Best of our wild blogs: 31 Mar 12

Update on fire at Shell's Bukom refinery
from wild shores of singapore

Lots of dead fishes along Sungei Tampines
from wild shores of singapore

Otters @SBWR
from PurpleMangrove

When lizards hug, what does it mean?
from wild shores of singapore

A Beautiful Nest And Nature-programmed Hygiene
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Sharing about our shores at Green Drinks
from wild shores of singapore

Ong Say Lin to be appointed Director of ACRES Lao PDR
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

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Update on fire at Shell Bukom refinery

UPDATE 1-One of 3 crude units still down a day after outage at Shell Singapore plant
* 2 crude units restarted on the same day
* 3rd unit still down due to fire investigation
* Expected to restart in a day or 2
Yaw Yan Chong Reuters 27 Mar 12;

Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:51am BST

SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - One of three Crude Distillation Units (CDUs) at Royal Dutch Shell's 500,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Singapore refinery, its largest in the world, is still down a day after an outage that caused the plant to be shut for a few hours, industry sources said on Tuesday.

The outage occurred after electricity supply to the plant tripped momentarily, called a power dip, triggering a fire in one of the smaller secondary cracking units, part of its 33,000-bpd Long Residue Catalytic Cracker (LRCC) complex.

A Shell spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

The fire, which occurred at one of the flanges of the secondary unit and put out shortly after, forced the shut down of the plant's three CDUs.

Two were restarted by the end of Monday, and the third is expected to be restarted in a day or two. Disruptions to supply of oil products are expected to be minimal, as the oil major usually keeps sufficient buffer stocks.

"The third CDU is still down because it is connected to the unit where the fire occurred, and investigations are going on to find out exactly why the flange caught fire," one of the sources said.

"Compared to the fire in September, this outage is small, despite the necessity of shutting the plant down. There should not be any disruptions to Shell's supplies as they would have enough buffer to cover the shutdown."

In September, the plant was shut for two to four weeks following a major fire that forced the oil major to declare a force majeure on the sales of some of its oil products and some of its crude purchases.

Although all three CDUs were restarted by end-October, about a month after the fire, the plant has not been running at full trot, and is operating at under 80 percent, due to extensive repairs to its delivery system for clean oil products, the area where the fire occurred.

The sources said it was unlikely the current outage had anything to do with the previous fire, pointing out that the fire this time was a result of the power dip.

There have been problems with power supply to the plant, delivered from mainland Singapore onto the offshore Bukom island where it is located, they added.

"The staff has been careful with how much power they were using for the plant because of the issues. There are protocols in place on how to deal with such power trips, but the fire was unexpected," another source said. (Reporting by Yaw Yan Chong; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Bukit Brown: Don't get carried away by biodiversity

Straits Times Forum 31 Mar 12;

I HOPE Dr Ho Hua Chew of the Nature Society (Singapore) was speaking for himself and his fellow members, and not the public at large ('Consider the impact on biodiversity, says Nature Society'; Thursday).

Even a nature-lover like me finds it hard to swallow Dr Ho's sentiments, crying out against the threat to Bukit Brown's biodiversity posed by plans to develop it.

We should not let romance with biodiversity cloud rational thinking about competing land use in Singapore, which has a total land area of only 778 sq km and a population of more than five million.

Transport and housing for the living should take precedence over conserving valuable flora and fauna - and even cherished cemeteries. For instance, the KK Women's and Children's Hospital now sits on what was once an old cemetery, because the sick and living deserve a place more than the dead.

My late mother was buried at Bidadari Cemetery in 1954, and when the HDB wanted the land, I was asked to remove her ashes to a little niche at the Choa Chu Kang Columbarium.

I knew her 'bungalow' at Bidadari had to make way for the living, and I willingly supported the HDB's decision despite the personal pain and my filial piety.

To prevent more pressure on land use for future generations, I have told my children to bury me at sea after I pass on.

People, like all animals, form cooperative groups to compete for limited resources. The natural tendency of any population is to surge, although this is kept in check by limited food supply.

The bottom line is that while we may cherish historic cemeteries and biodiversity, we should spare a thought for the burgeoning population competing fiercely for the limited land that we have been blessed with.

Heng Cho Choon

Consider cheaper alternative to Bukit Brown road
Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

I AGREE with Mr Lee Chiu San ('Cheaper way to solve congestion in Adam, Lornie roads'; Thursday) that widening existing peak-hour chokepoints along Adam and Lornie roads, rather than constructing a highway through Bukit Brown to the Pan-Island Expressway, is a cheaper and better alternative to solving congestion.

To conservationists, I say it is a matter of time before the dead have to give way to the living. Bishan is a good example.

Graves of historical value can be relocated when it is time to free up prime land.

Tan Peng Boon

Let's live and let die, please...
Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

THE question civil society groups must consider is: Who would want to visit the graves at Bukit Brown Cemetery ('Navigating a new terrain of engagement'; yesterday). How many would do so weekly, or even monthly?

The truth is that the area gives many Singaporeans the spooks; it is eerie, unlike MacRitchie Reservoir.

Young couples need homes, but a minority like the civil society groups want to stop the eventual development of Bukit Brown into a housing zone.

In fact, the Land Transport Authority should scrap the plan to build a bridge across Bukit Brown; taxpayers' money should be used for more critical needs.

The Government should not cave in to the minority simply because they are vocal. I am certain that if it comes to a referendum or vote, an overwhelming majority of citizens would prefer the Government's plan for the area.

The living should come first, not the dead.

Daniel Chia

Preserving heritage is important
Straits Times Forum 3 Apr 12;

MR HENG Cho Choon argues that cemeteries have been cleared before, so why not Bukit Brown ('Don't get carried away by biodiversity'; last Saturday)? He also says preservation in the name of biodiversity is illogical, and that the needs of the living override those of the dead.

But just because KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Bishan New Town sit on cemeteries does not mean that Bukit Brown should go that way too. If this argument were sound, then the shophouses of Chinatown and Little India should be razed for multistorey flats or office buildings.

But we realised that historicity itself and heritage trumped development.

We could have built another hotel on the sites of the old St Joseph's Institution or the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Victoria Street. Yet the buildings are still there simply because they are important in their own right and Singapore is the better for it.

Bukit Brown is not an argument about the needs of the living, but one about nationhood within a short span of 200 years. Important people and history are buried there. Their stories need to be kept alive in a tangible form, like the Cenotaph or the Lim Bo Seng Memorial. A website will never do.

All efforts at a national education programme will always be lacking without a collective memory of our forebears with the last resounding phrase, say, in the year 2112: 'And his grave is still there to this day!'

Michael Lo

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Bukit Brown: Navigating a new terrain of engagement

A passionate attempt to save Bukit Brown Cemetery has not turned out as civil society groups hoped it would. What does the saga teach about engagement between the Government and citizens?
Grace Chua and Li Xueying Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

IF DEAD men could talk, imagine the stories that those buried at Bukit Brown would tell their loved ones this Qing Ming.

Left peacefully alone for decades barring the annual spurts of visits during the grave-sweeping festival in early April, they have, over the past year, been witness to a sudden hubbub of conversation and activity at their resting place.

Government officials have trooped up and down the undulating terrain, overlaid with gnarled roots, to survey the tombs and plant stakes by the 3,746 that would make way for a eight-lane road - in turn, a precursor of the eventual development of the entire cemetery for housing.

Passionate debates over its fate have swirled around the elaborate tombstones, as anthropologists, filmmakers and heritage enthusiasts hauled cameras around to document those affected.

Politicians have paid visits too, most notably Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin.

The Government's point man for the issue, he made his way to the cemetery on Feb 3, spoke to the documentation team and tried his hand at chalking the faded inscriptions on tombstones.

He also met other lobbyists, did media interviews, and penned his thoughts on Facebook.

Government officials - including the chief executives of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) - also held meetings with various groups on their concerns. Documentation shows that from July last year, about 15 such meetings have taken place.

In response to the vocal feedback, the Government said it would fund the documentation efforts, pushed back the date of exhumation, and realigned the road so that fewer graves - down from the original 5,000 - have to be exhumed for the road.

Most notably, one-third of it would be built in the form of an 'eco-bridge', a costlier option, so the cemetery's resident fauna such as monitor lizards can scamper under and plants, disperse.

But the controversial road remains, and so too the plans for the re-zoning of the 89-year-old cemetery for homes.

On March 19, the day the LTA announced the final details of the road, the dialogue ended on a sour note.

Duelling statements were issued by the civil society organisations (CSOs) hoping for a stay on the bulldozers, and Mr Tan.

The group of seven CSOs charged that a meeting with Mr Tan that evening gives 'a strong impression of the lack of good faith on the part of MND', referring to the Ministry of National Development.

They had thought it was an opportunity for them to offer and discuss alternatives to the road and development. 'The fact that this meeting is held after LTA's announcement of plans for the new highway demonstrates the old practice of presenting decisions as fait accompli to concerned groups instead of genuine engagement and discussion,' they said in a statement to the media.

