Signs of crude oil still on Tanah Merah
from wild shores of singapore and Stars still out at Tanah Merah
1 Jul (Thu): Preview screeing of 'Oceans' by DisneyNature
from wild shores of singapore
Raffles Museum Treasures: Whip scorpion
from Lazy Lizard's Tales
Help us protect sun bear and other wildlife habitat in Borneo
from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation
Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - Singapore says there is no evidence that sand received by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has been smuggled out of Malaysia as alleged by The Star newspaper.
In response to media queries, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Development (MND) said that HDB engages sand suppliers on a commercial basis to supply sand for its development works.
As part of the procurement process, HDB requires its tenderers to produce quality certificates and export permits to confirm that their supply is from approved concessions in the source countries.
In addition, the spokesperson said Singapore Customs has in place procedures to check and investigate the import of goods at the checkpoints.
Sand suppliers must have the necessary import permits to come through the Pulau Punggol Timor Aggregate Terminal, which is managed by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on the government's behalf.
In a report on Wednesday, The Star newspaper alleged that sand worth millions of ringgit is being illegally "floated" out of Malaysia through Sungai Johor - and that this has been going on for the past three years.
The newspaper said its investigating team found that the sand ends up in Singapore, despite an export ban by the Malaysian government.
The paper reported that mining syndicates used barges to illegally transport the sand, via Danga Bay and Tanjung Pelepas port to Singapore.
It said a Singapore company obtains the sand from a Malaysian partner and supplies it to HDB for construction projects.
To circumvent the ban on sand export, the syndicates are believed to have masked the sand as processed or "packed" silica sand, which can be exported.
The Star said further investigations revealed that the illegal business started after a contract worth RM62.4 million (S$26.7 million) was awarded by the Malaysian government to a private company to carry out redesign and rectification works at Sungai Johor.
Checks revealed that since the project started in August 2007, a total of 3 million cubic metres of sand had been smuggled out.
The paper estimated that at S$30 per cubic metre, the syndicates could have raked in RM207 million over the two-year period of the project.
After the project's completion, the syndicates continued to "export" sand to Singapore.
- CNA/ir
MND rejects claims of sand smuggling
Suppliers required to show proof sand comes from approved sources
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
THE Singapore authorities have rejected a claim published in Malaysian newspaper The Star that sand worth millions of dollars has been illegally 'floated' out of Malaysia and into Singapore for the past three years.
The report by The Star on Thursday alleged that a Singapore firm, which obtains the sand from a Malaysian partner, supplies it to Singapore's Housing Board.
This is despite a ban on sand exports imposed by the Malaysian government since 1997.
The Ministry of National Development (MND) told The Straits Times yesterday that 'there is no evidence that the sand HDB receives has been smuggled out of Malaysia, as alleged by The Star article'.
The MND, parent ministry of the HDB, said the agency engages sand suppliers on a commercial basis to supply sand for its development works.
As part of the procurement process, HDB requires its tenderers to produce quality certificates and export permits to confirm that their supply is from approved concessions in the source nations.
'In addition, our Customs have in place procedures to check and investigate the import of goods at the checkpoints.'
Sand supplies must have the necessary import permits to come through the Pulau Punggol Timor Aggregate Terminal, which is managed by the Building and Construction Authority, added the MND.
Meanwhile, the Johor state government said it will initiate its own probe into the sand smuggling allegations.
Its Local Government, Housing, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman, Datuk Ahmad Zahri Jamil, said at a press conference on Thursday: 'Johor does not export sand. So far, all our records indicate that everything is in order.'
Separately, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has called on all relevant agencies to join forces and dig deeper into illegal sand smuggling activities in the country.
Earlier this year, it arrested 43 people during its sand smuggling investigations. It added that illegal sand mining was rampant in Selangor, Johor, Perak and Pahang.
The Star reported that sand extraction is a common sight in Sungei Johor, as mining syndicates illegally transport millions of tonnes of sand, even on weekends and public holidays, via Danga Bay and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas. The sand is transported on barges through Sungei Johor to a jetty in Pulau Punggol Timor in north-eastern Singapore where the sand is unloaded, it claimed.
This is the second time in as many months that Singapore's sand industry has come under the spotlight.
Sand is a highly sought-after commodity in the Republic as it is used heavily either in the construction of buildings or for reclamation of land.
Last month, British environmental group Global Witness alleged that Singapore sand suppliers were importing Cambodian sand illegally and without regard for the environment. The report claimed Cambodia's sand trade was thriving despite a recent sand export ban.
Then, the Singapore Government rejected the report and issued a strong rebuttal. It said it had a robust system in place to control sand imports.
The Star also claimed that to circumvent the Malaysian ban on sand exports, the syndicates are believed to be exporting the sand as processed or 'packed' silica sand, an item that can be legally exported. Silica sand is high-purity sand often used in high-end applications such as sand blasting.
The newspaper said that the Singapore firm stands to profit from this lucrative trade as it pays $30 per cubic metre
of sand from its Malaysian source, compared with $40 per cubic metre for the same amount of sand from Thailand or Vietnam.
It estimated that since August 2007, more than three million cubic metres of sand had been smuggled out of Sungei Johor, and that syndicates could have raked in RM207 million (S$89 million) over a two-year period.
The paper said the Malaysian government has suffered losses due to the smuggling as it should have collected at least RM37.5 million in taxes from the exports.
Industry sources told The Straits Times yesterday that there had been speculation in recent months among industry players that some sand was being smuggled into Singapore from Malaysia.
But Singapore Contractors Association president Andrew Khng said he was unaware of any illegal activity, and that the supply of sand to Singapore's construction industry 'has been stable'.
'The sand suppliers have been sourcing sand from various countries since the Indonesian ban in 2007,' said Mr Khng.
Indonesia also banned the export of sand to Singapore in 2007, citing environmental concerns.
The Star said Malaysian government officials had been tipped off on the sand smuggling activity.
In February, it reported that several government officials had been charged with accepting bribes for allowing the smuggling of sand into Singapore.
No evidence HDB sand is illegal
MND says HDB bidders must produce quality certificates, permits to confirm supply is from approved source
Today Online 26 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - Singapore says there is no evidence that sand received by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has been smuggled out of Malaysia as alleged by The Star newspaper.
In response to media queries, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Development said that HDB engages sand suppliers on a commercial basis to supply sand for its development works.
As part of the procurement process, HDB requires its bidders to produce quality certificates and export permits to confirm that their supply is from approved concessions in the source countries.
In addition, the spokesperson said Singapore Customs has in place procedures to check and investigate the import of goods at the checkpoints.
Sand suppliers must have the necessary import permits to come through the Pulau Punggol Timor Aggregate Terminal, which is managed by the Building and Construction Authority on the Government's behalf.
In a report on Wednesday, The Star newspaper alleged that sand worth millions of ringgit is being illegally "floated" out of Malaysia through Sungai Johor - and that this has been going on for the past three years.
The newspaper said its investigating team found that the sand ends up in Singapore, despite an export ban by the Malaysian government.
The paper reported that mining syndicates used barges to illegally transport the sand, via Danga Bay and Tanjung Pelepas port to Singapore. It said a Singapore company obtains the sand from a Malaysian partner and supplies it to HDB for construction projects.
To circumvent the ban on sand export, the syndicates are believed to have masked the sand as processed or "packed" silica sand, which can be exported.
The Star said further investigations revealed that the illegal business started after a contract worth RM62.4 million ($26.7 million) was awarded by the Malaysian government to a private company to carry out redesign and rectification works at Sungai Johor.
Checks revealed that since the project started in August 2007, a total of 3 million cubic metres of sand had been smuggled out. The paper estimated that at $30 per cubic metre, the syndicates could have raked in RM207 million over the two-year period of the project. After the project's completion, the syndicates continued to "export" sand to Singapore.
The Star 26 Jun 10;
PETALING JAYA: Rampant sand mining activities, if left unchecked, can adversely affect the environment and quality of water in the country, a geologist said.
“Enforcement agencies should step up efforts to check illegal sand mining. Those involved in illegal sand mining would certainly not give any regard to mitigation measures to reduce its negative impact on the environment,” said Prof Dr Abdul Ghani Rafek of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
He was commenting on Starprobe reports that illegal sand mining activities were being carried out in Johor, Selangor, Pahang and Perak.
Universiti Putra Malaysia Faculty of Economics and Management deputy dean Prof Dr Mohamed Shahwahid Othman called on the authorities to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of sand mining.
“It is also high time that the state governments review royalty fees imposed on sand.
“The authorities will lose out in terms of revenue if illegal sand mining and smuggling activities are left unchecked,” he said.
Dr Shahwahid called on the authorities to set up a national-level task force to check illegal sand mining.
“The police, Land and Mines Department, District Office and other relevant agencies should join forces and form a task force at national level to carry out raids from state to state,” he said.
Another academic, who declined to be named, said it was difficult to carry out outdoor research activities because “thugs” were preventing research groups from entering sand mines and forest reserves.
“They drove away our excursion group although we told them we were on a scientific expedition,” said the lecturer.
Government combating menace of sand smuggling
Nelsaon Benjamin The Star 26 Jun 10;
JOHOR BARU: The Government is serious about tackling sand smuggling activities and is taking action to combat the menace.
High ranking officials from various departments including Customs, the police, Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM), Land and Mines and other related agencies held a special meeting recently to discuss the issue, a source said.
It was learnt that the meeting was chaired by Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam.
“The Government is serious about combating the problem as it is a threat to national security and a loss to the country in terms of revenue,” the source said.
Yesterday, Mahmood said he was in Johor for a meeting to discuss security issues.
“This sand mining issue is to be handled by the Customs Department,” he said.
