Launch of the Mega Marine Survey! (26 Nov 10)
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore
十一月话语导游 Mandarin guide walk@SBWR, November(XIII)
from PurpleMangrove
Chek Jawa with otter sighting, which I missed
from wild shores of singapore
Recce at Sentosa shore
from wonderful creation
This school holiday, go on a trip around Singapore taking in vistas with few buildings and few humans in sight. For starters, guess where these spots are.
Jessica Yeo Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
NOT very far from Seletar Airport lies a large, empty patch of land.
Grass grows sparsely in tufts on the uneven ground. Creepers spread out their arms here and there, like starfish on a seabed.
Every few minutes or so, a truck laden with construction materials zooms past - but other than that, the air is thick with silence.
This piece of reclaimed land, about a third the size of Sentosa, cannot be found near 'civilisation' - the majority of Singapore's land that is blanketed with Housing Board flats, office buildings, schools and more.
It is land that will eventually be developed.
But for now, Pulau Punggol Barat lies largely bare in its beauty. At night, couples who drive there via Seletar North Link find spots to cuddle; some people arrive with fishing rods and other equipment; others come with their friends to chit-chat.
This peaceful hideout, away from the roughly 700 sq m concrete jungle that is Singapore, is seen by many as 'untouched nature' at its most pristine.
It is not going to stay this way for long though - and neither are other places, for example the nearby lalang fields at Punggol Point, previously a relatively undeveloped part of Singapore.
The fields were cordoned off months ago for development into a suburban waterfront town - soon to be another modern, man-made part of Singapore.
Quite a number bemoan the loss. The fields used to be the haunts of photographers, those who love fishing, and even ordinary Singaporeans who enjoy a respite from the hectic grind of life.
'It was the only place where I could enjoy some peace and serenity,' said digital media planner Chen Wei Li, 26, who used to visit the fields every Sunday. He shot a photo documentary of the fields then, before 'they were completely torn apart'.
With such places vanishing into the pages of history, nature buffs worry that we will, in the end, have little left besides man-made parks and nature reserves.
As environmentalist Ria Tan, 50, who runs nature website WildSingapore, puts it: 'Singapore is in danger of becoming a giant concrete island city with straight line contours, under a bubble of air-conditioning. Any bits of nature are found only in artificial zoos or manicured parks.'
She says it is important for Singaporeans to go out, see, document and share places with others, even if by just posting photos on social media website Facebook.
'Singapore's wild natural places can play a strong role in developing Singaporeans with soul. The kind of bonding that happens in a wild natural place can't quite be duplicated in an artificial environment,' she says. (Full details from which this quote was taken: How our wild places can build a stronger Singapore).
Jessica Yeo, 23, is a sub-editor with The Straits Times. She spent four months trekking around Singapore trying to find idyllic countryside vistas with few buildings in the horizon. She did the project earlier this year as an assignment for an advanced photojournalism course at Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, which she graduated from this year.
The Queenstown estate will get its landscape rejuvenated and even more park-like features
tay suan chiang Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
Rain gardens. An eco-corridor that makes the most of mature trees. And the byways of a nondescript canal transformed into a pedestrian promenade featuring water and greenery.
This elaborate landscaping will be part of the rejuvenation of the now sleepy Dawson Housing Board (HDB) estate in Queenstown.
Details about the landscaping will be unveiled today by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan at the groundbreaking ceremony for two new 40-storey housing blocks in the estate, both designed by local award-winning firms.
The striking towers were part of the rejuvenation plans announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in 2007 as part of HDB's Remaking Our Heartland initiative.
They are SkyVille@ Dawson by Woha and SkyTerrace@Dawson by SCDA Architects. The projects were launched last December and are expected to be ready by 2015.
Now, it is the landscape's turn to shine. Features of the plan include transforming Alexandra Canal to make it more aesthetically pleasing, and intensive greening along Dawson Road, so that there is continuous shading for pedestrians and cyclists who use this road.
The HDB appointed Cicada, a local award- winning landscape architecture firm, to design it.
Dawson's heartlanders will really get a feel of being in a park. It will be the first mature housing estate to have rain gardens, for example.
