Life History of the Two-Spotted Line-Blue
from Butterflies of Singapore
Of Red Eyes & Orange Bellies
from Black Dillenia
Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher casting pellet
from Bird Ecology Study Group
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Best of our wild blogs: 31 Jan 10
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Cycling paths: Hikers need space too
Sunday Times 31 Jan 10;
I refer to the LifeStyle article, 'Cycle of strife' (Jan17), on clashes between motorists and cyclists on their right to use Singapore's roads.
My husband and I are avid hikers and cross-country runners who enjoy using the trails in public parks such as the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and out towards Chestnut Drive, where there are lots of trails shared by hikers, nature photographers, birdwatchers and cyclists - and where there is also a mountain biking course for people who want rough riding.
The Bukit Batok-Dairy Farm Road area also has an extensive network of bicycle trails.
In recent time, we have seen cyclists becoming increasingly disrespectful of pedestrians' rights on sidewalks and in nature parks.
We have had to jump out of the way for cyclists on paths in the nature reserve and Chestnut Drive area. Some cyclists could not be bothered to ring a bell or call out a warning, or even slow down, to allow for safe sharing of the paths.
The path from the nature reserve at Bukit Timah's Hindhede area - all the way around the park - has been prioritised for cyclists, so hikers and other pedestrians now face greater risk of getting injured by thoughtless cyclists.
However, over the last two years, I have seen more pedestrian than bicycle traffic on these trails.
So why are the parks being lost to bicycle traffic?
I think there must be a better solution. Pedestrians like me just like a safe and fair solution.
Rather than making cyclist-only paths - telling pedestrians to 'walk at your own risk' - couldn't we set aside perhaps four hours each Saturday and Sunday for the cyclists, keeping the pedestrians off the path during those hours, and at all other times, encourage safe and courteous sharing of the paths in our public parks?
Martha Stemberger (Ms)
Hikers, cyclists get their own space
Sunday Times 7 Feb 10;
We thank Ms Martha Stemberger for her feedback last Sunday, 'Cycling paths: Hikers need space too'.
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a popular destination among nature lovers and outdoor enthu-siasts. While we try to meet the different needs of our visitors, we are also mindful not to disturb the natural environment.
The mountain biking trail was built at the fringe of the reserve so that cyclists can enjoy their activity without impacting the core
forests or getting in the way of hikers. For safety concerns, hikers are advised not to use the mountain biking trail.
There are four walking trails within the reserve, offering different experiences for hikers.
Over the years, we have also added more walking trails in the surrounding area, including a Kampong Trail, which connects Bukit Timah and MacRitchie Reservoir Park.
Last year, we launched Dairy Farm Nature Park, which offers three nature trails, and the Western Adventure Park Connector Network, which links several parks in the north-western region.
We thank Ms Stemberger for her suggestion and hope she will continue to enjoy exploring the walking trails in our parks.
We also encourage all visitors to keep to the designated trails for safety and to protect the flora and fauna.
Members of the public are welcome to contribute their feedback or queries to the National Parks Board's 24-hour Quality Service Manager (QSM) Helpline on 1800-471-7300, or e-mail us at nparks_public_affairs@nparks.gov.sg
Sharon Chan (Ms)
Assistant Director
Central Nature Reserve
National Parks Board
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Three charged over sand smuggling to Singapore
New Straits Times 29 Jan 10;
JOHOR BARU: Three government servants -- two from the Customs Department and one from the State Land and Mines Office -- were charged at the Sessions Court yesterday with offences related to sand smuggling.
Johor Customs technical services personnel Kamarudin Ismail, 49, pleaded not guilty to three charges of accepting bribes totalling RM3,500 on three occasions last year to expedite and facilitate an application for the classification of items by Zacharias Kho.
Judge Salawati Djambari set bail at RM5,000 with one surety and fixed trial on May 10 to 12 next year.
In another court, Assistant Customs enforcement officer Syahrol Md Zain, 31, claimed trial to two charges of receiving a total of RM5,600 from Sendry Anak Ugi, 34, as inducement for him not to take action against lorry drivers who smuggled sand into Singapore.
Syahrol, of Taman Pulai Emas, Kangkar Pulai, was alleged to have received a RM2,400 from Sendry, 34, at Room 1252 of Hotel The Zon at Jalan Ibrahim Sultan here about 1.15pm last July 10 and RM3,200 from the same person at the Trevi Lounge at the Grand BlueWave Hotel here about 7.37pm last Aug 5.
State Land and Mines Office worker Johairi Ahmad, 41, was charged before with accepting RM800 on Aug 6, last year from Sendry as inducement for him not to take action on four lorries which smuggled sand into Singapore on Aug 6 last year.
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Facebook groups for the environmental and other causes in Malaysia
Striking up a group
Louisa Lim, The Star 30 Jan 10;
Welcome to the world of Facebook, where the number of hobbyist groups is astounding, and their creators even more so.
When news of 15-year-old American student Tess Chapin’s being grounded for five weeks broke out in The New York Times several weeks ago, people were flabbergasted.
It wasn’t because Chapin’s sentence far outweighed her mistake for missing her 11.30pm curfew.
It was because she had, with the help of Facebook, started a “teenage rebellion, electronic style — peaceful, organised and, apparently, contagious.”
Her group, “1,000 to get Tess ungrounded”, gathered enough support within just a few days of its start-up. Though it did not help Chapin’s campaign by any measure (her parents are sticking by their plan), it did propel this once-little known teenager to international infamy. Stranger still, people actually felt for her.
Now, a burgeoning number of people (and not to mention businesses) are taking their causes and obsessions to Facebook, where there are no rules (prompting various websites to generate their own list of “Facebook Etiquette’) and no boundaries (nine-year-olds to 90-year-olds are welcome).
This mushrooming of Facebook groups has evidently caught on even in Malaysia, where a simple search yields an astonishing stream of results from the serious (Malaysia Travel Network, Social Singles Society) to the not so serious (Malaysians Against Nasty Cabbies, Ramly Burger Appreciation Society) and the downright hilarious (Petition to Import Men to Malaysia, Why Malaysian Chinese Drama Sucks?).
While the virtues (and pitfalls) of Facebook have been trumpeted to death, many still do not know that it is also the ultimate place to take your passions further.
As enthusiasts begin to snub conventional forums in favour of Facebook, a myriad of hobbyist groups have started appearing on the site. Devotees band together from all over the world, discussing everything from wine to cameras (posting up videos and pictures to emphasise their point) with a sprinkle of light banter and mindless musings in between.
Although it’s somewhat difficult to find a group that remains active (with weekly postings and events) months after their formation, they are out there, like jewels in the rough.
That said, we are on a quest to find some of the more interesting Facebook groups created by locals for locals. Here is a list of the top five, certified as 100% original and credible by us.
Eco Warriors
Some things have the power to leave an impression on you forever: a stranger you met, a country you visited, a book you just read. For 42-year-old Matthias Gelber, it was an obscure German town where he grew up.
“Lippe was this little kampung with 500 inhabitants,” says the eco entrepreneur who has been living in Kuala Lumpur since 2005 under the Malaysia My Second Home programme.
“It was a town surrounded by nature. We’ll get snow for four months every year, and it was beautiful. But thanks to global warming, we hardly ever get snow anymore, and even if we do, it’s only for a couple of days. I could see the damage global warming was doing to it, and I knew I had to do something."Since then, Gelber has tirelessly campaigned for the environment by changing the way he lived. He gets around on public transport and promotes the use of green technology. He also made a pledge to plant 1,000,000 trees to make up for his carbon footprint.
All his efforts were documented on YouTube, earning him the title of “Greenest Person on The Planet’’ from the Canadian environmental organisation 3rd Whale.
But these achievements weren’t quite enough for the go-getting Gelber, who wanted to get others to walk the talk.
In November 2008, he created a Facebook group with a mission to “deliver fast and comprehensive positive environmental change in Malaysia, because Copenhagen has shown that there’s only so much governments can do.” It has amassed over 3,000 members since, although this figure is rising by the day.
“One of our members has managed to organise a simultaneous planting of 85,000 trees in the Raja Musa Peat Swamp near Kuala Selangor,” he says. “We’ve also managed to recruit 10,000 volunteers to plant trees on World Forest Day.”
Aside from tree planting activities, the group also conducts recycling campaigns in condominiums, awareness programmes through educational trips to nearby rainforests and swamps as well as environmental symposiums. Their next big project? Garden makeovers for children’s homes.
