Best of our wild blogs: 16 Aug 09

A Short Afternoon Walk in CCA
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Back to Venus
from talfryn.net

The Emerald One
from Life's Indulgences

Mixed species bulbul feeding juvenile
from Bird Ecology Study Group

"Gigantic insect flies into my house for the third time!"
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Sungei Buloh with the zoo docents
from wild shores of singapore

Sand mining near Kusu Island Aug-Dec 09
from wild shores of singapore

Singapore mangroves featured in children's book
from wild shores of singapore

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Work begins on construction of Punggol Promenade

Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia 15 Aug 09;

SINGAPORE: Work has begun on the construction of Punggol Promenade to develop the waterfront area in Punggol East. It is part of bigger plans by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to promote local tourism at lesser-known coastal areas in Singapore.

Even though many of the plantations and farms in Punggol are now gone, the rustic laidback charm of the area remains and this is a major draw for residents here.

By building the necessary infrastructure in Punggol, authorities hope to pave the way for local tourism. Plans include turning the jetty and beach at Punggol Point into a park with cycling tracks and eateries, and developing the stretch along Coney Channel into nature trails and fishing spots.

This has been a long wait for residents as plans were announced back in 2002, under the URA's Parks & Waterbodies Plan and Identity Plan.

Pradip Mandal, a Punggol resident, said: "I'll be looking forward to more recreation places. I've got young kids with me, and I need a bit of recreation for myself... cycling, trekking zones will be really nice to have."

He may just get his wish as the promenade will be connected to other parks and hiking trails, forming a 150-kilometre route around Singapore.

The 5-kilometre Punggol Promenade is expected to be completed in 2011, at a cost of S$16.7 million. Members of Parliament broke ground on the project on Saturday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also the MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, touched on future developments for the constituency at the ceremony.

"The pace, of course, will be determined by the demand for housing. The demand for housing still seems to be good and we're very happy to welcome the new residents here to Punggol 21," he said.

Punggol 21 is part of the government's plans to bring waterfront living – complete with new residences and leisure options – to the town. It is expected to be completed over the next few years.
- CNA/so

Punggol vision one step closer
Work begins on 4.9km walkway - part of a plan to turn area into iconic waterfront town
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 16 Aug 09;

March 2011. From an elevated viewing platform at Punggol Point, some residents look out onto tranquil waters. Others stroll along a sandy beach while enjoying the sea breeze.

Along a 4.9km-long promenade that begins here, they can also walk to playgrounds, fitness corners, fishing spots and even a horse-riding school. If hunger strikes, they can pop by eateries that dot the route.

The $16.7 million Punggol Promenade, which is part of a grand vision to transform the former backwater village in the north-east into Singapore's iconic suburban waterfront town, took a step closer to reality yesterday.

Construction began with a ground-breaking ceremony.

'We are one step closer to realising the vision of Punggol as a beautiful waterfront town with an array of leisure opportunities,' said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Mr Teo, who is an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, noted that fresh plans for the walkway, released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday, had integrated feedback from residents, such as including fitness corners along the route.

This walkway is part of a 150km 'round-island route' that will eventually allow users to walk, cycle or jog around the whole island - connecting Singaporeans 'not only psychologically, but physically' as well, he added.

He was accompanied at the ceremony by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, North East District Mayor Teo Ser Luck and other MPs from the constituency.

Developments in Punggol have accelerated in the last two years since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered a new vision for it - called 'Punggol 21-plus' - in his 2007 National Day Rally speech.

He had unveiled sweeping plans for a beautiful coastal suburb with public homes built along a pristine waterway, amid nature trails and restaurants serving Punggol's famous chilli crab.

But it has not always been smooth sailing for Punggol, which more than 10 years ago had a population of only 500.

The vision for its transformation began as early as 1996, when it was announced by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. But the Asian financial crisis halted the town's development, leaving many early residents miffed about the lack of amenities and critical mass in the new town.

Today, the town has a population of 53,600 and this is projected to grow to 70,000 by 2011.

The promise of Punggol is vivid in the mind of Madam Gillian Lim, 40, who has lived there for eight years. 'It's been a long time coming. I'm so glad we are finally seeing things built now,' she said.

Mr Teo Chee Hean told reporters the pace of Punggol's development will be determined by the demand for housing, which seems to be healthy.

Punggol is not the only town set for a metamorphosis. Mr Teo yesterday highlighted the Marina Bay area as one that is 'taking shape before our very eyes'.

Key projects like the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and the Marina Bay Financial Centre will open their doors next year.

'But more than just the commercial developments...it is really a place for all of us. There will be many public spaces for us to enjoy,' he said earlier at an exhibition launch at Sengkang's Compass Point.

