered a delicacy.

Moreover, people are still illegally trading wildlife and endangered species which are kept in containers like ornaments when these animals are breathing creatures with a right to live. The great Mahatma Gandhi once said that a society can be judged from the way it treats animals. So what do our society's treatment of animals speak about us? Is Singapore really that far from being a gracious society? You don't have to be an 'animal lover' to be kind to other species. Surely the human capacity for compassion is enough to be extended to all beings.

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Half of bears rescued from China bile farms die

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 18 Jun 08;

Almost half of the bears rescued recently from horrendous conditions on Chinese bile farms have died.

The Asiatic black bears - known as Moon bears because of the distinctive white crescent on their chest - had spent most of their lives locked in tiny cages being 'milked' of the bile used in traditional Chinese medicine.

They were brought to the Animals Asia rescue centre in Chengdu in the Sichuan Province founded 10 years ago by Briton Jill Robinson but many were past help.

"They all needed abdominal surgery and were grossly underweight at about 50 kilos when they should weigh 150 kilos. Some of these animals had been kept on the farms for 20 years and had no teeth or claws," said Robinson on a fund-raising tour of the UK.

"Ten of the bears died within 11 days and post-mortems showed most of them were suffering from liver cancer probably caused by the catheters inserted into their stomachs to drain the bile.

"One bear was covered in puncture marks as though the farmer knew he was dying and wanted to extract every last drop of bile before he died."

She suspects that the bears handed over to the rescue charity were all at the end of their usefulness for the bile farmers and therefore unwanted.

Robinson arrived in China more than 20 years ago and established her sanctuary after witnessing the conditions the bears are kept in on a chance visit to a farm.

She has been a vociferous critic of the farms and in 2000 signed a breakthrough agreement with the Chinese authorities to rescue 500 bears and to work towards banning bear farms altogether.

Since then she has rescued about half the target number and seen the number of bear farms drop from 480 to 68. There are still about 7,000 bears being held.

Wherever possible Animal Asia has bought out the licences of farms providing the owners with enough cash to start other businesses.

"Unfortunately what are left are the super farms holding thousands of animals," said Robinson.

"The tragedy is that this is all unnecessary. Synthetic bear bile which is just as effective and costs only a few pennies is widely available yet still this barbaric practice continues.

"It brings shame on China that the farms remain. I don't know whether the government really understands the depth of feeling about them.

"The Chinese would earn such kudos if they shut them down forever. The Olympic Games is only a few months away and provides a wonderful opportunity to offer care and protection for an endangered species."

The charity says it is making progress and has supporters in powerful positions in government. Animals Asia has won the right to accompany officials when they carry out farm inspections which allows them to expose some of the worst offenders.

Jill Robinson also warns consumers that the bile extracted from some of the terminally ill bears may pose a threat to human health.

"When it emerges it is like black sludge and is tainted by the puss associated with the liver cancer that many bears develop. Doctors who have seen it say they would never take it themselves."

She speaks movingly of the bears and the suffering they are forced to endure at the hands of humans.

"They are wonderful, intelligent creatures who have distinct personalities and display many of the motions we see in humans. Many are so damaged psychologically by their experiences that they go into a spiral of self harm that is impossible to treat.

"One bear ate her arm down to the bone. But they are very stoic and with care and affection they can survive to lead happy lives.

"They can never be released into the wild because they are too damaged but they are very forgiving and just like a dog that has been mistreated they do recover.

"In many cases it is the bears who support us because they have emotions as finely tuned as humans and they seem to understand that they are there because of us. Even though they have been so cruelly mistreated they seem able to forgive."

The rescue centre in Chengdu was badly hit during the recent earthquake and several accommodation blocks for the staff were destroyed although the more solid bear enclosures survived intact.

Despite the setback the charity was able to send workers into neighbouring areas rescuing dogs and other pets that owners were no longer able to care for.

The charity which has 230 staff worldwide, needs about £50,000 per month to survive, the bulk of which comes from donations.

More information can be found at www.animalsasia.org

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Plastic bags: The real elephant in the room

Letter from Faye Chiam (Ms), Straits Times Forum 19 Jun 08;

I REFER to the recent debate on plastic bags, as highlighted in last Friday's article, 'Plastic bags: Ban or not to ban?'.

