Singapore oil spill in Seagrass Watch Magazine issue 41, Jun 10
from teamseagrass
How does crude oil harm seagrasses?
from wild shores of singapore
Baby Common Birdwings @ AH Butterfly Trail
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Blue-bearded Bee-eater takes a carpenter bee
from Bird Ecology Study Group
It will serve as a global tool for cities to manage flora and fauna in urban areas
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
CITIES might not seem the obvious place to seek nature but Singapore has established a city biodiversity index which it hopes will become a global tool to measure the amount of flora and fauna existing in urban areas.
The index is being finalised today by a panel of experts from around the world and it is hoped it will be adopted at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in October.
The Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity has 25 indices looking at native biodiversity, ecosystem services and governance among other things, with four points allotted to each one.
Although the index is still being finalised, it will not be used to rank countries, said Dr Lena Chan, deputy head of the centre for biodiversity at the National Parks Board and the force behind the index. 'I hope it will be used as a diagnostic tool for cities, helping them to protect native biodiversity and know where to spend their money,' she said.
In a preliminary test of the index, Singapore scored 80 out of 100. It was strong in governance but weaker in ecosystem services - the functions biodiversity performs within a city such as trees' absorption of carbon - particularly in freshwater supplies, as there are not many large areas of soil through which water can filtrate and be cleaned.
Dr Chan said other global indices do not focus on biodiversity or they look at country comparisons which are not easily applied to Singapore. 'This is a positive index, which does not look at how many species are extinct or what we have lost but what cities are doing and what they have,' she said.
The native biodiversity section takes into account natural and semi-natural areas such as Sungei Buloh and parks, as well as the diversity of ecosystems; for example, Singapore has wetlands and rainforest.
It also looks at five different native species: plants, birds and butterflies, and two others left free for a city to nominate to make it a fair measuring system.
Governance looks at the policy and plans around biodiversity, education and partnerships with businesses and charities.
Ms Machteld Gryseels, director of the nature, water and forest division in Brussels' regional environment administration in Belgium, who is in Singapore to help finalise the index, said it has highlighted a lack of biodiversity planning in her city.
'For the last 20 years, we have been looking at biodiversity, so we had a lot of data on that. But it showed we lacked precise data on how many programmes and visits to nature areas that we have, which is part of the eco-system service component,' said Ms Gryseels, adding that Brussels had scored about 75 in the index.
Mr Alfredo Vincente de Castro Trindade, technical coordinator for flora and fauna in Curitiba, Brazil, said it was important to take action at a city level.
'It doesn't matter what governments do if the cities don't implement it. Life happens in cities; it is where change happens,' he said, adding that Curitiba scored about 80 on the index.
The index has the potential to guide cities in the management of flora and fauna. This is becoming increasingly important as 70 per cent of the world's population is expected to live in cities by 2050, up from 50 per cent in 2008.
Mr Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said that measuring biodiversity and forming plans at a national and local level was the way forward following the failure to hit this year's target on reducing loss of bio-diversity.
The idea of the index was tabled in May 2008 by Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany.
Heng Yee Kuang, For The Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
CHINA is a big fan of it. The Japanese wield it in abundance. South Korean and Indian policymakers are talking about it. But how does Singapore fare in the Asian 'soft' power stakes?
The Republic's hosting of two major international events this week - the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and the World Cities Summit - provides a glimpse into Singapore's very own 'soft' power.
Harvard University's Professor Joseph Nye's idea of soft power emphasises a country's power of 'attraction', as opposed to 'coercion'. Soft power stems from the attractive values expressed in a country's culture as well as its domestic and international policies. Prof Nye believes the most influential soft powers not only ooze cultural appeal, but also champion policies that embody prevailing global norms and advance values and interests that others share.
But soft power in practice is often equated with cultural appeal, and Asian countries - China, Japan, India and South Korea - are leading the way in this area. China's Confucius Institutes help put a positive spin on its ancient culture. The world's first Japan Creative Centre based in Singapore showcases contemporary Japanese pop culture as well as cutting-edge solutions to environmental problems. The Koreans and Indians are leveraging off the 'K-Wave' obsession with Korean cultural exports and Bollywood films, respectively.
Singapore's multi-ethnic culture has its plus points, not least in terms of diversity and cuisine. But let's put aside Singapore's potential cultural appeal for a moment. It is in the second aspect of Prof Nye's conceptual framework - embodying prevailing global norms - where Singapore could excel. Indeed, some Singaporean policy initiatives encapsulate values and interests that come close to prevailing global norms. The two major events this week are a case in point.
Themed Sustainable Cities: Clean And Affordable Water, this year's SIWW could well set the city-state up nicely to ride the wave of the international zeitgeist where sustainable development and access to clean water are firmly planted on the global agenda. Taking the lead on these issues could generate soft power in an attractive way.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew revealed in a dialogue session at the SIWW that when it comes to Singapore's water management, 'today, three-quarters of the island is a catchment. By the next decade, the whole island will be a catchment'. The ways in which Singapore has developed solutions to its water challenges - from Newater to desalination technology to the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System - offer an attractive model for other countries facing similar water woes.
Similarly, reflecting global concerns about accelerating urbanisation around the world, the World Cities Summit was themed Liveable And Sustainable Cities For The Future. The Global Liveable Cities Index released at the summit ranked Singapore third in the world and first in Asia. Its expertise in urban planning and sustainable development could be another niche soft power platform that Singapore can leverage off. Its success in public housing makes it 'one of the cities that are inspiring, especially for its best practices', said United Nations Human Settlements Programme executive director Anna Tibaijuka.
Another notable initiative that can project Singapore's soft power is the Tianjin Eco-City project that is being jointly developed with China. The project addresses, among other issues, energy efficiency, waste and water management and green transportation. Its aim is to 'create a mode, which will benefit not only other cities in China, but also other countries that are facing similar challenges'.
Being an attractive soft power delivers economic benefits. Singapore, by positioning itself astride global norms and delivering policy solutions, can achieve its goal of generating new growth sectors in environment-related technologies. The SIWW and World Cities Summit both provide a forum for businesses, enabling them to exhibit new innovations at these gatherings.
