Best of our wild blogs: 5 Feb 10

Job advert: Research Assistant position in the Terrestrial Ecology Lab from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Going, going, gone - the end of Ngee Ann Stream (almost)
from Water Quality in Singapore

Hooked on Hymenopterans! (part 2)
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Beesy in Singapore!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

How about a hug?
from The annotated budak

Even they feel the heat
from Black Dillenia

A juvenile Barred Eagle Owl named Prince
from Bird Ecology Study Group

The Asian Wildlife Trade
from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Opportunities for bat research training in Malaysia
from ecotax at Yahoo! Groups

Bangkok sinking
from The Straits Times Blogs

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SM on Singapore's blueprint: It's how you do it that counts

Teh Shi Ning, Business Times 5 Feb 10;

MANY elements of Singapore's new economic blueprint are not new, but the policies with which to turn the Economic Strategies Committee's vision into reality will need to be, says Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Singapore stands at a 'turning point', hence the need for a re-evaluation of growth strategy. But 'ideas cannot change very much, we cannot have a sudden new direction', Mr Goh told local media at the close of his six-day visit to the Middle East yesterday.

Responding to a query on whether the ESC's blueprint goes far enough, Mr Goh says he would not be sceptical at all. Making innovation and R&D a priority, for instance, needs to go beyond pumping investments into research, to commercialise outcomes. Aspirations for Singapore to be a leading global city are not new either - it is the means to those ends which are, Mr Goh says.

The financial services sector must remain an emphasis; manufacturing must still be diversified and higher value-added. 'So all these on paper are not new,' Mr Goh said. 'What is new is how you do it.'

The ESC's wide-ranging recommendations target an overall doubling of annual productivity gains to 2-3 per cent over 10 years. 'Whilst the diagnosis of the problem is easy and the remedy is easy on paper, it is not easy in practice,' Mr Goh said.

He thinks that there will need to be continued investment in human capital, as well as a mindset change. Singaporeans need to accept a more modest pace of 3 to 5 per cent GDP growth as the economy evolves, Mr Goh says.

Another hint of difficulty has been in the wariness of some businesses, of the idea of using the foreign worker levy to manage Singapore's dependence on imported labour.

Pointing out that this is not the first time Singapore is using prices to raise productivity, Mr Goh says that the government's experience with raising wages back in 1978 to jolt companies into boosting productivity will help. 'We have the advantage ... of knowing how far and how fast you can go,' he said, adding that he believes the finance ministry will announce incentives to spur companies to raise their productivity and training too.

Foreign labour issues were in fact among the topics Mr Goh discussed with the Bahraini leaders he met over the past two days. Bahrain's economic competitiveness is highly dependent on foreign workers, which make up 50 per cent of its population, compared to 30 per cent of Singapore's. Mr Goh says that Singapore can learn from Bahrain in terms of how to manage and treat foreign workers well, without creating social pressure on domestic society.

Reflecting on his visits to Bahrain and Oman, Mr Goh says that both have made tremendous progress, as evidenced in the transformation of their cities' physical infrastructure since his previous visits. 'Both are emerging economies, vibrant, thriving, and like Singapore, looking for new ways to grow.'

Mr Goh thinks that there is potential for Singapore companies to go beyond providing services in large-scale projects, such as MTQ and Sembcorp's engineering and water and power projects in the Middle East, to make investments in the region, such as in real estate.

'As the economy matures, we have to look to the external wing to grow our gross national product,' Mr Goh said. It is his aim to open doors in non-traditional markets with such bilateral visits.

Even for the individual Singaporean, Mr Goh said, 'there is still a big world outside, you can still earn big money but you have to be entrepreneurial, innovative and take risks'.

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New-era industrial park at Lorong Halus

Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu this week suggested ways for Singapore to become a more attractive place to live and work in. She gave examples both in industry and the arts.

An artist's impression of the Lorong Halus Food Zone Industrial Development. Factories and plants will be sited among lush greenery in the industrial park, and waterfront lifestyle amenities will be in place for the public to use. The ESC sub-committee suggests better integrating residential, business, leisure and 'clean' industrial uses into 'live-work-play' enclaves. -- PHOTO: URA

EVEN in property-obsessed Singapore, industrial sites are often dismissed as drab, dull areas that hold no interest for the general public.

But new-era industrial parks like the one planned at Lorong Halus in Tampines could change all this.

Formerly a landfill, the land is now home to a wide diversity of wildlife.

When it is turned into an industrial park in the years to come, factories and plants will be sited among lush greenery and waterfront lifestyle amenities that the public can use.

The planned Lorong Halus industrial area was one of the examples cited by the Economic Strategies Committee sub-committee on how to make better use of land. Among its recommendations was a suggestion to better integrate residential, business, leisure and even 'clean' industrial uses into 'live-work-play' enclaves.

A thriving arts cluster
Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

Gillman Village has the benefit of being housed in conservation colonial barracks, which arts groups can make use of rather than paying to construct new buildings. Outdoor spaces can also be creatively used at events organised for the arts and creative industries.

IT IS now a laid-back enclave with a clutch of rustic restaurants and watering holes but in a few years, Gillman Village could be a thriving cluster for arts and creative activities.

At least, that is the vision of the Economic Strategies Committee, which suggests turning the site off Alexandra Road into a 'prominent destination to anchor and grow the arts and creative businesses'.

These could include design and digital media firms, said Ms Grace Fu, who chaired the sub-committee on enhancing land use.

She said Gillman has the benefit of being housed in conservation colonial barracks, which arts groups can make use of rather than paying to construct new buildings.

As an arts cluster, Gillman Village will add to the diversity of attractions along the southern waterfront, the sub-committee said in its report.

More flexibility for industrial zones
Less rigid rules could help businesses and liven up sterile areas
Joyce Teo, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE should look more closely at how it can use its industrial land to help enhance its liveability as a city, the high-level Economic Strategies Committee has recommended.

One proposal is to site offices, shops and restaurants alongside manufacturing plants. And if this is done well, these new facilities can breathe new life into previously sterile areas.

In an interview on Wednesday, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu - who co-chaired the ESC sub-committee on maximising value from land - said the Government should inject this type of flexibility into the use of land in a gradual and targeted manner.

But she also warned against too much flexibility, as it could raise the price of industrial land to an unaffordable level for businesses.

Still, one example of an industry that could benefit from flexibility in land zoning is food manufacturing, suggested Ms Fu.

There is no reason why a food manufacturer with its manufacturing business in an industrial park should not be able to locate its plant next to an office where research and development is done or a kitchen or restaurant where products can be tested by consumers, she said.

Over time, this type of area could even become a hub for the food and beverage industry to test consumer responses and tastes, she added.

Suki Sushi director Kelvin Ong said: 'We're not allowed to do commercial sales in a factory.

'Yet doing it this way means the profit margin is good, and the consumers benefit because you cut out the middleman's fees and you don't need to pay the shopping mall landlord.'

He also said mall rents are high for start-ups, and added: 'Besides, on weekends, some people may want to go to a factory area to shop for cheap goods. There will be more choices.'

Ms Fu also said the Government should be prepared to explore different lease tenures. Now, industrial land typically comes with a 30-year lease, with an option to extend.

'In our discussions with industrialists, we have realised product life cycles are a lot shorter. We thought we could explore other lease terms.'

Other ideas the sub-committee threw up included a suggestion that land allocation be subject to a measurement of productivity like the number of jobs created per hectare.

Industrialists are also being encouraged to build higher instead of wider. Ms Fu said grants can be made to industrialists for them to study all this.

And turning to the subject of industrial landlord JTC, she said: 'From developing land, JTC may have to look at developing townships for new industrial parks.'

Mr Tan Tiong Cheng, chairman of Knight Frank property consultancy, said injecting flexibility is clearly good.

'If people see Singapore as very adaptable and conscious of change, it becomes more attractive,' he said.

Make reserve list responsive to market
Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

THE Economic Strategies Committee is proposing to tweak the reserve list - one of the main methods used to sell development land - to make it more responsive to the market.

Under this method, land is formally put up for tender only after a developer indicates interest by committing to a minimum bid the Government deems acceptable.

The ESC would like to speed up the process for activating a tender so land can come onstream faster to avert potential rental spikes.

'When we consulted the developers... one piece of feedback was that there's a price to pay to trigger a piece of land,' said Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.

'We're trying to look at ways to make it as low-cost as possible so that developers do not have to cross a high-cost barrier to trigger.'

The current method requires a developer to put down a deposit of 5 per cent of the minimum acceptable bid within two weeks of acceptance.

Some smaller developers have said that when they commit to an acceptable bid and trigger a tender, they might still miss out on the site.

'If so, why should they bother to trigger it? Their funds would be tied up,' said a property consultant.

Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng said that to speed up the process, the Government could give an indicative price range.

JOYCE TEO

Underground museums next?
Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

A STUDY will look at ways to carve out more underground space - for possible use as public areas such as museums and galleries.

