Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jun 13

Sunday 2 June Tour with Raymond Goh
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Jobs in freshwater ecology (vacation job) – FOUR positions available, sorting/identifying freshwater invertebrates from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Save MacRitchie Forest: 1. Introduction
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Awesome Amphipods
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Pea crab on Day 12 of the Southern Expedition
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Random Gallery - Common Tiger
from Butterflies of Singapore

World Ocean’s Day beach cleanup (Sat 08 Jun 2013) w/Lush Cosmetics & Shark Saver’s from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

The 2013 Trash Free Seas Report has arrived!
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and Pandan Mangrove revisited – back mangrove cut, less trash but still a sensitive site! and Site Allocation Exercise III – now there are 3,107 volunteers from 61 organisations signed upv

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Children welcome at My Tree House to learn about nature

Design of library and books are based on green theme
Kash Cheong Straits Times 1 Jun 13;

DEEP in an "enchanted forest" is a mock tree house where children can read or play.

It is part of a new "green" library that was opened yesterday to teach youngsters about nature.

With more than 45,000 books and interactive installations, the 500 sq m facility aims to bring environmental issues to life.

Its centrepiece is an artificial trunk with a tree house-like platform where children can sit and read their books. It also has eco-friendly fixtures such as LED lights and recycled shelves.

Ms Esther An, head of corporate responsbility at City Developments, which is co-sponsoring the project with the National Library Board, said the aim is to spread environmental consciousness among the young. "We find it important to educate children about the environment, so that they will grow up to be green champions," she said.

Called My Tree House, the library bases its design, book collection and programming on green principles. More than 30 per cent of its books are non-fiction about ecological topics.

Located in the basement of the Central Library, it also features tree-like structures made of recycled wood and interactive components such as the weather stump - a visual installation that shows real-time weather patterns. Children can answer questions on conservation using a "knowledge tree wall".

The new facility was opened yesterday by Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, who noted that one out of every five library members is aged under 12.

Raffles Girls' Primary School (RGPS) pupil Ananya Ray, 12, said: "You can move around in this library so it doesn't get boring."

Mr Derek Tan, a 39-year-old engineer with one child, said: "Besides the usual parks and outdoors, there's now one more place I can bring my kids to educate them about nature."

Anata Wazir, 11, also from RGPS, said she was most inspired by light fixtures in the library that are made out of plastic water bottles. "It makes me want to recycle too," she said.

"This place spurs my imagination. I feel like I could write a story about it some day."

"Green" library for children to learn all about caring for the environment
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Channel NewAsia 31 May 13;

SINGAPORE: There's now a "green" library for children to learn all about caring for the environment.

Known as "My Tree House", it opened its doors on Friday at the Central Public Library.

Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim joined in the festivities.

The library is a collaboration between the National Library Board and City Developments Limited.

At "My Tree House", children can learn about the environment through a multi-sensory experience.

The library also boasts a collection of 45,000 books, with 30 per cent focusing on green topics.

Soh Lin Li, manager of Central Public Library and National Library Board, said: "We curate the collection in terms of having more non-fiction books on the weather, animal, plants, also global warming, and all these climate change materials. These will help them know about the services and also the issues around in the world. So this differentiates us very much from the other libraries."

Besides books, children can also visit the library to take part in activities such as story-telling sessions, reading programmes, and art and craft workshops.

- CNA/de

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Inclusive, cooler cities: A different take on liveability

Gerhard Schmitt Today Online 30 May 13;

In a discussion following the announcement here of the Green City Index Asia two years ago, it was suggested that Singapore could possibly top the list because it is very wealthy.

The response by Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), impressed me greatly — after a slight pause, he answered: “I think it is the other way around. Singapore is wealthy because it is environmentally conscious.” In this regard, I think Singapore has solved the chicken and egg conundrum in a rather convincing manner.

Planners have successfully ensured that Singapore is one of the world’s most liveable cities. Still, apart from achieving liveability, it is equally important to ensure that this liveability is sustainable.