Indeed, SIWW managing director Michael Toh hopes Water Week will serve as a platform for business networking. Singapore water companies Hyflux and Sembcorp now have a global presence, the latter sealing an agreement at the SIWW with Abu Dhabi Water Authority to build a $200 million desalination facility. Keppel Corporation, too, has got involved in the sector. It has launched its newest waste-to-energy plant and is developing new membrane-based distillation technology for desalinated water.
Taken together with the Economic Development Board's recent brand campaign to repackage Singapore as 'creative', and not just efficient, the SIWW and World Cities Summit suggest that Singapore does potentially possess some form of soft power, even if the underlying conceptual rationale for it has not quite been explicitly stated. Is it possible then to catapult the city-state higher up the soft power leader board?
A more holistically designed policy framework would first need to systematically identify and then promote the sources of Singapore's soft power, ranging from its cultural appeal to its developmental transition from Third World to First. This could involve bringing together all arms of the government, business sector, civil society and academia in a concerted 'big-tent' assessment of the benefits that soft power could bring to Singapore.
Our Asian neighbours have certainly not been blind to soft power and we would be wise to take note.
The writer, a Singaporean, teaches international relations at the University of St Andrews. Currently on sabbatical, he will be based at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
THE water authorities can no longer rely on historical data when planning the infrastructure needed to deal with extreme weather, says the head of a major water company.
Mr Daniel McCarthy, president and chief executive officer of global water company Black & Veatch, which helped with the installation of Changi's Newater plant and the development of the Marina Barrage, said that the old method of predicting rainfall is no longer valid.
'What we are seeing is higher intensity storms and longer periods of drought,' he said at the Singapore International Water Week, which ended yesterday.
'Traditional engineering solutions look at historical weather patterns and extrapolate forward.
'It's not working.'
He called for a new standard of planning, taking into account new weather patterns and rising sea levels, the latter of which is of particular concern to island nations like Singapore.
'Although no one can predict the weather, there are new tools to help us look at scenario planning and what extremes will look like as we can't look at past averages,' he said.
While Mr McCarthy said it was not possible to be rid of the risk of flooding, better management could mitigate the problem.
'I don't think we can build everything for a worst-case scenario, as it's too expensive, but we don't want to deny ourselves solutions like putting in a second pipe or drain if water flows increase,' he said.
He added that rain gardens and porous concrete can be used to help slow the run-off from concrete, while detention basins can stem the flow of sudden downpours of the type seen recently in Singapore.
Singapore's water authority, the PUB, is currently reviewing all major canals and how they are cleaned and inspected following the Orchard Road floods last month, which caused millions of dollars worth of damage.
It is not known when the results of the review will be published.
VICTORIA VAUGHAN
Invest in water management to avoid flooding
Straits Times Forum 3 Jul 10;
WITH reference to Monday's report ('PM: Don't expect flood-free Singapore'), Singapore sits near what has been the southern edge of the North-Equatorial band of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, about one degree north of the equator.
Data from three American solar observation sites - Mauna Kea, Kitt Peak and White Mountain - confirm that there has been a sharp drop in net solar heating since 2008. This may be a trend that is going to carry on for several decades; a reversion to the mean after an unusually active solar period in the late 20th century.
The reduced heating - a spectral shift due to less infrared 'light' from sunspots - has narrowed the zone and moved the centre from plus or minus three degrees to about two degrees latitude. It has also expanded the earth's 'dry bands' centred about 20 degrees latitude.
The results are rising rainfall in the narrower zone (for example, in Singapore) and less rainfall in the dry bands (for example, in Hawaii and Mexico). With a growing population, water may become more important than oil as a strategic resource for ensuring not only prosperity, but also survival.
So, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is generally correct. Singapore must invest in water management systems that can handle higher volumes of water to avoid flooding.
Brian Lynch
Austin, Texas
'Growing urbanisation has radically reduced the capacity for natural, sustainable drainage.'
Straits Times Forum 3 Jul 10;
MR MICHAEL LAZAR: 'Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is right ('PM: Don't expect flood-free Singapore'; Monday). It is not economically possible and sustainable to upgrade the drainage system to keep up with the storm water run-off. However, with growing urbanisation, the increase in hard landscaping, footpaths, cycling and jogging tracks, housing estate roads, parking areas and such has radically reduced the capacity for natural, sustainable drainage. This, coupled with the changes in rainfall patterns, means continuing growth in the volume of surface water run-off that has to be managed. Designers, developers and the approving authorities should assess the impact of their projects on the existing hyrology and of their drainage system for extreme events and climate change.'
Public has role in preventing floods
Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
I AM astounded by the number of complaints in the Forum page about the recent freak flood in Singapore. They demanded explanations from the PUB despite the quick action taken by the national water agency.
We should understand that the recent heavy rain was due to global warming. Almost every major city has been hit recently, and floods have caused far more serious havoc in these places than what we have seen here.
The sudden and exceptionally heavy rain within a short time in Singapore was an act of God and is impossible to foresee and avoid.
The authorities have said enough and we should do our part to prevent flooding, instead of complaining. We should stop littering and ensure our drains are kept clean.
I noticed that most of the complaints were about loss of business and costs associated with it. In good times, do these people appreciate the safe and secure environment that allows them to thrive?
Peter Khaw
Experts share experiences on protecting water sources amid climate change
Lester Kok Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
RIVERS and deltas have to be managed properly if they are to continue being a source of fresh water and serving as waterways for transport, said guest speakers at the Singapore International Water Week.
At the first River Basin and Delta Management Workshop held at the Suntec convention centre, eight speakers who have managed water issues in their respective countries shared their experiences, including the difficulties they faced and the solutions.
Climate change is causing higher average temperatures, raising sea levels and changing rainfall patterns. To make matters worse, rivers and their surrounding land are deteriorating due to unchecked usage of these resources for freshwater supply, hydro power and irrigation.
