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Common Flangetail female feeding
Bird Ecology Study Group
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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Jun 15
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Use of forest trail: It's bikers against nature lovers
Audrey Tan The Straits Times AsiaOne 2 Jun 15;
Cycling enthusiasts have started a petition for a trail in a nature reserve to be reopened for mountain biking, but nature lovers oppose the move.
The trail in question is the Butterfly trail in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, which was closed by the National Parks Board (NParks) in March, as parts of it fall within the construction site of the upcoming Chestnut Nature Park.
Mountain bikers have lamented the loss of this trail, famous for its terrain of interlocking tree roots and views of Upper Peirce Reservoir.
Yesterday, the Mountain Bike Association Singapore started a petition to the Government to reopen the site. Its president, Mr Calvin Chin, said that the 1,000-strong association hopes to get 5,000 signatures and will write to the authorities "within the next couple of weeks".
But environmentalists hope the trail stays closed to all human activities, including mountain biking, hiking and running, as these have damaged the century-old nature area off Chestnut Avenue.
On a site visit with NParks and the Nature Society (Singapore), or NSS, last Friday, The Straits Times saw that the roots of trees along the man-made trail were exposed, and the nutrient-rich leaf litter and topsoil layers were eroded.
"These issues result in the destruction of seedlings, as well as the loss of mature vegetation immediately adjacent to the trails," said Mr Tony O'Dempsey, chairman of the NSS' plant group, in a forum letter to The Straits Times on May 21.
But Mr Chin said bikers who use the trail are environmentally conscious. "We tell our members not to litter, and we do not veer off the tracks," he said, adding that a member paid about $500 last year for restoration works on the trail.
Cyclists can now go mountain biking at only four other areas - Bukit Timah, Mandai, Kent Ridge and Pulau Ubin.
Until recently, mountain biking was not allowed at the Butterfly trail, with riders risking fines from NParks. In 2012, the mountain bike association lobbied for the trail to be opened for recreational use and sent the parks board a study on the use of the Butterfly trail for mountain biking. NParks decided to allow cyclists to use the 3.2km trail until the building of new biking trails at the new Chestnut Nature Park began early this year.
Asked to comment on the report sent by the association, NParks told The Straits Times that the paper might have touched briefly on the environmental impact on the forest trails, but it cannot be considered an environmental impact assessment. Such an assessment is considered more rigorous.
It noted that the paper "did not make a comprehensive assessment of the current biodiversity found there nor a thorough assessment of the impact on the area should mountain biking be allowed to continue".
Studies done by NParks and NSS between 2013 and this year found a number of rare and endangered flora and fauna in the Butterfly trail site, including the Malayan porcupine and Hopea and Shorea trees. This was contrary to the association's study, which found no endangered species there.
Said NParks: "We are considering the possibility of closing the trail permanently. However, no decision has been taken yet and we will make another assessment of the area in 2016 before deciding."
The Straits Times understands that the mountain bike association and the NSS are meeting to exchange views tomorrow.
Said Mr O'Dempsey: "We are not picking on the mountain biking community. Our opposition to the use of the Butterfly trail is consistent with our overall policy on the conservation of native habitats in the nature reserve - areas for the conservation of native flora and fauna. This applies to mountain bikers, hikers, runners and, especially, ourselves."
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HDB introduces new waste collection system in Yuhua
The installation of a pneumatic waste conveyance system in Yuhua is the Housing and Development Board’s largest set-up so far.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 1 Jun 15;
SINGAPORE: Yuhua residents can expect less odour and fewer pests in their vicinity, as the first phase of a new waste collection system is rolled out.
Previously, workers had to collect and transport waste from refuse chutes to the bin centre. With the installation of a pneumatic waste conveyance system in Yuhua, this automated system will be the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) largest set-up so far.
When residents throw rubbish down their chutes, it goes to a refuse chamber on the ground floor. A sensor will be triggered when the container in the refuse chamber is full. The waste is then transported by air, through underground pipes. It travels at speeds of between 50 and 80 kilometres per hour, to a centralised bin, where the rubbish is stored in sealed containers.
