Best of our wild blogs: 6 Dec 08

Pasir Ris Mangrove Clean-Ups
upcoming trips in January with Grant Pereira on The Green Guy blog

Black-capped Kingfisher
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Poem?
Serendipity on the Psychedelic Nature blog

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Developing Singapore's shorelines the eco-friendly way

A Singapore-Dutch alliance hopes its 'building with nature' project will bear fruit
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 6 Dec 08;

'We want an aquatic centre in a marine setting, hopefully on one of the southern islands where we have the rare condition of pristine nature in close proximity to urban developments.'

IN FIVE years, there will be knowledge to build harbours in a way that can also sustain marine life, if a team of Singapore and Dutch researchers succeeds in a new venture.

At least $13 million will be spent by Ecoshape, a non-profit organisation headquartered in the Netherlands, and the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance based at the National University of Singapore, to take the concept of 'building with nature' to shorelines.

Sustainable coastal-related infrastructure supported by sound science is a new concept, the scientists said.

So far, such eco-friendly concepts have been applied mainly to the cityscape, said the programme manager of Ecoshape, Dr Jan van de Meene. 'This is the only programme in the world doing work on coastal infrastructure on such a scale.'

Hydraulic engineering, ecology, policy analysis and business sense will all have to be considered.

Singapore will be one of four sites for the studies, with the rest in the Netherlands.

The teams will create a coastal marine development programme, beginning with pilot tests, that can eventually be implemented at shorelines worldwide.

Dr van der Meene said: 'Singapore is an iconic project for us because we believe if we are going to develop this type of knowledge, it has to be shown by putting it into practice internationally.'

The director of the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, Associate Professor Vladan Babovic, said several shorelines here are being considered for the project. 'We want an aquatic centre in a marine setting, hopefully on one of the southern islands where we have the rare condition of pristine nature in close proximity to urban developments.'

A dream site for the researchers would be Pulau Semakau, where coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows flourish alongside the dumping grounds of waste incinerators. A concrete wall separates the natural from the man-made. The marine aquatic centre will be similar to a freshwater research centre at Sungei Ulu Pandan, which has an open concept, inviting passers-by to come in and find out more about science.

Discussions with government agencies, including the National Parks Board, Building & Construction Authority and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, have begun to find the best sites for the projects, he said.

By the end of next year, there could be 30 researchers working on a total of 15 projects to find the best way to build with nature. The first three will begin designing methods for their studies next month.

Dr van de Meene, a physical geographer by training, said the team will learn precisely how the ecosystem reacts to stresses and will then conduct tests to try to develop more natural ways to prevent erosion or biodiversity loss. 'For example, we'll find out when we can use alternatives to concrete.'

In some cases, restoring coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves may provide enough protection for the shoreline. But as such buffers have to extend 100m inland from the waterline to land safe enough to build on, they can be put up only in areas far from the Central Business District. On coasts by the CBD or sites to moor vessels, a hard shoreline might be the only alternative as its width is 20m.

However, it could incorporate hiding places to encourage fish and corals to grow.

'This is about regional planning to increase the biodiversity for any type of coastal development, whether on the cityfront, port or nature park,' Dr van de Meene said.

The programme to develop greener harbours will run for five years, alongside as many as 15 smaller projects, also for coastal research. Dr van de Meene said the Dutch government and private sector have committed $8 million to the projects. The funds are expected by the end of the year, revealed Prof Babovic.

The alliance which Prof Babovic heads was formed last year by national water body, PUB, the National University of Singapore and Delft Hydraulics, a Netherlands-based research and consulting organisation. It has committed a separate $5 million for the projects.

Prof Babovic said work will begin on research models at the Tropical Marine Sciences Institute's laboratories on St John's Island. Once perfected, these projects will find a home in nature.

Shoreline projects

THE first three projects by the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance and Ecoshape will look at:

# What causes sedimentation to rise in local waters.

# The resilience and recovery rates of marine ecosystems like coral reefs in the presence of man-made and natural pressures.

# How to make use of natural ecological engineering like mangrove forests to defend mankind from the effects of climate change.

Ecoshape is hopeful other projects with other Singapore agencies, such as the Environment and Water Industry Development Council, will make the programme even more beneficial to Singapore. The researchers hope that by 2011, the alliance's work with Ecoshape will have produced methods for activities ranging from economic development to recreation, and improving the quality of life, for example, through nature parks.

Dutch environmental models have been adopted on Singapore shorelines since the 1970s, most recently with the use of powerful pumps to maintain water levels at the Marina Barrage.

More details and links on the wild shores of singapore blog.

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URA gazettes Singapore's Master Plan 2008

Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia 5 Dec 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has gazetted its Master Plan 2008.

It is a statutory land use plan that guides physical development of the country for the next 10 to 15 years.

Some 200,000 people visited the exhibition of the Draft Master Plan 2008 over the past six months.

And as part of public consultation process, the urban planners also reviewed 300 feedback received during the exhibition.