Mr Tan Yong Soon, permanent secretary (National Climate Change) in the Prime Minister's Office, who spoke at the conference as the guest of honour, said rivers are relied on for various purposes such as water supply, transport and recreation.
'But at the same time, river basins are coming under the strain of economic development, population growth and rapid urbanisation as more stakeholders' groups seek to tap this resource,' he said.
To ensure the sustainability of water as a resource, he added, integrated management of water is needed, which includes managing water sources such as waste water, river basins and deltas.
According to a climate change report in 2007, 60 per cent of the world's population lives within 100km of the sea, which means that global warming and rising sea levels are a threat.
A common problem for many countries are floods, which can kill thousands of people and destroy buildings.
Among those who spoke on the methods of curbing floods was Professor Gerry Galloway of the University of Maryland's Institute of Water Resources, formerly the presidential appointee to the Mississippi River Commission.
He spoke about how the Mississippi River was the main waterway for transport in the early years of the United States, and how floods have pushed the people and the government towards building protective measures such as dykes, dams, levees and floodways.
Other measures include lakes that are used for flood control and can also be used for recreational activities, generating revenue and becoming a source of income for some states.
In the panel discussion, the speakers were asked about the key to success in adapting river basins and deltas to deal with climate change.
Prof Galloway said the key to managing the Mississippi River was the political will, which came from the engagement of people by bringing more of them to the table to discuss the issue.
'Technology in the 21st century is enabling that engagement, and the combination of engagement with the capacity to do it will build the political will necessary to find the funds and take on the other issues,' he said.
Other speakers also agreed that although ecological disasters like floods will help to rally support to address climate change issues, communication with the public is very important as well.
Mr Wim Kuijken, government commissioner for the Delta Programme in the Netherlands, felt that the key factors for success were leadership and transparency.
'Everybody knows that the climate is changing. You have to be, in my opinion, very honest, and also honest about uncertainties,' he said.
'I think the best way to do this is to handle these uncertainties, prepare people for the big decisions to be made.'
Mr Mitja Bricelj, president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, which runs through 19 countries in Europe, said political awareness and open dialogues were the main reasons for his commission's success.
Other solutions include using water to make cities more attractive, termed as 'turning threats into opportunities' by Mr Arnoud Molenaar, programme manager of the Rotterdam Climate Proof Programme in the Netherlands.
He said that since floods are inevitable in today's climate of sudden and heavy rain, Rotterdam built emergency flood basins that also function as a civic area for people to enjoy when the weather is dry, as it is most of the time.
The Dutch way of combating climate change
Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
MR WIM Kuijken is the first government commissioner for the Delta Programme in the Netherlands, which has an annual budget of €1 billion (S$1.7 billion) to combat climate change and its consequences.
Solutions suggested by the programme include taking sand from the bottom of the North Sea to supplement shorelines, in order to minimise the impact of rising sea levels. LESTER KOK speaks to him.
# Why did the Netherlands choose sand top-ups over man-made barriers?
'We think... it is sustainable and better than making high rigid dykes. By using sand, you make nature, space, and you defend yourself. We can, for centuries, follow this strategy because even when sea levels rise 4m or 5m, we can handle this because we bring out the sea... it's also an attraction factor for our economy.'
# How do we climate-proof urban cities such as Singapore and Rotterdam?
'Cities like Singapore will get more heat-stressed. You have to find solutions. And in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam area for instance, we tried to make areas where water from heavy rainfall can go. Normally they are children's playgrounds, but they can be adapted to work. Green roofs - you do it on a large scale, on your high buildings. They can absorb water and cope with the heat, so we try also in cities to find ways to work with water.'
# What do you think about Singapore and our efforts in dealing with climate change?
'As you know, the Netherlands and Singapore have very strong relations. We both are urbanised... dependent on water, and (similar in) the way we work with water. It is very interesting for me to see how this partnership between our knowledge institutes can be strengthened, as we cannot solve this problem alone in Europe. We have to find partners in Asia, as it is crucial to find out what to do in future, so we learn from each other.'
# Why is the term of a Delta Commissioner seven years instead of the typical four years for a ministerial position?
'The politicians said: 'We want somebody close to the government, but not working on short-term politics, but on the country's long-term future'. Our country is 60 per cent susceptible to floods. In those parts, we earn two-thirds of our gross national product. There are nine million people who live in those areas, so it is something to defend. Long-term politics beats short-term. It gives confidence to people and businesses.'
# Why is there a large annual budget on the Delta Programme?
'It is so that we can make reservations in the fund, to pay for the very expensive decisions, for barriers or dykes. It is a kind of insurance premium for the future. We have a gross domestic product of about €600 billion, and €1,500 billion as capital in the western part of our country to defend, so it is a relatively small sum.'
Grace Chua Straits Times 3 Jul 10
NUS CHEMIST Li Zhi wants 'to make manufacturing more environmentally benign'.
He is studying biological enzymes that can replace chemical catalysts in reactions. That would eliminate the use of toxic solvents, make more of a product from the same amount of raw material, and produce less heat in the reaction than conventional processes.
Associate Professor Li was among eight Singapore researchers who were awarded a total of $5 million yesterday in the first grant call from a $50 million fund set up by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) last year together with the Economic Development Board (EDB).
The fund was prompted by the need to promote 'greener' manufacturing.
For example, in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, like those at GSK's Tuas chemical plant, large amounts of chemical solvents and other materials are used. About 100kg of materials go into making a single kilogramme of product. Much of that is pricey metals which need to be recovered, or toxic chemicals which have to be treated or burned.
The eight researchers are from public institutions such as the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES).
They were picked from 33 applicants, by a committee, peer review, and a scientific advisory board.
Their research looks for ways to cut back on chemicals and make more of a product with less raw material.
Another project, by Professor Reginald Tan from NUS and ICES, aims to make medicines more water-soluble, so human bodies can absorb them better and less of a drug is needed.
Some of the findings can be used in manufacturing as soon as four years from now, said Dr Philip Dell'Orco, GSK's director of process engineering and head of manufacturing sustainability in research and development.
