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Zhao Quan Yin, Evelyn Choo Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : The owner of a restaurant in Singapore has reeled in a man-sized Queensland garoupa off the coast of Sabah. And he expects to feed 600 customers with it.
The garoupa weighs 150 kilogrammes and is two metres long. It is so big that it had to be brought in on Monday morning using a forklift.
It took nine fishermen one hour to capture the underwater gladiator, which is now waiting to be prepared by chefs at the restaurant.
There are many ways to cook this S$3,000 purchase - most of it will be steamed, while some parts will be stewed.
Johnny Tan, owner, 2nd Kitchen Restaurant, said: "We'll split its body into 12 parts, all of which will be prepared differently. They'll taste different too. The best part of this fish is the throat."
It could be hard to swallow, but every 200-gramme serving will be sold at S$20. That could amount to a S$15,000 profit for the restaurant!
Over a hundred customers have made reservations for a share of this deep sea wonder.
- CNA/al
Giant haul
Today Online 29 Jun 10;
This giant garoupa can feed 600 people. Last Friday, Mr Johnny Tan, the owner and chef of 2nd Kitchen restaurant in Balestier Road received a call from his fishermen that they had caught a 2.1-m-long Queensland garoupa in the waters off Sabah. It had taken nine fishermen and an hour to haul it onto their boat. In the early hours of Saturday at Jurong Port, Mr Tan used a forklift to load the 150-kg fish onto a lorry. The fish was covered with 200kg of ice. More than 100 customers have said they are interested in tasting the giant fish, said Mr Tan, 48.
Don Wong
Vong Sokheng Phnom Penh Post 28 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE should address the negative environmental impacts of its sand trade with Cambodia as it prepares to host an international summit on sustainable urban development, global corruption watchdog Global Witness said.
Starting Tuesday, Singapore will host the World Cities Summit, a four-day urban development conference that will focus on “building liveable and sustainable communities”.
In a statement to be issued today, the London-based advocacy group said continued inaction with regard to its sand imports from Cambodia could undermine its credibility as host of the summit.
“Singapore is in danger of appearing hypocritical as it promotes its commitment to sustainability while simultaneously driving demand in an industry that is wreaking havoc on Cambodia’s coastal ecosystems,” Global Witness campaigner George Boden said in the statement.
Last month, Global Witness issued a report that said sand imports from Cambodia to Singapore had spiked despite a ban announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen in May last year.
The report estimated that as much as 796,000 tonnes of sand was being removed each month from Koh Kong province, the epicentre of a sand trade worth an estimated US$248 million annually in Singapore.
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Sunday that he regretted Global Witness’s attacks on the government, repeating government claims that the group’s criticism is “baseless”.
“As Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered, any sand-dredging company that operates and causes environmental damage to the ocean will not be allowed and will be completely banned from exporting,” he said.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of National Development (MND) did not respond to queries as of press time. But on May 11 the MND issued a statement that the city-state “does not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand, or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries’ laws”.
PUB review should re-examine data, models to see if the parameters need to be updated
Grace Chua Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE hosts the International Water Week conference and trade show this week.
Those irate at the two floods this month are dubbing June the Singapore Water Month. Heavy rain and a choked drain caused bad floods at Orchard Road on June 16, sparking jibes about 'Orchard River - Singapore's newest waterway' and 'GSS: The Great Singapore Sail'.
Last Friday, heavy rain felled trees and caused flash floods and traffic snarls across the island. The causes are not clear, but the national water agency PUB said intense rain overwhelmed the drainage system in some areas.
Some Singaporeans are still baffled by the flooding, perhaps because the rainfall was not evenly intense across the island. Roads in many areas were unaffected by floods, and people carried on as usual. So, not having seen any photos of debris choking a drain leading into Stamford Canal, they cannot understand how even a single chokepoint can cause serious damage.
Yet others are urging the PUB and the National Environment Agency's Meteorological Services Division to post online information on flood-prone areas, the location of floods in the past and even the percentage risk of heavy rain.
Such calls spring from the expectations of people who feel that one flood in super-efficient Singapore - let alone two in nine days - is just too much.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put the issue in perspective on Sunday when he said that a tropical city like Singapore will always face the prospect of flash floods when it rains heavily.
Rather than set aside land and money to build massive drains that remain empty most times, just to ensure there are never any floods, it would be more realistic to prevent widespread and prolonged flooding, and limit the risk to lives and damage to property, he said.
In other words, when you live in a tropical island-city like Singapore, you enjoy sunshine and clear skies - and face the occasional flash flood. Deal with it.
The Prime Minister has a point. Singapore's floods have been well-contained and nowhere as destructive as those that have occurred across the Causeway or in China. Short of erecting a giant dome over the island, there is no way to guarantee complete protection from floods.
Besides asking what the PUB has done to help them - itself a legitimate question - Singaporeans can also ask what they can do to help themselves.
If there were a severe flood, would Singaporeans be prepared? Would we be ready with a stock of clean drinking water, food, an emergency radio and first-aid supplies, or would we wait for someone to come to our rescue?
The simplest thing Singaporeans can do, which will have a direct effect on the drainage system, is to stop littering.
The public should not toss trash into drains or onto streets. A plastic cup or cigarette stub on the ground gets washed into the drainage system.
Last month, the PUB launched a campaign to discourage the littering of drains. Each day, its contractors remove a mind-blowing average of 14 tonnes of rubbish from Singapore's 7,000km of drains and canals. The debris can choke drains and lead to overflows, which are a cause of flooding.
Tides are another possible cause of floods, but not of this month's inundation. The tide was not high, and the gates of the $226 million Marina Barrage were open.
But even if people take the no-littering message to heart, the fact remains that Singapore roads have been flooded more than 10 times in the past five years.
Besides the inundation in Bukit Timah last year, there have been floods in MacPherson and Paya Lebar (April last year, caused by 97.6mm of rain); at Orchard Road (November 2007, 99mm of rain); and in Commonwealth (August 2007, 143mm of rain over seven hours).
This raises the inevitable question of whether the drainage system is structurally adequate, an issue PUB is reviewing.
It might consider two factors. One is whether its assumptions about the frequency of floods should change.
Some experts think climate change may be contributing to changing rainfall patterns, unleashing floods. If so, it is time to re-evaluate the average frequency of storms and revise models and drainage planning based on those numbers.
For example, when a storm is labelled a 'once in 50 years' occurrence, that is a technical term meaning there is a one in 50 chance a storm that size would happen in any given year. That calculation - used by insurance companies and agencies worldwide, including the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency - is based on historical data of past storms and floods, and statistical modelling of future ones.
But if the frequency of storms is changing, that statistic is not an adequate basis on which to make contingency plans. So the numbers may need updating.
The other factor PUB might review is its assumption of what level of flooding is acceptable in Singapore.
Granted, no tropical island-city can ever be 100 per cent flood-free, but are Singaporeans prepared to live with two floods in one month? Or is the threshold two bad floods in a year, as in last year?
The Orchard Road flood is estimated to have cost millions of dollars in damage to property and merchandise. No lives were lost, but just one misstep that day by someone could have led him or her to trip over hidden obstacles or fall into an open drain obscured by flood water.
Existing infrastructure has served the country well, but the parameters may need to be updated in the light of changing conditions.
Floods occur. They are unavoidable. But are our agencies and ordinary people more ready for them now compared to the past?
Recent wet weather may lead to better air quality
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
Pedestrians crossing Orchard Road last Friday at 10.30am after a morning downpour. The recent wet weather in the region may help to reduce haze in the months ahead. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI
THE wet weather hitting the region in recent weeks may prove a good thing for air quality in the months ahead.
In the years when May and June have been wetter than usual, the amount of forest torched, and the intensity of the haze that subsequently engulfs Singapore, has been greatly reduced.
The head of fire and sustainability at a major pulp and paper company in Sumatra said the haze from slash-and-burn forest clearing in Indonesia is expected to be less severe due to the prolonged wet season.
Mr Brad Sanders from Asia-Pacific Resources International Ltd, or April for short, a leading developer of fibre plantations and pulp and paper, said conditions this year look less favourable for farmers who want to use fire to clear their land.
'Because it has been so wet in June, people have not been able to burn. If it does dry up a bit in August, there may be quite a few people starting fires as they have not been able to so far,' he said.
'But I don't think we'll see smoke haze having a severe impact on Singapore, as for that to happen we need a severe dry system of more than three or four weeks in length and below normal rainfall.'