Stung, Mr Tan fired back a salvo. At 4.30 the next morning, he posted a Facebook note.

The meeting was to announce the details and alignment of the road, he said.

In uncharacteristically terse language, he added: 'However, it was clear that it did not matter.

'Because we failed to conduct a session that was in line with what they wanted, for example, to have their own briefs, to invite others on their invite list, it was deemed to be an inadequate effort at genuine engagement.'

These are strong words from the fourth-generation leader who has made public engagement a personal commitment since entering politics last year; and from a government that stresses the importance of consultation and policy 'co-creation' in its governance today.

The Bukit Brown saga is thus a case study of how the Government and citizens are navigating their way through the terrain of public engagement in a new political environment - and the minefields that it holds.

Why it was such a tinderbox

THOSE caught off-guard by the sound and fury of the Bukit Brown saga would have remembered that controversial and hard-headed decisions are hardly new to this Government.

Take the razing of Bidadari Cemetery from 2001 to 2006, which housed many of Singapore's famous dead. There were cries of protest, but they faded into the background. Today, a new town is being built on the plot.

At the same time, the Government has also shown that it is amenable to staying its hand on development in response to public feedback.

A notable instance is Chek Jawa.

But the stakes for Bukit Brown are particularly high - for both sides. The cemetery occupies prime land that could one day house 15,000 flats for some 50,000 residents, or 40 per cent of Toa Payoh township.

At the same time, it is also a historic space, the heritage and ecological value of which is irreplaceable, counter the CSOs.

Today, such groups are also able to galvanise public opinion and get organised with greater speed than before, particularly with the rise of social media.

For instance, the groups SOS Bukit Brown and All Things Bukit Brown were started only in November last year after a public symposium on the issue, rapidly developing a presence online and on social networking site Facebook.

What's more, post-General Election 2011, there are higher expectations of the Government when it engages in public consultation.

Said governance expert Neo Boon Siong of Nanyang Technological University (NTU): 'I think the Government has progressed - Mr Tan Chuan-Jin has certainly gone further than previous ministers to engage civil society.'

He applauded the 'sincere attempts' in response to feedback: the documentation process and eco- bridge. 'But it could have done better.'

What went wrong?

THE harnessing of public ideas for how former railway land should be developed, a project spearheaded by Mr Tan too, is considered a public engagement success.

But it benefited from starting on a blank slate - with no plans yet for the narrow 26km stretch.

Not so for Bukit Brown.

Fundamentally, there was a mismatch of expectations between the Government and civil society groups on what the engagement process was to achieve.

From the former's point of view, the decision had been made two decades ago. Bukit Brown had been earmarked for housing since the 1991 URA Concept Plan, which guides development for the next 40 to 50 years. A spokesman reiterated in May 2011 that Bukit Brown and Bidadari were needed for housing.

But the CSOs were hopeful that there would be room for change.

Nature Society (Singapore) president Shawn Lum pointed out that the society raised concerns about Bukit Brown 20 years ago, in its Masterplan for the Conservation of Nature.

Nor are URA concept plans writ in stone, he said.

Media executive Jay Ng, a heritage volunteer, noted: 'You can't rest on what's said or done 20 years ago. Things change. Needs change.'

The CSOs thus prepared a stream of alternative proposals on where the proposed housing on Bukit Brown could be sited. Mr Liew Kai Khiun of the Heritage Society, for instance, argued that the choice should instead be between public housing and one of Singapore's 22 golf courses - including that of the Singapore Island Country Club off Lornie Road.

That in turn means there is no immediate need for the new road, they believe.

But the MND yesterday clarified to Insight that the need for the road is independent of the plans for Bukit Brown.

In September, LTA said that the road was necessary to deal with current and impending problems. Lornie Road is already congested. Between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles per hour use it during peak time, and traffic is expected to increase 30 per cent by 2020, it said. The new road is also needed for planned housing estates in central and northern Singapore.

The MND said: 'Thus, irrespective of future development at Bukit Brown, the new road through Bukit Brown is needed to serve traffic needs in the immediate term and the near future.'

And so, to the Government, the engagement efforts were meant to take on board concerns and to adjust development work. A U-turn was not on the table.

Said Mr Tan, in an e-mail response to Insight yesterday: 'To build or not build the road, was not, from the onset, something we were consulting on.

'We sought to explain our considerations even as we took on board the range of concerns and feedback.'

But in an unfortunate case of communication failure, the message never gained traction.

Said Nominated MP Janice Koh: 'I feel that the Government could have been more clear and more honest from the outset, meaning that if the decision was moot and there was no room for a turnaround for whatever reason, that should have been communicated and reiterated.'

Mr Tan acknowledged that there were differing expectations.

'For some interest groups, it was to undo the road decision whereas we wanted to see how we could build a better road with minimal impact, and how to carry out the documentation better,' he said. There also needs to be better appreciation of the expectations on all sides to enable constructive dialogue.

The Government also needs to better communicate the constraints it faces in making certain decisions, Mr Tan added. 'For example, I have explained in Parliament the different alternative options explored, and constraints in terms of not affecting the Nature Reserve and avoiding acquisition. However, some still insist that we should widen Lornie Road.'

Heritage and nature groups are also frustrated at what they perceive to be lack of transparency on the Government's part.

The LTA, for example, refused to release in full its biodiversity impact assessment report. They also asked for but did not receive data on population growth projections.

Underlying all this seems to be a lack of trust.

While some of the CSOs such as the Nature Society have long-established relationships with the Government, others - such as the newer ones - have had little contact. So, for instance, Ms Olivia Choong of interest group Green Drinks said government agencies 'haven't gone out and tried all other alternatives'.

It did not help that prior to March 19, the newer CSOs have not had official meetings with the authorities.

'It's a bit difficult to talk about engagement when we haven't had any direct contact,' remarked Ms Erika Lim of SOS Bukit Brown.

Implications and lessons

SOME say Bukit Brown marks a step backwards in the evolving relationship between state and citizen. Others feel that it was a useful episode as both sides learn to navigate the terrain.

There are some who fear the episode gives ammunition to those who feel that public engagement is a waste of time.

Ms Koh, for instance, worries that 'in this case, we took a few steps back and you have to rebuild those bridges, because it's a long-term relationship'.

But Prof Neo disagrees, saying: 'The Prime Minister has made it quite clear that that is the political imperative.

'This is part of the learning process as Singapore becomes a more mature democracy.'

What is clear is that it holds lessons for both sides.

One for the Government is to get its communications right.

Another is that it would have to learn to manage an increasingly diverse society of groups with different agendas and methods.

Some, like SOS Bukit Brown, are militant about their mission. They won't stop till they protect Bukit Brown '100 per cent', said Ms Lim. Others are doing some soul-searching and strategising. 'This raises the question: How can we accurately gauge the sentiment of the general public on these things?' said the Nature Society's Dr Shawn Lum.

'What works for one cause may not necessarily work for the same cause 10 years hence, or for a different cause.'

Yet it shows that members of the public can spontaneously take the initiative to get organised and 'stand shoulder to shoulder with everybody else', he added.

Those on the ground, too, remarked that they appreciated Mr Tan's work, but there was a limit to how far his mandate stretches.

Mr Woon Tien Wei of SOS Bukit Brown commented: 'There's a big difference between Tan Chuan-Jin as an independent minister, and the whole machinery of Government. I don't believe that he made up his mind very early on. He's listening, but I know it's not up to him.'

Indeed, Mr Tan himself made it clear that he is not giving up on the process.

'I believe that it is important for Singaporeans to care enough to be involved,' he said.

'Being engaged is almost an end in itself because the process would enable not only better policy-making but would also allow conversations that will lead to greater collective understanding.

'This understanding would include knowing our differences and to be able to agree to disagree. And the process goes on.'

Timeline of a grave saga
Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

1872: Seh Ong (Hokkien) cemetery set up.

1922: Bukit Brown Municipal Cemetery officially opened on the site.

1973: Municipal cemetery is closed to burials.

1991-2001: In the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA's) Concept Plans 1991 and 2001, which guide development for the next 40 to 50 years, the site is zoned for residential use.

2003-2008: In the URA's Master Plans for 2003 and 2008, which set out plans for the next 10 to 15 years, it is marked as a cemetery.

March 2010: Heritage enthusiasts voice fears that the Circle Line will affect Bukit Brown Chinese Cemetery.

May 2011: The Straits Times reports that Bukit Brown will eventually make way for housing.

June 2011: The Singapore Heritage Society publishes its book Spaces Of The Dead: A Case From The Living, reviving public interest in Bukit Brown. Interest groups explore and give walking tours of the area.

Responding to Straits Times Forum writers, the URA says Bukit Brown is needed for future housing, and that many such 'difficult trade-off decisions' are made in land-scarce Singapore.

