Best of our wild blogs: 26 Sep 13

Need more voices on the Macritchie CRL Line
from Inertia Is a Sin

Sat 28 Sep 2013: 1.00pm – Singapore Futures Sustainability Symposium 2013: “The Population White Paper and the Environment” from Otterman speaks

Pelagic Outing September 2013
from Con Foley Photography

Marine animals crowd at Tanah Merah on a beautiful sunset
from Peiyan.Photography

Bird Photography @Satay By The Bay
from Nikita Hengbok

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Golf clubs face pressure from land use needs

Rachel Scully Straits Times 26 Sep 13;

IN JANUARY, the Government indicated that some golf courses might have to make way for other land use such as housing.

The announcement indicates that an important policy shift could be in the works. Golf course land, previously as good as out of bounds, is now eyed more closely as part of the land use equation, and may be converted for other uses.

In the past, vast tracts of land were used for golf courses because they were deemed unsuitable for anything else. The Government rarely took back land from a golf club when its lease expired.

One of the rare occasions involved Warren Golf Club near Dover Road in 2001, as space was needed for the expansion of the National University of Singapore. However, the club was offered an alternative site.

The January announcement has created uncertainty over whether current golf club leases will be renewed. Membership prices have therefore fallen.

Members of Keppel Club, which has about eight years left on its lease, are especially nervous. Even at clubs with longer leases, the knowledge that part or all of the land can be acquired if there are more pressing needs, has given members the jitters.

Are golf courses and golf club memberships still relevant today as Singapore gets more densely populated? It may seem that golf courses take up a large amount of space. But estimates are that they occupy around 1,500ha, or two per cent, of Singapore's total land area.

Historically, having a rigorous basis to decide how much land was allocated to golf courses was probably not a top priority. Instead, golf courses occupied land that had limited alternative use, for example, near water catchment areas or the airport.

The first golf courses were in fact legacy courses, dating back to the British colonial period.

The 1990s

SEVERAL golf clubs in the early 1990s were still holding temporary occupation licences (TOL), which had to be renewed annually. In those days, some clubs were charged as little as $12 per year for taking up large tracts of land.

Clubs expressed concern that there was little security of tenure. At the same time, with clubs raking in profits from their membership sales, transfer fees and golfing activities, the Government moved to price the land on the basis of what it was worth.

In May 1991, then Law Minister S. Jayakumar announced that the Government would offer longer leases with an average 30-year tenure to clubs with TOL.

But he added that golf clubs would also have to pay market rates for the leases.

The 30-year tenure was similar to those for land set aside for other institutions and buildings for community uses, such as schools and hospitals.

Putting an expiry date on the lease gave the Government the flexibility of taking back the land if it was needed for development purposes, while allowing clubs to make longer-term plans, industry players noted.

The rates for the lease renewal were based on NatSteel's successful $131 million bid in 1991 to build two courses at a 126ha site near East Coast Parkway - now known as the Laguna National Golf and Country Club.

At the same time, more land was set aside for new golf clubs in a bid to make the game more affordable and accessible to all Singaporeans, including workers and national servicemen.

Pressure to optimise usage

TWO decades on, Singapore's population has swelled some 70 per cent to around 5.3 million. There is therefore growing pressure for more space to be allocated to housing, transport, health care and recreation.

From an urban planning perspective, golf clubs rank low on the hierarchy of land use needs. Private golf clubs here serve an estimated 30,000 members and any argument for exclusivity will be further weakened as population density increases.

What next?

ESSENTIALLY, members are paying for the right to enjoy a club's facilities and amenities for the duration of its lease.

But golf - despite its reputation as being an old man's game - may in fact be gaining popularity.

Based on data from the Singapore Golf Association's website, the number of golfers who registered their handicap with private clubs or golf communities has gone up by nearly 30 per cent since June 2009 to more than 35,000 golfers.

Government agencies should take into account this growing body of enthusiasts who may enjoy the game but are deterred by the high cost of golf club membership.

Already, many keen golfers turn to Malaysia and Bintan for that weekend golf game.

As the authorities work on reducing the number of golf courses and the ideal amount of land they should occupy, however, it is up to the golf clubs to justify the rationale for their existence.

If a minimum utilisation rate for courses is imposed, clubs will have to consider widening their membership base or make golf courses more accessible to a wider spectrum of golfers.

For example, the authorities could encourage a larger proportion of golf courses to be converted to public courses.

Or they could require private golf clubs to open more slots to non-members during the off-peak periods in the week.

In this way, reducing the amount of land for golf courses not only frees up more land, it also means more people get to enjoy existing golf courses.

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Indonesia intensifying efforts to tackle rising number of hot spots

Woo Sian Boon Today Online 26 Sep 13;

SINGAPORE — The Indonesian authorities have informed the National Environment Agency (NEA) that they are intensifying operations to tackle the rising number of hot spots in Sumatra, even as ASEAN ministers met yesterday in Surabaya to address transboundary haze pollution.