April, headquartered in Singapore, has 311,000ha of plantations in Riau, Sumatra - an area about four times the size of Singapore. It has had a no-burn policy since 1994.
Mr Sanders, who has seven years of experience fighting the fires that threaten his company's crops, said the weather forecast for the region does not indicate such a long dry spell in the months ahead.
However, things could change drastically if the weather dries up, giving farmers the opportunity to start burning.
But a National University of Singapore climatologist, Associate Professor Matthias Roth, said it was too early to predict how bad this year's haze season - usually from July to September - will be.
'Once the weather becomes dry again, there is a good possibility the clearing of land will resume and we will be affected by haze from biomass burning.'
Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said that from January to May this year, it recorded 772 hot spots in Sumatra and 593 in Kalimantan, but this is before the main dry season got under way this month.
As a comparison, on a single day in July last year satellite images showed 2,248 hot spots in Sumatra, compared with 1,229 in 2008, 1,218 in 2007 and 2,031 in 2006.
'One of the contributing factors to the development of hot spot activities in the region is the weather,' said the NEA spokesman. 'The traditional dry season in the region (from June to September) is normally exacerbated by the occurrence of El Nino, leading to an increase in hot spot activities.'
In 2006, when the El Nino effect was particularly bad, it led to long dry spells here and the haze situation hit a high of 150 in October - classified as unhealthy on the Pollutant Standard Index.
The highest level ever recorded was 226 in September 1997, in the very unhealthy range.
In 2007 and 2008, when the region experienced La Nina, the opposite of El Nino whose effects are often its reverse, the wetter conditions helped ease the smoke over Singapore.
During the El Nino years (2006 and 2009), the hot spot numbers in Sumatra were 12,014 and 10,297 respectively.
During La Nina in 2007 and 2008, they were 7,017 and 8,349 respectively.
New plants to boost reclaimed, desalinated water supply as demand doubles
Grace Chua Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
NATIONAL water agency PUB yesterday unveiled its 50-year plan to bring Singapore closer to self-sufficiency in water. It aims to do this by doubling its reliance on Newater and desalinated water.
These two forms of water now meet 40 per cent of the country's water needs; by 2060, it will be 80 per cent, PUB said on the first day of the Singapore International Water Week. PUB aims to triple Newater capacity so it can meet half of water demand by then, while the use of desalination will be widened by almost 10 times to meet 30 per cent of demand.
To get there, it will expand the Changi Newater plant and open a sixth facility in Tuas by 2030, as well as build a second desalination plant. It did not say where the new desalination plant would sit or when it would be ready.
This dramatic step-up in Singapore's water supply is being timed to dovetail with the expiry of the water agreement with Malaysia in 2061.
By then, the nation's demand for water will be double what it is now as a result of a growing population and industrial activity. PUB projects the country will need about 3 billion litres a day by 2060, split between domestic use and industrial use in a 30-70 proportion.
Besides reclaiming used water to produce Newater and purifying sea water, the country will also continue to rely on its water catchment areas.
Such areas now take up about two-thirds of the island, but with the network of drains and canals, as well as the damming of all river estuaries to form 17 reservoirs by next year, 90 per cent of the country will become a catchment zone.
Singapore has two pacts to import water from Malaysia. One expires next year and will not be renewed. When asked yesterday, PUB would not say if the other agreement, which expires in 2061, would be renewed.
Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who spoke at the opening of the Water Week and the World Cities Summit, which are being held at the Suntec conference centre, said: 'Water has always been a key consideration in our master planning, for it is a critical resource without which the city cannot survive - let alone grow.'
But while it shores up supply, PUB will not let up on efforts to get people to waste less water. Each person here now uses 155 litres of water a day on average. PUB aims to get this down to 147 litres a day by 2020.
It will encourage the use of water-efficient toilets and taps in homes, and urge people to take snappier showers. Commercial buildings will also be nudged into installing water meters, repairing leaks promptly and tapping on a Water Efficiency Fund for studies and projects.
Although the supply of sea water is virtually limitless, current desalination technology uses up a lot of energy, and so costs about 100 times more than buying raw water from across the Causeway.
This may result in higher water tariffs down the road, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim warned earlier this year.
Hope lies in a technology breakthrough which will lower the amount of energy needed in desalination, said PUB director of policy and planning Chua Soon Guan. So research to cut desalination's energy consumption will be a focus for the years to come.
Desalination will also be used to produce potable water from the minor rivers and streams near the island's shoreline.
Variable salinity plants will be set to work in those areas to treat fresh water, brackish water and saltier sea water. Such a plant was built in 2007 in Tampines for demonstration purposes. It can handle about 4 million litres of water a day.
Water from waste and sea to make a splash
Newater and desalination capacity set to multiply; plans to collect every raindrop
Uma Shankari Business Times 29 Jun 10;
(SINGAPORE) Singapore plans to triple its current Newater capacity and increase desalination output by almost 10 times by 2060 to meet the country's future water needs.
National water agency PUB said it expects demand for water to double over the next 50 years on the back of population and economic growth. To match the rising demand, Newater (which is water reclaimed from waste water) will meet 50 per cent of water demand by 2060, from about 30 per cent now.
And desalinated water (which is water reclaimed from the sea) will meet another at least 30 per cent of water demand. Right now, just 10 per cent of Singapore's water demand is met by desalinated water.
To meet these targets, PUB intends to build a sixth Newater plant in conjunction with the second phase of the deep-tunnel sewerage system, a highway of tunnels that collects used water for treatment. It also intends to build a second desalination plant to join Singapore's first in Tuas. PUB also said it has identified more than five sites for future desalination plants.
The long-term plans were announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on the first day of the Singapore International Water Week.
Mr Teo said that with water demand forecast to double in the next 50 years, Singapore plans to collect every drop of rain by expanding its catchment areas to 90 per cent of the land area. Right now, about two-thirds of Singapore is slated to become a huge water catchment area by 2011.
'Water reuse and desalination will play a bigger role as key sources of water supply,' said Mr Teo. 'Singapore plans to triple its current Newater capacity and ramp up desalination capacity by almost 10 times so that these two sources are able to meet 50 per cent and 30 per cent of our future water demand in the long term, should this be necessary.'
Singapore now gets water from four sources: water from local catchment areas, Newater, desalinated water and water imported from Johor.
PUB's near-term targets called for 40 per cent of Singapore's water demand to be met by Newater and 25 per cent to be met by desalinated water by 2020.
The latest targets, which are for the longer term, come as PUB expects water demand to double in the next 50 years. About 70 per cent of the demand is expected to come from the non-domestic sector while domestic consumption will make up the other 30 per cent.
Advances in membrane technology allowed Singapore to introduce reclaimed water and desalinated water as alternative sources, said PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye.
'These two sources have put us in a stronger position to deal with the vagaries of weather and allow us to increase our water supply to meet growing demand,' Mr Khoo said. 'We will continue to invest in R&D in our search for new sources and more cost-efficient ways to treat water.'
Singapore's fifth and largest Newater factory in Changi was opened in May this year. The $180 million plant, which is designed, built and operated by Sembcorp Industries, joins earlier plants in Ulu Pandan, Kranji, Seletar and Bedok. Together, these five plants now meet 30 per cent of the national water demand.
They will soon be joined by a sixth facility, which is likely to be in the western part of Singapore.
PUB will also soon unveil details of its plan to build a second desalination plant to enhance Singapore's drought resilience.
'The new plant will be built through a design-build-own-operate approach, based on a public-private sector partnership to enhance supply efficiency and help keep the cost of water as affordable as possible,' said Mr Teo.
PUB, Hyflux and Black & Veatch collaborated on the SingSpring desalination plant in Tuas, which has been in operation for close to five years.
PUB also said that to manage water demand, it is working to cut daily per capita consumption to 147 litres by 2020 through water conservation programmes and outreach efforts. Today, each Singaporean uses 155 litres of water daily on average.
More desalination, NEWater
Grace Chua Straits Times 28 Jun 10;
IN THE next 50 years, Singapore will dramatically ramp up its desalination and NEWater capacity in a bid to become self sufficient in its water supply. Over the next half century, the nation's water demand is projected to double from 380 million gallons per day (mgd) to 760 mgd.
Most of it will be met by the increased production of the reclaimed used water NEWater, and desalinated water. These two forms of water currently meet only 40 per cent of the country's water needs.