The pharmaceutical industry contributed about $18 billion to Singapore's economy last year, with GSK opening a $600 million vaccine plant and other big names like eye-care product maker Alcon also expanding their presence.
Besides pharmaceutical manufacturing, the chemical methods that researchers are working on may be used to make other substances like detergents or lab chemicals.
And though GSK and the EDB are bankrolling the projects, the rights to whatever is discovered remain with the researchers and their institutions.
Further rounds of projects will look at other aspects of green manufacturing, such as developing efficient technology and treating waste.
In the GSK-EDB fund's 10-year lifespan, a total of seven to eight grant calls are expected, with the next grant call to be announced later this year.
About two-thirds of the fund is for education and research into green manufacturing and chemistry while the remainder is for public health policy research.
From using solar energy to reusing organic waste, the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is big on being eco-friendly
tay suan chiang Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
There is a little bit of Shangri-La Hotel in the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) in Yishun.
The luxury hotel near Orchard Road boasts lush gardens with ponds, a waterfall and plenty of plants in some of the rooms' balconies. The hospital has similar green features.
'The gardens at the hotel are so lovely, I copied them for the hospital,' says Mr Liak Teng Lit, chief executive of Alexandra Health group, which runs KTPH.
A 550 sq m garden that was inspired by the hotel's can be found in Basement One of the hospital where the operational support services are. Butterflies flit around it and a pair of birds has begun building a nest among the greens, too.
With a garden on this level, 'patients and visitors don't feel as if they are in the basement', says Mr Jerry Ong, 34, a senior architect at CPG Consultants, the architecture firm for the hospital.
There are also plants on the wards' balconies, 'so patients have greenery to look at from their beds', adds Mr Liak, 57.
The rooftops of its three blocks have not been forgotten. Trees are being planted there so that no one has to look at bare concrete. The trees will provide shade on these plots, which welcome patients and their families for strolls.
A group of volunteers comprising residents living in the area manages a 720 sq m vegetable and fruit garden that is already flourishing on one rooftop.
The plot reuses organic waste from the hospital's kitchen and food outlets to fertilise the crops, such as ladies' fingers, eggplants and sweet potatoes, which supplement the industrially grown food that is served in the hospital.
Mr Liak firmly believes that the greenery and water features create an environment of restfulness and calm that is good for patients.
The $450-million hospital opened its acute care and emergency centre and some inpatient wards earlier this week. Presently, 237 of its 550 beds are in operation.
A hospital spokesman says the rest of the beds will open in stages. The hospital will officially open later this year.
In March, 11 of its specialist outpatient clinics, including those for dental surgery and ear, nose and throat treatments, started receiving patients.
Singapore's newest hospital is named after the late banking tycoon in honour of the Khoo Foundation's $125-million donation.
Local firm CPG Consultants' design was chosen from a competition and construction began in 2006.
Mr Ong says he drew inspiration for the hospital design from the lush gardens in the existing Alexandra Hospital as well as from the Shangri-La Hotel.
There was one problem: 'How do I replicate the charm of a 10ha garden hospital into a 3.5ha site?' he says. The solution: locate the gardens on rooftops.
As the hospital site is next to the Yishun pond, Mr Ong designed some of the wards and the clinics to face it.
He also orientated the hospital's three blocks to allow breeze from the pond to sweep through the buildings.
The result: a well-ventilated structure that does away with the need for air-conditioning in the public areas, hence saving energy costs.
Keeping direct sunlight out
The hospital is not only filled with greens but it is also eco-friendly.
Solar panels on its roofs capture the sun's energy to heat up water for the hospital's use while louvres on the facade keep out direct sunlight and channel the breeze inside.
Such green features mean that KTPH will use only 40 per cent of the power used by similar-sized hospitals.
Last year, it won a Platinum Green Mark for Building Award, which is given out by the Building and Construction Authority to developers of buildings that are environment-friendly.
Patients and visitors should also be able to find their way easily around the hospital. There are three blocks, each designated for distinctive uses.
The six-storey block nearest the main road houses specialist clinics. To its left is an eight-storey block where the private wards are. These wards have either single or four beds in them.
The third block is a 10-storey building that houses the subsidised wards, which have five or 10 beds in them.
Hospital rates start range from $30 to $290 a night.
The buildings are purposely kept low, so that 'they do not stick out like a sore thumb in the neighbourhood', says Mr Liak. This was one of the design criteria that he set.
Mr Ong says that 'it is important to make it easy for patients to navigate around the hospital'.
From the dropoff point, it is a 10m walk to the emergency department, 20m to the specialist outpatient clinics and 80m to the subsidised ward tower.
As hospitals are seldom places that people like going to, the architect said he had to make sure that a visit to such a place would be a comfortable one.
Apart from the lush gardens and waterfall, 'the hospital is designed with many large, naturally ventilated open spaces to make it a more inviting environment', he says. 'The interior design uses a palette of warm colours to create a cosy ambience.'
Patients and their families have given the hospital their thumbs-up.
Says housewife May Lee, 40, who took her mother to the hospital for her monthly medical check-up: 'This hospital doesn't have that typical hospital feel.'
Why many heartlanders are ditching the bus for their own two wheels ... annoyances notwithstanding
Ansley Ng Today Online 3 Jul 10;
THEY start cruising in as early as 6.30am, some on shiny new bicycles, others on clunkers with rusty parts, having accomplished the first part of their morning commute on two wheels.
Parking as close to the entrance of the Pasir Ris MRT station as they can - the more conscientious use the newly-installed double-deck bike racks, but some chain their two-wheelers illicitly to sheltered walkways and trees to shorten their walk by 20 metres - they hurry to catch a train to work or school.
By 9am, the area around the station is a sea of some 300 bikes.
These pedal-powered commuters come in all sorts. Over the course of two hours, Weekend Today identified young foreign factory workers and middle-aged office ladies; IT consultants and engineers, secretaries, teachers, students and odd-job labourers.
And they are almost all bonded by one thing: A frustration with packed buses in the mornings and slow, unpredictable traffic.