“We’ll be visiting Bandar Harapan Children’s Home in Ara Damansara, KL, to turn the garden into a sustainable organic farm so that the children can learn how to grow and cultivate their own vegetables.”
But perhaps Gelber’s biggest claim to fame is that he is interested in the outcome, rather than financial or political gains.
“That’s the problem with most NGOs these days,” he says. “They’re too obsessed with being visible. I just want to get things done.”
Scubaholics Anonymous
“Alcoholic, shopaholic . . . we’re just as hardcore as the other ‘holics’,” jokes founder of the group Mohan Thanabalan, 35.
“That’s why I came up with the name. I have to scuba dive at least once a month. Ever since I was certified in 2004, I’ve been an incurable addict.”
It all started when he was a young kid.
“My uncles were certified divers. Each time I went to visit them, I would put on their tanks and flippers and waddle around their house. I thought it was the coolest thing.”
Today, Mohan, who has a day job as a marketing supervisor, says everyone (colleagues included) knows that his motto is “dive now, work later”.
Even before Facebook was a faint glimmer of an idea in someone’s head, the enterprising lad had begun organising diving trips to the islands of Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia for his friends — all for a fee.
“More and more people started joining us because solo dives are no fun,” he says. “Then I created the Facebook group in early 2008 to expand our network of divers.”
To date, the group has over 350 members, 50 of whom are active and have accompanied him during recent diving trips to Mabul and Sipadan off the coast of Sabah, as well as Komodo Island in Indonesia. They’ve also had a gathering called the “Wild Teh Tarik Party” recently, to share and reminisce about diving trips in 2009. Next on their list: three days in Padang, Indonesia.
Non-divers, however, are always welcome to join the group.
“I’ve planned certification trips through Facebook for people who want to learn how to dive. Some are terrified, but seeing the thrill on their faces makes it worth my while. Of course, the most basic requirement is that you need to be a good swimmer,” he says.
To many, Mohan is already living his dream. But he has more long-term plans up his sleeve.
“I plan to take Scubaholics Anonymous international someday and get foreign scuba divers to explore the islands in Malaysia. After all, I’ve dived in many countries but Sipadan remains my favourite stop because of its sheer beauty,” he says.
“I’d also like to open my own scuba centre and resort one day so I can do it 24/7.”
Volunteer for Volunteers (V4V)
Always wanted to volunteer but don’t know how? The same predicament drove political science student Kim Manta-Khaira, 22 to start a group on Facebook aimed at “making the world a better place.”
Here’s how it works: V4V serves as a medium for volunteers, as well as NGOs and other establishments that are in dire need of volunteers like old folk’s homes, orphanages and even understaffed and under-appreciated charity gigs or theatre troupes. Prior experience is optional.
“My dad told me that no man is an island,” says Kim, whose parents are both lawyers.
“They have always encouraged my siblings and I to get involved since we were little. Today, my sisters regularly help out with NGOs, my brother works for human rights group Suaram, and I’ve been contributing to different causes, like participating in the international coastal clean-up day or becoming a facilitator for a youth conference, in between my studies. I suppose activism runs in our family.”
The idea was so simple that it’s a wonder why no other group like this existed earlier. Not surprisingly, it took off when the group was founded some time in 2008, but membership numbers (230 to date) and wall postings have stagnated since last year. Kim has since then moved on to bigger things.
“I’m currently doing something else for my university. It’s called the Green Team, and we also have a Facebook group. We’re in the midst of collecting shoes for Africa. Somebody else is handling V4V now. Many people have joined V4V but I’m not sure if anything is being done,” she says.
However, no one can deny that a group like V4V is still, by all means, necessary. All it takes is a little nudge for the group to get going once more.
As Kim puts it: “Perhaps I’ll form another group once I’ve gained more experience in social work. What matters most are, after all, concrete outcomes. And if V4V does that, then I can’t be happier.”
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Rescued Kites Fly Free Over Indonesian Island Home
Angus Thompson, Jakarta Post 29 Jan 10;
Gojele, a Brahminy Kite, can often be seen soaring above the tropical getaway of Pulau Kotok, part of the Thousand Islands cluster just north of Jakarta and now a rehabilitation center for kites and other birds.
He was one of eight juvenile kites seized at Jakarta’s international airport in 2004 as traders tried to smuggle them out to a private collector in Saudi Arabia. He was one of the first sea-eagles to be successfully rehabilitated, and released into the wild.
“Their feathers were really damaged when they came in. We had to work on them for almost six months,” said Femke den Haas, the cofounder of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) which is committed to reintroducing Brahminy Kites to the area.
JAAN took a run-down resort and transformed it into a sanctuary from which 56 formerly captive birds have now been freed.
The proud mascot of the nation’s capital, Brahminy Kites are protected eagles and have been under threat in the Thousand Islands as they were captured and sold illegally as status symbols.
The Forestry Ministry conducts raids on Jakarta’s notorious Pramuka bird market, but acknowledges there is still work to be done.
“We are aware there are still breaches of this law but we are continuing to work on the problem,” said forestry spokesperson Masyhud, who claims the ministry has reduced the trade over the last five years.
However, JAAN says smuggling is on the rise again.
A popular tourist destination, Pulau Kotok boasts a diverse wildlife population, including Barker Deer, Water Monitors and Clown Fish. And a short stroll from the island’s Alam Kotok resort, the squawks of 29 Brahminy Kites, White-Bellied Sea Eagles and a solitary Christmas Island Frigate ring out amongst dilapidated bungalows on the eastern side.
Because of wing and leg injuries sustained in captivity, 19 of the birds can never be released.
However, those kites released — usually on neighboring islands — have now bred successfully, including Gojele, who has fathered two chicks.
Reuters
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More than half of Indonesia's biodiversity `unrecorded'
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 30 Jan 10;
More than half of the biodiversity across the archipelago remains unrecorded due to lack of knowledge coupled with poor awareness by local authorities to halt unprecedented destruction of biodiversity.
As of 2010, only 20 of the more than 400 regencies have begun to catalog the species in their area.
"Indonesia is one of the 17 largest biodiversity hotspots on the planet, but we have not recorded most of it," the deputy assistant of biodiversity conservation at the State Environment Ministry, Utami Andayani, told The Jakarta Post.
She said Indonesia was still vulnerable to biodiversity loss, brought about mainly by human population growth, deforestation, illegal trade in plants and animals and human-induced climate change.
"It is difficult for us to complain if other countries exploit our biodiversity for commercial purposes such as medicine because of the lack of data to prove the species are from Indonesia," she said.
She warned that biodiversity loss would pose a significant threat to the country's food security.
The government has long claimed that Indonesia has 12 percent (515 species) of the world's mammal species, the second-highest level after Brazil, and 17 percent (1,531 species) of total bird species, the fifth-highest in the world.
It said that the country was also home to 15 percent (270 species) of amphibian and reptile species, 31,746 species of vascular plants and 37 percent of the world's species of fish.
Biodiversity-related issues are among key environmental matters this year as the UN has named 2010 the International Biodiversity Year.
Indonesia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994.
The State Environment Ministry was the national focal point for biodiversity issues and has set up a clearing house mechanism to ensure all parties have access to biodiversity information.
Environmental ministers from around the world will gather in Bali next month to discuss biodiversity, among others topics, and its contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The meeting, organized by the United Nations Environmental Programs (UNEP), will also discuss the economy of biodiversity and ecosystem services, including marine biodiversity.
The Bali meeting is expected to lead to a result echoing the Nusa Dua declaration, which has already been drafted and agreed to by ministers and heads of delegations attending the planned meeting on Feb. 26, 2010.
The deputy minister for environmental damage control at the Environment Ministry, Masnellyarti Hilman, said the Bali meeting would discuss the plan to set up an expert team on biodiversity issues.
"We will negotiate on the establishment of an Intergovernmental Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service *IPBES* in Bali," she said.
She said Indonesian delegates wanted the IPBES to be placed under the CBD, thus limiting those eligible to be in the team of experts to signatories to the convention.
The US is not party to the CBD.
A number of countries have proposed that the IPBES should be an independent team of experts who would advise the convention on biodiversity issues.
"We will reject any proposition if non-parties to the CBD are included in the IPBES," she said.
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Sabah close to achieving permanent forest cover
Daily Express 30 Jan 10;
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is close to achieving the permanent forest cover it has envisaged for posterity.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun, on Thursday said it had already achieved 49 per cent of the 55 per cent target.
