Blog Log: 28 November 2010 Slugs, Snakes, Sharks
from Pulau Hantu
It's A Slugful Day At Pulau Hantu
from colourful clouds
Pulau Hantu - Indescribable... AWESOME!
from Psychedelic Nature
Javan Myna takes on a dragonfly
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Javan Myna clinging onto a tree trunk
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Year-Round Coastal Cleanups in Singapore: Site suggestions
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Grace Chua Straits Times 30 Nov 10;
A STUDY will be done to map out those parts of Singapore's coastline being threatened by rising sea levels.
The Building and Construction Authority study, to be carried out by the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), will start next year and last until the end of 2013, says Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.
This will dovetail with an ongoing national climate change study, which has found that daily temperatures and mean sea levels could rise by the century's end.
Dr Yaacob spoke to reporters here yesterday just as a high-level United Nations climate meeting was starting in Cancun, Mexico. A Singapore negotiating team is already there preparing for the meeting, a follow-up to last year's Copenhagen talks. Dr Yaacob and Senior Minister S. Jayakumar will be representing Singapore at the summit.
Singapore's domestic policies to deal with climate change take two tacks: Mitigation measures to stave off climate change, and resilience measures to build bulwarks against its effects.
It faces the twin challenges of being a low-lying island state vulnerable to rises in sea level, and of lacking alternative energy resources like wind.
Besides the coastal risk-map study, Singapore has a separate study on carbon pricing, which is the practice of putting a sticker value on carbon emissions, whether through a tax or emissions trading.
Professor Jayakumar said carbon pricing is being studied closely because of the cost implications it will have.
NUS sustainability researcher Kua Harn Wei said that, to be effective, a carbon tax has to send a clear signal all the way to consumers' wallets: 'However, a cost-benefit analysis may indicate that such a tax can adversely affect the financial bottom line of a company. The challenge is how to reconcile the needs for economic competitiveness and greenhouse gas abatement.'
Carbon pricing aside, Singapore is testing solar panels on HDB blocks, improving its rail network and building cycling paths. It has also put in place measures and incentives such as a fund companies can tap to train energy managers and buy green technology.
S Ramesh Channel NewsAsia 29 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE: Senior Minister S Jayakumar said ministers attending the UN Climate Change Conference, better known as COP-16, starting on Monday in Cancun, agree that a "big-bang" approach is not possible, where all the outstanding issues are resolved in one single meeting.
Professor Jayakumar, who oversees the government's climate change policies, was speaking to the Singapore media together with National Development Minister, Mah Bow Tan and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.
He explained that all countries acknowledged that a comprehensive, legally-binding global agreement is not achievable by the end of this year.
He said the general consensus is that in Cancun, countries must work towards a balanced package of decisions and will send a strong signal that countries remain committed to the process.
However, Professor Jayakumar said there is still no consensus on what would constitute a balanced package with different countries placing emphasis on different elements.
"The major players are not agreed on how to move the process forward. To compound matters, there is declining domestic political support in some of the major developed economies on climate change.
"Developing countries also want developed countries to take greater responsibility for their past emissions. Developed countries, on the other hand, want developing countries to curtail their future emissions.
"A small group of countries are politically opposed to the Copenhagen Agreement and any elements associated with it...so moving the negotiations forward on the basis of the Copenhagen Agreement has been difficult, even though the Copenhagen Agreement represents a good basis for negotiations."
Singapore supports a balanced package, but such a package of decisions must lead to a future global agreement that is legally-binding.
Professor Jayakumar also acknowledged that climate change negotiations will be a long haul.
"It can go two ways. If there is a positive outcome it will mean a rules-based kind of regime which is better than the other outcome where there is failure in the negotiations and then countries resort to unilateral arbitrary measures which will clearly not be in our interests, including trade barriers and so on. So we prefer a negotiated outcome and therefore we are playing a constructive role.
Professor Jayakumar added that the future climate change regime cannot be based just on political understanding alone, or a non-binding UN General Assembly-type resolution.
It has to be grounded on legally-binding international agreements whereby countries undertake actions on the basis of reciprocity.
Secondly, if any deal is to succeed, there must be reasonable certainty of implementation of all actions and commitments.
"For us if there is to be a rules-based regime, you undertake to cut your emissions by so much, I undertake to cut my emissions by so much, at the end of the day whether it works there must be certainty of implementation.
"If there is a valid point of view of some of the developed countries we do not off hand reject it. Our position to the conference is, we are in this with a common endeavour, let us find solutions which are workable."
While there is no perfect solution, Professor Jayakumar said a legally-binding agreement will help give confidence to governments that this is a global endeavour and that others will not renege on the decisions made.
He said it is possible that Cancun might launch focused negotiations to conclude a legally-binding agreement by COP-17 next year in South Africa and that would depend on the major players and if they are willing to make some incremental progress.
Domestically, Professor Jayakumar explained that Singapore takes its pledge of 16 per cent below Business As Usual by 2020 very seriously, on the provision that there is a binding global agreement.
"We face constraints in terms of our low alternative energy potential. For example, solar has some potential in Singapore but there is limited space to deploy solar panels because of our small land mass and high urban density. There is also insufficient wind speed in Singapore for wind power to be commercially viable.
"In addition, we have also undertaken significant measures to reduce our emissions in the past. For instance, since 2001, the power generation sector, which contributes more than 50 per cent of our total emissions, has been switching from fuel oil to natural gas."
He said in the absence of a global agreement, Singapore will still take significant steps to implement the energy efficiency measures already announced under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint. One such plan is to install solar panels in HDB estates.
Pilot tests have been going on and more will come on stream.
Mr Mah said: "What these pilot trials do, they will give us a sense of the economics of installation of solar panels, at the same time they are already giving us direct benefits as they are supplying electricity to the common areas and lifts. The results so far have been positive."
These will significantly reduce national emissions and require all households, firms and the economy to make adjustments. There will be trade-offs to be made and hence this required careful study.
Singapore's resilience to global warming is also being studied.
"We are also conducting what is called a Risk Map Study. The idea is to look across our coastlines which are the areas to face a higher risk if there is a sea level rise and what's the possibility of land loss and flooding," said Dr Yaacob.
"We hope to commence the study early the next year and complete by the fourth quarter of 2013. This requires a bit of time as the secondary impact of climate change is a bit more complex for example in the area of biodiversity and public health we need to study the impact of a rise in temperatures on public health in terms of mosquito breedings, these are things we need to understand," Dr Yaacob added.
Professor Jayakumar explained that global warming will lead to rising sea levels which will affect Singapore and future generations may feel the real impact.
"We will have to put in place measures and we are already doing that. If there is a global agreement and countries agree to a legal regime whereby different pledges are made, then we will have to do our part. That will entail some adjustments to the way we conduct ourselves, industries and household as and there may be some other implications like financial implications. What exactly these will be, we have to wait and see."
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had recently mentioned at the Singapore Energy Lecture 2010 that a carbon price may be applied to take into account the social cost of carbon emissions.
Professor Jayakumar explained that if there is a global deal to curb carbon emissions and if Singapore has to reduce emissions sharply, the Republic will have to make the carbon price explicit to send the right price signals.
"The mitigation working group looking into this very carefully. It is a complicated matter and we are taking seriously precisely because there are a lot of implications, on the kind of costs it will have on various sectors including the industry, the households and so on.
"The Inter ministerial Committee on Climate Change has directed the working group to finalise its report in the middle of next year and the proposals would have to go through different iterations, stakeholders consulted before it is put up to cabinet and so that's the directive given them. It is being carefully being studied."
Professor Jayakumar said he has called for proposals on policies and measures needed, by middle of next year and will consult with stakeholders, before making the final decisions and announcing them.
-CNA/ac/fa
Singapore wants a climate deal with legal bite
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 30 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE is all for a new approach to this year's United Nations climate change negotiations, but wants the eventual deal to be legally binding.
Senior Minister S. Jayakumar said that such a treaty cannot be based on political understandings alone, but must be legislated to give confidence to governments that all countries will deliver on what they promise.
If a deal is to succeed, there must be reasonable certainty that all commitments will be implemented.
He was speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, just as negotiations began in Cancun, Mexico.
The Cancun talks are aimed at inking a deal that will see all nations curb their greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say are responsible for climate change.
Last year's talks in Copenhagen were highly divisive and did not yield a global agreement.
Professor Jayakumar, who oversees climate change policy matters, said a 'balanced package' approach to the negotiations this year was more realistic than the 'big bang' approach taken last year.
It would not be possible to have all outstanding issues resolved in a single meeting, he said.
Rather, countries should work towards achieving a more manageable package of decisions that should include issues such as deforestation, finance and technology transfer.
If countries can agree on a new Climate Fund in Cancun, it will help encourage developing countries to adopt measures to deal with the effects of climate change.
He felt that the issue of transparency of developing nations' emissions-curbing actions should also be included in the package.
