Cost of tackling global climate change has doubled, warns Stern

Author of landmark report says 2% of GDP is needed
Inaction would mean far greater economic damage

Juliette Jowit and Patrick Wintour, The Guardian 26 Jun 08;

The author of an influential British government report arguing the world needed to spend just 1% of its wealth tackling climate change has warned that the cost of averting disaster has now doubled.

Lord Stern of Brentford made headlines in 2006 with a report that said countries needed to spend 1% of their GDP to stop greenhouse gases rising to dangerous levels. Failure to do this would lead to damage costing much more, the report warned - at least 5% and perhaps more than 20% of global GDP.

But speaking yesterday in London, Stern said evidence that climate change was happening faster than had been previously thought meant that emissions needed to be reduced even more sharply.

This meant the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would have to be kept below 500 parts per million, said Stern. In 2006, he set a figure of 450-550ppm. "I now think the appropriate thing would be in the middle of that range," he said. "To get below 500ppm ... would cost around 2% of GDP."

In a recent report for the London School of Economics, Stern acknowledged that even 1% of GDP was "not a trivial amount". For the UK it is equivalent to £14bn a year. But he argue that it was a fraction of annual economic growth, and much less than the 8-14% that was spent, for example, on health by industrialised countries.

His reassessment of the cost of battling climate change comes at a sensitive time, the day before Gordon Brown makes a major speech setting out a £100bn strategy for ensuring that 15% of all energy used in the UK will come from renewable sources by 2020. The government has come under pressure from the Tories, whose statements on the environment include effectively banning new coal power stations and opposing a third runway at Heathrow.

Ministers are already under political pressure to row back on environmental taxes, such as increases in fuel duty and vehicle excise duty. Downing Street aides admit government policy is ahead of public opinion and that its proposals are on the margins of what the electorate will tolerate at a time of escalating oil prices and falling house prices. Brown will highlight that as many as 160,000 green jobs will be created by his climate change measures.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the Carbon Rating Agency, the world's first ratings agency for carbon offsetting projects, Stern warned that the 2% estimate required governments to act quickly. "All this depends on good policy and well functioning [carbon] markets. There are many ways to mess this up, many ways of acting to make it more costly," he said.

The Stern review in October 2006 called for global emissions to be cut by a quarter by 2050 and to be stopped from rising above the equivalent of 550ppm of CO2, a measure that combines the effect of all the greenhouse gases. The current level is 430ppm, and is rising by 2ppm a year.

Yesterday, Stern, a former World Bank chief economist and head of the UK government economic service, said he now believed the limit should be 500ppm. This would reduce the risk from a 50% chance to a 3% chance that the global average temperature would rise by 5C above pre-industrial levels, he said, pointing out that the last time this happened, 35-55m years ago, alligators lived near the north pole. "These kind of temperature changes transform the word," he said.

His new comments follow a speech in April in which he said that the latest research showed climate change was more of a threat, and called for global emissions to halve by 2050, including cuts of 80% in the UK and 90% in the US.

The Department for Environment said the case for cutting global emissions was still strong: "We cannot afford inaction on climate change. Even at the upper range of the estimates, the cost of avoiding dangerous climate change is much lower than even the most conservative estimates of inaction."

The Confederation of British Industry said Stern's latest figures should add to pressure for government and businesses to act quickly to avoid the costs rising further.

"This only reaffirms the need to tackle climate change as an immediate priority and highlights both the benefits of early action and the cost of inaction," said Neil Bentley, CBI Director of Business Environment.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's principal speaker and an MEP, said during a recession concerted action to invest in efficiency and clean energy could "kick-start" the economy in a similar way to the New Deal in the US in the 1930s.

"What we need is a similar injection of capital but into green technology," said Lucas. "For example the aspiration of making every home energy efficient: that will cost money but at the same time provide a huge number of jobs and save people money on their fuel bills."

On Wednesday, a report from HSBC also showed shares in companies taking action to reduce emissions and develop products and services to cut pollution were outperforming the market.

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Wrong names for fish seen complicating conservation

Alister Doyle Reuters 26 Jun 08;

OSLO (Reuters) - About a third of all types of fish and other marine life have been wrongly named by scientists, complicating efforts to conserve what could be a million marine species, experts said on Wednesday.

Inaugurating a World Register of Marine Species (www.marinespecies.org), they said the breadcrumb sponge, found in the North Atlantic in many shapes and colors, held the record for misleading synonyms with 56 Latin names.

"Convincing warnings about declining fish and other marine species must rest on a valid census," Mark Costello of the University of Auckland, co-founder of the register, said in a statement.

The register, trying to sort out a tangle of multiple Latin names for marine organisms from whales to plankton, has validated names of 122,500 species after eliminating 56,400 aliases, or 32 percent of all names reviewed.

"For 250 years scientists have been describing species in the oceans but there is no complete list," Ward Appeltans of the Flanders Marine Institute and data manager of the register told Reuters. "We are now creating that list."

Experts at the register estimate that 230,000 species are known to science and that three times more are yet to be found, giving a final total that could exceed a million. The register hopes to give an overview of known species by October 2010.

New species get a two-word Latin name as their formal identity. But scientists often wrongly believe they have found a new species and give a new name.

The oldest name usually takes precedence, as with the breadcrumb sponge's name Halichondrea panicea given in 1766. Later names for the same sponge include Alcyonium manusdiaboli in 1794 or Trachyopsilla glaberrima in 1931.

OVER-FISHING

Getting names right is a condition for managing resources in the seas, where many species are facing threats from over-fishing, pollution and climate change. Current high food prices could put more pressure on fish stocks.

"If fish are transported it's very important that customs know exactly what's in the boxes," Appeltans said. "If you want to protect endangered species you need to...be able to identify the species."

A type of marine snail once used in the cosmetics industry, for instance, was found to be the same as one listed under another name as endangered, he said.

Among species with misleading names, the basking shark, the world's second largest fish after the whale shark, has 39 aliases in Latin, Appeltans said.

"The register...will change the way people think about biodiversity and naming species," Ron O'Dor, senior scientist of the Census of Marine Life, told Reuters.

The register is linked to the census, a 10-year effort to map life in the oceans. So far the census has added 110 validated species to the list and expects to add thousands more.

In remote parts of the oceans, such as off Antarctica, more than 80 percent of organisms caught are unknown to science especially smaller creatures such as worms, molluscs or crustaceans.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Catalogue of marine life reaches 122,500
Yahoo News 26 Jun 08;

Scientists have identified some 122,500 species of marine life in the oceans and have managed to clear up some 56,000 cases of double-identity as part of a global research project.

"Convincing warnings about declining fish and other marine species must rest on a valid census," said Mark Costello of the University of Auckland in a statement Wednesday.

"This project will improve information vital to researchers investigating fisheries, invasive species, threatened species and marine ecosystem functioning, as well as to educators."

The new World Register of Marine Species (www.marinespecies.org) now contains about 122,500 validated marine species names, and has cleared up the aliases given to thousands of species.

"It will eliminate the misinterpretation of names, confusion over Latin spellings, redundancies and a host of other problems that sow confusion and slow scientific progress," Costello said.

Researchers aim to finish the project by October 2010.

"It adds difficulties to project like the census where we have to integrate data from different sources into one data base, because of different names to the same thing," said Edward Vanden Berghe, from the Ocean Biographic Information System at Rutgers University.

Since the middle of the 18th century when scientists first began to set up a system to name and classify plant and animal life, several different species have inadvertently been given different names.

The Breadcrumb Sponge, known by its Latin name of Halichondria panicea, was the champion of Latin aliases, collecting some 56 synonyms since its first description in 1766.

The animal which has no fixed abode and likes to float along or attach itself to rocks, smells like exploded gun-powder and is known to change its appearance.

"Animals on land or on the sea don't walk around with their names on their face," said Philippe Bouchet, professor at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

"The history of science is full of approximations, of intuitions and of errors," he told AFP.

Launched in 2000, the census aims to classify and identify all marine life, and involves some 100 scientists working in 80 countries. The census should contain an estimated 230,000 species once it is complete in 2010.

But Bouchet said the work completed so far represents just "the tip of the iceberg, given all the species that remain to be discovered and are continually being discovered."

Before the cataloguing is done, he said, researchers could uncover "five times as many marine species" as those currently known.

There are also several other ongoing projects aiming to catalogue the Earth's biodiversity and classify the 1.8 million species of plant and animal life on the planet.