It could also be used for facilities such as power stations and for storage, said Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu.

Singapore now has underground malls and pedestrian walkways, though underground uses can be 'quite varied', she said.

'We can foresee a museum, an art gallery, a science museum, something for the public to use as well as public infrastructure like an electrical substation,' said Ms Fu, co-chair of the ESC sub-committee on land productivity.

Talks are under way on using MRT stations for such functions. 'URA has always been thinking about what we can do at the Botanic Gardens station... We know there's a potential there; we haven't found a specific use so we will look out for the opportunity,' she said.

Architect Tai Lee Siang said if underground space was promoted properly, 'people's acceptance... will change rapidly, especially because Singapore has a finite land resource'. He added underground areas can suit uses needing little or no daylight, such as theatres.

Ms Fu said a national geology office could be set up almost immediately, with an underground masterplan to follow.

ESC recommends better use of industrial land
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : Making productive use of limited land in Singapore can help the country generate higher economic enterprises, according to the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC).

The sub-committee looking into maximising land use said such industries require less land space, but have high "value-added" output.

Industrial land now occupies more than 10 per cent of Singapore's total land stock. And making the land become more productive is the way forward.

"This can be done by increasing plot ratio to promote the development of innovative, capital intensive business parks or industrial parks," said Associate Professor Tu Yong, Department of Real Estate, School of Design & Environment, NUS.

"In the future, if we want to maintain our competitiveness, we have to make sure that our price is stable and competitive. We have to make sure sufficient industrial space is available so that the price will not be pushed up in the short term."

Experts said to better make use of industrial land in Singapore, the government may develop more projects like Fusionpolis. Such developments can then be home to higher value-added industries like biomedical, fashion and even cosmetics.

Experts added that such sectors will not only require less industrial land space, it will also help to generate jobs and help boost Singapore's economy.

Other proposals included creating new commercial areas outside the central region to ease congestion, and to position new growth areas which will be attractive hubs for Asian and global headquarter activities.

The government will respond to the committee's proposals later this month. - CNA /ls


Substation, science park among possible uses for underground space
Hoe Yeen Nie/Lip Kwok Wai, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE: The way Singapore uses its land could change in the coming decade and one idea, according to the Economic Strategies Committee, is to build deeper underground.

Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development, Grace Fu, said: "We have to explore better use of the land beneath us. We believe there are certain services and installations that are suitable, for example - substations and incinerator plants.

"We have quite a developed framework above ground. For example, we can designate areas for land reserves or canal reserves. So we need to have a similar framework for underground space as well."

As a start, land development agency JTC is studying the possibility of building a science park underneath the Kent Ridge university campus.

There are also plans to develop the current port area at Tanjong Pagar into a waterfront area similar to Marina Bay and creating new arts and lifestyle clusters out of places like Gillman Village.

The government will also look at ways to develop recreational spaces near industrial parks and build more homes within the central region. - CNA/vm

Live, work, play
Self-contained enclaves may help maximise land value
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - The Economic Strategies Committee thinks that Singapore should have more liveable industrial townships.

Instead of the manufacturing clusters that come to mind now, the image for the future is a clean, high-rise complex with manufacturing, research and test-bedding facilities under one roof.

Tenants would enjoy shared facilities such as carparks and storage space. Housing, dining and recreational facilities would all be within easy reach of employees, with machinery discreetly and conveniently tucked underground.

"Live-work-play" enclaves with distinctive characters are the way to go, if proposals from the subcommittee on maximising land value are realised. And its members believe this is possible, as the shift toward knowledge-intensive jobs means "there will be greater room to integrate economic uses together with residential and leisure uses".

Industrialists have highlighted the difficulty in getting workers to commute to remote parts of Singapore, and as new and emerging industries in Singapore will bring fewer environmental concerns, "there's really a need to bring elements together", said sub-committee co-chair Grace Fu, who is also Senior Minister of State (National Development).

Creating liveable and desirable industrial spaces is essential to attract talented workers to Singapore, and "as the line between manufacturing and services gets blurred ... we can bring jobs closer to people and bring workers closer to workplaces", said sub-committee member Tai Lee Siang, director of DP Architects. Industrial townships will have to shed their "pollutive and dirty image" and become live-work-play environments within a green setting.

It was revealed yesterday, for example, that there are plans for an industrial park at Lorong Halus - a former landfill that is now a green spot with grasslands and wooded hills - with lifestyle products and food industries set amid greenery and the Serangoon River.

Industries of the future will be less dependent on land, so it will be possible for estate planners to "stack the spaces in high-rise configuration", Mr Tai added.

Such a vision has already been articulated for the Kallang Riverside precinct, which will consist of an industrial area, waterfront residences, office and entertainment venues.

And for industrial sectors that are "large land-takers and/or with low plot ratio", such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, solar and marine sectors, the subcommittee asked for the Government to provide incentives to "encourage experimentation" in innovative industrial plant layouts.

The aim: To achieve a smaller land footprint, given that industrial land now takes up more than 10 per cent of Singapore's total land stock.

The subcommittee also recommended providing choice and diversity in business locations. This is already underway, for example, with the Jurong Gateway near Jurong East MRT station, which will have 500,000 square metres of office space, and provide an alternative to the Central Business District for global and Asian headquarters.

Property observer Colin Tan of Chesterton Suntec International told MediaCorp that with relaxed zoning policies, each business cluster will likely develop a stronger identity. In the past, he said, the Government didn't allow flexibility of use.

"Now, we say one urban centre looks very much like another because of these strict guidelines. The moment you allow some flexibility, each area will have its own distinctive identity," Mr Tan said.

To create more land in the longer term, the sub-committee called for underground space to be developed and synergised with above-ground facilities.

While it is unclear if this latest call would be in time to take advantage of ongoing underground rail works for the Downtown Line, Ms Fu said the Urban Redevelopment Authority has "started discussions at some stations", such as the Botanic Gardens.


Land: Lever, support in economic strategy
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - How might unproductive businesses in Singapore be weeded out in the future? It is clear from the report from the Economic Strategies Subcommittee on Maximising Value from Land as a Scarce Resource, that land is a good lever.

Singapore should consider the resource efficiency of sectors in its economic development and investment attraction efforts - not simply the value added and skills level entailed, the sub-committee said.

Singapore currently measures land productivity chiefly by looking at gross plot ratio (the ratio of the gross floor area of a building to its site area), but "land policy must not only support but also drive economic strategies ahead ... We must think about what sectors to promote and allocate land to, by considering how much value-added, jobs and spillovers for the economy they generate per hectare of land", said sub-committee co-chair Wong Fong Fui, the chairman and group chief executive of Boustead Singapore.

Businesses consulted also called for new ways to make Singapore's limited land space work harder and more efficiently for them.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority will inject more flexibility into current zoning rules, tweak the tenures of land leases, and make it "less onerous" to trigger sites on the Reserve List via a review of the security deposit that developers have to fork out.

Increased flexibility will be practised in a "very targeted way" to keep industrial land affordable, said sub-committee co-chair Grace Fu. Suggestions include allowing companies with service, industrial and manufacturing synergies to be located in industrial areas.

At the moment, rules are fairly rigid, with companies providing services to be sited in commercial buildings, and up to 15 per cent of space in business park zones allowed for "white" uses such as restaurants, shops and childcare centres, for instance.

Citing an example, Ms Fu said flexibility would be ideal for a food manufacturer that is also conducting research and development as well as test-bedding consumers' response.

More varied lease terms would also benefit companies in an era of shorter product life cycles.

Some industry players suggested having more 60-year commercial leases, which are currently few and far between. The sub-committee also suggested longer leases for capital-intensive industries and shorter leases for others. Neo Chai Chin

New ESC landscape may see property market changes
Emilyn Yap, Business Times 5 Feb 10;

Areas under study could include tenures, reserve list system, zoning, land use and land productivity

(SINGAPORE) The government could be making a wide range of changes to the property market - from offering a greater variety of lease tenures to relaxing rules for industrial land use.

These are some of several proposals from the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) sub-group studying ways to maximise the value of Singapore's land. It also suggested that the government track land productivity more closely, review the reserve list system of land sales, and enhance links with land-abundant neighbouring countries.

These ideas came in a report from the sub-group yesterday. The paper also contains proposals announced earlier on Monday, calling for the makeover of Tanjong Pagar into a waterfront district, the creation of underground space and more intensive use of industrial land.

Improving choice and flexibility in the property market was one of the key themes in the report. 'In addition to robust planning, we should also focus on making our land use system more nimble and remove barriers that may impede the flow of land resources from less to more land-efficient economic activities,' the sub-group said.

The sub-group recognised that a wider range of lease tenures would meet varying corporate needs. While industrial sites tend to carry 30 or 30+30-year leases, some capital-intensive industries have asked for longer leases for greater certainty on their investments. For commercial sites, the state usually sells them with 15 or 99-year leases but some have asked for something in between, say 60-year leases.