"If I cycle, the time is controlled by me," said kitchen assistant Gillian Chow, 54, who has been doing the bike-train routine for seven years. "I don't need to get stuck in morning traffic, and I waste less time because the bus has to stop at every stop."
It takes her 10 minutes to cycle from her home to the MRT station, where she catches the train to Orchard Road. Taking the feeder bus could take up to 30 minutes including the wait, she says.
The same response crops up over and over, in our poll of about 40 cyclists, aged 14 to 69, at the MRT stations in Pasir Ris and Tampines - two towns where cycling has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity.
Mr Patrick Ng, 54, takes the train to Lakeside to work after a pay cut and rising costs forced him to give up his car two years ago. "It's cheaper to take public transport," said the quality assurance manager, and cycling to the station "is a form of exercise and a way to save money".
An unlikely sight on a bike in her long skirt and high wedges, with a leather handbag in the front basket, Ms Li Xin Ru said: "Cycling used to be uncomfortable because of my work attire, but I have grown used to it."
Besides getting to the MRT station, the property firm employee also cycles to pick up her son from a care centre - her bike has a child seat installed - rather than take the bus which, she griped, "meanders" through the estate.
THE SECURITY HEADACHE
But clearly, commuter-cyclists here are a tenacious lot: They have to be, in the face of the bike thief menace.
Three in four said they have had their bicycles stolen before, whether from the void deck, the corridor outside their flat or the MRT station.
Office manager Sha Aljunied, 51, lost six bicycles to thieves who even made off with her rusty ones. "Once, a thief took everything but left behind a wheel because it was chained to the parking post," she said.
Pasir Ris resident Ms Chow rides a rusty model that looks too small for her. "I want to get a new bike, but I am afraid it might get stolen," she confessed.
Ms Helen Teo, who helps her husband run L&T Cycle in Tampines, said many customers are not looking to buy new $700 mountain bikes, but a second-hand set of wheels.
Last year, 1,074 cases of bike theft were reported to the police, a spike of 399 cases from 2008, prompting the police to list this as an area of concern in its crime situation report last year.
Some commuter-cyclists even use three padlocks to secure their rides. Others had varied suggestions. Ms Sha, for instance, hopes surveillance cameras - even if just dummy ones - can be installed at bicycle parks at void decks or MRT stations to deter thieves.
Ms Teo proposed having owners of heavy-duty lock cutters register with the police, while bike mechanic Mike Lin said a common parking area could be built near HDB blocks, just like for cars, and fortified with locks that only registered users have keys to.
"The bicycle theft problem is more serious than it looks," said Ms Teo. "No one has been able to solve it for the longest time."
The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said it advises residents to store their rides in their homes as the bike racks in public areas are "designed for temporary parking of regularly-used bicycles".
MOSTLY GRACIOUS
What of the oft-raised complaint about brash cyclists on walkways who don't give way or nearly pedestrians people over?
Most intra-town cyclists polled say they don't pedal fast and would give way to pedestrians.
In fact, childcare centre principal Elizabeth Ng was once so irked by the behaviour of a fellow cyclist that she told the elderly man off for trying to run two people off the footpath.
"I told him we are not supposed to ride on the footpath in the first place, and that we should give way to pedestrians," she said.
Outside the MRT stations, the sometimes haphazardly parked bikes could become a problem if commuter-cycling takes off.
SMRT said in response to queries that it has more than 500 bicycle lots at Pasir Ris MRT station and is looking to provide double-deck racks also at Tampines, which would create over 200 lots. "Our station staff conduct checks to ensure that bicycles are not parked illegally or block the passageway," the spokesperson added.
In the end, the unrivalled flexibility of being in control of one's time is what helps commuter-cyclists shrug off petty annoyances like thieves and the hot weather which is, literally, no sweat to them.
"Nobody is expecting you to pedal hard and fast, so why would you perspire much?" said engineer Lee Keng Wah, 47, dressed to pedal in pants and short-sleeved shirt. "I cycle slowly to enjoy the morning view."
He got a prime parking space in the CBD, but chooses to cycle to work
When Mr David McQuillen joined OCBC Bank as its head of group customer experience a few months ago, he was given a parking lot in its Chulia Street office.
But within days, he was sure he wasn't going to need the space for his Honda Airwave multi-purpose vehicle.
Driving to work took 30 minutes, most of it stuck in peak-hour traffic. Taking the bus ate up an hour. "I was thinking to myself, 'you could be doing a lot of things with that kind of time'," said the Pennsylvania native.
Now, he cycles to work daily from his Bukit Timah home, taking between 20 and 30 minutes. But he is one of a very rare breed.
Most people who toy with the idea of cycling to work are put off by the logistics involved, including finding shower facilities. Biking to the MRT station, followed by a more comfortable commute, is the far more popular - and often just as quick - option.
Luckily for Mr McQuillen, 40, there is a recreation centre at his office where he showers. Every Sunday, the father of two drives up with a week's worth of clothes and keeps it in a locker. He, for one, hopes more employers will install shower facilities to give staff the option of cycling to work.
One firm catering to commuter-cyclists is The Bike Boutique at Amoy Street, where from $80 a month, they can shower, change and park their bikes. Store manager Tay Choon Wei said business has jumped three-fold in three years, and the firm will open another bike lodging service in town soon with space for up to 400 bicycles.
It would be unrealistic to expect cycling lanes to spring up cross country anytime soon, but what cyclists would settle for are efforts to educate motorists on sharing the roads with cyclists.
Starbucks store manager Bryan Teo cycles twice a week from home in Sin Ming to his job at the Singapore Land Tower branch. Mr Teo, 35, took up cycling two years ago to lose weight and, like many cyclists, his bugbear is inconsiderate drivers.
Eighteen months ago, he was knocked down (but not badly hurt) by a bus that got too close. Now, motorists who don't respect cyclists get an earful. "I will go up to them and tell them cyclists have the same right to use the roads as they," said the father of two.