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Best of our wild blogs: 26 Jun 08

Singapore is getting greener: now for a bluer Singapore
on the wildfilms blog

The sea bottom off Pulau Sudong is being measured
from an MPA notice on the wildfilms blog

Life history of the Great Helen
on the butterflies of singapore blog

Seagrass Succession
a new seagrass team on labrador on the labrador blog

Pong pong and the cockatoo
a toxic snack? on the urban forest blog

Blue-winged Minla catching a moth
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Sorting out names of marine life forms
on the wildfilms blog

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Another major shipyard accident

Burnt worker is 23rd person to be killed or injured this month
Teh Joo Lin, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

A WORKER was badly burnt yesterday during a fire onboard a boat in a Tuas shipyard, the second major accident at the same facility in the last 10 days.

The 54-year-old man, believed to be the ship's engineer and a New Zealander, also became the 23rd person either injured or killed in shipyard accidents this month.

He was rushed to hospital where he was warded with second-degree burns. He was said to be in a stable condition.

The blaze was the second accident since June 17 at Drydocks World Singapore - part of an international ship-repair firm - and the latest in a rash of accidents that have rocked the shipping industry.

This month, shipyard accidents have claimed the lives of five workers and injured 18 others.

That tally includes two workers who recently died after being badly burnt in an explosion earlier this month.

Yesterday's fire came just a week after safety officials urged shipyards to call an unprecedented 'time-out' from work to review safety procedures. So far, at least 26 out of the 89 shipyards here have responded to the call.

Drydocks was said to have conducted a time-out last Friday. The fire yesterday happened onboard the Pacific Sentinel, a supply vessel that docked at the Drydocks yard earlier in the week, according to workers there.

The blaze apparently began in a compartment near the engine room. The Straits Times understands the engineer was doing repair work there.

At the same shipyard last Tuesday, two Indian nationals died and five others were injured while working below deck on another ship. It appeared to be a case of gas poisoning.

A Manpower Ministry spokesman said all work at Drydocks had been stopped.

In a separate accident on Sunday in Pasir Panjang, four crewmen onboard a container vessel were scalded by steam and hot water.

The run of deaths and injuries comes at a time when the shipping sector is enjoying a boom in business.

Last year, the marine and offshore industry - largely the ship-repair and offshore sectors - rang in $13.05billion in total output - a 33per cent jump from 2006.

Madam Halimah Yacob, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, said the flurry of work creates tight deadlines, but worker safety should be the top priority.

'Workers must internalise the safety ethos and be conscious of safety all the time... or complacency can set in. That is when it becomes very dangerous.'

Meanwhile, inspectors this week began checks which focus on the safety protocols at shipyards.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JERMYN CHOW

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Asian cities need help to avoid urbanisation problems

Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE : Asian cities need help to cope with an unprecedented period of urbanisation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday, stressing that their future prosperity is at stake.

Providing adequate water supplies and infrastructure are among the key issues facing urban planners and policymakers, ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said, noting few Asian cities have successfully dealt with rapid expansion.

"Asia's rapid urbanisation is unprecedented," Kuroda said in a speech to the World Cities Summit in Singapore, noting an estimated 1.1 billion Asians are expected to migrate to cities in search of better lives over the next 20 years.

"Improving the livelihood and quality of life for so many city dwellers is an urban management task of a magnitude never before attempted by humanity.

"Clearly, Asian cities need assistance in coping with the physical impact of past and current urban growth."

The Tokyo-Yokohoma area and Shanghai are rare urban success stories in Asia, Kuroda said.

"Some Asian mega-cities have been enormously successful... unfortunately such successes are not the norm but the exception," he said.

In most parts of Asia, investments in infrastructure have failed to keep up with economic growth, and where there are new investments, the benefits have not been distributed equally, he said.

Aside from the need to invest in infrastructure, the region needs technical assistance critical to sustain growth, he said.

To this end, the ADB has launched a water financing initiative that aims to provide 200 million Asians with access to safe drinking water, said Kuroda.

"Water is central to the larger development agenda... water quality management is an area which has been sadly neglected in much of the region," said Kuroda.

Thousands of delegates from around the world are in Singapore for a series of inter-related conferences and events related to sustainable development. - AFP/jk

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Going green: Many cities get red marks for poor planning

Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

TOO many cities are built for cars, not people.

They rely too heavily on fossil fuels, leading to high emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Bad planning on how to use land adds to the litany of environmental sins.

The result: These icons of urbanisation fare rather badly on their climate-change report cards.

Giving this assessment was Mr Jeremy Harris, a former mayor of the city and county of Honolulu.

He was speaking at a discussion on environmental sustainability and climate change at the World Cities Summit, which ended yesterday.

'The challenge we face is monumental... We can't develop the new cities of the future by using the failed paradigms of the past,' he said.

His four-pronged strategy as mayor of Honolulu for over a decade included building cities with people in mind, being smart in growth design and preserving agricultural land and open spaces.

The transport system, for one thing, is designed to minimise car use and promote the extensive use of bicycles. City buses are even equipped with bike racks so residents can take their bikes with them when they travel around the city.

Residential, work and community spaces are planned so people do not have to travel too far to work, or even to shop, he said.

The city also has an extensive recycling programme, turning glass into asphalt and green waste into compost, among other things. It also reprocesses cooking oil as fuel for city vehicles.

Technology has also been aggressively harnessed to allow for integrated planning and to boost efficiency.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for example, provide a three-dimensional view of the entire city - all its buildings, transport systems, topography, demographics and even sewers.

Even the maintenance and repair of the island's water infrastructure is GIS-based - every storm-drain manhole cover has a barcode so that field workers, equipped with handheld computers, know exactly what needs to be done.

The measures are backed, too, with strong buy-in from the community, as well as the 'expertise and enthusiasm of civil society', he added.

All that, while the city budget stayed flat.

'A lot of people said we could not afford to do it. But we could not afford not to,' he said.

Some of his fellow speakers also pointed to examples of sustainability at work, and measures that supply solutions instead of adding problems to the climate-change issue.

In Mexico City, for example, an improved bus-based rapid transit system has not only sped up travelling time, but led to reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions of 35,000 tons a year, said Mr Robert Bradley, director of International Climate Policy from the World Resources Institute.

The impact of global warming would also be dire, Mr Harris said, flashing a photograph of a water-inundated neighbourhood of Waikiki should sea levels rise by a metre.

'When you live in a coastal city, this is real,' he added.

Singapore's National Environment Agency chief executive Lee Yuan Hee, who also spoke at the session, agreed.

'We have no hinterland to turn to. We do not have a second chance,' he said.

To that end, Singapore has commissioned its first long-term climate-change impact study, which will be ready early next year.

What cities really need to do is to reflect the true economic cost of a business-as-usual approach, concluded Mr Harris, using the subsidised price of petrol as an illustration.

If its true price is reflected, solar energy, for one thing, would surface as far more cost-competitive than many think it is.

'We can no longer afford, as a civilisation, to operate under this fraudulent book-keeping,' he said.

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Singapore to facilitate network of East Asian cities to tackle challenges

Hasnita Majid, Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE: A network linking cities in East Asia will be set up to tackle challenges such as climate change, and Singapore will facilitate the activities of the network, according to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.

Mr Mah said: "Although we come from different cities, we face common challenges of how we can grow our city but at the same time make it liveable. So that is something that we all agreed upon. There is a sense of crisis and there is a strong political will to do something with all the different cities."

He added that the Centre for Liveable Cities, which has just been set up in Singapore, can be a platform to sustain the activities for the network.

During the roundtable discussion on the second day of the East Asia Summit Conference on Liveable Cities, participants learned about how some challenges faced by cities like Melbourne and Jakarta have been tackled.

The Governor of Jakarta, Dr Ing Fauzi Bowo, for instance, said that the key challenge for the Indonesian capital is change - not only in bureaucracy but also in the people's mindset.

"Poor people used to throw (away) trash because they think this is not their responsibility. We are now engaging their mind, and we try to encourage them, and we try to convince them that there is an economic value in their waste," he said.

Following the summit, a report highlighting the key points of the conference as well as the possible areas of cooperation will be drawn up. The report will then be submitted to the East Asia Leaders Summit at their next meeting in December. - CNA/ac

East Asia leaders resolve to keep liveable cities dialogue alive
New policy institute can be a platform to facilitate sharing of experiences: Mah
Lee U-Wen, Today Online 25 Jun 08;

THE first-ever East Asia Summit conference on liveable cities might have ended yesterday, but the journey for all 16 countries in the bloc is only just beginning.

Singapore, which hosted the two-day event, will set up an informal network of like-minded cities to create more opportunities to meet and share knowledge on energy security, climate change and sustainable development, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.

This after the participants - which included ministers, mayors and governors - made a renewed call for stronger political will for their countries to develop cities in a sustainable manner.

The countries that will be part of this new network include those from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), together with Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Mr Mah, who was also the conference's chairman, said at a plenary session yesterday afternoon: 'There is a sense of urgency or, as one speaker put it, a sense of crisis at the moment. Although we all come from different cities, we face common challenges on how we can grow our city but at the same time make it liveable.'