These plots are similar to dry ponds, which fill up only after it rains. Plants in these gardens will filter out dirt in the water before the water enters the Alexandra Canal.
As for the eco-corridor, it will be converted from a section of Margaret Drive. Mature trees here will be kept as they will help provide shade and retain urban biodiversity. A water body will also run along this corridor and residents can get close to it.
'The goal is to create housing in a park,' says MsKathleen Goh, HDB's deputy director of strategic planning.
The landscape plans are not just for the residents in the two new blocks but for existing ones, too.
The estate already has some green features in place, such as the Alexandra Canal Linear Park, which was opened by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in 2007. The park, which connects Tanglin Road to Commonwealth Avenue, was built over part of the canal.
From today, visitors to the park can learn about the estate through a series of information panels. The panels, which are permanent fixtures, showcase the estate's heritage and how it will look in the future.
While the linear park is well used by residents now, 'under the landscape plan, it can have more amenities and rain gardens in the future', adds Ms Tay Bee Choo, HDB's head of landscape.
Images and models of the Dawson estate are on show at Block 62 Strathmore Avenue till tomorrow, and at Dawson Place at Block 57 Dawson Road from Monday to Dec 4.
Shaffiq Alkhatib Channel NewsAsia 27 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE : The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that as of November 15, about 22,077 people have been caught littering in Singapore.
This is about half the total number of people caught committing the offence for the whole of last year.
There were about 3,000 people aged 16 to 21 caught for littering between January and November 15 this year, compared to more than 5,000 young offenders during the same period last year.
To further reduce the number of litterbugs, NEA launched a new initiative targeting the young in the South West District on Saturday.
The "Litter-Free Dream for a Big Clean South West" programme is co-organised by the area's Community Development Council (CDC).
It aims to attract at least 25 schools and 1,000 students.
To date, 18 schools and more than 3,000 students have already signed up for the initiative.
They come from schools including ITE College West, Bukit View Secondary and Clementi Primary.
The programme will engage the students in outreach activities such as litter-picking from March to August next year.
They will also don walking billboards to help promote a cleaner environment.
The initiative may be rolled out to the other districts in the future.
- CNA /ls
Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 26 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE: With heavy rain expected during the year end Northeast Monsoon season, PUB is stepping up efforts to improve drainage and prevent flooding.
17 canal sensors, which help to monitor the drainage system, has been installed islandwide by the PUB, bringing the total to 49.
That is almost half the targeted number of 90 sensors that the PUB wants installed by the end of the year.
A drain inspection camera, called "elook", is one of the new devices PUB is using to speed up inspection of about 7000 kilometres of drainage in Singapore.
It can be immersed into water 10 metres deep and offers a view of up to 60 metres.
It also reduces drain inspection time by about half an hour. Usually, half an hour is needed for a safety officer to check if a drain is safe to work in. Drains that have an oxygen level of less than 19 per cent are deemed unsafe.
It is especially useful for drains like these which are too small for a man to enter. Video images can also be recorded on the devices for further analysis by PUB.
PUB is using four of these S$20,000 devices, and is encouraging its contractors to use them. This is after a pilot phase for the devices began in September and ended in October.
PUB is also speeding up drainage improvement works in 10 places from Bedok to Bukit Timah.
One of these works is at the flood prone Lorong L Telok Kurau, where a 900 metre long drain has been widened by more than 20 per cent to ease flooding.
Previously left open, the drain is also now covered and new streetlamps have also been installed to make this new walkway safe at night.
Some residents appreciate the move, like 65-year-old Mdm Chew Swee Eng.
"It makes the place tidier and cleaner. There are also fewer mosquitoes. Before it was dirtier especially when leaves fell in or when people threw rubbish in after eating."
But others like pet shop owner Wendy Chong, who has experienced two flooding incidents this year, thinks more needs to be done
"I realise the land, the road was not level. It is sloping down. So when the car drives along , it causes the water to flush into our unit...maybe the land authority can raise up the road...it'll help."
In preparation for the year end rainy season, the PUB has distributed 200 flood advisories to residents and shop owners in severely flood-prone areas.