Property consultants generally welcomed the proposal. For instance, banks may feel more secure lending to businesses operating on sites with longer leases, said Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng. But there are also concerns - having different lease tenures in an area may impede urban renewal later, he added.

Another suggestion from the ESC sub-group pertains to zoning and land use. Some firms have asked for an expansion of allowable uses for state property, or more relaxed guidelines on housing other activities within an industrial zone.

These requests are particularly relevant as product cycles get shorter, and the line between production and services becomes blurred. And in developing entire industries, manufacturing, research and consumer-testing activities may have to come together.

Other zoning assumptions such as buffers between residential and industrial areas may be in for a review, said Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu in an interview. She is also co-chair of the sub-group.

But increased zoning flexibility will come 'in a very targeted way', she emphasised. 'Zoning allows us to segment land use and therefore keep industrial land affordable. . . We are not talking about very broad-based changes in the zoning framework.'

There were also positive responses to having more wiggle room in land use and zoning. Colliers International research and advisory director Tay Huey Ying supported this, though she noted that 'it may make land valuation a bit more tricky'.

The government should also consider offering more types of business locations, the sub-group said. For instance, Gillman Village could become home to a creative cluster, while Lorong Halus could be a waterfront industrial park with more amenities and lush greenery.

The ESC sub-group further recommended that the government place greater emphasis on land productivity when deciding how to allocate land among various uses. For instance, it should track and consider indicators such as value-added and jobs generated per hectare.

As the other co-chair of the sub-group, Boustead Singapore chairman and group CEO Wong Fong Fui described: 'It is like you have a land budget for economic development and thinking about how to invest it to maximise the economic 'yield' from the land.'

The wide range of proposals is expected to have some impact on the upcoming Concept Plan 2011, but Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak noted that 'it is still early days' to say how reviews would go. Changes should be gradual, he reckoned.

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Singapore will not emulate other countries in its goal to be a global city

Hoe Yeen Nie/Jeremy Koh, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE: The Economic Strategies Committee has sketched out broad ideas to make Singapore a global city. But it said Singapore will have to do it its own way.

That means, what is allowed overseas - like gay parades - may not necessarily be allowed here.

Lui Tuck Yew, Co-Chair, Global City Sub-Comm, and Acting Information, Communications & the Arts Minister, said: "We will have to chart our own way. It is not for us to copy the type of openness that is seen in New York, London or Paris, some of which may not be applicable in our own local context.

"But we will do so in a manner which, I think, Singaporeans as a whole agree on, at a pace that is comfortable, calibrated and gradual."

Separately, the new National Art Gallery will be the latest addition to Singapore's growing arts and cultural district. The area, located in the civic district, includes several museums, theatres and historical sites.

And it is through developments like this that could make Singapore a city of culture. Singapore may rank high among global companies as a place to do business. But it fares less well as a city to live and play in.

Other plans include weekend markets and new retail options at Bugis and Bras Basah to make the area more vibrant.

The committee also aims to bring in more top-class educational institutions by 2020. - CNA/vm


Global city, but in our own way

Singaporeans will decide both path and pace of getting there, says Lui Tuck Yew
Lin Yan Qin, Today Online 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - If Singapore aspires to be a vibrant cultural capital, on par with cities such as London or New York, is it prepared to embrace the relatively more "permissive" culture of these societies?

Posed this question yesterday in a meeting with reporters, Acting Minister for Communication, Information and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said the Republic was not seeking to adopt the culture of such cities and that Singapore society will evolve on its own to become more open and diverse.

"Singapore, I believe, has an advantage ... It's an open yet safe and secure society that we have here," said Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui, who co-chaired the Economic Strategies Committee's sub-committee focussing on making Singapore a global city.

"We'll have to chart our own path and, most of all, it'll be determined and decided by how and what Singaporeans are prepared to do ... It's also going to be a process that is evolutionary, proceeding at a pace that is calibrated, that is gradual and Singaporeans are comfortable with."

The sub-committee identified culture as a key area in global city standards where Singapore is lagging.

It said the Government needed to incentivise the growth of "cultural philanthropy and sponsorship" and to develop the "cultural tourism sector", for instance, by doing more to promote Singapore as a "gateway to experiencing the cultures of Asia".

The sub-committee also called for more lifestyle offerings here, not just international heavyweights such as Formula One racing but also local "ground-up" events.

"We have local original events that I think we can grow a lot of ... even things like New Year's Eve countdown, where we wanted to create a tradition for Singaporeans but more and more, the event is picking up, and we're getting more visitors who know about this event," said Urban Redevelopment Authority chief executive officer Cheong Koon Hean, one of the sub-committee members.

When the Gardens by the Bay development in the Marina area is completed, it could become part of the route for marathons held here, which draw as many people as other renowned races such as the Boston Marathon, she added.

Policies such as the tax regime should also be reviewed, according to the report yesterday, to make Singapore more attractive as a hub for the trading of art and collectibles. And there should be more affordable spaces for business clusters such as Gillman Village, with an agency like JTC Corporation managing the infrastructure of emerging arts and creative sectors.

Looking ahead, however, it is important the Government does not "script it to the nth degree", stressed RAdm Lui. "What we can do is provide some stimulus, hopefully it acts as a catalyst, but leave enough room for the organic development to take place."

Vibrant 'software' key to building a global city
Singapore can be cultural hub of Asia with lively arts scene, talent and innovation
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE'S public infrastructure, education system, health care, and technology - the city's 'hardware' - have helped make it one of the most liveable places in the world.

But to make it a leading global city like Paris, London or New York, it needs the accompanying 'software' - a vibrant arts and cultural scene, top talent and thriving innovation.

To achieve this, the Economic Strategies Committee's sub-committee for making Singapore a leading global city has unleashed a panoply of suggestions.

To develop the cultural scene, it has suggested giving arts and creative businesses a leg-up by providing them with more affordable spaces in existing clusters like Gillman Village. Agencies like the Jurong Town Council could develop infrastructure for future clusters.

An annual calendar packed with more top-notch international events, especially in the sports and culinary areas, would also add vibrancy, it added.

There could be more incentives to encourage sponsorship of the arts and to promote Singapore to tourists as a gateway to Asia's varied cultures.

The civic district, already brimming with museums and theatres, could also be marketed as a premier cultural destination, and more major events could be held in its public spaces.

The idea is to make Singapore the cultural hub of Asia.

'In many ways, we will be the culinary and culture kitchen of Asia, because we have a long heritage steeped in Asia and the West,' said Mr Benson Phua, chief executive officer of the National Arts Council and the Esplanade.

In the area of attracting talent, one aim could be to attract top South-east Asian artists to come to Singapore and make their most creative works here, said Mr Lui Tuck Yew, co-chair of the sub-committee.

But homegrown talent should also be groomed and helped in gaining international exposure, he added.

Singapore could welcome at least five more world-class schools or programmes by 2020, to develop talents in areas like the arts, sports, fashion and design.

While Mr Lui was unable to disclose names, it is understood they would be of the same calibre as New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, which set up a campus here in 2007.

'What we want is to provide more opportunities, establish a certain reputation for Singapore, and tie up with the right partners overseas,' added Mr Lui, who is also the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

Finally, Singapore could also do with a more sophisticated branding and marketing campaign to woo people here, the committee suggested.

But it also stressed that a light touch should be exercised with these proposals.

Said Mr Lui: 'What we can do is provide some stimulus, to leave enough room for that organic development to take place.

'What we don't want to do is script it to the nth degree so that there is no room for that outpouring of new ideas accumulating and developing.'

For example, the Government should only take on a facilitative role when developing key districts.

'The private businesses should lead the development, while the Government supports,' said Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive of the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

But even as Singapore evolves into a culture capital on a par with London, New York and Paris, it should not emulate those cities' more permissive societies, said Mr Lui.

He stressed that the city should remain an 'open yet safe and secure society'.

'We have to chart our own path. Most of all, it will be determined by Singaporeans and what they are prepared to do... proceeding at a pace that's calibrated, gradual, and what Singaporeans are comfortable with.'

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Singapore not going nuclear yet: Iswaran

Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

THE prospect of using nuclear energy is 'not imminent', not even within the next five to 10 years, said the Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran.

He acknowledged on Wednesday that 'naturally, people are going to be concerned', but emphasised that this prospect is in the 'very distant future'. The Government should start the process of studying its feasibility now 'because this is very complex and complicated', he said to the media.

Mr Iswaran co-chaired a 17-member sub-committee looking at Singapore's energy resilience and sustainable growth, as part of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) report released on Monday.