PRINCIPLES FOR LIVEABLE CITIES

I teach a course on Future Cities by the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability; students who attend this open online course are from several countries. For one of the assignments, they had to identify three cities they felt were most liveable — independent of the existing rankings. They also had to provide their definitions of liveability.

The result was astounding: Safety, mobility, openness and quality educational institutes were at the top of the list. More than 80 per cent of the cities students chose happened to be in countries with a low Gini coefficient.

The CLC recently partnered the Urban Land Institute to introduce 10 principles for liveable, high-density cities. A lot of the factors listed coincide with the criteria stated by the students of the Future Cities course.

However, there is more than one way to look at some of these criteria.

GOOD GOVERNANCE

All reports point to the importance of good governance for the liveability of the city. The interaction between the citizens and the individuals that work for the progress of the urban community is decisive in the success of an urban system as a liveable city. Good governance must also be inclusive.

In their book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson describe Venice during the 13th century as perhaps the richest and most attractive city in the world. However, they also state that the switch from an inclusive to an extractive system marked the start of decline for the city.

They go on to show, with various examples such as London, New York and Vienna, that the opening up of the system to include citizens in decision-making processes has led to an increase in wealth, liveability and attractiveness of the cities. It is good to see that Singapore is taking this approach to involve its citizens in the planning of the city.

AWARENESS

Awareness of best practices is another important precondition for a liveable city. The city’s governing bodies have to be aware of what works and what does not work in cities around the world.

However, it is also important to understand the contextual differences that affect policies — what functions well in one city may not perform the same way in another.

While cities are studying from one another to deal with certain challenges, there is no “one size fits all” solution. Solutions have to be custom-developed for cities, taking into consideration the local context and the behaviour of its people.

In Zurich, for example, one of the top-ranked cities for liveability, it is vital for the population to be aware of what is being planned for the city, so that citizens are able to take part actively in its transformation and in developing solutions that work well for their city.

RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS

Almost all of the top most liveable cities in the world have excellent universities. However, the role that the university plays is more than merely to attract people to the city in pursuit of educational opportunities.

Often, the relationship between the university and the city is a historic and fruitful one. Geneva, Zurich, Vancouver and Vienna are good examples where the universities play an important role in the development of the city. These universities contribute in providing solutions for its intellectual and material growth, and where most of the value creation originates.

In Switzerland, I had the privilege to lead the participatory development process of the Science City ETH Zurich, in collaboration with the City and the Canton of Zurich. ETH Zurich, or known as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is the leading university in Continental Europe.

Working on the Science City design process, I witnessed first-hand how the university was valued by the population and, more importantly, the people were well aware of the long-term investment required in the quality of the educational system. Similarly, in western Switzerland, near Lausanne, ETH Lausanne is contributing greatly to the development and well-being of surrounding cities.

In Singapore, the universities are taking on the same role; the highly-ranked National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, and new institutions like the Singapore University of Technology and Design have been increasingly involved in plans to develop the city.

COOLER, CALMER SINGAPORE

Singapore is a vibrant city full of energy — literally. Over the last few years, three topics have emerged repeatedly and have taken over many conversations between residents, citizens, politicians, diplomats, students, public servants and taxi drivers. These topics are, not surprisingly, transportation, the economy, and the growing population.

On the other hand, people are also increasingly concerned about the rising heat in the city. Anecdotally, people feel like Singapore is getting hotter, but no one quite knows the reason why. Some feel that it is due to climate change on a global level.

In fact, cities are traditionally warmer than their surrounding countryside due to the phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island effect, and Singapore is no different. The main cause of this phenomenon is the modification of land surface through urban development using materials that retain heat. As a second contributor, heat is generated by energy usage within the city. Both effects increase its temperature.

Cooling down a city goes beyond merely blasting cold air into warm indoor spaces. Furthermore, in conventional urban design, if we blast cold air into a space to cool it down, we will inevitably meet with a trade-off — not only will more energy be required, the heat will also be channelled into an area which will then be artificially warmer than it is supposed to be.