It is learnt that the APMM and police will increase patrols to check on sand smuggling activities in the state.
Authorities had observed some barges, believed to be involved in illegal sand mining, trying to evade the authorities by going into Indonesian waters before heading towards Singapore.
APMM (southern region) commander First Admiral Datuk Che Hassan Jusoh said the agency would continue to patrol and check such activities.
“Since last year, we have checked at least 402 tugboats, barges and pontoons and have found four cases of sand smuggling,” he said, adding that the cases occurred in Batu Pahat, Kota Tinggi, Pontian and Mersing.
Besides using vessels, the agency would also deploy helicopters to carry out surveillance, he added.
Marine Police Region 2 chief Asst Comm Mohd Khamsani Abdul Rahman said police had also been carrying out inspection of pontoons that were carrying sand to ensure they had the proper documents.
“We will continue to carry out stringent checks to prevent illegal activities in our waters,” he said.
Grace Chua Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
THE heavy rain which battered most of Singapore yesterday was due to a Sumatra squall, a seasonal line of thunderstorms, which causes rain before dawn and in the morning, the National Environment Agency said.
About 100mm of rain fell between 8am and 9.30am yesterday, causing flash floods from Balestier to Bukit Timah.
Similar to last week's deluge in Orchard Road, Friday's downpour was more than 60 per cent of June's average monthly rainfall of about 162mm.
This makes June a real dampener; with total rainfall recorded this month floating currently at 204.3mm.
Sumatra squalls take place during the south-west monsoon from June to September, but June is typically fairly dry.
However, Nanyang Technological University climate expert Koh Tieh Yong noted that two other weather phenomena coincided with the south-west monsoon to make the recent weeks more water-logged than usual.
One is the intra-seasonal oscillation, where a 'supercluster' of clouds lingers over the equator, from the Indian Ocean all the way to Peru in South America.
This results in a wet period and a dry period, which together last between 30 and 60 days, though experts do not know precisely what causes this cycle, said Assistant Professor Koh.
The other is a transition to La Nina, the 'sister' to the El Nino weather phenomenon. During La Nina, warm ocean-surface temperatures over the Western Pacific heat the surrounding air, which rises and condenses, bringing rainfall to the region. The last La Nina period, from 2007 to 2008, pounded Singapore with heavy thunderstorms.
Prof Koh said that this was not the first time the three climate phenomena have converged, and it will happen again.
But, he added, natural weather variability means the heaviest rain can fall anywhere from Malaysia to Indonesia, and could even miss Singapore the next time.
Elsewhere in South-east Asia yesterday, stormy weather was the norm.
The World Meteorological Organisation, a United Nations agency, reported heavy rain in the Indonesian territories of Kalimantan and Java as well as in southern Thailand, while the Malaysian Meteorological Department issued a warning for thunderstorms and heavy rain with strong winds over Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan early yesterday.
Here, the PUB said, short showers with thunder can be expected mostly in the late morning and afternoon for the rest of the month.
Widespread showers with thunder and occasional gusty winds in the morning can be expected on one or two days.
More about the Sumatras on wild shores of singapore.
Rain causes havoc - floods, fallen trees, jams
Grace Chua & Hoe Pei Shan Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
A SHORT, sharp rainstorm yesterday morning created havoc islandwide, causing at least 25 trees to fall, snarling traffic on major roadways and overwhelming drainage systems.
Four people were hurt by the falling trees - all were sent to hospital for treatment of lacerations and other injuries - and in at least one instance, rising waters led to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) being called out to perform rescue duties.
In that incident, 18 children were trapped in a childcare centre at Telok Kurau Lorong G when water rose to knee level.
SCDF officers evacuated the children to a neighbouring house and later pumped water out of the centre.
The storm yesterday was more intense than the one last Wednesday, which dumped 100mm of rain in a three-hour downpour and flooded Orchard Road and other areas.
Yesterday, the same amount of rain came down between 8am and 9.30am.
While last week's floods at Orchard Road resulted because of a partially blocked drain, yesterday's rainfall simply overwhelmed the drainage system in many areas.
As a result, flash floods occurred in Geylang, MacPherson Road, Old Airport Road, Thomson Road and Bukit Timah, among others.
Unlike last week, however, no widespread damage was reported and floodwaters subsided within an hour.
Nevertheless, the rising waters caused much disruption: Dustbins were upturned and basement carparks were threatened, sparking calls to car owners to evacuate.
Motorists were among those most affected, as falling trees and branches in several areas left people headed to work stuck in idling vehicles, sometimes for hours.
The worst incident occurred along the Central Expressway (CTE) towards the Seletar Expressway (SLE), between the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Avenue 3 exits. A 15m-high tree fell onto several vehicles around 9am, blocking four lanes and causing gridlock.
Two people were hurt in the incident: a woman suffered bruises and a man injured his left hand.
Traffic in at least six other spots was also diverted because of fallen trees. The affected areas included the Buona Vista exit on the Ayer Rajah Expressway and the junction of Kampong Bahru Road and Silat Avenue.
In a statement yesterday, the National Parks Board said the bad weather, not tree rot or poor health, led to the incidents.
PUB, the national water agency, attributed the floods to heavy and intense rain that the drainage system could not handle.
It said that after each flood, a review is carried out and an investigation on the cause of the flooding is conducted before it decides on the next course of action.
When asked, it said that in some instances, upgrades are planned but have not been implemented yet, and cited Bukit Timah as an example.
However, PUB insisted that the drainage system is continually being improved - to the tune of $150 million a year.
Last week, Mr Yap Kheng Guan, the director of PUB's 3P (Public, Private, People) Network, said: 'We can't build very big drains that will be empty most of the time.
'All these flash floods, much as we try to reduce them, we will continue to see them here and there.'
But, he added: 'We'll definitely do all we can to make sure that the kind of flooding we had in Orchard Road doesn't happen.'
However, several residents called on PUB to investigate further.
Thomson Road resident Shama Bano Khan, 32, whose compound was flooded, said she suspects choked drains were the cause.
'There have been rains this heavy, but it has never flooded like this,' she said.
Rainfall this month has been higher than normal, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday.
So far, 204.3mm has been recorded, above the 162.2mm monthly average for June, but well below the highest recorded rainfall for the month, 378.7mm, in 1954.
The heavy rainfall, the NEA added, was from a Sumatra squall, a line of heavy thunderstorms with gusty winds, which typically strikes Singapore before dawn and in the morning.
Yesterday's floods were the seventh major set of flash floods in the last four years.
Besides last week's Orchard Road flood, previous incidents have ranged from November's Bukit Timah deluge, which did a million dollars' worth of damage to high-end cars, to 2007's Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers inundation.
Flash floods occur when there is severe rainfall in a very short time.
But Singapore is also susceptible to flooding when a heavy storm coincides with a high tide, or if there is non-stop rain over a long period.
For the latest weather reports and heavy rain warnings, the public can call the NEA's weather forecast hotline at 6542-7788 or visit www.nea.gov.sg or weather.nea.gov.sg
To report obstructions in drains or check on the flood situation, the public can call PUB's 24-hour call centre at 1800-284-6600.
Additional reporting by Jalelah Abu Baker and Bryan Toh
Road chaos as trees fall in storm
Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
RAIN and wind felled trees islandwide yesterday, blocking traffic for more than an hour in some areas.
All in, 25 trees toppled over, out of a population of some 1.3 million trees here.
The worst jam was on the Central Expressway (CTE), where a fallen tree blocked four lanes of traffic, took two hours to clear and resulted in two people being sent to hospital.
The National Parks Board (NParks) said in a statement that trees and branches typically fall due to bad weather, not to poor health or tree rot.
About a million trees are under NParks' care at parks and nature reserves and along roads.
There are no particular areas where Singapore is more prone to tree failure, NParks added; tree fall depends on the direction of the monsoon storms and strong winds.
About 1,000 fallen trees and branches are reported each year, down from some 3,000 in 2001.
Urban trees bounded by roads may have less space for root systems to anchor, and there may be unseen damage caused by road and drainage works, pointed out Mr Veera Sekaran, of landscape firm Greenology.
For instance, the 18m-tall raintree which toppled in front of the Istana earlier this month had a rotten root underground. That, combined with an unbalanced tree crown, caused it to fall.
Preventing tree fall, Mr Sekaran added, is a matter of picking species which do not have soft branches or rot easily; and having trained arborists to carry out regular inspections.
NParks has a programme to inspect trees along major roads from root to crown every 18 months, and every tree under the agency's charge is checked at least once every three years.
The parks agency also has a programme to replace storm-vulnerable trees such as the Albizia, which, with its soft wood and fast growth, is less stable in thunderstorms.
Though they require maintenance, Mr Sekaran said, Singapore's trees do benefit the environment by giving shade, cutting dust and noise, and absorbing volatile organic chemicals and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
GRACE CHUA
Children evacuated, motorists stranded
Childcare centre flooded, motorists left stranded as flood causes mayhem
Hoe Pei Shan & Linette Lai Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
THE cost of the flood damage at childcare centre, Our Juniors Schoolhouse @ Telok Kurau, has still to be assessed after yesterday morning's deluge.
The 18 children and seven staff had to be evacuated after the centre found itself knee-deep in water just after 9am.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the staff then spent most of the morning bailing out the water.
The centre's spokesman, Ms Imeelia Ismail, told The Straits Times that they hope to be open again on Monday, but if it is still water-logged: 'We've arranged with other Cherie Hearts kindergartens in the area and we will deploy the children there if necessary,' she said.
She added that PUB will be at the centre today to assess the damage and check on the cause of the flood.
Elsewhere, rising water levels in several areas created mayhem and severely affected traffic flow across the island.
Along Sin Ming Road, residents stood by helplessly as giant green rubbish bins began floating away in the rising floodwaters.