The 'My Endearing Home' exhibition, launched in May, aims to encourage the public to rediscover the island and inform them of upcoming development plans.

Mr Teo noted that a new 'double helix' bridge will soon connect Marina Centre to Marina South, and new attractions and event spaces all around the bay will be opened.

Besides the transformations in the city area, Singapore's heartland, such as the Jurong Lake District, is also set for an intensive makeover to become an alternative business and leisure destination.

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Heavy penalties will deter people from felling trees

Straits Times 16 Aug 09;

With reference to the article, 'House owner fined $6,000 for cutting down 3 trees' (July5), the punishment puts those who cut down trees unnecessarily in the same class as vandals who deface other aspects of Singapore's heritage.

This sends the correct message.

In another case, some people who made unauthorised alterations to a conservation building were forced by the authorities to restore it to its original condition.

Very sadly, in the case of lost trees, the damage cannot be so easily undone.

After mature trees have been felled, even if the culprit offers to plant fairly large 'instant' trees, it will be decades before the replacements can provide the same shade and cooling effect on the area's micro-climate as those that were lost.

The presence of heavy penalties must therefore be highlighted to discourage people from removing mature trees.

That said, the Government should set a better example by making sure that its contractors do not reach for their chainsaws to clear sites as the first step in carrying out development projects.

I witnessed sadly the loss of a great number of fine old trees along Airport Road, Eunos Link and in Serangoon Gardens when those areas were 'upgraded'.

Surely, with better planning, many of those trees could have been saved?

Lee Chiu San

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What happens to props post-NDP?

Most of the parade's items are reused or recycled; performers get to keep costumes as mementoes
Nur Dianah Suhaimi, Straits Times 16 Aug 09;

Where have the twin nine-storey towers gone?

That may be the question on many people's minds now that the show-stopping National Day Parade (NDP) is over and the 4,000 performers have all gone home.

The three-hour show last Sunday dazzled the 27,000-strong audience with other grand props and decorative items such as giant puppets as well as snazzy costumes, including pom-poms, scarves and fans.

Most of the items are reused in various ways, said Major Lim Soon Meng, logistics and finance chairman of the show committee.

Once the show is over, the props are taken to Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) camps for storage.

The performers usually get to keep the costumes as mementoes.

Planning for the next parade usually begins as soon as one show ends.

The NDP organisers for next year sift through the props and items almost immediately after the parade, to see what can be recycled.

The process of sifting through these items usually takes about two months.

Said Maj Lim: 'As part of our overall green efforts, some of the decorations will be recycled. For instance, we have plans with South West Community Development Council to recycle the banners used into carrier bags.'

The rest of the items will be given to the SAF for various uses, as well as to performing arts and cultural groups that have made requests.

Items not claimed by any party will most likely be thrown away.

Many props and decorative items are usually designed and created from scratch, which is why it takes a year to plan the big show.

Said Maj Lim: 'This year, we engaged local professionals who worked closely with the show and creative team to provide the costume concepts, designs and specifications that are suitable for the show in the various chapters.'

Director-actor Ivan Heng, who has more than 20 years' experience in the theatre scene, was creative director of the show.

The elaborate costumes worn by the performers were designed by local designer Frederick Lee, famed for his wedding gowns.

Once the designs are done, a tendering process is conducted. Companies registered in GeBiz, the government procurement system, can bid for the contract to create these props and costumes.

One of the major considerations in creating props is how they can be maintained and used repeatedly in the coming years.

Said Maj Lim: 'For the old props, the key challenges are mainly maintenance and how they can be creatively reused to suit the show.'

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Batangas Mangroves Help Fight Against Global Warming

Besides coastline protectors, mangrove forests are one of the most promising carbon sequesters, having the highest carbon net productivity among all ecosystems.
PRLog (Press Release) 15 Aug 09;

By capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in its biomass, mangrove species are able to reduce the amount of excess carbon in the air, thereby lessening the greenhouse gas' contribution to global warming.

Forest researchers Dixon T. Gevana, Florencia B. Pulhin and Nelson M. Pampolina of the UPLB College Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR) recently assessed the capability of mangrove forests to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which contributes as much as 26% to the greenhouse effect.

In an article entitled “Carbon Stock Assessment of a Mangrove Ecosystem in San Juan, Batangas” published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Management (JESAM) in June 2008, the UPLB researchers mentioned two mangrove systems in San Juan, Batangas: in Barangays Potcol and Catmon, where 100 hectares are planted to mangroves. In these sites, the Bakawan (Rhizophora sp.), Tabigi (Xylocarpus granatum), and Bungalon (Avicennia marina) are dominant mangrove species planted.

