Best of our wild blogs: 24 Apr 11

mad mud-wrestling sunbirds at Sungei Buloh
from sgbeachbum

Nesting of the Black-naped Oriole: 1. Incubation
from Bird Ecology Study Group

裕廊湖观鸟 Birding @ Jurong Lake, Good Friday 2011
from PurpleMangrove

Return to Terumbu Pempang Laut
from wild shores of singapore and Singapore Nature

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New Tampines Eco Green to nurture love for nature

Channel NewsAsia 24 Apr 11;

SINGAPORE: More than 700 students and residents in the east visited the newly-opened Tampines Eco Green on Sunday to learn about the flora, fauna and eco-friendly features there.

The visit was organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) to mark the International Year of Forests and Earth Day. There were interactive activities such as guided walks to promote a deeper appreciation of the natural environment.

Advisers to Tampines Grassroots Organisations Mah Bow Tan, Masagos Zulkifli, Irene Ng, Ong Kian Min, Sin Boon Ann, as well as special guests, Steve Tan and Heng Swee Keat joined the students and residents.

Assistant CEO (Parks Management and Lifestyle) of NParks, Mr Kong Yit San, said the development of Tampines Eco Green is in line with NParks' efforts to provide a park for everyone and enhance the quality of life for residents.

He said the new park, which provides a tranquil sanctuary for nature recreation and education, complements two existing ones in the vicinity.

One is Sun Plaza Park, which offers amenities for community activities. The other is Tampines Bike Park, which provides an adventure cycling trail.

Tampines Eco Green is a haven for biodiversity and has various natural habitats such as marshes, secondary rainforests and freshwater ponds.

It has features such as a viewing platform, an eco-toilet, vegetated swales (natural drainage system that traps particulate pollutants), bird hides and green roofs on all the rest shelters.

A notable feature is its eco-friendly design. All park furniture, including signage, benches, bird hides and hedges, were made using recycled materials and environmentally-friendly labelled products.

It also has an eco-toilet, which is the first of its kind in a public park in Singapore. It breaks down human waste using bacteria and wood shavings and converts it into compost.

With a good ventilation system, the toilet is odour-free and waterless.

Biodegradable cleaning agents will be used to maintain toilet hygienic.

-CNA/ac

A new biodiversity haven
Today Online 25 Apr 11;

SINGAPORE - This newly-opened haven for biodiversity in Tampines features not just marshes, secondary rainforest and freshwater ponds for its wildlife denizens - but also novel eco-friendly facilities for its human visitors.

Take the waterless eco-toilet, the first of its kind in a public park in Singapore.

It breaks down human waste using bacteria and wood shavings, converting it into compost. Biodegradable cleaning agents and a good ventilation system keep it hygienic and odour-free.

More than 700 students and residents in the east got a taste of the Tampines Eco Green park's human and creature-friendly comforts yesterday, through a visit organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) to mark the International Year of Forests and Earth Day.

To lure birds, butterflies and other fauna, NParks introduced trees and plants that produce abundant nectar and fruit, as well as tall grasses. Dead trees sited away from footpaths are not removed, so as to serve as nest sites for birds such as woodpeckers.

For its human visitors, the park features a viewing platform, a natural vegetated drainage system that traps particulate pollutants, bird hides and green roofs on all the rest shelters.

All park furniture, including the signs and benches, are made from recycled materials and environmentally-friendly labelled products. And at night, the park is not lit - so as to minimise disturbance to the sensitive wildlife.

NParks' assistant chief executive (Parks Management and Lifestyle) Mr Kong Yit San said the development of Tampines Eco Green was in line with NParks' efforts to provide a park for everyone and enhance the quality of life for residents.

The park, which provides a tranquil sanctuary for nature recreation and education, complements two existing ones in the vicinity: Sun Plaza Park, which offers amenities for community activities, and Tampines Bike Park, which provides an adventure cycling trail.

Joining the students and residents yesterday were the advisers to the Tampines Grassroots Organisations Mr Mah Bow Tan - also the Minister for National Development - Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Ms Irene Ng, Mr Ong Kian Min and Mr Sin Boon Ann; as well as special guests Mr Steve Tan and Mr Heng Swee Keat, both People's Action Party candidates for the upcoming elections.

Nature roams free in new Tampines eco-park
Robin Chan Straits Times 25 Apr 11;

THE binoculars and cameras were out, and so was the sun as more than 700 residents and students trekked through lush greenery yesterday, amid wildlife.

Along with Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan and advisers to the Tampines grassroots organisations (GROs), they spent their Sunday morning enjoying a sneak peek at the newly opened Tampines Eco Green.

The 36.5ha ecologically themed park made up of marshland, ponds and secondary rainforest is home to 70 species of birds, 13 species of dragonflies and 12 species of butterflies. Only 2.5ha of the land is actually developed with any park amenities, with the rest left natural.

The park, true to its Eco Green name, uses recycled materials in its signs, benches and bird hides; it even features a first-of-its-kind public park eco-toilet, which converts human waste into compost using bacteria and wood shavings.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, an adviser to Tampines GROs who was on the task force that developed the idea for the park, said Mr Sin Boon Ann, the outgoing MP for Tampines GRC, had suggested building a path around this piece of land that nature had taken over.