Ensuring the discussions and ideas arising from the conference are kept alive will be one of the first tasks of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), a new policy institute set up by the National Development and Environment and Water Resources ministries.

'We have decided that we should not let this dialogue end here. We can continue our talks through e-mail, joint projects, studies, research, host visits. And in this respect, the CLC can be one of the platforms to facilitate this sharing of experiences,' said Mr Mah.

Among the many East Asian policymakers who shared their city's plans at the plenary session was Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo, who called for bureaucratic change in the Indonesian capital's provincial government.

'There also has to be a mindset change among our citizens. A shift in thinking will result in better cooperation and synergy among stakeholders. The more prosperous the community, the better educated they will be - which itself will bring a better understanding of the importance of sustainable development,' he said.

For Melbourne mayor John So, the greatest challenge facing the Australian city at present is how to reduce emissions created by buildings. He shared how energy use in residential and commercial buildings accounts for 95 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from the municipality.

While recognising that cities are different in structure, culture, economics, geography and climate, Mr Mah said that it was time to find the most viable solution for each city.

'Singapore can be a showcase of many different experiences - not just the positive ones; cities can also learn from our negative experiences and the mistakes that we have made. Through this informal network, all of us will be the better for it,' he said.

All the new ideas and suggestions arising from these events will be compiled and submitted to the East Asian leaders at their next summit in Bangkok this December.

Regional hub to train urban planners
Water experts and city planners from around the world unveiled three new initiatives and ideas at the Singapore International Water Week and World Cities Summit yesterday
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE could soon add one more hub to its already impressive list - as a regional centre to train urban planners, designers and architects.

The idea was raised yesterday by the World Bank, which is in talks with the Government about setting up such a facility, believed to be the first in Asia.

Siting such a hub here is no accident. The country is seen as an example of Asia's forward-looking attitude to urbanisation and such a centre would 'draw on and share Singapore's phenomenal knowledge and experience', said Mr James Adams, the bank's vice-president for the East Asia and Pacific region.

Mr Adams' comments on the last day of the World Cities Summit came a day after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a new Centre for Liveable Cities.

This centre will bring together the expertise Singapore has built up in government, industry and academia on sustainable urban development.

Industry experts told The Straits Times the recent moves are timely, given that 54 per cent - 2.6 billion - of Asia's population is expected to live in cities by 2030.

'The need for good urban planners has never been greater and we need to train them up quickly,' said principal architect John Ting of Singapore's AIM & Associates.

'Without well-trained urban planners, cities will face big problems in the face of overwhelming demand on resources,' said Mr Ting, who is also a former president of the Singapore Institute of Architects.

Talks on the World Bank's proposed centre here are in the preliminary stage and details will be released later, possibly at year-end, when World Bank president Robert Zoellick is scheduled to visit.

In his speech, Mr Adams noted that the 'old thinking' that urbanisation was a 'bad thing' has given way to the idea that it is an important driver of economic growth.

'No country has grown to high income without vibrant cities,' he said. This should be achieved, as Singapore has done, through a combination of innovative policies, investments in education and infrastructure, and a big push to attract foreign capital and talent.

Informal network of 16 countries formed to share ideas and expertise
Shefali Rekhi, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

SIXTEEN countries have formed an informal network to share ideas and expertise to promote environmentally sustainable development, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan disclosed yesterday.

Members of this new group will interact regularly to discuss issues, host visits and undertake projects, Mr Mah said, after chairing a session of the inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS) Conference on Liveable Cities.

More than 30 mayors and governors participated in the meeting that was held together with the World Cities Summit at the Suntec convention centre.

Mr Mah said, although the officials came from different cities, there was a sense that they face common challenges. There is also a sense of urgency and strong political will for change. It would be useful to share these experiences and not let this dialogue end here.

Cities in Asean and its six dialogue partners - China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand - will be members of the new network. This informal alliance will connect with other networks, Mr Mah told the media.

The EAS conference was proposed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the EAS in Singapore last year. A report on yesterday's proceedings will be submitted to its next meeting in Bangkok later this year.

Yesterday's discussion saw the officials exchanging views on how best to promote development which was both economically and environmentally sound.

Melbourne Lord Mayor John So told the conference that Australia's second largest city has set a target of 'zero net emissions' by 2020.

To achieve this, the city council is increasingly buying 'green power' produced from renewable sources for its buildings. Energy-efficiency rating systems have been embedded into planning and building regulations, he said.

A Malaysian official suggested a star-based rating system, similar to the one for hotels, be introduced for cities. This would encourage city councils to do more for sustainable development.

Noting that this was an interesting idea, Mr Mah said the new Centre for Liveable Cities, which was unveiled by PM Lee on Tuesday, would be a 'useful platform' to further these discussions.

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‘Liveable’ cities: All things to all people

Dr Ooi Giok Ling, Today Online 26 Jun 08;

LIVEABILITY might seem to be yet another measure added to the range that are already in place for comparing cities.

Other measures of cities as places to live, work and play include the quality of life, sustainability, costs, competitiveness and even the ease of doing business.

There has been speculation as to why Singapore fell off the list of the top 20 most liveable cities in a recent poll by Monocle magazine.

However, there have been few questions about how “liveability” is conceived and from whose point of view. Would liveability mean the same to the poor as well as the rich, the young and old, those with families and single professionals or locals and visitors?

Cities are now so diverse and disparities so evident, particularly in ones that are thriving, and changing fast, in terms of employment patterns, social networks and urban living, generally.

Furthermore, city governments, businesses and, often, citizens themselves have generally forgotten the raison d’etre for living in cities — most of us have migrated to cities to live a better lives.

By 2025, close to two-thirds of the world will be living in cities because, to many, cities continue to hold the promise of greater economic opportunity and the good life.

Much of the work done to study liveability in cities has centred around lifestyles and social networks, the well-being of the urban population and environment. Not surprisingly, the recent accounts of what liveability means for people have been highly personal and personalised.

For the researchers concerned about liveability, the key areas have been processes such as civic participation and the space allowed for citizens to shape the cities in which they live. Sceptics may point to the highly varied ways the dimensions of liveability can be translated to what we see on the ground.

However, cities may be highly liveable for young families but too staid for swinging professionals. Even swinging professionals with young families may think of liveability differently.

Liveability as a concept for assessing life in cities suggests that they have to be practically all things to all the people living in them.

In other words, rich or poor, families or single professionals, young or old, swinging or otherwise, cities are liveable where they provide the spaces and places for people as well as options that make life pleasant, convenient and largely hassle-free in their everyday lives, work and social engagements.

People living in some of the sprawling cities of South-east Asia — where mobility is dominated by private transport and its travails — are likely to adjust their social networking when faced with the prospect of traffic jams and spiralling fuel prices. This has an impact on social life and, hence, liveability.

Urban neighbourhoods with character are important in determining liveability. This underscores the processes that researchers consider to be important — urban residents having a say in how they like their neighbourhoods.

Cities like Vancouver fare particularly well in terms of civic participation to determine the kind of developments in their neighbourhoods. Cities listed as highly liveable are also relatively cosmopolitan; people of different cultural backgrounds appear to be able to feel at home, whilst expatriates and tourists feel at home away from home.

In a world of growing diversity, particularly in our cities, the accommodation of differences and divergent needs will be a challenge. Not addressing these growing needs generally implies widening disparities, particularly between urbanites who can manage on their own and those who cannot.

A check of the list of “liveable” cities will show that many have good infrastructure — public transport, public spaces such as parks, libraries and art galleries, among others — that help to level up and address the disparities in costs and standards of living.

Common goods — such as air and water — of good quality add to liveability, regardless of where one lives or works in the city. Topping it would be sound environmental infrastructure that ensures high standards of public health.

At the same time, there is likely to be low crime because of attention to security and safety in the city — yet another levelling-up process to ensure that disparities do not grow as cities change.

The writer is a humanities and social studies professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. The views expressed are her own.

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Singapore, Mideast collaborate on environment, water issues

Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE : Singapore has signed three Memoranda of Understandings (MOU) with the Middle East to enhance water development. Two MOUs were sealed with Bahrain and one with the United Arab Emirates.

These are expected to pave the way for Singapore companies to take part in water projects in the Middle East.

The potential for the water industry is huge in the Middle East, given its dry climate, and Singapore could well offer its expertise in water treatment.

Singapore's national water agency PUB signed the two MOUs with Bahrain's Ministry of Electricity and Water Authority, and its Works Ministry.

Fahmi Bin Ali Al Jowder, Ministry of Works, and Electricity & Water Authority in Bahrain, said: "In Bahrain now, with the increase demand of our water resources, we are trying to put up a better plan to conserve water usage and have a better management.

"Bahrain... is considered a very dry region. We are highly dependant on desalination for our potable water uses and we are trying now to embark on re-using treated sewage."