"We will continue to work towards making the other six per cent a reality," he said, explaining these logged-over forests were now being rehabilitated.
Once under permanent forest cover, he said, they will be preserved without any sort of development therein so that this national treasure will not disappear.
Masidi was officiating at a Professional Administrator in the Globalised Era seminar here.
Illustrating his point about the need to protect the forest, he pointed out that 64 per cent of the remaining mangrove swamps in the country are in the State.
Masidi said hence the reason why Tourism, Culture and Environment are under one ministry in Sabah.
"In Sabah, our tagline is eco-tourism, and this tagline alone is enough to explain why we have merged all three aspects into a ministry," he said.
In Sabah, he said there are many beautiful places, vast seas, islands, land and animals, and all these, should the environment be not protected, will one day disappear due to development.
"We have all these gifts, and all these are also one of the main tourist attractions and therefore must be safeguarded," he said.
Apart from that, Masidi said the diverse culture and beliefs of people here is also another reason why tourists, domestic and foreign alike come to Sabah.
"So we can say that, culture and the environment is a huge part in tourism and all has to be maintained and balanced," he stated.
On other developments, he said participants of the seminar, mostly from the peninsula, must take the opportunity to learn more about Sabah and see for themselves the difference between East and West Malaysia.
The seminar, organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia's Administration Association, will end on Jan 30.
It is aimed at generating and getting new ideas from professionals in management, academic and corporate sectors in the country.
"It is also to identify challenges and strategies of good management practices, to fulfil the needs of today's society," said PPUPM Chairman, Jamsari Tamsir.
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Italy halts bluefin fishing for a year: EU
Yahoo News 30 Jan 10;
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Italy is to stop fishing for bluefin tuna, the lucrative but over-exploited species beloved of Japanese sushi fans, for 12 months, the European Union said on Saturday.
The move, enabled by financial aid from Brussels set aside for the forced tying-up of boats, comes weeks ahead of a European decision on whether to back calls for the fish to be officially listed as an endangered species.
Italy's intention is to pressure neighbouring Atlantic and Mediterranean fishing giants France and Spain into doing likewise, to allow the world's remaining stocks of the luxury fish to be replenished.
It may however result in the price of bluefin shooting even higher. A 232.6-kilogramme (512-pound) fish sold for 16.28 million yen (176,000 dollars or 127,000 euros) at auction in Japan earlier this month.
"Member states can do a voluntary freeze on fishing for a year if they want to," said European Commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann.
"There is a possibility in the European Fisheries Fund to give fishermen money if they are required to stop fishing for a particular type of fish.
"That's what's happening here. The moratorium applies to the big guys who are catching a lot of tuna.
"It's not new money -- its an existing mechanism," he underlined.
Italian fisheries minister Antonio Buonfiglio said Rome has "decided to tie up the boats because the situation was untenable from an ecological and economic point of view."
The Italian fleet runs to 49 huge trawlers, with almost 700 fishermen's livelihoods at stake, and Buonfiglio said they "will receive European aid in exchange" for staying put for a year.
"We are anticipating a unified (European) position, notably on the part of Spain and France," he also told France's Liberation daily.
European leaders have to decide whether to back environmentalists, supported by scientists, who want bluefin added to a global list of threatened species agreed by international governments.
"The decision on whether or not we apply for a listing is probably going to be taken by the end of February, by the new commission," added Mann.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meets in March in Doha, Qatar.
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Indonesia pledges to `feed the world'
Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post 30 Jan 10;
Indonesia has reiterated its commitment to becoming a major global food producer by boosting the production of 15 key food commodities.
Fransiscus Wilerang, head of the Permanent Committee for Food Resilience at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said Friday that the successful implementation of the program could contribute at least US$101.5 billion to the country's revenues for the 2010-2014 period.
The 15 food commodities, Fransiscus said, included four "strategic" ones - rice, corn, sugar and soybeans - and six "key" commodities, consisting of palm oil, tea, coffee, cocoa, tuna and shrimp.
Other categories are "nutritious" (beef and poultry), and "local popular" products (mangos, bananas and oranges).
The 10 strategic and key commodities are part of the government's 2009-2014 road map for food development.
The plan aims to, among others, allow domestic crude palm oil (CPO) producers to expand their plantations from the total 7.9 million hectares as of the end of 2009, to 9.7 million hectares by 2015.
The expansion is expected to help boost CPO production to 36.6 million tons.
Production of another key crop, coffee, is expected to reach 737,000 tons this year, or 142 percent more than domestic consumption.
Under the road map, the 433,000-ton surplus will be exported.
Coffee exports are expected to increase by 4.69 percent annually until 2020, when 636,000 tons of the total production of 973,000 tons is expected to be exported.
"Considering Indonesia's potential to achieve food self-sufficiency, we have to see the global food crisis as an opportunity and participate in efforts to supply food for the world," Fransiscus told hundreds of participants at the "Feed the World" seminar, organized by Kadin.
"We've agreed to develop the idea into a concept of food self-sufficiency and supply food for the world, or *Feed the World'."
At a press conference after the seminar, Kadin deputy chairman Franky Widjaja said the revenue from the 15 commodities could amount to $101.5 billion.
"If we manage to promote this at the downstream level in the next five years, this could more than just a dream," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who officiated the seminar and subsequent expo, said it was important for Indonesia to help address the world's food security issues, pointing out the consequences for not doing so could include the incitement of conflicts, as with water or energy issues.
He said to help achieve the "Feed the World" goal, the government would continue the first wave of its farming, plantation and fishery revitalization programs, lasting from 2004 to 2009, with the second phase set for the next five years.
Yudhoyono added that while Indonesia needed to maintain self-sufficiency in rice and corn production, it needed to achieve the same self-sufficiency in sugar production while reducing its dependence on imported soybeans.
He also reminded businesses not to neglect demand from the domestic market for the sake of more lucrative markets overseas.
"Why feed the world if we still have problems with food supplies and price instability at home," he said.
"The program **Feed the World'* should be understood as *Feed Indonesia, then feed the world'."
Investment Coordinating Board chairman Gita Wirjawan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the government would categorize main staple foods such as rice and corn among the types of commodities that foreign interests would be restricted from investing in.
"These commodities are key to our national security, so it is within our interests to protect them," he said.
Environmental problems threaten food security program
The Jakarta Post 30 Jan 10;
Various environmental problems have put the government’s bid to maintain food security at risk, a minister says.
Agriculture Minister Suswono said Saturday limited water supply resulting from rampant illegal logging activities and conversion of productive land into commercial use were among the major challenges facing the government in its effort to meet the national rice production target.
"We must work hard to prevent agricultural land from being affected by industrial development," he said.
The government has enacted the 2009 law on protection of agricultural land to curb conversion of rice fields the country needs to ensure its food resilience.
The national rice production this year has been set at 66 million tons, up by 3.2 percent from the 2009 mark.
Suswono urged regional governments to support the move to expand rice fields in accordance with the national food self-sufficiency program by 2014.
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Eye in the Sky Pinpoints Papua Environmental Degradation
Anita Rachman, Jakarta Globe 29 Jan 10;
Images of Timika city taken from satellite in 1988, left, and 2003. The images show the changes to the form of the river that has been widened and damaged by mining activities. (Photo courtesy of Lapan and Skytruth)
Images of environmental destruction in the easternmost province of Papua have recently been captured by the Lapan-Tubsat, the Indonesian-built video surveillance satellite that went into orbit in 2007, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency said on Friday.
Toto Marnanto Kadri, chief of the Aerospace Electronics Technology Center run by the agency, also known as Lapan, said the damage in Papua could be “read” in the images. “The data still needs to be studied thoroughly by experts.”
Mochammad Ichsan, chief of Lapan’s Space Vehicle Observation Unit in Biak, Papua, said an area near Timika’s airport showed quite noticeable changes judging by a comparison of recent images and those captured in the late ’80s. Mochammad said a small “line” earlier indicating a river appeared to be a “much wider line today, up to five times wider.”
“All the trees along the riverbank are gone,” he told the Jakarta Globe.
The micro-satellite carries a high-resolution color video camera with coverage of 3.5 kilometers wide and a low-resolution color camera with a swath of 81 kilometers. The cameras have a resolution of five meters and 200 meters, respectively.
The satellite carries telemetry and telecommand transmission systems, as well as an altitude control system allowing it to receive commands from various ground stations, including the one built last year in Biak.