By 2060, national water agency PUB aims to increase this proportion to 80 per cent, it announced on Monday evening at the Singapore International Water Week conference and trade show.
Singapore's two other sources of water are from catchment areas like reservoirs as well as imported water from Malaysia. The drive to produce more NEWater and desalinated water will enable Singapore to be self-sufficient in water by 2061, when its water agreement with Malaysia runs out.
An earlier water agreement, signed in 1961 to allow Singapore to buy water from its neighbour at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons (about 1.3 Singapore cents), will run out next year (2011) and is not being renewed.
Besides desalination and reclaiming used water, the PUB will also increase Singapore's water catchment from the current two-thirds of land area to a whopping 90 per cent. It will tap even minor rivulets across the island and treat water there with variable salinity plants, which can treat fresh water and desalinate brackish water and saltier sea water.
PUB unveils Singapore's water strategy for next 50 years
Hoe Yeen Nie Channel NewsAsia 28 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : Singapore wants to triple its output of recycled water by 2060, to meet growing demand. And it is expected that NEWater will account for half of projected needs.
There are also plans to ramp up desalination capacity to meet a third of future demand.
All this is part of the country's goal to achieve self-sufficiency before its water agreement with Malaysia expires in 2061.
Currently, about two-thirds of Singapore's water supply comes from its reservoirs, and from Malaysia.
The rest is either recycled water, or seawater made safe for use.
But this is not enough for the long term.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "With water demand forecasted to double in the next 50 years, Singapore plans to collect every drop of rain by expanding our catchments to 90 per cent of our land area. Water reuse and desalination will play a bigger role as key sources of water supply."
So, the government will ramp up the capacity of its NEWater plants, to meet half of Singapore's projected needs.
A fifth NEWater plant was opened at Changi recently, and another is on the cards.
The new NEWater plant will be built in conjunction with the second phase of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, a network of underground pipes that carry used water for treatment and disposal.
As for desalination, the government also plans to raise its desalination capacity such that it meets at least 30 per cent of long-term demand. That is an increase of nearly 10 times from the current level. However, desalination is a very energy-intensive process, so research efforts in the next few years will focus on lowering that energy usage.
There are also plans to build a second desalination plant. And national water agency PUB said that more than five sites have been identified for future facilities.
But in the long-term, conservation is key.
And while there are efforts to get Singaporeans to use water wisely, companies have also been roped in to reduce consumption.
By 2060, industry is expected to account for 70 per cent of water demand.
These long-term strategies were highlighted in a book by the PUB and presented to Mr Teo at the joint opening of the Singapore International Water Week and World Cities Summit on Monday. - CNA/ms
More desalination, Newater
Joanne Chan Today Online 29 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - Future water demand is set to double by 2060, and strategies for a sustainable water supply were outlined yesterday.
The current Newater capacity will be tripled and desalination output increased by almost 10 times, said Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean at the joint opening ceremony of the Singapore International Water Week and World Cities Summit.
Water catchments will also be expanded to cover 90 per cent of Singapore's land area in the long term, said DPM Teo.
Singapore's water supply comes from four sources - local catchment, imported water, Newater and desalination. Currently, reservoirs and imported water make up two-thirds of Singapore's water supply.
But this is set to change in the long run, as water re-use and desalination will play bigger roles.
"They are not dependent on rainfall and help to boost our drought-resilience," said Mr Teo.
A sixth Newater plant likely to be located in Tuas will be built in together with Phase Two of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, a highway of tunnels that collects used water for treatment.
According to national water agency, PUB, Newater will account for half of Singapore's water needs by 2060.
A second desalination plant is also in the pipeline, so that desalinated water will meet at least 30 per cent of demand.
PUB noted that 70 per cent of water demand will come from the non-domestic sector, while household consumption will make up the other 30 per cent by 2060.
It aims to reduce consumption from an average of 155 litres of water daily per Singaporean to 147 litres by 2020.
Besides putting in hard infrastructure, Mr Teo also said Singapore will continue to enhance public spaces.
PUB said more than 100 active, beautiful and clean water projects will be carried out over the next 20 years.
Ten are due for completion by the end of this year.
Singapore To Ramp Up Its Water Supply
Zakaria Abdul Wahab Bernama 28 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE, June 28 (Bernama) -- Singapore plans to triple the current reclaimed water (NEWater) capacity to meet 50 per cent of its demand by 2060.
The island republic also plans to ramp up desalination capacity by almost 10 times so that desalinated water will meet at least 30 per cent of its water demand in the long term.
These long-term plans were contained in a publication produced by PUB, the national water agency, and unveiled by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the opening of the Singapore International Water Week, the global platform for water solutions, here Monday.
PUB expects Singapore's water demand to double in the next 50 years, with about 70 per cent of the demand coming from the non-domestic sector, and domestic consumption making up the other 30 per cent.
The city-state currently sources its water from local catchment, imported water, high grade reclaimed water and desalinated water.
Teo said, despite its limited land area of 710 sq km, Singapore planned to collect every drop of rain, and with the latest three reservoirs at Marina, Punggol and Serangoon, two-thirds of the country would become a huge water catchment.
He added that Singapore, with a population of over four million, aimed to expand its water catchment area to 90 per cent of its land eventually.
Today, each Singaporean uses 155 litres of water daily on average.
-- BERNAMA
Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has suggested the idea of a Learning Network for Cities to promote a community of best practices for liveability and sustainability.
Speaking at the opening plenary session of the World Cities Summit on Tuesday, Mr Mah says the network will bring together decision makers, practitioners and experts to share their knowledge and practices on key aspects of sustainable development such as infrastructure-financing and the use of green technology.
The network will be discussed at the World Cities Summit Mayors' Forum on Wednesday and further details will be shared during the closing plenary.
Mr Mah said the need for sustainable development has never been stronger.
Today, the global population stands at 6.8 billion and is projected to reach 9 billion in the next 40 years.
With the global population growing rapidly, the limitation of natural resources in meeting the needs of the world's population is increasingly evident.
He said cities hold the key to the future.
The statistics are compelling and familiar.
Cities are growing at an unprecedented rate. Every day, about 200,000 more people move into cities and towns.
Every three days, a new city the size of Seattle or Amsterdam springs up.
By the year 2050, 70 per cent of the global population will be residing in cities, as compared to the 50 per cent today.
Mr Mah said this means city planners and developers need to rapidly scale up their urban infrastructure to provide for some 6.4 billion city dwellers, who will need good access to energy, water, mobility and affordable housing.
Cities, by virtue of their high human density and economic growth, are the hotspots of climate-changing practices such as high energy consumption, pollution and deforestation.
Yet, precisely because of their high human density and economic capabilities, Mr Mah said cities own the very resources, the economic and human capital, as well as technology, to counter the problems that they have caused.
He said a great city must be economically vibrant, foster a strong sense of place, and more importantly, sustain its existence over time. - CNA /ls
Mah calls for city 'learning' forum
Robin Chan Straits Times 30 Jun 10;
IT MAY be only the second World Cities Summit, but there is already a call for more forums on liveability and sustainability to be held in Singapore.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday mooted the idea of a Learning Network for Cities in the years when there is no summit, which is held every two years.
'We need a global platform for constant dialogue among cities and partners on sustainable development as well as water solutions, just like the way our international community meets at Davos for the annual World Economic Forum,' Mr Mah said. 'In this context, I would like to suggest the idea of a Learning Network for Cities, to promote a community of best practices for liveability and sustainability.'
He was speaking at the joint opening of the plenary session of the World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week at the Suntec City Convention Centre. The proposed Learning Network would gather decision-makers and experts to share their knowledge and experience in areas of sustainability such as infrastructure financing and the use of green technology. The idea will be put up for discussion at the inaugural World Cities Summit Mayors' Forum today.
Dr Noeleen Heyzer, undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said Asian cities face four challenges: The fast pace of urbanisation, unsustainable development, climate change and the growth of slums.
'Our cities are already home to 1.6 billion people. By 2025, the urban population in Asia will be 2.3 billion people,' she said. 'We need to provide jobs, housing, water, transport, education...for an additional 120,000 people every day for the next 15 years. This is a daunting challenge, considering many governments are finding it difficult to meet the needs of their existing urban populations.'
Cities growing unabated will be unsustainable to the environment, she warned. 'We don't have the luxury of growing first and cleaning up later,' she said. 'We need to rethink our development paradigms and our lifestyles.'