'If political will is present, it is possible that Cancun might launch focused negotiations to conclude a legally binding agreement by COP-17 next year in South Africa,' he said, referring to next year's Conference of the Parties.
Singapore has pledged to reduce its emissions growth to 16 per cent below 'business as usual' levels by 2020 if a global treaty is reached.
This level refers to how much Singapore would emit if the economy continued to grow but nothing was done to curb emissions.
Also at yesterday's press conference were National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.
Professor Jayakumar and Dr Yaacob will be representing Singapore in Cancun.
Mr Mah said that while this year's negotiations are unlikely to produce a binding deal, Singapore has already been studying and implementing green measures on many fronts.
Prof Jayakumar said a working group is already studying the possible introduction of a carbon tax and its cost impact on households and industries.
The report will be done by the middle of next year and will go through a consultation process before being finalised.
Dr Yaacob said Singapore is not ruling out any option, not even nuclear energy.
'If technology improves over time, it may become viable for Singapore. So rather than wait for that time, we might as well build up our understanding and expertise for now,' he said.
Former Nominated MP and chief executive of waste-to-energy firm IUT Global Edwin Khew said yesterday that the private sector was waiting for something definitive from the talks to give political certainty.
'Businesses are very concerned about what happens, as any policy will have an impact on companies,' he said.
Singapore Environment Council executive director Howard Shaw noted that Singapore was moving quickly on technology and infrastructure, such as rolling out pilot projects for solar energy and electric vehicles.
'But there is still a lot of work to be done on the software - the hearts and minds of people. Singapore has to look at changing habits,' he said.
Senior Minister S. Jayakumar on...
THE INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS
'We need to look at climate change negotiations as a long-term, long-haul process. We will have COP-17 in South Africa in end-2011.
'South Korea and Qatar are now bidding to host COP-18 the following year. Cancun is one stepping stone in the process.'(COP refers to Conference of the Parties)
WHY MAN IN THE STREET SHOULD CARE
'We have to go with the experts. Global warming will lead to rising sea levels and is going to affect Singapore. It may be generations down the road that may feel the real impact, but we have to put in place measures and we are already doing that.'
Singapore backs Cancun's balanced package move with key caveat
It says package of decisions must result in a legally binding future global pact
Joyce Hooi Business Times 30 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE will be throwing its weight behind the 'balanced package' approach at the ongoing 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) - with a key caveat.
That package of decisions must eventually result in a future global agreement that is legally binding, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S Jayakumar told the media yesterday.
'The future climate change regime cannot be based just on political understandings alone, best endeavour basis, or a non-binding UN General Assembly-type resolution. It has to be grounded on legally binding international agreements whereby countries undertake actions on the basis of reciprocity,' he said.
The balanced package approach that COP16 is working on in Cancun, Mexico will be a marked departure from the 'big bang' approach that characterised COP15 last year in Copenhagen - where nations tried and failed to get a legally binding global agreement on emissions reduction in one meeting.
According to Professor Jayakumar, Singapore sees the issues of mitigation and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of pledges as central to the package and negotiations.
'We do not align ourselves with some of the countries who take a doctrinal position of opposing (MRV). . . We must be sure that other countries in Asia and elsewhere are also going to carry out their pledges, or else our competitiveness will be affected,' he said.
While he called the balanced package approach a realistic one, he also acknowledged that it was not without its challenges. 'The balanced package approach still has a big question mark over it as to whether it will succeed,' said Prof Jayakumar.
Singapore's pledge to reduce emissions growth by 16 per cent from 'business-as-usual' levels by 2020 is also conditional on a binding global agreement being reached.
Prof Jayakumar reiterated that regardless of whether such an agreement is achieved, Singapore remains committed to carrying out the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB). The blueprint has the objective of increasing energy efficiency and reducing the country's emissions, which will contribute to the 16 per cent mitigation pledge.
A key part of the government's sustainability initiatives, the drive to increase energy efficiency in buildings might soon take a more concentrated turn.
While all new buildings currently have to meet minimum environmental standards, there is no such mandatory requirement for existing buildings. That might eventually change.
'We also need to consider mandating minimum standards for existing buildings, down the road,' said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan. 'We will consult the industry and study this regulatory option carefully before making a decision.'
Singapore's team, along with its chief negotiator Ambassador Burhan Gafoor, is already in Cancun. Professor Jayakumar and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim will join them next week, for the high-level segment of the conference.
Singapore will have something to offer both the developing and developed blocs of countries at COP16, said Professor Jayakumar.
'We bring to the table as an advantage that we are seen to be helpful and not act rigidly, taking a doctrinal position where we think some of the developing countries' views have validity,' he said. 'On the other hand, if there is a valid point of view from some of the developed countries, we do not off-hand reject it.'
Singapore to support legally-binding climate-change deal: Jayakumar
Esther Ng Today Online 30 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE - With the failure to reach a legally-binding agreement at last year's Copenhagen climate change meeting still fresh in his mind, Senior Minister S Jayakumar reiterated yesterday that, ultimately, there would be no two ways about it.
"If you want countries to reduce (carbon) emissions, it must be on the basis that everybody implements what he has pledged on a reciprocal basis. We cannot have a climate change regime based on good faith," said Professor Jayakumar, who would be attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun next week with Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.
But, there would be no "big-bang" approach at the Cancun meetings, said Prof Jayakumar. What countries will be working towards is a "balanced package", he added.
Noting that negotiations would be a long-haul process, Prof Jayakumar revealed that all countries acknowledged that a comprehensive and legally-binding global agreement was not achievable by the end of the year.
Even then, that must remain the long-term objective, said Prof Jayakumar, who stressed that the climate change regime cannot be based just on political understanding alone or a non-binding UN General Assembly-type resolution.
It has to be grounded on legally-binding international agreements whereby countries undertake actions on the basis of reciprocity, he said. If any deal is to succeed, Prof Jayakumar pointed out, there must be reasonable certainty of implementation of all actions and commitments.
Otherwise, some countries might choose to be lax in implementing climate change measures. And Singapore might lose out economically if companies decide to relocate to such countries, Prof Jayakumar noted.
With Singapore pledging to reduce its emissions growth to 16 per cent below 'business as usual' levels by 2020 if there is a legally binding deal inked, Prof Jayakumar said the Republic would have to do its part even though this would entail some adjustments in the behaviour of industries and households, including "financial implications".
In the meantime, Singapore would take steps to implement energy efficiency measures already announced under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, such as making public housing estates and Government buildings more energy efficient.
Said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who was also at the press conference: "(The pilot trials) will give us a sense of the economics of installation of solar panels. At the same time, they are already giving us direct benefits as they are supplying electricity to the common areas and lifts."
Increasing density, more traffic part of reasons for complaints about noise
Goh Chin Lian, Straits Times 30 Nov 10;
THE chorus of complaints over noise levels has got - well, louder, in recent years. In fact, a veritable hullabaloo broke out when The Straits Times ran a story two weeks ago on government plans to reduce traffic noise. More than a dozen readers wrote in to complain about the din around their homes.
Some blamed their noisy homes on MRT trains or vehicles on expressways.
Mr Philip Goh, who lives in Pasir Ris, fingers buses and lorries rushing by as late as 1.30am and as early as 5.30am. Mr Nick Low was irate at illegally souped-up cars and motorcycles racing past his Ang Mo Kio home in the wee hours.
Noise at construction sites and entertainment outlets is another frequent source of complaints raised by residents, as well as MPs in Parliament.
A measure of how upset people have been: Last year, the National Environment Agency (NEA) received 12,000 complaints on construction noise. That's down 12 per cent from the previous year, but still double the figure in 2006.
Noise levels are set to rise as land-scarce Singapore becomes more built-up and vehicular traffic increases, if nothing is done now.
Already 7,022 people shared a square kilometre of land here last year, up from 5,900 a decade ago. The influx of immigrants and foreign workers has pushed population past the five-million mark.
Vehicle population, at 942,861 last month, is also up by a third from 692,807 at the end of 2000. The growth has slowed from 3 per cent a year in 2008 to 1.5 per cent since last year.
Noise adds buzz to a city, but too much of it is hazardous to public health. Research overseas has found that a constant noise level of more than 80 decibels has been associated with increased risk of permanent hearing loss, 65 decibels with hypertension and heart disease, 55 decibels with significantly disrupted sleep and 40 decibels with reduced concentration. Traffic noise can reach 80 to 85 decibels. More local research is needed, as people's thresholds for noise tolerance could vary.
Singapore is a fairly noisy city. Ambient noise in Singapore measured in the quiet of the night is at least 55 decibels, compared with 40 to 50 decibels in Europe, NEA officials said.
Can nothing be done to keep down the noise in a fast-growing, fast-paced city?
Actually, quite a lot is being done.
For a start, guidelines limiting noise emissions are becoming more stringent.
Take construction sites. Noise limits of sites near residential areas were tightened in 2007, from 60 to 90 decibels averaged over five minutes, to 55 to 75 decibels. The maximum fine for violations was doubled from $20,000 to $40,000.