Sept 13: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announces a new four-lane dual carriageway to be built by 2016 to ease congestion. Heritage groups ask for more time to document the graves. Some 5 per cent of the area's 100,000 graves to be affected.

Sept 21: Singapore Heritage Society protests that its only collaboration with the LTA and URA was to connect the agencies with documentation experts - after it was informed about the road. It asks the authorities to slow down the pace of development.

Sept 27: Following a spate of letters in The Straits Times, the LTA says the new road is needed to ease Lornie Road traffic and serve the area's future plans.

Oct 19: The Straits Times publishes a letter by descendants of famous pioneers, including Chew Boon Lay and Tan Tock Seng, who want Bukit Brown left alone.

Oct 21: Singapore Heritage Society issues a statement on how the group was not consulted over whether Bukit Brown should be developed.

Oct 24: Officials meet privately with heritage groups to explain the Government's reasons for developing a new road, and reaffirm plans to go ahead.

Oct 26: Heritage groups and the preservation project leader, appointed by the Government, raise concerns over insufficient time given to document the graves.

October 2011: Documentation of the graves begins.

Nov 6: Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin reiterates that Bukit Brown will not be spared the bulldozers, but the affected graves will be thoroughly documented.

Nov 19: Participants at a public heritage forum air concerns that activist groups have given up the fight to protect the graves wholesale.

Feb 3, 2012: Mr Tan's Facebook note says the carriageway will go ahead as planned.

Feb 4: Singapore Heritage Society expresses disappointment that there was no public consultation before the zoning decision and before the road was planned, and maintains the area should be protected as an historic site.

March 5: In Parliament, MPs make a last-ditch appeal to save Bukit Brown.

March 19: The LTA announces that part of the road through Bukit Brown will be a bridge over a depression, protecting some biodiversity. Exhumation is pushed back to early next year instead of late this year to give next-of-kin more time to register claims.

Mr Tan meets privately with civil society representatives, who are upset that the meeting was open only to select members. They call for a moratorium on housing and transport infrastructure, including the new road, while national discussions are still under way over housing, transportation and immigration.

GRACE CHUA

When feedback led to Govt changing course
Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

CHEK JAWA

The issue: The Government had planned to reclaim the 100ha wetland on Pulau Ubin for military use, with works slated to begin in January 2002. Its rich biodiversity had remained unknown to most until nature lovers raised that fact at a public forum on land use in May 2001.

The process: News soon spread of Chek Jawa's fate, and its unique ecology. Numerous experts, Ubin residents and ordinary citizens wrote to the press and petitioned the Government, urging them to preserve Chek Jawa. In response to the vocal campaign fronted by nature enthusiasts, the authorities consulted academic experts and took in citizen submissions. Then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and officials visited Chek Jawa to assess the situation for themselves.

The outcome: A month before works were to begin, the authorities announced that plans to reclaim the wetland would be shelved for at least 10 years.

CERTIFICATES OF ENTITLEMENT

The issue: When certificates of entitlement (COEs) were first launched in May 1990, winning bidders could transfer their certificates to another party. Many blamed high COE prices on speculators seeking to make a quick buck by 'flipping' their COEs to genuine car buyers.

The process: In the months following the first COE auction, many, including the Automobile Association of Singapore, urged the authorities to make COEs non-transferable to eliminate speculation. The topic was also widely discussed at grassroots forums and in the press. The Government stuck to its guns initially, but the sustained chorus of opposition convinced it to reconsider. In June 1991, the Government Parliamentary Committee for Communications, after consulting interested parties, recommended a trial on non-transferable COEs for most cars.

The outcome: In September 1991, the Government approved plans for a year-long trial. When the trial ended, the authorities decided to keep COEs for most cars non-transferable, as the public expressed a clear preference for it despite it having no direct impact on COE prices. This policy remains in place today.

CPF PRIVATE PENSION PLANS

The issue: Hoping to improve members' returns, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board unveiled proposals in January 2004 to give members the choice to divert their funds into privately managed pension plans (PPPs). It hoped to implement PPPs as early as 2005.

The process: The CPF Board published a consultation paper on its website and solicited feedback from financial industry players and the public. This online-based propose-consult-fine-tune model is used frequently by the Government for matters ranging from legislation to MRT station names. In this case, industry players expressed doubts about the PPPs' ability to attract a large enough pool of funds in order to keep fund management costs low. Many respondents also worried about the higher risks members had to bear.

The outcome: By November 2004, the CPF Board had put plans for PPPs on hold as it re-examined their viability. Plans were scrapped from March 2005.

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18 Rail Corridor possibilities unveiled in exhibition

Tan Weizhen Today Online 31 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE - The Rail Corridor as an arts gallery, set among nature. Old train carriages as arts workshops, a backpackers' hotel and even spas, strewn across the corridor. Community farming to bring residents together along the 26km stretch, which runs from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar.

These ideas were among the 18 winning submissions unveiled yesterday for the future use of the Rail Corridor, in a competition that the Urban Development Authority (URA) launched last November.

More than 200 local and overseas submissions were received.

As Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin presented prizes to the winners yesterday, he highlighted the importance of "the spirit of boldness and the element of surprise ... in putting forth quite extraordinary ideas and possibilities".

Mr Tan pointed out that Singapore faces constraints in land planning. He said: "This, of all places, requires the element of thinking out of the box, to be able to recreate things, to recreate ideas, to re-package them, in order to create the living space that we need, while at the same time, accommodate development, accommodate the need to maintain our natural heritage, our historical heritage."

He singled out a project by three architecture undergraduates as having the potential to involve residents in nature and the arts at the same time.

Named the Singapore Green Corridor Festival, the team proposed that the linearity of the green corridor is best suited as the backdrop for an arts festival.

They had researched other countries and cities, such as Japan and Edinburgh, and found that many of their arts events take place in rural or natural landscapes.

Besides the arts, weddings, eco-fashion shows and a railway-station museum were other ideas they suggested.

Five Secondary 4 students from Raffles Girls' School took their challenge one step further, surveying 100 people on what they wanted for the green corridor before coming up with their winning concept.

Their elaborate proposal involves old train carriages to be used as temporary workshops for artists, a backpackers hotel, spas, restaurants and flea markets.

The students also suggested that schools could organise history and biology field trips to the area.

The URA says it will study the ideas and concepts from these entries and distil suitable design principles and parameters that can form part of the brief for the Rail Corridor Master Plan and design competition that is being considered.

The entries are on display in an exhibition at the URA Centre until May 11.


Winning ideas for Rail Corridor
Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 30 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE: A tiger sanctuary in the Rail Corridor - that's one of 18 winning ideas on the future use of the former KTM railway land.

Another winning entry, titled TransFARMation, proposes turning the space into a series of family farms. It impressed the judges with its ideas on ways to bring communities together.

Entries in the "Journey of Possibilities" competition were assessed on how they responded to challenges like bio-diversity, community and heritage.

Ideas range from a bird sanctuary to a Green Corridor Festival. And, another entry calls for the longest art installation in the world.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) organised the competition last November to draw innovative ideas from the public on the future use of the 26km Rail Corridor which stretches from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar.

The competition received more than 200 submissions from both local and overseas participants.

The "tiger sanctuary" idea was submitted by Australian design studio, Occulus.

The team's submission, entitled "The Tiger's Garden", proposed that the Rail Corridor be returned to the wild to reconnect modern Singapore with its primeval past.

It suggested an elevated trail to bring people up close with nature.

The jury said the proposal went beyond the concept of the city in a garden to conceive Singapore as a city in a jungle.

"The Tiger's Garden" entry won the first prize in the Open category's "Extraordinary and Innovative Ideas for a Great Public Space" issue.

In the Youth Challenge category, a group of Raffles Girls' School students clinched the top prize.

Another 19 ideas were recognised as "honourable mentions" for their creativity and surprising qualities.

URA says it will study the ideas and concepts from these entries and distil suitable design principles and parameters that can form part of the brief for the Rail Corridor Master Plan and design competition that is being considered at the moment.

The entries are on display at an exhibition at the URA Centre till 11 May.

- CNA/ir

Winning ideas for former KTM railway land
Grace Chua Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

Give the Rail Corridor back to the wild, with a trail wending through it, or bring communities together through farming.

These are among the most ambitious winning ideas in a competition on what to do with the former railway land, the narrow strip which wends through Singapore from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar.

The land was previously used for Keretapi Tanah Melayu train travel, but was returned to Singapore in July 2011.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which organised the competition, awarded prizes to winners in a ceremony on Friday evening.

The competition, launched in November 2011, drew more than 200 ideas from Singapore and all over the world, of which 18 in six categories were picked as top ideas.

The URA will study these entries to glean ideas for a future Rail Corridor master-plan competition, it said in a press release.

An exhibition of the winning entries and honourable mentions will be held at the URA Centre Atrium, 45 Maxwell Road, from March 30 to May 11.

The centre is open Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 7pm, and on Saturdays, 8.30am to 5pm. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Admission is free.