While I fully support the movement to reduce plastic bag usage, I feel we are missing the real elephant in the living room - ourselves.

After all, the problem is not plastic bags. The problem is our wasteful consumption patterns.

Bringing your own is a simple, effective way to reduce waste. While not entirely a solution, it is definitely a way to lessen the problem.

In fact, why stop at bags? There is no reason why one should not be able to bring your own mug to purchase your morning coffee or your own container to purchase take-out food.

Every effort counts when it comes to protecting the environment and it starts from changing some of the very tenets of our lifestyle and culture.

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Think you love shopping? It's the marketing scam of the century

US author Benjamin Barber explains how buying things ceased to be a chore and became a fun day out

Sophie Morris, The Independent 19 Jun 08;

The folly of rampant consumerism as resources grow scarcer is lost on no one, least of all the marketing community. Still, desperate to maximise profits, manufacturers and marketing men are targeting very young children, buying their loyalty almost from birth, and infantilising adults, to deter them from making considered decisions about what they buy. This way, adults and children will be attracted to the same product, and buy it for most of their lives, trapped in a Peter Pan cycle of consumption, constructed by branding supremos.

For many, shopping changed from chore to leisure pursuit long ago. You will be hard pushed to find a British consumer who hasn't, at least once, gone out street with the intention of finding something they want to buy, rather than buying something they need. This behaviour contrasts not only with that of consumers in developing countries, but also with the Europe and US of just 60 years ago.

The exact point at which a life of frugality – led by most people until the 1950s – developed into one of comfort, before slipping into absurd excess, is impossible to determine, admits Benjamin Barber, author of the best-selling Jihad Vs. McWorld. His new book, Consumed, tackles obsessive, "hyper" consumption. This trend, predicts Barber, is leading democratic societies towards an early grave.

"It struck me that a lot of what makes up McWorld is superfluous," he says of his inspiration to analyse this hyper-consumerism, which is most acute in Barber's US. "An awful lot of products are not necessary, whether fast food or gadgets or games," he explains. "I can't tell you where the tipping point is, but we're way over it."

Since basic human needs – food, shelter, clothing – have long since been met for most people in the developed world, marketing professionals now bang their heads together to reinvent and recreate goods in order to sell more stuff.

Barber is far from the first to draw attention to the fact that consumers are very often attracted by the image of a product, rather than its function, and that we would all benefit from consuming less. Yet he goes one further, blaming hyper-consumption for the current economic crisis. He also believes the anti-consumer movement lacks the wherewithal to address the problem. "I love the anti-consumer movement temperamentally, but it risks turning these issues into minority problems," he says.

Consumption is not only out of control at the shops. Barber uses television watching as an example: there is nothing wrong with reaching for the remote after a long day at work, he says. But 60 hours – the time each week an average American spends watching television – is way too much. "It's a little like pornography," says Barber.

Watching TV is just part of the problem. What we are choosing to watch has changed considerably over the years and now resembles a homogenous lowbrow pulp designed to appeal to children and adults alike. Barber's book is subtitled "How markets corrupt children, infantilise adults and swallow citizens whole". Commentators have been documenting the rise of the scooter-pushing, iPod-toting kidult for a number of years now, but in Barber's opinion, the "40 is the new 20" spirit does not mean that people are retaining their youthfulness and energy for longer, but that they are not growing up at all. Why not? Because marketers desperate for instant profits are cutting corners by lumping child and adult tastes and products together, instead of building a sustainable market. This then reduces diversity and threatens to eliminate choice altogether.

The success of films such as Shrek and Spider-Man, aimed at all ages, illustrate this. "If you want to see the future of Britain, don't look at what 40-years-olds are buying, look at what 15-year-olds are buying and watching and what their music tastes are," predicts Barber. For anyone who has sat next to a gang of schoolgirls playing Pussycat Dolls loudly on mobile phones, the idea that their musical tastes will never mature and that the shade of their nail varnish will never be toned down is sobering. But why can't adults enjoy the nuances of an episode of The Simpsons, say, or a Harry Potter film? Does growing up mean becoming boring?

