Best of our wild blogs: 26 Sep 10

Net loss
from The annotated budak

The last three International Coastal Cleanups in Singapore on the 25th from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Life History of the Leopard
from Butterflies of Singapore

a short hike into MacRitchie
from into the wild

Hasselts... Hasselts... Hasselts... and BINGO!
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Triple joy at the Chek Jawa boardwalk!
from wild shores of singapore

Rainforest in the City to be bigger and better!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

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Jurong Lake revamp: fishing, wildlife

Take the plunge, get married at Jurong Lake
Cai Haoxiang Straits Times 26 Sep 10;

Residents living in the west can now fish, watch performances and enjoy wildlife at a revamped section of Jurong Lake.

The completed $6.7 million project under the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme of national water agency PUB was opened yesterday by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Mr Tharman, an MP for Jurong GRC, outlined the improvements made to the lake after attending Mid-Autumn festivities with the area's residents.

He said the lake has been dredged so it is 2m deep in most areas and can be used for water sports like kayaking and rowing. It now has a boardwalk and fishing deck, while floating plants form a wetland that will attract wildlife such as birds.

A 20m-high fountain will also operate in front of a promenade section by the lake with a stage and gallery seats.

'In fact this is a beautiful place to get married,' Mr Tharman quipped. 'With a fountain in the background and the Chinese Gardens, any time of the day, so please, proceed.'

He cautioned, however, that the improvements will need looking after by residents to make sure the lake is not 'spoilt after three or four years'.

Eight organisations have stepped forth to pledge to look after the lake, he said.

For instance, Lakeside Primary School and Fuhua Secondary School will conduct joint history and science activities there.

Said Lakeside Primary's principal Chew Chong Theng: 'There's a rich environment here for the learning of science, especially biology.'

Mr Tharman also announced a new cycling track around Taman Jurong that will connect Lakeside MRT station to Jurong Lake Park, to be completed by the end of this year.

'Eventually, we'll do it in other parts of Jurong so that this really becomes a cycling town,' he said.

New cycling path for residents of Jurong East by year-end
Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 25 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE : Residents in Jurong East can look forward to a new cycling path between Jurong Lake Park and Lakeside MRT station by the end of the year.

The dedicated off-road cycling paths around Taman Jurong will connect to Jurong Lake Park as well as Lakeside MRT station.

Construction work for the first phase of the cycling paths should be completed around the end of this year - allowing for seamless cycling from Lakeside MRT station to Jurong Lake Park, and continuing along Yuan Ching Road and Ho Ching Road, connecting to Taman Jurong Community Club and Market and Hawker Centre.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also MP for Jurong GRC, announced this to his residents on Saturday evening, at the launch of the Active Beautiful and Clean Waters Programme at Jurong Lake Park.

The water body has been transformed for recreational use, in addition to its main function of fulfilling Singapore's water needs.

Residents also enjoyed the recreation facilities, while celebrating the mid-autumn festival.

The S$6.7 million facility includes recreational places like a 235-metre boardwalk and fishing deck, as well as a stage and viewing gallery along the south-western promenade.

The Jurong Lake Park also offers a chance for fishing, kayaking and dragon boating.

It has dedicated lanes for competitive rowing and a water activity-based centre operated by the People's Association.

In addition, extended footpaths from the existing park connector bring people closer to the north-western lake shoreline, so they can enjoy sport fishing and a quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. - CNA/ms

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Singapore scores in green efforts

Canadian-based World Green Building Council gives nod to environment-friendly plans here
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 26 Sep 10;

The little red dot has been determinedly going green these past few years and its efforts are noteworthy, a first-of-its-kind report has said.

The report by the Canadian-based World Green Building Council (WGBC) on the global green building movement compiles examples of how such buildings can help provide affordable housing, job creation and even disaster recovery.

'It's the first time we have reported on the wider social-economic benefits a better built environment can play,' said WGBC chief executive Jane Henley.

Singapore stood out for its concerted efforts to green its buildings, particularly in its green labelling programme for products, and its leadership in water efficiency standards, she added.

The report, released last week, is titled Tackling Global Climate Change, Meeting Local Priorities.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Ms Henley said the report is 'living evidence of examples across the globe' where buildings are addressing local needs while reducing carbon emissions as well.

Green buildings are doable. Built to reduce their negative impact on the environment, they not only improve occupants' comfort, but they typically cost only 3 per cent to 5 per cent more than standard buildings to construct, said Ms Henley.