Some of these areas include Lorong Buangkok, Jalan Seaview, Meyer Road, Lorong 101 to Lorong 106 Changi and Everitt Road North.
The advisory, distributed in early November, dispenses tips on the precautions that residents and shop owners could take to protect their belongings and properties in the event of flash floods.
-CNA/ac
Spokesman says air quality meets interim guidelines set by World Health Organisation
Grace Chua Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE'S air is dirtier than is ideal - at least going by limits set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The level of particles hanging in the air called PM10 - meaning they are smaller than 10 micrometres or more than 10 times smaller than the width of a human hair - stands at 30 micrograms per cubic m here.
This level of pollution exceeds the WHO's guideline of 20 micrograms per cubic m averaged over a year, although it meets the limits of 50 micrograms per cubic m set by the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Singapore is not alone.
A United States-based air-pollution research body, the Health Effects Institute, has released a report showing that pollution in other major Asian cities also exceeds WHO standards.
Contributing to more than 500,000 premature deaths each year, air pollution puts people at risk of chronic lung conditions and cardiovascular disease; this can only worsen as populations age and Asia becomes more developed, said the report.
In Singapore, the PM10 level is of concern because the particles are fine enough to settle in the lungs and cause health problems, said respiratory disease specialist Philip Eng of Philip Eng Respiratory and Medical Clinic.
But still, the PM10 level here is the lowest among 20 Asian cities. Beijing, for example, has an annual average of 150 micrograms per cubic m; and Tokyo has nearly 40 micrograms per cubic m.
The report also looked at two other pollutants: nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. No Asian city has all three pollutants at levels within WHO's limits.
The report suggests that more data collection be done in Asia so the information can be used to shape public policy.
Responding to the findings, an NEA spokesman described the 2005 WHO air-quality guideline values for PM10 and the other air pollutants as 'very stringent'. She pointed out that Singapore's PM10 levels do, however, meet WHO's interim guidelines; these benchmarks can be used by countries to work towards meeting the international health body's final standards.
Dr Eng said long-term exposure to such particles raises one's risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
National University of Singapore climatologist Matthias Roth said that while recommended values represent an acceptable and achievable objective to minimise health effects, 'the aim should be to achieve the lowest concentrations possible in the local context'.
He warned that PM2.5, a pollutant 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair, also needs watching, as these particles are able to go deeper into the lungs and are even more toxic than PM10.
The level of PM2.5 here last year was 19 micrograms per cubic m, up from 16 the year before.
The NEA disclosed recently that it is reviewing the Pollutant Standards Index it now uses, which is based on US Environmental Protection Agency standards phased out in 1999.
Euston Quah, For The Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
THE United Nations climate summit in Cancun, which begins on Monday, has taken on fresh urgency. New information shows that, alarmingly, the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions last year was less than expected and emissions are set to rise this year and the next.
There is a clear need to move to low-carbon economies. Yet there is little consensus as to how this can be achieved, as the disappointing Copenhagen climate talks demonstrated.
But there is a ray of hope. Climate change is not a completely alien phenomenon to economists. It is simply another case of negative 'externalities', albeit on a global scale.
Economists speak of negative externalities when they refer to a cost item that has not been captured in the price of something in everyday legal transactions. The noise from constructing infrastructure, the stench from landfills, and air pollution from industrial activity are some examples of externalities.
So when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are used, the externality is the carbon emissions they produce, which lead to global warming and climate change. The prices we pay for these fuels do not capture the external costs of their use.
The solution is to put a value on all such externalities. For example, putting a price tag on noise and the destruction of scenic views, cultural heritage and environmental features such as mangroves, would be key to using resources more wisely. Pricing emissions would have a similar effect.
Where public projects involving society's well-being are concerned, it is incumbent on the authorities to gather information from the public as to what kinds of externalities could arise and follow up with monetary valuations of costs and benefits. The government must take the initiative to act as a coordinator and solicitor of economic values. This will allow all externalities to be appropriately priced.
But it is not enough for any government to take the price of carbon into account in public projects. Producers and consumers must price carbon in their production and consumption decisions as well. The role of consumers is often obscured by that of industries in emission reduction discussions. But consumption activities also contribute to emissions, vehicular transport being a good example.