It recommended that the Government study the feasibility of nuclear energy and, in the medium term, consider coal and electricity imports to diversify energy sources. The sub-committee's detailed report released yesterday also set a target for Singapore to supply 5 per cent of its peak electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Mr Iswaran noted that neighbours Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are building or considering nuclear plants so it is 'important that Singapore is well abreast of developments in the sector'. He cited International Energy Agency studies which forecast strong global growth in the number of nuclear energy plants. 'If that's indeed the case, we should understand what it means, and whether there's scope for us to participate.'

Closer on the horizon are sources such as coal and imported electricity generated from regional renewable sources such as geothermal or hydro-power, he noted. Mr Iswaran said that although coal generates relatively more carbon emissions than other fuels, new technology has improved the environmental standards of coal-fired plants.

He added that electricity could be imported in the form of an Asean cooperation or a bilateral deal.

The private sector could also play a big role as this presented huge potential investment opportunities, he said. Other ESC suggestions included consolidating the energy systems on Jurong Island to make them more efficient.

Energy will also be put at the top of the list for research and development.

Energy analysts told The Straits Times yesterday that the recommendations were timely and that it was important for Singapore to diversify its sources to mitigate the impact of volatile energy prices.

Dr Michael Quah, principal fellow at the Energy Studies Institute here, said advanced technologies meant it was possible that emissions from pollutants like coal 'could be reduced at some cost'. 'The real issue is that energy security comes from energy diversity,' he said. The idea of importing power from regional renewable resources is one that should be pursued, as it would lead to greater regional collaboration, he added.

Efficiency key to a leaner, greener Singapore
Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

THERE are three key ingredients to transforming Singapore into a smart, green economy: efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.

The energy sub-committee of the Economic Strategies Committee yesterday said a mix of carrot-and-stick approaches should be used to help Singapore become leaner and greener.

Companies could be legally compelled to conduct energy audits to optimise energy use, while incentives and education will be on offer to help people and businesses make changes, its report said.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran elaborated: 'When you talk about a system where energy is priced right, there must be clear market-based signals, and there must be incentives. We must have some of that already in place, some regulation that may require audits (and) a regular corporate commitment to reviewing these things.'

Energy conservation and efficiency are important as prices of energy are unlikely to come down in the future, he added. 'Relative to other commodity goods, energy prices are rising. It reflects the demand-supply dynamics on the global level. What we want to avoid is the situation where... we are unduly exposed to price shocks or volatility.'

At the centre of Singapore's economy will be Intelligent Energy Systems, or smart grids, allowing communication between consumers and grid operators - leading to greater efficiency.

For example, households will have smart meters in homes telling them when electricity is cheaper or more expensive, said Mr Iswaran. 'Consumers can tune the usage of various appliances according to the price signals... and based on usage, we can find what optimises our expenditure on energy.'

Part of managing energy consumption also has to do with its price. Such price signals could take the form of carbon taxes or carbon trading regimes such as those in other countries, said the report.

'These are the questions we need to think about... but our objective on pricing is to make sure that when people see a price for energy, the price captures all the externalities,' he said.

Carbon emissions will remain a top issue due to global concerns on climate change, and Singapore must be prepared for any future global agreement on this issue, said the report.

Mr Iswaran added that if any such new measures come in, offsets will be given to low-income households.

The report released yesterday also said incentives will be put in place to support clean and efficient technologies in transportation.

In particular, the current green vehicle rebate could be refined to make it more effective. The Government will also continue building up skills and talent to grow a green collar workforce, he said.

JESSICA CHEAM

Singapore needs to diversify energy sources
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : Singapore needs to consider different options to diversify its energy sources, so as to make the country less vulnerable to price fluctuations and supply disruptions.

Some of the options to consider include importing coal and electricity. Another is to conduct a study on the possibility of having nuclear energy in the distant future.

A sub-committee under the Economic Strategies Committee came up with these proposals and released its report on Thursday.

Currently, about 80 per cent of Singapore's electricity is generated by gas-fired power plants.

To ensure energy security, the sub-committee suggested that Singapore should develop a smart energy economy.

Proposals to achieve that include developing Jurong Island as an energy-optimised industrial cluster, investing in critical energy infrastructure and further developing renewable energy sources like solar and biomass.

The sub-committee also suggested that the government consider refining the existing Green Vehicle Rebate such that it is based on the actual fuel efficiency or carbon emissions of the vehicle, which it currently does not take into account.

It also proposed that existing funding for research and development in energy be expanded to about S$500 million over five years.

The sub-committee pointed out that as traditional energy sources like oil and gas are limited, energy prices may increase in future. So having different energy options will be essential to ensure supply reliability and to better manage price volatility.

S Iswaran, chairman of the Economic Strategies Sub-Committee, and Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry, said: "By enhancing the mix of sources available to us, we want to make sure there are competitive options available for industries and Singaporeans.

"If any one source has issues, there are other sources that can come in and pick up the slack. And overall, the system will be able to continue and the energy price will be competitive."

Using nuclear energy to generate electricity is another possible option. In fact, the sub-committee said countries like Vietnam and Thailand have announced plans to build nuclear power plants in the next decade, while Malaysia and Indonesia are considering this option.

The sub-committee made it clear that it is only proposing that Singapore begins to study the feasibility of having nuclear energy. It reiterated that this is a long-term plan for 10 years and beyond.

The key, it added, is that Singapore keeps abreast of the nuclear energy developments as well as to consider the different energy sources for the distant future.

Experts said studying the nuclear energy option is a good decision, and Singapore must find a nuclear generator that's safe for the country.

Importing electricity will also help Singapore's energy security.

"The best thing for Singapore is to consider investing in the country from which it is going to import (electricity from). By doing this, it can be certain that for example, through a joint venture with that country, create a type of generator which is environmentally-friendly," said Dr Hooman Peimani, head of Energy Security, Energy Studies Institute, NUS. - CNA /ls

Applying a 'green lens'
Esther Ng, Today Online 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - The attention so far, on the issue of creating a smart energy economy, may have been on some of the Economic Strategies Committee's (ESC) long-term recommendations, such as a possible feasibility study of nuclear energy as one option here.

But the ESC subcommittee's report on energy resilience and sustainable growth, released yesterday, detailed additional ideas that may have a more immediate impact.

Whether public transport can be both clean and affordable, for example, depends on the Government's response to the suggestion that it provides grants or financing to the bus operators.

With half the bus fleet here needing replacement over the next five years, the subcommittee said the Government should support the introduction of the diesel-hybrid engine (picture), which can be up to 20 per cent more fuel and carbon efficient than conventional buses - but also more expensive.

There were also incentives ideas for Singaporeans to drive green.

For instance, the existing green vehicle rebate covers hybrid, compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric vehicles, but does not take into account actual emissions or efficiency.

The report recommended "refining" the rebate so that it is "based on the actual fuel efficiency or carbon emissions" of the vehicle.

Mr Jan Croeni, founder of Eonlux, a sustainable mobility company, agreed. "It makes sense as an electric car is cleaner than a CNG one - consumers should be rewarded more for choosing cleaner technology," he told MediaCorp.

Transportation is the third largest consumer of energy here. Buildings form the largest electricity consumer, and a target was suggested yesterday as to how much of peak electricity demand should be met by renewable energy sources: Five per cent by 2020.

Professor Chou Siaw Kiang, from the National University of Singapore's mechanical engineering department, said the target is "doable" and that "solar voltaic energy" will be a significant renewable energy source. He added: "We could import electricity from a regional grid if there's one in place. We've been talking about an Asean grid for a number of years. Perhaps it's time to start moving."

Mr Christophe Inglin, managing director of solar power systems company Phoenix Solar, thinks the target of five per cent is "not ambitious" enough, though.

"Large-scale installation of photo voltaic panel will likely take place in the next three to four years, and we could hit that target," he said.

In some European countries, the target is 20 per cent from renewable energy sources, and not limited to peak hours of 11am to 2pm, he added.

Both men agreed, though, that government support would be crucial to kickstart investment in green technology. "Investments from the private sector will be slower without fiscal incentives," said Prof Chou.

The report noted the need to "strengthen project financing for energy-efficiency projects" and other energy-related financial services such as "venture capital and derivatives products".

The subcommittee urged the government to "stimulate significant demand" for energy efficient products by applying a "green lens to government procurement", which will help stimulate the green economy while reaping savings for taxpayers.

In Europe, green procurement legislation ensures a fair playing field for all suppliers, said the ESC.

Private sector-driven move to smart energy economy preferred
Uma Shankari, Business Times 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE'S shift to a 'smart energy economy' should preferably be private sector-driven, Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Trade and Industry S Iswaran said yesterday.

The government can play its role through regulation, as well as granting market access, he said.

He was discussing recommendations by the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), which on Monday released a blueprint for Singapore's growth over the next 10 years.

The sub-committee looking at energy released its detailed report yesterday. Among various things, it says Singapore needs to diversify its energy sources over the next decade - and even consider nuclear power - as it will face energy constraints while growing.

One option raised is importing coal and electricity.

