Butterfly of the Month - The Leopard
from Butterflies of Singapore
Kusu Island
from Singapore Nature and wild shores of singapore
Monkey Business
from Urban Forest
Nems of St John's Island
from wonderful creation
Starry Finds of Changi
from Nature's Wonders
Hunter-Seeking on Kusu Island
from Nature's Wonders
House Crow caching meat
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Monday Morgue: 13th July 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Today Online 13 Jul 09;
THE rain on Saturday night and yesterday morning might have washed some haze particles away, but the haze seems to be making a steady progress towards Singapore - especially as El Nino is likely to return.
With it comes drier conditions than normal, so there will be less rain to wash such particles away. This, in turn, means they will accumulate.
The PSI reading - taken over a 24-hour period - was in the "good" range yesterday at 45, after hitting 50 on Friday and 40 on Saturday.
But it seemed hazy in the late morning and afternoon yesterday. At the beach at East Coast Park, some joggers remarked on the smokey air which made it a bit harder to breathe for some.
There was also a light haze enveloping ships on the horizon as well as the CBD skyline (picture).
Bishan resident Shazalina Salim noticed the haze yesterday when she looked out of her kitchen window. She said there was also a "burning smell" in the air.
But Ms Shazalina is not taking any precautions yet. "I can still see my neighbours in the next block pottering around their kitchen," she said.
Meanwhile, Riau province's city of Dumai has declared a state of highest alert over thickening smog caused by the annual burning of forest and land, reported Antara on Saturday. The haze there has reduced visibility to only 5m and forced the closure of airports in Pekanbaru and Dumai.
Terms of tender, poor economic climate, site conditions raise risks, costs for potential bidders
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 13 Jul 09;
(SINGAPORE) The race to build the Changi Motorsports Hub (CMH) is turning into a bumpy ride.
Since the Request For Proposal (RFP) for the project was released on March 30, seven parties - both local and international consortia - have obtained the tender documents, said the Singapore Sports Council (SSC).
But potential bidders are finding the terms in the RFP too onerous, said an industry source. And with the economy still barely on the mend, the risks involved in going into such a mega project are heightened, added the source.
In essence, the proposed CMH will feature a permanent circuit on a 41-hectare site, as well as an entertainment complex, food and beverage facilities, retail outlets and convention halls. The track will be at least 3.5km long and will be Grade 2 certified by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile and Grade 1 certified by the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme.
One challenge facing potential bidders appears to be landing the funding to pull off the project, especially given that banks are treading cautiously in the current economic climate. Without financial support from the banks, embarking on the project would require deep cash reserves.
In addition, the site - which sits on reclaimed land - appears to present technical difficulties. Soil conditions are not ideal and soil settlement could affect the facilities built on the site. Sewer lines also need to be run, all of which translates to high costs.
With a total price tag in the region of several hundred million dollars, potential bidders are finding this a tough decision to make.
'We are currently studying the commercial viability of the project,' said a spokesman for Haw Par Corp, one of the parties looking to bid for the tender.
'The government has got to work together with the winning bidders to keep the costs low. If they can help relieve some of these costs, it is workable,' said Knight Frank managing director Danny Yeo, adding that the CMH will benefit Singapore as well. The firm is part of a consortium that is keen to bid for the project.
Difficulties aside, Mr Yeo is convinced of the potential that the CMH offers. 'We are excited. There's a lot of potential,' he said, pointing to the various uses of the track, coupled with the integrated commercial activities, as well as its close location to the city. Other parties reportedly in the running to bid for the project include the SUTL Group, Singapore Agro Agricultural and Peter Kwee's group, Exklusiv.
In response to queries from The Business Times, SSC said: 'In the current economic climate, it is expected that the consortia are facing the same challenges as other businesses when it comes to securing finances. We can therefore expect to see a mixture of debt financing and equity financing from the market.'
At this point, there is no indication that any of them are pulling out of the bidding, it added.