Many were late for work, trapped by the water and deterred by the gusty winds, or stuck in massive jams along a number of expressways.
A flooded carpark in Bedok South near Block 2A also dampened the mood as motorists were unable to leave.
Said resident and IT saleswoman Madam Patricia Kwa, 30, who was delayed for more than an hour: 'It is very frustrating, especially not knowing why these floods are suddenly happening.'
The SCDF also had to assist a taxi driver and his passenger who got stuck in high floodwaters at the junction of MacPherson Road and Kampong Ampat.
The officers had to manually pry open the doors to the vehicle, and guide both passenger and driver to safety.
Sporadic flash floods were not, however, the only problem yesterday.
A motorist and his wife had a close call when a tree smashed into the rear of their car along Beach Road.
Businessman Zen Tay and his wife were completely taken aback when the tree - which Mr Tay described as 'five storeys' high'- fell on the Mercedes as it was reversing, breaking the glass in the rear and creating a large dent in the boot.
Said Mr Tay, 29: 'We were very lucky. I hope something is done before other trees cause more damage.'
Businesses count the cost of floods again
Yesterday's heavy rain causes localised flash floods in a number of areas
Uma Shankari Business Times 26 Jun 10;
A FRESH round of flash floods hit Singapore yesterday - even as businesses were still dealing with the fall-out from last week's Orchard Road flood.
National water agency PUB said 100mm of rain fell between 8am and 9.30am yesterday. That is the same amount of rainfall that fell on June 16 and caused massive floods at Orchard Road. The amount is also more than 60 per cent of the usual average rainfall for the entire month of June. Yesterday's heavy rain caused localised flash floods in a number of areas including Bukit Timah Road/Dunearn Road, the junction of Thomson Road and Balestier Road, and Old Airport Road. The flash floods subsided within 30 minutes, PUB said.
Fallen trees, combined with the floods, also caused chaos on some roads. An uprooted tree fell across the entire northbound carriageway at the Central Expressway (CTE) near Ang Mo Kio, making the expressway impassable to traffic. The incident caused a massive jam which tailed back several kilometres and traffic had to be diverted away.
Orchard Road, one of the worst-hit areas during the last downpour, was spared yesterday - although a fallen tree near Orchard Central blocked two lanes of traffic. Businesses at Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers - which were major casualties during last week's floods - were not affected by yesterday's downpour. But for retailers already hurt by last Wednesday's flood, it was still not back to business as usual yesterday.
Luxury retailers Hermès said that it has not started on repairs at its Liat Towers boutique and is still in the process of speaking to its insurers. Other retailers in the building and nearby Lucky Plaza, which was also badly hit, also had not resumed operations as of yesterday.
But insurance claims - both from retailers as well as from vehicle owners who found their prized cars submerged in muddy floodwaters - have largely come in.
NTUC Income said that to date, it has received about 30 flood-related claims from vehicle owners, and a handful of claims from shop and building owners. The company estimates payouts to be a few hundred thousand dollars each for property and motor insurance.
'We believe the majority of claims have already come in,' said Pui Phusangmook, NTUC Income's senior vice-president and general manager for general insurance. 'Our assurance to our policyholders is that we will honour all policy terms relating to the flood damage, and that we will be fair and prompt when assessing and handling their claims.'
MSIG Insurance has also said that it has seen property and motor vehicle claims. Market watchers have estimated that the total amount of damages from last week's flood could cost millions of dollars in total.
Additional reporting by Felda Chay
Flash floods wreak havoc across S'pore in morning rush hour
Imelda Saad Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : The heavy downpour on Friday morning caused chaos on the roads with another bout of flooding across the island.
At least four people were injured, and several others trapped by rising waters and fallen trees.
This comes just a week after flash floods wreaked havoc at Singapore's Orchard Road shopping belt.
A van crushed by a massive tree was just one casualty of the storm that lashed through the island early Friday morning. Gusty winds uprooted the entire tree from its roots.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said two people in the van were injured and were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Along the Central Expressway (CTE), another tree fell onto a car, causing a massive traffic jam which stretched several kilometres.
Traffic Police were on hand to divert traffic away from the CTE towards SLE in between the Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 and Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 exit due to the fallen tree.
For many motorists, visibility on the roads was down to just a few metres.
A similar scene was observed near Orchard Central. A fallen tree blocked three lanes of traffic.
Responding to queries from MediaCorp, the National Parks Board said it attended to 25 incidences of fallen trees at various locations islandwide.
Its assistant director for Streetscape (Projects), Ng Cheow Kheng, said: "Most obstructions involving fallen trees or branches this morning were cleared within the hour, or pushed to the road verges to be cleared later.
"The exception was the fallen tree at the Central Expressway (after Ang Mo Kio Ave 1), which took about two hours to remove due to traffic conditions."
Mr Ng added: "We look after about 1 million trees located within parks, nature reserves and road verges, and they are generally healthy. We also have a sound tree safety inspection and maintenance programme in place.
"Our regular checks showed that incidences of fallen trees or branches were mainly due to adverse weather conditions rather than poor health or tree rot. ... Apart from regular checks on trees and soil conditions, we also identify trees which are vulnerable during rainstorms and replace them with stronger ones."
At a childcare centre at Telok Kurau, in the eastern part of Singapore, 18 pre-school children and seven adults were evacuated as knee-deep waters gushed into the building.
The SCDF used pumps to extract water from the affected building.
MediaCorp viewers also sent in videos of vehicles trapped by rising waters.
Singapore's national water agency PUB said heavy and intense rain fell in many parts of Singapore. It added that 100 millimetres (mm) of rain fell within an hour, between 8am and 9.30am.
That is 60 per cent of the average rainfall recorded for the entire month of June. The same amount of rainfall was recorded on June 16 when storms led to the massive flooding in Orchard Road.
PUB said the heavy rain on Friday morning caused localised flash floods in a number of areas and the waters subsided within 30 minutes.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) told MediaCorp that "the total rainfall recorded for June 2010 to date at the Climate Station in Changi is 204.3mm".
This has surpassed the average monthly rainfall of 160mm for June. Two heavy downpours, including the one on Friday morning, in the last ten days contributed to most of the rainfall - about 200mm.
NEA added: "Although the Southwest Monsoon months of June to September are characterised by relatively dry weather, it is still possible for Singapore to experience such intense showers from time to time.
"For the rest of this month, short-duration showers with thunder are expected mostly in the late morning and afternoon. Widespread showers with thunder and occasional gusty winds in the morning can be expected on 1 or 2 days."
Since the flooding last week, PUB has installed gratings at canals at Holland Road and behind Tanglin Shopping Centre.
All in, PUB said it will spend S$25,000 to install five gratings in drains upstream from the Stamford Canal, which runs in the heart of Orchard Road. The gratings are designed to trap debris while allowing water to flow through.
Those affected by the floods are hoping such measures will mitigate any future problems.
At the Lucky Plaza shopping complex, a bookstore which was one of the many shops hit by the floods last week was luckier this time round.
Bernard Chung, owner of Discount Bookstore, said: "The flood in my memory was very clear because I was here at about 10.15am in the morning and the water came in so quickly it covered up the whole place and it turned into a swimming pool at the basement.
"This morning I was concerned, so I came a little bit early just to make sure, but thank god nothing happened."
Interestingly, shopkeepers are now offering post-flood discounts at Lucky Plaza, in a bid to lure back the crowds.
- CNA/al
Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
A MASSIVE search operation involving the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Police Coast Guard and navy was being conducted off Sentosa late last night, after a teenager went missing while swimming.
The 18-year-old had been swimming off Siloso Beach with six friends when he disappeared under the water at around 8pm.
He was last seen about 20m to 30m from shore. The spot where he disappeared is believed to be near a lifeguard's watchtower.
Whether there was a lifeguard on duty at the time when the teenager disappeared from view and what happened in the water are both unclear.
The stretch of beach where the authorities are searching has been temporarily closed to the public.
The spot where the teenager was last seen is just in front of Wave House, a popular attraction which allows people to surf on fake waves.
Last night, divers from the SCDF's Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team and the Republic of Singapore Navy were combing an area equivalent to 11/2 football fields. At least two Police Coast Guard patrol vessels were also deployed.
The safety of Sentosa's beaches came under scrutiny in 2005, after five people drowned off Siloso Beach.
Its beach patrol staff now hand out brochures with safety tips, while posters are put up around its beaches.
Beach patrol officers also monitor the water conditions throughout the day, check tide tables and test the waters by swimming in them.
JERMYN CHOW
Body of drowned teen found
Kimberly Spykerman Straits Times 27 Jun 10;
The body of a teenager who went missing while swimming off Sentosa was recovered yesterday.
Divers from the Naval Diving Unit found 18-year-old Muhammad Ridzuan Jumali's body about 4m from the shore at about 4.30am.
The divers, together with the Police Coast Guard and the Singapore Civil Defence Force, had been searching the waters off Siloso Beach since he disappeared at about 8pm on Friday.
His best friend Muhammad Ricky, 17, told The Sunday Times at the dead teen's home in Kallang Bahru that the victim was part of a group of seven who had visited Sentosa.
They had arrived at the beach earlier that evening for a picnic. While eating, Mr Muhammad Ridzuan had 'one, maybe two' cans of beer, said Mr Muhammad Ricky.
He said his friend did not appear drunk before the group went swimming. Five of them clustered together while Mr Muhammad Ridzuan and another friend swam a few metres away.
It was only when Mr Muhammad Ricky heard shouts for help from the beach that he realised something was wrong. Beachgoers had been informed that the lifeguard would be off duty after 7pm.
He saw his friend's body floating about 20m away from him.