According to the report, San Juan's mangrove forests can store about 13,000 tons of carbon- already a huge quantity absorbed and not trapped in the atmosphere.

San Juan's mangrove forests serve as very good “carbon sinks”, thus the local government unit should continue to preserve and protect the forests. The researchers estimated that if one-third of San Juan's coastal area is converted to mangrove forests, the carbon that may be mitigated can reach up to 25,652 tons.

# # #

UP Los Baños is the Philippines premier research university in the areas of agriculture, biotechnology, engineering, environment, alternative energy and climate change.

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Whale shark sightings in the Gulf of Mexico baffle scientists

Jim Tharpe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 15 Aug 09;

Scientists say they are baffled by the soaring number of whale shark sightings this summer in the northern Gulf of Mexico, an area where the huge polka-dotted fish have been a rare spectacle in the past.

“The sheer number of anecdotal reports from the public is amazing,” said Sarasota-based shark scientist Bob Hueter. “There’s obviously something going on.”

Whale sharks usually gather in large numbers during the summer in plankton-rich waters off the Yucatan Peninsula. Even those concentrations are larger and more dense than usual this year — hundreds have been spotted in a single location. However, multiple whale shark sightings in the eastern and northern Gulf near the Florida coast is unprecedented.

Fishermen, helicopter pilots, divers and tourists have reported seeing groups of the bus-sized sharks from Clearwater to the Florida Panhandle and along the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana coasts.

Hueter, whose whale shark research is partially funded by Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium, said a massive “loop current” in the Gulf changed course a bit this year. There is also a stronger than usual upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water off the Yucatan this year, he said.

“That changed the oceanography a bit, and it could have driven some of these animals up into the northern Gulf,” Hueter said.

Whale sharks, which can grow to more than 40 feet, are solitary filter-feeders that occasionally gather in large numbers to feast on seasonal plankton blooms. Little is known about the gentle giants, four of which are housed at the Georgia Aquarium.

Eric Hoffmayer, a biologist with the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory on the Mississippi coast, said his lab has gotten reports of 30 sightings in just the last two weeks. Hueter said sightings in the Florida Gulf are running four times the normal rate.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” Hoffmayer said. “We’ve had reports of 15 to 20 whale sharks in one area.”

On Aug. 1, Hoffmayer’s lab got a reported sighting of more than 100 whale sharks congregating about 60 miles off the Louisiana coast. Many of the sighting are occurring on the full moon, he said, suggesting the sharks there are massing to feed on fish eggs.

Hueter said the increased northern Gulf sightings correspond to this summer’s unusually large whale shark gathering — called an aggregation — near Isla Mujeres off the Yucatan near Cancun. The Yucatan aggregation is an annual phenomenon, though it usually occurs near Isla Holbox.

An aerial survey last week found more than 400 whale sharks in a relatively small area near the Isla Mujeres.

“They have been packed in there like sardines, 25-foot-long sardines, and they are staying there the entire summer,” Hueter said.

Hueter said records at Mote Marine Laboratory, where he heads the Shark Research Center, indicate there were only three whale shark sightings in the Florida Gulf in 2005, two in 2006, five in 2007 and three last year. But there have already been 12 just from July to mid-August of this year.

A few weeks ago, five whale sharks appeared just offshore along Grayton Beach near Destin, where thousands of metro Atlantans vacation every summer. The sharks apparently remained in local waters for two days before departing for points unknown.

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Paris penthouses for busy bees

Emmanuel Angleys Yahoo News 14 Aug 09;

PARIS (AFP) – Strange as it may seem, bees get a better buzz from the urban Paris jungle than from the countryside.

There are all sorts of flowers only short flights away, and little risk of death by pesticide.

But the bee's knees are the penthouse hives atop some of the city's best and historically prestigious monuments -- the spectacular steel and glass domed Grand Palais exhibition hall by the banks of the Seine, for instance.

"Honeybees are happy in town, they have everything they need," said Grand Palais director Sebastien de Gasquet.

Collecting pollen and nectar is no sweat with the Tuileries gardens lying only a short distance away, "not to mention the Grand Palais' own flowerbeds", he said.

The two beehives set on the edge of the building's huge glass dome last May are rooms with a view of the Eiffel tower and Notre-Dame cathedral. Three or four extra hives are to be added to bring production up to half a ton of honey a year.

City bees, said Nicolas Geant, the beekeeper behind the Grand Palais scheme, nowadays produce four to five times more honey than their country cousins.

"In agricultural areas you can produce around 10 to 20 kilogrammes of honey per year per hive while in cities you can get between 80 and 100 kilogrammes," he said.