Weighing 57 kilograms, the satellite can be used for real-time monitoring of forest fires, volcanic activity and flooding. The satellite is currently focusing on forested areas as well as the cities of Biak, Timika, Sorong and Manokwari. Mochammad said the satellite could also cover western Indonesia and Singapore, as well as areas of Darwin, Australia.
Mochammad said the satellite and the ground station in Biak were both performing very well to date, but changing weather in Papua made it hard to consistently rely on the clarity of images it delivered.
“The camera usually only captures images of clouds, since it is pretty cloudy at the moment,” he said.
Besides the ground station in Biak, Lapan also has two other stations in Rancabungur and Rumpin, both in Bogor, all built by US-based engineering firms. The agency has plans to build another station in Kototabang, West Sumatra.
Lapan claims that the satellite is still in its good condition even though it has been orbiting for three years. The satellite has obtained images from western Indonesian regions and can cover from Singapore to Bali. Last year it was used to monitor the construction process of the Suramadu Bridge in East Java and toll road projects outside Java.
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240,000 short of water in southern China drought
Yahoo News 30 Jan 10;
BEIJING (AFP) – Officials warned Saturday that 240,000 people were suffering from water shortages in a mountainous region in southern China that has been hit by a five-month-long drought, state media reported.
Western and northwestern parts of the Guangxi region have had little rain since August, forcing villagers to travel kilometers (miles) to fetch water, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"Local governments have been sending water trucks to those villages that suffer severe shortages," a spokesman at the drought relief headquarters was quoted as saying.
"We are organising local residents to dig wells and divert water from elsewhere to the drought-hit areas," the spokesman said.
Drought has hit several parts of north, central and southern China in the past year, leaving millions short of water.
Nearly five million people were affected by a three-month drought that hit in late July in an area spanning Inner Mongolia in the north to Jilin province in the northeast, earlier state media reports said.
In Liaoning province, next to Jilin, the situation was the worst in 60 years, with half of all arable land having dried up, reports said.
Meanwhile, the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong also suffered droughts, as they have been hard hit by a combination of low rainfall and higher than normal temperatures, reports said.
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Monster tides smother Torres Strait islands
The Sunday Mail (Qld) 31 Jan 10;
RISING sea levels drove king tides across vulnerable island communities in the Torres Strait, causing damage to homes and infrastructure.
Monster tides swept through Australia's most northern island of Saibai yesterday, flooding homes, sewage treatment works, water supplies, crops and sacred cultural sites.
"What baffles me is the Federal Government can give $150 million to the Pacific Islands for climate change, but it won't fix up our back yard when we are being inundated right now," Torres Strait Regional Authority chairman Toshie Kris said.
"We have tried many ways to bring this to the attention of the Prime Minister. We have invited him to the islands to see first-hand, but we have had no response."
There are 100 islands between Cape York and Papua New Guinea. Only 14 are inhabited. About 5000 people live on the outer islands.
The land belongs to the islanders, but the State Government owns the houses and there are millions of dollars' worth of government infrastructure in the region.
The six islands most at risk are Poruma, Iama, Masig, Warraber, Saibai and Boigu.
James Cook University Associate Professor Kevin Parnell said scientists agreed sea levels were rising.
"People will be able to live through it with suitable infrastructure, but events like this are going to happen," he said.
The State Government's Climate Smart 2050 strategy last year did not mention the Torres Strait Islands.
A spokeswoman for federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the Government had provided some funding for research and investigation in the past two years, but "there has not been a comprehensive climate change risk assessment in the Torres Strait".
She said Mr Kris was invited to the National Climate Change Forum in Adelaide next month to discuss the challenge of preparing Australia's coastal communities to manage risks from climate change impacts.
The spokeswoman confirmed the Government had given $150 million unconditionally to the Pacific Islands for climate change, with none of that money available to the Torres Strait Islands. But funds had been given to the Torres Strait Islands for sea walls and to secure clean water. A TSRA spokesman denied this.
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White Roofs Could Reduce Urban Heating
livescience.com Yahoo News 30 Jan 10;
To help combat global warming and urban heating, we might just need to paint the town white.
A new modeling study simulated the effects of painting roofs white to reflect incoming solar rays and found that it could help cool cities and reduce the effects of global warming.
The feasibility of such an initiative for cities remains to be seen, researchers caution, but the idea has been backed by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other policymakers. And now there's some science behind the political support.
"Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat," said Keith Oleson, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. "It remains to be seen if it's actually feasible for cities to paint their roofs white, but the idea certainly warrants further investigation."
Cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. The asphalt roads, tar roofs and other artificial surfaces that permeate cities absorb heat from the sun, making temperatures in urban areas on average 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) higher than in rural areas.
"It's critical to understand how climate change will affect vulnerable urban areas, which are home to most of the world's population," said NCAR scientist Gordon Bonan, a co-author of the study, which will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Reflecting light
White roofs could reflect some of that heat back to space and cool temperatures, because white surfaces reflect most of the light that hits them, while black surfaces absorb most of that light. (The amount of light that a surface reflects is known as its albedo.)
Oleson and his team used a newly developed computer model to simulate the amount of solar radiation absorbed or reflected by urban surfaces. The model simulations, which are idealized representations of cities, suggest that, if every roof were entirely painted white, the urban heat island effect could be reduced by about a third.
Such a reduction would cool the world's cities by an average of about 0.7 degrees F (0.4 degrees C), with the cooling influence more noticeable during the day, especially in the summer.
Real world
White roofs could also cool temperatures inside buildings, which could change the amount of energy used for space heating and air conditioning. This in turn could affect the consumption of fossil fuels, which generate many of the greenhouse gases responsible for Earth's warming. Depending on whether air conditioning or heating is affected more (as you might have to turn up the thermostat due to cooling temperatures), this effect could either magnify or partially offset the impact of the roofs.
"It's not as simple as just painting roofs white and cooling off a city," Oleson said.
The location of the city, the density of roofs and the construction of a building could also affect how much cooling would occur with white roofs.
The researchers also note that their results are a hypothetical look at cities and that the actual cooling effect in the real world could be slightly less, because dust and weathering would cause white paint to darken over time and parts of roofs would remain unpainted due to openings such as heating and cooling vents
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Indonesia May Miss Climate Accord Deadline
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 28 Jan 10;
Despite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ambitious pledge on the world stage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the government has found itself in danger of “embarrassment” by failing to meet a deadline to disclose voluntary steps it will take to combat global warming, a nongovernmental organization said on Friday.
By way of contrast, other developing nations, including China, Brazil, South Africa and India, are likely to meet Sunday’s deadline, established during the recent UN climate change talks in Copenhagen.
Giorgio Budi Indrato, coordinator of the Civil Society Forum for Climate Justice, said that missing the deadline, despite Yudhoyono’s eagerness to be one of the driving forces behind the global fight against rising temperatures, could tarnish the country’s hard-fought green credentials.
“The only consequence would be embarrassment in the world’s eyes because we have made it this far to build our image,” he said.
During last year’s G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Yudhoyono promised to cut the country’s emissions by 26 percent by 2020 and said that with international assistance, Indonesia would aim for a reduction of 41 percent.
Rachmat Witoelar, executive head of the National Council on Climate Change, said on Thursday that Indonesia would send its notification to be a part of the Copenhagen Accord, but would deliver emission details at a later date.
“The submission deadline on the accord is a soft deadline. We’ll say that we will associate with the accord, but our details will follow later,” he said, adding that developing countries were not obliged to submit any details concerning their emissions cuts.
Eka Melissa, deputy chair of a council working group on international negotiations, said there were no sanctions if parties were not able to submit by Jan. 31.
“Based on the accord, developed countries are supposed to submit their targets for emissions cuts, while developing countries only have to submit their action plans for mitigation,” Eka said.
“However, we have just finished meeting with the coordinating ministers and just received the national plans from Bappenas [National Development Planning Board], so it will take time to coordinate with each sector [about the details],” she said.
Eka said the council would try to meet the deadline, but still needed the approval of the cabinet before submitting the details to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“We are also still pursuing the UNFCCC on the mechanisms of the submission, but we’re serious [about the cuts],” she said. “However, we won’t be giving that many details at this stage.”
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UN climate panel based claims on student essay: report
Yahoo News 31 Jan 10;
LONDON (AFP) – The UN climate change panel based claims about ice disappearing from the world's mountain peaks on a student essay and an article in a mountaineering magazine, a British newspaper reported Sunday.