From Sept 1 this year, new sites within 150m of homes can no longer carry out construction from 10pm before a Sunday or public holiday to 10am on the day itself. Come Sept 1 next year, the prohibition will be extended to the whole of Sundays and public holidays.
Or take vehicle exhaust controls. Caps on noise emission by new vehicles were reduced by 3 to 8 per cent last month, from 99 to 107 decibels, to 94 to 100 decibels. Existing vehicles face a cut from April 1 next year, from 105 to 115 decibels, to 99 to 107 decibels.
A longstanding rule limits noise for MRT lines: No more than 67 decibels over a one-hour period measured at the facade of the block of flats. The authorities said in a 1995 circular that this level is achievable with a 35m buffer for a block facing MRT tracks.
In recent years, the 67 decibel limit is also applied to new roads and expressways. But when widening an older expressway, engineers need to ensure only that the new roadworks do not cause an increase in the existing noise level, which could exceed the 67 decibel limit.
But the real question is whether these noise limits are appropriate for a city with growing population density, with HDB flats built closer to one another and to amenities like MRT lines and roads. And how do they compare to international noise limits?
To find answers to these and other questions, the authorities are hiring a consultant to study traffic noise from expressways, major roads and MRT lines, and to recommend noise reduction measures. The study is managed by an inter-agency working group, co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and NEA, and involving the HDB, National Parks Board, Urban Redevelopment Authority and train operator SMRT.
One priority area is to shield Singapore's many high-rise flats from ubiquitous traffic and other urban noise.
Already, some Singaporeans have their own ideas. One suggested replacing HDB windows with double-glazed ones like those in developed countries. The windows, made of two layers of glass separated by a vacuum and the perimeter sealed with rubber, are said to halve noise level, bringing the din of traffic here to a soothing 35 decibels. A three-panel window costs about $1,800, compared with $800 for normal windows. But to be effective, the windows must be kept shut, which means turning on the air-conditioner.
Another reader noted that waste collection trucks in Madrid run more quietly on compressed natural gas (CNG). Sembcorp is also testing a CNG truck, the Econic by Mercedes-Benz, which is said to cut noise by as much as half that of a truck running on diesel.
While the relevant agencies review existing guidelines and look at ways to reduce the noise imprint, there is one area where immediate action can be taken: Crack down on those noise-splitting engines of illegally modified cars and motorcycles.
Residents in estates from Sengkang to Tampines and Sin Ming, cite this as a top noise nuisance. Last year, the LTA took action against 2,510 motorists for illegally modified cars, 44 per cent more than in 2008. Another 310 summonses went to those who illegally modified their motorbikes. But residents say it's a cat- and-mouse game and illegal racers pop up late into the night.
The LTA and Traffic Police can start a campaign against such noise pollution and rope in residents to report such activity. A resident woken up from his sound slumber by a racing car or bike is very likely to cooperate and report a noisy transgression.
Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 29 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE : MediaCorp received more than 5 calls on its hotline of a bad smell hanging over several parts of the island on Monday.
Calls were received from residents in Hougang, Sengkang, Yio Chu Kang, Ang Mo Kio and and Paya Lebar.
One caller from Yio Chu Kang described the smell as insecticide-like.
Others described it as unpleasant and chemical-like, similar to kerosene or burning rubber.
The callers also said the air looked foggy.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said no toxic gases have been detected so far, and is continuing to monitor the air quality.
Investigations are still being carried out to find out the cause of the smell.
NEA has also contacted its Malaysian counterparts to check whether any unusual smell has been detected in Johor.
Some Sengkang residents said the chemical-like smell started from around 4pm.
"It was like the smell of oil, very heavy. Then, when I looked out of the balcony window, the whole field is full of white smoke," said Sengkang resident Lee Khar Kiang.
"I was at the CC (community centre) just now, and from there it was very smelly. When I came back, the smell was also in my house. So it was everywhere," said Sengkang resident Zuraidah Mohd.
The online community was also abuzz with discussions about the stink in the northeast of Singapore.
Many posted comments on Channel Newsasia's Singapore Tonight facebook page.
MediaCorp also received hotline calls from residents in Hougang and even Ang Mo Kio.
Some told ChannelNewsAsia that this was unlike the haze.
"The smell was too strong... I felt like throwing up," said Ang Mo Kio resident Ishent Kaur.
Police advised the public not to be alarmed and to wait for further updates from the NEA.
- CNA /ls
Smell in the air over parts of the island
Elizabeth Soh Straits Times 30 Nov 10;
RESIDENTS across Singapore were complaining of a bad 'chemical' odour yesterday.
Described mostly as a strong, kerosene-like smell, it spread across the island throughout the day, affecting people from Punggol to Yio Chu Kang and Tampines.
A National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesman said the agency had received about 100 complaints since 5pm about a smell described variously as an 'oil smell', a 'burnt plastic smell' and a 'chemical smell'.
He added that a large number of complaints were first received from residents in the Sengkang and Punggol areas, followed by Seletar Hills and Serangoon Gardens. Some complaints were also received from the Toa Payoh North and Ang Mo Kio areas.
No toxic gases have been detected and the NEA is monitoring the situation.
The agency has also contacted its Malaysian counterparts to check whether any unusual smell has been detected in Johor.
The police also confirmed that it received several calls regarding the foul smell. The public is advised to wait for further updates from the NEA and urged 'not to jam up the 999 hotline', said a police statement.
Retiree Abu Baker Ibnoh, 65, who lives in Sengkang, said he noticed that the air looked foggy in the morning and there was a petrol-like odour.
In Ang Mo Kio, housewife Renee Ting, 43, thought the smell was the result of a mosquito-fogging exercise.
By evening, the odour had made its way to the east, residents told The Straits Times.
Housewife Rachel Tan, 47, first caught whiff of the smell from her home in Tanah Merah around 9pm.
'Within half an hour, my whole house smelled like petrol.'
In September, residents in Sengkang had complained of a stench which was later traced to a 200-tonne mound of rotting food and woodchips dumped at a construction site in Punggol Way.
NEA investigating smell
Esther Ng Today Online 30 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE - Chemical-like, metallic, toxic, burnt - that was how residents in Sengkang and Hougang described the mysterious smell that pervaded their estates at around 5pm yesterday.
And the "large number of complaints" - about 100 in total - poured in from even further, such as Punggol, Seletar Hills, Serangoon Gardens and Toa Payoh North, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said, even as its measurements of air quality detected no toxic gases.
Ms Judith Koh, 30, one of a dozen who called the MediaCorp News Hotline, smelled the odour as she exited onto Jalan Kayu Road from Seletar Expressway. "I initially thought there was something wrong with my car."
A police spokesman advised the public "to not jam up the '999' hotline", though, and to wait for updates from the NEA after receiving "several" calls to the emergency number.
The NEA is investigating the cause of the smell. "NEA has also contacted its Malaysian counterparts to check whether any unusual smell has been detected in Johor," said a spokesperson.
This is not the first time Sengkang residents have had to put up with such odours. In February, they experienced smoky air from bush fires and, last month, a 200-tonne mound of rotting food and wood chips dumped at a construction site emitted a foul stench.
This latest odour was different, some said. "It's metallic and toxic - it's not a smell I've come across before," said Sengkang resident Patrick Sim, 31.
But Sengkang resident Clarence Tey, who lives opposite Johor's Pasir Gudang Port, said it was a "common occurrence" after "heavy rain and a change in the wind direction". Esther Ng
Phew, mystery smell's gone
Straits Times 1 Dec 10;
THE petrol-like stench that enveloped parts of northern and eastern Singapore on Monday dissipated yesterday, but its cause remains a mystery.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) yesterday said its officers had been 'inspecting the affected areas to identify possible sources of the smell'.
Its spokesman said the agency was also monitoring the air for the presence of any toxic chemicals, but none had been detected.
NEA also contacted its Malaysian counterparts to check whether any unusual smell had been detected in Johor.
The spokesman said no complaints were lodged with the agency yesterday - a far cry from the 100-plus calls it received on Monday.
A police spokesman also confirmed they had not received any calls yesterday regarding the smell.
On Monday, residents in areas like Sengkang, Punggol and Tanah Merah detected a stink they likened to an 'oil smell' or 'chemical smell'.
Housewife Fiona Chew, 55, who lives in Ang Mo Kio, said she noticed that the foul smell was gone early yesterday morning.
In September, residents in Sengkang had complained of a stench which was later traced to a 200-tonne mound of rotting food and woodchips dumped at a construction site in Punggol Way.
JERMYN CHOW
NEA's investigations into foul smell inconclusive
Channel NewsAsia 2 Dec 10;
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said its investigations into the foul smell detected on Monday have been inconclusive.
However, its findings show that the smell could be from the open burning of materials, or due to incomplete combustion from a "large fuel-burning plant".
NEA said it did not uncover any possible sources within Singapore.