'It would be a wonderful place for residents to have their recreation in a very natural setting that we have lost all over Singapore, as well as a place for students to learn in an authentic environment,' said Mr Masagos, who is also Minister of State for Education and Home Affairs.

'So without disturbing the ecology, making it accessible but not intrusive, we have come up with this concept which I think is really wonderful.'

Asked what the main attractions are, Mr Masagos added: 'If you come early in the morning, there are more than 70 species of birds. Bring your binoculars, your cameras. Certainly, if you can't see them, you can hear them. If you just walk around, you won't know that you are in Singapore.'

The new park complements the existing Sun Plaza Park, which offers amenities for community activities, and Tampines Bike Park, with its bike trail.

The visit was organised by the National Parks Board to mark the International Year of Forests and Earth Day.

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Sea of shrinking sharks

The Star/Asia News Network Asia One 24 Apr 11;

DIVERS' logs in Sabah are beginning to show fewer sharks. "In 1996/97 when I first came here, we did a lot of surveys to see what the issues and problems were and what we could do about them," says marine biologist Steve Oakley.

"In December last year and January this year, a group did a lot of dives around Sabah. We have taken their information as well as information from dive resorts around the coasts and have come up with a picture of how many sharks have been lost."

According to Oakley, who set up the Green Connection Aquarium in Kota Kinabalu, a staggering 98% of the sharks that had been recorded from 1996 have been lost.

A quick Google search revealed that Malaysia is ranked among the top 10 countries in the world that contribute to the depletion of sharks.

Both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) have determined that sharks need protection. Many countries including the US (Hawaii) have imposed a ban on shark fishing.

Over the past few years, the campaign has picked up with "Say No to Shark's Fin Soup" groups from various countries supporting each other over the Internet. Their aim is to discourage people from consuming the soup, the biggest contributor to shark depletion. They also seek to remind people about the sharks' role in the ecosystem of the ocean.

Recently, this effort became more urgent as divers off Mabul Island, another popular dive site near Sipadan off the coast of Semporna in Sabah, witnessed the regular killing of sharks.

When he heard this, Kirk Keong Lee, founder of the Facebook group "Save the Shark from a Bowl of Soup", went to Mabul to see it for himself.

"It was 6.45pm when someone told me there was shark finning in one of the villages. I rushed over with my camera and managed to see six or seven sharks, about two metres long, on land and another four or five in the water that had already been finned.

"I took a few pictures and when I turned off the camera, one of the persons there who spoke English well told me not to share the photos because some people had said it (sharks finning) was illegal," he says.

"The fishermen cut off the fin, head and teeth (jaw) and dumped the body into the sea."

Guests at the more luxurious five-star resorts are isolated from these frequent episodes of sharks finning, however. They continue to enjoy the marine life around the artificial reef created by the Sipadan Mabul Resort (Smart).

Kirk is supported by a huge online community, one of whom is Aderick Chong. Based in Kota Kinabalu, he has roped in his friends from the Junior Chambers International to support his campaign.

Recently, he met with Sabah Science, Tourism and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun to lobby for a ban on sharks finning.

After the meeting, the minister announced that shark's fin soup would no longer be served at all the ministry's functions.

It was a small but significant step to push the campaign forward.

But Chong seems to be swimming against the tide as there is nothing in the legislation to make sharks finning illegal.

Nevertheless, he continues to knock on the doors of government agencies, Chinese chambers, fisheries authorities and academics to lobby for sharks to be listed as protected animals.

Sharks finning is not an unknown activity as research on shark conservation in Sabah has revealed that it is being done.

"Through a socio-economic survey, we found that people on Mabul did shark finning. From the markets in Sabah, we also found that sharks that are not targeted are also caught in the trawl nets and most of the shark finning was carried out opportunistically," says Dr Bernadette Mabel Manjaji Matsumoto, deputy director of the Borneo Marine Research Institute at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

The Borneo Marine Institute is spearheading a nation-wide study into the biodiversity of the coral triangle in Sabah. It is also working with other universities, both local and foreign, to conduct research in the area. One of the projects is the proposed one million-hectare Tun Mustapha Park covering the coastal areas of Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas, and including 50 islands.

Unfortunately, according to the institute's director, Prof Dr Ridzwan Abdul Rahman, banning sharks finning will have negative effects on the fishermen.

"It would mean depriving them of their livelihood. Before we can ban this activity, we must think of ways to create alternative livelihoods, such as through the tourism industry," he says.

Dr Ridzwan feels that aquaculture or cage fishery and seaweed farming should be introduced as a form of alternative livelihood.

Sharks are like an underwater police. They keep the balance in the underwater ecosystem, he says.

"If you remove the police in any society, something will go wrong."

However, even if they were not important in the marine eco-system, Oakley feels it is not morally right to deplete their population just for a bowl of soup.

Log in to http://thestaronline.tv/v/6922 to view the video Storm in a Bowl of Soup.

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