'I tried to swim towards him but the currents were very strong. I couldn't see him after a while,' he said. He suffered cuts on his hands and arms after he struck against rocks while trying to look for his friend.
Staff at the nearby Wave House, a popular attraction that allows people to surf on fake waves, called the police.
It is believed that Mr Muhammad Ridzuan was trying to swim towards a small islet less than 100m from shore when he lost his footing at the deep end and went under.
His family and friends maintained a vigil at the beach all night in the hope of getting good news.
Friends remember him as someone who loved music and would always go the extra mile for others.
Mr Muhammad Ricky said his best friend had insisted he move in with his family when the former fell out with his own family and left home.
Mr Muhammad Ridzuan, the second of four children, dropped out of ITE West earlier this year to work as a part-time waiter at a hotel, when his family ran into financial difficulties.
His 42-year-old mother works as a security guard and his 45-year-old father is an odd-job labourer. They are separated.
Said his tearful 16-year-old sister who declined to be named: 'He was a really good brother, I don't know how to express my gratitude to him.'
On Monday, the second annual World Cities Summit will kick into high gear. Mayors, urban planners and officials from around the globe will gather here to exchange ideas on how to develop liveable and sustainable cities for the future. Host country Singapore was recently ranked the most liveable city in Asia, and 28th in the world, in a survey of 450 cities. Insight finds out what Singapore's report card looks like, and the value of such rankings.
Cassandra Chew Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
JAPANESE businessman Takahashi Kenichi fell in love with char kway teow and bak kut teh when he first came here to work in 1993.
'The flavours of these foods cannot be found in Japan,' says the Yokohama native and restaurant-chain owner.
The 54-year-old also found it easier to do business in Singapore than in nearby, politically tumultuous Thailand.
Confident that he could have a high quality of life here, Mr Takahashi left behind the cold Japanese winters for the perennial sunshine on this tiny isle.
Expatriates like him have helped Singapore retain the accolade of being Asia's most liveable city in the Mercer rankings, for the sixth consecutive year.
For the last 15 years, human resource consulting firm Mercer has been compiling a liveability index for cities.
This year, its survey spanned 450 cities. Singapore came in 28th, while Austrian capital Vienna topped the charts.
Singapore has held the top spot in Asia since it overtook Tokyo in 2004.
The Mercer survey ranks cities according to 39 factors, ranging from the ease of buying fresh fish for the table, to the reach of law enforcement. It is conducted by Mercer employees, together with partner firms and quality-of-life experts.
Multinational companies that relocate staff from one city to another use these findings to determine the appropriate amount of hardship allowance to pay their staff.
Naturally, the report concentrates on the needs and concerns of expats.
Those polled by Mercer say housing, education and banking services in Singapore are as good as they get.
In housing, however, their term of reference is likely to be the quality and upkeep of private housing, the choice for most expats, and not HDB homes. High-end estates popular with expats include areas in Tanglin, Bukit Timah and Newton.
As for education, what impresses expats is the wide choice of private and international schools on offer.
Parents can choose from a buffet that includes American, French, Swiss and Japanese schools. Others, like American investor Jim Rogers, 67, opt to send their children to good-quality local schools, so as to expose them to Mandarin.
Where money matters are concerned, expats value the ease with which they can access global banking services and exchange foreign currencies.
So what bothers expats about life here? The aspect that gets them literally hot under the collar is the climate.
Britain-born Lin Fou-Menuhin, 45, wishes the weather was cooler as he is 'very bad at handling the humidity'.
Apart from that quirk of destiny, which no government policy can remedy, two other factors that expats say impinge on their quality of life here are the lack of personal and press freedoms.
Another area Singapore failed to ace is in the range of recreational activities, with expats calling for more cultural exhibitions and museums, and a wider variety of theatrical and musical performances.
Mr Takahashi would also like to see more green spaces set aside for people to relax and play in.
If Singapore wants to better its 28th spot in the hotly contested race to be the world's most liveable city, Mercer's senior researcher Mariana Huston tells Insight that what it needs are more recreational activities, more room for personal freedom and less media censorship.
But experts say these rankings have their limitations.
Singapore Management University sociologist Chung Wai Keung says there is no objective way to measure what makes for a liveable city. He likens such surveys to university rankings, which should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Geography academic Pow Choon-Piew adds that these liveability surveys do not factor in what life is like for local residents, such as the urban poor.
Others argue that, in the light of climate change, the Mercer framework needs updating as it does not take into account growing interest in sustainability issues.
Two such issues that have come to the fore are recycling and cycling.
Urban development academic Shreekant Gupta notes that top-tier global cities like New York and Paris have declared car-free zones in key parts.
'It calms the city, not having cars, it makes the ambience different,' he says.
While Mercer's criteria have not changed, Ms Huston says its researchers now give greater consideration to sustainability issues when awarding scores.
As for Singapore, Dr Gupta says it too needs to go beyond what he calls 'first-generation issues', such as clean air and water, to excel in 'second-generation issues', such as being bicycle- and recycling-friendly.
That would bespeak its 'sophistication' and coming of age as a global city.
High Five
What expats love about Singapore
Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
1 PUBLIC SERVICES AND TRANSPORT
For American investor Jim Rogers, Singapore is a city where 'everything works'.
The tap water is safe to drink, local mail posted before 5pm is delivered the next working day, and you can get electric power at the flick of a switch.
Singapore also scores for the quality of its modern and efficient Mass Rapid Transit train system, which Mr Andrew Patterson, 36, a director at a digital advertising agency, describes as 'cheap and reliable'.
Road congestion, though, is a challenge. Transport planners are trying to keep that in check through an expanding Electronic Road Pricing system.
Singapore's excellent air links with the rest of the world are a big plus for foreigners who live here. Flights connecting the city state to some 200 destinations worldwide make it easy for globetrotters to explore and enjoy the exotic East, as well as travel for business.
UniSIM lecturer Frank Siegfried, 48, who hails from Germany, is a fan of national icons Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines. 'They have class, they have very high standards, and I like to be associated with them.'
2 ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
In the Mercer survey, Singapore came up aces for access to global banking services and foreign currency exchange.
Many of the 11 expatriates Insight interviewed also praised its pro-business environment.
Entrepreneur Linda Fulford, 43, was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which she can explore partnerships with other companies based here.
'This is certainly not the case elsewhere in the world,' says the Briton, who has lived here for 13 years.
Ms Deborah Henretta, 49, Asia group president for consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble, adds: 'As a professional, I truly enjoy the business friendliness... and working in a country that respects and rewards innovation.'
A third aspect of the economy that expatriates find attractive is Singapore's ongoing efforts to grow new sectors such as new media, biotech and non-profit enterprises.
These efforts make Singapore 'an exciting place for a professional to be', says Londoner Lin Fou-Menuhin, 45, a director at beverage firm Diageo Asia-Pacific. He moved here from Hanoi five years ago.
3 SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
Whether you are young or old, Singapore is a great place to get an education, so say expats living here.
Mr Siegfried, a father of two, loves the choice of international schools on offer. 'There are European and German schools, but I could also choose others such as United World College if I preferred,' says the entrepreneurship lecturer, who moved here in 1995.
The excellent standards of the public education system also mean expats have few qualms about enrolling their children in local schools. That is what Mr Rogers chose to do for his elder daughter, because he wanted her to learn Mandarin.
Since Singapore is also the region's education hub, it offers adult education opportunities aplenty.
Oregon native Mr Patterson found it was more affordable to pursue a University of Buffalo executive master of business administration degree with SIM Global Education here than in the United States.
Former businesswoman Zhang Xiao Qing, 32, who moved to Singapore with husband Mr Fou-Menuhin, is pursuing a bachelor's degree in fashion design.
4 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
In the Mercer survey, this category encompasses factors such as ties with other countries, internal stability, crime, law enforcement and ease of entry and exit. Expats gave Singapore the thumbs up for all of them.
Mr Stephen Lewis, 52, an executive director in an investment bank, feels secure all round, 'from physical security, to low crime rates, to protection from crooked officials'.
For those constantly on the go like Mr Patrick Fiat, general manager of hotel Royal Plaza on Scotts, what matters most is seamless travel in and out of the country. 'Alighting from the plane and getting home takes just 30 minutes,' he says.
Singapore's ability to stay friends with neighbouring states, and resolve disputes peacefully, also counts in its favour.
5 HOUSING
It is hardly surprising that expatriates on generous housing allowances say the quality of housing here is 'excellent'.
After all, they can have their pick of the best homes in swanky districts such as Bukit Timah, Tanglin and the Holland Road area, where a number of international schools are also located.
But what Mr Siegfried appreciates are the affordable housing options for expatriates like him, who work for local organisations that do not foot the rent bill.
Not everyone has been as lucky. Mr Patterson has lived in a three-room HDB flat in Woodlands for over two years and hates it. 'It's small, cramped and has no character, but I didn't come here for the living conditions,' says the American, who will be moving to a bigger condominium unit next month.
Low Down
What expats take issue with
Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
1 SOCIO-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
The Mercer survey highlighted personal and media freedom as two areas where Singapore has room for improvement.
Censorship bothers some expatriates who live here, as that limits the range of art performances and films on offer. Censorship rules are, however, reviewed regularly. The first major review since 2002 is now under way.
Expats like American Andrew Patterson hope to see even more liberalisation, which he thinks will signal intellectual progress.
He says: 'I wish there was more tolerance for what people are trying to express.'
2 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Given that this tropical island is just one degree north of the equator, the only natural environment anyone can expect is a steamy one.
Newcomers have little choice but to adapt, or retreat to their air-conditioned offices and homes.
Expats like Mr Lin Fou-Menuhin say they find the humidity unbearable, but the sunshine and rain are pluses for businessman Takahashi Kenichi, 54, who dislikes cold Japanese winters.
