Best of our wild blogs: 17 Jan 11

Big reclamation project coming up on the East Coast?
from wild shores of singapore

A lizard's last moments
from The annotated budak and Round and round and round and (Sea) apple of their eye

Kayaking to Khatib Bongsu
from wild shores of singapore

Otters@Sg.Buloh
from sgbeachbum

Osprey in comfort behaviour
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Mega Marine in the news!
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Monday Morgue: 17th January 2011
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Read more!

400 community gardens taking root

Groups of residents, students and company employees are joining NParks' scheme
Jessica Lim Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

JOIN the garden party.

Residents, students and company employees have been digging in to 'grow' 400 community gardens around the island, up from 100 in 2005 when the Community in Bloom (CIB) programme was launched by the National Parks Board (NParks).

These plots - 25sqm to 1,000sqm each - may look like small patches of shrubbery, but look closer and you may spot fruit trees, chilli padi plants and vegetables.

One such garden made the news last week, when a lorry ploughed into it, uprooting more than 10 trees. The garden, wrapped around a house in Sunset Heights, Clementi, runs beside 21m of pavement.

These gardens can sprout in common spaces in Housing Board estates, plots within a school and areas outside houses and condominiums.

The CIB programme takes root like this: Interested participants form a gardening group and meet NParks officials for gardening tips.

With NParks' help, they decide on what kind of garden they would like, its size and design. It typically takes about three months for a community garden to be launched, from inception to construction. Costs are usually borne by the gardening groups, though some have funding from town councils. The size of such groups varies, from 10 to 70 members.

Fruits and vegetables harvested are usually shared among the members, who may distribute some to those living near the garden. Some groups sell the fruits of their labour at flea markets, with profits channelled back to maintaining the garden.

'The gardens not only enhance Singapore's landscapes, but they also become venues that enhance community interaction, keeping the 'kampung' spirit alive,' said Mr Ng Cheow Kheng, deputy director of horticulture and community gardening at NParks.

'When people come together to grow their favourite flowers, herbs and vegetables, they naturally interact and bond, and community spirit blossoms.'

Mr Ng added that apart from NParks' efforts to promote the programme, its success is also due to participants who help spread the gardening bug.

NParks also organises the Community in Bloom Awards to recognise the best gardens.

Singapore Management University sociologist Chung Wai Keung said the trend is 'a reaction to the over-urbanised living environment in Singapore'. He added that 'planting gives individuals a sense of returning to a simple life', noting that the gardens also recreate a sense of community associated with rural life in the past.

Ms Christina Crane, 39, founder of the food-enthusiast group Locavore Singapore, has another theory to the rise in community gardens: More Singaporeans want to eat local food.

'As a society advances, people become more concerned about where their food comes from. One way to be sure of what you are eating is to grow your food in your own backyard,' she said.

But there have been occasions when the hard work came to nought. Vandals have struck in Pasir Ris, where plots were trampled on and vegetables ripped up. The garden is now fenced up.

Such setbacks have not curbed the sprouting of gardens here. At MacPherson Primary School, pupils and teachers have turned a once-bare patch to a plot growing vegetables and fruits. It is also used as an outdoor classroom with signs illustrating the importance of food sustainability.

Similar gardens have also taken hold in Thomson Garden Estate and at condos like Ivory Heights in Jurong.

At Jurong East Avenue 1, Madam Kamisah Atan, 53, tends a garden she helped to start in 2006. 'I like sunflowers and wanted to grow them but couldn't as there was not enough sunlight in the corridor outside my flat,' said the housewife who formed a gardening group with three neighbours. They approached the town council, which gave them a $3,000 grant. Now, the garden at Block 337, measuring about 7m by 20m, has longan and banana trees, herbs and ornamental blooms.

'It was back-breaking work. Tilling the soil was very hard work but worth it,' she said.