'We understand that some of them are approaching one another to explore consolidation of resources to put forth bigger and better proposals. We will continue to engage them in regular dialogue sessions leading up to the closing date of bid submissions,' SSC said.
The closing date is August 27.
The successful bidder - expected to build and operate the track for 30 years - will be selected by early next year. Project completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011, with the track opening by the first quarter of 2012.
Related articles
WWF 13 Jul 09;
London, UK - Marine pest species costing billions in damage to fisheries, coastal communities and infrastructure are spreading as the world’s shipping nations continue to largely neglect bringing into effect an international treaty setting out requirements for consistent handling and treatment of ships’ ballast water.
Silent Invasion, a new report issued by WWF as International Maritime Organization (IMO) delegates meet to consider environmental aspects of shipping in London today, details 24 cases where significant marine pests were most likely introduced or spread through discharges of ships ballast water during the five years in which the Convention on the Control and Management of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments was ratified by only one of the world’s top ten shipping states.
In that time, the North American comb jellyfish that virtually wiped out the anchovy and sprat stocks in the Black Sea in the 1990s has been expanding in the Caspian Sea, North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
The Chinese mitten crab has established itself on both sides of the north Atlantic and is estimated to have caused damage to river banks, fishing gear and industrial water systems to the tune of €80 million in Germany alone.
“The IMO Ballast Water Convention provides the set of agreed practices and standards for effective control of ballast water internationally, minimizing the spread of marine invasive organisms while imposing minimal costs upon shipping and trade,”. said Dr Anita Mäkinen, WWF’s head of delegation to the IMO meeting.
“Responsible flag states must urgently ratify and implement the Convention to effectively halt marine pest invasions from ballast water – in the long run saving tax payers’ money by avoiding clean ups of affected ecosystems, industry and infrastructure,”
An estimated 7,000 marine and coastal species travel across the world’s oceans every day in ballast tanks and 84% of the world’s 232 marine ecoregions have reported findings of invasive species.
International shipping is considered the main introduction pathway for many pest organisms, unwanted passengers on the voyages that shift approximately 90% of all internationally traded goods.
The vast majority of these travellers perish in the harsh conditions of the ballast tanks or shortly after entering their new habitat, but the hardy species that flourish in new environments can affect the productivity of fisheries and aquaculture, the economy and livelihoods of communities and the environmental health of coastal waters and estuaries.
Key elements of the global shipping industry are also clamouring for the introduction into force of the convention, as an alternative to ad hoc measures that vary from state to state and involve additional expenses, delays and possible jeopardy to crew and vessel safety.
“The industry needs to act with urgency to respond to this threat,” said Mr Arild Iversen, CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. “What is needed are the framework conditions to support a global level playing field for owners and operators to implement technologies that are for the most part already available.
“The IMO Ballast Water Convention is the appropriate mechanism for this to happen.”
It is estimated that since the adoption of the convention in 2004, and until the end of 2009, global economic losses attributed to the spread of invasive marine organisms could be some US$50 billion.
According to Silent Invasion, not treating ballast waters imposes marine pest associated direct costs equivalent to about 70 US cents per tonne of untreated water – or US$ 7 billion per year for the ten billion tonnes of water transported globally each year.
A wide roll-out of water treatment methods facilitated by the entry into force of the Convention could lower costs to only 4 US cents per tonne of treated water - less than 6% of the annual costs of not addressing the issue of the damaging spread of marine pests.
The Convention comes into effect when ratified by 30 states representing 35% of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage. At this time, the figure stands at 18 states representing 15.4% of the world’s tonnage, with Liberia the only large flag state having ratified.
However, if the world’s largest shipping nation, Panama, signs the convention, with 22.6% of world shipping tonnage, along with additional 11 flag states of any size, the Convention will enter into force, providing the international framework the shipping industry and governments need to help stem the tide of invasions and take steps to minimise the threats.
“The old argument that technologies and treatments were not available is now obsolete,” said Dr Mäkinen.
“Panama as the world’s premier shipping nation should take the lead in ratifying and implementing the IMO Ballast Water Convention.”