At their 14th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, the ministers of all 10 ASEAN countries agreed to set up a task force to review existing alert levels and formulate trigger points for action to be taken when the potential for a transboundary haze occurs.

The task force will comprise members from the panel of experts on Fire and Haze Assessment and Coordination, which was set up in 2005.

Posting on his Facebook page after the meeting yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said the ministers reaffirmed Singapore’s recommendation to adopt the ASEAN Haze Monitoring System (HMS), including concession maps of haze-prone regions.

The HMS platform — which Singapore developed — uses hot spot data, high-resolution satellite pictures and concession maps to enable the identification of errant companies accountable for fires on their land.

Dr Balakrishnan said the relevant countries have agreed to take prompt action based on decisions to be made at the ASEAN summit next month.

“We have to put the culprits on notice that they will be identified and penalised. Otherwise this problem will recur year after year,” he said.

Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also contributed to the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Pollution Control Fund, with the aim of realising a pledge of providing an initial seed contribution of US$500,000 (S$626,500).

Singapore experienced slightly hazy conditions yesterday due to a change in wind direction. The NEA said the hot spot count in Sumatra rose to 281 on Tuesday, but since yesterday has decreased to 71, with 45 in South Sumatra and 11 in Riau.

For its 24-hour PSI forecast, it said the PSI is expected to be in the “good” band, while the 24-hour PM2.5 is expected to be slightly elevated.

While thundery showers are forecast in the late morning and early afternoon, a slight haze may still be experienced if winds continue blowing from the south-southwest direction.

On yesterday’s transboundary haze meeting, non-government organisation Greenpeace Southeast Asia called on the Singapore and Malaysian governments to “take strong steps” against errant companies, noting that companies based in these two countries have been implicated.

“Every measure must be made so that illegal behaviour can be publicly monitored and punished. Companies should not be allowed to avoid responsibility simply by pointing to their zero-burning policies or the complexity of Indonesia’s opaque mapping systems,” said the NGO’s Forest Campaigner, Mr Yuyun Indradi.

ASEAN environment ministers reaffirm Haze Monitoring System
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 25 Sep 13;

SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said his ASEAN counterparts have reaffirmed Singapore's recommendation for an ASEAN Haze Monitoring system to be implemented.

Dr Balakrishnan said this on his Facebook page on Wednesday at the end of the 14th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting of the Environment, and the 9th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (COP-9).

The meetings were held in Surabaya, Indonesia.

According to a statement issued by those at the meeting, the system will include digitised land-use maps and concession maps of haze prone regions. These will be shared on a government-to-government basis.

Dr Balakrishnan said the relevant countries have also agreed to take prompt action to address the issue of haze based on decisions to be made at next month's ASEAN Summit.

Singapore's Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources said the ministers also agreed to set up a Task Force comprising experts on Fire and Haze Assessment and Coordination.

The panel of experts will review the existing alert levels and formulate trigger points.

The ministers also noted that many ASEAN Member States have contributed to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Control Fund, with the aim of realising a pledge of providing an initial seed contribution of US$500,000 for the fund.

Dr Balakrishnan also highlighted that a change in wind direction could potentially bring the haze from Sumatra to Singapore on Wednesday night.

He said his ministry will be monitoring the situation closely.

- CNA/fa

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Early action could save seagrass meadows, researchers say

The world's seagrass meadows are in trouble – but Australian scientists say early action can save them, even as sea levels rise.
University of Queensland 25 Sep 13

University of Queensland Global Change Institute researcher Dr Megan Saunders collaborated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions on new research reported in the journal Global Change Biology.

“We're currently losing around seven per cent of global seagrass area every year due to a combination of human impacts,” Dr Saunders said.

“Those losses are likely to accelerate as sea levels rise.”

As waters deepen due to sea level rise and become murkier due to human activities on land, seagrass meadows in deeper waters are deprived of the light they need to stay alive.

Dr Saunders said seagrass areas were a vital factor in the battle against climate change.

“We need to take action needs to stabilise or even expand the area of seagrass beds globally,” she said.

“They can lock up an awful lot of carbon and help slow climate change – as well as restoring degraded fisheries.”

Dr Saunders said the keys to saving and regenerating the world's seagrass beds were:

• Revegetating bare farmland to control erosion and runoff in river catchments

• Better managing river banks

• Better managing nutrient and soil runoff from cities

• Local authorities adopting more flexible coastal planning for development, to allow future seagrass meadows to expand into new areas as sea levels rise.

Dr Saunders said the success of the plan depended on creating light conditions at the “deep edge” of seagrass meadows which allow seagrass species to continue to flourish.

“This is the sort of information our coastal planners will need as we seek to cope with the changes imposed by sea level rise and other impacts of climate change,” she said.

“It also means we can think further ahead about what is needed to keep these essential ecosystems alive and thriving by allowing them to move to occupy new niches as they emerge.”