Costs are coming down, and there is much potential for buildings to further reduce their carbon emissions - by more than 35 per cent, she said. Green buildings have also been shown to cut waste output by 70 per cent, water usage by 40 per cent, and energy usage by 30 to 50 per cent, and in some cases, producing surplus energy that can add to the national grid, she added.

In some cases, green buildings can even help in disaster recovery. In Australia, for example, through the Build It Back Green programme following wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed over 100 people in Victoria in February last year, greener and more resilient homes were built for the community.

In the US, after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the Green Building Council brought in experts in urban planning, waste and water management, and architecture to work with local communities in the post-disaster, green reconstruction.

In Singapore, the green building momentum has been kept up in the five years since the launch of its first green building rating system, the Green Mark, said Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) president Lee Chuan Seng.

When it was launched in 2005, the Green Mark attracted only 17 buildings that could be certified as environmentally friendly. Today, the number has grown 30 times to tip past 500 such buildings.

The scheme has also 'gone overseas'. More than 80 overseas projects have applied for the Green Mark stamp and over 32 of these projects have achieved it, said the Building and Construction Authority, which oversees the Green Mark scheme.

The SGBC recently hosted an international congress on green buildings to celebrate World Green Building Week, which began on Sept 20, and to gather experts to share their knowledge and best practices.

'The event helped to boost Singapore's image as the leading hub for green buildings in the tropical climate zone,' said Mr Lee. Also, the incentives provided by the Government have seen the building sector rising to the challenge.

'Many industry designers and professionals are now equipped with the skills and capabilities to develop and run buildings on a sustainable level not achieved before. This is something that Singapore can now export,' Mr Lee added.

Mr Russell Cole, principal and building group leader at the Singapore office of British architecture firm Arup, said green building design 'is becoming the new orthodoxy rather than a passing fashion'.

'The industry is quickly developing skills and taking a harder look at all aspects of the building, and seeing how it can be made more comfortable, using less energy and resources,' he said.

Energy consumption is also being reduced by good insulation, shading and other passive design features, he added.

Another push factor in the growing adoption of green buildings: regulation. On the whole, building regulation standards worldwide are getting increasingly higher and greener, said Mr Cole.

Singapore, meanwhile, is not resting on its laurels, said SGBC's Mr Lee.

Some industry critics have questioned if the Green Mark is a standard too easily obtained, to which Mr Lee pointed out: 'The standards go up every year'.

'Instead of setting the goals too high, which make people give up and say 'it's too expensive', we decided to start with something that had a decent standard but was not too difficult to achieve,' he said.

BCA's Green Mark for new buildings is now into Version 4 - where the minimum energy efficiency standard is 28 per cent higher than that set out in the first building code released in 2005.

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Genetically Engineered Salmon Safe to Eat, but a Threat to Wild Stocks, Expert Says

ScienceDaily 25 Sep 10;

Craig Altier, a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee and an associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, comments on potential FDA approval of the first genetically engineered animal for use as food.

Altier says: "The fisheries of the world are being rapidly depleted and so advances in aquaculture will be needed to meet the growing demand for protein. Genetically engineered animals might help to feed the world, but they must first meet the most stringent requirements for human and environmental safety.

"Is the introduced growth hormone gene safe for the fish itself? The studies designed to determine this were flawed, and so we don't know yet whether this is true. The burden of proof here is on the producer of this fish, Aquabounty, to perform further research to establish safety for the fish.

"Is the fish safe for human consumption? Exhaustive analysis by the FDA showed no difference from conventional salmon. The growth hormone itself presents no specific risk, as we consume growth hormone in all meats we eat. The FDA also found no increase in allergens, which is important, as fish is already a food that causes allergic reactions in many people.

"We advised the FDA on the possible environmental impacts of this fish. Containment of the fish is essential, as the release of this fast-growing animal could have devastating effects on native fish populations. The producer, Aquabounty, plans to raise these fish in an inland, self-contained facility. To protect wild fish stocks, these facilities would require the utmost security, rigorous inspections and constant oversight by the FDA.

"We need to treat these fish as we would a potentially dangerous medicine or pharmaceutical, and apply all of the same security measures to its production and transport."

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Uganda wildlife numbers 'soared over past decade'

Yahoo News 25 Sep 10;

KAMPALA (AFP) – Wildlife populations at Uganda's major national parks have boomed over the past 10 years with the expulsion of rebels contributing to a fall in poaching, the authority told AFP Saturday.