On November 29, residents in the northeast of the island including Punggol, Sengkang and Ang Mo Kio had complained about a foul odour similar to insecticide.
A thick smoke also hung over some estates.
NEA said it sent officers down to the affected areas as soon as possible but the rain had dissipated some of the smell and smoke.
The officers managed to pick up low levels of petroleum-based hydrocarbons with their instruments but no harmful or toxic chemicals were detected.
NEA also said the smell were not harmful to health.
Joseph Hui, who is the Director-General of Environmental Protection at NEA, said the agency receives complaints of bad smells frequently.
"The human nose is a very sensitive organ. It can detect even very low concentrations of odourous chemicals, even when instruments are not able to measure at that low concentration. So that's why sometimes smell complaints are received, but we are unable to establish what the source of the smell is."
The NEA said it has written to its counterpart in Malaysia to ask if they had detected anything similar in Johor, but MediaCorp understands that no such complaints were received.
Patches of petroleum oil were seen near two fish farms off Pulau Ubin on November 30.
NEA put it down to a coincidence, stating that there was too little oil to have generated the smell.
Neither did it explain the smoke.
NEA said it is waiting for Malaysia's response, and will follow up with them if necessary.
- CNA/fa
NEA still unsure of origins of that foul smell
Ho Yeen Nie Today Online 3 Dec 10;
SINGAPORE - The National Environment Agency (NEA) says that its investigations into the foul smell detected on Monday have been inconclusive.
However, its findings show that the smell could be from the open burning of materials, or due to incomplete combustion from a "large fuel-burning plant".
It did not uncover any possible sources within Singapore. The NEA has alerted its Malaysian counterparts. It said it is waiting for their response, and will follow up if necessary.
On Nov 29, residents in the north-east of the island, including Punggol, Sengkang and Ang Mo Kio, had complained about a foul odour similar to insecticide. A thick smoke also hung over some estates.
The NEA said it sent officers down to the affected areas as soon as possible, but the rain had dissipated some of the smell and smoke.
The officers managed to pick up low levels of petroleum-based hydrocarbons with their instruments but no harmful or toxic chemicals were detected. The NEA also said the smell was not harmful to health.
Director-General of Environmental Protection at NEA Joseph Hui said the agency receives complaints of bad smells from time to time.
"The human nose is a very sensitive organ. It can detect even very low concentrations of odorous chemicals, even when instruments are not able to measure at that low concentration. So that's why sometimes smell complaints are received, but we are unable to establish what the source of the smell is."
The NEA said it has written to its counterpart in Malaysia about whether it has detected anything similar in Johor but MediaCorp understands that no such complaints were received.
Patches of oil were seen near two fish farms off Pulau Ubin on Nov 30. The NEA put it down to a coincidence, stating that there was too little oil to have generated the smell. Neither did it explain the smoke.
Mystery swirls around Monday's foul smell
Christina Ng my paper AsiaOne 3 Dec 10;
MYSTERY still surrounds a chemical smell that residents in parts of Singapore complained about on Monday evening.
The foul odour, which many said smelled like kerosene, dissipated later that night, leaving behind many unanswered questions.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday that it has not determined the source of the smell, but stated that it was likely to have come from an industrial process that involved incomplete combustion.
Incomplete combustion occurs when there is not enough oxygen for a fuel to burn thoroughly.
At a media briefing held yesterday at the Environment Building in Scotts Road, NEA's director-general for environmental protection, Mr Joseph Hui, said investigations revealed that the smell did not originate from Singapore.
That is because no open burning - like a warehouse blaze, for example - was detected on that day.
There were also no upsets at large fuel-burning plants here that could have produced the smell.
Mr Hui added that no toxic chemicals were detected, and that the smell was not harmful.
He said oily patches were detected near two fish farms south of Pulau Ubin on Tuesday morning, but they were unrelated to the Monday incident.
"It's just a coincidence that (the oil patches) happened the day after complaints about the smell came in," he said.
On Monday, complaints first poured in from residents in Sengkang and Punggol.
The smell was later detected by those in estates such as Ang Mo Kio, Hougang and Tampines.
Thick smoke also hung over some of the affected areas, residents said.
Officers from NEA, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Police Coast Guard were called in to check the areas on Monday.
NEA also contacted its Malaysian counterparts to check whether the smell had been detected in Johor, but it has not yet received a formal reply.
Mr Hui said: "We will continue to monitor the situation and alert the public if we come across unnatural levels of chemicals in the air."
Chemical smell did not originate in Singapore
Straits Times 3 Dec 10;
THE chemical or petrol-like smell that was reported in various parts of the island on Monday did not originate in Singapore, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday.
The agency did not identify the source of the odour, but said it will continue with its investigations.
Its findings, however, show that the smell could be from the open burning of materials, or due to incomplete combustion from a 'large fuel-burning plant'.
The agency added in the statement: 'As part of our on-going bilateral cooperation, NEA has alerted its Malaysian counterparts, and will follow up with them through the established channels.'
On Monday, the NEA received more than 100 calls complaining about the smell from various parts of Singapore, including Sengkang, Punggol, Ang Mo Kio and Tampines. The police also received calls on its hotline complaining about the odour.
In the statement yesterday, the agency said it had measured air quality in affected areas. 'No toxic gases in the air have been detected. NEA has further established that there is no negative impact on public health,' it added.
There were reports claiming that the chemical-like stench could have originated from oil patches detected near two kelongs in Pulau Ketam. But NEA said yesterday that this was not the cause.
DARYL CHIN
Joy Fang my paper AsiaOne 30 Nov 10
Singapore has done well in managing its water resources, said Mr Baur, especially with regard to its fresh-water supply. He said, however, that Singapore can do more in terms of environmental solutions such as increasing biodiversity and wildlife
NEW technology that makes low-lying land "harvest" rainwater more effectively is being implemented at two locations here. The technology uses modular units to create shallow depressions in the land called "swales".
Swales are dug in soil patches next to pedestrian footpaths, and are not clearly visible because they are usually covered with vegetation such as grass and plants.
The modular units deployed in the new technology are cubes measuring 1m on each side.
Shaped like a planter box, each unit contains several layers of soil that help to filter and treat rainwater that flows into the swale.
Existing swales were created by digging trenches in a patch of land and then refilling them with different layers of soil, said Associate Professor Tan Soon Keat, deputy executive director of the Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (Newri).
This means that if there is a blockage in the system, the soil has to be dug up again to locate the problem.
This may cause the sides of the trench to collapse, said Prof Tan.
In contrast, the new system is more adaptable. Each module can be removed and replaced individually like building blocks, without disturbing the entire system, explained Prof Tan.
This makes maintenance an easier task that will likely be cheaper than current processes, he added.
A team in Newri is working with a statutory board to test the new technology at two areas here, with each location's swale spanning about 50m.
Prof Tan declined to reveal details like the locations of the new swales, but said that the projects are being carried out in public areas such as parks.
Older swales can be found in Sengkang West Way, Sentosa Cove and on the grounds of some condominiums.
Prof Tan stressed that the swales are not meant to take over the role of concrete canals.
Rather, they help to slow down the flow of water into the main drainage system in the event of flooding.
He was speaking to reporters at a seminar that discussed Germany and Singapore's storm-water management for urban sustainability, held yesterday at NTU's One North campus.
It was attended by around 100 Singapore and German industry participants.
Seminar speaker Tobias Baur, director of the Singapore office of German-based landscape firm Atelier Dreisteitl, said Germany has a long history of storm-water management.
His company is working on a few pilot projects with national water agency PUB to retrofit and upgrade drainage systems in residential areas.
Singapore has done well in managing its water resources, said Mr Baur, especially with regard to its fresh-water supply.
He said, however, that Singapore can do more in terms of environmental solutions such as increasing biodiversity and wildlife.
Green's the colour of cost savings
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 30 Nov 10;
GREEN homes are proving to be a draw with buyers, who perceive such units as money-savers, going by one survey.
Nearly eight in 10 home buyers surveyed, or 77 per cent, said they will consider buying eco-friendly homes.
Such homes feature, among other things, solar energy panels to power common areas, energy-efficient lighting and appliances, and rainwater recycling.
Almost half, or 44 per cent of those polled, would pay up to 5 per cent more for green homes compared with more conventional ones.
The poll, a first in Singapore, sought to gauge public perceptions of green buildings. It was released last week by marketing and strategy company Solidiance in partnership with the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC).
The top reason given by 35 per cent of buyers for buying a green home was to save money. The next reason was to protect the environment, a vote cast by 27 per cent of buyers, while 14 per cent simply cited a green home's unique factor.
The online survey of 370 Singapore residents aged 25 and above in April to June showed that 44 per cent of them were willing to pay up to 5 per cent more for a green home, while 38 per cent were willing to pay up to 3 per cent more.
Roughly one in 10, or 12 per cent, were willing to pay up to 8 per cent more.
About half of home buyers, or 46 per cent, considered a break-even period of five years for that premium to be an acceptable period of time, with 38 per cent saying five to 10 years was acceptable.