Cities 'need joint effort to tackle challenges'
Sharing expertise, testing ideas can produce blueprint for progress: DPM Teo
Robin Chan Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
CITIES might seem a jumble of congestion and chaos, but there are ways to tackle their huge challenges.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told an international convention last night that sharing expertise, meeting at global forums and test-bedding ideas can give cities a blueprint for progress.
The global challenges facing cities today are more complex and so require a more coordinated response across borders, he noted.
Developing a long-term integrated approach to sustainability, together with good governance, will help cities 'reap high dividends', added Mr Teo, who was speaking at the launch of the third annual Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and the second biennial World Cities Summit.
The growth of cities has reached an unprecedented rate. There were just two megacities in 1950 - in New York and Tokyo - but 21 last year,and by 2025, there are estimated to be 29. A megacity has a population of more than 10 million.
'People congregate in cities because of the promise of a better life that cities offer,' said Mr Teo, who is also Defence Minister.
'It is thus imperative to look at how best we can manage the growth of cities in a way that can meet the aspirations of the people, fulfil that promise, and yet is sustainable to the environment that we share.'
Economically and environmentally, cities are becoming more interdependent as they share problems like congestion, pollution and even public health hazards like haze that may cross boundaries.
But cities, because they attract talent and investment, are also a source of innovation and ideas for solutions to these challenges.
Cities should share their expertise through collaborative projects, said Mr Teo, citing the example of the Tianjin Eco-City in China that is being jointly developed by Singapore and China.
Cities can also use global forums such as these 'to promote and facilitate the exchange of global best practices, new ideas and innovative technologies'.
And while many cities are already investing in infrastructure and test-bedding technologies like smart grids, renewable energy and water solutions, he urged governments and organisations to put more emphasis on them.
'We need to go beyond our own city and national boundaries to share insights, and address issues that have regional or global impact,' he said.
At an earlier press conference with the organisers of the summit and Water Week, summit director Edwin Seah said the event at Suntec 'is not just a collection of speakers to discuss issues relating to urbanisation, but to also share from Singapore's perspective'.
Mr Seah said the summit tries to differentiate itself from similar urban forums by focusing on five key elements of a liveable city: good governance, urban planning, quality of life, the economy and environmental protection.
Water Week managing director Michael Toh said expectations are for this year to surpass last year's bumper deal flow of $2.2 billion.
'Without guessing what (the companies) are going to announce, all the components of SIWW are seeing stronger responses...so we are expecting that the number will be larger if not better compared to last year,' he said.
With more than 50 ministers, mayors and governors in attendance, in addition to delegates from more than 30 countries, the World Cities Summit clearly plays a significant role in addressing the pressing issues` of cities around the world, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said in his welcome remarks at the launch of the events last night.
Political will and good policies 'key to a city without slums'
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
STRONG political will and good policies which provide affordable housing and access to finance are key to developing a city without slums, a top United Nations official said on Sunday.
This is why Singapore 'is one of the cities that is inspiring, especially for its best practices', said United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) undersecretary-general and executive director Anna Tibaijuka.
Speaking to The Straits Times ahead of the World Cities Summit in Singapore this week, Mrs Tibaijuka said the Republic has met the challenges of urban development by 'sheer determination and appropriate investment'.
'In cities such as Singapore, where leaders have approached the problems head-on, it has empowered the poor,' said the 60-year-old from Tanzania, who is the highest-ranking African woman in the UN.
Singapore's success - it has housed 80 per cent of its population in public housing over the past four decades - in supplying affordable housing and implementing a mortgage finance system suited for the low-income is crucial in eliminating slums, she pointed out.
'We cannot depend on the private sector or the free market to provide for the poor,' she said. The 2008 global financial crisis triggered by the sub-prime loans in the United States 'was an affordable housing financial crisis', she added. Banks had issued easy credit to home buyers who did not necessarily have the ability to pay it back, resulting in mass defaults of such housing loans.
'People thought affordable housing can be provided by the market, but that obviously didn't happen, and the rest, you know, (is history),' she said.
Mrs Tibaijuka will be marking the Asia launch of the latest UN-Habitat 2010 report - State Of The World's Cities: Bridging The Urban Divide - tomorrow at the World Cities Summit at Suntec City.
The report states that the world has exceeded its Millennium Development Goal to improve significantly the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers around the world by 2020, and has done it ahead of deadline.
It estimates that between 2000 and this year, 227 million people in the developing world would have moved out of slum conditions, with Asia at the forefront of such efforts.
The governments in the region improved the lives of an estimated 172 million slum dwellers in that period.
But the good news ends there.
In absolute terms, the number of slum dwellers swelled considerably by more than 50 million from 776.7 million in 2000 to 827.6 million this year, the report estimates.
This 'urban divide' between those who benefit from cities and those who are unable to, opens up a gap - an 'open wound' - which can produce social instability and generate high costs for society at large, notes the report.
Mrs Tibaijuka said the solutions require awareness, long-term political commitment and policy reforms.
Not mincing her words, she said: 'The presence of slums in cities is actually a shame on its political leaders. There is no dignity for these people who do not have even the basic access to safe drinking water or toilets... It is a reflection on the will of its leaders.'
The official, who has been credited with raising awareness about the global challenge of chaotic urbanisation through her campaigning for the past decade, said she is glad Singapore is taking the lead by hosting the World Cities Summit.
Asked to describe the Republic in one word, she looked out at Singapore's city skyline of Marina Bay from the top-floor of the Ritz-Carlton hotel and said: 'Spectacular.'
'It is my hope successful cities such as Singapore and Bahrain, where the next World Urban Forum is held, will inspire others with their best practices.
'We advocate everyone's basic 'right to the city', and I hope through our campaigning, we will be able to address this urban divide,' she said.
New technology at cities summit
Alicia Wong Today Online 29 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - Meet Mika, a "home robot" that can understand human gestures and speech. It can also do household chores, fetch coffee and assist the elderly living alone, all without complaint.
Besides Mika, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research is also showcasing 16 other innovations at the World Cities Summit.
One of them is a novel technology that, by printing electronic circuits on various surfaces such as paper and plastics, does away with the need for external light sources for items such as maps. These then become "self lit".
Now in its second run, the biennial summit has attracted more than 1,000 delegates from various countries including China, Australia and the Netherlands.
They will discuss issues of leadership and governance as well as the building of sustainable and eco-friendly cities and communities.
Spain's Bilbao, which will be conferred the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize at the summit, will share how, over 25 years, it has transformed itself from an industrial city to a cultural and knowledge-based economy.
Other showcases include a game where players can "manage" a city for more than 40 years. For the first time, students will also present architectural and planning designs as well as digital games.
There are three pavilions featuring sustainable practices in leading cities such as Suzhou and Lagos, sustainable development initiatives by local agencies, and innovative projects by major integrated city solution providers.
Some 3,000 trade visitors are also expected.
Jointly organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and the Civil Service College, the summit is on at Suntec Singapore until Thursday.
Alicia Wong
Mah Bow Tan moots urban planning network
Emilyn Yap Business Times 30 Jun 10;
A NEW platform for policymakers and urban planners to exchange ideas on sustainable development is in the works.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan mooted the idea of a Learning Network for Cities at the World Cities Summit (WCS) yesterday.
As the WCS happens once every two years, the network will allow government officials and industry professionals to share best practices on green technology, infrastructure financing and other sustainable development issues in between, he said.
The learning network will be discussed at the WCS Mayors' Forum today and more details will be shared later.
Mr Mah gave this update in his speech at the WCS opening plenary session. The event gathered high-ranking individuals from the private and public sectors to share what they thought were challenges and solutions in sustainable urbanisation.
Good urban planning was not something policymakers can ignore. According to Mr Mah, about 200,000 more people move into cities and towns every day. By 2050, 70 per cent of the global population will be living in cities, exceeding the 50 per cent today.
Strong governance, citizen engagement, a balance between development and the environment, and international collaborations are some of the key ingredients for sustainable development, he said.
Asia-Pacific will have major challenges to overcome in the urbanisation process, warned United Nations under-secretary-general and executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Noeleen Heyzer.
The large movement of people to cities, environmentally unfriendly development, poverty and climate change are threatening the urban landscape, she said. Various cities are aware of the problems and are working to resolve them. One of these is the fast growing region of Chongqing in China. Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan said that the city is planning to plant 14 square kilometres of trees, and build 40 million sq m of public rental housing to cope with rapid urbanisation.