That is why cities are on the hunt for sustainable ways to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect. These include enhancing urban infrastructure such as growing greenery on rooftops, planting trees to increase shaded areas, or using bright street surfaces to increase reflection. Some of the above have already been successfully implemented in Singapore.

However, these measures only serve to ease the effects of the phenomenon and do not address the issue at its roots. This is a good time for Singapore to think out of the box in tackling the above-mentioned issues alongside allaying the Urban Heat Island effect.

A study of the largest sources of heat and their interconnections — industry, transportation and buildings — also points to intensifying possible mixed-use solutions based on Singapore’s concept plan and master plans for urban development.

Some approaches that have proven very successful in Switzerland include higher industrial value creation with less energy used, and thus less heat released, or advancing transportation efficiency towards electric vehicles with less heat and noise generated.

If some of these strategies are applied in Singapore, it would automatically reduce the need for air conditioning — and, in turn, start a virtuous cycle that would further improve walkability and air quality, with all its positive effects on health. It might even reduce the intensity of downpours leading to flooding.

Cities like Tokyo are trying to lower the temperature in downtown areas by enhancing natural wind-flow. That, however, might not be feasible for a small island like Singapore. Instead, the country can explore strategies to increase ventilation through enhancing vertical airflow. This reduces ambient temperature as heat is drawn vertically upwards and released into unoccupied space.

Singapore has an advantageous attitude towards innovative measures; this city is one of the boldest in testing new strategies and technology. With the island’s density slated to grow, we must develop convincing solutions which ensure it remains cool and calm.

Singapore could be the first city that improves its climatic conditions with rational and natural means — and this will contribute greatly to its liveability and attractiveness through to 2030 and beyond.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Professor Dr Gerhard Schmitt is Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre, established by ETH Zurich and Singapore’s National Research Foundation and Module Leader of the Simulation Platform research module at the Future Cities Laboratory.

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Battling Deforestation In Indonesia, One Firm At A Time

NPR 31 May 2013;

On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a backhoe stacks freshly cut trees to be made into pulp and paper. Asia Paper and Pulp, or APP, is Indonesia's largest papermaker, and the company and its suppliers operate vast plantations of acacia trees here that have transformed the local landscape.

APP has sold billions of dollars' worth of paper products to Staples, Disney and other big U.S. corporations. But environmental groups have accused APP of causing deforestation, destroying the habitat of Sumatran tigers and orangutans, and trampling on the rights of forest dwellers.

Asril Amran is the head of a nearby village. He says that the plantations have ruined the local environment.

"In the past we could go into the forest and catch deer. We could look for birds," he recalls. "But now, there is nothing, as you can see. No animal can live in the acacia forest. We cannot shelter in its shade. It's hot. It's a greedy tree — it uses up a lot of water."

The Rainforest Action Network says that APP has turned an area of rain forests the size of Massachusetts into pulpwood plantations. It estimates that by cutting down forests and burning peat land, APP spewed the equivalent of 67 million to 86 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2006. That would rank APP's emissions ahead of 165 countries, as measured by those countries' emissions as measured in 2006.

Two years ago, the environmental group Greenpeace began targetting APP's biggest customers.

They protested at the Los Angeles headquarters of Mattel, makers of the Barbie doll. In this campaign video, Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, learns that Barbie's packaging is causing deforestation.

In response, Ken dumps her. Barbie sits on her couch in a huff, wearing her Day-Glo spandex.

"I'm Barbie," she says. "As long as I look good, who cares about tigers in some distant rain forest? If Mattel wants to use wood from Indonesia's rain forests to make my box, then let them do it."

The campaign and others like it worked. Companies stopped buying APP's products, and APP's profits plummeted.

APP felt the criticism was unfair. After all, they said, they were building schools and conservation programs for local communities.