Keen on starting a garden?
Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

HOW to start a Community in Bloom project (steps may differ depending on location):

# Step 1:

Form a gardening group among your neighbours. Get support for the project from the residents' committee, and inform the town council to get the go-ahead.

# Step 2:

Contact the National Parks Board (NParks) to help select a suitable location. Factors to consider include ground conditions and whether the garden will, say, obstruct motorists' views.

# Step 3:

Organise a session where NParks can share tips on good gardening practices, and recruit more participants for the project.

# Step 4:

Plan your garden with NParks' help. Officials can help you select the plants and decide on the size of the plot and the garden's design.

# Step 5:

Get the plan endorsed by the town council. Then prepare the ground yourself or hire a contractor. The group needs to buy the plants, gardening materials and tools. Start gardening immediately to avoid hardening or erosion of soil.

The garden will be left to the group to maintain. But NParks will step in if it deems that the garden has been neglected. It will then work with the group to see how it can help. For more information, go to www.nparks.gov.sg/cib

NParks will be organising Gardeners' Day Out from March 12 to 13 at the HortPark in Alexandra to cater to gardening enthusiasts and those keen on the Community in Bloom project.

Read more!

Australia's floods: Murky waters danger to dugong herds

Brian Williams The Courier-Mail Adelaide Now 17 Jan 11;

SCIENTISTS fear muddy floodwaters will cripple Moreton Bay's dugong and sea turtle herds.

With the Brisbane River running at a peak of 13,000 cubic metres per second, a huge plume of turbid water has spread across the bay.

It is expected to cause enormous damage to the seagrass beds upon which many inshore marine species depend.

Thousands of tonnes of flood debris now lines the mouth of the Brisbane River and its surrounds.

Queensland Conservation Council chairman Simon Baltais said the bay looked like a war zone.

Conservation groups Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, as well as the coast guard and fishing organisations, are planning a massive river and bay clean-up to fix the mess.

Bond University Emeritus Professor Tor Hundloe said that while farmland profited from the rich silt deposited by floods, marine areas usually suffered.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Professor Hundloe, also the KAB chairman, said an inspection was needed first to prioritise problem areas.

"It will take a major co-ordinated effort, but everyone's willing to chip in," Professor Hundloe said.

"I've been in contact with the Premier's office and I've got Bond uni students who are more than happy to duck my lectures to help out."

Mr Baltais said under normal conditions, wildlife had evolved to recover from such large-scale natural events.

"But they are already stressed from pollution and over-development," Mr Baltais said.

Although the seagrass beds nearest the mainland, along which dugong graze, will be damaged, reports from Moreton Island's Tangalooma Resort director Trevor Hassard were that the eastern side of the bay remained relatively clear.

A strong wind was blowing much of the polluted water back towards the mainland.

In 1992, a major Mary River flood hit Hervey Bay.

Of the bay's 1800-strong dugong herd the largest in Australia it was thought just 200 survived.

Most of Hervey Bay's seagrass was denuded or died, especially below 10m, after turbid water and silt reduced light levels.

Mr Baltais said no timeframe had been set for an inspection and clean-up, but it probably should include the Navy.

"We're in the hands of the recovery taskforce," he said.

"We don't want to compromise activities and plans that are already being put in place."

Mr Baltais said until the array of material such as sunken boats, refuse and construction material was removed, the bay would remain dangerous for boats.

Professor Hundloe said no other city in Australia had a waterway at its doorstep like Moreton Bay.

"We've got to do something about this major environmental disaster," he said.

Read more!

Malaysia: Striving to break the bag habit

New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

ON Jan 1, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry launched a nationwide campaign to get all hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas petrol stations to stop giving out free plastic bags on Saturdays.

As a result, shoppers now have to pay 20 sen if they want the outlet they visit on Saturdays to give them a plastic shopping bag.

The money collected will be channelled to a special fund to conduct environment preservation and protection-related programmes as well as activities for consumers.