The claims risk causing fresh embarrassment for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which had to apologise this month over inaccurate forecasts about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
In a recent report, the IPCC stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was caused by global warming and it referred to two papers as the source of the information.
But The Sunday Telegraph said one of the sources quoted was actually an article published in a magazine for mountaineers which was based on anecdotal evidence about the changes they were witnessing during climbs.
The newspaper said the other source was a dissertation written by a geography student who was studying for a master's degree at the University of Bern in Switzerland that quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.
The IPCC rejected as "baseless and misleading" a report this month from another British newspaper, The Sunday Times, raising doubts about the evidence behind its claim that global warming is linked to worsening natural disasters.
Scientists have defended the IPCC since it admitted to errors over the Himalayan glacier claim, insisting its work is balanced and its conclusions are sound.
UN climate change panel based claims on student dissertation and magazine article
The United Nations' expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from the world's mountain tops on a student's dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine.
Richard Gray and Rebecca Lefort, The Telegraph 30 Jan 10;
The revelation will cause fresh embarrassment for the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which had to issue a humiliating apology earlier this month over inaccurate statements about global warming.
The IPCC's remit is to provide an authoritative assessment of scientific evidence on climate change.
In its most recent report, it stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming, citing two papers as the source of the information.
However, it can be revealed that one of the sources quoted was a feature article published in a popular magazine for climbers which was based on anecdotal evidence from mountaineers about the changes they were witnessing on the mountainsides around them.
The other was a dissertation written by a geography student, studying for the equivalent of a master's degree, at the University of Berne in Switzerland that quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.
The revelations, uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph, have raised fresh questions about the quality of the information contained in the report, which was published in 2007.
It comes after officials for the panel were forced earlier this month to retract inaccurate claims in the IPCC's report about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
Sceptics have seized upon the mistakes to cast doubt over the validity of the IPCC and have called for the panel to be disbanded.
This week scientists from around the world leapt to the defence of the IPCC, insisting that despite the errors, which they describe as minor, the majority of the science presented in the IPCC report is sound and its conclusions are unaffected.
But some researchers have expressed exasperation at the IPCC's use of unsubstantiated claims and sources outside of the scientific literature.
Professor Richard Tol, one of the report's authors who is based at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland, said: "These are essentially a collection of anecdotes.
"Why did they do this? It is quite astounding. Although there have probably been no policy decisions made on the basis of this, it is illustrative of how sloppy Working Group Two (the panel of experts within the IPCC responsible for drawing up this section of the report) has been.
"There is no way current climbers and mountain guides can give anecdotal evidence back to the 1900s, so what they claim is complete nonsense."
The IPCC report, which is published every six years, is used by government's worldwide to inform policy decisions that affect billions of people.
The claims about disappearing mountain ice were contained within a table entitled "Selected observed effects due to changes in the cryosphere produced by warming".
It states that reductions in mountain ice have been observed from the loss of ice climbs in the Andes, Alps and in Africa between 1900 and 2000.
The report also states that the section is intended to "assess studies that have been published since the TAR (Third Assessment Report) of observed changes and their effects".
But neither the dissertation or the magazine article cited as sources for this information were ever subject to the rigorous scientific review process that research published in scientific journals must undergo.
The magazine article, which was written by Mark Bowen, a climber and author of two books on climate change, appeared in Climbing magazine in 2002. It quoted anecdotal evidence from climbers of retreating glaciers and the loss of ice from climbs since the 1970s.
Mr Bowen said: "I am surprised that they have cited an article from a climbing magazine, but there is no reason why anecdotal evidence from climbers should be disregarded as they are spending a great deal of time in places that other people rarely go and so notice the changes."
The dissertation paper, written by professional mountain guide and climate change campaigner Dario-Andri Schworer while he was studying for a geography degree, quotes observations from interviews with around 80 mountain guides in the Bernina region of the Swiss Alps.
Experts claim that loss of ice climbs are a poor indicator of a reduction in mountain ice as climbers can knock ice down and damage ice falls with their axes and crampons.
The IPCC has faced growing criticism over the sources it used in its last report after it emerged the panel had used unsubstantiated figures on glacial melting in the Himalayas that were contained within a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report.
It can be revealed that the IPCC report made use of 16 non-peer reviewed WWF reports.
One claim, which stated that coral reefs near mangrove forests contained up to 25 times more fish numbers than those without mangroves nearby, quoted a feature article on the WWF website.
In fact the data contained within the WWF article originated from a paper published in 2004 in the respected journal Nature.
In another example a WWF paper on forest fires was used to illustrate the impact of reduced rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, but the data was from another Nature paper published in 1999.
When The Sunday Telegraph contacted the lead scientists behind the two papers in Nature, they expressed surprise that their research was not cited directly but said the IPCC had accurately represented their work.
The chair of the IPCC Rajendra Pachauri has faced mounting pressure and calls for his resignation amid the growing controversy over the error on glacier melting and use of unreliable sources of information.
A survey of 400 authors and contributors to the IPCC report showed, however, that the majority still support Mr Pachauri and the panel's vice chairs. They also insisted the overall findings of the report are robust despite the minor errors.
But many expressed concern at the use of non-peer reviewed information in the reports and called for a tightening of the guidelines on how information can be used.
The Met Office, which has seven researchers who contributed to the report including Professor Martin Parry who was co-chair of the working group responsible for the part of the report that contained the glacier errors, said: "The IPCC should continue to ensure that its review process is as robust and transparent as possible, that it draws only from the peer-reviewed literature, and that uncertainties in the science and projections are clearly expressed."
Roger Sedjo, a senior research fellow at the US research organisation Resources for the Future who also contributed to the IPCC's latest report, added: "The IPCC is, unfortunately, a highly political organisation with most of the secretariat bordering on climate advocacy.
"It needs to develop a more balanced and indeed scientifically sceptical behaviour pattern. The organisation tend to select the most negative studies ignoring more positive alternatives."
The IPCC failed to respond to questions about the inclusion of unreliable sources in its report but it has insisted over the past week that despite minor errors, the findings of the report are still robust and consistent with the underlying science.
Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen
Ben Webster, Times Online 30 Jan 10;
The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt.
Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited two months to correct it. He failed to act despite learning that the claim had been refuted by several leading glaciologists.
The IPCC’s report underpinned the proposals at Copenhagen for drastic cuts in global emissions.
Dr Pachauri, who played a leading role at the summit, corrected the error last week after coming under media pressure. He told The Times on January 22 that he had only known about the error for a few days. He said: “I became aware of this when it was reported in the media about ten days ago. Before that, it was really not made known. Nobody brought it to my attention. There were statements, but we never looked at this 2035 number.”
Asked whether he had deliberately kept silent about the error to avoid embarrassment at Copenhagen, he said: “That’s ridiculous. It never came to my attention before the Copenhagen summit. It wasn’t in the public sphere.”
However, a prominent science journalist said that he had asked Dr Pachauri about the 2035 error last November. Pallava Bagla, who writes for Science journal, said he had asked Dr Pachauri about the error. He said that Dr Pachauri had replied: “I don’t have anything to add on glaciers.”
The Himalayan glaciers are so thick and at such high altitude that most glaciologists believe they would take several hundred years to melt at the present rate. Some are growing and many show little sign of change.
Dr Pachauri had previously dismissed a report by the Indian Government which said that glaciers might not be melting as much as had been feared. He described the report, which did not mention the 2035 error, as “voodoo science”.
Mr Bagla said he had informed Dr Pachauri that Graham Cogley, a professor at Ontario Trent University and a leading glaciologist, had dismissed the 2035 date as being wrong by at least 300 years. Professor Cogley believed the IPCC had misread the date in a 1996 report which said the glaciers could melt significantly by 2350.
Mr Pallava interviewed Dr Pachauri again this week for Science and asked him why he had decided to overlook the error before the Copenhagen summit. In the taped interview, Mr Pallava asked: “I pointed it out [the error] to you in several e-mails, several discussions, yet you decided to overlook it. Was that so that you did not want to destabilise what was happening in Copenhagen?”
Dr Pachauri replied: “Not at all, not at all. As it happens, we were all terribly preoccupied with a lot of events. We were working round the clock with several things that had to be done in Copenhagen. It was only when the story broke, I think in December, we decided to, well, early this month — as a matter of fact, I can give you the exact dates — early in January that we decided to go into it and we moved very fast.
“And within three or four days, we were able to come up with a clear and a very honest and objective assessment of what had happened. So I think this presumption on your part or on the part of any others is totally wrong. We are certainly never — and I can say this categorically — ever going to do anything other than what is truthful and what upholds the veracity of science.”