Ballast tank invaders wreaking havoc
Emily Beament, The Scotsman 13 Jul 09;
THE spread of invasive species carried across the world in the ballast tanks of ships is causing billions of pounds of damage each year, conservationists warned today.
Creatures such as the Chinese mitten crab have been able to establish themselves in new habitats after being transported from their natural homes in ballast water.
About 7,000 marine and coastal species travel across the world's oceans every day, a report for wildlife conservation charity WWF said.
Some of them become invasive in new sites, breeding prolifically by "escaping" the predators or diseases which would normally keep their numbers under control, competing with local species, disrupting food chains or damaging habitats.
The report estimated that in the last five years, invasive species have cost marine and coastal activities including fisheries, aquaculture, industrial infrastructure and harbours some US$50 billion (£31bn) worldwide.
According to the study for WWF, last year 84 per cent of the world's marine regions had reported findings of invasive species, with shipping a major reason for their spread.
The conservation charity urged countries to adopt an international treaty which would bring in measures for ballast water – used to stabilise ships and ensure efficient fuel use – to tackle the problem.
Not enough countries have ratified the Ballast Water Convention, established in 2004, to bring it into force, with only one of the top shipping states – Liberia – doing so. As a result, the number of damaging species spreading into new areas is continuing to rise.
Invasive species include Chinese mitten crabs, which originate in the Far East but have spread to other parts of the world in the ballast of ships. The crab can burrow into and destroy fragile riverbanks, prey on other species and compete with native animals such as crayfish.
The North American comb jellyfish, which helped to virtually wipe out anchovy and sprat stocks in the Black Sea in the late 1980s, is now expanding into the Caspian Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
The red mysid shrimp has spread from the Black and Caspian Seas into the North Sea, including Belgium, France, the UK and Ireland and across to the US – with fears its wide diet is likely to damage ecosystems.
The poisonous Indo-Pacific lionfish originally turned up in the Atlantic after being released from aquariums, but larvae and young could spread further in ballast water, which can also contain a number of bacteria and diseases including cholera.
Ahead of a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in London this week, WWF called on nations under whose flags most ships operate to ratify the convention.
WWF's delegation head Dr Anita Makinen said: "The IMO Ballast Water Convention provides the set of agreed practices and standards for effective control of ballast water internationally, minimising the spread of marine invasive organisms while imposing minimal costs upon shipping and trade."
IN FOREIGN WATERS
EXAMPLES of species with strong to moderate links to ballast water:
• North American comb jelly (pictured right) – increasingly found in north-west Europe and Norway, and Swedish coastal waters
• Australian spotted jellyfish – appeared in Texan waters in 2006 and threatens commercial shrimp and crab fisheries in Gulf of Mexico
• Conrad's false mussel – found in Finnish Baltic waters in 2004 and now increasing near cooling water outfalls of power plants
• North Asian amphipod – recorded for first time in Irish waters in 2006
• Gammarid amphipod (pictured right) – firmly established in northern Baltic and replacing native species
• Red mysid shrimp – native to the waters around the Black and Caspian Seas, it has reached Ireland and England
• Fish-hook water flea – clogs nets and fishing gear
• Asian shrimp – established in UK rivers and estuaries in the 1990s and has spread ever since
• Asian shore crab – discovered in Belgium and French coastal waters
Invasive species 'spread around world in ships' ballast tanks'
The Telegraph 13 Jul 09;
The spread of invasive species carried across the world in the ballast tanks of ships is causing billions of pounds of damage each year, conservationists warned.
Creatures such as the Chinese mitten crab, which is on the rise in the Thames and other English rivers, have been able to establish themselves in new habitats after being transported from their natural homes in ballast water.
Around 7,000 marine and coastal species travel across the world's oceans every day, a report for conservation charity WWF said.
Some of them become invasive in new sites, breeding prolifically by "escaping" the predators or diseases which would normally keep their numbers under control, competing with local species, disrupting food chains or damaging habitats.