APP Managing Director for Sustainability Aida Greenbury says her company and the NGOs that were criticizing it were just not talking on the same wavelength.

"We addressed climate change by trying to implement sustainable practice in our forestry, so we have tried our best to address those. But there's always something missing, as if we were talking on two different frequencies."

So the company turned to Scott Poynton, a lanky Australian who runs the Tropical Forest Trust.

Poynton told them bluntly that if they kept cutting down virgin forests, no amount of "greenwashing" was going to help them.

"I was just like: You guys are not listening. Your whole business is going down the drain; you've got customers leaving you every two seconds; you think you're doing a good job; and you've missed the point," he says.

Corporate Targets

Greenpeace and Poynton's good cop/bad cop tactics worked. In February, APP's chairman announced that his company would stop cutting down natural forests.

Poynton says that APP's managers just needed help in seeing that their business model was outdated.

"The context in which they're operating has changed, and with the questions of climate change, cutting down forests is not cool," Poynton says. "And people don't want deforestation in their products."

Environmentalists say the APP case shows the importance of big corporations in driving deforestation, and stopping it.

"Sure, consumers want stuff, they use stuff. But the corporations are the ones that determine often, or try to influence what you perceive that you need, and what you perceive are the things that you want to buy," says Lafcadio Cortesi, an activist with the Rainforest Action Network. "And so that's one of the reasons that we focus on large corporate consumers rather than individuals."

Greenpeace Indonesia activist Yuyun Indradi welcomes APP's new policy. But he says that if APP goes back on its pledge, Greenpeace will restart its campaign. He adds that APP is only the first step in a bigger fight against deforestation.

"Our target is zero deforestation in Indonesia by 2015," Indradi says. "Yes, I think it's quite ambitious. But APP's pledge helps to lighten our burden in reaching that goal."

He says Greenpeace is now trying to persuade other papermakers to follow APP's example.

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Big firms should report environmental impact : UN panel

Michelle Nichols and Alister Doyle PlanetArk 31 May 13;

Big companies should report their impact on the environment in addition to their earnings under a U.N. plan to boost economic growth and ease poverty by 2030, according to recommendations by a panel of world leaders released on Thursday.

Slowing climate change and protecting the environment should be at the core of global development, said the 27-member panel, led by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

"There is one trend - climate change - which will determine whether or not we can deliver on our ambitions," the report said. "Without environmental sustainability, we cannot end poverty; the poor are too deeply affected by natural disasters and too dependent on deteriorating oceans, forests and soils."

The report - handed over by Yudhoyono to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York - recommends 12 so-called illustrative goals to replace eight Millennium Development Goals that were aimed at reducing poverty and hunger. Those goals were agreed to by world leaders in 2000 and expire in 2015.

The goals recommended on Thursday will be the basis for a two-year debate among the 193 U.N. members on a development agenda for 2015 - 2030. Like the Millennium Development Goals, which included a bid to halve extreme poverty, any specific new numeric targets will be non-binding.

Among the recommendations, the 69-page report says large businesses should be obliged to report social and environmental impacts, in addition to their financial accounts. About a quarter of businesses now make environmental reports, it said.

"We suggest that a mandatory 'comply or explain' regime be phased in for all companies with a market capitalization above $100 million equivalent," the report said. "The same principle should apply to governments. National accounting for social and environmental effects should be mainstreamed by 2030."

Last year, Britain became the first country to force major companies to publish their greenhouse gas emissions in corporate earnings reports. The requirement applies to 1,800 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

'GRAVE PRESSURES'

Jim Leape, director general of the World Wide Fund for Nature, said this was a welcome change from the earlier goals which he said had barely addressed the environment.

"Nearly fifteen years on, there is finally recognition that poverty cannot be eradicated and the well-being of people across the globe cannot be secured without addressing the grave pressures on the environment," he said in a statement.

The U.N. panel proposes goals for 2030 such as doubling the share of renewable energy in consumption, phasing out harmful fossil fuel subsidies and doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency from buildings to transport.