Mr Iswaran, who co-chaired the sub-committee, said importing electricity via long-distance cables is a viable option but would require a power grid. 'Somebody' has to invest in generation capacity and grid infrastructure, he said. 'Is there a role for governments in this? Possibly. But there is certainly a role for the private sector.'

When private companies start proposing ideas, the government will engage them, Mr Iswaran said. 'I don't want to be too prescriptive about this. At the end of the day, you have to allow the private sector to also come up with its own ideas,' he said.

The sub-committee's report also advocates continued support of the innovation and the infrastructure necessary to develop renewable energy sources, as well as studying the feasibility of nuclear energy.

Singapore should aim to have 5 per cent of its peak electricity demand supplied by renewable energy sources by 2020, the report says.

It also proposes that existing funding for research and development in energy be expanded to about $500 million over five years.

Jen Kwong Hwa, managing director of Micron Semiconductor Asia, said industry players would welcome the diversification of Singapore's energy sources as this would mitigate price volatility.

The report also calls for the promotion of energy-efficient buildings, industry and homes - through legislation such as mandatory energy audits, if needed.

But Mr Iswaran said legislation would need to come with incentives to move businesses and households towards energy efficiency. 'Regulation is just one part of the equation,' he said. 'We want to make sure there are adequate incentives in the system and that there is also a market- based effort.'

Incentives could be by way of tax breaks, market watchers said.

'The government can make use of the Budget to introduce tax incentives to encourage businesses to go green,' said Angela Tan, a tax partner with Ernst & Young. 'This would demonstrate Singapore's commitment to gradually shift to a low-carbon economy and lay the foundation for future sustainability.'

Read more!

Aviation firms showcase green technologies at Singapore Airshow

Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : The aviation industry is committed to a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, and reflecting that challenge is a special green exhibition at the Singapore Airshow this year.

Major aviation companies are showcasing the latest environmental technologies at the Green Pavilion at the airshow.

The sector now accounts for two per cent of global carbon emissions and that could rise - especially since the industry is set for major growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The one positive thing about aviation and going green is green technology is tied to fuel burn. So as you reduce the amount of fuel you burn, you reduce the amount of carbon emissions and that is definitely related to profitability of the airlines," said Paul Finklestein, VP of Marketing at Pratt & Whitney.

Reflecting how serious the industry is, in 2008, the European Union (EU) set up a 1.6 billion euros Clean Sky project - a programme to come up with new technologies quickly.

"The normal lifespan of an aeroplane is 30 years and the development of this kind of technology is 10 years. So we really have to start putting as much effort as possible into developing these new technologies," said Holger Standertskjold, Ambassador & Head of Delegation, EU.

With aviation companies putting all their focus on coming out of dark economic times, there are concerns that green initiatives will take a step back. But aviation companies insist that will not be the case.

"We are pushing forward and this year, (we have) two main projects. The first one is implementation of bio fuels for aviation and the second one is development of modernised air-traffic management," said Carine Huc-Pinault, director of Environment Strategy, Airbus.

Last month, Airbus flew for the first time a commercial flight with 50 per cent alternative fuel blended with normal jet fuel, successfully.

Despite emerging technologies, the failure to reach any serious agreement in the recent Copenhagen climate talks will mean that the aviation sector will have a challenging time. - CNA /ls

ICES, EADS to collaborate on conversion of algae oil to jet fuel
Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : A greener aviation industry - that is what a joint project between A*STAR's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) and aerospace giant EADS hopes to achieve.

The project will investigate the conversion of algae oil to kerosene for jet fuel.

So far, fuel burn has been kept down by improving aircraft and engine efficiency.

EADS said a more radical solution is the use of biofuels made from sustainable and renewable sources such as algae.

Microalgae grow rapidly and require limited nutrients to thrive, but technological breakthroughs are needed for them to become viable.

Some microalgae contain high levels of oil content which can be used as the feedstock for making jet fuel.

The aviation sector accounts for 2 to 3 per cent of man-made CO2 emissions. - CNA /ls

Flying high on algae?
Today Online 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - Can algae oil be viably converted to kerosene for jet fuel that might one day power the world's aircraft? This is something a new 12-month collaboration between A*Star's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences and global aerospace and defence firm EADS will investigate.

With the aviation sector accounting for some 2 per cent of global carbon emissions, the industry has been taking steps - such as looking at biofuels - to ensure the growth in air transportation is sustainable.

The sector has committed to a 50-per-cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, and at the Singapore Airshow, major aviation companies are showcasing the latest environmental technologies at a Green Pavilion.

But with aviation companies focusing on emerging from the global slowdowns, some fear green initiatives will take a back seat.

Companies insist that won't be the case. Last month, Airbus successfully flew the first commercial flight with 50 per cent alternative fuel blended with normal jet fuel.

Said Carine Huc-Pinault, Airbus' director of Environment Strategy: "We are pushing forward and this year (with) two main projects. The first is implementation of biofuels for aviation and the second is development of modernised air-traffic management."

EADS to conduct research in Singapore
Maria Almenoar, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE'S aerospace research capabilities climbed up a notch yesterday when European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) committed to work with three Singapore institutions on 'green' aircraft solutions.

EADS, parent company of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, is working with A*Star's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences on converting algae oil to kerosene for use as jet fuel.

It also signed a research agreement with Nanyang Technological University, where it is involved in developing an energy efficient radio system.

The National University of Singapore and EADS already have two projects in mind. One of these looks at solar powered aircraft, while the other is on improving the aerodynamic qualities of aircraft.

Globally, the aviation industry has been looking at various ways to fly more energy efficient planes to reduce the air travel carbon footprint and to save airlines money.

EADS said it was committed to placing its brightest researchers in Singapore and is 'here for the long term'.

Said Mr Christian Duhain, EADS corporate vice-president for international development for Asia-Pacific and Latin America: 'We now have 25 engineers here in Singapore, and we plan to ramp that up to about 40 in the next two to three years.'

Singapore will be the only EADS research facility outside of Europe.

Industry players identified the Asia-Pacific as one of the key growth markets for aerospace companies globally. Singapore is leveraging on this by attracting more aerospace research and development projects to be based in the Republic.

In 2007, EADS, together with aircraft manufacturer Boeing and engine makers Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney signed a three-year agreement with A*Star to contribute $200,000 a year to help fund research here.

Currently, there are estimated to be more than 1,300 aerospace researchers in Singapore.

A*Star, EADS to jointly develop green bio-fuel
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 5 Feb 10;

THE Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) said yesterday its Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) will work with European aerospace and defence giant EADS to create environmentally friendly bio-fuel.

A*Star and EADS will explore whether micro-algae can be used as a renewable source of fuel for aircraft and look into the conversion of algae oil to kerosene for use as jet fuel.

ICES executive director Keith Carpenter said: 'We hope we can prove to the world that micro-algae can be the solution as a much cheaper and much more efficient source of fuel that can benefit the aviation industry and make air travel more environmentally sustainable.'

Micro-algae are more efficient than plants at converting solar energy and carbon dioxide into fixed bio-mass. They can produce almost 90,000 litres of oil per hectare annually.

Some micro-algae contain high levels of oil content, which can be used as feedstock to make jet fuel.

Yann Barbaux, head of EADS Innovation Works, said: 'As a systems architect of aeroplanes, it is our responsibility to foster research on bio-fuel, even if we are not directly involved in the energy business.'

The aviation sector accounts for 2 to 3 per cent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. So far, fuel burn has been reduced by creating increasingly efficient aircraft and engines.

A*Star, which participated in the 2008 and this year's Singapore Airshow, also has an aerospace programme aimed at boosting efforts toward aerospace R&D.

It works with 18 companies that include industry leaders such as EADS, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce.

Since 2007, the programme has channelled $18 million towards 16 projects. Projects on laser processing, advanced robotics and structural health monitoring have been completed, and talks are underway on possibly commercialisation.

Low Teck Seng, executive director of A*Star's science and engineering research council, said: 'We hope we will be able to develop innovative technologies that both MNCs and SMEs can adopt to continue excellence in MRO-related services and for their high-value-added manufacturing and design activities.'

A*Star also has technologies that can help improve MRO efficiency and reduce costs, he said.

'For example, we are developing a non-destructive testing method to monitor structure integrity to enable detection of early-stage damage before occurrence.'

Read more!

Illegal imports in Singapore at record high

Food, animals, plants see biggest increase
Carolyn Quek, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

CONTRABAND smuggling cases hit an all-time record of 52,800 last year, with cases involving food, animals, plants and other controlled items seeing the biggest increase at the checkpoints.

In releasing its report card for last year, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the number of contraband smuggling cases on the whole rose 37 per cent from 2008 as smugglers were 'more deceptive and ingenious' in escaping the law.

The most common type of contraband case detected last year involved illegal cigarettes. There were 19,000 of such cases, although they registered a marginal 0.5 per cent rise from 2008.