In the Netherlands, the government launched a Delta Programme and set up a Delta fund to protect the country against flooding. Some 59 per cent of the country is flood-prone, said the programme's government commissioner Wim Kuijken.
Commenting on the WCS after the opening plenary session, Mr Mah said that there is much for Singapore to learn. 'There are many challenges we may face in the future', he said.
Climate change is one of these, he continued. When it comes to managing water levels for instance, Singapore can learn from the Netherlands.
Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
A NEW training centre will be set up in Singapore to promote sustainable waste management.
The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore and the National Environment Agency to establish a training, advisory and promotion centre for environmental and waste management here, the three bodies said in a press release yesterday.
The centre will be the first of its kind set up by ISWA outside Europe. It will organise waste management training workshops, forums and trade shows, and provide advisory services to regional organisations and governments.
Waste management has become a crucial issue in Asia, which is expected to generate 1.8 million tonnes of waste a day and spend $70 billion on waste management a year by 2025.
Jaslene Pang Business Times 29 Jun 10;
COMPANIES and government entities were flying their flags high during the World Cities Summit and the Singapore International Water Week events yesterday, unveiling a host of cutting-edge technological solutions.
National water agency PUB had its Marina Barrage, which was crowned winner of the 2010 International Water Association's (IWA) Asia Pacific Regional Project Innovation Awards in the Design category.
Its technology - dubbed as Variable Salinity Plant - was also declared winner of the Applied Research category in the same competition.
The Variable Salinity Plant harnesses water from the remaining streams and rivulets near the shoreline.
Both the Variable Salinity Plant and Marina Barrage - which creates the Marina Reservoir - are part of PUB's innovative solutions to meet the country's challenge in ensuring water sustainability.
Apart from recognition, the World Cities Summit and the Singapore International Water Week events at Suntec also saw various collaborations come to life.
One such collaboration is the one between the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS), the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA). The trio signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday.
The MOU aims to establish a Training, Advisory and Promotion (TAP) Centre for Environment and Waste Management in Singapore.
The TAP Centre - which is expected to be ready next year - will be a key hub for sustainable waste management in Asia, where it will serve as a depository of knowledge and data and catalyst for regional collaboration and public-private partnerships in the region.
Another collaboration was that between Siemens Water Technologies in Singapore and the PUB on a membrane bioreactor (MBR) testing facility at PUB's Changi Water Reclamation Plant.
The one-million-litre-per-day MBR system treats domestic waste water at the Changi plant. This is part of the first phase of the Singapore Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) project. The test facility will allow Siemens' research and development personnel to validate new design parameters quickly under real conditions.
Besides the collaboration, Siemens also showcased various other technologies. The technologies included those which Siemens provided the Changi water reclamation plant with - the DualAir fine-bubble and WideBand coarse-bubble diffuser systems to aerate waste water for secondary treatment.
In addition, Siemens provided the plant with 464 chain and scraper mechanisms for 48 stacked clarifiers, which treat waste water with a reduced footprint.
Siemens also said that it supplied seven Memcor CP membrane filtration trains that consist of 960 membranes each for the Changi NEWater plant. The membranes will pre-treat feedwater going to the reverse osmosis system.
The NEWater plant started its first phase in May. The total production capacity will expand to 228,000 cubic metre per day when the plant is completed, making it the largest in the region.
As part of Siemens' South-east Asia regional expansion, service branches have been located in Southeast Asia countries, with headquarters in Tuas.
'Our activities on the Changi plants with PUB ... illustrate the latest in technology and sustainable water treatment solutions,' said Chuck Gordon, president and CEO of Siemens Water Technologies.
Penalise those who waste water
Water Ministers' Forum says realistic pricing should discourage abuse
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
CALLING for penalties on water wastage, experts at the opening of the first Asia-Pacific Water Ministers' Forum yesterday said that water should be seen as an economic resource and its pricing should discourage abuse.
Speaking at the gathering of 13 ministers at Suntec City, Dr Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, called for financial penalties for those who waste water.
'To minimise wastage and increase efficiency in water use, we need to charge the real costs of providing water.
'We need to introduce progressive pricing policies that on the one hand recognise the basic need of water for human existence and, on the other, progressively charge those who overuse or waste it.
'This would encourage households, industries and agriculturists to be more eco-efficient in using water,' she said, adding that funds raised could be directed to fixing up water infrastructure as between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of drinking water in the region is unaccounted for partly due to leaking pipes.
Dr Heyzer's sentiments were echoed by Mr Loic Fauchon, president of the World Water Council, who said that better management of water could be achieved through tariffs.
Mr Arjun Thapan, special senior adviser in infrastructure and water at the Asian Development Bank, said there were nine countries considered as water- stressed in Asia, including China and India, and therefore representing more than half the world's population.
He urged the ministers to view water as a business and to let water agencies act independently, adding that if Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, can have world-class water systems so can the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.
Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said that 'we price our water to recover the full cost for producing and supplying it'. He added that a water conservation tax meant that the more you consume, the higher that tax would be.
Speaking after the meeting, he said he did not think the tax would need to be raised but that demand would have to be managed and it was important for households and industry to be frugal when using the nation's water.
There was also a fresh call to meet the Millennium Development Goals to halve the proportion of people without access to clean water and basic sanitation by 2015. Globally, almost one billion people lack clean drinking water and 2.4 billion people have no access to hygienic sanitation facilities, with 1.2 billion lacking any sanitation facilities at all.
Madam Erna Witoelarm, vice-chair of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum governing council, said that reaching the Millennium Development Goals is not a question of possibility but a matter of will. 'To formulate and implement solutions in a timely and pragmatic manner will require significant investment and this would need a strong political will,' she said, urging ministers to push water security up the national agenda.
PUB scores on innovation
Straits Times 30 Jun 10;
NATIONAL water agency PUB has won big at this year's International Water Association's Asia-Pacific Project Innovation Awards.
Its Marina Barrage project bagged an award for design, while its research on variable salinity plant technology won in the applied research category, the association said in a press release.
Both initiatives are examples of Singapore's success in water management, it said. The barrage greatly reduces flooding, provides a key source of reliable fresh water, and creates a recreational activity area.
The variable salinity plant, the first of its kind in the world, can treat both fresh water and sea water.
The awards will be given out tonight at a dinner ceremony at the Singapore Flyer.
Nirmal Ghosh, Straits Times 29 Jun 10;
ON JUNE 14, delegates from 85 nations attended a five-day United Nations meeting in Busan, South Korea. They proposed to set up an international 'science policy platform' that many hope will do for biodiversity what the 2006 Nicholas Stern report did for climate change - put the issue on the global agenda.
The awkwardly named Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will function much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It will produce peer-reviewed scientific reports that can serve as the basis for assessments of the planet's biodiversity.
The IPCC's reputation has been somewhat tarnished, though the challenge of climate change remains a genuine and life-threatening one. It is to be hoped that the IPBES will avoid a similar fate.
While a stable climate regime is the cradle of life, biodiversity is the fabric of life. It is too important an issue to be lost in the kind of political and corporate games that delayed action on climate change for years, and continue to obscure the issues.
Unlike climate change, biodiversity is often a local issue. And it is not just vested interests that are destroying biodiversity; beyond that is the entire paradigm in which we view our companion species, from leopards to Lepidoptera, from arachnids to antelopes.
There is enough evidence to confirm that human activity is driving most species to extinction. �One example is the Alaotra Grebe, a wetland bird that declined rapidly after carnivorous fish were introduced to its lake habitat in Madagascar. This, along with the use by fishermen of nylon gill-nets, which caught and drowned the birds, drove it to extinction.
Most species depend on human goodwill to survive. The public's imagination is caught by charismatic megafauna - big-bodied species, mostly mammals, that are instantly recognisable. These include tigers, lions, orang utans, gorillas, whales, dolphins and elephants. Looking cuddly - like the Giant Panda - also helps.
All these species face an uphill battle for survival - but perhaps none more so than the large-bodied predators, some of which, like crocodiles, do not have much appeal to the public.
What they are up against was dramatically illustrated in January this year when students training in the camera-trapping of wildlife in the sprawling wooded campus of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), near Dehra Dun and close to the forests of Rajaji National Park, detected the presence of a leopard.