The collaboration will see Singapore sharing knowledge with Bahrain in three key areas - operation and maintenance design, construction of sewage and sanitary systems, as well as consultation on planning and development in used water systems.

Singapore has also signed one MOU with the United Arab Emirates to collaborate on environmental protection and sustainable development. A joint committee from the two countries will meet at least once a year to look at specific projects to be undertaken.

While it is still too early to ascertain the monetary value of potential projects, Singapore said it will pave the way for local water firms.

"We are trying to encourage more private sector companies, but we can only do so when we have identified the projects clearly so they'll know what is involved and what is at stake. Whether or not desalination of water will be one of those things is still being discussed," said Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of Environment & Water Resources.

Singapore, which has no natural resources, has been developing its capabilities in water management over the last 40 years and created a thriving water industry. - CNA /ls

5 MOUs signed to improve water ties
Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

AMID all the talking, delegates also made time to sign deals and agreements on the sidelines of the Singapore International Water Week.

Five memorandums Of understanding (MOUs) were signed to facilitate the export of homegrown water technologies and expertise to water-strapped nations around the world.

The tie-ups highlighted Singapore's leading role as experts in the water industry, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim at one of the signings.

# Singapore will work with the United Arab Emirates to develop technologies and capabilities in environmental protection and water management.

# National water agency PUB and the Electricity and Water Authority of Bahrain will work together to improve water distribution and conservation in the Middle Eastern nation.

# Under a second MOU with Bahrain's Ministry of Works, the PUB will offer consultation and training in the area of sanitation.

# Sembcorp Industries and the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute signed a research agreement to develop and apply cutting- edge technologies for water and waste-water treatment.

# The International Desalination Association and Singapore Water Alliance signed an agreement to encourage greater networking, and to facilitate the exchange of research and ideas between member organisations.

TANIA TAN

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Water Expo’s fount of ideas

Exhibits include fish with fluorescent livers and spring water taps
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 26 Jun 08;

MOST of the companies are showcasing sophisticated wastewater and membrane technologies, but there are some exhibitors with quirkier offerings at the Water Expo, which ends today.

On display are a water quality surveillance system using small aquarium fish and water treatment technology that could result in less detergent used in households.

The fish, bred with genes that cause their livers to turn fluorescent when exposed to cancer-causing estrogenic compounds, are the work of a biological sciences team from the National University of Singapore’s Environmental Research Institute, which hopes to develop an online water monitoring system as well as more types of transgenic fish that respond to other contaminants including organic pollutants and heavy metals.

Meanwhile, Japanese firmTamura System has a gadget that infuses tap water with the texture and mineral content of mountain spring water. The Carna water treatment system adds negative ions to the water, increasing its cleaning power, which means less detergent is needed for the dishes and laundry, said Mr Ryokan Potier, 32, Tamura’s international department director.

According to him, 35,000 households and 5,000 commercial properties in Japan use the Carna system, which costs ¥280,000 ($3,545) in Japan. Filtration systems distributor Waterealm hopes todistribute it here soon, said its sales representative Winfred Khoo.

“My company’s office in Singapore uses it now and you can definitely taste the difference in the water,” said Mr Khoo, 39.

More than 350 participants from 20 countries are exhibiting their products at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre as part of the World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week.

Even a biodiesel firm, Alpha Synovate, has a presence. The company turns waste vegetable oil into bio-diesel, and last year donated a micro-processor to a Cambodian orphanage so it could generate income by collecting waste vegetable oil from nearby businesses and selling the biodiesel end-product to a hospital.

According to Alpha Synovate chief executive Allan Lim, 36, water technologies and clean fuel are all about making the world a better place. “It’s about being part of the solution,” he said.

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Finding cheap water solutions to save lives

Neo Chai ChinToday Online 26 Jun 08;

MULTI-MILLION dollar water treatment systems are well and good, but in times of disaster, it is affordable technology that best serves the people.

Calling for new ideas on affordable post-disaster solutions, the Nanyang Technological University’s Lien Institute for the Environment (Life) launched its WaterLoo Challenge yesterday.

With disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, safe water supply and sanitation are essential in disaster management, said Associate Professor Li Bing, Life’s director, at the Water Expo.

“Looking around the expo, it’s all very expensive equipment, something I don’t think impoverished countries can afford,” said Assoc Prof Li, who has harvested rain water in Guangxi, China, and used chemicals and sandstone filtration to remove arsenic from the drinking water of Medan’s villagers. “We’re looking for new ways to use local materials for solutions, for example, sand, iron or even bamboo to cleanse water.”

Applicants can submit their proposals from now until October. They will be judged by a panel of academics and industry leaders, and results are likely to be out next May. The top three entries win US$15,000 ($20,460), US$10,000 and US$5,000 respectively. The winning entry will also get up to US$20,000 more to further develop its idea.

For more information, visit www.ntu.edu.sg/cee/life/.

US$15,000 for best idea to provide clean water in post-disaster areas
Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 26 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE : The inaugural Waterloo Challenge 2009 will giving out US$15,000 for the best idea to solve water and sanitation problems caused by natural disasters.

Organised by the NTU's Lien Institute for the Environment, it is looking for innovative, yet affordable solutions for the impoverished people in the rural disaster areas, like those affected by the recent earthquake in Sichuan and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

The first runner-up will walk away with a cash prize of US$10,000, and the second runner-up will receive US$5,000.

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Singapore’s first private water fund

Chewo Xin Yi, Today Online 26 Jun 08;

MALAYSIA’S AmInvestment Bank Group and Singapore’s Konzen Group have launched Asia’s first private equity fund here to invest in water projects in the region.

The proposed US$320 million ($437 million) fund will seek capital from institutional investors such as insurance companies and long-term fixed income players.

Besides infrastructure-related projects such as water treatment plants, the fund will invest in specialised water companies with innovative technologies or business models.

“Water is the very essence of life. There is tremendous scope for future growth in line with surging demand for clean water for consumption as well as environmental benefits arising from the treatment of waste water,” said Mr Cheah Tek Kuang, AmBank’s group managing director.

China will be a key focus, given the country’s water shortages and pollution problems. In fact, the Asian Development Bank estimates that China alone needs about US$140 billion worth of investments for water treatment.

Mr Yeong Wai Cheong, chief executive of Konzen, which is a water treatment company, said the fund has also identified several potential water projects in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Unlike in Singapore, Shanghai or other sophisticated cities, Mr Yeong said some small Asian towns have “absolutely no expertise” in raising capital for their water infrastructure needs.

“Our experience has been that — having done all the engineering work and agreed on an engineering basis that it’s highly feasible :— they (countries) don’t know how to raise the money,” he said.

While aiming to bring money to these projects, Mr Yeong the fund also aims to be a “high-yield, income-oriented vehicle” with a projected yield of 15 to 20 per cent.

He added that it makes a lot of sense to place the fund in Singapore given its status as both a water and financial hub.

Konzen’s existing relationship with the Singapore Government and Asian Development Bank, which has actively corporated in regional water public-private partnerships, would also ensure a steady flow of projects for the fund, said AmInvestment Bank’s executive director Pushpa Rajadurai.

Despite ongoing turbulence in the global financial markets, both companies are confident that the fund will be able to attract investors.

“In fact, we think the froth in the public markets will shift investor attention towards more stable asset classes and infrastructure investment is certainly a very stable source of investment returns,” said Konzen’s Mr Yeong.

US$320m Asia water fund launched
Fund plans to focus on treatment plants in north China
Chew Xiang, Business Times 26 Jun 08;

MALAYSIA'S AmInvestment Bank and Konzen Group, a water treatment company headquartered here, yesterday launched a US$320 million water fund touted as Asia's first for private investors.

The AmKonzen Asia Water Fund will invest in assets from Konzen's established network in the region, with an emphasis on treatment plants in north China, Konzen group managing director Yeong Wai Cheong said yesterday.

To get extra revenue, the fund may invest in environmentally friendly projects in South-east Asia to generate carbon credits under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism. These credits may be sold to European or Japanese companies.

Mr Yeong said the fund resembles a fixed-income instrument, as water projects generate a steady stream of inflation-adjusted income through tariffs paid by end-users.

The fund will invest smaller amounts in selected water companies or research projects to get some equity returns as well, which differentiates it from a listed water trust such as Hyflux's.

'It has the risk profile of a bond with equity upside,' Mr Yeong said. 'We are targeting insurance companies - anyone with long- term needs who focuses on yield generation.'

Some projects have already been identified and the fund is aiming for its first closure this October or November with at least US$100 million. Mr Yeong said investments will be 'careful and conservative' to fit the long-term needs of investors.

The AmKonzen fund has a minimum commitment of US$10 million, with 2 per cent management fees and 20 per cent of net profit paid as a bonus, after a hurdle rate of 8 per cent.