Cases involving security-related items like flick knives as well as prohibited and controlled drugs like Subutex jumped by more than 70 per cent.

However, the biggest jump involved food, animals, plants and other controlled items identified by Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Such cases jumped to 5,900 cases last year, up by 228 per cent from 2008.

These smugglers tried sneaking in all sorts of flora and fauna: from ornamental fishes, to fertilisers, to even the endangered Agar wood, used to make essential oils.

The oriental white eye - or mata puteh in Malay - a popular songbird here, was however, a favourite of the smugglers and among the most common in this category, the ICA said.

In one case last August, over 50 mata putehs from Indonesia's Tanjung Pinang were hidden beneath trays of otak otak (fish cakes) by an Indonesian man who tried to make his way through the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

The birds were supposed to have been delivered to a bird shop owner in Bedok but their chirping gave smuggler Ho Han Hong away and he was jailed for three weeks.

In another major bird smuggling case, a total of 60 jambuls and magpies were found in a Singapore-registered car during a routine check at the Woodlands Checkpoint last December.

It was the unusually high floor mats of the car and flapping sounds that could be heard coming from under the mats and the seats that alerted the authorities.

Since 2006, there have been restrictions on the import of birds from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)-affected countries.

These include Indonesia as well as Thailand, China and Malaysia.

One bird shop owner, Mr Frankie Low, told The Straits Times yesterday that the lure of smuggling birds like the mata puteh is hard to resist, given these restrictions.

The 63-year-old said that while these small green birds cost as little as $10 up to eight years ago, they can fetch as much as $150 now.

He said some in the industry also try to get around the rules by shipping birds from HPAI-affected areas to non-affected ones like Japan or Taiwan before they are sent to Singapore.

A spokesman for the AVA said it gives lectures to ICA staff and also sources for outside training such as that provided by non-governmental organisations to help combat smuggling.

'We do all this training to heighten ICA's awareness of AVA's regulated items, so that its officers can assist us in detecting such items when illegally imported.'

Read more!

New weekend farmers' market in Singapore

Fresh from the farms
A new weekend farmers' market tries to avoid the sad fate of other similar bazaars with more variety
kezia toh, Straits Times Life 5 Feb 10;

Spiced with saffron and a dash of paprika, the paella (Spanish rice) is liberally topped with shrimp, clams and squid, then simmered over a fire. This is served alongside racks of luscious produce and gourmet meat - these are what shoppers can expect to find at an upcoming farmers' market at Loewen Gardens.

The market in Tanglin Village, which will be open tomorrow from 9am to 2pm, will have 19 stalls including organic vegetables importers, wine importers and suppliers of meat, cheese and bread.

It is organised by Briton Jane Glascow, 49, who runs The Pantry Cookery School at Loewen Gardens.

She says: 'I long for good produce, to be able to choose food and know where it comes from. I crave the atmosphere of chatting with the suppliers, listening to their stories and their belief that their product is great.'

The idea of a farmers' market, where farmers and other vendors sell produce directly to consumers, is not new. But such markets have not reaped bountiful harvests here.

For example, organic food market L'Organic in Dempsey Road, which held weekend markets every month, ceased operations last July. The company declined to comment.

And Farmart Centre, a hub hosting a variety of shops selling farm produce along Sungei Tengah, faces the same paucity of customers.

With the economic slowdown, business for farmers is slow, says Farmart's in-house guide William Ho, 58. The solution is to depend on the business of regular customers, he adds, and make sure that the products sold are of high quality.

The centre has a variety of shops selling produce from farms, including fish, vegetables and game meat.

To get the word out on the Loewen Gardens market, Mrs Glascow has tapped into magazine mailing lists as well as the mailing lists of the vendors.

'We have built a relationship with our suppliers and customers, so the market is a natural extension of that,' she says.

For instance, the wine suppliers - antipodean wine specialists Wine Guru and boutique wine company Wine2u - are working together to sponsor a sommelier to run wine talks and tasting sessions at the market.

The key is to make sure that products complement and not compete with one another, says Mrs Glascow.

'For instance, if you go to the butcher, he might recommend pairing the meat with a particular wine or cooking it with some type of vegetable,' she adds.

Placing vendors such as those selling cheese next to wine sellers works as well.

She says: 'It is this ability to create a meal based on everything around you.'

The concept is drawing vendors, who are lining up for the next run next month.

Vegetable purveyor Cynthia Wee- Hoefer, 58, says: 'It breaks away from the boredom and predictability of buying from a supermarket.'

She plans to sell organic vegetables from her farm in Nepal, including highland potatoes and emperor shitake mushrooms.

Farmers' markets also cater to those with a different diet. For editorial intern Victoria Yim, 22, the market is a chance to showcase gluten-free foods such as the cupcakes she will be selling. 'People who attend these markets tend to be more aware of the gluten-free diet. The cupcakes do not taste different from regular ones, which is really what I am aiming for.'

A highlight at the market is the outdoor cooking of paella by Spanish food company Solymer. Depending on the weather, it will either be cooked over a wood fire or with a gas paella cooker.

According to managing director Lisa Olson, 49, the famous Spanish dish needs only simple spices - no more than salt, saffron and paprika.

'But many of the paellas served in restaurants in Singapore add many more spices so they end up tasting like Asian rice dishes. So guests at the market can try a paella that is much closer in taste to what you would experience in Spain,' she says.

These offerings are getting customers excited.

Glass artist Lisa O'Toole, 38, who plans to make a trip to the market, says: 'I shop at the farmers' market as a treat - so I do not feel that it replaces a supermarket or the wet market. I will be looking for freshly baked bread, and vegetables that don't look supermarket shiny.

'It is also a great way to get my kids excited about food.'

LOEWEN GARDENS FARMERS' MARKET
Where: 75E Loewen Road, Tanglin Village
When: Tomorrow, 9am to 2pm, and first Saturday of every month
Admission: Free
Info: Call 6474-0441

Read more!

75% rise in dengue cases in Singapore

Weekly cases soar as 18 at Balestier site hit, but Jan overall figures down
Jessica Jaganathan, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;

Mosquito larvae similar to these were spotted at the construction site along Akyab Road. They were found in a puddle and in a septic tank. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

DENGUE numbers shot up to 131 cases last week from 75 the week before, creating a new high for the year.

A construction site in the Balestier area which contributed partly to the 75 per cent increase has since been fined $2,000, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

The site along Akyab Road had two spots breeding mosquitoes - 50 larvae were wriggling in a ground puddle and another 50, in a septic tank.

Eighteen construction workers from China and Bangladesh there had come down with dengue fever.

An NEA spokesman noted that this cluster of dengue victims, which started on Jan 28, is the biggest so far this year.

She added, however, that the Balestier site has been satisfactorily maintained since then, so the cluster is expected to be declared closed next Tuesday if no fresh dengue cases surface between now and that deadline.

NEA officers have been deployed to seek out and destroy breeding sites in that neighbourhood.

A firm caught breeding mosquitoes a second time could be dealt a heftier fine of $4,000.

Contacted by The Straits Times, a project manager of the firm, who wanted to be known only as Mr Yap, denied at first that the place was a dengue cluster.

He later admitted that some workers had come down with fever and that the firm was cooperating with the NEA by stepping up pest-control measures.

Island-wide, 379 dengue cases surfaced last month, down from 621 for the same period last year.

Mosquito breeding at construction sites is also down. The number of firms fined or warned last year dropped to 908 from 1,273 the year before.

Before the Balestier cluster developed, the last construction site found hosting a large dengue cluster was in Chay Yan Street in Tiong Bahru last year - 36 people there came down with dengue.

NEA urges the public to remain vigilant against mosquito breeding by removing all potential water-bearing containers from their premises.

Read more!

Greenwash: The truth is not the whole truth

Companies are falling over themselves to make ecofriendly promises, but so many of these are just empty gestures
Ben Webster, Times Online 4 Feb 10;

Here’s a trick question: one company claims that its green initiative is saving a thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide a year; another, selling a similar product, says it is saving a million tonnes. Which one should you buy from if you care about the environment? The answer is neither because both companies are probably guilty of greenwash.

Even if they are being honest about their savings, these numbers are not enough to indicate which is working harder to save the planet. Such grandiose green statements are meaningless unless you know a company’s total emissions and can work out the percentage saving.

Ideally, you also need to know the reduction in emissions per unit of production, because a big cut in total CO2 could simply be a sign of a failing company losing market share. Companies that just talk about tonnes of CO2 saved are either trying to mislead customers or else have failed to understand good environmental practice.

Green claims ought to be subject to common standards and expressed in a way that enables easy comparisons. Assessing the merits of an environmental commitment by a company should be as simple as reading the colour-coded efficiency label on a fridge or washing machine.