About 13 percent of the world's primary energy comes from renewables such as hydropower, wood, solar and wind power, according to the International Energy Agency.

The panel said it was not presenting a "prescriptive blueprint ... The suggested targets are ones for humanity to aspire to. They would not be legally binding, but they can be monitored closely," the report said.

The United Nations had hoped to set specific 2030 goals in areas such as water, food security and energy at a summit last year in Rio de Janeiro. But governments fell short, distracted by the global financial crisis and unrest in the Middle East.

"We envision a world in 2030 where extreme poverty and hunger has been ended. We envision a world where no person has been left behind, and where there are schools, clinics, and clean water for all," the panel said.

The report said the Millennium Development Goals had made a lot of progress in reducing poverty. Even so, the 1.2 billion poorest people account for only 1 per cent of world consumption while the billion richest consume 72 per cent, it said.

And it pointed to threats, including climate change. "We must act now to slow the alarming pace of climate change and environmental degradation, which pose unprecedented threats to humanity."

The full report can be seen at: www.post2015hlp.org

(Additional reporting by Nina Chestney in London Editing by Mark Heinrich and Vicki Allen)

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EU seals reform deal to replenish fish stocks

Charlie Dunmore and Claire Davenport PlanetArk 31 May 13;

The European Union agreed on Thursday to put an end to decades of over-fishing and rebuild dwindling stocks by 2020, as part of a deal to overhaul the bloc's fisheries policy.

The agreement will put an end to annual haggling over catch quotas by EU ministers in Brussels, widely blamed for putting short-term economic interests above the long-term health of Europe's fish stocks.

Officials said a deal to follow scientific advice more closely when setting quotas in the future could increase EU fish stocks by up to 15 million metric tons (16.5 million tons) by the end of the decade.

The reform will also see a massive reduction in the wasteful practice known as discarding, which sees European fishermen throw almost 2 million metric tons of unwanted fish back into the sea each year - often dead or dying - as they seek to fill strict quotas with the most valuable species.

In a statement after the deal, British liberal MEP and head of the European Parliament's "Fish for the Future" group Chris Davies described it as a major step in promoting sustainable fishing.

"Our treatment of Europe's seas has been a disgrace. But we have learnt lessons. Across Europe there is a strong desire now to listen to the scientists, rebuild fish stocks, cut discards, and give our fishing industry a better future," he said.

The bloc's roughly 1 billion euro-per-year ($1.30 billion) common fisheries policy has been blamed for driving decades of over-fishing, with generous subsidies leading to a massive over capacity in the fishing fleet.

As a result, the Commission estimates that 75 percent of European fish stocks are currently over-fished, compared with 25 percent worldwide.

As part of the deal, EU fishing nations will have to reduce the size of their fleets to reflect their overall quotas or face the loss of some subsidies.

The deal must now be rubber-stamped by EU governments and the full European Parliament before entering force next year, but the details are unlikely to change.

Europe had the third-highest fish catches globally behind China and Indonesia in 2010, the most recent data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization showed.

Europe's top fishing nations are Denmark, Spain, Britain and France, which together account for about half of all EU catches. ($1 = 0.7712 euros)

(Reporting by Charlie Dunmore and Claire Davenport; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Best of our wild blogs: 31 May 13

Big Bryozoan on Day 11 of the Southern Expedition
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Exploring Base Camp on Day 11 at the Southern Expedition from wild shores of singapore

Jobs in freshwater ecology: Research Assistants and Research Associates from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS and Jobs in freshwater ecology: Laboratory Assistant, Casual Employment, two positions
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Updates from the Zone Captains’ recces: beach closures this year from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

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Sharks worth more for tourism than in soup: study

Alister Doyle Reuters Yahoo News 31 May 13;

OSLO (Reuters) - Sharks swimming free in the oceans may soon become more valuable as tourist attractions than when caught, sliced up and served in soup, a global study showed on Friday.