"I'm not saying that when we grow up we lose all pleasures," insists Barber. "But growing up means becoming more complex and that you require greater stimulation. If you can be pleased and satisfied with comic books, it means you've kept yourself as a kid. I'm not saying there's something wrong with people who have fun, but I have fun in a different way from how I did when I was 12."

Barber buried his head in marketing textbooks to try to make sense of why we buy more and more stuff we don't need, and often do not want or enjoy having, either. Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Kevin Roberts, the man who loves Head & Shoulders so dearly he continues to use it despite the fact he is now bald, receives frequent scoldings in Consumed.

It is Roberts and his ilk who are driving our impulse to buy. These big guns are only too aware that most of our needs were met long ago, and it is with this in mind that they have set about eternalising childhood desires and fabricating new adult ones. In Consumed, the merchandising guru Gene del Vecchio explains: "the demand for adult goods and services has proved not to be endless," he observes. This must be tackled with a "kidquake of kid-directed goods and services". Del Vecchio also worked out that if you want to sell goods globally, you can't sell to adults who belong to distinct cultures. But children are the same everywhere, and if you get adults to behave like children, you can sell the same products to any generation, anywhere.

Hyper-consumerism is a major contributor to environmental problems, yet so-called green marketers are as guilty as your average marketing man. "Don't fool yourself," warns Barber. "Green consumerism is still consuming. The simplest way to go green is not to consume, or to consume less, but these people want you to consume their way, because if you stop consuming they don't make any money."

When Barber bought his last car he was tempted by a Lexus hybrid, until a friend pointed out that the hybrid's powerful engine used more petrol than many non-hybrid vehicles. Last year, a magazine advertisement for Lexus hybrids was banned in the UK, for misleadingly implying that the car caused little or no harm to the environment.

Barber records a moment when he orders bottled water in the bar of his London hotel, during a visit in his capacity as president of CivWorld, an international political NGO. Bottled water, in a country where clean water flows straight from the tap, is perhaps the ultimate in manufactured need. "Over a billion people are without drinking water," says Barber. "Why don't we find out ways to get the water they need to them, instead of new ways of getting water to us?"

All this makes Consumed sound like depressing reading. In many ways, it is, and the idea that Western shoppers are to blame for environmental degradation, even if they have been hoodwinked into buying unnecessary products, is a heavy cross to bear.

Is capitalism eating itself? Barber is optimistic. "Capitalism has a tendency to overdo itself," he says. "It destroys everything in its path. This is a strategy for saving capitalism. There are deep, pressing human needs that still need to be met and capitalism is the perfect thing to meet them."

'Consumed' by Benjamin R Barber, Norton, £9.99. To order for the special price of £9.49, including post and packing, call 0870 079 8897 or visit www.independentbooksdirect.co.uk

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Texas Cotton Crop Hit Hard by Sand Storms and Heat

Rene Pastor, PlanetArk 18 Jun 08;

NEW YORK - Blowing sand and blistering heat have badly damaged the cotton crop in Texas, the country's biggest grower, industry analysts said Wednesday.

The losses in Texas, which is expected to plant 4.7 million acres of cotton out of the 9.5 million acres planted to the plant in the United States, range from 500,000 up to 1.5 million acres, they said.

While most of the country's attention was riveted by the devastating floods which drowned large swathes of the US Midwest cropland, farms in Texas were savaged by heat, wind and blowing sand which scythed through emerging cotton plants.

"We're going to take a hit on total production," Carl Anderson, an influential cotton economist who had worked with Texas A&M University, told Reuters in an interview.

"I am writing off 1.0 million acres in cotton," he said. "I will stick with 1.0 million because others are talking of (losses up to) 1.5 million acres."

Roger Haldenby of Plains Cotton Growers, which monitors the largest cotton growing area in the Lone Star State, said there were between 500,000 and 1.0 million acres which "are in desperate need of rainfall."

Recent rains in the area may have come too late to save the cotton, with Anderson saying the blowing sand over the past few weeks "absolutely killed a lot of that cotton."


TRADE MULLS LOSSES

The question uppermost in the minds of the cotton trade right now is how much of a hit US cotton production in 2008/09 will sustain, especially since Texas was expected to produce half of the crop this season.

Anderson said the losses should lead to a fall in US cotton output to around 12.5 million to 13.0 million (480-lb) bales, against the estimate by the US Agriculture Department that the US would harvest 14.5 million bales this season.