The report estimated that in the last five years, invasive species have cost marine and coastal activities including fisheries, aquaculture, industrial infrastructure and harbours some £31 billion worldwide.
According to the study for WWF, last year 84pc of the world's marine regions had reported findings of invasive species, with shipping a major reason for their spread.
The conservation charity urged countries to adopt an international treaty which would bring in measures for ballast water - used to stabilise ships and ensure efficient fuel use - to tackle the problem.
Not enough countries have ratified the Ballast Water Convention, established in 2004, to bring it into force, with only one of the top shipping states - Liberia - doing so.
As a result, the number of damaging species spreading into new areas is continuing to rise.
Invasive species include Chinese mitten crabs, whose name comes from their large claws which are covered in bristles resembling mittens, which originate in the Far East but have spread to other parts of the world in the ballast of ships.
The crab has colonised the Thames and is establishing itself in other rivers around England, where it can burrow into and destroy fragile riverbanks, prey on other species and compete with native animals such as crayfish.
The North American comb jellyfish which helped to virtually wipe out anchovy and sprat stocks in the Black Sea in the late 1980s, is now expanding into the Caspian Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
The red mysid shrimp has spread from the Black and Caspian Seas into the North Sea, including Belgium, France, England and Ireland and across to the US - with fears its wide diet is likely to damage ecosystems, while the "red tide" microalgae has also spread through ballast water.
The Indo-Pacific poisonous lionfish originally turned up in the Atlantic after being released from aquariums but larvae and young could spread further in ballast water, which can also contain a number of bacteria and diseases including cholera.
Ahead of a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in London this week, WWF called on nations under whose flags most ships operate to ratify the convention.
Dr Anita Makinen, WWF's head of delegation to the meeting, said: "The IMO Ballast Water Convention provides the set of agreed practices and standards for effective control of ballast water internationally, minimising the spread of marine invasive organisms while imposing minimal costs upon shipping and trade."
Implementing the convention would, she said, "effectively halt marine pest invasions from ballast water - in the long run saving taxpayers' money by avoiding clean ups of affected ecosystems, industry and infrastructure".
Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon 12 Jul 09;
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared Mt. Mantalingahan in the southern mainland of Palawan as a protected area, securing some 120,000 hectares of mostly old-growth forest in an area severely threatened by mining projects and illegal logging.
Conservation International Philippines, a nonprofit group that facilitated several years of scientific surveys, consultation with stakeholders, and organizing activities, announced in a statement Saturday the issuance by Malacañang of Proclamation 1815 signed by President Arroyo on June 23 which created the Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL).
The group described the proclamation as an “important step” in protecting the watersheds of southern Palawan and the highly diverse wildlife found in the area.
“The 33 watersheds of the MMPL will not only ensure the integrity and health of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems but also importantly, the marine ecosystems, particularly along the South China Sea on the west and the Sulu Sea on the eastern flanks of Palawan where these watersheds drain,” Romeo Trono, CI country director, said in the statement furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He added that the delineation of Mt. Mantalingahan was in line with the Philippine government’s international commitment to expand the coverage of protected areas in the country in response to the global concern about climate change and the environment.
“The MMPL also adds to the country’s list of protected areas, and moves the Philippines closer to our 2010 target for the Convention of Biological Diversity. It is of high biodiversity importance, being one of the 17 terrestrial key biodiversity areas and one of 11 important bird areas in Palawan, as well as one of only 10 sites of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) in the Philippines,” Trono said.
The provincial government initiated the efforts to protect the area, declaring it in 1998 as an important site and creating a planning body composed of five municipalities in southern Palawan that shared its boundaries.
Several mining projects have been started in the region and conflicts have arisen among some communities that have openly supported mining companies and opposed Mantalingahan’s declaration as a protected area.
Michael Richardson, Straits Times 13 Jul 09;
IN NORMAL conditions, the vast swathe of tropical forest and peatland swamp that covers much of insular South-east Asia is immune to fire. Beneath the dense forest canopy lies a water-saturated world, teeming with plant, animal and insect life.