It urged better protection for the fish, from Australia to the Caribbean, to reduce catches of an estimated 38 million a year to meet demand for shark fin soup, mainly in China.

"We are hoping that people will recognize that sharks are not only valuable on the plate," lead author Andres Cisneros-Montemayor of the University of British Columbia in Canada said.

Shark-watching tourism generates about $314 million a year and is projected to surge to $780 million in the next 20 years, according to the study in the journal Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation.

By contrast, the landed value of world shark fisheries is now $630 million a year and has been declining, according to the experts in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

In recent years Palau, the Maldives, Honduras, Tokelau, The Bahamas, the Marshall Islands, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia have created sanctuaries by banning commercial shark fishing.

"Many countries have a significant financial incentive to conserve sharks and the places where they live," said Jill Hepp, director of global shark conservation at the Pew Charitable Trusts which took part in the study. Pew urged more sanctuaries.

The study is one of many about how to aid world fisheries, hit by pollution and over-fishing. Tourism draws almost 600,000 people annually to watch sharks from hammerheads to great whites, supporting 10,000 jobs in 29 countries, it said.

One problem is the separate sources of demand - Asian lovers of shark fin soup are unlikely to abandon the dish in favor of tourism, which has so far been mainly for Westerners.

Fishermen need to see a higher value from organizing tourism - such as running boat trips to view sharks or renting scuba gear - than from killing them for fins, said Carl Gustaf Lundin, director of the global marine program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which was not involved in the study.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

Sharks Worth More in the Ocean Than On the Menu
ScienceAlert 30 May 13;

Sharks are worth more in the ocean than in a bowl of soup, according to researchers from the University of

A new study, published today in Oryx -- The International Journal of Conservation, shows that shark ecotourism currently generates more than US$314 million annually worldwide and is expected to more than double to US$780 million in the next 20 years.

In comparison, the landed value of global shark fisheries is currently US$630 million and has been in decline for the past decade. An estimated 38 million sharks were killed in 2009 to feed the global fin trade alone.

"The emerging shark tourism industry attracts nearly 600,000 shark watchers annually, directly supporting 10,000 jobs," says Andres Cisneros-Montemayor, a PhD candidate with UBC's Fisheries Economics Research Unit and lead author of the study. "It is abundantly clear that leaving sharks in the ocean is worth much more than putting them on the menu."

"Sharks are slow to mature and produce few offspring," says Rashid Sumaila, senior author and director of UBC's Fisheries Centre. "The protection of live sharks, especially through dedicated protected areas, can benefit a much wider economic spectrum while helping the species recover."

The research team from UBC, the University of Hawaii and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in Mexico examined shark fisheries and shark ecotourism data from 70 sites in 45 countries. Almost $124 million in tourism dollars were generated annually in the Caribbean from shark tourism, supporting more than 5,000 jobs. In Australia and New Zealand, 29,000 shark watchers help generate almost $40 million in tourism expenditure a year.

Journal Reference:

Andrés M. Cisneros-Montemayor, Michele Barnes-Mauthe, Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, Estrella Navarro-Holm, U. Rashid Sumaila. Global economic value of shark ecotourism: implications for conservation. Oryx, 2013; : 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0030605312001718

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Protecting environment key to ending poverty, finds UN High Level Panel

WWF 30 May 13;

Gland: Taxes, incentives, regulations, subsidies, trade and public procurement need to be realigned to favour sustainable consumption and production patterns if the world wants to end poverty, according to the UN High Level Panel charged with setting the new direction for global development.

“Without environmental sustainability we cannot end poverty,” said the UN’s High Level Panel on the post-2015 Development Agenda.

The report of the 26-member panel, which included UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Queen Rania of Jordan and Unilever CEO Paul Polman, has the potential to influence over USD 25 trillion of development spending and marks a clear break from the practice of treating development and sustainability as separate topics.