How then can the price of carbon be introduced into production and consumption decisions? The two most touted methods are to tax carbon or introduce a cap-and-trade system.
Carbon taxes fix the price of emissions but leave the amount of emissions variable. Cap-and-trade fixes the amount of emissions but allows the price to vary. Theoretically, assuming the authorities compute the optimal price and amount of emissions accurately, the two methods will yield the same outcome.
Unfortunately, reality seldom mirrors theory. The complexity of the cap-and-trade system means that the administrative cost incurred may be significant - a fact often overlooked in theory. The price variability of emission permits may also discourage investment in green technology as businesses cannot determine if the payoff from selling the permits freed up by adopting emissions-reducing technologies is worth it. This is a serious problem as any long-run solution to global warming must involve greater use of green technology.
Carbon taxes, in contrast, give businesses clear incentives to cut emissions. The taxes will encourage a switch in the fuel mix of the industrial and electricity sector as well as the household sector and lead to overall energy conservation. The taxes will also provide revenue that governments may use to fund green research.
Much of the criticism levelled at carbon taxes revolves around the issue of how much to charge. But this has to do with a lack of accurate information - a problem that can be fixed.
The idea of making both producers and consumers pay for activities that generate carbon emissions by levying a straightforward tax remains an appealing one. Starting with a small tax on carbon and gradually moving it up over time would be the best way forward. The fact that Finland, Norway and a number of other countries have successfully implemented carbon taxes shows that they may not be that unpalatable after all.
Given that a low-carbon world must involve pricing carbon, is the UN's attempt to impose carbon quotas too simplistic, and is Cancun doomed to failure? Yes, for the main reason that countries are at different stages of economic development and have different priorities.
Yet, however essential carbon pricing may be, it alone is not enough. There must also be investment in green technology, the widespread use of cost-benefit analysis and externality pricing. The Cancun talks, with its focus on secondary issues such as climate financial aid and deforestation, may help to move these other areas forward.
The writer is a professor of environmental economics at Nanyang Technological University.
Yahoo News 26 Nov 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Eyeless cave fish and a frog that carries its offspring on its back are among the new species a team of scientists have discovered in Indonesia's eastern Papua region.
The researchers from the Institute of Research and Development (IRD) in Montpellier, southern France, studied caves, underground rivers and jungles in the remote Lengguru area of New Guinea island.
"In terms of discoveries almost everything remains to be done in this area, which is very difficult to access but which has exceptionally rich biodiversity," IRD scientist Laurent Pouyaud told AFP.
For seven weeks, the team including biologists, paleontologists and archaeologists explored the vast limestone "labyrinth" where species have evolved in isolation for millions of years.
In one previously undocumented cave they found a new species of fish which had developed without eyes or pigmentation.
"This is, to our knowledge, the first cave fish that has been discovered in Papua," Pouyaud said.
The team's archaeologists were "overwhelmed" by cave paintings and tools made of shell which provided further evidence of the ancient migration of people from Asia to the Australian continent some 40,000 years ago, he said.
The research was "the first step" in an ongoing project to study the region's biodiversity in conjunction with the Indonesian maritime affairs ministry and Institute of Sciences.
Papua's biodiversity is at risk from plans to expand plantations and mining operations in the area, Pouyaud said.
Borneo Post Online 27 Nov 10;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future (Green SURF) is shocked and disappointed that a revised Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) report will be submitted for the proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu.
Green SURF said although the Department of Environment (DOE) had rejected the study in August, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had in its 2010 annual report stated that a “revised DEIA report will be resubmitted for review and approval” for the 300 megawatt plant.
The utility company had in a one-paragraph statement said that a DEIA study was submitted on May 26 to the DOE, followed by a sentence that it would be resubmitted, but made no mention of the rejection.
Green SURF representative Wong Tack pointed out that the project had been rejected before and relocated twice, wasting time, money and effort on debating a dirty energy source.
“Sabah should be leveraging on its position as a biodiversity hub to attract investments for green power. Instead, we are wasting time on this proposed coal plant.
“There is commitment among the international community to support forest, wildlife and marine conservation work in Sabah and here we are talking about building a coal plant between the rainforest of Tabin and the Coral Triangle.