Even when companies do spell out the percentage reduction in emissions per product, they usually fail to make clear how much of their product range is covered by their commitment. Coca-Cola announced last year that it was reducing its reliance on petroleum-based plastic by introducing a bottle made partly from plant material. They are calling it the PlantBottle, even though only 15 to 30 per cent of the bottle is plant based.

To be fair to Coca-Cola, it stated this low percentage clearly in its press release. However, it failed to state the proportion of its drinks that would come in this partially renewable form of packaging. It said it would produce 2 billion PlantBottles by the end of 2010, which sounds impressive until you realise that Coca-Cola sells 580 billion drinks a year. Only 0.3 per cent of the company’s drinks will come in PlantBottles this year. They will, however, be consumed conspicuously: Coca-Cola is attempting to secure maximum publicity by sending the bottles to important events. They were launched in December at the Copenhagen climate change summit and will be heavily promoted this month at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

When I asked Coca-Cola why it had no plans for much wider distribution of the PlantBottle, it blamed sceptical consumers. Lisa Manley, the company’s director of sustainability communications, said: “There is a great deal of scepticism in some markets about green communications. We are working hard to make sure that the communications of the benefits of the bottle are done credibly.”

Obviously all good green ideas have to start somewhere and can only be rolled out after thorough testing. But once a company has garnered the positive headlines and taken the pictures for the glossy corporate social responsibility report, there may be little incentive to expand a green initiative, especially if it is more expensive than the traditional practice.

By the end of the year Whitbread, owner of Premier Inns, will have opened two “green hotels” with a carbon footprint 70 per cent lower than standard hotels. Much of the emissions saving comes from ground-source heat pumps, which provide all the hot water, heat and cooling. Whitbread has found that the pumps, which cost £150,000 per hotel, pay for themselves in ten years through lower energy bills. It is “considering the possibility” of making them a standard item in new-build hotels.

The real test of Whitbread’s commitment to the environment will be whether it pledges to install heat pumps at all 580 Premier Inns. Presently, Whitbread’s green hotels are as limited as PlantBottles in terms of the proportion of the business they cover. Perhaps 0.3 per cent is some kind of magic number in green marketing circles.

Honest statements about the extent of green initiatives would help to overcome cynicism, but are not a guarantee against greenwash. Honda is very open about the tiny number of hydrogen fuel-cell cars it is making over the three years to June 2011: it will sell a total of 200 out of more than ten million cars over the period. Many will be given to celebrities; Jamie Lee Curtis has already received hers.

Honda knows that no one expects fuel-cell cars to be a common sight on the roads in the next couple of years. But it wants to persuade drivers and governments that the dream of zero-emission motoring really is achievable in the next two decades.

Yet according to Oliver Inderwildi, of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, fuel cells will not be widely available until after 2050 because of the high cost of the platinum they contain.

There is an enormous difference between doing just enough to forestall tighter regulation and taking the bold steps needed to protect the planet.

Read more!

New endemic gecko species found in Binh Thuan, Vietnam

Voice of Vietnam 4 Feb 10;

A new species of gecko lizard has recently been discovered by the Ta Cu Nature Reserve in Ta Cu mountain in the southern province of Binh Thuan.

The new endemic gecko lizard, Gekko takouensis sp. nov. Ngo & Gamble, which belongs to the gekkonidae family, was named after two scientists--Ngo Van Tri, an expert of the Department of Environmental Management and Technology under the HCM City Institute of Tropical Biology (HITB), and Tony Gamble, a US doctor in Minnesota University, for their discovery.

This is the second endemic gecko lizard found on Ta Cu mountain. The other is bent-toe gecko named Cyrtodactylus takouensis Ngo & Bauer.

According to Dr Vu Ngoc Long, Director of HITB’s Bio-diversity and Development Centre, there are at least 25 species of endangered animals at the Ta Cu Nature Reserve.

In an effort to protect the important nature reserve, a project has been launched to improve the management capacity of local authorities and raise people’s awareness of protecting environment.

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Hawksbill turtles - keepers of the coral

People and Planet 4 Feb 10;

Timid and difficult to locate underwater, hawksbill sea turtles in their marine habitat have long managed to evade the efforts of researchers. But Rainer von Brandis struck it lucky when he found himself swimming among hawksbills in the Amirante Islands of Seychelles, and his subsequent study revealed that these graceful reptiles are vital to the maintenance of coral reef biodiversity.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY RAINER VON BRANDIS

Better known for the aesthetic qualities of its shell than for the role it plays in maintaining coral reef ecosystems, the hawksbill sea turtle is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. In view of this status, hawksbills have been the focus of numerous research projects in recent years, and while much has been learned about them when nesting, studying them in their aquatic environment has proven far more challenging.

Sea turtles underwater are difficult to locate and extremely wary, and often the only reward for researchers is a glimpse of one swimming off into the blue. Their natural behaviour, feeding methods, prey preferences, social interactions and impact on their environment are therefore still largely a mystery.

Seychelles, with its sound conservation policies, supports relatively healthy turtle numbers, especially at remote locations that were not frequented by turtle fishermen in the past. During an extended visit to the Amirante Islands in 2006, I came across a small insular coral reef that seemed to be teeming with young hawksbills. After diving around the reef for a few days, I soon realised that I was seeing the same turtles over and over again and that they appeared to be getting used to my presence. At first I was careful to keep my distance, but gradually they allowed me to approach to within arm’s length and spend entire dives with them.

The hawksbills, I decided, would be an excellent subject for my planned doctoral thesis, and for the next two months I spent as much time observing them as my dive computer allowed. The preliminary results were exciting and unique, and I consequently secured funding to return to the reef for two-month periods in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Each year I found the same individuals and they continued to allow me to follow them around.

Over the four-year period, I clocked up a total of 312 hours underwater with the turtles and identified 15 resident individuals. Eighty per cent of my time, however, was spent with the three turtles that had become most accustomed to me. Other than occasionally sitting on me, trying to eat my dive equipment or using me as leverage when digging for food, these three completely ignored me as they went about their everyday business. Naturally, I remained careful never to touch them or disturb them unnecessarily, as this would undoubtedly have changed their behaviour toward me.

Among other things, I was able to determine their prey preferences, the quantity of food they consumed, and their diving and activity patterns, social interactions and habitat requirements. Most significantly, however, I established that the hawksbills play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of the coral reef I was working on.

Because hawksbill foraging pressure is high on this small reef, the sponges they eat are restricted to well-hidden locations inside the reef substrate. The turtles therefore have to dig them out by using either their flippers to rip open the substrate or their beaks to pry the reef apart and lift out loose pieces that may be sheltering their prey. In doing so, they not only shape the reef topographically, but also expose food for fishes and create sheltered micro-habitats for other reef-dwellers such as moray eels, brittle stars, shrimps and a range of invertebrates.

Moreover, since sponges usually out-compete hard corals for space, the consumption of a quarter of a tonne of sponge by a single turtle each year enables hard corals to become established. This is especially important because higher than usual sea-water temperatures in 1998 resulted in the death of approximately 90 per cent of hard-coral communities in the region. If hawksbills had not been present, the reef would probably resemble a featureless expanse of mainly sponges and support a much lower diversity of reef organisms. In all likelihood, many coral reefs were more spectacular in the days preceding the mass slaughter of hawksbills for tortoiseshell.

It is hoped that the results of this research can be used to improve the hawksbill’s conservation status and strengthen resolve against a potential renewal of the tortoiseshell trade. Japan continues to lobby in support of reopening the trade so as to keep its tortoiseshell-manufacturing industry alive, and recent reports indicate that clandestine dealings in some Asian and Central American countries are on the increase again. In addition, the findings provide important information about hawksbill biology and habitat requirements, which is vital for the effective management of their popu-lations and foraging habitats.

The author would like to thank the Save Our Seas Foundation for funding his research in the Seychelles.

This article first appeared in the December 09/January 10 issue of Africa Geographic magazine.

TURTLE SCUTE TO TORTOISESHELL BANGLE

Tortoiseshell – used to make combs, jewellery boxes and spectacle rims – is a misnomer, for it comes not from tortoises, but from the hawksbill sea turtle. Produced from the scutes (shell plates) of the turtles, it has been considered a valuable commodity since ancient times. More than 2 000 years ago Julius Caesar considered tortoiseshell to be one of the chief spoils of his triumph in Egypt, and in the ninth century Arabs traded tortoiseshell around the Indian Ocean.

By 1700, Japanese artisans were producing large amounts of beautifully crafted tortoiseshell ornaments (called bekko) for markets in Asia, America and Europe. Japan subsequently became the major importer of hawksbills: between 1950 and 1992 more than 1.3 million dead turtles were brought into the country.

Overexploitation led to the prohibition of trade in hawksbills in 1977, when the species made it onto Appendix 1 of CITES, but intercepted bekko shipments indicate that the industry persists and is fed by poaching. On a positive note, countries such as Seychelles and Tanzania have shown their commitment to ending the illicit trade by burning all their accumulated stocks of tortoiseshell.