The ministry says the government launched the efforts to reduce waste after its projections showed that Malaysians would create 30,000 tonnes of solid waste daily by 2020.

Selangor had enforced its "No Plastic Bag Day" policy on Saturdays last year. State executive councillor Elizabeth Wong recently said that the policy would include Sundays this year. It was reported in November last year that the number of plastic bags used in Selangor went down by four million.

Penang began enforcing its "No Free Plastic Bags" ruling from Jan 1. It was reported that the Penang Consumer Watch Group in all 40 state constituencies will monitor the daily no plastic bag rule through random checks at several outlets.

Mini-markets and sole proprietorship businesses will have to adhere to the ruling on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The no plastic bag campaign is also implemented in other states under the municipal councils and city halls.

Last June, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall launched its "No Plastic Bag on Monday". Proceeds from the sale of plastic bags go to the Environmental Action Centre fund for environmental and cleanliness projects.

Green initiative wins strong public support
New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

THE no plastic bag campaign should be carried out every day to reduce the use of non-biodegradable material, said Centre for Environment Technology and Development Malaysia chairman Gurmit Singh.

"People should start bringing their own shopping bags and stop using styrofoam containers for takeaways.

"It is a small step but has proven to be effective. Consumers should opt for this idea as it can change their lifestyle by not wasting things."

In interviews, most consumers agreed with the concept of extending the campaign every day as it will create awareness about saving the environment.

"I take a lot of initiatives in supporting this campaign by recycling and using organic products," says housewife Nur Sonia Abdullah,47.

According to K.J. Pestana, 71, the issue of garbage disposal is a big problem and the idea of charging customers 20 sen for each plastic bag will help reduce its consumption.


"It hurts our wallet but it is a great way to encourage people to bring their own bags.

"Supermarkets should provide recyclable bags because not everyone will remember to bring their own bags when they go shopping."

Airene Morrison,45, says it is not easy to drastically reduce plastic use.


"However, we are trying our best to support this cause," she adds.

There are also those who feel that a daily implementation of the policy could be burdensome.

Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia's Muhammad Sha'ni Abdullah argues that adopting this practice on a daily basis might be unfair to those with a low income.

At the same time, he says, this campaign is a necessary push for people to adopt sustainable practices.

University student, Khairuldin Izzuddin, 23, says it is not practical to implement such a practice because in the long run, it would not be that effective.

Rubbish, say plastic makers
New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

PLASTIC bag makers felt the pinch when the no-plastic bag ruling was enforced in Selangor and Penang.

Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) president Lim Kok Boon says the campaign affects manufacturers whose sole product is the plastic bag.

"We have yet to determine the total losses from this move. However, one manufacturer had indicated that its output of plastic bags went down by half after Penang imposed the three-day ban per week."

He says some manufacturers are now producing plastic garbage bags as people have to purchase more of them because they can't get the free packets at shops.

Lim adds the situation is ironic as there will be an even bigger amount of plastic ending up in a landfill as garbage bags are thicker in gauge, larger in size and without the cut-off (the portion of a shopping bag that is cut off to form the handle), thus using more plastic compared with a regular plastic shopping bag.

"Consumers not only end up having to incur additional cost but actually contribute to even more plastics being sent to the landfill."

Lim disagrees that substituting plastic bags with degradable or biodegradeable materials is a better option. He says one misconception is that degradation is good and since plastic bags do not degrade, they must be harmful.

He explains that degradation constitutes a breakdown of any organic material whereby the hydrogen and the carbon present in the organic matter, in the presence of oxygen, result in the formation of water and carbon dioxide.

"It is important to note that water mixed with decomposing organic matter will form leachate that can contaminate the groundwater and pollute streams.

"Carbon dioxide has a higher adverse environmental effect as it is a harmful global warming greenhouse gas.

"Even worse is when degradation takes place in the absence of oxygen, which is usually the case in a landfill as organic matter buried under tonnes of rubbish is devoid of oxygen.