Other analysts believe the rains in the area threw a wrench into most analysts' estimates about those losses, and it would take time to unravel them.

"It sure muddies the picture," Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said in a separate interview.

She said the recent rains and prospects for more showers during the week may slightly lower the losses. "It sure makes the situation not as dire, but we have a long way to go."

Mike Stevens, an analyst with brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana, said the rains in Texas meant that "nobody has a good handle" on how this would affect production and yields.

Haldenby explained that half an inch of rain in Texas may just dampen the fields and another round of blowing sand could batter cotton plants this summer.

"It clouds the picture as to what the losses are likely to be," he said. "We're definitely looking at a moving target." (Editing by John Picinich)

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Australia Wheat Farmers Bet on Drought-Busting Crop

Michael Byrnes, PlanetArk 19 Jun 08;

NARRABRI, Australia - Wheat farmers in Australia, the world's second-biggest exporter, raced this week to plant their fields, gambling that recent soaking rains would lead to one of the best crops on record and put an end to seven hard years of drought.

In one of Australia's biggest grain-belts, wheat farmers struggling with years of losses were once again ploughing and sowing their fields around the clock, encouraged by a few weeks of steady rain and forecasts for a rebounding harvest.

"It was fantastic rain," said Ron Greentree, the nation's biggest individual grower, whose workers were busily sowing about 80,000 hectares (198,000 acres), roughly the size of Hong Kong.

"Everyone around here is working 24 hours, now we've got the rains," he said as he walked through one of his fields, his boots sinking into the crumbly, moist soil.

"We have waited a long time for this rain. We are 70 percent done. Hopefully we will finish in the next 10 days."

Greentree is looking forward to a good crop of around 250,000 tonnes from his properties alone. Last year, encouraged by a winter sprinkling of rain, he and other farmers sowed their fields, only to watch the wheat wither as the rains dried up.

Global food markets are also hoping this year will not be another false dawn for the world's second-biggest wheat exporter.

On Tuesday, Australia caused some concern in markets by cutting its official wheat output forecast by nearly 9 percent after the return of dry weather in April and May in parts of the country.

It still expects wheat exports to more than double to 16.3 million tonnes in 2008/09, but news of the smaller crop threatened to tighten wheat markets at a time when record corn prices had put food inflation in the spotlight once again.

The downgrade was also bigger than similar cuts announced by private forecasters over the past week, though the new 2008/09 crop estimate of 23.68 million tonnes would still mean a rebound of more than 80 percent from last year's drought-hit production.

In Narrabri, about 500 km (311 miles) northwest of Sydney, farmers are investing about A$250 a hectare to plant their fields -- roughly A$20 million for Greentree's estate -- and in some cases straining bank credit to the limit to put in another crop.

"It's been a pretty devastating last four to five years. It has really hurt the communities," said Greentree, his face shaded from the clearing sky by a battered felt hat.

"It was a real relief when it did rain, but people are a bit gun-shy. Last year it looked good until the end of July and then it didn't rain and all the crops failed."

Australia's main eastern wheat-growing state of New South Wales normally accounts for 30 percent of the country's crop, but encouraging rains early this year stalled in April and May and only resumed in the Narrabri-Moree district early this month.

Elsewhere, the state is still dry, waiting anxiously for rain. But planting is well underway in Narrabri, making it one of the main hopes for good production from parts of eastern Australia.

The drought halved Australia's previous crop and helped drive global wheat prices to all-time highs earlier this year.

An estimated 26 percent of the New South Wales wheat crop has been sown, mostly into dry soil, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries estimated this week.

Victoria state, which produces about a tenth of the national wheat crop, is in slightly better shape than New South Wales, with rainfall about 50-60 percent of average by late last month.

South Australia, which normally supplies 15 percent of the annual crop, also got planting underway well before New South Wales. Western Australia, which normally contributes about 40 percent, was best placed of the cropping states, with good early rain across most of the state.

Australia's best wheat crop was 26.132 million tonnes in 2003/04. Drought cut the two most recent crops to just 13.1 million tonnes in 2007/08 and 10.64 million tonnes in 2006/07. (Editing by Mark Bendeich and Mathew Veedon)

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Biotech crops seen helping to feed hungry world

Carey Gillam, Reuters 18 Jun 08;

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Biotechnology in agricultural will be key to feeding a growing world population and overcoming climate challenges like crop-killing droughts, according to a group of leading industry players.