URA says relevant suggestions have been incorporated into the final Master Plan 2008.

The plan will introduce new commercial and sub-regional hubs at various parts of the island.

They include the Jurong Lake District, Kallang Riverside and Paya Lebar Central.

A new leisure plan has also been developed to provide more recreational options.

Meanwhile, the city area will continue to be Singapore's key commercial centre, with seamless extension of the existing Central Business District into Marina Bay.

URA plan draws strong interest
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 6 Dec 08;

THE Master Plan 2008 - an ambitious blueprint setting out Singapore's physical development for the next 10 to 15 years - has attracted plenty of attention from the public.

Its exhibition received more than 200,000 visitors over the past six months, and about 300 submissions have been made - 80 per cent of them online - according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

The feedback ranged across several aspects of the plan, which was unveiled in May by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.

It contains ambitious schemes to transform Jurong East, Kallang and Paya Lebar into sub-metropolitan hubs of offices, hotels, education and entertainment centres, parks and homes.

Some of the feedback included calls for the allocation of space for activities in Paya Lebar Central. The Station Plaza in front of the Paya Lebar MRT station and the plaza space next to the civic centre at Geylang Serai were cited as possible venues.

Feedback on the Leisure Plan was generally positive, including comments from members of the public that they were excited about the 150km round-island route, added the URA. Suggestions were also made on ways to enhance Jurong Lake District to improve transport with people movers and river taxis.

The URA said it would study the suggestions and is 'working with other agencies to see how we can incorporate (the public feedback) in our plan'.

The Master Plan was gazetted - or made official - yesterday. It can be viewed at the URA Centre in Maxwell Road.

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Singapore not ruling out nuclear power

Li Xueying, Straits Times 6 Dec 08;

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong does not rule out the possibility of Singapore having a nuclear power plant in the long term.

There would be difficulties, he acknowledged, because of the scale of such a project. At the same time, there would be safety issues. But technology may evolve so that such challenges can be resolved.

'I would not rule it out for the long term,' he said.

'I would not say never, because if global warming is a serious problem, if energy prices in the long term continue to rise, fuel prices continue to rise, and if you are worried about a carbon tax on top of that, then you have to seriously consider nuclear.'

Mr Lee's comments yesterday - in response to a question on whether Singapore has plans for nuclear power - are more positive than his stance a year ago, when he ruled it out as an option.

During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali in December last year, he said nuclear energy was out because of the lack of a minimum 30km safety distance.

International standards require a 30km-wide safety zone around a nuclear plant.

This is an issue in small countries like Singapore, which stretches about 40km from east to west.

But Mr Lee said yesterday that technology may evolve, mitigating this consideration.

'Safety rules may evolve, there might be other possibilities such as putting it (a nuclear plant) underground,' he said.

This would help address the problem of safety - 'where we will put the plant, far enough away from dense concentrations of population'.

The Prime Minister, however, brought up another challenge.

'It is difficult to do because the scale is large, because when you talk about nuclear power plants, you are talking about a plant which can produce several gigawatts, and the Singapore market for electricity is not big enough to have such a big plant. That's one problem.'

He noted that nuclear power is an issue that 'many countries don't want to think about'.

'But we cannot put it off our mental map,' he said. 'We have to look ahead and be aware of the possibilities.'

Last month, a high-powered panel set up by the Trade and Industry Ministry to examine Singapore's energy policies said nuclear research, and even a nuclear power plant, could not be dismissed from Singapore's range of long-term solutions.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had also revealed that the Government had thought about possible locations for such a plant: Pedra Branca island east of Singapore, or on a floating platform out at sea.

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Drive to promote solar power

Straits Times 6 Dec 08;

POZNAN (Poland): If a solar-powered car can drive 52,000km around the globe without using a drop of oil, perhaps it can be forgiven for not having frills like a coffee cup holder.

Or maybe that makes Swiss adventurer Louis Palmer's journey even more remarkable.

Mr Palmer rolled into the United Nations climate conference in his solar-powered car on Thursday, a man with a mission: To prove that the world can continue its love affair with the car without burning any polluting fossil fuels and still enjoy a smooth ride.

While 11,000 delegates sought an ambitious new climate change deal to slash emissions of heat-trapping gases, MrPalmer was convinced that whatever they agreed upon would not be enough to avert environmental disaster.

'Here at the conference, we are talking about reducing emissions by 10 or 20 per cent,' he said. 'I want to show that we can reduce emissions by 100 per cent - and that's what we need for the future.'

Mr Palmer, a teacher on leave from his job, spent 17 months driving his own creation - a fully solar-powered car built with the help of Swiss scientists - through 38 countries, including Singapore.

The two-seater travels up to 90kmh and covers 300km on a fully charged battery.

'This is the first time in history that a solar-powered car has travelled all the way around the world without using a single drop of petrol,' he said, adding that he lost only two days to breakdowns.

For now, the aluminium and fibreglass car is still a prototype, and it feels like one.