The survey also asked home owners why they would not buy a green home, and almost half, or 47 per cent, said there were not enough choices.
About three in 10, or 28 per cent, felt such homes were too expensive, and 12 per cent said the payback time was too long. Almost nine in 10, or 86 per cent, of those surveyed would consider renting an office in a green building.
SGBC president Lee Chuan Seng said demand for green buildings is being driven by a growing number of home owners and commercial tenants, as seen in the expansion of the Green Mark scheme.
This scheme, which was launched by the Building and Construction Authority, rates a building's environmental performance. The number of Green Mark-certified buildings has shot up - from a handful in 2005 to more than 500 this year.
Dr Sujit Ghosh, chief executive of cement company Holcim Singapore, one of the founding members of the SGBC, noted that the Government's push for green buildings has been encouraging.
Solidiance managing partner Damien Duhamel said the company will make the survey an annual one, to track changing attitudes towards green buildings.
Ms Koh Wan Ping, 27, who works in a bank as a sales consultant, said she would not have factored in how green a home was one year ago. But she is now looking for a home which offers a greener lifestyle. She said: 'If we can find one that is not much more expensive, we will definitely go for it.'
Grants for projects to develop new uses for technologies in maritime industry
Joyce Hooi Business Times 30 Nov 10;
THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Temasek Polytechnic jointly launched a new maritime fuel cell research initiative, yesterday.
This initiative - which will be able to tap on up to $6 million of funding - was kicked off by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by MPA chief executive Lam Yi Young and Temasek Polytechnic's principal and chief executive officer, Boo Kheng Hua.
The MOU will encourage projects that will result in breakthroughs in the use of fuel cell and other technologies that can be applied in the maritime field.
Out of the $6 million that the initiative will have at its disposal, $4 million in research grants will come from MPA's Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund or MINT Fund, while another $1 million will come from Temasek Polytechnic, over a three-year period.
The remaining $1 million will be jointly secured from the industry.
'As most would be aware, preserving the environment is a key challenge facing the international maritime community. The challenges are varied and complex,' said Mr Lam at the launch yesterday.
'They range from prevention of oil spills from ships, invasive alien marine species to air emissions which contribute towards climate change. The international maritime community has been hard at work responding to these environmental challenges such as exploring the use of alternative clean fuels and technologies to improve fuel efficiency and savings.'
One of the research and test-bedding projects identified in the MOU involves the use of fuel cells onboard ships to provide auxiliary power, replacing the diesel generator - a move which will reduce emissions.
Another research project will develop an automated way of continuously supplying clean power to underwater systems and devices.
A creative solution
Business Times 30 Nov 10;
The new Offshore Marine Centre, which will be up and running by next Nov, will supplement E&P support services currently provided by firms at Loyang Offshore Supply Base in the east. RONNIE LIM reports
SINGAPORE'S new Offshore Marine Centre (OMC) will further boost support facilities here for the region's oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector when it is up and running around November next year.
Strategically located at Tuas View - a hockey-shaped land strip on the western tip of Singapore - the OMC is the second big project being built there, after Sembcorp's mega, new shipyard at a nearby 206-hectare site. The area is shaping up to become the next major port/offshore marine hub here, as there are strong indications that Singapore's port operations in the city centre could also shift there in the near future.
The OMC - which replaces an earlier offshore support base at Shipyard Road in Jurong, in the west - will supplement E&P support services currently provided by companies at Loyang Offshore Supply Base in Singapore's east.
Among Loyang's latest tenants is Swire Oilfield Services, a leading global supplier of specialist DNV-rated offshore cargo carrying units, which has just opened its regional office there. Swire plans to grow its South-east Asian business through Singapore, with its Loyang operations expected to account for 5 per cent of the group's global revenue by next year.
Future expansion
A spokesperson for JTC Corporation, which is developing the 13-ha OMC, says that it is currently in discussions with potential tenants including several offshore manufacturing firms. There are 20 plots there, with some of the larger tenants expected to take up more than one plot. And already before even the OMC has started, JTC has reserved an additional four-ha site nearby for its future expansion, the spokesperson added.
JTC, which awarded the $54 million construction contract for the OMC to Malaysia's Muhibbah Engineering in September, said the works include dredging of the seabed fronting the project and building a 320-metre wharf. The base will also have a two-storey central operations building and an electrical sub-station, while three areas of the 30-m wide wharf will be designed for 500-tonne mobile crane operations.
The OMC 'is an infrastructure innovation it conceived and developed to provide unique waterfront infrastructure for the offshore and marine industry, and to help optimise the use of scarce waterfront land here', it said.
Tang Wai Yee, JTC's director (Aerospace, Marine and CleanTech), explains: 'The multi-user complex, which will provide common waterfront and berthing facilities, is a creative solution which will not only enable us to stretch our limited waterfront resources, but also help reduce capital costs for companies.'
'It will enable Singapore to attract new, high value-add activities in the marine and offshore sector, in addition to catering to existing customers' expansion plants.'
'The OMC is unique as it provides a differentiating advantage that will enhance Singapore's value proposition and strengthen its leadership position in the global marketplace,' she adds.
To make more efficient use of scarce land here, JTC has also just appointed Jurong Consultants to carry out a land intensification study for the offshore and marine (O&M) sector here. This covers some 3,000 companies broadly involved in two clusters - marine engineering (including shipbuilding, rig building and ship or FPSO conversions) and offshore oil and gas E&P support services.
Common characteristics
JTC said that while companies within the O&M sector have vastly different facility requirements, the sector nevertheless 'shares certain common characteristics in terms of the space/land utilisation of its facilities, which is generally low'.
For example, the sector commonly uses computer numerical control machines, which because of their weight and high specifications require low vibration and are usually located on ground-floor areas. Because most of their materials and products are heavy and bulky, these are usually stored in the open or on the ground, rather than stacked within warehouses.
The consultant will therefore be asked to study existing value-chain activities in O&M operations and come up with conceptual designs for each of the two industry clusters that can increase the plot ratio or reduce the land required. This includes the possibility of their having multi-tenanted buildings with shared facilities, among other solutions.
Related to this, Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) is also carrying out an in-depth study to see how it can further boost the competitiveness and productivity of the marine and offshore industry here vis-a-vis competitors in countries like South Korea, Norway and China.
EDB, which has just called a tender for a consultant to undertake the study, said that it will analyse Singapore-based companies involved in providing whole or part of the value-chain in producing offshore oil rigs, floating production, storage and offloading vessels, offshore support vessels and other ocean-going vessels.
It 'will analyse the competitive advantages and disadvantages of the Singapore industry in the provision of these services in relation to the global marketplace'. These include areas like Singapore's workforce profile and relationships among shipyards, contractors, sub-contractors and equipment providers.
Coral reefs found damaged
Bangkok Post 30 Nov 10;
Up to 90% of coral reefs off the Phi Phi islands has been damaged by bleaching and human activities, a study has found.
The latest survey by the Phuket Marine Biological Centre found the reefs, particularly those around popular diving sites off Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Lae, Koh Pai, Koh Yung , Koh Bita Nai and Koh Bita Nok, had been damaged and many of them had died, a marine biologist at the centre said.
Malinee Thongtham said a major contributor to the damage was the coral bleaching caused by unusual high sea temperatures during the hot season. Sea temperatures began to rise in April this year.
Living corals around the Phi Phi islands have been dying from severe bleaching since June, Ms Malinee said.
Another factor posing a serious threat to the coral reefs around popular dive sites was human activity, she said.
The survey found up to 90% of staghorn coral at Koh Yung and Koh Pai had been badly harmed by diving activities.
Coral bleaching and diving caused more damage to coral reefs in the area than the 2004 tsunami.
Ms Malinee said some divers trampled on the reefs while viewing the marine life. The survey also found many fishing nets left near the coral.
The feeding of fish arranged by tour companies was also affecting the condition of the coral reefs as fish shunned algae in favour of the food distributed by tourists. This meant the reefs were becoming covered by algae.
The marine biologist urged agencies and tour operators to work together to protect the coral.
Sadiq Behnam Environment News Service 26 Nov 10;
HERAT, Afghanistan, November 26, 2010 (ENS) - Rahimullah stood in his cornflower field, killing field mice one by one as they were driven from their holes by a rush of irrigation water.
None too pleased to be interrupted by a reporter, the 55-year-old farmer from Herat province in western Afghanistan said, "Let me punish this vermin. If a man is harmful, he should be killed. And these are mice."
Rahimullah's frustration came from the awareness that he is fighting a losing battle against the mice and locusts which are destroying his crops. He has tried spraying chemicals, but to little effect.
The real cure is missing - the insectivore bird species which attacked the locusts in flocks, and the birds of prey which kept mouse numbers down. These are disappearing day by day, he said, killed by hunters or caught by trappers who sell them to the burgeoning trade in live birds.