A big plus point for Singapore, however, is its low susceptibility to natural disasters.
Earthquakes in nearby regions have so far triggered only tremors here, with no reported damage to buildings.
3 RECREATION
New Delhi native Shreekant Gupta, 50, puts it bluntly: 'Singapore is a very easy city to live in, but not necessarily a very fun city to live in.'
To a man, expats wish there were more options for fun and play here, beyond dining out or a lazy afternoon at the Botanic Gardens.
Dr Gupta and Mr Fou-Menuhin wish for a more exciting arts scene. Dr Gupta says: 'As the father of a 41/2-year-old, I'd like more non-mall-based places to go out to.
'The Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is a good start but there could be more.'
What Mr Takahashi misses about Japan are riverside barbecues and baseball games in the park. Those were his regular activities on weekends back home.
But with few green places large enough to accommodate those activities, he laments that weekends here have become somewhat 'boring'.
4 ECO-FRIENDLINESS
For citizens of a nation that prides itself on being a city in a garden, Singaporeans show a curious lack of eco-consciousness, says Dr Gupta.
'On campus, there is no recycling, and there is not enough emphasis on double-sided printing,' says Dr Gupta, who is based at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
German Frank Siegfried is troubled by the rapid destruction of green spaces to make way for development. He wishes Singaporeans had a greater appreciation for nature.
Recycling is not a factor on the Mercer list, but expats believe in the role it plays in the sustainability of the city.
Dr Gupta also wishes for a more bicycle-friendly city, a change which he says will not merely ease congestion, but also reduce air pollution and enhance public health.
Agreeing, American investor Jim Rogers, who takes his daughter to school on a bicycle, adds: 'Among the rankings of attractive cities, the cities that are ranked high are mostly bicycle-friendly.'
5 COST OF LIVING
Foreigners who have lived here since the 1990s can testify, as locals do, that prices of everything, from cars to homes to chocolate bars, have shot up.
Prices have risen in tandem with Singapore's bullish economic growth, and that is to be expected.
However, even expatriates are starting to find Singapore expensive.
Mr Siegfried, who has lived here for 15 years, says: 'I feel like we are being outpriced.'
How Mercer conducts its survey
Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
HUMAN resource consulting firm Mercer has been conducting the Quality of Living survey for more than 15 years, since 1994.
It uses a questionnaire developed by its professionals to gather data.
This is done together with some of its multinational clients and experts in quality-of-life research.
Each city is evaluated in terms of 39 factors, under broad categories such as housing and economic environment.
During the data collection phase, field researchers and consultants supply the initial data, as well as evaluations and comments for the reports.
Then, the data is reviewed and analysed at Mercer's regional centres.
The findings are then compared and controlled in the final stage by global analysts to ensure consistency across the cities surveyed.
The Quality Of Living reports cover about 450 cities globally.
S Ramesh Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : The National Climate Change Secretariat will come under the ambit of the Prime Minister's Office from July 1.
According to gazette notifications on Friday, it will be listed as one of the departments and statutory bodies under the Prime Minister's Office.
Its role will be the coordination of policies associated with climate change.
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Prof S Jayakumar, has been charged with the responsibility of advising the Prime Minister on the coordination of policies associated with climate change.
Mr Tan Yong Soon had also been recently appointed as Permanent Secretary for National Climate Change.
The Secretariat will prepare Singapore for climate change challenges and ensure the country's compliance with international agreements.
- CNA/al
Economics, not lack of technology, stands in the way of wider reuse
Heiner Markhoff Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
FRESH water is a finite and scarce resource.
How to ensure an adequate supply of fresh water is a large, growing and immediate concern for developed and developing nations alike.
Driven by population growth, industrial development and other factors, many areas now face a stark reality: water resources are either under severe pressure or are simply unavailable.
This same reality prompted the Singapore Government to implement the 'four taps' strategy to ensure water supply for its inhabitants and economic growth.
One of these 'taps' is water reclamation and reuse.
Water reuse is critical to make the most of our freshwater resources. It involves extensively treating wastewater and using the resulting high-quality reclaimed or recycled water to supplant freshwater usage in industrial processes, for crop or landscape irrigation, or elsewhere.
Leading the world in this area is Singapore, where Newater now provides an impressive 30 per cent of total water consumption, mostly for industrial use, with 40 per cent anticipated by 2020.
Singapore consumes about 1.7 billion litres of water daily. To achieve the 40 per cent target, another 340 million litres per day will have to be met by Singapore's five Newater plants.
Other regions and countries have even farther to go.
Many water-reuse projects in other parts of the world are already in place or are being implemented.
Although global reuse capacity will have tripled from 2008 to 2016, accounting for some US$47.5 billion (S$66.3 billion) worth of project transactions, the world's water problems are so severe that this noteworthy initial progress is nonetheless a drop in the bucket compared to what can, and must, be done.
It is not for lack of technology. Treatment and disinfection technology has long existed to ensure that public health and environmental quality are protected.
For example, technology has enabled reclaimed water to be used for crop irrigation for more than 100 years, landscape irrigation for more than 70 years and drinking water augmentation for more than 40 years.
What stands in the way of greatly expanded water reuse is economics.
While financial and regulatory incentives encouraging water reuse do exist, they tend to be project-focused or limited in scope. Therefore, governments and public-private partnerships must come together to create a coordinated system of financial incentives and regulations to stimulate water reuse practices and habits on a wider basis.
Governments in water-scarce regions often are looking for ways to expand water recycling and reuse.
It is important to know and understand the policy options available. To that end, GE commissioned a White Paper that provided a menu of policy options, drawing on examples from around the world.
The research found that there were four major types of policies being used to increase water recycling and reuse: education and outreach; removing barriers; incentives; and mandates and regulation.
Education and outreach
THIS is one of the tools commonly used by governments with water recycling programmes.
This is critical to encourage reuse and to overcome any public concerns about the safety and quality of recycled water.
Universal techniques to raise awareness of water recycling include recognition and awards programmes; information dissemination and educational outreach; technical assistance for industrial users such as water-use audits, technical manuals, construction and permit application guidelines; and reporting of water consumption, discharge and reuse.
Removing barriers
BARRIERS to water recycling come in many forms such as technological, financial and regulatory.
Oftentimes, municipal, state or regional water code does not recognise the use of recycled water.
The first steps are to set specific quality standards for recycled water and to provide guidance on the use of reclaimed water.
Although local communities may be constrained by state or federal requirements, they do have control over their own building and development codes and local funding.
Incentives
INCENTIVES used by communities to encourage water recycling most commonly take the form of economic incentives that make recycled water cheaper than potable water.
Another approach is to tie water usage to conservation programmes and exempt recycled water users from many of the community's conservation requirements.
Still others involve property rights and payments for the reuse of recycled water; pricing schemes that use higher rates for potable water; subsidies or grants for water recycling and reuse technologies; and programmes for government procurement of water recycling infrastructure.
Other examples of these types of financial and regulatory incentives include direct subsidies usually in the form of grants; tax deductions or reduced lease payments; compensating water users for recovering and reinjecting treated water into its original source; pricing that imposes higher charges for the use of potable water; and regulatory relief by eliminating certain requirements for users of recycled water.
Mandates and regulation
COMMUNITIES facing severe water restrictions due to natural water scarcity, population growth or resource overuse frequently adopt laws requiring the use of recycled water.
Two common approaches to mandating the use of recycled water are requirements for regional and local wastewater treatment and water supply districts, and requirements for residents and businesses.
In July, GE will be releasing a follow- up White Paper building upon the original data by offering examples of the policies that have the most impact that governments around the world have already implemented to promote water reuse.
The White Paper is geared towards policymakers and influencers including government officials, industry associations and non-governmental organisations.
The world is fortunate that technology already exists to make widespread water reuse possible.
What are needed now are effective policies, financial incentives and regulatory strategies which will truly make it possible to ensure an adequate supply of fresh, clean water for the world's thirsty population.
We look forward to discussing critical issues and solutions related to global water use and reuse at the Singapore International Water Week coming up next week.
The writer is the president and chief executive officer of water and process technologies for GE Power & Water.
Grace Chua Straits Times 26 Jun 10;
SOMEWHERE on the grounds of the University of New South Wales in Australia, there is a golf cart chugging along on vanadium redox batteries.
Now, Ngee Ann Polytechnic senior lecturer Tuti Mariana Lim, 42, who did her undergraduate and doctoral work at
UNSW, is trying to take these batteries further.
The chemical engineer's team is attempting to shrink these batteries while allowing them to store the same amount of energy, so they can be used in vehicles like electric cars.
Vanadium redox batteries can store renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, in the form of chemical energy.
And while other rechargeable batteries must be powered up by plugging them in for hours, vanadium batteries can be recharged simply by changing the electrolyte solution, much like filling a petrol tank.
For her work, Dr Lim, who is also an adjunct assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University's civil and environmental engineering school, received one of five grants from the Clean Energy Research Programme, a $50 million kitty set up by the Government in 2007.
Selected from 48 proposals this year, the five make up the third grant call from the fund, and will be given a total of $13 million over the next three years.
Public agencies and institutions qualify for full grants for direct costs, while private-sector proposals can receive up to 70 per cent of a project's costs.
Previous grant calls focused on research into solar energy.
This current round focuses on making solar energy more cost-effective, and on improving ways to store renewable energy forms, such as the wind, which are at the whim of weather conditions.
To date, about half of the $50 million fund has been disbursed to some 20 projects.
Economic Development Board managing director and Clean Energy Programme Office executive director Beh Swan Gin said: 'These research topics address the issues of cost-effective solar cells and renewable energy storage, both of which are critical to the development of clean energy markets globally.'