Mr Yeong said exit may be achieved by listing the fund as an infrastructure trust or through a piecemeal sale of assets.

The water industry has seen rapid growth this decade as China has urbanised. Many of China's freshwater sources are heavily polluted, leading to increasingly strident calls for environmental protection.

Mr Yeong said water tariffs could increase considerably as governments come to see market pricing as the only solution to reducing wastage and tackling water scarcity.

Tariffs in China are 15 times lower than the global average, he added. Water plants require heavy investment that public finances often cannot cope with. A number of funds specialising in water plant investments have already been set up, but Mr Yeong said AmKonzen is the first from Asia.

New $440m water fund with Asian focus
Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

A US$320 million (S$438 million) water fund with an Asian focus was launched in Singapore yesterday.

The fund, set up by local water company Konzen Group in a joint venture with Malaysian AmInvestment Bank, will invest in water-infrastructure projects and companies with innovative water technologies.

AmKonzen Water Investments Management will manage the fund, believed to be the first of its kind in Asia.

The two partner firms, which will hold equal stakes, signed the agreement yesterday at the inaugural Singapore International Water Week, which ends today.

Konzen chief executive Yeong Wai Cheong, who has been in the water-engineering business in South-east Asia for 25 years, said the firm expects to raise at least US$100 million initially.

The fund will be a 'high-yield, income-oriented vehicle' which will offer stability and behave like a bond with fixed income, he said.

The fund's Asian focus will capitalise on the region's growing demand for water - and lack of supply - which will require rapid construction of new water plants.

It will focus on investing in public and private water and waste-water infrastructure projects in China and South-east Asia, as well as private equity firms with proven water technologies, said Mr Yeong.

The projected yield of the fund, open only to institutional investors, is 15 to 20 per cent.

AmKonzen decided to set up shop here because of Singapore's 'global hydrohub' reputation.

'Singapore has a vibrant water industry, and is also a financial capital so it makes a lot of sense,' said Mr Yeong.

The fund expects to expand its assets beyond US$320 million in the long term, he added.

AmKonzen is not the only firm benefiting from Asia's booming water industry. United States-based Black & Veatch announced on Tuesday that the annual revenues of its water business in the Asia-Pacific region tripled to US$170 million last year.

The firm has also secured new projects in the water markets of Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong, worth US$34 million in the past two months.

JESSICA CHEAM

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Rising to the water challenge from Day 1: Singapore's quest

Two incidents drove Singapore's quest to be water independent, says MM Lee
Clarissa Oon, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

TWO incidents drove home to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew the need for Singapore to strive for self-sufficiency in water.

The first was when the island fell to invading Japanese troops who blew up pipes transporting water from Johor to Singapore in February 1942.

This left the British colonial army and Singaporeans with only two reservoirs of water that could last them two weeks at most.

'Thirsty men cannot fight,' said MM Lee who recounted this episode in the nation's history last night during a dialogue at the Shangri-La Hotel.

The second incident happened a few days after Singapore's separation from Malaysia in August 1965. Then-Malaysian prime minister Tengku Abdul Rahman remarked that 'if Singapore doesn't do what I want, I'll switch off the water supply'.

That threat, made to the British high commissioner, was duly conveyed to Mr Lee, then prime minister.

Since then, the 'quest for water independence' has dominated every facet of urban development here, he told an audience of 650 international officials and water experts.

Why? Because 'I knew that as long as I was totally dependent on Malaysia's water supply, we would always be a satellite', he said baldly.

His 50-minute dialogue was part of the first International Water Week, hosted here.

Recounting the country's experience of water scarcity, he had vowed with his engineers, 'from day one', to systematically try to turn every drop of water in Singapore into potable water.

As difficult as the challenge seemed at the time, 'I never believed it would be impossible forever. I thought some time, some place, technology would be found that could make it nearly possible'.

They began by trying to collect every drop of rainfall. To do so, they increased the number of reservoirs here from two to 14.

Then they undertook a massive clean-up of the Singapore and Kallang rivers, which Mr Lee described as 'sewers' in their previous incarnation.

Hundreds of people living on bumboats on the Singapore River - who cooked, washed and defecated there - were rehoused. Thousands of industries were relocated.

'It took 10 years and the fish came back to the rivers.'

He envisioned a huge fresh water lake at the mouth of the two rivers, but at that time, there was no way to remove the salt and remaining toxins in the water.

Finally, in the 1990s, the solution emerged in the form of membrane technology.

By 2000, low-pressure membranes using less energy made the technology cheaper to operate.

Together with desalination technology, they have made it possible for the Marina Barrage to be transformed into a huge freshwater lake able to meet 10 to 12 per cent of Singapore's water needs.

Singapore is also reclaiming used water into high-grade Newater, which will meet 30 per cent of its water needs in 10 years' time.

These breakthroughs took place around the time when then-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad wanted to raise the price of water Johor sold to Singapore from 3 Malaysian sen to 8 ringgit per thousand gallons.

The Malaysians thought Newater was 'a gimmick', even after they saw 60,000 Singaporeans drink bottles of it at the 2002 National Day parade.

It was not until they visited the Newater's Bedok showroom that they realised it was not so.

Singapore now wants to share its expertise with other countries as water shortage is a growing global problem, especially with climate change causing disruptions to water supply and river basins.

'We did not do this by ourselves. We climbed on other people's shoulders. We brought this (technology) together and improved on them.'

Singapore's quest to be less dependent on Malaysia for water started at separation
Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's quest to be less dependent on Malaysia for its water supply came about from day one when the country separated from its neighbour in 1965, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew revealed on Wednesday.

Speaking at a dialogue session during the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize Award Ceremony, Mr Lee recounted what happened during the early days of independence and explained why water is so crucial to the survival of Singapore.

He said even then, he believed new technology would steer Singapore towards eventual self-sufficiency.

"How do we retrieve water from unprotected catchments, so that the first flush goes off to the sea and the second one is collected and is usable?

"So, I set up a unit in my office and I had a very good engineer who was head of the department and we set out systematically from day one (in) 1965 (to) get every drop of water in Singapore potable...

"If every drop of the 96 inches of rain that Singapore gets a year were collected and consumed, could we have enough for the population of 2 million then?"

Today, Singapore has several water treatment plants which also provide water to industries.

But globally, Mr Lee said the misuse of water in agriculture is a problem, like switching on grass sprinklers in the day.

He said, "I just can't understand why we are doing this? Hasn't somebody invented something that'll make sure that the water drips onto the grass in the evenings when it's cool and the loss of evaporation is minimal? But no, they work 9 to 5 and so they press it on in the afternoon when evaporation is highest and then they close (it) at 5."

He said countries could learn from the Israeli example of drip irrigation - a method which minimises the use of water and fertiliser by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants.

Mr Lee added that he believes water reclamation and waste management will be a huge industry because every society, especially China and India, will have to cope with the problem of water shortage.

When asked if Singapore would be able to sustain the same level of progress without its founding father, the minister mentor said the city state's leaders are built on credibility.

He noted that the problem with a free election system is that when the electorate gets bored, they may place their trust in the opposition. Then, Mr Lee explained, all bets are off because in just five years a country can be ruined.

"If you are Canada or Australia, (which are) resource-rich, the swing of (the) commodity cycle will lift you back. But when you are Singapore, and your system depends on performance... when that performance disappears because the system which it is based (on) is eroded, then you've lost everything."

Mr Lee said Singapore is too small a country to help change the world, but it is willing to share its knowledge of purifying water with others.

He said, "We did not do this by ourselves, we climbed on other peoples' shoulders; we brought things together and built on them. We're happy to have people climb on our shoulders - whether you're from the Middle East, China, India... it's a collaborative effort.

"The world will need this because what we have assumed was limitless, endless supplies of water... we have found it not to be so, and we (have) found a way out of it."

Mr Lee's advice to other governments is – to have a government that the people support and have confidence in; to have a leadership that's above board, where decisions are made not for personal gain but because it is necessary for the country; and to have able men in charge. - CNA/ac

Three elements that shape Singapore's water policy
Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times 26 Jun 08;

MM Lee recounts interplay of history and technology that defines nation's successful approach

(SINGAPORE) What do the Japanese invasion of Singapore, a Malaysian threat, and faith in technology have in common?

They shape Singapore's successful water policy today.

The architect of the policy, none other than Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, recalled how he came to be convinced that water is 'so crucial to Singapore's survival'.

Speaking last night at a dialogue wrapping up the Singapore International Water Week, Mr Lee - who is now Minister Mentor - said he had noted that one of the first things the Japanese did when they invaded Singapore was to blow up its water supply.

That was one of the key reasons the Japanese defeated the British army here, according to him.

'Thirsty men can't fight and Winston Churchill's 'Fight to the last' was just rhetoric,' Mr Lee said.