“Building a coal plant in Sabah, and especially next to the Coral Triangle, does not just break the hearts of locals, but also the world,” he said in a statement issued by Green SURF, yesterday.
The coalition sent a reminder that early this month Sabah hosted an international conference on forests and climate change, where the issue of carbon trading was raised as an alternative to logging in earning revenue, conserving key wildlife habitats in the process.
“It doesn’t make sense that we are trying to attract investments in carbon trading if we are going to have a coal plant at an eco sensitive area. We don’t deserve international support for conservation or investments for carbon trading if this is the case,” Wong said.
Green SURF is a coalition of NGOs comprising the Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA) of which Wong is president, Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), WWF Malaysia, Partners of Community Organisations (PACOS) and the Malaysian Nature Society (Sabah branch).
TNB’s move shocks NGOs
Muguntan Vanar The Star 27 Nov 10;
KOTA KINABALU: Environmental group Green SURF is shocked and disappointed that a revised Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) study will be resubmitted for a proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu.
The group said although the Department of Environment (DOE) rejected the study in August, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had in its 2010 annual report stated that a “revised DEIA report would be resubmitted for review and approval” for the 300MW plant.
The utility company had in a one-paragraph statement stated that a DEIA study was submitted to the DOE on May 26, followed by a sentence that it would be resubmitted, without making any mention of the rejection.
Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future) spokesman Wong Tack said the project had been rejected previously and relocated twice and it was a waste of time, money and effort in debating a dirty energy source.
“Sabah should be leveraging on its position as a biodiversity hub to attract investments for green power.
“Instead, we are wasting time on this proposed coal plant.
“There is commitment among the international community to support forest, wildlife and marine conservation work in Sabah and here we are talking about building a coal plant between the rainforest of Tabin and the Coral Triangle.
“Building a coal plant in Sabah, and especially next to the Coral Triangle, does not just break the hearts of locals but also the world,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.
The coalition reminded that only earlier this month Sabah hosted an international conference on forests and climate change, where the issue of carbon trading was raised as an alternative to logging in earning revenue, conserving key wildlife habitats in the process.
“It doesn’t make sense that we are trying to attract investments in carbon trading if we are going to have a coal plant at an eco-sensitive area. We don’t deserve international support for conservation or investments for carbon trading if this is the case,” Wong said.
'Revised report addresses concerns on power plant'
New Straits Times 29 Nov 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The revised detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu has addressed issues and concerns which led to its rejection by the Department of Environment (DOE) earlier this year.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd corporate services general manager Wan Maria Othman Lee, who was commenting on a statement by non-governmental organisation Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future), said that they were following procedures.
"The rejection was not for a coal-fired plant.
"It rejected the study because it did not comply with some criteria.
"We have addressed those areas of concern in the new revised report."
The DOE had asked for a more detailed report on mitigation measures for the plant and an EIA for transmission route, which was not required in the original terms of reference.
Green SURF had on Friday said they were shocked and disappointed that a study could be reconsidered after its rejection.
Green SURF is a coalition of NGOs comprising the Sabah Environmental Protection Association, Land Empowerment Animals People, WWF Malaysia, Partners of Community Organisations and the Malaysian Nature Society (Sabah branch).
Chin: Coal still viable source
The Star 30 Nov 10;
PETALING JAYA: Coal is still the most viable source of electricity in the country because renewable energy technology is not matured enough.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin said most countries in the world were still heavily dependent on fossil fuels as their main source of energy.
“We cannot run away from such traditional fuel sources. When we talk about needing a 300MW plant, it’s a huge amount and our generation is still based on these sources, especially in Sabah,” he said on Saturday.
He was commenting on a protest by the environmental group Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future) against a proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu.
Green SURF spokesman Wong Tack had said that the project, which had been rejected previously and relocated twice, was a waste of time, money and effort as it was a dirty energy source.
The plant has been proposed for a site on the shores close to the Coral Triangle, an area rich in reef and marine biodiversity.
Chin urged those opposing the move for a coal-fired power plant to reconsider be rational.