When they are full, trucks will transport them to incineration plants. As for the exhaust air, it is passed through dust and odour filters. The clean air is then discharged into the atmosphere. With the process being automated, overall manpower needs are expected to be reduced by 70 per cent.
Residents in six blocks of flats - Blocks 221A, 222, 223,226,227 and 228 - in Jurong East Street 2 have been using the system since early May. The system will be rolled out to 32 other blocks by the third quarter of this year.
To encourage more to recycle, residents will also be able to put items for recycling at 24 points throughout the estate, called outdoor disposal inlets. These items will be passed through the underground pipes to a separate container in the bin.
HDB's deputy director in technology research, Tan Chek Sim, said: "PWCS (pneumatic waste conveyance system) in Yuhua helps to collect and manage the household waste more effectively and efficiently. It also gives the residents a cleaner and greener environment.
“As Yuhua is a lived-in environment, HDB took great care to minimise the inconvenience to the residents. We also actively engage the residents on the progress of the works. We are glad that the residents have given us their support for our efforts."
Residents Channel NewsAsia spoke with said they have noticed the changes. Jocelyn Ng, 60, who has been living in Jurong East for about 30 years, said: "It looks better because workers are not going round collecting rubbish from the rubbish chutes. There is less smell." She added that it was also cleaner and more hygienic.
Another Jurong East resident, 62-year-old Lim Ah Choo, said: "We realised it is a lot cleaner. In the past, when we met at the void deck, we found it rather smelly. We hope people will come around and explain to us on how to use the system. It will be embarrassing if we use it wrongly."
HDB staff will be visiting residents to explain the dos and don'ts of using the system. For example, bulky items such as bamboo poles and pillows should not be thrown into the chutes because they will choke the system.
If a blockage occurs, one of the ways to clear it is to increase the speed of the exhaust fan. This will create a greater suction force to move the rubbish causing the blockage. Otherwise, staff will have to get to the blockage through manholes to manually remove the item.
These efforts are part of HDB's Greenprint scheme in Yuhua which aims to create more sustainable homes. Yuhua is the first HDB estate to be part of this scheme.
It is expected to cost S$23 million based on preliminary estimates. The final cost will only be known after its completion later this year, with the pneumatic waste collection system taking up more than 50 per cent of the costs due to its large scale and the extensive underground network of pipes that need to be installed.
HDB is test-bedding the system at Yuhua to determine its feasibility for existing buildings. It is also assessing residents' receptiveness, as major retrofitting works are required to install the system in existing estates.
The system will be implemented in the upcoming housing estates of Tampines North, Bidadari and Punggol Northshore.
Automated system makes garbage disposal cleaner
Today Online 2 Jun 15;
SINGAPORE — Under 60 seconds — that is how long it takes for rubbish across the neighbourhood of Yuhua to reach a Centralised Bin Centre, sucked through underground pipes that are half a metre in diameter.
In fact, once residents throw waste down the rubbish chute, it will not be seen again until it reaches Tuas for processing and incineration.
This has been a way of life since early last month for residents of six of the 38 blocks with the largest pneumatic waste conveyance system in Singapore, in the first phase of retrofitting the estate with the automated system.
The new system is being constructed as part of the Housing and Development Board’s Greenprint project, which aims to make mature estates green and sustainable.
Yuhua is the first estate to be part of the scheme, and more than half of the estimated cost of S$23 million will be used for the pneumatic waste conveyance system.
The system sucks disposed waste from refuse chambers at blocks at speeds of 50kmh to 80kmh through underground pipes.
This does away with the need for waste collectors to go block to block and collect waste, cutting down manpower needs by 70 per cent. It also a cleaner alternative to waste collection, as it is completely enclosed, reducing spillage, risk of pests and unpleasant odours, said the HDB.
Blocks 209 to 240 at Jurong Street 21 are scheduled to be retrofitted with the system by the third quarter of this year. The underground pipe network that is being installed spans an estimated 4.6km and is a major part of the Greenprint project to transform Yuhua into a more sustainable neighbourhood.