The next experience that convinced him about the importance of water to Singapore happened soon after Singapore broke off from Malaysia. Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had then threatened to turn off its water supply to Singapore if it 'doesn't listen to him'.

'I realised then that if we are not less dependent on Malaysia for water, we will become its satellite,' Mr Lee told his audience, made up of policymakers, water specialists and industry players from all over the world.

Thus, the quest 'to get every drop of water in Singapore made potable' started from Day One of the country's independence.

Mr Lee said that his engineers and specialists told him it was impossible, but he had faith in technology - that one day it will make it 'nearly possible'.

A water unit was set up in his office in the quest and Mr Lee said that every policy had to take a back seat to the search for an answer to Singapore's water survival.

A breakthrough came in 1990 when membrane technology came up with a solution - and subsequently, NEWater was born.

Mr Lee noted that NEWater - which is recycled water - meets all the water requirements of the wafer fabrication plants in Singapore. NEWater currently accounts for 15 per cent of Singapore's water consumption. Mr Lee said that, in another 10 years, it will make up 30 per cent of Singapore's needs.

He said that Singapore is ready to share its water knowledge with others with similar problems as Singapore.

'Water is a precious resource, without it you will die,' Mr Lee said. 'You can live without energy.'

He said that 'the misuse of water', especially in agriculture, is the biggest contributor to water shortage in the world. Mr Lee predicted that water reclamation and waste management would be a big industry because 'China and all big countries have to cope with this problem'.

During the question-and-answer session, which was moderated by Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Mr Lee said that people whose livelihood and existence are at stake will come to demand water solutions from their governments.

Asked for the single most important reason for the cleaning up of the Singapore River, his answer: 'The determination that it shall be done!'

MM: It’s Singapore’s turn ...
To have countries facing water insecurityclimb on her shoulders
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 26 Jun 08;

WHERE other countries face problems with water scarcity and management, Singapore will be more than happy to step forward to share its expertise in solving such problems.

And this is because of Singapore’s own journey in creating sustainable sources to meet its own water needs, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Speaking during a dialogue session at the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize ceremony last night, Mr Lee revealed why he made water independence a “quest” for Singapore.

By being dependent on Malaysia for water imports, said Mr Lee, Singapore would have always remained a “satellite”, threatened with having its water supplies cut off if the two countries were in dispute.

“This is the reason why we believe we should share this knowledge with so many other countries in the world which will face the same problem,” he said.

Although collecting every inch of rainwater in Singapore and making every drop potable was deemed “impossible”, Mr Lee “never believed that it would be impossible forever”.

“I thought some time, some place, technology would be found that would make it really possible.”

Thanks to breakthroughs in membrane technology — and the work of WaterPrize winner Andrew Benedek — Singapore was able to make use of technology like Newater and desalination to diversify its water sources.

Referring to Malaysia’s “blackmail” of Singapore by asking for a higher price of water than in the original water agreements, Mr Lee recalled the day 60,000 Singaporeans drank Newater during Singapore’s National Day celebrations in 2002.

“Then they realised it was for real,” said Mr Lee. “We did not do this by ourselves, we climbed on other people’s shoulders ... we’re happy to have people climb on our shoulders, whether you’re from the Middle East, China or India or whatever, it’s a collaborative effort.”

Wastage and misuse of water will lead to water shortages in many countries, he said. “I believe water reclamation and waste management will be a huge industry ... especially China, India, the big ones, (they) will have to cope with this problem.”

The topic occasionally strayed beyond water, as an audience member from Bangladesh raised the question of how Singapore would continue in his absence, a question that raised chuckles from the audience and Mr Lee himself.

Starting off by saying he was saddened by the news of Mrs Lee’s health and that he would pray for her — to which Mr Lee responded with a “thank you” — he also asked what advice Mr Lee had for governments in developing countries.

Mr Lee said: “It is my business to make sure Singapore does carry on, and in fact there’s been two changes of leadership since I stepped down.

“A certain system has been set in place, certain institutions, certain methods of electing MPs ... and standards have been established, which should ensure Singapore to have a government which can perform to the level that the first government did, the second government has done and the third government is doing.”

To implement policies effectively, governments had to have the confidence and support of its people, a leadership that was above board, and have able men in charge, he said.

Popular elections, however, can pose difficulties to accomplishing this. “When you go to elections, you are not charged in accordance to your ability to govern, you are judged in accordance to your persuasive powers,” he said.

Such was one way of a democratic process, which can produce results. “But as you know from the way I speak, I am not totally overwhelmed by the idea that the electorate always knows the best and brings about peace and stability and happiness for the people,” he said.

Asked by another audience member from Chennai on what was the one big factor in how Singapore successfully managed to clean up its rivers, Mr Lee responded: “Determination that it shall be done.”

MM LEE ON FREAK POLL RESULTS
5 Years all it takes to ruin Singapore
'I know how we got here and I know how we can unscramble it,' he says
Lydia Lim, Straits Times 26 Jun 08;

ONE freak election result is all it will take to wipe out Singapore's success in building up the city state, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew warned last night.

This could happen if voters became bored and decided to give the 'vociferous opposition' a chance - out of 'light-heartedness, fickleness or sheer madness'.

'In five years, you can ruin this place and it's very difficult to pick up the pieces,' he told 650 participants of a dinner forum at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Mr Lee was responding to a Bangladesh delegate who asked if Singapore would continue to thrive in his absence. The delegate also expressed sorrow at the news of Mrs Lee's illness, and Mr Lee thanked him.

In his reply, Mr Lee returned to themes he has spoken on often - the need for a system to ensure good leaders emerge, and the danger that voters plumping for more opposition MPs might end up with an unintended change of government.

Larger countries rich in resources can survive such a freak outcome, but not Singapore, he said.

'When you're Singapore and your existence depends on performance - extraordinary performance, better than your competitors - when that performance disappears because the system on which it's been based becomes eroded, then you've lost everything,' he said.

'I try to tell the younger generation that and they say the old man is playing the same record, we've heard it all before. I happen to know how we got here and I know how we can unscramble it.'

He said a country needed three elements to succeed.

First, a government that people have confidence in and will trust when tough decisions need to be taken.

Second, leaders who are above board, who make decisions based on necessity, not how they will personally benefit. He said Singaporeans know they have such leaders because, over the years, 'we have not got richer, Singapore has'.

Third and most importantly, a country needs able men in charge.

The problem with popular democracy, he said, is that during elections, candidates are not judged on how well they can govern, but on their persuasive power.

The forum, chaired by Mr Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, was a highlight of the first World Cities Summit and International Water Week.

In his opening remarks, Mr Lee spoke for 20 minutes off the cuff, recounting his 40 years of striving to build up Singapore's independent water supply. He was determined because as long as Singapore was totally reliant on its neighbours for water, it would remain a 'satellite'.

During a 30-minute question-and-answer session, participants from around the world probed him about water management and political leadership.

He also presented the first Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize to Dr Andrew Benedek, a pioneer in the field of membrane technology for water treatment.

A key outcome of several sessions held yesterday was the setting up of an informal network of 16 countries - comprising the Asean 10, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand - to share ideas and expertise on how to go about pursuing sustainable development.

And the World Bank announced plans to set up in Singapore a regional hub for training urban planners, which will draw on the Republic's success in city development.

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Latin American Whale Watchers Seen at 1 Million in 2008

PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

SANTIAGO - Latin America's whale-watching industry is flourishing, with revenues up four-fold in 15 years and the region's whale tourists are set to exceed 1 million this year, a conservation group said on Tuesday.

Several Latin American countries, including Chile, which is hosting the annual International Whaling Commission meeting this week, are championing whale watching as an alternative to whale culls by the likes of Japan, Norway and Iceland.

On Monday, Santiago declared a permanent ban on whaling in Chilean waters and plans a whale sanctuary along its coastline.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said on the sidelines of the IWC meeting that the whale-watching industry in Latin America had seen ticket sales worth nearly US$80 million in 2006 alone, with overall related tourist expenditure of nearly US$280 million.

By comparison, the global whale-watching industry brings in around US$1 billion a year in revenues across some 90 countries.

"This is a sustainable industry that benefits coastal communities socioeconomically, educationally and environmentally for years to come," said Beatriz Bugeda, the fund's director for Latin America.

There are 64 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises in Latin America's waters, which represent around 75 percent of the world's 86 known cetacean species.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Martinez, Writing by Simon Gardner, Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Miner Nautilus Aims to Tap Riches of Ocean Floor

Cameron French, PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

TORONTO - Rocketing metal prices have prompted miners to seek out deposits in nearly all corners of the globe, but Canada's Nautilus Minerals is gunning to be the first to pull gold and copper from the ocean floor.