He added: 'We believe that the five successful projects... could lead to commercially viable technologies that will enjoy mass adoption.'
Under the Government's clean energy initiative, the industry is targeted to contribute $1.7 billion to gross domestic product and create 7,000 jobs here by 2015.
Other proposals which received funding in this latest round include projects to texture the glass used in solar panels so the cells inside capture more light, and to improve lithium-ion batteries so they can be used to store renewable energy.
Business Times 26 Jun 10;
ASIA Square, an office project under construction at Marina Bay, has won a top award for environmental sustainability.
The twin-tower development, which comprises 2 million square feet of Grade A space, has been awarded 'Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Core & Shell (LEED-CS) Platinum' pre-certification by the US Green Building Council.
Real estate private equity firm MGPA, which is developing the project, said Asia Square is the only building in Singapore touted on the US Green Building Council website as having attained a LEED platinum rating.
The project will raise the bar in sustainability in Singapore and the region, according to MGPA.
'Achieving the LEED platinum award is an excellent testimony to our commitment to exceptional building quality and an important milestone in the development of Asia Square,' said project director Jeremy Choy.
'Asia Square has been designed for long-term sustainability and to create a healthier working environment for tenants to boost employee productivity. This will enable future tenants to attract and retain high-value, knowledge-based employees. Very simply, what's better for people will, in the long run, be better for business.'
The LEED certification system measures how well a building performs in terms of saving energy, water efficiency, emissions reduction, indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources and environmental sensitivity.
Environmentalists press Obama administration to put a halt to BP's 'burn fields' to dispose of oil from the Gulf spill
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;
Endangered sea turtles and other marine creatures are being corralled into 500 square-mile "burn fields" and burnt alive in operations intended to contain oil from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration confirmed today.
The killing of the turtles – which once teetered on the brink of extinction – has outraged environmentalists and could put BP into even deeper legal jeopardy.
Environmental organisations are demanding that the oil company stop blocking rescue of the turtles, and are pressing the US administration to halt the burning and look at prosecuting BP and its contractors for killing endangered species during the cleanup operation. Harming or killing a sea turtle carries fines of up to $50,000 (£33,000).
"It is criminal and cruel and they need to be held accountable," said Carole Allen, Gulf office director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. "There should not be another lighting of a fire of any kind till people have gone in there and looked for turtles."
The Obama administration, confirming the kills, said BP was under orders to avoid the turtles. "My understanding is that protocols include looking for wildlife prior to igniting of oil," a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said. "We take these things very seriously."
The agency this week posted a single turtle spotter on the burn vessels, but government scientists are pressing for more wildlife experts to try to rescue the animals before the oil is lit – or at the very least to give them access to the burn fields.
"One can't just ride through an area where they are burning and expect to be safe while looking for turtles. We don't expect that, but we would like to access those areas where we suspect there may be turtles," said Blair Witherington, a sea turtle research scientist at Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
More than 425 turtles are known to have died in the spill zone since 30 April, Noaa said.
Conservationists say the losses could imperil the long-term survival of the creatures. All five species of turtles found in the Gulf are endangered or threatened: the Kemp's Ridley most of all.
But in a video posted on YouTube, Mike Ellis, a skipper from Venice, Louisiana, accuses BP of chasing away a boat of conservationists trying to rescue turtles caught in the oil and weed a few miles away from the leak.
"They ran us out of there and then they shut us down," said Ellis.
On days when the weather is fine and there is relatively no wind, BP conducts up to a dozen "controlled burns", torching vast expanses of the ocean surface within a corral of fireproof booms.
Biologists say such burns are deadly for young turtles because oil and sargassum – the seaweed mats that provide nutrients to jellyfish and a range of other creatures – – congregate in the same locations. The sargassum is also a perfect hunting ground for young sea turtles, who are not developed enough to dive to the ocean floor to forage for food.
Once BP moves in, the turtles are doomed. "They drag a boom between two shrimp boats and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can't get out," Ellis said.
The heartbreak for conservationists is that the convergence of sargassum and oil offers the best chance of finding young turtles before they suffocate on the crude. But it can also be deadly.
"When they breathe and come to the surface, they get a mouthful and a bellyful of toxic substance that is very much like wallpaper paste," said John Hewitt, the director of husbandry at the New Orleans aquarium. "If we don't remove them and clean them up, in three or four days that probably spells the end of the turtle."
Since the spill, the aquarium has taken in 90 sea turtles, scrubbing the oil off their shells with toothbrushes and washing-up liquid.
Even before the fires, the two-month gusher in the Gulf of Mexico was threatening the long-term survival of sea turtles.
"This is the worst calamity that I have ever seen for sea turtles," said David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy. "This is really the cradle of sea turtle reproduction for the western hemisphere."The threat to the turtles could continue well after the gusher is capped. The oil spill is turning vast expanses of the Gulf into a dead zone, killing off the jellyfish, crabs and conches that are the staples of an adult diet.
Conservationists are also worried about the survival of the next generation of loggerhead turtles, which are about to climb up on to badly oiled shorelines to begin their nesting season. "They are doomed" said Godfrey.
Godfrey said his organisation was working on plans to dig up about 1,000 nests, or 100,000 eggs, from nesting grounds in the Florida Panhandle and transfer them to hatcheries for safekeeping. "It is a last gasp measure to save 100,000 young sea turtles," he said. "We need every one of these turtles to survive."
In The Line Of Fire: Rare Turtles Near Gulf Flames
Elizabeth Shogren NPR 25 Jun 10;
A YouTube video accusing BP of burning turtles alive is popping up on lots of blogs these days.
But animal rescuers in the Gulf have reported no burned wildlife so far, although some scientists say endangered turtles are at risk of being caught in controlled fires intended to contain the oil spill. Some experts are training turtle observers to go out with the boats that ignite fires.
Research scientist Blair Witherington put two and two together a couple weeks ago. He was on a rescue mission 20 miles out at sea near where the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
"We were out catching turtles in the oil lines and witnessing the flames of the fires nearby," he says.
As they did every day, Witherington and his team raced to catch as many turtles as they could. They looked for the coconut-sized animals in skinny lines of oil. The rescuers had to leave the area when it was time for clean-up boats to set the oil on fire.
"We knew that we might be missing some. After all, they're just an oily lump amidst lumpy oil. They blend in well," he says.
Endangering The Endangered
Witherington says some turtles may be able to swim away from the fires, but he's concerned that others may be getting trapped in the flames. He's says it's especially alarming to see turtles at risk because they're so rare, and the majority of the ones getting caught in the oil are Kemp's ridleys, the rarest of them all.
"There's a legal reason to care because they're protected under the Endangered Species Act, and one can't just go about killing sea turtles the way one kills ants or flies. And people really do care about them. I'd like to think that the world is a richer place because we have sea turtles. Each and every one of them," Witherington says.
He raised his concerns about the fires with Michael Ziccardi, a veterinarian from the University of California Davis who's been coordinating the turtle rescues. Ziccardi says so far Witherington's theory hasn't been proven.
"No wildlife has been reported burned," the veterinarian says.
But Ziccardi and other experts say there's no question that turtles are in the line of fire.
The problem is that the oil is collecting in the areas of the Gulf where currents come together. The points of meeting currents pull in stuff that floats, including the golden-colored seaweed called sargassum, which is prime feeding ground for lots of animals — including young turtles.
"They're in the same areas where the oil congregates. So they are at high risk," Ziccardi says.
Working Toward A Solution
Ziccardi says he is now on the verge of putting together a system that should help prevent turtles from getting trapped in fires. He's training a team of 20 observers, and they are going out with turtle rescue boats to learn how to spot turtles in the oil. Then they'll be sent out with the boats that ignite the fires.
Witherington says the observers' job will be to thoroughly examine the pools of oil for turtles before those pools are set on fire.
"The goal is not to allow turtles to die in oil, and not to allow them to die in fires set on the sea," Witherington says.
Witherington is not sure why it has taken weeks to come up with this simple solution for preventing turtles from dying in the burns. He's sorry he wasn't able to push the bureaucracy to move faster. But he was focused on the rescues.
"We were very much immersed in a task, and I can't say that I was paying as much attention as I should have," he says.
Witherington says even he can't argue for stopping the burns because burning is a crucial way of keeping the oil from coastal areas that are home to so much other wildlife. That includes mature turtles, which are even more essential for keeping the species alive.
Shaila Dewan New York Times 25 Jun 10;
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist says he believes most of the dead turtles that have been examined since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill died not from the oil or the chemical dispersants put into the water after the disaster, but from being caught in shrimping nets, though further testing may show otherwise.
Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinary pathologist who specializes in reptiles, said that more than half the turtles dissected so far, most of which were found shortly after the spill, had sediment in their lungs or airways, which indicated they might have been caught in nets and drowned.
“The only plausible scenario where you would have high numbers of animals forcibly submerged would be fishery interaction,” he said. “That is the primary consideration for this event.”
Many times the usual number of turtles have been found stranded this year, but NOAA has cautioned from the beginning that the oil spill is not necessarily to blame.
Shrimp boats are the chief commercial fishing danger for turtles because they tow their nets underwater for long distances, and turtles trapped in them are unable to come up for air. Shrimpers are supposed to equip their nets with turtle extruder devices, which help turtles escape. But environmentalists have complained that some shrimpers disregard the law or do not install the devices properly.
“I’m not surprised at all that shrimp fishing is causing a lot of turtle deaths right now, it happens every year and it’s a chronic problem that the federal government has refused to address,” said Todd Steiner, the executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network in Marin County, Calif., which works to protect sea turtles around the world. He said there was not enough enforcement of the law requiring the extruder devices, though turtle deaths spike every year when shrimp season begins.