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Nature Society horseshoe crab survey

Keeping tabs on coastal scavengers
Nature Society survey finds all stages of horseshoe crab along the shores
Jose Hong Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

HORSESHOE crabs are not the prettiest of creatures. With a spiky carapace and a long pointed tail, it is easy to see why they are sometimes viewed with fear.

Yet, they are harmless scavengers, and play an essential role in their ecosystem.

Two Saturdays ago, the Nature Society (Singapore) or NSS deployed 160 volunteers along 10 of Singapore's coasts to conduct the Horseshoe Crab Population and Distribution Survey 2012.

The first survey was done in 2009 to record the population density of horseshoe crabs around Singapore's coastline.

There are two species of horseshoe crabs in Singapore.

The mangrove horseshoe crab can be commonly seen on certain shores while the coastal horseshoe crab, suspected to be more mobile in behaviour, is much less frequently encountered on the coast.

And as the NSS discovered through earlier casual surveys, there is something big about these arthropods here.

According to Mr Goh Ter Yang, outreach officer of the NSS, Singapore's north-western shores are 'the only place in the world where there is a known permanently high population density of horseshoe crabs'.

In other places like the American eastern seaboard, huge numbers periodically appear at the beaches, but for the rest of the year, disappear from the shoreline.

Dr Hsu Chia Chi, a member of the NSS executive committee who is spearheading this survey, said the NSS 'has found all stages of horseshoe crab present' along these shores, ranging from eggs to juveniles and adults.

The NSS is halfway through collecting and analysing the results of the survey.

According to preliminary calculations, the horseshoe crab population on Singapore's north-western shores stands at a rough estimate of 200,000.

Various migratory bird species have also been observed coming here to feed, marking this stretch of coast as an important refuelling site for them.

Through studies like this, Dr Hsu hopes to get the Government to recognise the north-western shores of Singapore as a wetland reserve under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty under which governments pledge to maintain wetlands of global importance.

This is key to the conservation of the horseshoe crab, given that the loss of habitat is the single most important factor in their demise, he said.

The Government can continue developing the land beyond the shore 'so long as it protects the mudflat which nobody uses', he said.

Furthermore, the results of this survey have an international significance. According to researchers, horseshoe crabs worldwide are under myriad threats - from being hunted for food to rampant habitat destruction - and their numbers are declining significantly.

Still, three out of four horseshoe crab species are categorised as 'Data Deficient' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, a data list used to identify threatened animals worldwide.

Dr Hsu hopes to change that. Along with various other surveys from across the globe, the results of this survey will be collated and sent to the IUCN.

With all this information, he expects the IUCN to finally be able to give horseshoe crabs the status they deserve.

Dr Hsu believes the survey also serves as a good outreach programme to take participants out of their comfort zone.

But the NSS is still facing a shortage of volunteers 'who are willing to be trained and who will come down on a long-term and regular basis', said the general practitioner.

Such a manpower shortage was the reason no surveys were conducted between 2009 and now.

Still, as things stand, Dr Hsu is upbeat about conservation in Singapore.

'Generally, the public is much more aware of nature, conservation and of environmental biodiversity, and the Government has become more proactive,' he said.

Background story

200,000: The estimated population of the horseshoe crab on Singapore's north-western shores, according to preliminary calculations following this year's survey

SINGAPORE: 'The only place in the world where there is a known permanently high population density of horseshoe crabs.'

Mr Goh Ter Yang, outreach officer of the Nature Society (Singapore), referring to the country's north-western shores

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Singapore: New public cleanliness agency to use more technology

Today Online 31 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE - To improve cleanliness in public areas, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology will be used to track whether litter bins have been emptied of rubbish.

And the public will be able to dial a single number - 1800 600 3333 - from next month onwards to report any public cleanliness problems.

Such methods are among those the new Department of Public Cleanliness (DPC) will employ, as it takes over as the agency coordinating public area cleaning from other government agencies like the PUB, the Singapore Land Authority and the National Parks Board.

Currently, there are multiple cleaning contracts covering public areas adjacent to each other. The DPC will help ensure greater efficiency and better coordination of such contracts in future.

It will take over the handling of cleaning contracts from now until 2016, as and when the various contracts expire, and also work closely with the Town Councils to look after cleanliness issues within housing estates.

In a statement issued yesterday, Mr Desmond Tan, who heads the DPC, said: "The new DPC reflects a whole-of-government approach to the cleaning of roads, pavements, drains and other common areas. We will work towards higher standards as we progressively take over the existing cleaning contracts from the agencies. We also hope to provide greater responsiveness to public feedback.

"At the same time, I hope the public will play their part to keep Singapore clean and bin their litter responsibly."

Other technology the DPC will tap on include using Web-based cameras for remote monitoring of cleanliness of public areas. Such methods are less labour-intensive and allow for real-time tracking of the ground situation and contractors' performance.

Besides calling the hotline, the public can also send their feedback on public cleaning issues to DPC@nea.gov.sg and through the myEnv app, now available on iPhones and will be on Android phones shortly.

The agency will introduce more such initiatives progressively over the next two to three years, in tandem with the new integrated cleaning contracts that will be called by the agency.

It will also require successful bidders to be accredited cleaning contractors, as part of the Government's wider measures to boost the cleaning industry.

NEA sets up 'public feedback' hotline
Channel NewsAsia 30 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE: From Sunday, members of public can call the National Environment Agency's (NEA) hotline to report any public cleanliness problems.

The number to call is 1800 600 3333.

The agency's new Department of Public Cleanliness will run the hotline and look into the issue, regardless of the area mentioned.

This may include bus stops, canals, pavements or other common areas.

However, town councils will continue to manage the cleanliness in HDB estates, and the department will work closely with them on this.

The new department will integrate and manage public area cleaning contracts for greater efficiency and better coordination in the long run.

Currently, different public agencies look after the cleanliness of public areas.

For example, the National Parks Board manages cleanliness at parks, while the Land Transport Authority is in charge of cleanliness at footpaths.

From now till 2016, the department will progressively take over the contracts from other public agencies such as national water agency PUB, the Singapore Land Authority and the National Parks Board.

It will also explore ways to make use of technology for cleaning audits.

It plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which can track litter-bins and employ web-based cameras for remote monitoring of cleanliness of public areas.

These allow for real-time tracking of the ground situation and contractors' performance, enabling officers to quickly activate cleaning crew when necessary.

Apart from the hotline, members of public can also send their feedback on public cleaning issues to DPC@nea.gov.sg -- from Sunday -- and through the myEnv app for smartphones.

NEA said more of such initiatives will be introduced progressively over the next two to three years and in tandem with the new integrated cleaning contracts that will be called by the department.

They will also require successful bidders to be accredited cleaning contractors, as part of the government's wider measures to boost the cleaning industry.

Mr Desmond Tan, who heads the new department, said: "The new Department of Public Cleanliness reflects a Whole-Of-Government Approach to the cleaning of roads, pavements, drains and other common areas.

"We will work towards higher standards as we progressively take over the existing cleaning contracts from the agencies.

"We also hope to provide greater responsiveness to public feedback. At the same time, I hope the public will play a part to keep Singapore clean and bin litter responsibly."

- CNA/wk

Call new number to dish dirt on litter
NEA unit will also use technology to check public areas
Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

Overflowing rubbish bins may be on the way out, with plans by the new Department of Public Cleanliness to tag all NEA bins. This will allow officers to keep count of all emptied bins with a quick scan. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM MCLEOD

1800-600-3333 - that's the number to call if you see a dirty spot in a public place and want the authorities to do something about it.

The National Environment Agency's (NEA) new Department of Public Cleanliness (DPC) will launch the number tomorrow, which will make it easier for people to give feedback on public cleanliness.

The department also plans to use technology to keep public areas clean, including remote monitoring of litter bins. A tag will be placed in all NEA litter bins, allowing officers to keep count of all emptied bins with a quick scan.

Web-based cameras will also be installed for real-time tracking of the ground situation and contractors' performance.

This will enable officers to activate cleaning crews quickly should there be 'cleaning lapses', said the DPC.

Currently, public cleaning is taken care of by various agencies. Drains, for instance, are under the charge of national water agency PUB. Footpaths are the Land Transport Authority's business, while parks are under the National Parks Board.

This has led to overlaps, which is why the DPC was set up to integrate and manage all public area cleaning contracts.

It will progressively take over these contracts between now and 2016, as and when the contracts expire.

Town councils will work closely with the DPC and continue to take charge of cleaning public areas in housing estates.

To create more feedback channels for people, the myENV app has been launched to collect public response. It is now available on iPhones and will be on Android phones shortly.

The DPC also welcomes e-mail related to public cleaning issues at DPC@nea.gov.sg

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Singapore: Earth Hour is for the good of our Earth

Euston Quah and Mona Chew Business Times 31 Mar 12;

HERE'S how you can save the Earth: If you were to yell continuously for eight years, seven months and six days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

This is, of course, not a sensible or workable action, but it does drive home a point. This is what the annual Earth Hour - a globally synchronised event, which is observed in Singapore in March each year also seeks to do. For the past four years, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has sought to raise awareness by the countdown to 'lights off' on Orchard Road complete with a live concert. But, just how much impact can we really garner from this annual celebration?