“Those protesting do not want coal anywhere at all. It is the wrong mentality to adopt. If they think a site is not suitable, that doesn’t mean we should exclude fossil fuels completely,” he said.
He said it was also wrong to object for the sake of objecting as it would only be doing the public a disservice.
“Rationalise based on these factors – there are limited alternatives available which are very costly.
“Yes, it is good to tap energy from the sun but it is expensive and the high cost will be passed back to consumers. The technology of renewable energy is still not matured enough – not for our generation,” Chin said.
It was reported that Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), which was behind the project, would be re-submitting a revised Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) study for the plant after it was rejected by the Department of Environment (DOE).
Green SURF claimed that TNB had in its 2010 annual report stated that a “revised DEIA report would be re-submitted for review and approval” for the Lahad Datu plant.
The utility company had in a one-paragraph statement stated that a DEIA study was submitted to the DOE on May 26, followed by a sentence that it would be re-submitted, without making any mention of the rejection.
ScienceDaily 26 Nov 10;
Research scientists Fernando de la Gándara and Aurelio Ortega, along with technicians Juan Ramón Prieto and Javier Viguri from the tuna culture team at the IEO, have managed to adapt around twenty juvenile bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), to captivity in land based facilities at the Plant for Marine Culture at the Murcian Oceangraphic Centre.
This adaptation had already been successfully achieved in Japan, in Australia and in the USA, in other species of tuna such as the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis), the southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), the yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and the blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus) but never with the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) making this a European first.
Some of the individuals were captured with a barbless hook and line just in front of the coast of Mazarrón, and transported directly to the Marine Culture facilities of the IEO in Mazarrón. Others were captured in front of Cabo de Palos and previously adapted to captivity in floating cages situated in the bay of El Gorguel, managed by the company Caladeros del Mediterráneo belonging to the Ricardo Fuentes group, prior to being transported to the IEO installations in Mazarrón. The survival rate in the first case was 70% while in the second case it was 100%, fundamentally due to the fact that in this second case the individuals had already been adapted to captivity in the cages. The twenty juveniles, each of around a kilo in weight, have been housed over the past two weeks in a fibreglass tank 8m wide x 2m deep. They are being fed with fresh anchovy and sardine pieces and show very active feeding behaviour.
Handling of this species is extremely difficult given it´s great sensitivity and the fact that it is a pelagic fish that is accustomed to living in an open-water environment, where no obstacles exist. The techniques employed in the adaptation of the bluefin tuna individuals to captivity at the land facilities will be used in the TANQUE project, co-financed by funds from FEDER and headed up by Aurelio Ortega. This project will equip the IEO with a large single installation for the reproduction of bluefin tuna, whose main element will consist of a tank of 25m in width and 12m deep, which will house bluefin tuna broodstock whose main objective will be the obtaining of viable eggs from this species.
Prithvijit Mitra, The Times of India 27 Nov 10;
KOLKATA: It's not just unauthorized chopping that threatens the Sunderbans mangroves. The forest could be faced with a new enemy that has been slowly eating into the trees on the edge of the water, reducing them to charred pulps of waste vegetation. Hundreds of black insects, shaped like caterpillars, have been raiding the mangroves for the last three months, causing serious damage to the plants. While experts haven't yet been able to identify the pest, a few specimens have been collected and sent to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
A team of scientists from Jadavpur University's School of Oceanography chanced upon the insect during a visit last week. It was while surveying the mangroves that they noticed many with leaves that had been eaten up and looked as if they had been set on fire.
Initially, the experts suspected a human hand behind it but were soon corrected by the locals. "They led us to many more such damaged mangroves at places like Pakhiralaya, Sajnekhali, Lahiripur and Rangabelia. We were shocked to find hundreds of these insects crawling all over the mud on the banks. They were piling on to the mangroves in droves and feeding on the leaves. They were peeling off the leaves within minutes, reducing the mangroves to a skeleton of branches and twigs. Mysteriously, the leaves they were feeding on wore a charred look once the insects were gone. Neither the locals, nor any of us could identify them. We have collected a few specimen and sent them to ZSI," said Gautam Sen, a member of the oceanography team.