New statistics from data collected in 2009 and 2010 show that among several major species population sizes more than doubled since 1999, when the previous census was conducted.

"We've been able to reduce poaching by offering increased benefits to the local communities, more ways for them to share in money that comes from wildlife," Uganda Wildlife Authority spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga said.

While the increases are evident nationwide, Nsubuga said the expulsion of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels from northern Uganda largely led to animal population surges in Murchison Falls National Park.

Much of Murchison Falls, one of Uganda's most popular tourist destination, falls within Gulu district, the epicentre of the LRA war, and wildlife officials were largely unable to control poaching during the conflict.

Gulu has been free of LRA violence for more than four years and the rebels have relocated to neighbouring countries in the region.

There are now more than 11,000 buffalos in Murchison Falls, up from 3,889 in 1999, according the authority's statistics.

The Uganda kob population has increased to from 7,458 to 36,640.

Giraffe, impala, zebra and waterbuck populations all showed three-fold increases nationally.

Nsubuga attributed the rises to "good practices and improved monitoring."

"We can't say that poaching in no longer a problem, but we have been able to reduce it," she said.

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Rhino Poaching Soars Along With Demand for Horns

Charles Q. Choi, livescience.com Yahoo News 25 Sep 10;

The poaching of rhinos for their horns has risen dramatically over the last year and a half, conservationists report.

These crimes are fueled by demand for African rhino horn from the Asian market, where it can fetch more than $30,000 a pound ($60,000 per kilogram).

Africa is losing a rhinoceros every other day. South Africa, which holds more than 80 percent of the continent's rhino population, has been losing at least 20 rhinos per month.

"Within South Africa's national parks - not counting private land there, where poaching was rare - there were 10 rhinos poached in 2007," said Matthew Lewis, senior program officer for African species conservation for the World Wildlife Fund. "Thus far in 2010 alone, more than 200 rhinos were poached within South Africa, with a lot of those poached outside national parks, so that's a more than 2,000 percent increase in just three years' time."

The horns might weigh 6.3 to 8.1 pounds (2.9 to 3.7 kilograms) on average. Bits of crushed horn are a prized ingredient in traditional Asian medicines.

The crisis in Africa

Two species of rhino are native to Africa, while three are native to southern Asia. Of the two African species, the white rhinoceros is near-threatened, and the black rhinoceros is critically endangered. Some 4,000 black rhinos and 17,500 white rhinos are all that keep Africa's rhinoceros population from extinction.

Hundreds of thousands of rhinos once roamed throughout Africa. Now highly organized international groups of illegal hunters are using helicopters and deploying technologies including night-vision scopes, silenced weapons and drugged darts to find and kill these giants.

"We're up against the emergence of really high-tech poachers," Lewis said. "This tactic of using helicopters and veterinary drugs on darts has really only come out in the last six months to a year. It really points to organized crime."

Greed and nonsense

Most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for markets in Asia, especially Vietnam, where demand has escalated in recent years.

"A lot of that has to do with how Vietnam's economy has grown astronomically," Lewis said. The country's newly affluent middle and upper class seems to be seeking rhino horn as some kind of miraculous remedy, he said, although its traditional use in Chinese medicine is for fevers and nosebleed.

Rhino horn is made from keratin, "from compacted hair, a very similar substance to the hooves of a horse or a cow, or a person's own fingernails," Lewis said. "Taking rhino horn has the same effects as chewing on your fingernails: no medicinal properties whatsoever."

With prices that high, there's also the prospect "of creating anything and calling it rhino horn," Lewis said. "People can throw in all kinds of crazy things, and it could actually be very dangerous."

Trouble in Asia

Asian rhinos, which generally have smaller horns, seem to be less of a target for poachers. Still, two of the three Asian rhino species, the Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses, are critically endangered at populations of 40 and 400, respectively, Lewis said, and only 2,400 or so Indian rhinoceroses remain in the wild.

"They were nearly wiped out 100 years ago, and they're hanging on by a thread," Lewis said. "Indian rhinos have much larger horns than the other two Asian species, and we've seen escalation to their poaching similar to Africa in the past three or four years."

"We have to raise awareness and get on top of this," Lewis concluded. "Rhinos could go extinct in our lifetime as a result of this if awareness isn't raised." He hopes increasing public awareness about the plight of rhinos could spur a crackdown on the criminals who buy and kill for these horns.