Nautilus has spent the last year signing contracts for a ship and deep-sea mining equipment, and is targeting production from a seabed deposit located off the coast of Papua New guinea by late 2010.

The company plans to use technology from the offshore oil and gas industry to get at abnormally high-grade metal deposits that -- despite lying beneath more than a mile of water -- are actually easier to access than typical hard-rock resources, Nautilus says.

"The thing that differentiates these seafloor, massive sulphides from land-based is that they are geologically younger, and they haven't had the plate movement and tectonic movement that land-based deposits have had," Nautilus Chief Executive Steve Rogers said in an interview.

"Therefore all these deposits lie on the sea floor, so they're much easier to get at than land-based deposits."

Rather than sinking a shaft through rock to get to an ore body, Nautilus will lower a remote mining machine from a ship, which will dig out a slurry-like ore, and pump it back up through a pipe.

In a mining industry beset by soaring development costs and long lead times to develop new mines, Nautilus promises a compressed development time line and copper grades that at Solwara have been around 8 percent to 10 percent, about 10 times what's normal in the industry.


CASH AND BACKERS

The company has just over US$300 million in cash, and also has deep-pocketed backers in Teck Cominco, Barrick Gold, Anglo American and Epion Holdings, which is owned by Russian investor Alisher Usmanov.

Solwara will be its first undersea mine, and the company also holds licenses and permits in the territorial waters of Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand.

While reluctant to get into precise cost estimates for the process, Rogers said he expects the undersea mining should be competitive with the land-based industry.

"Basically, the ship, fuel, people, and spare equipment. Those are the (cost) properties," he said.

Nautilus had originally intended to contract out the mining, but concluded it could do it more affordably itself.

The company announced this week it has rented a ship that will cost it US$125 million over five years. The initial operation will have daily capacity of 6,000 tonnes.

Ray Goldie, an analyst at Salman Partners, projects total costs over ten years of US$3.7 billion for the company, but said Nautilus is in a good position, given the lack of recent discoveries in the land-based industry.

"They've discovered new deposits at the rate of several a year. How many new deposits have been discovered on land in the last ten years?," Goldie said.

(US$1=$1.01 Canadian) (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Brazil Seizes Cattle to Stem Amazon Destruction

Raymond Colitt, PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

BRASILIA - Brazil seized thousands of head of cattle in the Amazon as part of a crackdown on illegal farming and logging, which fuels destruction of the world's largest rain forest, the environment minister said on Tuesday.

The announcement follows growing international concern over rising deforestation rates and the resignation last month of the former minister Marina Silva, who was widely seen as a guardian of the Amazon.

Brazil's powerful farmers, who are riding a global commodity boom, are likely to contest increased controls.

Police and agents from the environmental protection agency IBAMA impounded about 10,000 head of cattle on illegally deforested land in the state of Rondonia. Last week they expropriated a 3,500-strong herd in the state of Para, the new Environment Minister Carlos Minc told a news conference.

"Illegal beef will become an environmental barbecue for zero hunger," Minc said in reference to a government anti-hunger program that will receive the proceeds from the sale of seized cattle.

Cattle ranching occupies as much as 80 percent of deforested areas, Minc said. An estimated 25 million head of cattle are raised on deforested Amazon land, IBAMA director Flavio Montiel told Reuters.

By year-end Montiel hopes to withdraw hundreds of thousands of head of cattle from illegally deforested areas.

After cattle were seized on a farm in Para last week, neighboring ranchers fearing expropriation complied with court orders and removed their animals from protected areas.

Ranchers are often allied with local politicians and steal government land by falsifying titles and bribing registrars.

IBAMA fined loggers and grain farmers last month and will next target slaughter houses and steel companies that buy charcoal from deforested areas, Minc said.

Outraged farmers said the new measures were irrational and could cause price increases and supply shortages.

"This policy is too emotional and creates conflicts," Assuero Veronez of the National Agriculture Confederation told Globo TV.

The rate of deforestation is increasing this year for the first time since 2004 as growing demand for food is pushing farmers and ranchers deeper into the forest.

In the 12 months through July deforestation will total as much as 5,792 sq miles (15,000 sq km) -- roughly half the size of Belgium, Minc told Folha de Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

Last year 4,332 sq miles (11,224 sq km) were destroyed, down from a peak of 10,570 sq miles (27,379 sq km) in 2004.

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Rich States Urged to Pay More to Save Congo's Forests

Joe Bavier, PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

KINSHASA - Wealthy nations must provide more cash to help the impoverished Democratic Republic of Congo preserve the world's second biggest tropical forest, its Environment Minister said.

Logging and land clearance for farming are eating away the Congo Basin, home to more than a quarter of the world's tropical forests, at the rate of more than 800,000 hectares a year.

Environment Minister Jose Endundu told Reuters he wanted to reduce to 15 million hectares, from 20 million, the land attributed to logging companies, but that rich countries must help offset lost revenues and spur development there.

"We cannot be the ones who preserve, while others pollute without paying," he said in an interview. "Poverty and misery are the enemies of the forest. There needs to be a way that the local people are able to benefit from that forest."

Last week, donors led by Britain and Norway launched the US$200 million Congo Basin Forest Fund to help monitor forest depletion and promote economically viable alternatives.

Such projects, while encouraging, fall well short of fairly compensating his country, where the vast majority of the basin is located, Endundu said.

"Of course it's not enough," he said. "Congo is the country that has done the best job preserving its forest, and that cannot remain without some kind of value. We are talking today in terms of billions of dollars."

Next month, Congo is due to start evaluating 156 logging titles as part of a long delayed World Bank-sponsored review. Most of the deals were agreed during the turmoil of a 1998-2003 war and the corrupt transitional government that followed.

Many are expected to be cancelled outright for breaking a 2002 five-year moratorium on new logging contracts put in place to try to stem rampant deforestation aggravated by the conflict.


CARBON TRADING

Congo is looking not only to foreign governments for assistance, but also to an emerging market in carbon trading, Endundu said, referring to a system of buying and selling carbon credits in the European Union.

Endundu believes successfully marketing Congo's estimated 17 billion tonnes of carbon reserves would not only help preserve the Congo Basin, but could also become a major source of revenue for the nation.

"The negotiable value of that carbon is about US$5 per tonne," he said. "So, if we are able to come to an arrangement to commercialise this carbon, there will be a fundamental change in the financial means at our disposal."

Experts say post-war Congo is still a long way from establishing the monitoring structures and regulatory framework needed to support such a system.

However, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali in December for the first time recognised tropical forest protection as a major priority in the fight against global warming and urged governments to act quickly to preserve them.

Endundu believes the world is now finally waking up to its obligation to help Congo save its forests.

"I don't think they will refuse," he said. "It's not charity ... It's in the understood common interest of all of humanity."

Editing by Ingrid Melander and Giles Elgood)

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US Crop Damage From Weather Tops US$8 Billion

K.T. Arasu, PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

CHICAGO - From the worst floods in the Midwest grain belt in 15 years to drought in California, damage to crops from inclement weather has topped US$8 billion so far this year, the largest US farm group said on Wednesday.

The damage could rise or contract, depending on weather conditions for the rest of the growing season in the United States, the world's top exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat, the American Farm Bureau Federation said.

The flood damage in the Midwest over the past two weeks has lifted prices for US corn, used for food, renewable fuel ethanol and animal feed, to a record high above US$7 a bushel, up about 85 percent since the end of 2006 as of Wednesday.

The AFBF said leading farm state Iowa accounted for about half of the damage.

"Wet weather and flooding create issues, as farmers are unable to plant their crops," said AFBF senior economist Terry Francl. "The crops they do plant do not sprout and grow, resulting in few acres harvest."

"Additionally, the difficult growing conditions greatly reduce the yield of the crop that is harvested," he added.

Francl said he expected Iowa corn yields could fall by 16 percent this year and that 1.5 million to 2 million acres of corn and soybeans in the state that farmers intended to plant this spring will likely remain fallow.

AFBF said this would result in an estimated loss of US$4 billion to Iowa's crops, and that other states taking a hit from excessive wet weather and flooding are Illinois with US$1.3 billion, Missouri US$900 million, Indiana US$500 million and Nebraska US$500 million.

It said an additional US$1 billion in losses were expected in other states where conditions remained wet.

The US Agriculture Department will provide some insight into the extent of crop damage from the floods when it issues its report Monday on how many acres farmers will plant with major crops, including corn and soy, this year.

The AFBF said some states were experiencing dry weather, with drought taking a toll in several Western and Southeastern states. It said northern California battled the driest spring in its history, and as a whole the state suffered US$500 million in estimated damage.

AFBF said on a national basis, the corn yield is likely to decline some eight to 10 bushels per acre from the 2008 trend line, mostly due to inclement weather.

The national soybean average yield is also likely to be down one to two bushels per acre from the current US Agriculture Department projection of 42 bushels per acre.