Such insects have never been known to exist in the Sunderbans. About an inch-and-half in length, they resemble caterpillars but without the hairy legs. The pests have so far only been raiding the bani trees (avicennia) that grow on the edge of the water. "No insect has ever been seen so close to the water, which is extremely saline. It needs to be found out if they have come from some other region or had so far restricted themselves to some other part of the forest," said Sen.
Climate change could have triggered the flight of these insects, it is being suspected. "The insects could have been dislodged from some island that's now submerged or was flooded after Cyclone Aila. What is worrying is that they have started moving towards the villages and have already raided some vegetable gardens. It would be disastrous if they raid the farmlands or move deep into the forests. Mangroves will be seriously affected unless we can stop the march of these mysterious insects," said Sarbaranjan Mondol, an NGO worker in the Sunderbans.
Member of the state biodiversity board, Silanjan Bhattacharya, said it was strange that a new insect specie has been spotted at the Sunderbans. "I was at the mangrove forest recently but didn't come across this new insect. There are insects which feed on mangrove leaves but locals are well acquainted with these. It might have floated in from some remote part of the mangrove forest along the waters in the post-Aila period. It is difficult to comment on this unless we have a look at the insect," said Bhattacharya, who is also the head of the department of zoology at West Bengal State University.
* Global average temperature up over past 160 years
* Rate of temperature rises has slowed over past 10 years
Reuters AlertNet 26 Nov 10;
LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - The global average temperature has increased over the past 160 years, but short-term trends in temperature and sea ice seem to be at odds with each other and need more research, the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre said.
In a report on long and short-term climate trends, the Hadley Centre found several factors that indicate a warming world and said 2010 has been one of the warmest years on record.
The report drew on the work of more than 20 institutions worldwide and used a range of measurements from satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ocean buoys, ships and field surveys.
The report showed increases in air temperatures above both land and sea, increases in water temperature and humidity, sea level rises and the shrinking of Arctic sea ice.
"The average temperature over the first decade of the 21st century was significantly warmer than any preceding decade in the instrumental record, stretching back over 160 years," the report said.
Despite variability from year to year, with some years warmer and others cooler, a clear trend of increasing global temperature can be seen from the late 1970s onwards at about 0.16 degrees per decade, the report said.
"It is clear from the observational evidence across a wide range of indicators that the world is warming," said Matt Palmer, ocean observations specialist at the Met Office.
"As well as a clear increase in air temperature observed above both the land and sea, we see observations which are all consistent with increasing greenhouse gases," he added.
However, short-term trends in temperature and sea ice seem to be at odds with each other. The rate of temperature increases has slowed over the past 10 years, while the level of sea ice has increased.
Climate models suggest that the internal variability of the climate system may be responsible for the recent decrease in the rate of warming, the report said.
Changes in solar activity, water vapour, increased aerosol emissions from Asia and changes to the way sea surface temperatures are measured over the past decade could have contributed to some artificial cooling, the report said.
"We expect warming to increase in the next few years ... However, other future external factors, such as volcanic eruptions or changes in solar activity, could prolong the current reduction in warming," the report said.
More research is needed into some of the factors that influence short-term climate trends, which are not fully understood or represented in climate models.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Jane Baird)
Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
I read Fiona Chan's article, Being Green Makes Me Blue (LifeStyle, Nov 21), with a wide smile on my face.
Getting people to be eco-conscious is like raising a child. It does not work when you say, 'No, you shouldn't!', without validating it with a reason. I far prefer coaxing people to do it.
I, too, have witnessed avid plastic bag-savers, who drive off in their gas-guzzling cars. What I do believe, however, is that each person can find at least one way to save the environment without any inconvenience to his lifestyle. In my household, we diligently reuse plastic bags and recycle materials.
We cannot dismiss how many of the recent natural disasters have got to do with the deterioration of our environment, which has caused new illnesses, homelessness, and the shortage of food, water and sanitation. I veer from the idea that saving the environment has become far too fashionable for its own good. Perhaps the media may portray it as such. The green message is clear, strong and relevant to our lives and one that we cannot ignore.
Jasmine L. Arika
The environment needs no saving and will thrive without us. Who we are really saving is ourselves and our loved ones. It would be myopic to think that the environment is the 'flavour of the decade'. Hypocritical celebrities and non-celebrities who choose to greenwash should not be associated with the ones who walk the talk.