"It is critical we keep moving forward," said Thomas West, a director of biotechnology affairs at DuPont, interviewed on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in San Diego. "We have to yield and produce our way out of this."

DuPont believes it can increase corn and soybean yields by 40 percent over the next decade. Corn seeds that now average about 150 bushels per acre could be at well over 200 bushels an acre, for example, DuPont officials said.

Crop shortages this year have sparked riots in some countries and steep price hikes in markets around the globe, and questions about how to address those issues were the subject of several meetings at the BIO International Convention being held this week.

Despite persistent reluctance in many nations and from some consumer and environmental groups, genetically modified crops, -- and the fortunes of the companies that make them -- have been on the rise. Growing food and biofuel demands have been helping push growth.

By using conventional and biotech genetic modification, crops can be made to yield more in optimum as well as harsh weather conditions, can be made healthier, and can be developed in ways that create more energy for use in ethanol production, according to the biotech proponents.

"You can bring a number to tools to bear with biotechnology to solve problems," said Syngenta seeds executive industry relations head director Jack Bernens. "As food prices increase ... it certainly brings a more practical perspective to the debate."

Syngenta is focusing on drought-resistant corn that it hopes to bring to market as early as 2014, as well as other traits to increase yields and protect plants from insect damage. Disease-resistant biotech wheat is also being developed.

Syngenta and other industry players are also developing biotech crops that need less fertilizer, and corn that more efficiently can be turned into ethanol.

Bayer CropScience, a unit of Germany's Bayer AG, has ongoing field trials with biotech canola that performs well even in drought conditions, said Bayer crop productivity group leader Michael Metzlaff.

Water scarcity is a problem seen doubling in severity over the next three decades even as the world population explodes, and will only be exacerbated by global warming climate change, he said.

With some 9 billion people expected to populate the planet by 2040 and 85 percent of the population seen in lesser developed countries, decreased land for agriculture and multiple demands on water use will come hand in hand with an expected doubling in food demand, said David Dennis CEO of Kingston, Ontario-based Performance Plants.

Performance Plants is working with the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International to develop and field test drought-tolerant white maize.

"The biggest problem we have in crops is environmental stresses and the biggest stress is drought," said Dennis.

Biotech crop opponents rebuke the idea that biotechnology is the answer, and say industry leaders continue to focus much of their efforts on plants that tolerate more chemicals even as they push up seed prices and make more farmers reliant on patented seed products that must be repurchased year after year.

"I know they love to talk about drought tolerance but that is not what they are really focusing on," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Washington-based Center for Food Safety.

Freese said conventional breeding had the ability to address climate change and food needs, but funding cuts to public-sector crop breeders had reduced the ability of non-biotech groups to advance crop improvements.

"The facts on the ground clearly show that biotech companies have developed mainly chemical-dependent GM crops that have increased pesticide use, reduced yields and have nothing to do with feeding the world," Freese said. "The world cannot wait for GM crops when so many existing solutions are being neglected."

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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UN warns of growth in climate change refugees

Hannah Strange, Times Online 17 Jun 08;

Climate change is forcing growing numbers of people in the developing world to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned today.

Announcing findings that the number of refugees worldwide had risen steeply for the second year running, António Guterres said that environmental degradation induced by climate change was forcing greater displacement as resources became increasingly scarce.

The UNHCR’s 2007 Global Trends report says the number of international refugees under its responsibility rose from 9.9 to 11.4 million by the end of last year. Meanwhile the number of people displaced internally by conflict increased from 24.4 million to 26 million, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. "After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we have now seen two years of increases, and that's a concern," Mr Guterres said.

"We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future,” he warned. “They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources, and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places."

Competition for natural resources has long been a source of conflict in the developing world, particularly on the African continent. Now, as climate change exacerbates environmental degradation, access to water and fertile land is becoming ever more scarce, feeding displacement either directly, as communities relocate in search of resources, or indirectly through conflict, poverty and food shortages.