Dr Saunders and her research colleagues used Australia's Moreton Bay as a laboratory to investigate the fate of seagrass meadows generally, in the context of an expected 1.1 metre sea level rise this century.

Moreton Bay is listed as a “Ramsar Wetland”: these are areas of international importance that are listed under the Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention.

Dr Saunders said the Moreton Bay research indicated a “coastal retreat” strategy could reduce the loss of seagrass cover due to sea level rise by 2100 from 17 per cent to 5 per cent.

“Compared to coral reefs, seagrasses are the ugly duckling of marine ecosystems,” she said.

“They are major nurseries for fish and prawns, and so support our food supply.

“They trap huge amounts of carbon – and could sequester even more if we looked after them.

“They cleanse the oceans by trapping sediment and nutrients.”

The team's research indicates that a 1.1 metre rise in sea level would result in a 17 per cent decline in seagrass cover in Moreton Bay due to the loss of light alone.

Equivalent losses could occur globally, although exact numbers would depend on the location.

Seagrasses trap an estimated 48-112 million tonnes of carbon every year.

Their loss means this carbon will be re-released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming.

The research was a collaboration between the Australian Research Council-funded Australia Sea Level Rise Partnership, based at UQ's Global Change Institute, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). CEED's research tackles key gaps in environmental decision making, monitoring and adaptive management.

Details on the team's research appear in the CEED publication Decision Point, and the full paper, Coastal retreat and improved water quality mitigate losses of seagrass from sea level rise by Saunders MI, Leon J, Phinn SR, Callaghan DP, O'Brien KR, Roelfsema, CM, Lovelock CE, Lyons MB, Mumby PJ (2013) appears in Global Change Biology.

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Indonesia intensifying efforts to tackle rising number of hot spots

Woo Sian Boon Today Online 26 Sep 2013;

SINGAPORE — The Indonesian authorities have informed the National Environment Agency (NEA) that they are intensifying operations to tackle the rising number of hot spots in Sumatra, even as ASEAN ministers met yesterday in Surabaya to address transboundary haze pollution.

At their 14th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, the ministers of all 10 ASEAN countries agreed to set up a task force to review existing alert levels and formulate trigger points for action to be taken when the potential for a transboundary haze occurs.

The task force will comprise members from the panel of experts on Fire and Haze Assessment and Coordination, which was set up in 2005.

Posting on his Facebook page after the meeting yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said the ministers reaffirmed Singapore’s recommendation to adopt the ASEAN Haze Monitoring System (HMS), including concession maps of haze-prone regions.

The HMS platform — which Singapore developed — uses hot spot data, high-resolution satellite pictures and concession maps to enable the identification of errant companies accountable for fires on their land.

Dr Balakrishnan said the relevant countries have agreed to take prompt action based on decisions to be made at the ASEAN summit next month.

“We have to put the culprits on notice that they will be identified and penalised. Otherwise this problem will recur year after year,” he said.

Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also contributed to the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Pollution Control Fund, with the aim of realising a pledge of providing an initial seed contribution of US$500,000 (S$626,500).

Singapore experienced slightly hazy conditions yesterday due to a change in wind direction. The NEA said the hot spot count in Sumatra rose to 281 on Tuesday, but since yesterday has decreased to 71, with 45 in South Sumatra and 11 in Riau.

For its 24-hour PSI forecast, it said the PSI is expected to be in the “good” band, while the 24-hour PM2.5 is expected to be slightly elevated.

While thundery showers are forecast in the late morning and early afternoon, a slight haze may still be experienced if winds continue blowing from the south-southwest direction.

On yesterday’s transboundary haze meeting, non-government organisation Greenpeace Southeast Asia called on the Singapore and Malaysian governments to “take strong steps” against errant companies, noting that companies based in these two countries have been implicated.

“Every measure must be made so that illegal behaviour can be publicly monitored and punished. Companies should not be allowed to avoid responsibility simply by pointing to their zero-burning policies or the complexity of Indonesia’s opaque mapping systems,” said the NGO’s Forest Campaigner, Mr Yuyun Indradi.

Read more!

PAE honours 3 organisations and institutions for green efforts

Channel NewsAsia 24 Sep 2013;

SINGAPORE: Three organisations and institutions were recognised for their efforts in going green with this year's President's Award for the Environment.

Dunman High School, Fuhua Primary School and Siloso Beach Resort received their awards from President Tony Tan Keng Yam at the Singapore Environment and Water Awards ceremony on Tuesday evening.

Chairperson of the judging panel, Lee Bee Wah, said the three stood out from 32 nominations received because of innovative steps taken to drive green business and the high level of commitment in educating the young on environmental matters.

The award is into its eighth year and is the highest environmental accolade in Singapore.

Twelve other individuals and organisations were honoured for their achievements in the area of environmental and water resources sustainability at the joint awards presentation ceremony at Marina Barrage.

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