The car, designed to be light and efficient, is powered by solar cells that it hauls on a trailer.

It has plastic windows, three wheels instead of four and, ironically, no climate control.

Designed like a race car, it can hold two people comfortably and has a radio. It meets all safety standards in Switzerland and has headlights, brakes, blinkers and other standard safety features.

Before his world trip, Mr Palmer, 36, used it for a year to commute to the school in Lucerne, Switzerland, where he taught.

Although he tried to avoid what he called 'dinosaur technology', his steering wheel was from a Renault, his windshield wipers from a Fiat and his wheels from a Smart car, the Daimler two-seater that is ubiquitous in many European cities.

He has given a ride to approximately 1,000 people so far, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and UN climate chief Yvo de Boer.

Mr Palmer believes there is no reason why car companies cannot make a much better version of his solar-powered car if they set their minds to it.

'These new technologies are ready,' he said. 'It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warning.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zipping around

The Solar Taxi

# Is an electric vehicle with two wheels up front and one in the rear.

# It has a 5m-long trailer covered with 6 sq m of solar Q-Cells that generate the car's electricity.

# The car and the trailer each has a Zebra (sodium nickel chloride) battery pack. The electricity is stored in the battery, so the taxi can be driven at night.

# The maximum speed it can reach is 90kmh.


Around the world

# Since leaving Lucerne, Switzerland, in July last year, Mr Louis Palmer has driven his solar taxi through 38 countries, covering a distance of over 52,000km.

# The destinations include places in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, China, South Korea, Canada and North America.

POWERING AHEAD

'These new technologies are ready. It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable.'
Mr Louis Palmer, who believes companies can produce a better version of his solar-powered car

'Solar taxi' goes round the world
BBC News 5 Dec 08;

A solar-powered car has arrived at the UN climate change talks in the Polish city of Poznan after a round-the-world trip covering almost 40 countries.

At the wheel of the "solar taxi" was Swiss teacher Louis Palmer who made the 52,000km (32,000 mile) 17-month trip.

He said the feat proved solar power was a viable alternative to oil-based fuels and could help fight global warming.

But he said the prototype would need serious modification before it could be mass produced.

The small blue-and-white three-wheeler tows a trailer packed with batteries charged by the sun. It can travel for 300km on a single charge and reach speeds of 90km/h (55mph).

"People love this idea of a solar car," Mr Palmer said outside the venue of the UN climate talks. "I hope that the car industry hears...and makes electric cars in future."

Mr Palmer, 36, said the car ran "like a Swiss clock," breaking down only twice during the gruelling trip through 38 nations starting in Lucerne in July 2007.

Passengers included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Monaco's Prince Albert, Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, he said.

The car runs on solar power but Mr Palmer also had a battery for travel at night or in less sunny nations, such as winter-time Poland, that he recharged from local electricity.

He says the prototype cost as much as two Ferraris to build, but would cost around 10,000 euros ($12,620) if mass produced, with an extra 4,000 euros for solar panels.

Mr Palmer said he now plans to return home: "I promised my mother to be back before Christmas."

But next year, he plans to arrange a trip with six vehicles around the world in 80 days drawing power from sources such as hydro, geothermal and wind energy.

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Battered sharks get critical listing

WWF 5 Dec 08;

Rome, Italy: Four commercially valuable shark species have just been recognized as being “of conservation concern” under the international Convention on Migratory Species.

The listing applies to northern hemisphere populations of spiny dogfish, a common ingredient of food staple fish and chips, and global populations of Porbeagle shark and both species of mako shark.

Intense debate saw southern hemisphere populations of spiny dogfish excluded from the listing on the agreement that a comprehensive population review will be conducted for the next meeting of the convention.

"WWF welcomes this listing by the CMS--the first listing by an international conservation convention of commercially utilized shark species,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International’s Species Programme.

“This shows that the world community now recognizes that sharks are over-fished, declining, and worthy of the kind of conservation concern afforded to other species."

The sharks have been listed under Appendix ll of the convention, which supports co-operation between range states on conservation plans for listed species. For migratory species it focuses attention on the status of the species and can help trigger other regional and international initiatives in fisheries management and trade.

The sharks, which are among the most valued of shark species for both meat and fins, suffer from excessive levels of targeted fishing as well as being bycatch casualties of other fisheries such as purse seining and long-lining for tuna.

The slow growth, late maturity, small litters and long lives of sharks make them vulnerable to over-exploitation. Porbeagle sharks gather together, making them especially easy targets for fishing – a critical factor in the collapse of their populations in the 1970s and continuing failure to demonstrate any lasting recovery.

Listing of all four species across their entire ranges was proposed but the porbeagle shark and the compromise on spiny dogfish were only agreed after intense negotiation.

WWF has also raised concerns over declining populations of Mediterranean bluefin tuna – subject of a recent International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decision to continue fishing at well over scientifically recommended levels – as a species of concern before the migratory species convention.

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