Let us be objective and look at all the issues before we write off the environment as a frivolous, non-urgent topic. We need to�realise our limitations as individual environmentalists saving one plastic bag at a time, and acknowledge our great potential as consumers and citizen who can pressure corporations and the Government to do something on a much quicker and grander scale.
Olivia Choong
Being green makes me blue
Fiona Chan Straits Times 20 Nov 10;
I never thought I would say this, but of late I have come to appreciate the wisdom of Kermit the Frog.
Way before the world got caught up in a wave of environmentalist fervour, Kermit warned us all: It's not easy being green.
Everywhere you look these days, people are exhorting you to save the world. Mostly by condemning you if you don't.
Have you ever printed out a report? You might as well have taken an axe to a forest full of trees.
Do you use plastic bags? That's going to cost us about a hundred species of flora and fauna essential to global biodiversity.
Are you driving a car? Why don't you just load up a big cannon full of fireballs and aim it straight at Earth, that would be more efficient.
Greenies may see red at most daily activities, but for ordinary folk like me, being green can sometimes make you blue.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having everyone do his or her part for the environment. And, of course, this starts at home.
To save energy, I turn off all the lights when I sleep at night. To save water, my husband sometimes wears the same pair of trousers for two weeks at a time.
'Laundry,' he intones in a self-satisfied manner in his three-day-old socks, 'is a barely necessary evil.'
We even go so far as to dutifully send our newspapers for recycling every fortnight. The fact that all we have to do is to put them outside our front door to be picked up is pure coincidence.
All this may take some effort, but hey, it's worth it as long as the world is going to be saved from an apocalyptic bonfire, right? I'm really glad that my great- grandchildren will get their chance to enjoy aerosol cans and plastic water bottles.
But it would be nice if, on the occasions that I do choose convenience over the environment, I'm not made to feel like some kind of super villain bent on destroying the world.
For instance - and I know this confession will send me straight to green hell, where all the trees have been replaced by fake trees and I have to pretend to water them for eternity - I don't take my own bags to supermarkets. Not even on Wednesdays.
Not only that, but I also sometimes ask for heavy objects to be bagged with - horrors - two plastic bags, just in case one breaks.
It gets worse. At work, I like to print things out rather than read them on the computer. Ironically, sometimes the pro-environment signature at the end of an e-mail - the one that says 'think before you print!' - makes the document spill over to an extra page, which I then crumple up and throw away, compounding my crime.
I also guiltily opt for paper bills rather than have them all sent electronically. I know, this is completely selfish of me: I'm saving my own eyesight at the expense of the Earth.
Similarly, I am never willing to fork out more for the organic version of any food. This is clearly evidence of my short-sighted tendency to protect my wallet rather than the environment.
Given my weakness of character, I always admire those true-blue environmentalists who practise what they preach.
I respect how they eschew motor vehicles and cycle to work, then forgo a shower in the name of saving water and spend the rest of the day sweatily triumphant about their tiny carbon footprint. I respect them, but I probably won't sit next to them.
Still, at least they're devout followers of their green doctrine. What I really don't get are those so-called environmental experts, or the numerous self-professed tree-hugger celebrities, who earnestly and self-righteously enjoin people to care more about the Earth - and then hop onto their privately chartered jets to the next green conference.
Or your everyday environmentalists, who insist on paying 10 cents for their plastic bags at the supermarket to save the world, only to pile all their groceries into the back of their monster sports utility vehicles before driving off.
All that said, I am probably no different from the green evangelists in one respect - I am making a mountain out of what is, effectively, a molehill.
There are plenty of other unsolved problems in this world: starving people, physically abused women, apathetic youth and bad grammar. Saving the planet just happens to be the flavour of the decade.
But precisely as greenies - or greenhorns, in my case - we�should not miss the wood for the trees. The environment is a problem, but it is one problem, and not one that can be solved by simply attending Greenpeace concerts and hugging oaks.
So let's not accuse one another of not being green enough when maybe what we are is too green: green with envy of others' carefree carbon emissions.
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