Naysayers will dismiss Earth Hour as a movement driven by empty rhetoric with little substance. But Earth Hour is supposed to bring about a desire to change human behaviour by preserving Gaia (nature's household in Greek), starting with our energy usage.

However, while the Earth Hour might help to raise some awareness, once it is over, nothing much changes afterwards. Perhaps, it will be more meaningful if we all pledge to power down on a sustained basis and by better management of energy, water and other scarce resources.

Take, for example, Singapore's difficulty in finding land to construct landfills. At present, there is the offshore island, Pulau Semakau, which serves as the country's only landfill but with the rising trend of waste generation in a relatively affluent society, how do we prolong the lifespan of this landfill site? Efforts must continually be directed towards sustained waste minimisation and waste recycling, and optimal pricing of waste generated.

Whether it's about prudent resource use or waste recycling, we must do it all, as stakeholders of the Earth's resources. For much of the time, society tends to focus more on production activities, probably because these are much easier to regulate. But the role of consumers is equally crucial as consumption activities are also important drivers of environmental pressure. Although Singapore's recycling rate is already high, largely due to its industrial recycling, more needs to be done by households.

Successful Earth protection will require lifestyle changes and, in Singapore, public policies have for the most part been largely guided by the rigours of economic rationality, such as getting 'prices right' and using financial incentives. But in reality, consumers' responses to public policies may not be totally consistent with pure economic logic. How can we predict en masse consumers' response to incentives when some of them will react differently, in nuanced ways?

Recent research in behavioural economics has also suggested that high dependence on financial incentives and disincentives as a public policy tool may significantly weaken social norms and intrinsic motivation. If individuals seriously care enough about environmental protection, they may even be prepared to incur personal cost to help achieve collective outcomes we perceive as good. Correct incentives or disincentives are certainly necessary in public policy but understanding human behaviour other than through the price mechanism should also be important in the design of public policies.

For example, in a system of fines (which are disincentives) for littering, or giving rebates(which are incentives) for recycling, the problem may not be sufficiently addressed if people's behaviour is also influenced by inconvenience and transaction costs such as the need to easily locate garbage bins, the size of these bins, the ease of separating different types of garbage, how fast rebates are given and existing social and cultural norms.

Paying attention to people's valuation of things that matter, and their priorities is important in designing public policies and allocating scarce resources optimally.

The recent controversy relating to the lost heritage and historical value of the Bukit Brown cemetery versus the need to alleviate traffic congestion (which would save time, increase productivity, reduce injuries from traffic accidents and may even save lives) requires a good understanding of society's preferences, norms, priorities and trade-offs in terms of benefits and costs of the proposed project.

It is crucial to solicit these values not just from road-users, but also from the rest of society - just as we try to determine the best use for a given piece of land, whether it should be commercial, residential or recreational.

How people value such things cannot be readily determined from available market prices. The reality is that so-called 'non-market' intangibles such as aesthetics, scenic beauty, history and heritage, quietude, pride and environmental quality do matter to people. The fact that these things cannot be easily measured in terms of market value does not make them less valuable.

Discovering these non-market values is important in any proper and complete cost-benefit studies of proposals. There are already established methods used by economists and social scientists, and they should at least be explored.

But knowing the methods is only part of the solution; estimating a whole society's values is the other daunting - though not impossible - task that would probably require a public agency.

Balancing economic growth and protecting the environment is not easy. We, as a society, need to understand the trade-offs by knowing the benefits and costs of any proposals; getting the values for both market and non-market intangibles from both users and non-users; soliciting society's priorities and preferences; and getting the incentives and disincentives right.

This would go a long way towards resolving seemingly difficult questions on allocation of scarce resources while protecting the environment.

It would be worthwhile to reflect on this during the coming Earth Hour today.

Euston Quah is professor and head of economics at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also president of the economic society of Singapore. Mona Chew is completing her PhD in development economics at the same university.

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More firms taking Earth Hour beyond just 60 mins

But mainstay of the green movement - lights-out - will take place at 8.30 tonight
Lim Wei Sheng Business Times 31 Mar 12;

IT may last only an hour, but the significance of Earth Hour should endure.

At 8.30 pm, darkness will sweep over the Singapore skyline as facades and billboard lights alike are snuffed out. This has been an annual affair since Singapore's first Earth Hour in 2009.

The lights-out kickstarts a flurry of activities from a human formation at Ngee Ann City to a live 'junkyard' percussion performance at 313@Somerset and movie screenings for foreign workers by Keppel Group.

Dining in the dark will be the night's special for Resorts World Sentosa and Park Regis Hotel, while Four Seasons Hotel and Rasa Sentosa Resort are promoting menus or recipes that use energy-efficient cooking methods or natural ingredients.

More than 300 corporate organisations will be part of this year's Earth Hour, the largest thus far. 'There is truly a lot of buzz about Earth Hour,' said Tan Yi Han, a senior volunteer for ECO Singapore. Online, terms such as 'earth hour 2012'and 'environmental pollution' were searched 40 times more frequently on Yahoo! in the lead-up to March 31.

However, the cornucopia of events is a cause for concern for some. 'The activities in Singapore are too piecemeal,' said Jenny Marusiak, deputy editor of news portal Eco-Business.com. 'This year's I Will If You Will campaign was a great chance to pull people together around the environmental cause, but we (only) saw commendable but isolated efforts from individual businesses and groups,' she commented, referring to this year's theme which encourages people to undertake environmentally friendly practices by offering incentives in return.

Almost all companies participating in Earth Hour this year are engaged in the hallmark lights-off activity, but fewer have customised activities in line with the campaign premise, choosing to host more generic events instead.

Still, some have proven themselves game for this year's theme. The few that have include Phillips Lighting Singapore - pledging to donate $100,000 worth of LED bulbs if 100,000 households make the switch to a least one LED lighting solution. Carrefour plans to donate up to $10,000 if customers purchase an eco-bag at $1 each. The Royal Plaza on Scotts introduced a philanthropic dimension, pledging to donate sales proceeds from its eco-friendly soya candles to the APSN Centre for Adults upon support from at least 500 hotel guests.

I Will If You Will is set to be a mainstay. Said Diana Chng, communications manager for organiser World Wildlife Fund: 'Over the next three years, we will be executing the IWIYW theme to further engage individuals, businesses, governments and agencies.'

There is also the perennial question of what happens after the lights flick back on. 'What's lacking in these activities is a sense of continuity and doing things on a more frequent basis,' said Jose Raymond, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council. This desire is echoed by the organisers. 'It is not a numbers game. Our aspiration from the beginning was to go far beyond the hour itself,' says Ms Chng.

Encouragingly, the green cause is spreading across corporate calendars. CapitaLand is launching a Wear Less Day on every first Friday of the month, during which employees will dress down in turned-up air-conditioning. Others intend to use festive dates as green platforms, with The Singapore Cruise Centre hosting a Save the Shark road show during Chinese New Year, and City Square Mall organising an event where shoppers transform mailers into hanging Christmas tree ornaments.

Some businesses have risen to the call for meaningful and sustained CSR efforts. Said Fiona Yeo, marketing executive for Body Shop Singapore: 'We have consistently avoided excessive packaging for our products. Only 3 per cent of our entire inventory has secondary packaging, mostly due to regulatory reasons.'

Shangri-La Resorts and Hotels has also announced plans to phase out bluefin tuna and Chilean seabass as part of its sustainable seafood policy.

Jones Lang LaSalle's Asia Square has an in-house biodiesel generation plant which recycles waste cooking oil from F&B tenants, a first in Singapore, according to project director Mark Rada.

'Responsible businesses are not just profitable . . . they measure and contribute to positive environmental and social impacts,' noted Thomas Thomas, executive director of the Singapore Compact for CSR.

Lights out for Earth Hour
Celebrations to be held in Orchard, Marina Bay and West Coast tonight
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

LIGHTS will be darkened across Singapore for a good cause tonight.

Celebrations for this year's Earth Hour, which encourages people to switch off their lights for one hour, will expand beyond the main event in Orchard Road.

The global climate change movement will also be marked by festivities at West Coast and Marina Bay.

Started in Sydney in 2007, the annual lights-out has spread to more than 5,000 cities and towns across 135 countries, and is rapidly gaining traction in India, Indonesia, China, Latin America and the United States.

Last month, the campaign's organisers said they would move their headquarters from Sydney to Singapore by May to take advantage of the Republic's technological prowess and location within Asia.

At Orchard Road tonight, malls such as Ion Orchard which have dazzled Singaporeans with their bright facades will go dark for 10 hours, starting from 8.30pm.