Dr Pacharui has also been accused of using the error to win grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
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Stern report was changed after being published
Information was quietly removed from an influential government report on the cost of climate change after its initial publication because supporting scientific evidence could not be found.
Richard Gray, The Telegraph 30 Jan 10;
The Stern Review on the economics of climate change, which was commissioned by the Treasury, was greeted with headlines worldwide when it was published in October 2006
It contained dire predictions about the impact of climate change in different parts of the world.
But it can be revealed that when the report was printed by Cambridge University Press in January 2007, some of these predictions had been watered down because the scientific evidence on which they were based could not be verified.
Among the claims that were removed in the later version of the report, which is now also available in its altered form online, were claims that North West Australia has been hit by stronger tropical typhoons in the past 30 years.
Another claim that southern regions in Australia have lost rainfall due to rising ocean temperatures and air currents pushing rain further south was also removed.
Claims that eucalyptus and savannah habitats in Australia would also become more common were also deleted.
The claims were highlighted in several Australian newspapers when the report was initially published, but the changes were never publicly announced.
A figure on the cost of US Hurricanes was also changed after a typographical error was spotted in the original report. The original stated in a table the cost of hurricanes in the US would rise from 0.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 1.3%.
The later report corrected the error so the increase was from 0.06% to 0.13%. A statement about the correction appeared in a postscript of the report and on the Treasury website.
The Stern Review has been instrumental in helping the UK government draw up its climate change policies while it has also been cited by leading organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its assessment reports on climate change.
Details of the changes, which have not been publicly detailed before, have emerged as the IPCC is under fire for errors on the melting of Himalayan glaciers that appeared in their most recent assessment report because of a failure to check the sources of the information.
A spokesman for Lord Stern, who headed the review and is now chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said that the changes to the statements about Australia were made following a quality control check before the report was printed by Cambridge University Press.
He said: "Statements were identified in the section on Australia for which the relevant scientific references could not be located.
They were therefore, as a precaution, omitted from the version published by Cambridge University Press and they were deleted from the electronic version on the HM Treasure website.
"These changes to the text had no implications for any other parts of the report.
"It is perhaps not surprising that in a report of more than 700 pages a few typographic errors and minor but necessary clarifications to the text were identified in November and December 2006 after its launch.
"However, none of these corrections and changes affected the analysis or conclusions in the Stern Review, which is rightly regarded as an important contribution on the economics of climate change."
Professor Roger Pielke, from the centre of Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado who has been a long term critic of the Stern Review, described the changes to the report as "remarkable".
He said: "In any academic publication changes to published text to correct errors or to clarify require the subsequent publication of a formal erratum or corrigendum.
"This is to ensure the integrity of the literature and a paper trail, otherwise confusion would result if past work could be quietly rewritten.
"Such a practice is very much a whitewash of the historical record.
"One would assume – and expect – that studies designed to inform government (and international) policy would be held to at least these same standards if not higher standards."
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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jan 10
Singapore BioDiverCity - a photo competition
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
The Hantu Blog’s most viewed videos
from Pulau Hantu
Singapore Bug List
water critters from Water Quality in Singapore
Coral galore at Semakau-Sakeng seawall
from wonderful creation and Singapore Nature and wild shores of singapore
Tigers from the Past
from Urban Forest
Tanimbar Corella eating sea almond and leucaena
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Spider talk
Fri 05 Feb 2010: 4pm @ NUS LT20 - Tso on “Factors shaping the color-associated foraging traits of Araneae sit-and-wait predators” from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS
It's about choice, not money
"you have to be a cocaine dealer to be able to afford to eat ethically" from The Straits Times Blogs
Haiti’s tragedy belongs to the environment
from the Reuters Environment blog
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Challenges in protecting biodiversity in Singapore
New finds still being made, even as balance is sought between conservation and development
Grace Chua, Straits Times 30 Jan 10;
FOR three weeks in 2006, scientists from Singapore and abroad raced against time to study and document Singapore's marine flora and fauna.
Then, they thought development and reclamation had left them with nothing else to study at the 14th International Marine Biology Workshop here.
Instead, they found dozens of marine species that had not been recorded here before - from corals to anemones.
The findings, published in a Raffles Bulletin of Zoology supplement last month, reveal that there is much left to be studied and discovered about local biodiversity.
'It's a myth that we know a lot about our biodiversity. We know a lot about the big things, but we know very little about the small ones,' said crustacean expert and National University of Singapore biology professor Peter Ng.
The publication is especially salient this year, which the United Nations has declared the International Year of Biodiversity.
In 2002, the international body adopted the target of conserving the world's biodiversity by this year, and the target is being incorporated into its Millennium Development Goals.
Biodiversity refers to not just plants and animals, but also the ecosystems and habitats they live in.
Singapore's approach to biodiversity has come a long way in the last decade or so, biologists say.
For instance, there is greater public awareness and interest here, said Prof Ng.
And biologists have had the chance to study habitats slated for development, and to protect and relocate rare species where necessary.
When the Pulau Semakau landfill was developed in early 2000, the coral reefs along its western edge were protected.
And a paper by then-National University of Singapore student Huang Danwei and others, published last month along with the workshop proceedings, suggested that vulnerable sites like Pulau Hantu near the mainland were nearly as rich in coral biodiversity as sites farther away.
But challenges remain, such as balancing conservation and development.
For example, there is no specific legal protection for endangered species here. Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, the fine for killing or keeping a wild animal or bird is up to $1,000, whether the species is endangered or not.
In the Parks and Trees Act, the same act in a national park is subject to a maximum fine of $50,000 or a six-month jail term.
Among Singapore's biodiversity goals for the year: coming up with an urban biodiversity index, which lets cities benchmark their flora, fauna and conservation programmes against others. The Singapore Index of Cities' Biodiversity, developed by the National Parks Board (NParks), will be presented at a United Nations meeting in October.
And Prof Ng hopes that the country can embark on a nationwide biodiversity survey, as Taiwan and China have done.
The Raffles Bulletin marine biology supplement is a start, wrote some of its authors, including Prof Ng and NParks National Biodiversity Centre deputy director Lena Chan, in a report on the workshop.
'It is hoped that this collection of articles will provide a necessary baseline for more studies... so that a better balance can be achieved between development, conservation and rehabilitation of the marine environment in Singapore and the region,' they said.
More about the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology findings on the Celebrating Singapore's Biodiversity blog and wild shores of singapore blog.
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A year of going green in Singapore
Straits Times 30 Jan 10;
# Read all about it: The Celebrating Singapore's Biodiversity blog at http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com is run by popular nature site wildsingapore.com
# Feb 19: This is the closing date of the Community in Bloom art competition for schools, in which students can create a painting, sculpture or animation on the theme of Singapore's biodiversity.
# Feb 21: Want to give your feedback on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Concept Plan 2011? The survey closes on this date. Living environment quality and sustainable growth are two areas where feedback is sought in the public consultation exercise, which also covers identity and meeting the needs of the aged. Go to spring.ura.gov.sg/conceptplan2011
# March 14: Capture Singapore's flora and fauna - on camera. Mark this date on your calendar as it is the closing date of the BioDiverCity photo competition by the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Photographic Society of Singapore.
# May 22: Schools here will each plant a tree at 10am on this day, as part of the international Green Wave tree-planting movement.
# All year round: Volunteer with NParks on activities ranging from reforestation and field research to design and visitor services. Go to http://tinyurl.com/m7e76a for details.
# All year round: Go on a guided walk at NParks reserves and parks, such as the Central Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Details at http://tinyurl.com/ykj3yag
Links to more
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Rare bird spotted in Singapore
Today Online 30 Jan 10;
It may have been a bit early in welcoming the Year of the Tiger, but the Malayan Night Heron - also known as the Tiger Bittern (Gorsachius melanolophus) - was a welcome sight when spotted in Singapore earlier this month.
The rare migratory bird was seen at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for the first time, and also at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Tiger Bittern is believed to be from the northern part of South-east Asia and Southwest China. NParks say some 60 different species of birds can be spotted in a single day during the annual migratory season between September and March.
More about the Malayan Night Heron on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog.
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Chinese New Year dish: 'Stop ordering shark's fin, and stop eating it'
Straits Times Forum 30 Jan 10;
MS LEE SHYH YAO: 'During Chinese New Year, Chinese restaurants will promote shark's fin, which distresses those concerned with marine conservation.