Environment News Service 2 Jul 10;
HANOI, Vietnam, July 2, 2010 (ENS) - Just 30 wild tigers survive in Vietnam and poachers are going after those, but the country's newly established Environmental Police were able to put a stop to some of the illegal trafficking last week.
Members of the Environmental Police confiscated two frozen tigers and a frozen panther in the central province of Nghe An.
Frozen tiger seized by Hanoi Environmental Police in July 2009
Wildlife trafficking routes in Southeast Asia (Map courtesy UNODC) New Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
STATISTICS from the European Nuclear Society show that there are 437 nuclear power plants in operation in 30 countries with an installed electric net capacity of about 371 gigawatts (GW).
Fifty-five plants with an installed capacity of 51GW are under construction in 15 countries.
Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) deputy director-general (technical) Dr Muhd Noor Muhd Yunus pointed out that Japan alone, a country which suffered heavily from atomic bombing in World War 2 in the 1940s, has more than 50 nuclear power plants.
"If it was unsafe, would they build that many?" he asked.
Noor believes that concerns were more on the safety and security of having a nuclear reactor here.
He said the Chernobyl incident in 1986 should not be used as a yardstick as that nuclear reactor was not built to standards.
"Chernobyl was like a helmet without Sirim certification," he said. The incident was due to leakage which melted the metals in the reactor.
Noor said there was the need for the country to have a nuclear power plant as petroleum and natural gas resources will be depleted by 2019.
"Although the starting cost to build the plant will be very high, its operation, maintenance and fuel costs will save our country a lot of money.
"Unlike coal and gas-fuelled plants, the cost of running a nuclear plant is not determined much by the cost of its fuel.
"A gas-fuelled plant operation cost depends as much as 70 per cent on the cost of gas but a nuclear plant depends only about 10 to 15 per cent."
He said the country should have a nuclear power plant as the economy depended very much on the cost of electricity.
"If we want to attain a developed country status, we should have a power plant that generates electricity at a lower cost. Foreign investors will look at our electricity charges before deciding to have businesses here."
Noor gave the assurance that the country already had the basic expertise to handle such a plant.
"Nuclear Malaysia already has a small reactor in Bangi which generates about one megawatt of electricity.
We have trained many personnel from time to time. We are now going to train more to prepare for a bigger reactor.
"We have also identified several possible sites which meet the criteria. The plant will also be a smaller one compared with a hydro-electric or a coal power plant."
Noor said the biggest difference between a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb is the rate at which energy is released.
In a nuclear reactor, energy is released at a controllable rate. In a nuclear weapon, energy is released at a very high and uncontrollable rate.
"The fuel used, Uranium-235, can be mined in the country. However, it will only have about 0.7 per cent composition and is not sufficiently enriched to be used as fuel.
"This is where the enrichment process is needed until it reaches four per cent composition.
"Only then will it be enough to generate electricity. However, we are not going to do the enrichment process as the uranium we plan to import will be ready-made with four per cent composition, and can be used directly by the reactor," he said.
Malaysian involvement with nuclear energy can be traced to as far back as 1972 when the government formed the Centre of Application of Nuclear Malaysia.
It was formed to introduce and promote the application of nuclear science and technology for national development.
It then formally changed its name to Tun Ismail Atomic Research Centre (Puspati).
In 1983, Puspati was placed under the Prime Minister's Department and was called Nuclear Energy Unit (UTN).
It was then placed under Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in 1990.
In 1994, its name was changed to Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (Mint).
In 2006, following its restructuring, Mint was given a new identity, Malaysian Nuclear Agency.
Read more: It's the only way to get cheaper electricity http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/12hhnuk1/Article#ixzz0sZbvx2aI
Judy F. Partlow Daily Star: Negros Oriental 3 Jul 10;
The Environment and Natural Resources Division of Negros Oriental has reportedly noted the recent occurrence of coral bleaching in some reef ecosystems in the province.
The coral bleaching events, however, are not alarming although the ENRD has yet to determine what has triggered the whitening of corals, Annabelle Barillo, a scuba diver and environment management specialist of the ENRD, said.
The common triggers of coral bleaching are temperature change, changes in ocean chemistry, infectious disease, and the infestation of the crown-of-thorns sea star, she said.
The most recent, although minimal, fresh coral bleaching was noted in the marine protected area in Maayong Tubig in Dauin town, a portion of which was recently destroyed when a cargo vessel plowed through it during stormy weather.
Barillo, ENRD’s Glendo Lazarte, and the police environment desk officer of Dauin, PO2 Richard Eleona, recently conducted an underwater ocular survey of the damaged reef in Maayong Tubig to support the local government’s efforts to seek remuneration for the destruction of the marine protected area.
On June 10, the ENRD team also noted some fresh coral bleaching events in the Iniban marine reserve in Ayungon, with three to four crown-of-thorns collected from the area.
Barillo said it is normal for coral bleaching to occur in patches in reefs where the crown-of-thorns starfish is present. What is most important is to prevent an overpopulation of the crown-of-thorns starfish, a carnivorous predator that preys on coral polyps, she added.
Monitoring teams and Bantay Dagat (fish wardens) have been trained to regularly collect crown-of-thorns starfish from the marine reserves to prevent infestation and coral bleaching.
If more than 20 crown-of-thorns starfish are found in a hectare of coral formation, this could become alarming, Barillo said. Otherwise, their presence in the coral reefs is not threatening as they are part of the reef’s ecosystem.
On March 8, the ENRD prevented a crown-of-thorn infestation in the marine protected area of Bolisong in Manjuyod town, she said. While more than 130 crown-of-thorns starfish were collected that day, luckily the damage to the coral was minimal, she added.
Less than 100 square meters in patches of coral bleaching were noted in the Bolisong MPA, Barillo also said.*JFP
Jakarta Globe 2 Jul 10;
The National Nuclear Power Agency has conceded defeat in its controversial attempts to construct a nuclear power plant on the Muria Peninsula in Central Java by 2016, saying opposition from locals has forced them to begin searching for another location.
“It will take two to three years to find another suitable location, Hudi Hastowo, head of the agency, also know as Batan, said in Jakarta on Friday. “So the execution of the plan will undergo a delay, we cannot yet have a nuclear power plant by 2016,” he said.
