Best of our wild blogs: 23 Dec 08

First signs of 'Long Island' reclamation off the East Coast?
on the wild shores of singapore blog and is more reclamation on Singapore possible?

Massive reclamation off Labrador continues to Jun 09
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Pollution at Punggol: what goes on nearby?
on the wild shores of singapore blog

The Oldies
an interesting clam on the Psychedelic Nature blog

Pretty rare
on the annotated budak blog

Merry Christmas (聖誕快樂)
sluggy seasons greetings from the colourful clouds blog

Sentosa Shore Walk
with the Naked Hermit Crabs on the Voices of the Reefs blog

Looking and studying birds at your doorsteps
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Hooded Pitta eating a land mollusc
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Valley of The Trees 2
on the Aesthetic Voyager blog

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Pollution hits waters off Punggol

Serene Luo, Straits Times 23 Dec 08;

A STRETCH of water off Punggol jetty, on the north-east coastline, has been polluted by an oily substance that has turned the water an oily grey and is leaving a black powdery residue on the beach at low tide.


The National Environment Agency said it is working with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to investigate the cause.

Officers were examining the area, off the Johor Strait, last night.

The affected stretch of beach is at least 200m to 300m long.

Regulars who were at the beach yesterday to fish, swim or play were greeted by an uninviting sight as well as a strong odour of oil.

'It wasn't like this on Sunday,' said Mr Malal Sulong, a 55-year-old operations service officer. 'It's a lot murkier than usual and you can see a layer of oil on the surface.'

Mr Salleh Rahman, 37, who is in the cleaning business, refused to let his four children build sandcastles on the beach.

'It's dirty,' he said.

Though the cause could not be confirmed, one industry insider speculated that one of the many ships or bumboats plying the area - a busy route - could have discharged oil into the water.

Data centre operator Taufik Sardon, 26, said he and his friends would go on fishing, despite the pollution.

'Hopefully, when the tide comes in, the oil will be washed away,' he said, adding that they would still barbecue and eat any squid caught in those waters.

'There are some places with worse pollution than this, and the catch may still be sold, and people are still eating that,' he said.

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Have we done enough to safeguard the cleanliness of Singapore's coastline and water?

Straits Times Forum 23 Dec 08;

MR EDMUND HOE: 'I refer to last Tuesday's report, 'S'pore coastline getting dirtier'. Although it is important to track the size of trash we are recovering from our coastline over the years, it is also crucial that we identify the source of the trash accurately. This will ensure that our efforts towards having a clean environment are focused properly.

Having worked offshore and being an avid fisherman, I have seen masses of floating debris moving from the open sea towards our shoreline on many occasions. Once the tide recedes, the debris is trapped in mangrove swamps and along the coastal rock bund. Left uncleared, they build up swiftly.

The trash may have originated from foreign shores or from ships in our port. While much effort and resources are being directed towards ensuring a clean environment on our land, have we done enough to safeguard the cleanliness of our precious coastline and water? Could there be more enforcement in our waters and more effective dialogue with our neighbours?'

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The rojak visionary: Faris Basharahil of Social Creatives

For his causes, social entrepreneur painted dustbins and wants to see murals across the island
Agatha Koh Brazil, Today Online 23 Dec 08;

HE DISARMINGLY calls himself “rojak”, and carries the theme through on the website of the social enterprise that he founded.

Of Social Creatives, Faris Basharahil writes: “We are a cocktail of a youth organisation, arts group, NPO (non-profit organisation), NGO (non-governmental organisation) and environment group. We are a rojak.

“But isn’t that what society needs?”

His Arab/Malay heritage aside, the third-year Temasek Polytechnic student of Hospitality and Tourism is anything but mixed up.

At 20, he is startlingly single-minded. Long term, he wants to be a “social leader”. Right now, he just wants to“integrate and grow creativity in the social-community sector” by connecting his peers to social issues. This he hopes to do through “artistic expression” in activities-based community projects.”

“By nurturing an artistic culture — for each other, our home and community”, he hopes to change the way people see things.

“If you ask a Singaporean to draw a house, a typical interpretation would be a square-shaped building with a triangular roof. Perhaps there is a chimney while on the front there are two windows and a door.

“But where can you find a house like that in Singapore?

“Surprisingly not many people draw HDB flats with poles hanging out by the many windows ... This exercise shows how there is a misalignment to what we see and how we feel for our home.”

If you recall seeing — sometime this year — brightly painted dustbins along Orchard Road, that was Faris’ idea which he took to fruition under the auspices of the National Environment Agency.

“We live in a clean and green city ... However, is it because of effective governance and cheap foreign labour or because there is an emotional connection — no littering — with the environment?”

About 60 youths aged between 13 and 25 painted the dustbins under Project Creative Home. It raised almost $100,000 in sponsorship to cover costs — no mean feat for an unknown entity “without even a bank book”.

Faris’ vision took root last year when he was on a trip to South Korea as part of his involvement with the Young Changemakers, a body of the National Youth Council.