Activities along the prime shopping street will include dance and music performances. A 'fashion swop' at 313@Somerset will also allow women to exchange clothes and accessories with one another from 4pm onwards.

Meanwhile, at Marina Bay, a workshop to create light-related art pieces will be held in the evening at The Lawn, a public open space next to the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

The animated movie Kung Fu Panda 2 will be screened for free at the lawn from 8pm, and food and drinks will be sold.

West Coast residents can opt to join their neighbours instead at Block 728, West Coast Promenade, Clementi West Street 2. Grassroots organisers have arranged an evening of performances, arts and craft booths and a night walk from 7pm.

The theme for this year's campaign is 'I Will If You Will', aimed at promoting Earth- friendly practices beyond the annual celebration.

Radio station Power 98 FM deejay Derrick Siu, for example, has pledged to take cold showers for three months if 800 people commit to taking them for three consecutive days.

Earth Hour is from 8.30pm to 9.30pm tonight.

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Some corals tolerate heat better than others

Grace Chua Straits Times 31 Mar 12;

WHAT does not kill a coral reef can make it stronger, especially when it comes to high ocean temperatures.

A team of researchers, led by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), has found that some corals seem able to adapt to high temperatures that cause other corals to bleach and die.

Corals - the rich undersea habitats of fish and other marine life - are actually colonies of tiny animals called polyps, which rely on algae inside their bodies to make food from sunlight.

When they are stressed by unusually warm, polluted or acidic water, they eject these algae, which produce a ghostly white appearance. In 2010, high ocean temperatures during the El Nino weather phenomenon caused corals to bleach across the tropics, from the Philippines to Costa Rica.

But the researchers found that corals around Singapore and the Malaysian island of Tioman, which suffered and survived an earlier spate of high temperatures in 1998, were not as badly hit.

And the branching corals such as Acropora (staghorn corals) and Pocillopora (brush corals) that are typically worst-hit by warming, were not badly affected. Around Singapore, just 5 per cent of Acropora and 12 per cent of Pocillopora died.

Instead, it was the slow-growing, massive corals like Porites (finger corals) which are typically more resistant to warming, that died.

In contrast, the usual pattern was seen at Pulau Weh in Sumatra, which did not experience the 1998 warming episode. Branching corals were bleached while massive corals survived.

The team's work, led by then NUS research fellow James Guest, was published in the journal PLoS One earlier this month.

'First of all, it is important to be clear that we have not proven that adaptation has occurred in populations in Singapore,' said Dr Guest in an e-mail. He is now with the University of New South Wales.

'However, given the patterns that we saw, we suggest that adaptation is the simplest explanation.'

The next experiments, he added, are to figure out the highest temperatures such corals can withstand, how this varies among individual corals and between species, and how the type of algae in corals' cells affects their resilience.

If branching corals can adapt somewhat to climate change, there is hope yet for reefs.

But, Dr Guest said, this does not mean that the threat to reefs from climate change has lessened. Adaptation to warmer seas might still have an impact on coral growth and reproduction.

'In addition, we must build in as much 'resilience' as possible to coral reef eco-systems by managing other stressors such as fishing, pollution and sedimentation,' he added.

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Extreme Weather Threatens Rich Ecosystems

ScienceDaily 30 Mar 12;

Extreme weather such as hurricanes, torrential downpours and droughts will become more frequent in pace with global warming. Consequently, this increases the risk for species extinction, especially in bio diverse ecosystems such as coral reefs and tropical rainforests.

Human impact means that flora and fauna become extinct at a rate 100–1000 times higher than normal. Climate change has been deemed as one of the main causes of species depletion.

A research team in theoretical biology at Linköping University has, through the use of mathematical modelling and simulation, studied how the dynamics of different types of ecosystems may be affected by significant environment fluctuations.

Linda Kaneryd, doctoral student and lead author of a study recently published in the journal, Ecology and Evolution, says the results were surprising.

“Several previous studies of food web structures have suggested that species-rich ecosystems are often more robust than species-poor ecosystems. However at the onset of increased environmental fluctuations, such as extreme weather, we see that extreme species-rich ecosystems are the most vulnerable and this entails a greater risk for a so-called cascading extinction.”

In a rainforest or on coral reef there are a wide variety of species of primary producers such as green plants and algae. Since they are competitors, relatively few individuals of the same species exist, subjecting them to a greater risk of extinction should external conditions change. This could result in a depletion of food sources for a species of herbivores that, in turn, affects a predator at the top of the food chain. Biologists call this transformation a cascading extinction.

The opposite would apply to an ecosystem whereby few species exist in large numbers and animal species are adaptable generalists.

The researchers create their model food webs following on from their experiences with real ecosystems; what eats what, the composition of the species' life cycles, and how they interact with others. In this study, external conditions are represented as an increasing and unpredictable variation.

“The model we worked with is quite typical. The next step is to introduce actual, detailed climatic data,” informs Bo Ebenman, Professor of Theoretical Biology who supervised Linda Kaneryds thesis.

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Mar 12

Hantu Blog Celebrates 9 Years of Public Education
from Pulau Hantu

Dark, Not Dull – Blog Log: 28 Feb 2012
from Pulau Hantu

Find your passion with the rejuvenated Raffles Museum Toddycats!
from Toddycats!

Where is pigboy?!
from Otterman speaks

Random Gallery - Spotted Judy
from Butterflies of Singapore

Collared Kingfisher with Changeable Lizard brunch
from Bird Ecology Study Group

三月华语导游Madarin guide walk@SBWR,March(XXVIII)
from PurpleMangrove

Request for additional information about Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs
from Water Quality in Singapore

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'No regrets' over Bukit Brown effort

But some things could have been done better, says Tan Chuan-Jin
Li Xueying & Grace Chua Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

THE man at the centre of the Bukit Brown engagement effort, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, says he has no regrets about reaching out to interest groups on various policies, including on the controversial road slicing through the cemetery.

But the Minister of State for National Development acknowledged that there were things he could have done better, like in managing expectations on what the consultation process can achieve.

In his first interview since the authorities announced on March 19 changes to the road in response to feedback, Mr Tan noted that the eight-month-long engagement effort over Bukit Brown started with a mismatch in expectations.

'Everyone came in with their own expectations,' he said in an e-mail to The Straits Times.

The Government was engaging on how to build 'a better road with minimal impact' - not whether to do so - and how affected graves can be documented. But some interest groups thought they could work at undoing the road decision.

Thus, one takeaway is that 'there should be better appreciation of the expectations on all sides so that we can develop a dialogue that is constructive and which moves the issue forward'.

Another learning point, said Mr Tan, is that the Government needs to better communicate the constraints it faces and 'why we make certain decisions'. He had explained that one alternative option, the widening of Lornie Road, would affect the adjacent nature reserve and mean acquiring private property. But some still insisted on it, he added.

The Bukit Brown affair is likely to hold lessons for the Government, which has pledged to make public engagement a cornerstone of its policy-making. As Mr Tan noted: 'We would need to learn from our experiences and understand why the Bukit Brown engagement turned out the way it did.'

Just two days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said engagement should start from the point of policy design and continue as policies are implemented. However, he had added, it should not lead to policy paralysis.

Mr Tan is known for his personal commitment to public engagement. He has led public discussions on policies such as the Rail Corridor on disused railway land, and foreign maid matters.

The latest is over the 89-year-old Bukit Brown cemetery, which the Government says must make way for a road now and housing in future. It made some concessions like building an eco-bridge.

But activists who hoped for a stay of the Government's hand accused the Ministry of National Development of 'lack of good faith'.

Though embattled, Mr Tan remains enthusiastic about engagement. This, despite sceptics wondering why he was spending so much time engaging groups that 'seemed to represent minority interests and pandering to their demands'.

Asked if he regretted embarking on the Bukit Brown exercise, he replied: 'I do not. I believe that we should endeavour to continue to try and do it better each time round.'

The Government remains committed to engaging stakeholders, so that together, they can come up with ideas 'to better serve the interests of the people'. Public engagement is almost an end in itself, as it spurs conversations that lead to 'greater collective understanding'.

But, he added, the Government 'is elected to do what is right for Singaporeans and for Singapore', taking into account immediate and long-term needs. 'When the time for decision comes, we will decide,' he said.

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Dead fish found in another river

Amanda Lee Today Online 30 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE - Hundreds of dead fish, measuring 5cm long each and similar to the ones found earlier, were washed up ashore yesterday along Sungei Tampines, making it the second incident to have occurred in the Pasir Ris estate in the past 10 days.

The latest episode sparked questions from residents, with most wanting to know the cause of the two incidents.

Contractors who cleared the fish told Today that the amount yesterday was less than that of the first incident. Last Tuesday, thousands of dead white fish were washed up along Sungei Api-Api, which flows through Pasir Ris estate and Pasir Ris Park.

Yesterday morning, dead fish consisting mainly of baby tamban - a type of saltwater fish - were discovered at the downstream section of Sungei Tampines, from Pasir Ris Drive 3 to the river mouth, said national water agency PUB.