Asian fleets go out to sea and remove the fins from live sharks, throwing them back into the ocean to die slowly and agonisingly. Long-lining, a fishing method often employed to capture sharks, uses hundreds of thousands of baited hooks attached to each fishing line going as far as 80km out to sea. This results in unwanted 'by-catches', often entangling and killing other marine creatures such as dolphins, seals, whales and turtles. For every 10kg of fish killed, about 100kg of marine life is thrown away. Reports by the United States Food and Drug Administration show that mercury levels in sharks are among the highest among marine fish. Pregnant women and young children are strongly advised against consumption. While many Singaporeans will lament that eating shark's fin is a tradition that is hard to change, it is time to start weighing the pros and cons. Shark's fin should be banned. Stop ordering shark's fin, and stop eating it.'
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Making Sentosa just a stroll away
It will take you just 15 minutes to walk to the southern isle from VivoCity when a new boardwalk is completed
tay suan chiang, Straits Times Life 30 Jan 10;
In the works: The local projects the international architectural practice Aedas is currently involved in include the Integrated Civic, Cultural, Retail and Entertainment Hub at one-north and the 620m-long Sentosa boardwalk, which will feature retail outlets, shelters and greenery on its 16,400 sq m space. -- PHOTO: AEDAS
Come January next year, Resorts World Sentosa will just be a stroll away from VivoCity.
A $70-million, 620m-long boardwalk is now under construction.
When it is completed, visitors can walk to Sentosa again, after an old bridge from VivoCity to the island was closed in 2007 to build the new one.
The 16,400 sq m Sentosa boardwalk is designed by Aedas, a prominent global architectural practice in Singapore.
It will have travellators, shelters and greenery for natural shade. There will also be retail outlets on the 25m- to 40m-wide bridge.
Walking the full length of it will take about 15 minutes.
Mr Tony Ang, 56, managing director of Aedas' Singapore office, says it will be a 'people-mover' as it will encourage people to walk, rather than drive, to Sentosa.
It is designed to take 8,000 guests an hour in each direction.
The boardwalk is part of Sentosa's $300-million plan to overhaul transport links on the island.
The Hong Kong-based Aedas set up the Singapore office in 1995.
Last November, together with international architectural firm Group8asia, it won a design competition to build Singapore's first waterfront public housing project in Punggol, which will offer 1,200 flats featuring sky terraces, roof gardens and panoramic views of the Punggol Waterway.
This is Aedas' first public housing project. Its other local projects include the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, 313@Somerset shopping mall and the upcoming Integrated Civic, Cultural, Retail and Entertainment Hub at Vista Xchange, one-north, which opens in 2012.
The 25-year-old firm now has 42 offices in Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
With the newest branch opening in Turin, Italy, three months ago, the firm inked a collaboration with Italian design firm Pininfarina Extra - part of the Pininfarina company known for designing luxury cars for brands such as Ferrari and Maserati.
The partnership will work on projects worldwide.
According to Mr Ang, Aedas will provide the architecture and interior design of a project, while Pininfarina will put the finishing touches on interiors and furnishings - or, as Mr Matteo De Lise, 34, sales and marketing director at Pininfarina Extra puts it, 'the small details'.
Although no projects have been confirmed for the new collaboration for now, Mr Ang says: 'Our alliance means that we can brand our projects with the Pininfarina mark.'
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Record number of entries for Singapore competition on environmental sustainability
Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 10;
SINGAPORE: A competition on environmental sustainability saw a record number of entries from local schools.
The Green Wave Environmental Care Project received a total of 292 submissions.
Entries include beauty products made from waste materials by Hwa Chong Institution, which won the top prize among secondary schools.
Organised by Sembawang Shipyard since 2003, the contest aims to encourage youths to devise ideas for environmental preservation.
Over 1,000 students from primary to tertiary levels took part this year.
- CNA/yb
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Singapore Zoo signs global biodiversity conservation agreement
Promoting conservation in Singapore
Today Online 30 Jan 10;
Biodiversity conservation got a boost in Singapore yesterday, with an agreement signed between Wildlife Reserves Singapore, its Conservation Fund and two other organisations, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch. Projects in the pipeline include a joint turtle initiative to conserve the endangered Giant River Terrapins in Singapore - and their wild cousins in Cambodia.
The agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects. In welcoming the collaboration, Ms Claire Chiang, who chairs the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level." President S R Nathan witnessed the signing of the agreement. Ernest Chua
Pact to step up diversity
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;
SINGAPOREANS can look forward to more diversity at zoos and parks here.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) - the parent company of Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo - on Friday signed an agreement to collaborate with the New York's Wildlife Conservation Society.
The pact will see both parties cooperating in field conservation projects and sharing best practices and technical expertise.
'I think there will be a multiple effect of conserved animals here, as a result of the collaboration,' said WRS chairman Claire Chiang, who added that WRS was involved in six conservation projects last year.
She added that the agreement 'represents another important step forward in out ongoing commitment to preserve our ecosystems and precious wildlife species.'
President SR Nathan witnessed the signing at the Singapore Zoo on Friday.
Wildlife Reserves and partners sign MOU to promote conservation message
Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 10;
SINGAPORE: Biodiversity conservation looks set to get a boost with an agreement signed on Friday by Wildlife Reserves Singapore and three partners – its Conservation Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore manages the Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and the Night Safari.
Among many projects under the partnership, endangered Giant River Terrapins – which are only a few months old – from the Singapore Zoo, along with their wild cousins in Cambodia, will be part of a Joint Turtle Initiative in Asia.
The Wildlife Conservation Society currently manages 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries. It also manages five parks in New York City - the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.
One other project the partnership will undertake is a turtle workshop for specialists in Asia, which will give them the opportunity to take stock of the current situation of endangered turtles in the region, as well as share their conservation strategies.
2010 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity, and in the spirit of that, all four organisations said they hope the collaboration will tap into the knowledge from all four sides, and will help enhance global conservation efforts.
The parties also committed to exchanging best practices and technical expertise, along with promoting public awareness about the importance of preserving global biodiversity.
Ward Wood, chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said: "Not only is every culture imbued with nature, but from a very pragmatic point of view, we need nature in order to continue to survive."
Claire Chiang, chairperson of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "It will only do good to the way we manage our zoos better, we will discover the rainforest biodiversity. We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level."
The partners said the agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects.
- CNA/yb
Endangered animals get new lease of life in Singapore
Philip Lim AFP Google News 29 Jan 10;
SINGAPORE — Sporting spiked hair and silver earrings, Samuel Tay hardly looks like a typical midwife.
The 25-year-old zookeeper beams with quiet pride as he watches over his "babies" -- row upon row of snakes bred for Singapore's popular zoo.
"These are my kids. Why do I need kids when I have so many already?" he told AFP, gesturing to tanks where newborn reptiles, including some from highly endangered species, receive tender loving care.
From jaguars and chimpanzees to Komodo dragons and manatees, heavily urbanised Singapore is gaining a reputation as a successful nursery for some of the world's rarest animals.
With a breeding programme for 315 species, around one in six of which are threatened, the Singapore Zoo is seeing a steady stream of locally born additions to its collection, currently numbering more than 2,500 animals.
Tay, a zoologist by training, is one of Singapore's frontline warriors in the battle against animal extinction, and visitors from around the world help fund the campaign.
The Singapore Zoo and its attached Night Safari, dedicated to nocturnal animals, each welcomes more than a million visitors a year.
Last year, 142 animals were born in the zoo, 32 of which were threatened species, officials said.
Experts from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), the operator of the city-state's zoo, night safari and bird park, do not rely on Mother Nature for results.
"We are very pragmatic, in the sense that if we need to make things happen, we will go all out to make things happen," said the group's assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha.
The latest star of the programme is a baby Komodo dragon hatched in December -- the first born in an Asian zoo outside the giant lizard's native Indonesia.
The hatchling was the culmination of three years of effort by zookeepers watching over every step of its parents' courtship and mating to make sure everything went as planned, said Tay.
"It's always supervised contact, we never leave them alone together," he said.
This interventionist approach is extended to other creatures at Singapore's wildlife attractions, including the Jurong Bird Park, another major tourist draw.
"We don't take a wait-and-see approach. We will give it a certain amount of time for the animals to decide for themselves if they do want to mate, but if things don't go right, then we usually come in," Guha said.