“I was at (South Korea’s) biggest amusement park, Everland. I got talking to a local there who was dressed in white and holding a humble broom. He was a cleaner, and he was very proud of his work. And he was an undergraduate working part-time.”

That encounter, says Faris, made him wonder about the youth of Singapore.

“The problem is the way we look at things. Our perception breeds elitism, generalisation, lack of ruggedness and lack of empathy.

“It is this perception that leads to kiasu-ism,” he says.

I’m dyslexic, not stupid

And dealing with perceptions is something he knows about first hand.

His personal motivation is to remind himself that he isn’t stupid just because he is dyslexic. This drive has seen Faris become youth president of the Siglapian Alumni Association and a panelist with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports feedback unit panel, among other things.

Out of the dustbin project, Social Creatives was born.

Incorporated as a limited company in July and given charity status early this year, it is positioning itself as a self-sustaining initiative. Board members providing guidance include Mr Gerard Ee, chairman of the National Kidney Foundation.

Among the dreams of its young director: “Murals anywhere and everywhere”. Under this “Skincare” project, Farishopes to raise awareness for his causes by giving a new face to walls in MRT stations or public walkways with a fresh lick of paint or by pasting stickers.

He also wants to convert public walkways into walkthrough art galleries, and by establishing community art galleries in the heartland.

But visions need support. So Faris is on the go, juggling his studies (he is currently interning at Changi Airport with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) and his work as director of Social Creatives.

The latter entails making the rounds talking about Social Creatives’ goals. He bemoans the fact that “a lot of government organisations take a very bureaucratic stand and a submit-approve/reject stand rather than a nurturing approach”, but concedes that he has learnt much patience along the way.

He barely has time for anything else, socialising included.

“Someone said: ‘Faris approaches girls like he approaches his work’,” he tells me wryly.

But all this will have to change by the middle of next year. “I will take a backseat,” he says. Not because he is running out of steam. But because of another calling which he has to be single-minded about.

The youthful visionary has to enter National Service then.

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Dengue cases down but chikungunya up in Singapore

39 caught chikungunya locally last week; disease has been made notifiable
Salma Khalik, Straits Times 23 Dec 08;

WITH intensified efforts this year, Singapore's fight against dengue appears to have paid off, with 25 per cent fewer cases than last year.

However, a newly emerged Aedes mosquito-borne illness is causing fresh concerns. Chikungunya cases continued their upward trend, with more than 40 cases a week in the past three weeks.
Of the 43 cases diagnosed last week, 39 caught the virus locally, while the other four imported cases were from Malaysia.

Last Friday, the Ministry of Health made chikungunya a notifiable disease.

Although doctors have already been informing the ministry of all cases since the end of 2006, when Singapore saw its first imported chikungunya case, the change means that doctors could be penalised with fines or jail terms for not doing so.

A ministry spokesman said this will enable the ministry to monitor the disease more closely. A circular has gone out to all doctors informing them of the change.

The appearance of locally transmitted chikungunya infections in Singapore this year also worries infectious diseases experts.

Although no one has died of the infection, chikungunya, unlike dengue, can be very debilitating. There is also the risk that it could become endemic, which means the disease would be here to stay, with no chance of wiping it out.

The Health Ministry said the disease has not become endemic yet, as a large number of cases is still from overseas.

Until this year, the few cases were all imported. But by the middle of this month, 388 people had caught the virus locally. A further 158 people who were infected were bitten by mosquitoes while overseas, primarily in Malaysia.

The areas where people here are getting bitten by the Aedes mosquito have also spread from the northern part of the island to places such as Bedok Reservoir and Tampines in the east.

Cases have also been on the increase, rising sharply since the end of July.

Given the current rates of infection, Singapore is likely to end the year with more than 600 chikungunya cases.

A spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which is the main carrier of this virus, lives in forests and other heavily vegetated areas.

This makes it 'a challenge to remove as many breeding habitats as possible in such areas,' she said.

She added that the current rainy season is unlikely to be the cause of the increased rates. Instead, it has more to do with 'the movement of infected cases and the susceptibility of the population'.

The NEA spokesman said it is fighting chikungunya the same way it does dengue - by finding and destroying mosquito breeding spots and educating the public about stagnant water.

She added that the early and intensive exercise against the Aedes mosquito this year has staved off an anticipated dengue epidemic. Dengue epidemics tend to come in five to six year cycles.

So far this year, 6,424 people have become sick with dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever, 2,183 fewer than last year. 'Earlier this year, it was predicted that Singapore would experience major dengue outbreaks and the situation would be worse than last year,' she said.

But instead of going up, the number of infections had gone down significantly, due to the $200,000 a day spent fighting the scourge this year.

'This reversal in dengue trend, the first time in three decades, is a result of the enhanced dengue control strategy put in place by NEA,' said the spokesman.

salma@sph.com.sg

What is chikungunya

# SYMPTOMS: Sudden high fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash and joint pain.

These are almost similar to symptoms for dengue, the other Aedes mosquito-borne viral disease, except the joint pains for chikungunya can be excruciating, last for months and, in some cases, for more than a year.