He said that under Law No. 17/2007 on the state’s Medium-Term Development Plan, a nuclear power plant must come on line between 2014 and 2019.
He said a number of provincial administrations in the country had offered their respective provinces but any final decision would require meticulous and painstaking studies.
Among the provincial administrations concerned were those of Bangka Belitung, Banten, Gorontalo and West, South and East Kalimantan.
He indicated that Bangka Belitung appeared to be the most favorable location.
Antara/JG
Nation to Miss Nuclear Reactor Goal After C. Java Residents Pull the Plug
Jakarta Globe 2 Jul 10;
The government won’t reach its target of completing a nuclear power plant by 2016 because of opposition from residents of the proposed location in Central Java, a senior official said.
Because of the objections of the people of Jepara district on the Muria Peninsula, it was necessary to find another location for the reactor and more time for implementation would be needed, said Hudi Hastowo, head of the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan).
“It will take two to three years to find another suitable location. So the execution of the plan will undergo a delay. We will not have a nuclear power plant by 2016,” Hudi said.
Batan is scouting other spots to host the reactor, Hadi said, pointing out that Law No. 17 of 2007 in the state’s Medium-Term Development Plan mandates that a nuclear power plant must be in operation in the 2014-19 period.
He said a number of provincial administrations had requested that a nuclear plant be built in their jurisdictions, but whether they really had a location suitable or safe enough for such a facility was still being determined by meticulous and painstaking studies.
Among the provincial administrations expressing interest were those of Bangka-Belitung, Banten, Gorontalo, and West, South and East Kalimantan.
One province where soil conditions had already been found to be more favorable than in Jepara district was Bangka-Belitung.
“From the geo-seismic point of view, Bangka-Belitung’s soil is better than Jepara because it has a granite base that gives the soil a more stable structure, and this would mean building the plant in Bangka-Belitung would be less costly,” Hadi said.
To be feasible, Indonesia’s first nuclear plant would have to lie close to the most populous part of the country, which is the islands of Java and Bali.
Bangka-Belitung is off Sumatra’s east coast but Hudi said this was not a problem, as the Java-Bali power grid would in the near future be linked up with the transmission network in Sumatra, so power produced by the nuclear plant could also be distributed in Java and Bali.
Kalimantan is too distant from Java and Bali, and there are no plans to connect power-transmission networks there with those in Java, he said.
Antara
Setback for Jakarta's nuclear plans
Straits Times 3 Jul 10;
JAKARTA: Indonesia's National Nuclear Energy Agency has conceded defeat in its controversial attempts to build a nuclear power plant in Central Java, following opposition from the local population.
The government is now looking for an alternative location to the Muria peninsula site proposed earlier, Antara news agency reported yesterday.
'It will take two to three years to find another suitable location,' Mr Hudi Hastowo, the head of the agency, said in Jakarta. 'So the execution of the plan will undergo a delay; we cannot yet have a nuclear power plant by 2016.'
Indonesia has decided to build nuclear plants to reduce dependence on coal and gas, but has not yet decided where to build them. Officials had indicated that one possible site was in Muria, near a dormant volcano. Other possible sites mentioned in the past include Banten in Java, Bangka Belitung in Sumatra, and Kalimantan in Borneo.
Proponents of the plan say having nuclear plants will help the country overcome current electricity shortages, particularly in the Java-Bali grid. But there are also concerns about building a nuclear plant on densely populated Java.
Mr Hastowo said yesterday that under the country's Medium-Term Development Plan, a nuclear power plant must be ready between 2014 and 2019, Antara reported. He said a number of provincial administrations have offered their provinces, but a final decision would require meticulous study. He indicated that Bangka Belitung appeared to be the most favourable location.
Mary Rickard Reuters 2 Jul 10;
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Environmental groups, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on Friday on measures to prevent sea turtles from being incinerated alive in controlled burns of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
The deal would settle a lawsuit accusing BP of violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and terms of its lease with the federal government for the deep-sea well that ruptured on April 20, unleashing the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
Among the creatures most at risk from the incineration of oil at sea are the endangered Kemp's ridley turtle, the smallest known sea turtles in the world and among the rarest.
The four conservation groups bringing the suit amended the complaint on Thursday to add the Coast Guard as a defendant.
Under the accord reached in talks on Thursday evening and Friday morning, the parties agreed to a plan allowing biologists or other trained wildlife observers to accompany oil-incineration vessels at sea to remove as many turtles as possible from designated areas before burning starts.
Private boat captains chartered for wildlife rescue missions in the Gulf said in affidavits filed with the lawsuit that young sea turtles tend to congregate among oil blobs floating in the water, apparently unable to distinguish between the oil and mats of seaweed that provide natural shelter on the surface of the Gulf.
The turtles are then presumably swept up and unable to escape when shrimp boats contracted for cleanup operations are used to drag fire-resistant booms to encircle the floating oil before it is set ablaze.
The interim agreement was presented in federal court in New Orleans on Friday to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is presiding over the case, and the plaintiffs suspended their request for an immediate court order to bar future oil burns.
"The parties have agreed between now and next week on implementing an additional measures to ensure any endangered species are protected," Barbier said. "We are not going to litigate today."
Precise details of the plan for safeguarding turtles will be worked out on an "expedited basis" between the Coast Guard and a group of scientists, with input from the plaintiffs, said Todd Steiner, head of the Turtle Island Restoration Network.
He said the agreed-upon procedures will be announced "on a very fast track for public comment so that it can be finalized as soon as possible."
CONTROLLED BURNS REMAIN ON HOLD
In the meantime the Coast Guard and BP promised that controlled burnings, which were halted earlier this week because of bad weather, would not be resumed before next Tuesday due to continuing rough seas in the Gulf.
They also agreed to inform plaintiffs by Tuesday as to whether qualified turtle observers will be in place before burnings resume, and "if they cannot make that assurance, we will be back before Judge Barbier," Steiner said.