"In this case, degradation in the absence of oxygen results in the carbon and hydrogen combining with each other to form methane gas, which is 22 times more harmful than carbon dioxide to the environment."

Lim also says that saving plastic bags does little in reducing overall waste. He says plastic waste in Malaysia constitutes seven per cent of municipal solid waste and plastic bags less then two per cent.

He adds that plastic bags do not degrade and this is good for the environment as it represents a form of carbon capture without having carbon dioxide or methane being released into the atmosphere.

Read more!

Massive coral bleaching in Andamans in 2010

Sify 17 Jan 11;

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming caused extensive coral bleaching in some of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2010, which, according to a scientist, is the severest in over a decade.

Scientists from Marine Research Laboratory, Central Agriculture Research Institute in Port Blair and Regional Remote Sensing Centre in Nagpur, which is under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), conducted a study to assess the extent of bleaching during 2010 at selected reef sites in the islands.

The sites surveyed January-June 2010 included Red Skin Island within Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, North Bay, Chidiyatapu - popular tourist destinations - Havelock Aquarium and Havelock Wall, a popular diving site, South Button Island and Nicolson Island, which are protected islands.

'Reef surveys conducted there revealed that the corals have been extensively bleached during April-May 2010, ranging from 37 percent to 70 percent in various sites,' P. Krishnan from Marine Research laboratory told IANS.

According to Krishnan, similar bleachings were reported in 1998 and 2002 in this region. However, the extent of the current bleaching surpasses earlier observations.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are bestowed with the richest coral diversity among all Indian reefs. A total of 177 species of hard corals falling under 57 genera have been reported from these islands.

Bleaching is one of the major threats which has significantly affected the reefs across the globe during different time-periods. Coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on earth and are home to over 25 percent of all marine species in the sea.

Corals are animals having symbiotic association with zooxanthellae, the algae which are responsible for the colouration of the corals.

Expulsion of the algae leads to the whitening of reef-building corals, widely referred to as bleaching. It is caused by physiological, algal, host-related stresses and various ecological and anthropogenic factors.

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a critical factor for the well being of symbiotic association of host animals like corals, giant clam and sea anemones with the microalgae.

'Three 100-metre transects were laid for surveys on the bottom topography, live coral cover and extent of bleaching. The atmospheric temperature and sea surface tempearture were measured using a mercury bulb thermometer,' Krishnan said.

Daily sea surface temperature maps for the period April 20 to May 12, 2010 were analysed to gauge the change in sea surface temperature during the period when bleaching was observed.

'The maximum atmospheric and sea surface temperature recorded were between 31-34 degrees Celsius. During summer, sea surface temperature rise of 2 to 3 degrees above the normal maximum can kill the corals,' Krishnan said.

The ideal temperature for corals to survive is between 25-29 degrees Celsius. The average sea-water temperature during the first week of May in all the study sites was 33.8 degrees Celsius, which resulted in extensive bleaching in different parts of the islands.

The atmospheric temperature showed a sudden increase in air temperature in the first, third and fourth weeks of April, the scientist said.

The coral cover estimated at the different study sites was analysed separately to determine the extent of bleaching.

It was observed that the branching corals were the worst affected due to bleaching.

It was also found that the fully bleached corals were maximum at Havelock Island-Wall (69.49 percent), followed by South Button Island (67.28 percent), Nicolson Island (56.45 percent), Havelock Island-Aquarium (43.45 percent), Red Skin Island (43.39 percent), North Bay (41.65 percent) and Chidiyatapu (36.54 percent).

Indian coral reefs have experienced 29 widespread bleaching events since 1989, but intense bleaching occurred in 1998 and 2002. The corals which were affected to the extent of 60 to 70 percent during the earlier events of bleaching recovered, but those fully bleached died.

Read more!