Darfur, where 2.5 million people have been displaced by conflict, was a case in point, Peter Kessler of the UNHCR told The Times. “The root of the conflict is greatly due to the competition for water and grazing land between tribes.”

Sudan has become one of the world’s refugee hotspots, with over half a million having fled the country in search of a better life elsewhere, according to UN figures.

“We are seeing right across the planet, particularly in the developing world, that climate change is generating levels of environmental degradation and wearing down the life support systems on which millions of people depend,” Nick Nuttall of the United Nations Environment Programme told The Times.

“Whereever you look, the footprint of climate change and environmental degradation is bring people to a situation where resources are increasingly scarce and forcing them to move.”

Mr Nuttall pointed to Uganda’s Rwenzori mountains, where retreating glaciers were threatening the existence of rivers – including the Nile - on which millions of people depended for their livelihood. In Haiti, he said, deforestation and the resulting erosion of fertile topsoil was contributing to conflict, while in Mali, Chad and Ethiopia, entire lakes had all but disappeared over the last two decades.

Meanwhile in Asia, the Himalayan glaciers which fed the continent’s life-supporting rivers could have all but vanished by 2030, he added.

In India, preparations to stem the flood of ecological refugees are already underway. The government is currently constructing a 2,500 mile barrier along its border with Bangladesh, from which it already sees a substantial flow of illegal immigrants. In this low-lying nation, rising sea levels and storm surges could force 34 million people to flee their homes over the next several decades.

Mr Nuttall warned that increasing effort would have to be put into adapting to climate change, as even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced to zero certain effects had already been put in motion. Regional cooperation on water supplies were particularly important, he said, alluding to anxieties over looming water wars which the British Government has cited as a major security concern for the coming decades.

“Countries have in the past got together and cooperated over water,” he said. “Whether that same level of cooperation will endure in a world where climate change is not addressed is a moot point.

“But in Darfur, a red flag has been raised.”

The UNHCR’s 2007 Global Trends report says the number of international refugees under its responsibility rose from 9.9 to 11.4 million by the end of last year. Meanwhile the number of people displaced internally by conflict increased from 24.4 million to 26 million, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. "After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we have now seen two years of increases, and that's a concern," Mr Guterres said.

"We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future,” he warned. “They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources, and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places."

Competition for natural resources has long been a source of conflict in the developing world, particularly on the African continent. Now, as climate change exacerbates environmental degradation, access to water and fertile land is becoming ever more scarce, feeding displacement either directly, as communities relocate in search of resources, or indirectly through conflict, poverty and food shortages.

Darfur, where 2.5 million people have been displaced by conflict, was a case in point, Peter Kessler of the UNHCR told The Times. “The root of the conflict is greatly due to the competition for water and grazing land between tribes.”

Sudan has become one of the world’s refugee hotspots, with over half a million having fled the country in search of a better life elsewhere, according to UN figures.

“We are seeing right across the planet, particularly in the developing world, that climate change is generating levels of environmental degradation and wearing down the life support systems on which millions of people depend,” Nick Nuttall of the United Nations Environment Programme told The Times.

“Whereever you look, the footprint of climate change and environmental degradation is bring people to a situation where resources are increasingly scarce and forcing them to move.”

Mr Nuttall pointed to Uganda’s Rwenzori mountains, where retreating glaciers were threatening the existence of rivers – including the Nile - on which millions of people depended for their livelihood. In Haiti, he said, deforestation and the resulting erosion of fertile topsoil was contributing to conflict, while in Mali, Chad and Ethiopia, entire lakes had all but disappeared over the last two decades.

Meanwhile in Asia, the Himalayan glaciers which fed the continent’s life-supporting rivers could have all but vanished by 2030, he added.

In India, preparations to stem the flood of ecological refugees are already underway. The government is currently constructing a 2,500 mile barrier along its border with Bangladesh, from which it already sees a substantial flow of illegal immigrants. In this low-lying nation, rising sea levels and storm surges could force 34 million people to flee their homes over the next several decades.

Mr Nuttall warned that increasing effort would have to be put into adapting to climate change, as even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced to zero certain effects had already been put in motion. Regional cooperation on water supplies were particularly important, he said, alluding to anxieties over looming water wars which the British Government has cited as a major security concern for the coming decades.