YOU CAN HELP BY

Not buying tortoiseshell products

Hand-crafted tortoiseshell jewellery and ornaments, and even stuffed juvenile hawksbills, are often found at tourist markets in tropical countries. If you are really tempted to buy, check with the vendor that the item is made of ‘faux tortoiseshell’ (plastic) and not the real thing.

Reporting poaching incidents

If you encounter a poacher who tries to sell you a live hawksbill (or any other sea turtle), it is usually best to decline politely and report the incident to the authorities immediately. With luck, the poacher will not have killed the turtle before being apprehended and it can be released. Purchasing turtles from poachers is not recommended because this will encourage them to catch more.

Any dead turtles found on a beach should also be reported. They probably died from being entangled in fishing gear and it is helpful to the authorities if such deaths are documented.


FAST FACTS

Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

Description. These medium-sized sea turtles attain about one metre in length and 80 kilograms in weight. An elongated and
pointed beak and a serrated rear margin of the carapace are distinguishing features.

Range Circumtropical.

Habitat Usually coral reefs, but they also live in a wide range of habitats, including mangrove swamps, seagrass beds and mudflats.

Biology Three distinct life stages: hatchlings float on open ocean currents, feeding on various drifting organisms; at 30 centimetres (5–10 years old) they move into shallower reef environments and begin feeding on sponges and other invertebrates; at about 70 centimetres (25–35 years old) they become adults and return to their place of birth to breed. On average, females nest every third year and lay up to five clutches of 140 eggs per season. Out of a thousand eggs, only one or two hatchlings make it to adulthood.

Conservation Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List). As in other sea turtle species, their late age at sexual maturity and relatively low reproductive rate make them highly susceptible to overexploitation. Females lucky enough to reach adulthood are easily killed by humans for food or tortoiseshell when they come ashore to nest, while their eggs, a rich source of protein, are often harvested in totality. Relatively new threats such as pollution, habitat destruction, hybridisation and incidental capture by fishing vessels further reduce the outlook for this species.

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Commercial fishing endangers dolphin populations

University of Haifa, EurekAlert 4 Feb 10;

Any resolution concerning the sea must also consider the dolphins

"The Mediterranean Sea has a stable and constant dolphin population off the coast of Israel. Any resolution concerning the sea must also consider the dolphins," says Dr. Aviad Scheinin of the University of Haifa, who carried out the study.*

Extensive commercial fishing endangers dolphin populations in the Mediterranean. This has been shown in a new study carried out at the University of Haifa's Department of Maritime Civilizations. "Unfortunately, we turn our backs to the sea and do not give much consideration to our marine neighbors," states researcher Dr. Aviad Scheinin.

The study, which was supervised by Prof. Ehud Spanier and Dr. Dan Kerem, examined the competition between the two top predators along the Mediterranean coast of Israel: the Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and bottom trawlers. (Trawling is the principal type of commercial fishing in Israel and involves dragging a large fishing net through the water, close to the sea floor, from the back of a boat.) These two predators off the coast of Israel trap similar types of fish near the sea floor, so the researchers decided to examine the nature of the competition between the two.

Commercial trawling in the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel targets codfish, red mullet and sole, three commercial and sought-after types of fish. The Department of Fisheries in Israel's Ministry of Agriculture has data showing that over the years the amount of fish from the sea floor looted by Israel's commercial trawling is larger than the amount of fish that nature provides, indicating that the sea floor fish population dropped between the years 1949 and 2006.

Would this decline in fish supply necessarily cause direct harm to the dolphins, seeing as their diet might also include other types of fish? In order to verify this, the researcher examined the contents of the stomachs of 26 dolphins that died and landed on the beach, or that had been caught by mistake. He also examined the behavior of living dolphins by carrying out 232 marine surveys over more than 3,000 km. along the central coast of Israel. The dolphins' stomachs contained mainly non-commercialized fish, suggesting that they perhaps do not compete directly with the commercial trawlers, and that the commercial fishing does not directly affect the dolphins' nutrition.

The living dolphins' behavior, on the other hand, draws an entirely different picture. According to Dr. Scheinin, most of the dolphins were observed around the trawling boats: the chances of observing a school of dolphins near a trawler is ten times higher than in the open sea. This is because the trawler serves as a "feeding station" for the dolphins: there they are not able to feed from the more expensive loot caught in the nets, but they are able to enjoy schools of other types of fish that swim around the trawler. "The problem is that this type of fishing endangers the dolphins. Eight dolphins die each year off the coast of Israel on average, and of those, four die after having been mistakenly caught in trawling nets. Seeing as many studies have proven the high intelligence of the dolphin, it is clear that these sea mammals are aware of this danger, but are left with little choice due to their need to search for food around the trawlers due to the scarcity of other food sources," Dr. Scheinin explains.

This conclusion is reinforced by the suckling female dolphins. These dolphins require larger quantities of food than usual, and despite the risk for the younger and much less experienced dolphins that swim by their side, all of the suckling dolphins have been observed significantly more frequently around the trawlers. This indicates that they could not obtain enough food in other places.

The dolphins off the coast of Israel spend most of their time in search of food while their mates in other areas in the world are far busier with social activities. This fact is yet another contributing factor to the assumption that they suffer a deficiency in food resources.

The present study illustrates, for the first time, the characteristics of the dolphins inhabiting the sea region off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. This dolphin population is stable and at any given time can be counted at about 350 dolphins. Of these, the researchers are personally familiar with 150 dolphins – on a first name basis – which can be identified by the dorsal fin, the dolphin's fingerprint. Forty of these are seen repeatedly and are permanent inhabitants of opposite the coast of Israel. "There is a stable dolphin population off the shores of Israel, and any resolution concerning the sea must also consider the dolphins. So as to preserve this population we must declare extensive marine nature reserves, so as to regulate fishing and bring an end to sea pollution. Regrettably, we are not considerate enough of the dolphins," concludes Dr. Scheinin.

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Whales, dolphins and porpoises suffer dramatic declines from by-catch in fishing nets

UNEP 4 Feb 10;

Bonn, 4 February 2010 - Toothed whales are currently suffering from a major threat which is unsustainable loss from by-catch in fishery operations. For 86% of all toothed whale species, entanglement and death in gillnets, traps, weirs, purse seines, longlines and trawls poses a major risk. Lack of food and forced dietary shifts due to overfishing pose additional threats to 13 species.

These are among the findings of a report launched today on the website of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS). A corresponding poster available online shows for the first time all toothed whale species sorted according to their conservation status as defined by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

This encyclopaedia on all 72 species of toothed whales includes the most recent scientific findings on the distribution, migration, behaviour and threats to this group of whales. Maps showing the currently known distribution of each species were provided by IUCN and the Global Mammal Assessment.

UNEP/CMS Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mrema said: "During the International Year of Biodiversity, the Convention on Migratory Species continues to address major threats such as by-catch, ship strikes, ocean noise impacts and climate change to safeguard these charismatic marine mammals. Governments need to enhance their efforts towards implementing targeted action plans under the Convention. "

Toothed whales occur in a wide range of marine and freshwater habitats, from the Arctic to the tropics. Some species live in large river systems such as the Amazon, Ganges, Indus and Yangtze. For 41 of all toothed whales species, our knowledge is too limited to even know if they are threatened or not. At the same time 6 species of toothed whales that are listed on Appendix I of the Convention are on the brink of extinction.

Many populations of toothed whales were hunted almost to extinction and 50 species continue to be hunted, often at unsustainable levels. Ingestion of plastic debris or the effects of pollution by an ever increasing cocktail of chemicals have been reported for 48 species. Habitat degradation from dams and withdrawal of water from rivers and lakes threatens 18 species while ship strikes have a serious impact on 14 species. Noise caused by seismic explorations, marine construction projects as well as military sonar pose ever increasing threats to these marine mammals.

Based on the Review of Small Cetaceans published by CMS in 2003, this report includes the Sperm Whale as the only large toothed whale as well as the Australian Snubfin Dolphin and the Guiana Dolphin as new species. Since 2003, the conservation status of the toothed whales has worsened dramatically. The Baiji River Dolphin, which used to live in the Yangtze River, is now probably extinct as no living specimens have been documented in the wild since 2002. With only 150 individuals remaining in the wild, the Vaquita, a porpoise living in the northern Gulf of California, is facing the same destiny. Entanglement in fishing gear claimed an unsustainably high death toll on both species.

Data collection on the distribution, behaviour and migration of toothed whales, as reflected in research for the CMS can facilitate the development and implementation of action plans that can help reduce the threats to many whale species. Being an official partner of the International Year of Biodiversity, the Convention on Migratory Species has joined the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity on a global scale. CMS, which has been recognized as CBD's lead partner on issues regarding migratory species, continues to take steps to stress the importance of biodiversity for our well-being and enhance efforts to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss.

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