The HDB has done small-scale tests of the new waste system in precincts such as Choa Chu Kang, Kim Keat and Clementi, but never an entire neighbourhood as with Yuhua, said HDB deputy director of technology research, Mr Tan Check Sim.
He called Yuhua the test bed, with future Greenprint projects relying on its success and residents’ receptiveness. “As Yuhua is a live-in environment, the HDB took great care to minimise the inconvenience to the residents,” added Mr Tan.
One resident, Mrs Jeanie Eng, said the construction process was smooth and that the inconveniences were well-managed and minimal. “They’re building something for our own good, so we don’t mind if we have to suffer a bit,” she added.
The upcoming HDB precincts of Punggol Northshore, Bidadari and Tampines North will also be equipped with the pneumatic waste collection system, as a way to “bring better living to HDB towns”, said HDB chief executive officer Cheong Koon Hean.
Waste vacuum system offers Yuhua a breath of fresh air
Yeo Sam Jo My Paper AsiaOne 2 Jun 15;
FOUL-SMELLING rubbish chutes will soon be a whiff of the past at Jurong's Yuhua estate, as blocks there get retrofitted with high-tech waste collection infrastructure.
Since early last month, six blocks in Yuhua have been using the pneumatic waste conveyance system. It uses vacuum-type underground pipes to automatically gather household garbage, doing away with the usual manual method of collection, and the accompanying pests and smell.
For residents, they simply throw their waste down the chute as normal, but underground, it is sucked away to a central bin centre. A total of 38 blocks in the estate, or about 3,200 households, will have it by the third quarter of this year, as part of the Housing Board's Greenprint programme.
If deemed feasible, the stem will be rolled out to other housing estates.
As waste collectors need to retrieve garbage from only one point and less frequently, this system is estimated to reduce manpower needs by about 70 per cent, said HDB's deputy director of technology research Tan Chek Sim.
He added that this method gives residents a cleaner and greener environment.
Said Mr Tan: "The entire time, rubbish is not exposed. There is no spillage so there is less smell."
Residents in blocks which have piloted the system agreed.
"We don't have to worry so much about pests like cockroaches now," said housewife Helen Leong, 45.
Retiree Kwek Han Tiang, 67, added: "It's great that we have new technology like this. Singapore is a First World country after all."
HDB cautioned that bulky items such as bamboo poles and pillows might choke the pipes, which are 50cm in diameter and span about 4.6km.
But if this happens, the suction power will be automatically increased to unclog the blockage, said Mr Tan. There are also manholes which allow for manual access to the pipes if needed.
While this system has been test-bedded at some HDB blocks in Kim Keat, Choa Chu Kang and Clementi, Yuhua is its largest implementation in Singapore. Upcoming housing projects at Tampines North, Bidadari and Punggol Northshore will also come with it.
The Greenprint scheme for Yuhua, which started in 2012 and will end this year, aims to transform the estate into Singapore's first green neighbourhood. It is estimated to cost about $23 million.
Other green initiatives include rooftop solar panels and double-tier bicycle racks.
The pneumatic waste collection system is expected to take up more than half the cost, given its large scale and extensive network of underground pipes, said HDB.
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New climate stress index model challenges doomsday forecasts for world's coral reefs
Complex model performs better than common temperature threshold predictions
Wildlife Conservation Society EurekAlert 1 Jun 15;
Recent forecasts on the impacts of climate change on the world's coral reefs--especially ones generated from oceanic surface temperature data gathered by satellites--paint a grim picture for the future of the "rainforests of the sea."
A newer and more complex model incorporating data from both environmental factors and field observations of coral responses to stress provides a better forecasting tool than the more widely used models and a more positive future for coral reefs, according to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.
The study authors point out that, according to the climate stress index model first developed in 2008, coral reefs are responding to more factors than temperature and therefore more resilient to rising temperatures. They conclude that global climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reefs but the future of these ecosystems is more varied than predictions from the more widely used "temperature threshold" models.