While the stench of rotting fish lingered on at around 3pm yesterday as 12 contractors cleared bags of dead fish from Sungei Tampines, Pasir Ris residents were perturbed by the latest grisly find.

"It is an awful sight and smell," said Mr Muhammad Sarif, 27, who has been living in Pasir Ris estate for the past 15 years, and wanted to know why there are so many dead fish around lately.

Another resident, Ms Nur Liyana, 24, who has been living in the estate for 20 years, wondered whether the fish died of water pollution or other causes. "It would be good to know the reason behind it," she added.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) previously ruled out water contamination as the cause in the March 20 incident at Sungei Api-Api.

As this is the second incident, some residents are worried that they would affect the river ecosystem.

Mr Eric Lim, who has been living in the estate for 14 years and fishes regularly at Pasir Ris River, said that he has seen net casters who "fish at the beach and throwing anchovies and tambans back into the water".

"Since this is the second time that this has happened, the authorities should pay more attention to the net casters," he felt.

In a joint statement yesterday evening, the PUB assured the public that yesterday's incident had no impact on drinking water quality. The NEA is also investigating the cause of the incident.

Dead fish found in Tampines river
Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

MORE than a thousand dead fish were found in a downstream stretch of Sungei Tampines yesterday.

They were a type of saltwater fish known as baby tamban.

When The Straits Times reached the site at about 5.30pm, contractors from national water agency PUB had finished clearing the fish.

They had been packed into dozens of black garbage bags and put in the back of a truck.

A fishy smell lingered in the air around the river.

The affected area stretched from Pasir Ris Drive 3 to the river mouth.

A similar incident occurred last Tuesday at Pasir Ris beach and along Sungei Api Api, which is separated from Sungei Tampines by Pasir Ris Park.

The thousands of dead fish washed ashore then were of two species, both belonging to the sardine family.

Nearly all were removed by last Wednesday night, and no more were found after that.

A spokesman for the PUB said the quality of drinking water will not be affected.

The Straits Times spoke to 20 residents who live in HDB flats overlooking the river. All were unaware of the incident.

A spokesman for the National Environment Agency said it is investigating the cause of yesterday's incident.

Singapore has had other instances of mass fish deaths. In December 2009, a plankton bloom killed 400,000 fish in farms off Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin.

FELICIA CHOO

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Owners of illegal jetties given reprieve

Floating platforms at Seletar need not be removed if they get engineers to certify safety
Jose Hong Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

BOAT and jetty owners at Seletar, who were told by the authorities to remove the illegal structures they had built there over the years, have been given a reprieve of sorts.

There are at least three jetties in the area which were illegally built. Their owners were told earlier this month that they had to be removed.

At a meeting the authorities held on Wednesday, the craft owners agreed to work with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on these floating platforms, including getting professional engineer certification.

The Singapore Land Authority, in a joint statement with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore after Wednesday's meeting

It is understood that the jetties need not be removed if engineers can certify that they are safe.

While plans for the area are being finalised, the jetties can still operate, so long as no new ones are built or existing ones extended.

Currently, fishing equipment is also being stored on illegal structures that float in the sea.

Although these structures have to be dismantled, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is prepared to provide more space on the shore to store the equipment, if the jetty owners apply for it.

'Going forward, SLA is prepared to enlarge the approved land area to accommodate the craft owners' needs,' the SLA said in a joint statement with MPA after the meeting.

The area in question is off the eastern corner of the Lower Seletar Reservoir Dam where several wooden jetties and structures, built over the years, extend from the mangroves into the sea.

The Straits Times reported earlier this week that the authorities had told the jetty owners that the structures were illegal and had to be removed as they pose a safety hazard.

They also stressed that individuals cannot simply lay claim to state land for their private use.

In the joint statement, the SLA and MPA said that while the craft owners can continue to engage in their activities, they should not use state property illegally, and the authorities will work closely with them to resolve their issues.

The statement also explained that since 1993, part of the Seletar coastal area had been approved as mooring bases for sea craft.

The SLA had originally issued three temporary occupation licences (TOL) to the representatives of the craft owners for the use of state land, including the storage of fishing equipment within the TOL boundary. However, approval was not given for the makeshift jetties and structures outside the TOL boundary, which 'lack professional certification and pose safety hazards'.

Earlier this week before Wednesday's meeting, one of the jetty owners said he was aware that the authorities wanted the structures to be certified safe by a professional engineer.

But, he added, he could not afford to hire a professional engineer to certify the structure, or carry through any recommendations.

None of the jetty owners could be reached for comment yesterday.

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Smuggler hid 24 birds under trousers

Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

A MALAYSIAN odd-job worker hid 24 hatchlings in a pouch hanging from his waist in a bid to smuggle the birds into Singapore.

But seven of the 24 oriental white-eye birds were found dead when he was pulled up for a check upon arrival from Batam.

Yesterday, Lim Chia Ming, 55, was jailed for two weeks for bringing in the birds - called mata puteh in Malay - without a licence from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).


He was also fined $4,000 for causing unnecessary suffering to the hatchlings by confining them in spaces too small and restrictive inside the pouch. He had pleaded guilty to both charges.

A district court heard that Lim had left Singapore for Batam last Friday to visit his girlfriend.

While there, he visited a bird shop and told its owner of his smuggling plan. The Indonesian owner selected the two dozen hatchlings and Lim took them to his girlfriend's house in a cage that he borrowed from the shop.

Its owner also gave him 24 boxes, which had previously contained bottles of massage oil for babies, that had been perforated.

The next day, the Indonesian went to the house of Lim's girlfriend at 7am to help pack the birds into the boxes.

These were placed in a cloth pouch that Lim wore under his trousers. His ferry docked at the Singapore Cruise Centre at about 9.30am.

He was pulled up for a routine check by officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, and his game was up.

The court heard that each box measured just 7.5cm by 2.5cm by 2.5cm and seven of the birds died during the journey.

AVA currently does not allow the import of birds from avian influenza-affected countries such as Indonesia.

The oriental white-eye is a popular songbird in Singapore and a hatchling can fetch $25. It is not known how much Lim paid for each hatchling in Batam but bird lovers said it could be as little as $2.

He could have been fined up to $10,000 and jailed for up to a year on each charge.

KHUSHWANT SINGH

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Schools going beyond Earth Hour

Channel NewsAsia 29 Mar 12;

Singapore will be observing Earth Hour for the fourth time on Saturday, March 31st but students from 18 months to 18 years, are doing their bid for the environment beyond just 60 minutes.

Since Earth Hour was first observed in Singapore in 2009, the San Lorenzo Montessori school has made it a point to switch off school lights for an hour in two separate sessions.

Though just toddlers, the children are taught the significance of Earth Hour and environmental conservation before the lights go off on Friday.

"We teach the kids about topics like the solar system as part of our curriculum. So with Earth Hour, we teach them its significance and how they can play their part," said Ms Audrey Cho, principal of the Montessori.

The school believes that the effort not only gels smoothly with the school's curriculum, which puts a focus on environmental education, but also serves as a momentum for change.

"If you teach the kids only ABC, you'll miss lots of opportunities. According to studies, 80% of personality traits are formed from 0 to 6 years of age. It's the perfect stage to introduce environmental values" said Ms Cho.

"As for Earth Hour, I've seen the kids getting excited. Their enthusiasm can rub off onto their parents and influence their parents to participate in such activities," she added.

Change led by the young is most apparent in Yangzheng Primary School, where the school has been switching off the lights and fans every month for 10 minutes since last year.

The initiative was the result of the Student Suggestion Scheme, revealed teacher Ms Celestia Chew.

"The students are so enthusiastic that they will always count down to Earth Hour. They are so eager that they will remind me to switch off the lights" said Ms Chew who's also known as the 'Green' teacher for her role as the school's environmental coordinator.

Going beyond the school walls, the teenaged student leaders of Nan Hua High have joined hands with the West Coast Grassroots Organizations (GROs) to organise an Earth Hour event for residents in Clementi.

"The residents will be treated with performances by the students from choir, dance and other co-curricular activities (CCAs). During the lights off, we will conduct a night walk and everyone will make a formation of 60+ thereafter," said Mr Chia Yew Loon, Head of Community Relations Department.

Nan Hua High is expecting 1000 residents to turn up to the event, and have been making preparations since last February.

"By allowing them to organize activities, they'll gain experience and learn from there," said Mr Chia.

At Yishun Junior College (YJC), a group of student leaders known as Environmental Ambassadors take the initiative to lead the institution in environmental practices with regular assembly talks centering on Earth Hour and gathering pledges to preserve the environment.

Besides these one-off initiatives, the Environmental Ambassadors also make sure they walk the talk, by organizing Project RUSCO, a collaboration with Alpha Biofuel that started in 2010 to recycle used cooking oil.

In 2011, Project RUSCO surpassed expectations by collecting an estimated 30kg of oil, with half that amount being converted into biodiesel to fuel green vehicles.