Agriculture officials in Herat province confirm that the hunting and smuggling of birds have contributed to an increase in attacks by locusts and other pests, causing widespread crop destruction. The alternative - chemical pesticides - is both costly and damaging to the environment, they say.
Abdul Aziz Saghri, head of natural resources at the provincial agriculture department, blames the lack of human and technical resources, and a degree of negligence on the part of officials.
Others note that poaching has added to the pressure on wildlife species caused by deforestation in Herat, as in other parts of Afghanistan.
There are no accurate statistics for wildlife numbers in Herat province, although officials say they are planning to conduct a survey. But they say it is already clear that a dozen bird species are in danger.
Hunting bans have proved difficult to enforce in Afghanistan's fairly lawless environment.
As well as birds of prey, from the smaller hawks up to eagles, the live trappers also do a lively trade in mynas, which belong to the starling family.
Environmental protection officers in Herat province say more than 10,000 myna chicks have been smuggled to Iran in recent times, so that this once ubiquitous bird has become rare.
Abdul Qayum Khan, head of the environmental protection agency, said that many people around Herat city are making a living from gathering myna chicks from nests.
"The birds are smuggled to Iran in large numbers, in so that they now occur very rarely not only in Herat but in the west [of Afghanistan] generally," he said.
Mir Ahmad, 26, from the village of Nawin, is one of the many culprits.
He goes around to the villages buying up mynas that people have caught at US$.50 a bird. He then takes them to Herat where he sells them for US$5.50. Once exported to Iran, they will each fetch up to US$40.
The myna is a popular pet because of its amazing ability to mimic the human voice. But that does not explain why such massive numbers are being traded.
Afghan agriculture officials say the birds also have a commercial value in Iran, where they are used to clear farmland of pests cheaply and effectively.
Ghulam Sakhi, a 50-year old farmer from Qarauzak in Herat's Anjil district, regrets the passing of the mynas.
Villagers used to welcome the flocks of birds in the knowledge that they would defend the surrounding farmland from insects. Just 10 years ago, he said, "Tens of thousands of mynas would gather in the trees in our village and make a racket every night. But in recent years there's been no sign of them."
Environmental official Abdul Qayum Khan said Afghanistan's frontier police are not doing enough to curb smuggling.
"Whenever we identify someone as a bird smuggler, the police argue that they can't arrest someone just for catching a few birds. This has become the biggest problem facing the environmental protection agency," he said.
Herat police spokesman Nur Khan Nikzad rejected the accusation. "Under a presidential decree, hunting of wildlife is prohibited, so those who hunt birds are lawbreakers and will be arrested."
Nikzad said the regional environmental protection agency has not approached police for help, and has not informed them of any bird smugglers. If asked, the police would of course take action, he said.
A different message came from Aminullah Azad, deputy chief of the frontier police in the area. He said his officers are not treating bird exports as smuggling and are not focusing on the issue because they have received no instructions to do so.
"When such an order is issued to us, we will stop any kind of bird from being taken out of the country," he added.
Hossein Mir Sikandari of the Iranian consulate in Herat said that his government takes a dim view of smuggling and would take action if it uncovered any cases. Any illicit transfers of wildlife involved Afghanis or Iranians operating on their own and there was no state involvement, he added.
Sikandari argued that there is little reason for Iranians to import mynas. They are found in large numbers in places like the capital Tehran and Bandar Abbas in the south.
The principal market for Afghan birds of prey appears to be the Gulf Arab states, where falconry is prestigious.
"Most of the buyers are in Arab countries," said Jamal, a specialist smuggler in Herat. "The birds are first taken to Pakistan and then on to the Gulf."
Best of all are large raptors, the eagles used for hunting and as trophy pets. But Jamal said they are becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of; he had not been able to find an eagle to sell on in the last two years.
"Their price starts at US$1,000 dollars and can reach US$100,000 dollars," he said.
{This report was originally published November 19, 2010 by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.}
Hillary Brenhous The New York Times 29 Nov 10;
HONG KONG — The most potent proof of Hong Kong’s long and abundant maritime history is, increasingly, the ubiquitous haze that blurs the city’s skyline.
In this, the world’s third-busiest container port, after Singapore and Shanghai, according to the Hong Kong Marine Department, commercial tankers, ferries and fishing boats exhale noxious fumes into air that already, by the World Health Organization’s standards, is healthy only 41 days of the year. Twelve percent of all container traffic passes through the surrounding Pearl River Delta, the southern Chinese export hub where 38 million people live in a swath of land roughly the size of the San Francisco Bay Area.
But initiatives to clear the air by way of the sea are in motion. Where softwood Chinese sailing junks once plied the waters, three new solar hybrid ferries now shuttle Hong Kong Jockey Club members between the Kowloon Peninsula and a public golf course on Kau Sai Chau Island, six kilometers, or about four miles, away. The silent, sleek, blue-and-yellow catamarans, commissioned by the Jockey Club in a bid to encourage the cleanup effort, are designed by the Australian company Solar Sailor. They use photovoltaic panels on the cabin roof to power their electric engines when near the wharf: when farther offshore, they transition to diesel.
A fourth vessel, outfitted with sails covered in solar cells and due to be delivered next month, will run educational programs that focus on renewable energy.
These sails were inspired by the way insects evolved, said Robert Dane, the chief executive of Solar Sailor. Ancient insects “evolved wings initially as solar collectors and later used them to fly.”
According to the Jockey Club, the technology has resulted in fuel savings of 50 percent. The club, although it is a nonprofit association, expects to make a profitable return on its investment in just two years if oil prices remain high.
And it is not the only body in the region to have hopped on board. Another of Mr. Dane’s boats, sold to the solar manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings, drifts alongside the site of the 2010 Shanghai Expo on the Huangpu River.
Lately, Mr. Dane has been eyeing Hong Kong’s emblematic Star Ferry fleet — 12 vessels that carry passengers across Victoria Harbor — for conversion to hybrid electricity. The ferries are serviced by the same southern Chinese boatyard that finishes his boats. He is eager to move on to bigger boats and he says he is optimistic — certain, even — that shipping will begin to turn away from fuel oil as renewable alternatives gain speed.
“There’s all that wind and sun and wave energy out there in the ocean,” he said. “Why would you go back to land to get fuel? In the future, when we can store that energy as efficiently as we can a barrel of oil, all ships will be powered by that which is available on the sea.”
Until then, several of the world’s largest container shipping companies have banded together in a voluntary, unsubsidized effort to curb the toxins that their cargo vessels emit. The initiative is being led by the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line, whose ships, as of September, have switched to low-sulfur fuel from bunker fuel — a viscous waste product of the refining process — while at berth in Hong Kong.
“We still believe that the environment is a coming megatrend,” said Tim Smith, chief executive of Maersk’s North Asia operations. “Increasingly, our customers have sustainability programs of their own and it is likely that they will start using environmental criteria to determine which carriers they use.”
The company also hopes that the shift will help accelerate emissions regulation in Asia, which is not yet subject to controls that would oblige ships to use relatively cleaner fuel along its coastlines. Such policies are prevalent in Europe and are due to come into effect in Canada and the United States in 2012. Maersk and the Civic Exchange, a public policy institution centered on environmental concerns, are urging other carriers to adopt low-sulfur diesel in Hong Kong by the end of this year under a voluntary industry charter.
“There is a developing regulatory regime and the whole industry is going to have to significantly up its game in all areas of environmental management,” Mr. Smith said. “We think it’s important that we have some sort of road map.”
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization decided in 2008 that it would reduce the sulfur content of marine fuels from 4.5 percent to 0.5 percent globally by 2020, significantly capping shipping emissions. “That’s not a lot of time,” Mr. Smith said. “We don’t want to be in a situation where in 2019 everyone’s rushing to make themselves compliant. We’re quite keen to engage with governments to make sure that we have consistent regulation and that there’s a level playing field for carriers internationally.”
Hong Kong’s government has recognized the damage caused by marine emissions and commissioned a study from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which it has cited as a precursor to new legislation. That institution is establishing an inventory of emissions from sea vessels, to be published in 2011. Civic Exchange has begun its own survey, scheduled for release in 2012, of the health effects of pollutants released by vessels in the Pearl River Delta.
A 2009 report led by James J. Corbett, a professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, puts the number of annual deaths from global shipping emissions at 60,000.
Thus far, 15 shipping companies and two cruise lines have, in principle, signed on to the Fair Winds Charter, which was formally announced last month, agreeing to convert, for the next two years, to fuel with a 0.5 percent sulfur content or lower while docked in Hong Kong. Participating carriers — among them OOCL and APL, which already made the fuel switch in October — hope to have galvanized the Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong governments into broader action by the end of the two-year period.
“Nowhere else do emissions from ships affect the public health of so many people,” said Veronica Booth of Civic Exchange, whose ultimate aim is to establish a low-emission zone in the Pearl River Delta. The region “has the largest population density, the most vessel traffic in close proximity to that population and the fewest effective controls.”