After a rash of turtle deaths in Texas in April, before the oil spill, NOAA and Texas authorities inspected 10 boats and cited 4 of them for improperly installed devices, according to news reports.
More than half of the 417 dead sea turtles collected since the spill have been found in Mississippi. Full or partial necropsies were conducted on 67 of them in the second week in May. Many were badly decomposed, but of those that could be fully analyzed, more than half had sediment.
Dr. Stacy said tissue from the turtles would still be tested for hydrocarbons and other toxic substances. But he said poisoning would generally leave some turtles alive but sick, whereas the turtles found along the Mississippi coast were all dead. He said that while sediment might enter the airway of a turtle after death, some of the dissected turtles that were recovered in sandy areas had dark, bottom sediment in their airways.
The federal shrimping season began before the oil spill, but state authorities have also responded to the autopsy findings. The Mississippi Marine Patrol did a full inspection of shrimping boats in state waters when the state’s shrimping season began on June 3, said Lisa Damiano Jones, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Marine Resources. No violations were found, she said.
On Monday, the department reduced the maximum tow time for skimmer trawls to 30 minutes from 55 because of an unusually high number of turtles in the area. “The reason for the smaller drag times is to increase the survival rate” for a trapped turtle, Ms. Jones said.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;
AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Whalewatching revenue topped two billion dollars in 2009 and is set to grow 10 percent a year, according to a new study.
The findings boost arguments that the marine mammals are worth more alive than dead, the researchers said.
They also coincide with a decision by the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Agadir, Morocco, to move forward with a "five year strategic plan" exploring the economic benefits and ecological risks of whalewatching.
Some 13 million eco-tourists in 2009 paid to see the animals in their natural element, generating 2.1 billion dollars (1.7 billion euros) and employing 13,000 people across hundreds of coastal regions worldwide, the study found.
"This shows that we can have our whales and still benefit from them, without killing them," said co-author Rashid Sumaila, a researcher at the University of British Columbia.
Whale tourism has expanded steadily over the last two decades, and could add more than 400 million dollars and 5,700 jobs to the global economy each year, said the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Policy.
"Given our methods of calculation, this is a conservative estimate. The real figures are probably much higher," Sumaila said by phone.
At least half of this growth would benefit seaside communities in developing countries, especially in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa, where many fisheries are in decline.
"It can be launched with little initial investment and carried out by local fishers who are already familiar with the area," the study noted.
Whaling countries have argued that watching whales and killing them are not necessarily incompatible when populations are robust and expanding.
Indeed, every year half-a-million people ply the coastal waters of whaling nations in the hope of glimpsing a humpback, orca or other whale if full breach.
But if attitudes continue to shift toward protection, the researchers suggested, tourists may one day insist on observing whales near countries that are not also engaged in slaughtering them for market.
An effort to bridge the gap between pro- and anti-whaling nations during the IWC's annual meeting, which ends Friday, collapsed earlier this week.
Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling that went into effect in 1986, Iceland, Japan and Norway -- taking advantage of legal loopholes -- harvest hundreds of large cetaceans every year, more than 1,500 in the 2008-2009 season alone.
Opponents of commercial whaling hope that tourism will help tilt an organisation created in 1946 to insure the long-term viability of the whaling industry toward other goals.
"All international bodies must evolve," said Peter Garett, Australia's minister for environment protection. "We see a future for the IWC that is much more about conservation than counting the number of whales that are killed."
"There is a tremendous economic future -- a sustainable future -- in whale watching, not whale killing," he told AFP.
Many local communities are thriving thanks to mammoth sea mammals that happen through their waters, delegates said.
The New Zealand town of Kaikoura, for example, "has subsequently been transformed, and now attracts 100,000 visitors annually," said Kerena Lyons.
And in tiny Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic, "43 boats and 10 tour operators offer trips for more than 25,000 tourists every year," said Liliana Betancourt of the Conservation Centre of Bahia de Samana.
But whalewatching can have unintended consequences, warned Vincent Ridoux, a marine biologist at the University of La Rochelle in France and a member of the French delegation.
"We tend to observe whales where they feed and reproduce. If the whalewatching is too invasive and always in the same place, it can push the whales into less optimal areas," he explained.
But perhaps the greatest danger is running out of whales.
"It could be a multi-million dollar industry, but in Tonga there are not enough whales anymore," Sue Taei of the Pew Environment Group said of the Pacific island nation.
The region's whales were decimated by Soviet factory ships in the 1960 and 1970s, she explained.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;
AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Greenland's indigenous peoples won the right Friday to hunt 27 humpback whales, capping three years of acrimonious debate within the 88-nation International Whaling Commission.
The self-ruled Danish territory can now kill and consume nine of the giant marine mammals each year through 2012, with its existing quota of more than 200 minke and fin whales cut by the same number.
The decision -- greeted with applause -- came on the closing day of the IWC's annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco, where a big-tent compromise deal between pro- and anti-whaling nations collapsed earlier in the week.
So-called "aboriginal subsistence whaling" to meet nutritional and cultural needs is the only kind allowed under a 1986 ban on commercial whaling, with quotas also allocated to indigenous groups in the Russian Far East and Alaska.
The only other nation allowed to kill humpbacks -- a species noted for spectacularly breaching the ocean surface -- is St. Vincent and The Grenadines in the Caribbean, which has a yearly allocation of four animals.
"Our rights will be violated if we can't get this resolution," Greenland's fishing and hunting minister, Ane Hansen, said during a tense plenary session.
IWC scientists, she noted, had determined that harvesting 10 whales every year for a decade would not adversely affect humpback populations.
But the proposal quickly ran into flak from some of the 11 Latin American nations in the so-called Buenos Aires group.
"The fact that the quotas do not affect the survival of stock does not mean that they will not effect tourism in the Caribbean," said Costa Rica's top whaling negotiator, Eugenia Arguedas.
The same whales that might be killed off Greenland's west coast also nourish a booming whalewatching industry half a world away, she said.
Monaco's Commissioner, as top negotiators are called, also questioned whether the whales were truly needed to meet the subsistence needs of Greenland's Inuit population.
"This population is not exactly starving. They enjoy one of the highest average household incomes in the world," said Frederic Briand.
He also pointed out that "more than 3,000 small cetaceans" -- an order including whales, dolphins and porpoises -- caught every year in Greenland's waters also supply meat to the 55,000-strong population.
But a large majority of delegates backed the proposal.
"You are talking about money from whalewatching, but we are talking about food," an indigenous delegate from Russia said angrily in support.
"There are two types of whaling, sustainable and non-sustainable. This is sustainable whaling," Iceland's top negotiator, Tomas Heider, told the plenary.
Delegates from several nations, including Japan, warned that rejecting Greenland's request -- or even taking it to a vote -- would further damage the deeply riven Commission, which is openly questioning its future viability.
"I do not believe that purity and absolutism can be a guide for an International Organisation that works," said New Zealand's Geoffrey Palmer, who backed the bid despite his country's strong anti-whaling positions.
The European Union, after hammering out a deal with Denmark reducing the total number of whales, also threw in its support, sparking the ire of animal welfare groups.
"The EU's support is shameful," said Joanna Toole of the World Society for the Protection of Animals. "What is the point of protecting whales in EU waters and then voting for them to be harpooned just a few hundred miles further north?"
After a flurry of diplomatic activity and several breaks for consultation, the measure finally passed by consensus.
Despite the moratorium on commercial whaling, Iceland, Japan and Norway use legal loopholes to harvest hundreds of large cetaceans every year, more than 1,500 in the 2008-2009 season alone.
More than 33,000 whales have been killed since the global ban went into effect.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;
AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Fatal strandings of southern right whales around Argentina's Valdes Peninsula have soared in recent years, and worried scientists are not sure why, the International Whaling Commission heard Friday.
From 1971, when systematic monitoring began, only a relative handful of whale deaths were reported over the next three decades.
Starting in 2003, however, the mortality rate began to soar: from 31 that year, to 47 in 2005, 83 in 2007, 95 in 2008 and 79 last year, the IWC's scientific committee reported.
"Over 90 percent of the deaths have been of first-year calves," the scientists said.
The Valdes Peninsula is one of the most popular whalewatching venues on the planet, attracting some 200,000 eco-tourists every year hoping to see the huge mammals -- which grow up to 17-metre (56-foot) long -- in their element.
It is also a critically important breeding and nursery ground for right whales.
Three causes, possibly in combination, have been fingered as possible culprits.
One is reduced availability of food for adult females, notably small crustaceans called copepods and krill. Poor feeding conditions lengthen the normally three-to-five year reproduction cycles, studies have shown.
High concentrations of biotoxins and the spread of an infectious disease are also suspects.
"The fact that the strandings are happening where they do is not that surprising because it is a breeding ground," said Vincent Ridoux, a marine biologist with the French delegation.
"What we don't know is why they are dying," he told AFP.
If females are undernourished it would severely impact calves, which normally consume about 125 litres of milk every day.
Weakening might also explain "an extremely strange phenomenon": kelp gulls that alight on the backs of young whales at the water's surface and feed on their backs, creating lesions vulnerable to toxins or viruses.
"We don't know to what extent they contribute to mortality, but they are the only visible sign of abnormality," Ridoux said, adding that he was unaware of similar cases in other whale populations.
As a precaution, the ICW has asked local authorities to try to keep the gulls at bay.
NGOs and the government have also stepped up aerial surveys to hunt for more clues as to what is killing the whales.
Scientists estimated that there were about 3,200 mature female southern right whales in 2007, double the number 10 years earlier. The population is not considered threatened, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Created in 1946, the IWC is the only international body that oversees the management of global whale populations.
It's scientific committee is charged with studying all of the environmental impacts affecting the animals worldwide, including toxins, noise pollution, climate change, ocean acidification and ship strikes.