The students also conduct environmental talks in schools around the region while also taking the conservation message to residents and hawkers.

"We are leaving it up to the students, so there's more student ownership" said Mr Chua Chee Siang of YJC's Science department.

"We don't want them to just participate, but to take the lead to change the environment and influence the society".

With young Singaporeans leading environmental initiatives, it appears that the message of Earth Hour can burn bright even after 60 minutes in the dark.

-CNA/sb

Earth Hour effort one-night only?
Rachel Kelly Channel NewsAsia 30 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE: Millions of people across the world are expected to switch off their lights for this year's Earth Hour on Saturday, but are they in it for the long run, or just for the night?

It is estimated lighting accounts for roughly 19 per cent of energy used globally, and some industry players say consumers and companies can bring that number down substantially by using energy efficient lighting solutions.

At this year's Earth Hour in Singapore, some 300 corporate organisations have committed to switching off to save energy.

That is a 50 per cent increase from last year.

The World Wildlife Fund said it has been approached by companies which are keen to do more.

WWF Singapore CEO Elaine Tan said: "For WWF Singapore, we have been doing Earth Hour for last four years.

"I think corporate partnership and participation has been increasing in terms of the involvement in terms of their response.

"I think, for quite a number of the companies, first and foremost, they want to be able to educate the employees, so WWF comes in to partner them and come up with a green office manual to see as a staff, how you can come in and engage in energy saving measures or steps."

Other than switching off for Earth Hour, it appears more companies worldwide are switching to more sustainable forms of lighting solution on a permanent basis.

Lighting provider Philips said sales of "green lighting" now account for 60 per cent of turnover.

Asia Commercial Lighting Royal Philips senior vice-president and general manager Olivier Piccolin said: "For sure, yes, we are targeting to see towards 100 per cent of our lighting sales to be energy efficient.

"We see also, the sales of LED increasing in a spectacular way -- and we see by 2015 about 45 to 50 per cent of the market will be LED (globally)."

For Singapore-listed property developer CapitaLand, other than taking part in this year's Earth Hour, it is thinking long term and has aggressive targets for energy reduction in its buildings.

CapitaLand said it goes beyond Earth Hour with year-round initiatives such as "wear less days", requiring staff in warm-climate countries to dress light, so the company can turn up the air-conditioning and cut energy usage.

CapitaLand Green Committee chairman Francis Wong Hooe Wai said: "We set group targets for energy and water saving whereby in 2015, we should have saved 15 per cent annually from the 2008 level.

"So then this... cascades down to each property, so each property will have its own water and energy saving target."

CapitaLand added that since 2007, all its new and retrofitted projects have to be green-rated.

- CNA/wk

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Nature deficit disorder 'damaging Britain's children'

Richard Black BBC News 29 Mar 12;

UK children are losing contact with nature at a "dramatic" rate, and their health and education are suffering, a National Trust report says.

Traffic, the lure of video screens and parental anxieties are conspiring to keep children indoors, it says.

Evidence suggests the problem is worse in the UK than other parts of Europe, and may help explain poor UK rankings in childhood satisfaction surveys.

The trust is launching a consultation on tackling "nature deficit disorder".

"This is about changing the way children grow up and see the world," said Stephen Moss, the author, naturalist and former BBC Springwatch producer who wrote the Natural Childhood report for the National Trust.

"The natural world doesn't come with an instruction leaflet, so it teaches you to use your creative imagination.

"When you build a den with your mates when you're nine years old, you learn teamwork - you disagree with each other, you have arguments, you resolve them, you work together again - it's like a team-building course, only you did it when you were nine."

The trust argues, as have other bodies in previous years, that the growing dissociation of children from the natural world and internment in the "cotton wool culture" of indoor parental guidance impairs their capacity to learn through experience.

It cites evidence showing that:

children learn more and behave better when lessons are conducted outdoors
symptoms of children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are exposed to nature
children say their happiness depends more on having things to do outdoors more than owning technology.

Yet British parents feel more pressure to provide gadgets for their children than in other European countries.

Anger over traffic

The phrase nature deficit disorder was coined in 2005 by author Richard Louv, who argued that the human cost of "alienation from nature" was measured in "diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses".

In the UK as in many other countries, rates of obesity, self-harm and mental health disorders diagnosed in children have climbed significantly since the 1970s.

But nature deficit disorder is not generally regarded as a medical condition.

"There's undoubtedly a phenomenon that's not good for health, which is about not giving access to outdoors or green space, safe risk-taking and so on," said David Pencheon, a medical doctor who now heads the National Health Service's sustainable development unit.

"But I wouldn't say we've identified a medical condition.

"In fact we don't want to 'medicalise' it, we should see it as part of everyday life - if you medicalise it, people say 'you'd better go to your doctor and take a pill'."

But despite growing recognition of nature deficit disorder, policies aiming to tackle it appear thin on the ground.

Mr Moss cites statistics showing that the area where children are allowed to range unsupervised around their homes has shrunk by 90% since the 1970s.

Whereas some reasons behind the parental "cotton wool culture" are not based in logic - most sexual molestation occurs in the home, for example, not in parks - the one "genuine massive danger" is traffic.

"I think the first step for any child is playing outdoors in the street; and in the 40 years since I grew up, traffic has increased hugely, and that's the main reason why none of us let our kids out on their own," Mr Moss told BBC News.

"The only solution would be to have pedestrian priority on every residential street in Britain; when you are driving along the street, if there are children playing, they have priority."

The report advocates having teachers take children for lessons outdoors when possible, with urban schools using parks.

It also says that authorities who cite "health and safety" as a reason for stopping children playing conkers or climbing trees should be aware that successive Health and Safety Executive heads have advocated a measure of risk-taking in children's lives.
Health warning

The changes in childhood in previous decades are now filtering through into adulthood, where levels of obesity are also rising.

Dr Pencheon observed that although doctors are beginning to prescribe exercise instead of drugs where it is indicated, much more could be done from a policy perspective.

"One of the problems here is that the NHS is not incentivised financially to do public health," he said.

"The healthcare system is run on a rescue basis - people come to us when they're ill, we patch them up and try to get them going again - that's not the culture of a system designed to keep people healthy."

The National Trust is now beginning a two-month consultation aimed at gathering views and examples of good and bad practice from the public and specialists.

These will eventually be turned into a set of policy recommendations.

"As a nation, we need to do everything we can to make it easy and safe for our children to get outdoors," said National Trust director-general Fiona Reynolds.

"We want to move the debate on and encourage people and organisations to think about how we take practical steps to reconnect children with the natural world and inspire them to get outdoors."

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Earthquake jolts Mersing

New Straits Times 30 Mar 12;


KUALA LUMPUR: An earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale jolted Mersing, Johor, at 9.43pm yesterday. A Malaysia Meteorological Department spokesman said it was the first time a tremor was recorded in Mersing, but it was so weak that nobody felt it.

"The epicentre was located 16km east of Mersing at sea. We called the authorities, including the police, and they confirmed that there was no property damage or loss of lives." Many earthquakes recorded in Malaysia happened near Sabah and they were categorised as weak tremors.

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Malaysia: Haze may return next month

New Straits Times 30 Mar 12;

DRY SEASON MEASURES: Open burning offenders to be issued summonses

THE haze is expected to appear early next month with the onset of a dry and humid period lasting until September.

This was conveyed to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry by the Meteorological Department.

Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said the department had also identified peatland that was likely to catch fire.

"A few peat soil areas, especially in Selangor, Pahang, Miri in Sarawak, Negri Sembilan and Johor are combustible if the water level drops."

Uggah said at a meeting with the national haze committee and the Department of Environment on March 22, preparations were mapped out for monitoring open burning, reducing pollution from vehicles and building tube wells for fire-fighting or for raising the water levels in certain areas.

More watch towers would also be built to keep an eye on open burning activities.

"The ministry has requested DOE to keep a watchful eye and not to hesitate in issuing summonses to offenders under the Environmental Quality Act 1974."

He was speaking after launching a water quality research laboratory at the National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (Nahrim) headquarters in Seri Kembangan, near here yesterday.

He said the Asean ministerial steering committee on transboundary haze would meet in Brunei on May 8 to discuss an effective system to combat the haze situation.

Earlier at the launch, Uggah said rivers in Kuala Lumpur were categorised between stage three and four, which meant they needed intensive treatment and could only be used for irrigation purposes.

"My ministry is going all-out in fixing our rivers, which includes the River of Life project.

"We hope to restore the condition of the rivers to stage two, which requires conventional treatment only." Stage one means the rivers are in its natural condition and stage five denotes that they are in dire state.

At the function, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn assistant vice-chancellor Prof Dr Jailani Mohd Yunus signed a memorandum of understanding with Nahrim on the provision of expertise to the government in water management.

The MoU will provide a framework to develop expertise in civil and environmental engineering and carry out joint programmes in specific areas concerning water quality.

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