Australian floods warn of global warming

Michael Richardson for the Straits Times 17 Jan 11;

GENERATIONS of Australians have learnt that their island-continent is a land of alternating droughts and floods. Recent prolonged rain and devastating flooding across north-eastern Australia, particularly in the state of Queensland, have underscored this heartbreaking cycle.

Weather experts have said the immediate cause is natural, attributing it to periodic fluctuations in the sea surface temperature of the central Pacific Ocean along the equator and in the air pressure of the atmosphere above.

Known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Enso), it affects weather patterns in many parts of the Pacific, including Australia and South-east Asia.

Enso has two extreme phases in its typical see-saw every three to eight years. One, El Nino, is associated with hotter-than-normal temperatures and diminished rainfall. The other, La Nina, usually brings above-average wet weather and lower temperatures.

The Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology said earlier this month that the La Nina phase bringing the deluge to north-eastern Australia was the strongest since at least the mid-1970s. As a result, the country had its third wettest year on record last year.

Indonesia's Meteorological Office reported last week that rain across the far-flung island-nation would continue until June. It said the dry season, which normally starts in April and lasts until October, would start only in July.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Sri Lanka have been hit by unusually heavy and damaging downpours, just as northern Europe and much of the United States felt the bite of abnormally frigid winter weather.

Despite these bursts of wet and cold weather, two leading US climate agencies said last Wednesday that the average land and sea surface temperature last year tied with 2005 as the warmest on record, since data collection started in 1880. The global temperature was 0.62 deg C above the 20th-century average.

Attributed by many scientists to the growing release of carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming gases from human activity into the atmo-sphere, this temperature rise is happening at the same time as the natural Enso cycle.

Dr James Hansen, director of one of the US climate agencies, said the average global temperature in the past decade increased as fast as during the previous two decades, despite year-to-year fluctuations associated with Enso.

A summary on the state of the Australian climate published last year by the Meteorological Bureau and the CSIRO, Australia's leading scientific research organisation, said that in the past 50 years, the mean temperature in Australia had risen by about 0.7 deg C and was projected to increase further, by 0.6 to 1.5 deg C, by 2030.

It added that if global greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow at business-as-usual rates, the country could be 2.2 to 5 deg C hotter by 2070.

Scientists said the worldwide warming trend increases the likelihood of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods. In addition to being the hottest year ever, last year was also the wettest on record.

A hotter world causes more evaporation from land and oceans. A warmer atmosphere holds and releases more water, which can mean more violent storms and bigger floods.

The equatorial expanse of the Pacific Ocean, which is far larger than the Indian and Atlantic oceans, is critical to the development of Enso.

During La Nina, trade winds blowing towards the west bring moist air to northern Australia and Indonesia. Heated by the tropical sun and warm water, the air rises to create towering bulbous clouds and heavy rainfall.

The question that must concern South-east Asia is whether man-made global warming from burning fossil fuels and clearing forests is intensifying natural weather patterns like Enso and, if so, how?

It is clear that if an exceptionally dry El Nino phase occurs against the backdrop of long-term man-made global warming, one will make the other even hotter. This happened in Indonesia in 1997 and 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, when forest fires spread haze pollution across South-east Asia.

Some scientists also think there is a link between the rising global sea temperature and the strength of Enso cycles.

The annual climate statement by the Australian Meteorological Bureau, issued on Jan 5, noted that sea surface temperatures in the Australian region last year were the warmest on record, 0.54 deg C above the 1961 to 1990 average. The past decade was also the warmest on record for sea surface temperatures.

The statement added that 'very warm sea surface temperatures contri-buted to the record rainfall and very high humidity across eastern Australia during winter and spring'.

Echoing the scientific panel advising the United Nations on climate change, the Meteorological Bureau-CSIRO assessment for last year said that there was a greater than 90 per cent certainty that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions has caused most of the global warming since the mid-20th century.

If those who believe that man-made global warming gases are intensifying extreme Enso weather are right, the devastation in Australia is a warning that we alter the climate at our peril.

The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Read more!