Singapore needs to build capabilities in understanding climate change

Hetty Musfirah, Channel NewsAsia 25 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE : Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim on Monday said that Singapore needs to build up capabilities in understanding climate change.

This will help the country and the region be better prepared for the impact of climate change and its effect on weather systems.

Dr Yaacob was speaking to experts who are meeting in Singapore for the first time to discuss the impact of typhoons in Asia.

The Asia Pacific Region is one of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters, and Singapore has been part of a 14-member UN-ESCAP/World Meteorological Organisation Typhoon Committee since 1997.

Last year, more than 300 people died in the path of Typhoon Ketsana when it struck Southeast Asia.

From 1950 to 2005, more than half of the worldwide deaths caused by natural disasters occurred in this region, and many of the deaths were typhoon-related.

Wind storms and floods associated with typhoons accounted for 57 per cent or some US$33 billion of the economic losses in this region in the same period.

Singapore is spared such devastation due to its location, but Dr Yaacob said that there is still a need to be prepared.

Typhoon Vemai, which struck in 2001 for example, brought on heavy rainfall, flash floods and even caused disruption to flights in Singapore.

Dr Yaacob said: "Typhoons are powerful ... and their influence can extend to hundreds and thousands of kilometres beyond, bringing in dry weather in one part and wet weather in another.

"They can significantly affect the regional rainfall patterns. Our climate scientists in MSD (Meteorological Services Division) will therefore collaborate with experts in the region to better understand the relationships between climate change and typhoons."

Singapore's MSD said it plans to hire more climate scientists and take on research.

Foong Chee Leong, director-general, Meteorological Services Division, said: "We have already started work with the US International Research Institute for Climate and Society on how to have short-term weather forecasts.

"So with this short-term weather forecast, we are able to roughly give an estimate in the next three months or six months, what is the average rainfall like.

"This will be very useful for our colleagues in the Public Utilities Board in planning the water resources. So we want to know climate change - will it affect our afternoon showers, whether it will cause the showers to be more intense, and as a result, how it affects our drainage system.

"The meteorological services has all along been focusing on weather services; now we are going to enhance and build capabilities to meet the new challenges of climate change.

"In other words, we have more climate scientists in MSD, so that we can look into short-term weather protection, the most important is long-term prediction, and all these results will help the policy maker in deciding on adaptation measure, how we can better protect our island state from climate change."

Seventy experts in Singapore said they have their work cut out for them, even though the committee has been developing such strategies for over 40 years. As cities get more populated, strategies for evacuation - such as good roads - have become just as important. - CNA/ms


Met Service conducting climate change research
Grace Chua Straits Times 26 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE'S weatherman is going head-on into climate change research.

The Meteorological Services Division, under the National Environment Agency, is working with institutes here and abroad to examine regional climate change, aiming to predict climate patterns more effectively.

Yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim announced that the division will study regional climate change with the Centre for Environmental Sensing and Modelling (Censam), a Singapore-MIT Alliance research institute based at the National University of Singapore.

It is also collaborating with institutes like the British Met Office's Hadley Climate Centre to more reliably predict short- and long-term regional climate, he added. Dr Yaacob was speaking at the opening of a meeting of Asia-Pacific countries this week on typhoon planning and mitigation measures.

The Typhoon Committee, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the World Meteorological Organisation, is being held for the 42nd time, but this is its first time in Singapore.

On the sidelines of the same meeting, Meteorological Services Division director-general Foong Chee Leong said the division needed more climate scientists to study and model the climate. The division has just three officers in its research and development arm, out of a staff strength of about 145, and is looking to double that number to six.

They could be trained locally or overseas, he said.

The reason for boosting climate research: Climate change will affect the weather, Dr Foong said, and more extreme weather events such as typhoons are likely to occur.

Singapore may not be directly affected by typhoons, but it is not spared from their indirect effects on the aviation or shipping industries.

In December 2001, Typhoon Vamei formed near Singapore, producing heavy rainfall here and delaying or diverting 50 flights at Changi Airport.

The study with Censam will last about three years, said the centre's Dr Wang Chien.

It will help climate scientists tell if Singapore and the region will become hotter or wetter, or if it will rain for more days each year, for example.

This will help government planners better prepare for weather events such as the storm that flooded Bukit Timah last year, Dr Wang added.


Singapore part of efforts to tackle typhoon effects
Today Online 26 Jan 10;

Singapore needs to build up its academic capabilities in understanding climate change, and this will help the country - and the region - be better prepared for its impact on weather systems, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.

He was speaking to experts meeting in Singapore to discuss ways of lessening the impact of typhoons in Asia, such as Ketsana whose rampage across South-east Asia last year left more than 300 dead. Singapore has been part of the 14-member United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific/World Meteorological Organisation Typhoon Committee since 1997. And while the Republic has been spared the devastation due to its location, said Dr Yaacob, there is still a need to be prepared. Typhoon Vemai in 2001, for example, brought on heavy rainfall, flash floods and even caused disruption to flights in Singapore.

Local climate scientists will collaborate with regional experts to better understand the relationships between climate change and typhoons.

Hetty Musfirah