AFBF said the damage estimate is based on the assumption that weather conditions will be normal for the remainder of the growing season, adding that varying weather conditions later in the season could cause the estimate to grow or contract. (Reporting by K.T. Arasu, editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Mosquito Outbreak to Follow Midwest Floods?

Anne Minard, National Geographic News 25 Jun 08;

Even as floodwaters subside in parts of the Midwest, residents along the Mississippi River could find themselves knee-deep in another hassle: mosquitoes.

The first potential outbreaks, hatched out of the flood's still-standing backwaters, won't necessarily be the disease-carrying kind.

But mid-July marks the beginning of the prime season for the mosquito varieties that most commonly carry the West Nile virus—northern and southern house mosquitoes.

Linn Haramis, an entomologist with the Illinois Department of Public Health in Springfield, says the remaining Midwestern floodwaters could breed a bumper crop of West Nile-carrying mosquitoes—but only if temperatures are especially hot.

In that regard, flood-ravaged Midwesterners just might get a break.

Slow Start

So far this year, there have been no cases of West Nile reported in flood-affected Missouri or Illinois. But that's typical of the disease's pattern—most cases occur later in the summer.

Last year, 101 people in Illinois got sick from the disease, which causes neurological symptoms in one out of 150 infections, and four people died of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Seventy-seven people got sick and five people died in Missouri.

Only one local government in Missouri—St. Louis County—tests mosquitoes for the virus. Officials there announced on Monday that mosquitoes bearing the disease have been found in about a fifth of their samples.

"We know the virus is active," said Karen Yates, of the vector-borne disease program in the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in Jefferson City.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has also reported mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile in central and southern parts of the state.

Mild Summer?

The Midwest won't necessarily get a respite from the rain. Scattered storms are predicted for each of the next several days in southern Illinois and the St. Louis region of Missouri.

But the National Weather Service (NWS) predicts temperatures will be at or below normal through July in most of the flood-affected locales.

Jim Hladik, a NWS meteorologist based in Davenport, Iowa, said cool air masses have been pushing south from Canada and the Great Lakes, a pattern that is expected to continue.

"The general trend is probably near-normal to slightly below-normal [temperatures]" he said.

That may be good news for people worried about West Nile infections, which climbed in 2005 and 2006—both hot years—but dropped during last year's milder conditions.

New Breeding Grounds

Yates, the Missouri health department official, says she knows flood victims have much on their minds. But she hopes residents and cities in flood-affected areas will prepare for next month's West Nile mosquito season.

"The flooding that we're seeing now—it's not just agricultural areas or conservation areas," she said. "It's homes and businesses and communities. That brings in a whole other level of the creation of potential habitat."

Old appliances, for example, can become mosquito breeding grounds when they're left with standing water, she said.

Floodwaters also likely scoured out low-lying areas with little or no drainage, providing places for disease-carrying mosquitoes to breed.

Public health experts say they are hopeful that local governments will identify risky areas and spray low-impact larvicides as a first line of defense.

On the other hand, there's a chance the danger is no greater this year than in previous years.

Lyle Petersen directs the division of vector-borne Infectious Diseases for the Centers for the CDC branch in Fort Collins, Colorado.

He said increased risk of West Nile as a result of the flooding is going to be "minimal, if any," based on what's happened with disease-carrying mosquitoes in the wakes of past floods.

"Then again, we haven't had a flooding event like this since we've had West Nile" in the United States, he said.

The disease first appeared here in 1999.

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Major Lion Die-Offs Linked to Climate Change

John Roach, National Geographic News 25 Jun 08;

Droughts and downpours exacerbated by climate change allowed two diseases to converge and wipe out large numbers of African lions in 1994 and 2001, according to a new study.

Lions regularly survive outbreaks of canine distemper virus (CDV) and infestations by a tick-borne blood parasite called Babesia. But both normally occur in isolation.

In 1994 and 2001, however, a "perfect storm" of extreme drought followed by heavy seasonal rains set up the conditions for the two diseases to converge, the study said.

The effect was lethal: The synchronized infections wiped out about a third of the Serengeti lion population in 1994. The nearby Ngorongoro Crater lion population experienced similar losses in 2001.

(Read a National Geographic magazine online extra about Serengeti and other lions.)

"It was already well known that die offs can be triggered by droughts and floods," Craig Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, explained in an email from his research site in Tanzania.

"We were able to identify the interacting components of a lethal co-infection that had not previously been considered," he said.

The research is published in today's issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

"Lethal One-Two Punch"

Packer and his colleagues combed through more than 30 years of data on the lion populations to determine the complex combination of factors that caused the mass die offs.

They found that at least five CDV outbreaks swept through the lion populations with no ill effect. The two die offs, which are also tied to CDV outbreaks, were preceded by extreme droughts.

Probing further, the researchers discovered the droughts weakened lion prey, including the Cape buffalo.

When the rains resumed, Babesia-carrying ticks emerged en masse and proliferated in their buffalo hosts. Many of the buffalo died.

The lions feasted on the weakened, parasite-infested buffalo, but the feast left the hunters with unusually high concentrations of Babesia. The subsequent CDV outbreak proved lethal, according to the study.

"CDV is immunosuppressive—like a short, sharp bout of AIDS—thus greatly intensifying the effects of the Babesia," Packer said.

This co-infection, or synchronization of the diseases, caused the mass die offs, Packer and his colleagues concluded.

Sonia Altizer is an ecologist who studies wildlife diseases at the University of Georgia in Athens. She was not involved with this study, which she said is "at the leading edge" of the field.

"[It] lays out mechanistically how a climate anomaly could allow a combination of pathogens to have a lethal one-two punch," she said.

Conservation Implications

Study author Packer and his colleagues warn that as global climate change continues to produce more extreme weather anomalies, potentially fatal synchronized infections are likely to become more common.

"Many mysterious maladies [such as] colony collapse disorder in honeybees are likely to result from co-infections," Packer noted.

Altizer said the research adds to a growing body of evidence showing how extreme climate events can have major impacts on the spread of infectious diseases.

Since more deadly co-infections are likely to arise, she said researchers need to reconsider how they treat wildlife and humans.

"Understanding the mechanism by which the animals are actually dying or succumbing to disease then changes how you should go about preventing that," she explained.

In the case of the lions, Packer noted, wildlife managers may be able to better protect populations by reducing their tick loads immediately following a drought rather than controlling for CDV.

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Climate Change to Create 'Plant Refugees' - US Study

Julie Steenhuysen, PlanetArk 26 Jun 08;

CHICAGO - Climate change may turn many of California's native plants into "plant refugees" in the next century as they seek more suitable habitats, US researchers said on Tuesday.

They said changes in climate arising from heat-trapping greenhouse gasses would affect hundreds of native plant species including the state's famed Coast Redwoods, which are among the tallest trees on earth.

"Many species may have to move to cooler areas in order to survive," climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University, one of a team of researchers whose work appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, said in a statement.

"In some of these cases, for example when a plant grows near the top of a mountain, there's nowhere to go," Hayhoe said.

The researchers tracked 5,500 plants native to California and used computer models to predict how climate change would affect their distribution.

They concluded that a warming climate and changes in rainfall would force many plants to range north or to higher elevations or possibly become extinct in the next 100 years.

"We found the extent of climate change impact can be very broad," Hayhoe said in a telephone interview.

"In two-thirds of the 5,500 plants we studied, the area where you can find them shrank by 80 percent," Hayhoe said.

She said about about 40 percent of the plants they studied exist only in California. "Preserving them is very important."

They predict Coast Redwoods would be forced farther north, while California oaks might disappear from central California in favor of the Klamath Mountains along the California-Oregon border.

The researchers used two different climate models that predict changes in temperature and rainfall through 2100 to make their projections -- one that assumes higher and another that assumes lower greenhouse gas emissions.

"In nearly every scenario we explored, biodiversity suffers -- especially if the flora can't disperse fast enough to keep pace with climate change," Scott Loarie, a Ph.D candidate at Duke University, said in a statement.

What the models did suggest, however, is that reducing greenhouse gases would have a significant impact on native species, Hayhoe said. And it pointed to steps conservationists could take to preserve California's native species.

"We were able to identify some specific locations that are refuges where these plants would be able to survive," Hayhoe said. "That helps us to plan ahead to protect these important plant species."

Brent Mishler of the University of California, Berkeley said conservationists will need to keep in mind what plants are at risk of becoming plant refugees. "Planning for refugees will become a new but important concept for natural reserves to think about," he said in a statement.

Maps showing the impact of climate change on California's plant species are available at http://thepimmgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/CAFP_Climate_Change.html . The article can be downloaded from the PLoS ONE Web site at http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002502 . (Editing by Maggie Fox and Todd Eastham)

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