“Countries have in the past got together and cooperated over water,” he said. “Whether that same level of cooperation will endure in a world where climate change is not addressed is a moot point.

“But in Darfur, a red flag has been raised.”

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Scientists fighting disease with climate forecasts

Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Yahoo News 18 Jun 08;

A cyclone wrecks coastal Myanmar, spawning outbreaks of malaria, cholera and dengue fever. Flooding inundates Iowa, raising an array of public health concerns.

As these disasters draw attention to weather hazards, which many fear could be exacerbated by climate change, scientists are working to be able to better predict health dangers as they forecast the weather.

"Everything is connected in our Earth system," Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a panel on "Changing Climate: Changing Health Patterns."

The key is bringing all types of data together — health, weather, human behavior, disasters and others — "it's science without borders," Lautenbacher said.

He said 73 countries and more than 50 international organizations are currently participating in the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and more are expected to join.

"It's a full court press" to observe what's going on on the Earth, he said. When it comes to health and disasters "we can't afford to be wrong a lot of the time. We have got to get ahead of it."

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, noted that "we have these very modern technologies that are very good at sensing atmosphere and earth surfaces, and you can put them in computers and model some of these weather events ... and we're pretty good at it right now.

"But imagine for a moment, that not only that we measure that stuff, that we then actively and aggressively do something about it to mitigate the effects to people, to the environment, to planets, to plants."

Take a disease like cholera, Lautenbacher said, noting that research has shown that outbreaks in India vary with the temperature of the Bay of Bengal. Satellites cam measure that temperature.

In addition, climate researchers are now doing forecasts of the Pacific Ocean phenomenon known as El Nino, which affects temperatures in the bay, so that might also be used to forecast cholera.

Barbara Hatcher, secretary-general of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, likened the research to the work of Dr. John Snow, the 19th century English physician who first tracked down a source of cholera in London, using a map of victims' homes and where they got their water.

Lautenbacher noted that changes in vegetation and moisture can help forecast outbreaks of malaria, showing a vegetation map of Africa based on satellite data.

But it isn't just weather data that must be worked into the system, he added, researchers must also use information on population changes, transportation, migration, epidemiology and social and behavioral factors.

Robert W. Corell of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment said he had been asked to investigate an outbreak of anaphylactic shock in Alaska.

He traced it to stings from a type of bee that hibernates in wet soil, which had never lived there before but had moved north as the climate became milder and wetter.

In another case, he said, diarrhea-causing giardia has appeared in parts or northern Norway, where moderating climate has allowed beavers — which can spread the germ — to move into territory once exclusive to reindeer.

Dr. Bryan McNally of Emory University School of Medicine, suggested requiring hospitals, as part of being accredited, to set up plans to work with local weather and warning forecasters.

Traditionally hospitals have sought to ride out storms, but that didn't work out well when hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans.

Having a relationship with a warning forecaster would allow a hospital to prepare for arrival of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or whatever the local hazard is, he explained.

They could work out plans in advance if they needed to evacuate, and hospitals nearby would have plans to take in the patients as well as to deal with the newly injured.

Predicting the arrival of flooding should be more than just protecting property, it could include warnings about the spread of disease such as schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, said Joshua P. Rosenthal of the National Institutes of Health. Such warnings should also include the spread of things like fuel and toxic pollutants, he said.

Factors to be considered should include land use patterns, urbanization, agriculture, poverty, economic infrastructure and wastewater treatment facilities.

"It's important ... that we build climate into these other types of long-term analyses rather than trying to separate it out," he said.

"What we do know is it's probably going to hit the most vulnerable populations the hardest: The poor, children, the elderly, those in low- and middle-income countries with weak infrastructure, degraded ecological environments, poor health-delivery systems," he said.

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Jellyfish outbreaks a sign of nature out of sync

Jerome Cartillier, Yahoo News 18 Jun 08;

The dramatic proliferation of jellyfish in oceans around the world, driven by overfishing and climate change, is a sure sign of ecosystems out of kilter, warn experts.

"Jellyfish are an excellent bellwether for the environment," explains Jacqueline Goy, of the Oceanographic Institute of Paris. "The more jellyfish, the stronger the signal that something has changed."