So-called "by-catch" -- where whales are snared in fishing nets set for other prey -- are perhaps the most serious short-term threat to the marine mammals besides large-scale whaling.
From 1994 to 2006, Japan and South Korea each caught more than 1,000 minke whales in their coastal waters this way, according to government statistics.
DNA analysis suggests that the real number of whales killed in the same waters by by-catch is likely twice as high.
Water wars haven't started yet, but shortages certainly cause tensions between states to rise
John Vidal guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;
Fifteen years ago Ismail Serageldin, an Egyptian who was vice-president of the World Bank, shook politicians by predicting that the wars of the 21st century would be fought not over oil or land, but water.
So far he has been proved wrong, but escalating demand for water to grow food and provide drinking water for burgeoning urban populations has raised political tensions between many countries.
In Asia, there are disagreements over the right to dam shared rivers. India and Pakistan are in semi-permanent dispute over hydro-power on the river Indus. China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh all spar over the rivers rising in the Himalayas and which flow through neighbouring countries, providing water for nearly 500 million people on the way.
Tensions run high between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan over the Amu Daria and Syr Daria rivers, as well as the severely depleted Aral Sea. Argentina and Uruguay have taken their dispute over the river Plate to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, while Mexico and the US argue over rights on the Rio Grande and Colorado.
Last month, Baghdad demanded that Syria cease pumping water from the Iraqi portion of the Tigris. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Palestine and Israel, and Iraq and Iran, row over water supplies from the Shatt al-Arab waterway and Turkey's dams.
In Africa, the Chobe, a tributary of the Zambezi, has caused tension between Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while there have been incidents between Mauritania and Senegal over control of the Senegal. Shares of the Niger, Volta and Zambezi are all disputed.
According to the UN, there are more than 250 internationally shared rivers covering nearly half the total land surface of the earth, as well as innumerable shared aquifers. Around 300 potential conflicts around the world have been identified but history suggests very few if any are expected to develop into armed conflict. In the last century, only seven minor skirmishes over water were documented.
However, nearly all the world's major rivers are expected to come under increased pressure to provide farming, industry and drinking water for the three billion extra people expected to be born before the world's population starts to drop. By 2025, says the UN development programme, nearly one in three people will live in countries that are affected by water shortages. These already affect 450 million people in 29 countriesand, and according to the World Water Forum, tensions over water rights and allocations are expected to mount.
Last year the Pentagon predicted that water disputes would rise up the agenda in global politics in the coming years. It argued that water was central to border disputes. Conflicts in Chad, Yemen and Somalia, it said, have all been linked to water scarcity.
The disputes are not just between countries but between states and rural and urban users. The Yellow river in China, the Ganges, the Mekong and other Asian rivers do not always reach the sea in dry seasons, leaving farmers short and blaming factory users higher upstream.
The river Kaveri is the bone of serious contention between Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Karnatgaka states, and water from the Vansadhara river is disputed between Andrah Pradesh and Orissa states.
Battle for the Nile as rivals lay claim to Africa's great river
With crises of population and resources upstream, there is now deadlock over who owns the Nile
Xan Rice guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;
Simon Kitra's back garden looks out over the world's second-largest freshwater lake. His front lawn opens onto the world's longest river. If the 20-year-old Ugandan fisherman needs reminding of where his tiny island is, he can look up to the pink obelisk on the hillside, marking where the British explorer John Hanning Speke, sextant in hand, stood in 1862 to ascertain the point where Lake Victoria begins to empty — the source of the Nile.
The water that sustains Kitra – he drinks it, bathes in it, and eats and sells the fish which swim in it — slips gently and quietly past his canoe on its three-month, 3,470-mile journey to the Mediterranean. But at night, when he listens to his radio before casting his nets, news of the Nile's future is all anger and recriminations, stretching from its most remote headwaters in Burundi all the way to Egypt.
For a decade the nine states in the Nile basin have been negotiating on how best to share and protect the river in a time of changing climates, environmental threats and exploding populations. Now, with an agreement put on the table, talks have broken down in acrimony. On one side are the seven states that supply virtually all the Nile's flow. On the other are Egypt and Sudan, whose desert climates make the Nile's water their lifeblood. "This is serious," said Henriette Ndombe, executive director of the intergovernmental Nile Basin Initiative , established in 1999 to oversee the negotiation process and enhance co-operation. "This could be the beginning of a conflict."
The sticking point between the two groups is a question going back to colonial times: who owns the Nile's water? Kitra's answer – "It is for all of us" – might seem obvious. But Egypt and Sudan claim to have the law on their side. Treaties in 1929 and 1959, when Britain controlled much of the region, granted the two states "full utilisation of the Nile waters" – and the power to veto any water development projects in the catchment area in east Africa. The upstream states, including Ethiopia, source of the Blue Nile, which merges with the White Nile at Khartoum, and supplies 86% of the river's eventual flow, were allocated nothing.
However debatable its claim under international law, Egypt strongly defends it, sometimes with threats of military action. For decades it had an engineer posted at Uganda's Owen Falls dam on the Nile, close to Kitra's island, monitoring the outflow.
But in a sign of the growing discord, Uganda stopped supplying the engineer with data two years ago, according to Callist Tindimugaya, its commissioner for water resources regulation. And when Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the agreement in April on "equitable and reasonable" use of the Nile unless it protected their "historic rights" the other states lost patience. Isaac Musumba, Uganda's state minister for regional affairs, and its Nile representative, said: "We were saying: 'This is crazy! You cannot claim these rights without obligations'." Minelik Alemu Getahun, one of Ethiopia's negotiators, said all the upstream states saw the move by Egypt (Sudan has a more passive role) as "tantamount to an insult".
Ugandans endorse this stance. Ronald Kassamba, 24, scything grass along the banks of the Nile near Jinja, 50 miles from the capital Kampala, said: "Egypt is being very unfair. We have the source, so we should also be able to use the water."
Convinced that from their point of view there was no purpose in more talks, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania signed a "River Nile Basin Co-operative Framework" agreement in May. Kenya followed, and Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo look likely to do so – causing alarm and anger in Egypt. When parliaments in six states ratify the deal, a permanent commission to decide on water allocation will be set up – without the two states that need the river most.
Opposition by the upstream states to the colonial treaties is not new. Ethiopia was never colonised, and rejected the 1959 bilateral agreement that gave Egypt three-quarters of the Nile's annual flow (55.5bn cubic metres) and Sudan a quarter, even before it was signed. Most of the east African states also refused to recognise it, and earlier Nile treaties agreed by Britain on their behalf, when they became independent in the 1960s.
A combination of factors, including instability, poor governance, financial constraints and the availability of other water sources, meant the matter remained dormant. It was in the 1990s that various governments seriously started to consider using their Nile Basin waters to generate energy and irrigate crops. But when funding applications were made to the World Bank and others, problems arose. "Our development partners would always ask what other countries on the Nile were saying," said John Rao Nyaoro, Kenya's director of water resources. "We needed a clearing house for these projects," which will be a function of the Nile commission.
Officials in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, which all have significant, if increasingly unreliable, rainfall, do acknowledge Egypt's huge dependence on the Nile and its right to a large part of its flow. But they say it is unreasonable to ask them to leave a valuable resource untouched, as the demand increases due to the changing climate and, especially, population growth. Egypt's population of 79 million is expected to reach 122 million by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau . But in the upstream states the growth is even faster. There are 83 million Ethiopians today, but in 40 years there will be 150 million. In Uganda, where the average number of children per woman is 6.7, one of the highest in the world, the population is due to more than triple over the same period to 97 million. For Uganda, the priority for now is electricity, and it wants to build more dams.
Ethiopia has begun a hydropower development, opening a dam at Lake Tana, the Blue Nile's source, and is in talks with Egypt and Sudan to build several more dams on the river. The electricity will be shared among the states – the mutual benefit envisaged when the Nile Basin Initiative was established. But Ethiopia also plans large irrigation schemes, which it says are essential for food. Tanzania has also talked of tapping Lake Victoria to supply dry villages in its north-west.
Under the agreement signed by five countries, each state's share of the Nile Basin water will depend on variables such as population, contribution to the river's flow, climate, social and economic needs, and, crucially, current and potential uses of the water – a factor which will heavily favour Egypt and Sudan.
The disputed article, in which Egypt and Sudan want their historic rights guaranteed and the other governments prefer to a clause where each nation agrees "not to significantly affect the water security of any country" – has been left out of the agreement, for further discussion.
This, the upstream states hope, leaves the door open for Egypt and Sudan to join them before the one-year signing period closes.
"Diplomacy will help us navigate this issue," said Musumba, the Ugandan minister, playing down any talk of conflict.
"What it is Egypt going to do – bomb us all?"
Water treaties
Agreements over the Nile's water date back to the late 19th century when Britain, which controlled Egypt and Sudan, signed deals with other colonial powers and with Ethiopia to guarantee the river's unimpeded flow. But, in 1929, a bilateral treaty went further. Egypt, which by then enjoyed nominal independence, and Britain, acting on behalf of Sudan and its other colonies around Lake Victoria, signed an agreement on water rights. It reserved the entire dry season flow of the Nile for Egypt and allowed Cairo to veto any water development project in the Nile basin .
In 1959, Egypt and the newly independent Sudan signed a deal that gave them "full utilisation of the Nile waters". Using the river's annual average flow of 84bn cubic metres of water, it was agreed that Egypt had the right to use 55.5bn cubic metres a year, with Sudan's share at 18.5bn cubic metres. The other 10bn cubic metres was reserved for seepage losses and evaporation in Lake Nasser, behind the Aswan dam. Upstream countries were not allocated a share.
Posts
visitors since Nov 07