“The Millennium Development Goals were a first global attempt to address poverty and other development challenges but protection of the environment was barely acknowledged and hardly addressed,” said Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International.

“Nearly fifteen years on, there is finally recognition that poverty cannot be eradicated and the well-being of people across the globe cannot be secured without addressing the grave pressures on the environment and the natural systems that support human life on this planet,” Leape added.

The report calls for hard-hitting measures to be taken in both developed and developing countries to reduce the impacts of consumption, production, trade, waste and pollution.

The Panel’s findings have the potential to influence over USD 25 trillion of international resource flows to developing countries and redrafting government and corporate behaviours.

“We came to the conclusion that the moment is right to merge the poverty and environmental tracks guiding international development” states the Panel report.

The Panel underlined the inadequacies of GDP measure of progress for mandatory social and environmental reporting by all companies with a market capitalisation above USD 100 million.

Proposed goals to secure food, water and energy for a growing world population should include key targets to safeguarding sustainable agriculture, fisheries, freshwater systems and energy supplies, the report said.

The High Level Panel also affirmed that the new development agenda is a global one.

“The world has changed since the MDGs were agreed,” said Jim Leape.

“The global financial and economic crises have shown that poverty and growing inequality are problems for all countries. Production and consumption choices in one place have environmental impacts across the globe.”

“We now look to all countries to build on the High Level Panel’s report and agree an ambitious set of goals and targets that will spur urgent action,” said Leape.

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 May 13

Five new Fast and Furious Ferrari shrimps at the Southern Expedition
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Humungous cuttlefish on Day 10 of the Southern Expedition
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

#8 Labrador Nature Reserve
from My Nature Experiences

Copper-throated Sunbird nest-building
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Random Gallery - Yellow Palm Dart
from Butterflies of Singapore

Painted faces: revisited
from Life's Indulgences

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Cross Island Line: LTA will minimise environmental impact

Today Online 30 May 13;
Helen Lim
Director, Media Relations and Public Education, Land Transport Authority

We refer to Ms Vinita Ramani Mohan’s letter “A transportation plan that crosses the line” (May 20).

The detailed alignment of the Cross Island Line (CRL) has not been decided and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will carry out detailed studies before finalising the alignment. We would also like to assure that the LTA will be commissioning an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to study the environmental impact of the CRL, as part of its overall assessment and design. As part of the EIA, the consultant is required to develop guidelines to guide the Engineering Investigative Works. The Engineering Investigative Works will be carried out in compliance with these guidelines.

In the coming months, the LTA will engage and consult various stakeholders, including nature and environmental groups, to ensure their views and concerns are accommodated as part of the EIA study. We share the environmentalists’ concern on any possible impact on the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and assure that sufficient time will be accorded to address these concerns.

Protecting the nature reserves will be an integral consideration for the project and all efforts would be taken to minimise impact to the environment.

In particular, we would like to assure the public that some of the concerns that have been expressed, such as the need or intention to clear large tracts of forest in the nature reserves, or the possibility of there being major construction works within the nature reserves, are not contemplated. We ask for some patience as we continue to make preparations for the consultation and the EIA.

Protecting nature reserves a key consideration
Straits Times Forum 31 May 13;

WE REFER to Wednesday's letters ("Rethink route of Cross Island MRT line" by Mr Chia Yong Soong; and "Cross Island Line: LTA must be proactive in engaging stakeholders" by Mr Eugene Tay Tse Chuan, Forum Online).

The detailed alignment of the Cross Island Line has not been decided and the Land Transport Authority will carry out detailed studies before finalising the alignment.

We assure readers that we will be commissioning an independent Environmental Impact Assessment to study the environmental impact of the line, as part of its overall assessment and design.

As part of the assessment, the consultant is required to develop guidelines to guide the engineering investigative works, which will be carried out in compliance with these guidelines.

In the coming months, we will engage and consult various stakeholders, including nature and environmental groups, to ensure that their views and concerns are accommodated as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment study.