Brainless creatures composed almost entirely of water, the primitive animals have quietly filled a vacuum created by the voracious human appetite for fish.

Dislodging them will be difficult, marine biologists say.

"Jellyfish have come to occupy the place of many other species," notes Ricardo Aguilar, research director for Oceana, a international conservation organisation.

Nowhere is the sting of these poorly understood invertebrates felt more sharply than the Mediterranean basin, where their exploding numbers have devastated native marine species and threaten seaside tourism.

And while much about the lampshade-like creatures remains unknown, scientists are in agreement: Pelagia noctiluca -- whose tentacles can paralyse prey and cause burning rashes in humans -- will once again besiege Mediterranean coastal waters this summer.

That, in itself, is not unusual. It is the frequency and persistence of these appearances that worry scientists.

Two centuries worth of data shows that jellyfish populations naturally swell every 12 years, remain stable four or six years, and then subside.

2008, however, will be the eighth consecutive year that medusae, as they are also known, will be present in massive numbers.

The over-exploitation of ocean resources by man has helped create a near-perfect environment in which these most primitive of ocean creatures can multiply unchecked, scientists say.

"When vertebrates, such as fish, disappear, then invertebrates -- especially jellyfish -- appear," says Aguilar.

The collapse of fish populations boost this process in two important ways, he added. When predators such as tuna, sharks, and turtles vanish, not only do fewer jellyfish get eaten, they have less competition for food.

Jellyfish feed on small fish and zooplankton that get caught up in their dangling tentacles.

"Jellyfish both compete with fish for plankton food, and predate directly on fish," explains Andrew Brierley from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. "It is hard, therefore, to see a way back for fish once jellyfish have become established, even if commercial fishing is reduced."

Which is why Brierley and other experts were not surprised to find a huge surge in the number of jellyfish off the coast of Namibia in the Atlantic, one of the most intensely fished oceans in the world.

Climate change has also been a boon to these domed gelatinous creatures in so far as warmer waters prolong their reproductive cycles.

But just how many millions, or billions, of jellyfish roam the seas is nearly impossible to know, said scientists.

For one things, the boneless, translucent animals -- even big ones grouped in large swarms -- are hard to spot in satellite images or sonar soundings, unlike schools of fish.

They are also resist study in captivity, which means a relative paucity of academic studies.

"There are only 20 percent of species of jellyfish for which we know the life cycle," said Goy.

And the fact that jellyfish are not commercially exploited, with the exception of a few species eaten by gastronomes in East Asia, has also added to this benign neglect.

But the measurable impact of these stinging beasts on beach-based tourism along the Mediterranean has begun to spur greater interest in these peculiar creatures whose growing presence points to dangerous changes not just in the world's oceans, but on the ground and in the air as well.

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Oceans warm more quickly than suspected: study

Marlowe Hood, Yahoo News 18 Jun 08;

The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday.

Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water, contributing to a rise in sea levels that is submerging small island nations and threatening to wreak havoc in low-lying, densely-populated delta regions around the globe.

The study, published in the British journal Nature, adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans.

It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to the authors.

Rising sea levels are driven by two things: the thermal expansion of sea water, and additional water from melting sources of ice. Both processes are caused by global warming.

The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres (23 feet), which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.

Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say.

But up to now, there has been a perplexing gap between the projections of computer-based climate models, and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.

"The numbers didn't add up," said Peter Geckler, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California.

"When previous investigators tried to add up all the estimated contributions to sea level rise" -- thermal expansion, melting glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, along with changes in terrestrial storage -- "they did not match with the independently estimated total sea level rise," he told AFP.

The new study, led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, is the first to reconcile the models with observed data.

Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 metres (2,300 feet) from 1961 to 2003, it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimetre-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

"Our results are important for the climate modelling community because they boost confidence in the climate models used for projections of global sea-level rise resulting for the accumulation of heat in the oceans," Domingues said in a statement.

"The projections will in turn assist in planning to minimize impacts, and in developing adaptation strategies," she added.

The IPCC report was criticised for including only the impact of thermal expansion in its projections of sea level rises over the next century, despite recent studies showing that melting ice is a significant -- and growing -- factor.

The planet's oceans store more than 90 percent of the heat in the Earth's climate system and act as a temporary buffer against the effects of climate change.

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