While painful and debilitating, the infection is not life-threatening.

# TREATMENT: There is no vaccine against it or medicine that cures it. Treatment is only for symptoms such as fever or pain.

# TRANSMISSION: The culprit for dengue tends to be the Aedes aegypti while the Aedes albopictus is more likely to spread chikungunya.

However, both types of mosquitoes can spread both diseases.

# INCUBATION: It usually takes three to seven days from the time a person is bitten by an infected mosquito for symptoms to appear.

However, people can sometimes become sick just two days after being bitten, or as late as 12 days after.

# SPREAD: The disease is spread when a mosquito bites an infected person. The virus replicates in the mosquito and is passed on to people subsequently bitten.

# PREVENTION: The best way to stop the spread of the disease is to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. This year, the National Environment Agency spent close to $200,000 a day and has a team of 500 people doing just that.

A mosquito needs just a small spoonful of stagnant water to breed. The A. aegypti breeds well in indoor receptacles but the A. albopictus prefers forests and places with high vegetation.

Those infected should wear long sleeves and long dresses or pants and use insect repellent to prevent getting bitten again by mosquitoes, which could continue the chain of transmission.

SALMA KHALIK

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Vietnam customs seize five tons of frozen pangolin meat

Yahoo News 22 Dec 08;

HANOI (AFP) – Vietnam customs officials said Monday they had seized about five tons of frozen pangolin meat, a protected species whose trade is illegal.
The 270 boxes of pangolin meat were found Friday in northern Quang Ninh province, said an official at the Cai Lan port customs office, asking not to be named. Officials suspected the cargo was on its way to China, she said.

Another source at the port's customs office, who also asked not to be named, said the meat came from 1,481 pangolins.

Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and trading of the animal and its products is illegal.

Demand for pangolin meat, with its supposedly medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities, is widespread in China and in Vietnam, which has a poor conservation record.

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Tough climate goals may be easier than feared

Alister Doyle, Reuters 22 Dec 08;

OSLO (Reuters) - Tough targets for avoiding dangerous global warming may be easier to achieve than widely believed, according to a study that could ease fears of a prohibitive long-term surge in costs.

The report, by scientists in the Netherlands and Germany, indicated that initial investments needed to be high to have any impact in slowing temperature rises. Beyond a certain threshold, however, extra spending would have clear returns on warming.

Until now, most governments have worried that costs may start low and then soar -- suggesting that ambitious targets will become too expensive for tackling threats such as extinctions, droughts, floods and rising seas.

"It gets easier once the world gets going ... ," said Michiel Schaeffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and lead author of the study in Tuesday's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

"In a sense ... our paper is bad news: doing a bit is hardly effective," he told Reuters. "On the other hand it's good news, because the return on the really 'painful' investments later on, of which the world is so afraid, gives you much better returns."

More than 190 governments have agreed to work out a new U.N. climate treaty by the end of 2009. Global economic slowdown is making many wary of setting too strict goals.

The article suggested there was a 90 percent chance of limiting global warming to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above 19th century levels with average annual global investments of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2005-2100.

SPENDING MORE

That is roughly comparable to the percentage of GDP the European Union spends on environmental policies, Schaeffer said.

But early investments would have little impact. Spending 0.5 percent of world GDP would give a 10 percent chance of achieving the 2 Celsius goal while an investment of one percent of GDP would give a 40 percent chance.

Two Celsius is a goal adopted by the EU, some other nations and many environmental groups as a threshold for "dangerous" climate change.

The study focused on setting a ceiling for temperature rises, rather than on more normal goals of stabilizing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants.

The scientists said that shift gave a better perspective and toned down worries about exponential rises in costs.

"This viewpoint is more relevant for real-life climate impacts," Schaeffer said. "Concentrations don't tell you that much about what happens in terms of rainfall ... or to society."

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Activists ejected after presenting greenwash award to BP

Activists have been thrown out of a major oil company's headquarters after trying to present a new award for "greenwash".
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 22 Dec 08;

The Emerald Paintbrush was launched by Greenpeace to highlight the companies they claim are using green issues to advertise while doing little for the environment.

The first award was given to BP, the oil and gas company, which regularly refers to their investment in renewable energy in adverts.

Greenpeace claim the firm is guilty of "greenwash" because the majority of the company's investment is still in fossil fuels.

According to the environmental group, BP allocated 93 per cent, or $20 billion (£13 billion), of its total investment fund for 2008 in fossil fuels compared to 1.39 per cent, or $300m (£200m), in solar technology.

Activists wearing black tie attempted to present the award at the BP head office in London but were ejected.

James Turner, one of the activists, said: "You wouldn't know it from their adverts, but BP bosses are pumping billions into their oil and gas business and investing peanuts in renewables."

A spokesman for BP said the company will invest $8 billion (£5.3 billion) in renewables between 2005 and 2015.

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