But these are not normal times. Nature is conspiring with man to put unprecedented stress on the forest, raising the risk of devastating fire and a big jump in the region's greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientists blame such emissions, mainly of carbon dioxide (CO2), for warming the planet. They say that the average surface temperature around the world rose by about 0.7 deg C in the 20th century as a result of human activity, mainly the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels and the clearing of forests for timber and agriculture.
Trees soak up and store CO2 when they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. Emissions from cutting or burning forests in South-east Asia, Brazil and equatorial Africa account for around 20 per cent of global CO2 emissions, about the same as from the transport sector.
Reflecting scientific warnings, G-8 leaders meeting in Italy last week agreed not to allow the global temperature to increase more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, although they made no binding commitments.
Two degrees C is seen as a threshold for severe, perhaps irreversible, climate change, including more extreme weather, food shortages, sea level rise and the extinction of some species of plants and animals.
On top of man-made temperature increase in South-east Asia and other parts of the world, weather forecasters are now predicting the return of El Nino, a natural cycle that occurs every few years, bringing drier-than-normal conditions, and sometimes drought, to South-east Asia.
It is not yet clear whether this El Nino will be moderate, as in 2002 and 2006, or severe, as in 1997-98 when fires that were started to clear land for plantations in Indonesia raged out of control for months, blanketing South-east Asia in a choking haze of pollution that cost an estimated US$9 billion (S$13 billion) in disruption and damages.
What made one of the region's driest seasons on record especially damaging was the prior draining and cutting of large areas of peatland forest, where the remains of past plant life have been submerged for centuries in water-saturated layers up to 20m thick.
Peatland covers over 27 million hectares of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Papua New Guinea, with around 83 per cent of that in Indonesia, mainly Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua.
In recent years, surging global demand for timber, wood pulp, cooking and food-processing oil as well as biofuel has hastened the draining and conversion of previously ignored peatland for agriculture, particularly palm oil plantations.
Peatland is a major store of CO2. As it dries out, it oxidises and releases the gas. Worse still, it becomes susceptible to fire.
A team of United States and European scientists used satellites to measure levels of CO2 and carbon monoxide (a good indicator of the occurrence of fire) in the atmosphere above South-east Asia between 1997 and 2006. They published the results of their study in December.
They found that between 2000 and 2006, average CO2 emissions from the region accounted for about 2 per cent of global fossil fuel emissions and 3 per cent of the worldwide increase in atmospheric CO2.
But during moderate El Nino years in 2002 and 2006, when dry season rainfall was half of normal, CO2 emissions from fire rose 10 times.
In the severe El Nino of 1997-98, fire emissions from the region were much higher. They contributed 15 per cent of global fossil fuel emissions and 31 per cent of the global atmospheric increase of CO2 over the two-year period.
Other studies have also shown that if drought becomes more frequent with climate change, more fires can be expected in equatorial forests and peatland. As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, it will thicken the blanket of heat-trapping gases near earth's surface, leading to more drying and more fires.
According to some recent computerised climate models, loss of tropical forests to fire, cutting and other causes could increase atmospheric CO2 concentrations by as much as 100 parts per million by the end of this century. This would be a significant increase, given that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is currently about 380 parts per million, the highest in 650,000 years.
With a warmer world, many forested areas that have been storing carbon will instead release the gas. 'Essentially, we could see a forest-carbon feedback that acts like a foot on the accelerator pedal for atmospheric CO2,' Professor Chris Field, director of global ecology at Stanford University's Carnegie Institution, told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago in February.
No one knows how strong any feedback will be. But if the looming El Nino cycle in South-east Asia turns out to be severe, it may be a harbinger of the region's climate future.
The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
After 5-year campaign, most office workers seem to have embraced 'no necktie, no jacket' concept
Kwan Weng Kin, Straits Times 13 Jul 09;
UNTIL recently, the typical Japanese businessman would not be caught dead in anything less than a suit and tie.