It was not the first leopard to come through the grounds. Thinning habitat and vanishing prey have driven leopards across India to the margins of their preferred habitat. In some cases, human habitats have come to them, leaving them with little choice but to live in a human-dominated landscape.
Many of the students and faculty at the WII were delighted at the leopard's presence. As scientists working for wildlife conservation, the coexistence of people and wildlife is at the heart of the issues they grapple with. To have a leopard on the premises was to many an endorsement of everything the WII stood for.
Not quite, however. Many were afraid of the leopard. Children were instructed to stay indoors after sunset. After much debate, the director of the WII decided to have the leopard - a female with cubs - driven out of the scrubland.
Parts of the scrub were cut down, and parts burned. As a result, the leopard, cornered, mauled two people. One faculty member wryly remarked that it was a case of 'people attacking the leopard' and not the other way around. The leopard had lived in the vicinity for some time without attacking anyone until the attempt to evict her.
The incident has sparked outrage in conservation circles. If the WII could not tolerate a leopard on its premises, what right do conservationists have to preach coexistence with wildlife?
The problem is our inability to live in peaceful coexistence with species that are capable of killing and eating us, even if most of the time they do not.�In his 2003 book Monster Of God, David Quammen wrote how humans fear being reminded of predators, and of their own place in the food chain - which is not at the top of it. For that reason, we try to destroy the predator.
Many predators are what biologists call 'keystone species'. A keystone balances the opposing forces of an arch; without it, the structure will wobble and collapse. Predators perform much the same function in the food chain. Remove a top or 'alpha' predator and its prey species will multiply, with cascading consequences for the rest of the ecosystem.
It is admittedly easy for faraway armchair conservationists to preach coexistence with predators. Try telling that to a family with small children living in a flimsy cottage at the edge of a forest. Some conservationists maintain that coexistence of humans with large predators like tigers is simply not possible without conflict - which the tiger will, of course, lose.
How far will the IPBES go towards correcting the paradigm? Probably not far enough or fast enough.
Quammen wrote: 'The foreseeable outcome is that in 2150, when human population peaks at around 11 billion, alpha predators will have ceased to exist - except behind chain-link fencing, high-strength glass and steel bars.
'As memory recedes and the zoo populations become... ever more conveniently docile... people will find it hard to conceive that those animals were once proud, dangerous, unpredictable, widespread and kingly, prowling free among the forests, rivers, estuaries and oceans used by humanity.
'Children will be startled to learn, if anyone tells them, that once there were lions at large in the very world.'
Coral reefs support a quarter of the world's marine life, but rising ocean temperatures are killing them. The impact of their decline could be huge, says marine biologist Olivia Durkin
The Independent 29 Jun 10;
A a result of rising sea temperatures, we are seeing the degradation and eventual destruction of one of the most beautiful ecosystems on Earth. Corals around the world are succumbing to yet another mass "bleaching event"; reefs that were once a rich mosaic of colours are now shockingly white as corals fade and die.
Corals are in fact a combination of animal, algae and "rock". Colonies are made up of many identical individuals called polyps that secrete a stony skeleton. Polyps contain microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within the coral animal tissue; the relationship is mutually beneficial, or symbiotic. Zooxanthellae use sunlight to provide energy and nutrients for the coral through photosynthesis, in return they are provided with shelter. In a reef, each colony acts as a building block, pieced together to form intricate structures that provide habitats for an abundance of reef fish and many other creatures.
Bleaching is the ultimate stress reaction, when environmental conditions decline to a point where they cannot sustain the coral-algae relationship. Zooxanthellae, which are responsible for the magnificent colour of corals, are expelled from the coral, leaving the transparent tissue on a stark white skeleton. Although still alive, bleached corals must work harder without zooxanthellae to obtain the energy they need for growth and survival. If periods of stress are prolonged, the corals will die. Other reef residents such as giant clams, sea anemones and soft corals, which also contain zooxanthellae, are sharing the same fate.
Widespread bleaching tends to be attributed to abnormally high sea temperatures in addition to high levels of light. This happens in times of prolonged calm weather and crystal-clear water. While this may sound like the picture-postcard perception of a typical coral reef environment, it is in fact turbulent waters that keep coral healthy and scientists worry that the current event has the potential to be the worst ever.
Sea temperatures are at an all-time high. Major bleaching incidents are increasingly prevalent. The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed that 2010 has been the hottest year in recorded history. Prior to this, 1998 was the hottest for 130 years, leading to unprecedented intense bleaching and coral mortality worldwide which wiped out more than 90 per cent of shallow water corals in the Indian Ocean. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch monitors and predicts bleaching events using HotSpots, a measure which highlights areas where sea surface temperatures rise above levels that can lead to bleaching.
As predicted by NOAA, bleaching began this February in Mauritius and it has progressed throughout the Indian Ocean and South East Asia, including reefs off Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Philippines. Florida and the Caribbean are next, with strong warming of the surrounding sea and severe bleaching expected for the coming months.
Even the world's most southerly coral reef at Lord Howe Island has suffered its worst bleaching event. Lying off eastern Australia, the island is well known for its pristine and beautiful environment. For true coral reef formation, relatively stable conditions are required – and Lord Howe Island is at the threshold of coral reef tolerance. Thermal-induced bleaching at the southern limits of coral reef formation is a cause for considerable concern; evidence that dramatic sea warming has spread to the subtropical regions as well as the tropics. The distribution of coral reefs is expected to shift dramatically with increasing sea temperatures. Elsewhere in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef has escaped severe bleaching. Cyclone Ului, which hit the Queensland coast in March, may have been its saving grace. Maldivian reefs were also spared severe bleaching with the arrival of monsoon weather in early May, quickly dissipating the warmer-than-average conditions. Unfortunately, other reefs were not so lucky and delayed monsoon winds and rain led to a prolonged period of calm weather and elevated sea temperatures. Chad Scott, from the Save Koh Tao conservation group, recalls the situation in the Gulf of Thailand this year: "We experienced some very hot weather and there was no rain for three months. As a consequence, water temperatures peaked at 34oC." Intense bleaching events like these can ruin reefs. Dr Clive Wilkinson, editor of the Status of Coral Reefs of the World reports, states that "approximately 16 per cent of the world's reefs were effectively destroyed in 1998".
This year, there are fears of equivalent losses. "In Thailand, the bleaching is reported to be the most severe in 20 years of monitoring. In 1998, the reefs of the Andaman Sea were essentially unaffected, this year these once outstanding reefs are up to 95 per cent bleached," says Dr James True from Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand, who witnessed the 1998 and 2010 bleaching events.
The situation in Cambodia is equally serious. In Cambodia, a UK based conservation organisation is monitoring the impacts of the bleaching event on local reefs. Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) uses teams of volunteers to collect crucial information about the status of coral reefs around the world. This information is used to develop management recommendations for the host governments. Jan-Willem van Bochove, head marine scientist for CCC, has growing concerns for the future of coral reefs.
The bleaching we are currently witnessing is severe and widespread; van Bochove says, "not many people in the UK are aware of the coral reef crisis currently unfolding in South East Asia. CCC provides the opportunity for volunteers to be involved in reef conservation, and helps create awareness of the importance of coral reefs for a healthy planet."
Although bleached coral colonies can recover, it can take a while. It could be many weeks or months before severely bleached corals regain their colour, through the uptake of new zooxanthellae. More importantly, it could be years before recovering corals reproduce again. So, it may be more than a decade, if at all, before a severely bleached reef recovers.
In fact, many reefs in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific impacted by the 1998 bleaching had shown promising signs of recovery, with the presence of young colonies and successful reproduction. However, recovering reefs have been set back by repeated bouts of coral bleaching.
With sea temperatures increasing in the future, bleaching events are predicted to become more frequent. Continued events will lead to a dramatic change in reef appearance; small, unattractive, boulder-like corals will replace the wide expanses of branching "sensitive" corals that dominate the typical perception of a beautiful reef. Coral reefs are the rainforests of the sea. Despite the fact that reefs only occupy around 1 per cent of the world ocean surface – an area half the size of France or 30 million football pitches – they support over a quarter of the world's marine life. Reefs dominated by slow growing "resistant" species provide a poor habitat for marine life, leading to fewer fish, a decline in biodiversity and extinction of many species.
Not only that. Coral reefs provide food, coastal protection and support fishing and tourism industries. Losing these charismatic ecosystems, and the goods they provide will have worrying consequences for at least 500 million people worldwide, especially the 150 million people who live within the Coral Triangle and, as outlined by several researchers, the 30 million people worldwide directly dependent on coral reefs for food and livelihood.