And his idea of placing beehives at the Grand Palais -- Paris' Garnier Opera house has had its own beehives for years -- is aimed at denouncing that very paradox.

In rural areas close to farms, there are less and less hedges, trees and flowers. But in the city "there are a myriad of small flowers in parks and on balconies, as well as a wide variety of trees along streets and in public gardens -- acacia, lime and chestnut trees -- that are nectar to the bees."

While Paris is polluted, notably from car exhaust, "this bears no comparison with agricultural areas where pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers kill massive numbers of bees," he said.

France's Union of Apiarists (UNAF) has signalled high mortality rates near corn, sunflower and rapeseed fields, while bee deaths across Europe have been 30 to 35 percent higher than average since the 1980s thanks to a number of factors, including the use pf pesticides.

"There are practically no pesticides in the city," said Jean Lacube, the beekeeper in charge of eight hives at another Paris building in the city's chic 7th district.

City bees also thrive in a town's more temperate climate, he added, and are safe from attacks by the deadly Asian hornet that has decimated bees in the southwest part of France in the last years.

There are some 300 beehives in Paris, Lacube said.

"But beekeeping in a city is a luxury," he added. "Beekeeping should be in the countryside, the future is not in the cities."

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Italy launches first clean hydrogen power plant

Yahoo News 14 Aug 09;

MILAN, Italy (AFP) – Italian power company Enel said Friday that it had started up a ground-breaking hydrogen-powered electricity plant producing no greenhouse gases.

Enel said the 12 megawatt plant, at Fusina in Venice's industrial zone of Porto Marghera, was the first of its kind in the world to operate on such a scale.

Powered by hydrogen by-products from local petrochemical industries such as the Eni group's Polimeri Europa factory, it can meet the needs of 20,000 families, while saving emissions equivalent to more than 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to Enel.

The power station forms part of a project dubbed Hydrogen Park, which is backed by the Venice region and Italy's environment minister to the tune of four million euros (5.6 million dollars).

The project aims to develop research into the uses of hydrogen, a clean gas which produces only water when it burns.

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We have a 'right to starlight,' astronomers say

Yahoo News 14 Aug 09;

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – The public's "right to starlight" is steadily being eroded by urban illumination that is the bane of astronomers everywhere, the International Astronomical Union said on Friday.

The body, which wrapped up an 11-day general assembly in Rio de Janeiro that attracted galaxy-gazers from around the world, argued that authorities should use more unobtrusive lighting in cities and towns.

Such moves would not only free up the night skies to make for easier viewing but also promote environmental protection, energy savings and tourism, it said in a resolution.

"The progressive degradation of the night sky should be regarded as a fundamental loss," the union said.

It asserted that being able to see the stars "should be considered a fundamental socio-cultural and environmental right."

One Brazilian astronomer, Augusto Daminelli, told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that in Rio, "it should be possible to see up to 5,000 stars with the naked eye -- but because of light pollution we can only see 150."

He noted that nearly a third of electric lighting is directed to the heavens, and thus wasted.

Possible solutions include putting aluminum covers on street lighting to direct the illumination downwards, and using weaker, more energy-efficient lamps, he said.

"More than two billion people in the world are unable to see the Milky Way. For us, the sky is a heritage site for mankind," he said.

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India's PM calls for second 'green revolution' amid drought

Yahoo News 15 Aug 09;

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India's premier called Saturday for a second "green revolution" to boost agricultural output as the country celebrated its national independence day in the grip of its worst drought in years.

The country "needs another Green Revolution and we will try our best to make it possible," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an Independence Day speech marking the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

Singh was referring to the country's "Green Revolution" of the 1960s, which quadrupled food production through planting of high-yield grains and made India self-sufficient, transforming it from a starving nation into a food exporter

But India's agriculture has been in decline in recent years and growing at a far slower pace than the overall economy.

Economists say the country needs to boost agricultural growth sharply to achieve the double-digit expansion needed to lift millions out of deep poverty.

Singh appealed to India's scientific community to develop new techniques to increase farm productivity.

"We will have to adopt modern means to be successful in agriculture," he said from the ramparts of the Mughal-era Red Fort in Delhi.

Singh's words came as the country faced its worst drought since at least 2002 with the annual monsoon rains that sweep the country from June to September running at 29 percent below average.

Having recorded a growth rate of 4.9 percent in the financial year 2007-08, farm sector output growth slowed to 1.6 percent in the last fiscal year to March.

Economists say agricultural output could tumble further this year owing to the drought in the country of nearly 1.2 billion people.

"Our goal is four percent annual growth in agriculture and I am confident that we will be able to achieve (it) in the next five years."

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