The Coast Guard Admiral has said in a court filing there was no evidence that endangered turtles had perished in the fires deliberately ignited on the Gulf surface.
But environmentalists and other experts have said turtle mortality in the controlled burns is a near certainty.
The government says at least 275 controlled burns have been conducted in the Gulf since the spill, removing some 10 million gallons (37.8 million liters) of oil from the open water.
BP said in documents responding to the lawsuit that the "relief that plaintiffs are seeking ... is largely already being undertaken" by BP and the government's oil spill command.
Joining the Turtle Island Restoration Network as plaintiffs in the case, 2:10-cv-01866-KDE-DEK, are the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity.
(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Yahoo News 2 Jul 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Oil spills can boost levels of arsenic in seawater by suppressing a natural filter mechanism on the sea bed, according to a study published on Friday in a specialist journal.
The research was conducted in a laboratory before the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, but its authors say the findings highlight the worrying long-term impact from such disasters.
Scientists at Imperial College London found that sea floor sediment bonds with arsenic. The captured toxic element is then covered by subsequent layers of sediment, which helps explain why concentrations of arsenic in the ocean are low.
But, the researchers found, crude oil acts rather like a sticky blanket, clogging the sediment and preventing it from bonding to arsenic.
As a result, seawater levels of arsenic increase -- and because the substance is accumulative, it becomes more concentrated and poisonous the more it moves up the food chain.
"We can't accurately measure how much arsenic is in the Gulf at the moment because the spill is ongoing," Mark Sephton, a professor at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, was quoted as saying in a press release.
"However, the real danger lies in arsenic's ability to accumulate, which means that each subsequent spill raises the levels of this pollutant in seawater. Our study is a timely reminder that oil spills could create a toxic ticking time bomb, which could threaten the fabric of the marine ecosystem in the future."
Adding to the problem, said Sephton, is arsenic that is flushed into the ocean from oil rigs or from leaks of underground oil reserves. This adds to naturally-occurring arsenic.
Arsenic is found in many minerals and is present in oil. At high levels in seawater, it can disrupt photosynthesis in microcopic marine plans and increase the risk of genetic defects in aquatic life.
The experiments, reported in the European journal Water Research, used a mineral called goethite, an iron-bearing oxide that is abundant on the ocean floor.
However sediments vary from ocean to ocean, and the researchers say the next step to see how oil spills can affect arsenic levels according to the local marine geology.
Melissa Nelson, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Jul 10;
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. – Some inventors came with cotton fiber rolls, others with oil-clumping polymer mixes and one brought a specially designed rake. Their task: clean layers of crude oil and tar from a once-pristine Florida beach and prove they have the right stuff to combat the gummy onshore residue of the massive Gulf oil spill.
The 18 U.S. and Canadian inventors displayed their science to save Florida's beaches Thursday in a high-stakes clean-off under the critical gaze of evaluators. They were winnowed from among more than 400 people who submitted ideas.
"If we can find some gems out here, we hope we can start using them ASAP. We are looking for something that spreads easily and is effective. The answer isn't just one tool, we need a lot of tools for different weather conditions, for out in the water, on the beaches, in the marshes," said Darryl Boudreau, assistant director for the Northwest Florida district of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Intermittent rains, winds and a driving surf churned by Hurricane Alex didn't stop dozens of local, state, Coast Guard and other officials from coming to watch. Evaluators from the state's environmental department, which organized the event, and from oil company BP PLC walked around the tar-covered beach to see the technologies in action and chat with inventors.
Kalty Vazquez of Miami held a bucket in one hand and with the other he spread a green-sandy substance called GreenTech over his plot. Vazquez then raked through the tar and GreenTech and scooped the raked sand with a strainer, leaving mostly clean sand behind. He later demonstrated how GreenTech worked in water, helping to form larger tar balls that are easier to pick up.
Watching closely, clipboard in hand and dressed in full rain gear, evaluator Daniel Kuncicky had lots of complicated questions about how the polymer-based product worked.
Nearby, another group blanketed the sand with a cotton-fiber roll. The idea was for the oil and tar to adhere to the cotton when it was rolled up.
But the group said it worked best when heavy machinery rolled over the cotton and pressed it into the sand. Lacking the machinery, they stomped on the cotton with their feet. Only a small part of the mess was removed when the cotton came up.
Bill Vasden Jr. grows his oil spill cleanup solution on 1,500 acres in Tampa. The biodiesel and feed starch farmer believes kenaf, a kind of grass, is the answer to soaking up oil as it washes on shore. Vasden displayed kenaf booms on the beach.
Auto mechanics have long used the material to clean oil from their floors, he said.
"It's a fibrous grass, it's renewable and we can burn it for energy," he said. "We have 1,500 acres of it already."
Among those who came to check out the ideas was Buck Lee, chairman of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, which oversees Pensacola Beach.
"Whoever invents the magic dust is going to be a millionaire," Lee said, as he handled phone call after phone call from people concerned about the oil-covered beach.
Some solutions were simple.
Jeff Powell demonstrated a tar-ball rake. Powell's Pensacola-based company, Ellis Trap and Cage Manufacturing, has long sold crab and bait-fish traps and sand flea rakes. The oil spill has hit his company hard, so Powell said he came up with another idea — a rake that traps tar balls and filters out the sand. In about 30 minutes he raked his plot of sand and left a clean section.
Peat moss is Canadian John Green's answer. He demonstrated Sphagsorb, a microbe-enhanced peat moss. The product has worked in Canadian oil spills. Ten pounds of the Sphagsorb collects about 40 pounds of oil and tar, he said, as he spread the stuff over his plot. He glommed up a large wad of tar with his gloved hand to show how it caused the tar to stick together and made it easier to remove.
Other ideas included spraying microbes onto the sand with containers that looked like bug sprayers, and mesh matting that could be removed from the sand after the tar washes on shore.
After an hour, the small section of beach in front of the public walkway where the inventors demonstrated their ideas looked much cleaner than when they started.
But evaluators were mum about whether they would choose any of the ideas or how quickly the public might see them in action.
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