We share the environmentalists' concerns over any possible impact on the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and assure them that sufficient time will be accorded to address these concerns.

Protecting the nature reserves will be an integral consideration for the project and all efforts will be taken to minimise impact to the environment.

In particular, we assure the public that some of the scenarios that have been raised, such as the need or intention to clear large tracts of forest in the nature reserves, or the possibility of there being major construction works within the nature reserves, are not being contemplated.

We ask for some patience as we continue to make preparations for the consultation and the Environmental Impact Assessment.

Helen Lim (Ms)
Director, Media Relations and Public Education
Land Transport Authority

Related links
Love our MacRitchie Forest: walks, talks and petition. Also on facebook.

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Global warming spells trouble for Singapore

Straits Times Forum 30 May 13;

NATIONS around the world, including Singapore, are showing interest in the melting Arctic ice, more from an economic standpoint than in terms of human safety ("Fuelled by strategic interest in cold North"; May 21). This emphasis is misplaced.

These nations should focus instead on how they can best join forces to prevent the melting rate from accelerating, with a view to ultimately reversing the process.

Melting Arctic ice releases large amounts of methane, which is about 21 times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

In recent weeks, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere breached the 400 parts per million (ppm) mark, the highest level since the Ice Age ("World gone cold on global warming"; May 21). It could reach 1,000 ppm towards the end of this century.

Unfortunately, no amount of hurricanes, cyclones, monsoons or warnings seem compelling enough for world leaders to take action to reverse global warming and climate change.

For a low-lying island like Singapore, global warming can only mean a major catastrophe waiting to happen.

Already, shifts in weather patterns here have resulted in the authorities replacing some tall trees with shorter ones, to prevent them from falling ("Some tall trees being replaced"; May 19).

But this approach is just a quick fix and may not be sustainable in the long term. We need to get to the root of the problem - global warming - and tackle it head-on at the global level.

Singapore has always punched above its weight. It now needs to punch in the right direction and for the right cause.

Srirekam Kesava Purushotham

Singapore committed to tackling climate change
Straits Times Forum 4 Jun 13;

WE THANK Mr Srirekam Kesava Purushotham for his feedback ("Global warming spells trouble for Singapore"; last Thursday).

We agree that climate change is a global challenge that requires all countries to play their part.

Singapore therefore supports and actively participates in the multilateral negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and in other organisations such as the International Maritime Organisation and International Civil Aviation Organisation to develop measures to reduce emissions in these sectors.

Under the UNFCCC, we made a voluntary pledge to reduce our emissions below business-as-usual levels by 2020. We are working with other countries towards a new global agreement on climate change by 2015.

Domestically, we adopt a multi-pronged approach to meet our pledge and do our part in addressing climate change.

Given our limited ability to switch to renewable energy on a large scale, energy efficiency is one of Singapore's key strategies to reduce emissions.

We are the first country in the world to mandate minimum environmental sustainability standards for existing buildings, in addition to new buildings.

Our vehicle ownership and usage control measures are coupled with encouraging a switch to low-emission cars and taxis through the Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle Scheme.

The Energy Conservation Act requires large energy users to implement energy management practices.

Singapore is also taking action to address the potential impact of climate change on coastal protection, water supply and drainage, public health, biodiversity and infrastructure.

Since the end of 2011, we have raised the minimum reclamation level of new reclamation projects by an additional metre, to 2.25m above the highest recorded tide level.

The Centre for Climate Research Singapore is the first centre in the world for tropical climate research.

Addressing climate change also offers opportunities for green growth. Singapore is well-positioned to develop as a global cleantech hub that will provide high-value-added jobs and growth opportunities for Singaporeans.

Everyone has a part to play in the global effort against climate change. We also work with our partners in the people, public and private (3P) sectors on education and outreach programmes to promote climate change awareness and action.

Yuen Sai Kuan

Director, 3P Network Division

National Climate Change Secretariat, Prime Minister's Office

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