Participation rates among these container transportation lines are still unclear. Shipping companies will not necessarily convert all of their ships and they may not use the same fuel. But Maersk estimates that if all the vessels that the carriers operate were to adopt 0.1 percent low-sulfur fuel in Hong Kong, it could result in a reduction of sulfur and particulate matter emissions in excess of 80 percent.
There is a cost: Maersk, which makes about 850 port calls to Hong Kong annually, estimates that switching from relatively low-cost bunker fuel will cost it an additional $1 million a year.
Still, the company is eager to extend the initiative to other congested port cities in which residential neighborhoods are densely clustered along the coastline — and, eventually, to its runs at sea.
“Nowhere else in the world has industry had to lobby to be regulated,” Ms. Booth said. “This is an industry that understands where the global trend is headed.”
Stuart Grudgings PlanetArk 30 Nov 10;
The river loops low past its bleached-white banks, where caimans bask in the fierce morning sun and stranded houseboats tilt precariously. Nearby sits a beached barge with its load of eight trucks and a crane. Its owners were caught out long ago by the speed of the river's decline.
This is what it looks like when the world's greatest rainforest is thirsty. If climate scientists are right, parched Amazon scenes like this will become more common in the coming decades, possibly threatening the survival of the forest and accelerating global warming.
The environmental and economic consequences could be huge -- for Brazil, for South America, for the planet.
An intense months-long drought through November drained the mighty Negro river -- a tributary of the Amazon -- to its lowest since records began in 1902, drying up the network of water that is the lifeblood of Brazil's huge Amazonas state. More than 60,000 people went short of food and many lacked clean drinking water as millions of dead fish contaminated rivers.
It was a "once in a century" kind of weather event. The weird thing is, it came just five years after another severe Amazon drought that meteorologists had described in the same way. Last year, massive floods in the region killed dozens and made hundreds of thousands homeless, fitting a pattern of more extreme weather that climate models forecast for this century.
Years like this add credence to predictions that by the middle of this century, the forest will suffer "mega-droughts" lasting years, killing trees en masse.
That in turn would reduce rainfall over the remaining forest, creating a vicious cycle that would turn much of the Amazon into a savannah-like state by 2100. Ecologists and climatologists say there may come "a tipping point" after which the death of the forest becomes self-sustained by higher temperatures, dwindling rain levels and destructive fires.
The latest drought came as little surprise to Erli Perreira, a skinny 19-year-old who was fishing for his family's dinner in the shadow of the barge, which lay on a tributary of the Solimoes river about 60 miles from the central Amazon city of Manaus. The sun has been getting hotter for years, he said, making it impossible to work in the fields after mid-morning and causing his fish catch to plunge during the annual "burning season" when farmers take advantage of the dry conditions to clear the forest with fire.
"Many things in the Bible are coming to pass," said Perreira, wearing a soaked Guns N' Roses T-shirt and holding a gasping fish in one hand. "At the End of Times many things change, like the sun getting hotter."
Their predictions may be less biblical, but climate scientists and ecologists are worried too. As leaders gather this month for a new round of global climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, the recent weather extremes have sent climate scientists around the world scrambling to study whether they represent a freak or a more sinister sign of climate change.
Rosie Fisher, a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado, has always viewed apocalyptic Amazon scenarios with a dose of skepticism. Many of the complex models that seek to map future climate, including NCAR's own, show that Amazon rainfall may in fact change little over this century.
But she got a shock when she saw maps showing the paltry rainfall over the Amazon this year, less than half average annual levels. The drought of 2005 was severe, but maps showing water deficits over the region this year painted an even drier picture.
"The map that I'm looking at now looks like the extreme bit of my scenario, and it's happening right now. I'm genuinely quite alarmed by this," said Fisher, who specializes in the interactions between climate and forests.
"In some ways it kind of reminds me of when they figured out than the Greenland ice sheet was melting much faster than the climate models predicted it would."
FROM CARBON SINK TO SOURCE
Accounting for more than half of the world's remaining rainforest, the Amazon's trees are a vital global air conditioner, helping to keep the world cool by soaking up atmospheric carbon totaling about 2 billion tons each year. When they die or wither, as they did in large numbers during the 2005 drought, they become part of the global-warming problem by releasing carbon.
The 2005 drought released more greenhouse gases than the annual emissions of Europe and Japan, an international study found last year, showing how the forest can shift rapidly from carbon sink to source. If that study was right, this year's drought is likely to have released at least as much carbon.
"We don't need a big catastrophe in the Amazon to change the earth's system, we just need that sink to disappear," said Oliver Phillips, an ecologist at Leeds University who co-authored the study.
The Amazon -- spanning nine countries and viewed as the world's greatest caldron of biodiversity -- is expected to be hotter by the end of the century than it has been since before the last Ice Age. Depending on greenhouse gas emissions, climatologists say a rise of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4-9 degrees Fahrenheit) is likely.
For the region's people, who still largely live off its land and water, that is likely to mean an ever tougher struggle to survive. Brazil's agriculture boom, which has seen it become one of the world's breadbaskets, would also be at risk from a breakdown of the region's great rain-making machine.
The consequences for the forest's mind-boggling universe of fauna and flora and for the fight against global warming could also be grave. A large-scale Amazon "dieback" is among a handful of potential events that could drastically intensify climate change, along with the melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and the breakdown of the Gulf Stream ocean current. In some ways, it is the most worrying of all because of the speed it could occur and the huge amount of carbon it could pump into the atmosphere as trees die -- estimated at about 15 years worth of human-caused emissions.
"You can have a lot of the carbon released within a few decades whereas the ice sheet is going to take many hundreds of years," said Peter Cox, a professor of climate system dynamics at the University of Exeter in Britain.
"The Amazon, if it happens, will be more catastrophic because there's this feedback between drying and fire and fire and carbon dioxide release that is quite fast."
A DRY NEW WORLD
About 870 miles southeast of Manaus, the east of Brazil's Mato Grosso state may be an early indicator of what the worst case scenario could look like. Here the country's expanding cattle and soy farming frontier collides with the forest, often with fiery consequences.
This year's drought turned the region around the huge protected Xingu indigenous Indian park into a tinder box. Fires, often set by small-time farmers to clear their land, raged indiscriminately through farmland and forest.
The number of fires in Mato Grosso -- which means thick forest -- surged to more than 36,700 so far this year from 8,135 last year, razing cattle pasture, killing livestock and often jumping into the region's remaining pristine forest. A NASA satellite image from the period shows a huge pall of smoke blanketing the center of South America.
For Edimar dos Santos Abreu, it was an exhausting few months. As chief of a new six-member fire brigade trained by the U.S. Forest Service's elite "smokejumper" firefighters, he was in charge of putting out the blazes across the sprawling region.
"We would hardly arrive back home before getting a call about another fire," said the soft-spoken 36-year-old.
One of the 30 or so fires they tackled this year lasted nine days, he said. And unlike in the past, fires that spread to the forest continued to burn at night -- a stark sign of the drier conditions.
"I think what we're seeing in Mato Grosso is a dieback process. It's a process that's going to take 15 or 20 years to come to a new equilibrium," said Daniel Nepstad, a U.S. ecologist with 26 years of experience in the Amazon.
Fires continuing to burn and even intensify at night, when normally in the Amazon they would be extinguished by dew and falling temperatures, are a particularly worrying sight.
"You could get into a situation where there are mega-fire conditions -- we see that in California," said Nepstad, who is a senior scientist for Brazil's Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM).
John Carter, a Texan who has been a rancher in the region for 15 years and who set up the fire brigade, is no bleeding-heart environmentalist. "I don't really care about the biodiversity -- it's just a consequence," says the 44-year-old, a veteran of the first Gulf War who has had his fair share of violent showdowns in the often lawless Amazon region.
But he says the warming of the region since he arrived is striking and increasingly threatens farm production as well as the forest. Without keeping more forest intact, "we're probably shooting ourselves in the foot for short-term gains in the next 20 years," he said.
"I don't have any doubt that if we don't get our act together in the next five years it might be a little bit too late because of the drying effect of logging and further deforestation and wildfires. By 2030-2040, we're just going to have a big brush pile."
Indigenous Indian farmers who used to plant their fields in August now do so in October or November because of the later rains. Among fields whose blackened fence posts betray the fires that raged here weeks earlier, chief Damiao Paridzane leaned on his hoe and spoke wistfully of a youth spent under trees and fruit before the "white man" made contact with his Xavante (Warrior) tribe.
Now, the 1,000 people or so in his community live on a reserve east of the Xingu park that has been almost totally deforested and widely invaded by land-grabbers.
"If I was born today, I would be born weak because there isn't nature, there isn't forest or good air for us to breath," said the 58-year-old. "The climate has worsened and will get hotter. If this cassava I'm planting doesn't get rain we will get thin because of these changes."