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Construction of Serengeti road to go ahead

Tanzania's Kikwete renews promise on Serengeti road
Yahoo News 25 Sep 10;

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AFP) – Tanzania's president said Saturday construction of a controversial two-lane road through the UN-listed Serengeti national park will go ahead as it will not disturb the ecosystem.

"All precautions have been taken to make sure that the wildlife is not affected," Jakaya Kikwete was quoted as saying by state-owned media as telling election campaign rallies in Ngorongoro and Serengeti districts.

Kikwete, who is seeking re-election for second and final five-term, was responding to local and foreign activists who oppose the project on grounds that it would scare away animals.

"What I can assure the activists is that the Serengeti shall not die and the proposed road has many social and economic advantages to the people in Mara and Arusha regions," he told residents of the Mto wa Mbu area.

On Thursday, the Tanzanian government announced they have formed a team to study the impact of the project, but that it had not changed its position on the construction of the road.

Some local environmentalists say a paved road through Mikumi National Park in central Tanzania has led to the death of many animals that are hit by vehicles despite speed bumps.

Some 27 biodiversity experts recently warned in the science journal Nature, that the proposed Serengeti highway would destroy one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries.

"The road will cause an environmental disaster," the experts said, urging the government to look at an alternative route that runs far south of the UN-listed site.

The planned road slashes right across the annual migratory route taken by 1.3 million wildebeest, part of the last great mass movements of animals.

The wildebeest play a vital role in a fragile ecosystem, maintaining the vitality of Serengeti's grasslands and sustaining threatened predators such as lions, cheetahs and wild dogs, they said.

Kikwete has repeatedly defended the planned road, saying the stretch crossed by migrating animals will be gravelled rather than paved with the aim of reducing speed. Sceptics say lorries will speed even on gravel.

The president has also argued that the road will improve transportation and boost economic activity for people living close to the park.

Tanzanian media have reported people rushing to the area to put up buildings and plant crops in the hope of being compensated when construction starts.

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Climate risks greater for long distance migratory birds

Mark Kinver, BBC News 25 Sep 10;

Birds embarking on long distance migrations are more vulnerable to shifts in the climate than ones making shorter journeys, a study suggests.

Scientists say the increasingly early arrival of spring at breeding sites in Europe makes it harder for the birds to attract a mate or find food.

The researchers warn that the "increasing ecological mismatch" can lead to a decline in bird populations.

The findings appear in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society.

"The study was based on a very large dataset of 117 migratory bird species that migrate from Africa or southern Europe to northern Europe, covering about 50 years," explained co-author Nicola Saino, from the University of Milan.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

By arriving late, the birds are probably missing the best period in which to breed”

End Quote Professor Nicola Saino University of Milan

The international team of researchers, from Italy, Germany, Finland and Russia, wanted to see if the spring arrival time of the birds at their breeding sites had changed over the past half century.

To achieve this, they used the birds' average arrival days at a number of bird observatories in northern Europe.

The team then compared this information with the corresponding year's "degree days", which refers to the total of average daily temperatures above a threshold that will trigger natural cycles, such as plants coming into leaf or flower.

"We know that temperatures affect the progress of spring - the higher the temperatures in the first months of the year, the earlier spring arrives," Professor Saino told BBC News.

'Missed opportunities'

Earlier this year, researchers from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology published a study that suggested that spring was arriving in the UK 11 days earlier than 30 years ago.

Professor Saino and the team found that spring was beginning earlier, which had a consequence for the migratory birds.

"The birds that have not kept track with the changes have declined more in northern Europe."

These were primarily species making long distance migrations from sub-Saharan areas, a diverse set including ducks, swallows and warblers.

"The most likely problem is that there is optimum time in spring for the birds to breed; and by arriving late, the birds are probably missing the best period in which to breed," he said.

"Peaks in food abundance, such as insects, are very narrow in northern latitudes; so if you arrive too late and miss the peak, then you miss the best opportunity to raise your offspring.

He added that this "ecological mismatch" was likely to be the main reason for the decline in the birds' populations.

The data show that the birds are reaching the breeding sites earlier, but not early enough to keep aligned with the advance of spring.

The long-term consequence could be that populations continue to decline, but Professor Saino cautioned that it was a complex issue.

"It also depends a lot on what is happening in the winter," he suggested.

"One of the reasons why they might not be able to keep track of the changes is that they are unable to shift their winter sites northwards.

"Or they may have to shift their wintering sites southwards, which will make their journey longer."

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