Over the next 30 years, coral reefs are expected to become highly susceptible to frequent bleaching events, and we will lose the functionality of our reefs. Recurrent bleaching, along with ocean acidification, is likely to be the greatest threat.
So whether the current bleaching turns out to be the worst on record or not, it is certainly a wake-up call. The fact is the sea is getting warmer and frequent bleaching events are a grave consequence of this. Humankind must do all it can to limit continuing warming of the sea or damage to the reefs themselves. We must reduce our carbon emissions significantly, improve water quality, promote the effective coral reef management and enhance reef recovery through reef restoration projects. The repercussions of repeated mass bleaching are dire. Not only for marine life but ultimately for us all.
Olivia Durkin is currently co-ordinating the Coral@CBiPT bleaching project at the Centre of Biodiversity of peninsular Thailand. Find out more about bleaching at Coralreefwatch.noaa.gov
Muguntan Vanar, The Star 29 Jun 10;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will not budge from its stand that the state’s wildlife should remain in its natural habitat and not sent out to zoos.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said it would be irresponsible to relocate iconic wildlife such as the proboscis monkeys, Borneo pygmy elephants and orang utan.
“Moving them elsewhere will compromise the animals’ survival chances outside their home,” he told reporters on Monday evening after receiving a courtesy call from the Chinese International Travel Service United from China here.
“We may consider some animals but to ask for the iconic animals from Sabah is really out of the question.”
Masidi stressed that it was not a case of Sabah not wanting to give the animals but because they wanted to keep them in their natural habitat.
“Sabah understands the special needs of these animals, so it will be irresponsible for us to send them out of the state knowing that their chances of survival will be very much compromised,” he added.
He was responding to a statement by Malaysian Zoological Association president Ismail Hutson who had said that Zoo Negara visitors would be able to view more exotic wildlife from Sabah as preparation was underway to receive the Borneo pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, orang utan and hornbills.
Masidi said there has been no official request from the association or other parties pertaining to the matter.
Benget Besalicto Tnb., Jakarta Post 15 Jun 10;
The old villager dispensed with the usual introductory formalities and niceties that normally kick off meetings between locals, government officials, NGOs and private companies, when addressing the crowd at the opening ceremony of an orangutan seminar in remote Central Kalimantan.
"My name is Janas. But first, I would like to remind you that you forgot to mention the name of our village, which is hosting our meeting today," said Acoi Janas, the 62-year old Dayak, jokingly.
His audience included his fellow villagers, as well as representatives of NGOs like Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Orangutan Conservation Services Program (OCSP), the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), and palm oil company Agro Group.
The meeting, held on May 17, marked the start of a two-day orangutan seminar in Janas' village, which is also home to 32,000 orangutans, or more than 60 percent of the island's total population of the only great ape family in Asia.
Apparently the master of ceremony had mentioned in his speech the names of all the villages whose residents were invited to attend the meeting, except Janas'.
Before directing his eyes toward the stage, where all of the ceremony's prominent figures sat, Janas look around for a moment, as if he was wishing the trees surrounding the ceremony venue would inch closer to protect him from the blazing sun.
"BOS has been operating here for more than 10 years," he started. "But I think you haven't been paying enough attention to the local people. You have set up a special clinic for orangutans, but none of you care about our welfare."
According to Janas, NGOs should help empower locals by prioritizing them as potential workers, and think of them as partners who can provide goods and services for their programs. Foreign NGOs currently run the world's largest orangutan rehabilitation center in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan.
Another woman, who did not wished to be named, concurred with Janas. "We noticed that only *BOS* staff members are given the opportunity to supply goods and services needed by the orangutan rehabilitation center, not local people," she noted.
Rawan, a teacher at Senior High School VI, who lives in Tumbang Tahai village, complained environmental conservation programs sometimes worsened the plight of locals.
"We've noticed Sebangau National Park is being developed near where we live. But that development goes against our interests as locals. Its spatial planning is not clear yet," he said.
The forests of Sebangau were finally declared protected areas in 2004, after being logged unsustainably for years under forestry concessions handed out during president Soeharto's regime.
Consisting of 95 percent peat soil and spreading over an area of 569,000 hectares across several regencies - Katingan, Pulang Pisau and the city of Palangkaraya, the park is a combination of swampy forests, transitional forests, lowland canopy forests and granite forests, which are rich in various kinds of species, including birds, mammals, and primates.
Many locals who planted their crops in certain zones for generations, found they had to hand over their plots of land as those were now part of the Sebangau National Park, Rawan went on.
"Many of the locals had to surrender their land to the park management without receiving any compensation. We're worried we'll have the same experience," he said, adding that locals needed their land to make a living.
Guris, a villager who lives near the Tangkiling Hill forest sanctuary, expressed similar concerns, saying members of his community were worried they would lose their properties because of the Tangkiling sanctuary project.
As the only mountain in the low-land of Central Kalimantan, Tangkiling Hill is considered a treasure that should be conserved at all costs because of its rich and unique ecosystem.
"Many locals are afraid to grow crops on their land as they fear the government will seize their property. But we have to make a living from the land. So, please make sure that the sanctuary's spatial planning does not disadvantage locals," he said.
During the rest of the meeting, several other locals echoed more or less similar concerns resulting from a number of environmental conservation programs.
Representatives from local administrations, NGOs, and private companies operating in the area, took the opportunity presented by the meeting to defend their position.
To address Janas' complaint, Togu Manurung, the chairman of BOS, said locals should differentiate between NGOs, the government, and private companies.
"They are different in terms of functions. Our job as an NGO is to rehabilitate orangutans. That's our main task. So, it's not our job to improve people's health or empower locals. That's the government's job. Here, we're partnering with the government to help conserve orangutans," he said, "But we will take on board some of your feedback on prioritizing locals to source goods and services."
Anung Setiadi, the head of Central Kalimantan's forestry agency, who represented Governor Agustin Teras Narang during the meeting, reiterated that all conservation programs should be pursued with the interests of local people in mind.
"We'll urge them to do the best they can to empower locals while operating here," he said.
Janas only hoped all the promises made during the meeting would be held.
"They've paid serious attention to preserving the environment. They are spending billions of rupiah each month to save orangutans. But what about us, the locals? Our situation is also difficult. We hope we won't continue to be ignored."
Jonathan Wootliff Jakarta Post 29 Jun 10;
It’s ironical that the United States President’s postponed visit to Indonesia — as a result of the grotesque oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — has delayed the signing of important environmental protection agreements.
Norway’s recent commitment to give Indonesia a billion dollars in return for introducing a moratorium on new forestry concessions, raised people’s expectations a similar deal would be forged between Presidents Barack Obama and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during their discussions in Jakarta scheduled for last month.
Indonesia’s unenviable ranking as the world’s fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter is mainly a result of the poor state of the country’s forests which urgently require improved management.
Funds are badly needed if the government is to have any chance of tackling illegal logging, uncontrolled land clearance, fires and other threats to Indonesia’s rainforests.
Dramatic images of the millions of barrels of spewing crude from BP’s failed Macondo oil installation is certainly a good reason for President Obama to stay at home. The American people rightly demand their government ensures that everything is done to resolve this terrible crisis.
When catastrophe strikes, we want our leaders to act with decisiveness. However unrealistic, we expect government to come to the rescue with an immediate fix.
Unfortunately for the people and wildlife of the states of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, even the world’s most powerful man is unable to stop the relentless of flow of oil.
Sadly, human-induced environmental disasters are not new. And, in spite of the hideous manifestations of the BP blowout, which occurred just two days before Earth Day, this is not the worst man-made calamity to have beset our fragile planet.
Bhopal and Chernobyl provide just two dreadful examples of the unthinkable impacts of industrial accidents. A thousand five hundred innocent lives were lost in 1984 when a US-owned factory in India leaked deadly chemicals into the atmosphere, and just two years later explosions at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 people.
In 1997, raging fires in Indonesia pumped caustic smoke into the air that enveloped much of South East Asia, reaching as far north as southern Thailand and the Philippines, with Malaysia and Singapore also badly affected.
An estimated area of 51,100-square kilometers was completely devastated. The lives and health of 70 million Indonesians were jeopardized and species already endangered, such as orangutans, rhinos, and tigers, were pushed closer to extinction.