The slavish adoption of Western customs by several generations of Japanese dictated that only a suit and tie was appropriate business wear.
Even today, some Japanese still think that way, judging by the large number of businessmen who insist on fully suiting up despite the generally disagreeable weather during the Japanese summer.
But most of Japan's office workers now seem to have embraced the 'no necktie, no jacket' concept, promoted by the government's aptly dubbed 'Cool Biz' campaign, now in its fifth year.
The campaign aims to save energy and, at the same time, reduce global warming by cutting down on the emission of greenhouse gases.
Before the campaign, Japanese businessmen mostly sweated in suits and ties during the wilting summer months, putting up stoically with the searing heat and enervating humidity.
It was not uncommon to see men - both young and old - whip out folding fans and furiously fan themselves in an effort to lower their body temperatures.
Unlike men in Singapore, who tend to wear nothing under their shirts because of the heat, Japanese men invariably wear undershirts with sleeves as a matter of social etiquette.
Officially, the Cool Biz season runs for four months from June to September, the warmest and most humid months in Tokyo and many parts of Japan.
During this period, government offices and private companies that subscribe to the campaign are expected to keep their thermostats no lower than 28 deg C - hardly a comfortable setting.
Even when maximum daily temperatures are only in the high 20s or low 30s, the need for many Japanese to frequently walk an average of 10 minutes in the open to their destination makes the summer months particularly trying.
This year, Prime Minister Taro Aso set the tone for the Cool Biz season by getting his Cabinet ministers to join him in sporting loose-fitting 'kariyushi' shirts at their June 2 Cabinet meeting.
These are the de facto uniform for government employees, bank workers and many people in the service industries in the warm and humid southern prefecture of Okinawa for more than six months of each year.
The laid-back 'kariyushi' shirt is best described as the Okinawan version of Hawaii's aloha shirt, which typically features flower or butterfly motifs and is worn with its tip hanging loosely over the waists of pants.
Mr Hiroyuki Hosoda, the 65-year-old secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, earned the scorn of one sharp-eyed fashion critic for tucking his 'kariyushi' shirt tightly into his trousers.
Not everyone is comfortable with the Cool Biz style though.
Many Japanese of Mr Hosoda's generation or older seem to feel ill at ease without the customary coat and tie. Many of them bow reluctantly to the Cool Biz campaign. They go only as far as removing their ties but cling desperately to their jackets.
With the campaign giving people the perfect excuse to show off their shirts, however, younger Japanese businessmen have responded by increasingly choosing to wear colours other than the traditional white long favoured by the Japanese.
Besides shirts with buttoned-down collars, the 'cleric shirt' with its white collars and cuffs is also often seen these days.
For the discerning few, there are also shirts with collars 0.5cm to 1cm higher than normal, a point that apparel makers say helps to flatter the wearer without the need for a tie.
This year, with the recession in full swing, many Japanese businessmen feel they ought to dress formally even in summer.
Some want to give a good impression to their clients in the hope of snaring an order - something that is hard to come by these days.
Others want to impress their bosses in order to retain their jobs.
So apparel makers have produced suits made of thinner and more 'breathable' material, as well as neckties that are lighter than those worn during the cooler months.
Yet in a measure of the success of the Cool Biz campaign, the suited-up dress code is no longer de rigueur everywhere.
For instance, the tourism sections of many local governments have their staff switch to either polo or aloha shirts during the Cool Biz months, so as to create a holiday mood when they meet with people from the industry.
Courier firm Sagawa Express this year finally relented and introduced knee-length trousers for some 15,000 delivery staff nationwide to ease movement and to guard against heat stroke.
Many companies have also taken to letting their employees dress down for periods that are shorter or longer than the official guidelines.
Major electronics maker Sharp is allowing its employees to dress Cool Biz-style for six months from May to October.
Meanwhile, Nestle Japan found that the 'no necktie, no jacket' regime generated an informal atmosphere among employees that encouraged more active discussions during meetings.
In fact, the company has decided to let its staff say goodbye to neckties the whole year round.
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