Aside from making enclosures look and feel like native habitats, cutting-edge technology and scientific methods are deployed to make sure animals mate with the best possible partners at the most opportune time.
They include matching viable females with genetically superior males using semen analysis and monitoring the females' fertility cycles through regular ultrasound tests -- something that not all zoos can afford to do.
"Diagnostic facilities are not cheap," noted senior veterinarian Abraham Mathew. "You need the manpower and you need the expertise to do this. All zoos actually want to do this type of work, but whether they can do it or not would depend on their management," he said.
A mobile ultrasound machine used by the zoo costs around 20,000 Singapore dollars (14,200 US) and includes an expensive probe that allows veterinarians to accurately check female animals' fertility out in the field.
Such resources have helped make the city state a breeding hub for threatened animals, said Guha.
Zoo staff hope a pair of pandas to be loaned by China will produce offspring in the coming years.
"For us, captive populations form an insurance population, so it is our objective to make sure that there are sustainable numbers in captivity," Guha said.
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Tiger Range Countries and partners make new conservation commitments in Thailand
WWF 29 Jan 10;
Hua Hin, Thailand – Governments from across Asia’s tiger range countries (TRCs) sent a powerful message that new efforts to save wild tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.
The Royal Government of Thailand hosted the meeting. Thailand’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Suwit Khunkitti pointed to commitments in the Hua Hin Declaration, and urged other TRCs to follow through with consolidated technical recommendations that resulted from an earlier meeting in Kathmandu on tiger conservation: “We shall reach up to the highest levels of our governments for support at the Year of the Tiger Heads of State Summit in Russia. Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger.”
Thailand made a number of new commitments at the conference:
• Expansion of its SMART wildlife area patrolling program in its Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) at Huai Kha Khaeng-Thung Yai
• Assistance to its neighbor countries to repatriate tigers when the population of tigers in WEFCOM and Kaeng Krachan/Kuiburi becomes large enough to act as a donor source
• Announcement that it would make funding for the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network a permanent item in its budget
Seven ministers, along with senior delegations from 13 tiger range countries, gathered with top wildlife conservation experts and representatives from international organizations and donor institutions such as the World Bank, Global Tiger Initiative, WWF, Save the Tiger Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, USAID, FREELAND, and TRAFFIC, to energize the wildlife conservation agenda, update national action plans, and announce specific proposals to reverse the continuing decline of tiger populations.
President of the World Bank Group Robert B. Zoellick, who launched the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) in June 2008 together with the Smithsonian Institution, Global Environment Facility, and other partners, delivered a video message to the ministers and delegations, promising support for the range countries’ efforts and to spearhead sustainable development in Asia: “The World Bank stands ready to support regional projects in the tiger range countries and to mobilize the donor community and develop innovative financial instruments to support tiger conservation funds.”
Populations of wild tigers have declined to only 3,200 worldwide, according to latest estimates, from 100,000 a century ago. The GTI is one of the drivers of the World Bank’s commitment to new strategies that balance economic development with nature conservation, biodiversity and environmental protection.
Another significant development in Thailand came from Prime Minister Vladmir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation, who officially announced plans to host the Heads of State Summit in September.
The Hua Hin Declaration reflected agreement among the TRCs to redouble efforts on the ground to halt the decline of tigers and assist in recovery of habitats. An international donor conference is also planned later this year to support the countries to bring increased resources for integrated game-changing policy to save the species from extinction.
Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative, said: “We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger as represented by the tiger range countries’ commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok.”
All 13 tiger range countries were represented in Hua Hin. They include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Asian countries pledge to double Tiger numbers by 2022
TRAFFIC 29 Jan 10;
Hua Hin, Thailand, 29 January 2009—Governments from across Asia sent a powerful message that renewed efforts to save wild Tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical Tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.
Ministers and senior delegations from 13 Tiger range States—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam—committed to implementing measures to double the number of wild Tigers by 2022.
The post-conference declaration includes pledges to protect wild Tigers and their prey from poaching through regular patrolling of Tiger habitats and elimination of national and cross-border trade in Tiger and Tiger parts as well as a commitment to support communities living in and around Tiger landscapes and minimize human-Tiger conflicts.
The countries also appealed for the commitment of international institutions to help finance and support the new conservation efforts.
“The World Bank stands ready to support regional projects in the tiger range countries and to mobilize the donor community and develop innovative financial instruments to support tiger conservation funds,” said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, in a video message to the conference.
The Royal Government of Thailand, who hosted the meeting, announced plans for increased patrolling of Tiger habitats in Thailand, assistance for restoration of Tigers populations in neighbouring countries and more secure funding for the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network.
Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative, commented: “We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the Tiger as represented by the tiger range countries’ commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022.”
Currently there are around 3,200 Tigers left in the wild. A Century ago the figure was 100,000.
Asian countries pledge to double tiger population
Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;
BANGKOK (AFP) – Representatives from 13 Asian countries on Friday pledged to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022 and called for protection of habitats to save the animals from extinction.
The declaration, announced in a press statement by officials at the first Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, in Thai coastal resort of Hua Hin, was hailed by conservation groups at the meeting.
"Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger," Suwit Khunkitti, Thailand's minister of environment and natural resources, said in the statement.
The global wild tiger population is estimated to be at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago.
The declaration to preserve the animals will be considered for approval by heads of the 13 states when they meet in a Tiger Summit in September in Vladivostok, Russia, hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok," said Michael Baltzer, from the conservation agency WWF, adding he was "delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger".
The 13 countries who attended the Hua Hin conference were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The meeting, which began Wednesday, was organised by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, US-based the Smithsonian Institute and dozens of conservation groups.
A recent WWF report blamed infrastructure developments, such as forests being cut up by roads and converted into commercial crop plantations, for destroying tigers' habitats.
The report also cited growing demand for tiger body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine as a major factor endangering wild tiger populations.
13 countries agree plan to save wild tigers
Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;
HUA HIN, Thailand – A dozen Asian nations and Russia vowed Friday to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, crack down on poaching that has devastated the big cats and prohibit the building of roads and bridges that could harm their habitats.
However, the historic declaration adopted by the 13 countries that have wild tigers includes no new money to finance the conservation efforts. The agreement only includes plans to approach international institutions like the World Bank for money and to develop schemes to tap money from ecotourism, carbon financing and infrastructure projects to pay for tiger programs.
"This is a historic meeting. Before this, not many people paid attention to tigers," Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti said after the three-day meeting in Hua Hin. "Stopping the depletion of tigers is a very important issue for all of us."
The declaration will now be considered for approval by heads of state of the 13 countries in September at a meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.
Tiger numbers in recent decades have plummeted because of human encroachment — with the loss of more than nine-tenths of their habitat — and poaching to supply a vibrant trade in tiger parts. From an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, the number of tigers today is less than 3,500.
Along with a target for doubling tiger populations, countries agreed to protect core tiger habitats as well as buffer zones and corridors that connect key sanctuaries and national parks. Governments also committed to reduce poaching through beefed-up law enforcement and to minimize human-tiger conflicts through job creation programs and other efforts.
The only setback, delegates said, was a successful effort by China to take out language in the draft declaration that called for maintaining a permanent ban on the tiger trade. China's concern is the impact the language would have on its domestic tiger trade, which has been banned since 1993 but which they have lobbied to reopen at some point.
Conservationists said the declaration included all the components for ensuring the tigers' steady recovery, though they warned much work had to be done to ensure all the promises were implemented.
"This is excellent news for tiger conservation," said Michael Baltzer, who heads the WWF Tiger Initiative and attended the meeting.
"Simply, there never has been a high-level government commitment to take forward tiger conservation," Baltzer said. "The fact the governments committed to doubling the numbers of tigers shows they have high ambition. They are setting the bar at a high level."
The World Bank's Keshav Varma, program director for the Global Tiger Initiative, said the declaration represents a new way of thinking among governments and donors.
"There is a new trend in society to save biodiversity, to be more conscious of climate change, to look at sustainability, to look at green development," Varma said. "It is a huge change and this is a manifestation of this change."
Varma and Baltzer downplayed the absence of financial commitments in the document, saying they expected pledges to be forthcoming in Russia as donors get a clearer idea of conservation plans that come out of this declaration and the cost of implementing them.
"Now that we have commitment from governments, the next step is bringing donor partners on board," Baltzer said. "Even here the donors came together and started talking about how they could be partners in this whole process."
The meeting was organized by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, the Smithsonian Institute and nearly 40 conservation groups.
The 13 countries attending the meeting were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
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