FALL IN DEFORESTATION NOT ENOUGH
Farmers, loggers and land speculators have destroyed nearly a fifth of the original Amazon forest, but the rate of destruction has fallen dramatically in the past few years. About 2,700 square miles (7,000 square km) was lost in 2008-09, a more than 70 percent fall over five years, a dramatic change that the government says is largely a result of better monitoring and enforcement of laws.
But that is only part of the story in a region the size of western Europe where Brazil's environmental agency has just six helicopters. The fall in deforestation also coincided with a slump in global commodity prices and a worldwide recession, suggesting that it could be a temporary lull.
"I think we're in the eye of a hurricane," said Carter, whose Alianca da Terra (Alliance of the Land) group is working with farmers to improve their environmental and fire-prevention standards. "When people don't have cash and they're leveraged to the hilt they're not going to spend money on deforestation."
Even if deforestation directly caused by human intervention were to fall to zero, the balance of evidence suggests that the forest is intensely vulnerable in a warming world.
A World Bank report this year drawing on 24 global climate models and Japan's Earth Simulator super-computer predicted a slighter wetter Amazon in the relatively unspoiled northwest this century with increasing droughts in the south. But once effects on vegetation from warmer temperatures, deforestation, and greater fire risk were taken into account, it concluded that there was a "substantial probability" of Amazon dieback with a particularly severe and near-term risk in the east.
Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil's leading climate scientists at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), said there was a danger that global falls in deforestation would lull the world into a false sense of security. Even if deforestation globally falls to zero, the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions implies "massive change" in forests like the Amazon, he said.
"Everybody will go home and say 'OK, the forests are safe, biodiversity will be preserved.' No, that's not the case," he said. "It's a very serious situation."
As in 2005, climate scientists say this year's drought was probably caused by a warming of the north Atlantic ocean that causes air over the Amazon to descend, hampering the formation of rain clouds. Some models show that trend intensifying as the planet warms.
By far the scariest reading on the Amazon's future comes from the British Met Office's Hadley Center, whose models show a disastrous rise in regional temperature of 8 degrees Celsius (14.4 Fahrenheit) or more by the end of the century. Under that scenario, the forest retreats to a tiny fraction of its current size.
Other studies have shown that a transition to seasonal forest with longer dry seasons, like those in parts of Asia, is a more likely outcome than scrubland this century. But that could still raise the Amazon's vulnerability to fire and have a severe impact on biodiversity, said Oxford University ecosystem science professor Yadvinder Malhi.
"There could be quite a decline in many tropical species. Some insects and lizards may struggle to cope with warming of 4-5 degrees (Celsius)," he said.
TOUGH TREES, BUT NOT THAT TOUGH
Calling when the forest could pass an irreversible tipping point is an inexact science, depending on complex interactions among the temperature, atmosphere, rainfall and deforestation.
The changes are not all bad news. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can fuel tree growth and drought resistance by stimulating the photosynthesis process in some species, for example. Nobody knows for sure how the Amazon's thousands of different tree species will adapt to warmer temperatures and increased droughts.
Many of them are hardy breeds, thanks to deep roots that probe 50 feet or more in search of moisture that keeps them alive during droughts. Studies have found that trees in the Borneo rainforest die much more easily than their Amazon counterparts given the same drought levels.
Brazil's Nobre said that the forest even in areas like Mato Grosso had not yet hit the tipping point -- at least not in terms of changing climate.
"We don't observe any long-term change in rainfall," he said. "Climatically, it's very far from a tipping point."
INPE's research has found that deforestation of the Amazon would have to reach 40 percent, double its current level, to trigger a widespread dieback. But in areas like Mato Grosso, where the remaining forest is fragmented and subject to dry winds and fire, the process is visibly speeding up.
"In those degraded areas, if they continue to use fire, you might reach a point of no return," Nobre said.
In a forest patch the size of a city block in Mato Grosso, Paulo Brando's boots crunch through brittle leaves and twigs among scorched tree trunks.
Every three years, the patch is burned as part of an experiment to compare its resilience to an untouched plot of forest next to it. The result is a sad, wounded landscape -- what Brando, an ecologist with the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, calls an "impoverished" ecosystem.
Up to half the species have been lost and the carbon stored in the vegetation is down by a third over three years. Grasses have invaded the sun-exposed forest floor, providing kindling for future fires, and temperatures are a full 5 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) higher than in the patch that still has its cooling green canopy.
"If wetter forest becomes drier, those fires are likely to be very intense because you have lots of fuel. If you start having a source of ignition in dry years you're likely to get to this point very quickly," said Brando.
Nearly 30 percent of the Amazon is within 6 miles of a potential fire source, such as a farm or a road.
While the scientific jury may still be out on how more extreme weather will affect the forest, the region's inhabitants are already suffering the consequences. For the second time in five years, drought in Amazonas state, which is the size of Alaska, brought the surreal site of cars driving where people swam just weeks earlier. Some residents desperate for food scooped up endangered manatees from shallow rivers.
Officials in Manacapuru, a small city on the Solimoes river near Manaus, say the extremes of recent years have prompted an influx of environmental migrants.
"It's a consistency of extremes," said vice mayor Joao Messias. "Our city here is literally full. It has filled up a lot after these big floods and droughts."
In the smaller town of Caapiranga, which was mostly cut off from boat transport by the drought, residents complained that many foods had doubled in price and that their crop land had yet to recover from the devastation caused by 2009's floods.
From his shack by the side of a dried-up lake, Manuel Ferreira de Matos squinted through a pair of battered spectacles at the distant water that glistened like a mirage more than a kilometer away.
"By the time I get back home from the fields, I'm dying of thirst," said the 57-year-old father of seven.
"Before I could walk all day, no problem, but now I can't stand it -- it's like the sun got closer."
(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Jim Impoco)
NPR 30 Nov 10;
Thousands of environmental groups have sprung up in China, hoping to protect its land and wildlife from the ravages of economic development. "The past 30 years of breakneck economic growth have been a disaster for China's environment," says journalist Jonathan Watts.
As Watts tells NPR's Steve Inskeep, his new book, When a Billion Chinese Jump, details how China's environmental activists are trying to lessen the effects their country's growth is having on natural resources.
The book also details the challenges the smart-growth advocates face.
"Earlier this year, the government said 60 percent of China's lakes and rivers are dangerously polluted; the water is not fit to drink," Watts says. "You have air quality problems in so many Chinese cities. You can just travel from city to city to city, and it's just gray smog; gray smog; gray smog."
And to Watts, the same rapid growth that created those problems might help to solve them. Even as they build new infrastructure, he says, developers are showing a willingness to build "eco-cities."
"I think China is moving very, very quickly on renewable energy and clean tech," Watts says, "precisely because its environment is so bad that they have to take extreme actions."
Watts is the Asia Environment correspondent for Britain's The Guardian. He says that compared to other causes that spur activism and protest in China, people who seek to protect the environment don't face as much risk that they could be punished for speaking out.
"If you were a democracy activist, if you were a labor activist, you would be looked upon with great suspicion, and you would face very considerable risk of being locked up," he says.
And Watts says that environmentalist groups like Friends of Nature, founded by the late Liang Congjie, have succeeded in getting developers to alter their plans to protect rivers and other resources.
Still, it can be difficult to grasp the scale of China's economic growth — and the massive effects it can have on the world's climate.
Watts says that "even within China, they know they're hurtling forward at this rapid speed. And they're not quite sure what the future means."
But the United States, and the rest of the global community, has a profound interest in seeing China cope with its future growth in a way that minimizes harm to the global environment.
As Watts writes in his new book, "Even if every other country in the world acts radically to reduce greenhouse gases, we are all still doomed if China fails to deal with its emissions from coal in the next 20 years."
Yahoo News 29 Nov 10;
GENEVA (AFP) – A UN human rights expert on Monday called on the climate change conference in Mexico to launch a "Green Marshall Plan" for agriculture to counter the impact of global warming on hunger and poverty.
"Negotiations starting today in Cancun are crucial to guarantee the right to food for hundreds of millions of people," the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schuetter, said.
"Cancun should lead the way towards a 'Green Marshall Plan' for agriculture," he added, warning of the "disastrous" impact of climate change on food.
De Schuetter underlined that farming was both a victim of sustained shifts in global weather patterns as well as a major source of carbon emissions at its most intensive, industrial scale.
Scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have estimated that yields from rain-fed agriculture could be cut by up to half between 2000 and 2020, while arid and semi-arid areas could grow by 60 million to 90 million hectares.
That could put 600 million more people at risk of hunger, the UN expert said.
"These projections are terrible, but current attempts to boost food production with chemical fertilizers and the development of heavily mechanised large-scale plantations are putting agriculture on the wrong track," De Schuetter warned.
Agriculture was directly responsible for 14 per cent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, rising to one third with carbon dioxide produced by deforestation to make way for large scale crops or pastures, he added.
De Schuetter suggested a "Green Marshall Plan" should help shift the focus from industrial scale farming to low carbon food production geared to the needs of rural communities and smallholders.
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