These were among the worst blazes the world had ever seen and attracted widespread attention from news media, environmental organizations, and governments.
For over three months, dense, choking haze billowed from Indonesia’s forests. The international concern generated by the fires and haze brought massive global assistance, but little could be done to extinguish such overwhelming fire.
Forestry experts attributed negligence to the cause of Indonesia’s 1997 Armageddon, which cost an estimated US$4.5 billion.
They were left in no doubt that had the forests been properly managed with weak enforcement of environmental laws blamed for unbridled forest conversion, the catastrophe would have been avoided.
Attention was also drawn to the immense human and environmental costs borne by Indonesia and its neighbors, which came on top of economic hardship already being suffered because of the prevailing Asian financial crisis.
Environmental organizations concerned with Indonesia’s forests fear that memories are short and the events of more than a decade ago could quite easily reoccur. WHALI, Greenpeace and the Worldwide Fund for Nature are just three of many such groups highlighting a further deterioration of the state of the nation’s forests which has significantly increased the fire hazard.
They say that it is only a matter of time before the forests, made combustible because of unfettered conversion, will catch fire again, and this time on a far more devastating scale.
In spite of popular cries from ordinary American people for government to plug the oil-billowing hole on the more-than-a-kilometer-deep seabed in the Gulf of Mexico, in reality it is only the private sector that has the necessary wherewithal and expertise.
Arguably, we expect too much of government. It is often companies that have far more resources and skills to fix, but perhaps more importantly to avert such environmental calamities.
Indonesian oil palm as well as pulp and paper companies have a clear business interest in preventing fire.
Some of the major forestry operators claim to deploy sustainable practices that actively help to protect the forests.
While government is all-too-often impotent when it comes to conservation, large commercial players say that they provide the only feasible solutions to prevent the release of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases.
These companies state that unmanaged forests only accelerate the degradation and risk of fire, citing their on-the-round management techniques as key to curbing such destructive behavior as illegal logging and poor land conversion practices commonly undertaken by local people.
Savvy forestry businesses are coming out in support of effective and constructive regulation, target setting and guidance on acceptable operating practices.
They believe the UN’s program for Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Rainforest Degradation (REDD) can help to improve the state of Indonesia’s forests. And they welcome a deal between the Presidents of Indonesia and the US to help this happen.
In spite of the tensions between environmental organizations and the forestry industry, there is growing recognition that Indonesia needs a strong private sector to help overcome the massive challenges and ensure a sustainable future for one of the country’s most critical natural resources.
There is much room for improvement from commercial players in Indonesia’s forests.
But they can provide viable remedies. Business has the money and manpower to support the government’s ambitions to protect the forests from out-of-control destruction.
Companies can provide community development programs to provide good, alternative livelihoods to otherwise-illegal loggers.
Companies can provide aerial equipment to seek out hotspots and ensure rapid prevention resources to stamp out forest fires; and can provide education to farmers to dissuade them from slash and burn practices.
Companies can work with government to identify only areas with no important environmental values for commercial development; and can actively protect areas found to be of so-called High Conservation Values for ongoing conservation.
Companies have a clear business case for doing all of this.
Environmental advocacy and activist groups need to be working more closely with the private sector.
With more collaboration and less confrontation, there is surely an increased chance of securing the future of Indonesia’s forests. And government must play an active role in facilitating productive partnerships between all forest stakeholders
This country must learn from its environmental history.
The ravaging fires of the late nineties were Indonesia’s Deep Water Horizon.
Without increased effort to protect the nation’s forests, Indonesia could face an environmental catastrophe that would make the events in the Gulf of Mexico look like a spit in the ocean.
Jonathan Wootliff leads the Corporate Accountability practice at the consulting firm, Reputation Partners. He specializes in sustainable development and in building productive relationships between companies and NGOs. He can be contacted at jonathan@reputationpartners.com.
The Jakarta Post 29 Jun 10;
Indonesia has been the world’s largest exporter of seaborne thermal coal since 2005, enjoying the advantages of low production costs as most of its estimated 95 billion tons of reserves allow for open-cast mining, its coals produce low emission of sulphur, and the country is geographically part of Asia, the world’s coal largest market.
However, this coal-mining boom seemed to have inflicted severe damages to our forests due to reckless issuance of mining rights by regional administrations and weak enforcement of the forestry, environmental, spatial and mining laws.
Last Wednesday’s discovery by a central government team of extensive forest damages inflicted by coal mining operations in Kalimantan only confirmed our fear of the excesses of the launching of the regional autonomy in 2001.
The regional autonomy devolved the authority of licensing general mining operations (outside oil and natural gas) to regional administrations which is further reaffirmed by the 2009 mining law. But this has made mining as the second biggest destroyer of forests, in addition to illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming.
The team of Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta and members of the President’s anti-judicial mafia taskforce observed during its aerial survey of East Kalimantan that hundreds of thousands of forested areas have been damaged by greedy legal and illegal miners.
The team saw from the air hundreds of huge black holes abandoned by open-pit coal miners. These holes are supposed to be reclaimed with reforestation by the mining concessionaires.
We find it mind-boggling to understand why the government had not anticipated such environmental damages because mining operations not only are complex but also transcend the jurisdictions of many other ministries — beside the mining and energy ministries — such as the ministries forestry, environment and health.
Mining has been playing an important role in the country’s economy as the country holds major deposits of oil, gas, copper, gold, nickel, coal, silver, diamonds and base metals.
But the central government should have regulated how the various ministries and the different levels of government execute their respective functions and responsibilities as regards mining operations and the supervision of environmental, health and safety aspects as well the rights of the local people around mining areas.
But what the team learnt at a meeting with East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek in Samarinda was an acute lack of apprehension of the division of authorities between provincial and regency administrations with regards to the awarding of coal mining rights.
Governor Faroek, instead of accepting responsibility for the weak supervision of coal mining operations in his province, asked for special authority from the central government to enable him to order regents to rein on coal mining rights.
One of the main problem, we think, lies in the long delay in the enforcement of the 2009 mining law that already clearly regulates the division of authority in the licensing of mining ventures between the central government and provincial and regency administrations, the delineation of areas opened to mining contractors or reserved for strategic mining area under direct jurisdiction of the central government.
But we cannot understand why the government has yet to issue all regulations needed to implement the mining law more than one year after its enactment.
Without sweeping realignment in the issuance of mining licenses/rights and strong enforcement of the new mining law, as well as the forestry and environmental laws, Indonesia’s two-year moratorium on clearing natural forests President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared at a climate-change conference in Oslo late last month could become a joke.
Reuters 29 Jun 10;
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will move 345,000 people, mostly poor villagers, within about two years to make way for a vast scheme to draw on rivers in the south to supply the increasingly dry north, an official newspaper said on Tuesday.
The forced resettlement for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will be the biggest China has undertaken since building the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric scheme, said the People's Daily.
The project involves an eastern route to take water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and a central route to tap rivers flowing into the Danjiangkou Dam in central China.
The scheme has been troubled by delays, cost increases, pollution and the burden of resettling displaced farmers.
Zhang Jiyao, the official in charge of the project, said the mass move for the central route could be more demanding than the Three Gorges Dam move, which sparked years of contention with displaced residents unhappy with compensation and conditions.
"The intensity of the resettlement will surpass that of the Three Gorges Dam Project, because that involved a million migrants over about 10 years, and the resettlement for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project must be completed in over two years," the paper quoted Zhang as saying.
Big dams and hydro projects have featured among China's engineering trophies symbolizing its growing wealth, but are also a lightning rod for persistent discontent.
The South-North Project is the latest among such efforts and the drive to finish resettlement for the rising Danjiangkou Dam by 2013 has already stirred complaints from farmers, who say they are being moved to poorer land with dim job prospects.
The dam is being raised to store more water, which will then be drawn along 1,421 km (883 miles) of canals and tunnels to Beijing, the nearby port city of Tianjin and surrounding areas.
North China has about half the country's population but 19 percent of its fresh water resources. Industrial and urban growth have strained the nation's rivers and underground reserves, according to official estimates.
The planned completion for the first stage of the central route was pushed back to 2014 after it became clear that earlier deadlines of 2010 and 2008 could not be met.
Many of the displaced farmers are residents of Xichuan county in Henan province, which lies on one side of the Danjiangkou Dam. They will be resettled in crowded Henan, the country's most populous province with nearly 100 million people.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Paul Tait)
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