The paper titled "Regional coral responses to climate disturbances and warming is predicted by multivariate stress model and not temperature threshold metrics" appears in the online edition of Climatic Change. The authors are: Timothy R. McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Joseph Maina of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Australia Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions; and Mebrahtu Ateweberhan of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Warwick.
"Our new multivariate stress model suggests that the future of coral reefs is considerably more nuanced and spatially complex than predictions arising from the threshold models," said Dr. Tim McClanahan, WCS's Senior Conservation scientist and a co-author on the study. "According to our findings in the Western Indian Ocean, some places will do well and others will not. The key to accurate predictions is using all available environmental data and complementing it with on-the-ground observations on reef cover, coral communities, and other environmental variables that are key to understanding how corals respond to the interaction between all these variables."
In the study, the authors compared the abilities of three common thermal threshold indices against a stress model that includes temperature but also light and water quality and movement variables and used the models to predict coral cover and susceptibility to bleaching during a past large stress event: specifically the 1997-98 coral bleaching event in the Western Indian Ocean. The field information used in the test included a compilation of 10 years of coral community data before the bleaching event, two years after the bleaching event, and data during the period of coral recovery between 2001-2005.
While the three temperature threshold models (sea surface temperature, cumulative thermal stress, and annual thermal stress) were highly variable with little agreement to field data after the 1998 rise in temperature and coral mortality, the multivariate model based on 11environmental variables combined using a fuzzy logic systems revealed a more accurate fit with the recorded coral cover and susceptibility in the recovery period that followed.
"This latest research suggests a more optimistic future for the world's coral reefs," said Dr. Caleb McClennen, Executive Director of WCS's Marine Program. "The ability of certain coral communities to resist and recover from climatic factors provides hope for the future of the oceans. Our imperative is now to seek out and protect those locations that are refuges from climate change, and reduce other human stresses such as fisheries to ensure the long term survival of coral reefs."
To access the article, go to: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-015-1399-x
This research was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, and the World Bank Targeted Research Group on Coral Bleaching.
To access the article, go to: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-015-1399-x
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Seas face biodiversity shakeup even under 2 C warming
AFP Yahoo News 1 Jun 15;
Severe warming -- on current trends, Earth is on track for up to 4.8 C this century alone -- would cause the biggest ocean species change in the last three million years (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)
Paris (AFP) - The oceans will undergo a dramatic turnover in biodiversity even if the UN meets its goal of limiting of global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists said Monday.
Species that need cooler waters will migrate or become extinct, to be replaced by ones that can survive in warmer seas -- with major consequences for fisheries.
"If climate change is not tackled quickly, it will lead to a massive reorganisation of marine biodiversity on a planet-wide scale," said France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), whose scientists took part in the investigation.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, first examined biodiversity changes in three eras of Earth's history.
The first was the mid-Pliocene, a warm period which ended about three million years ago.
The second was a much colder time -- the peak of the last Ice Age, also called the Last Glacial Maximum, from about 26,500 to 20,000 years ago.
The third was from 1960 to 2013, when man-made global warming cranked into high gear.
The scientists then compared these patterns to warming projections for 2100, which vary according to greenhouse gas emission levels.
Under the most optimistic forecast, assuming average warming of about 1 C, there would be only minor changes in biodiversity by 2100, the team found.
Severe warming -- on current trends, Earth is on track for up to 4.8 C this century alone -- would cause the biggest ocean species change in the last three million years.
Worryingly, even if UN members meet the 2 C goal, biodiversity shift by 2100 would be triple that of the last half-century, the team said.
The study, headed by Gregory Beaugrand of the University of Science and Technology in Lille, northern France, focused on species in the upper 200 metres (650 feet) of the ocean, the most valuable part of the ecosystem for humans.
Part of the work is based on theorised species change, as actual knowledge of ocean biodiversity and species behaviour is in many cases limited.
In addition, there are many gaps in understanding how warming will affect a vast, complex body like the ocean.
Even so, the results leave no doubt that the bigger the warming, the greater the biodiversity shift, the scientists said.
The change will be greater in waters that today are cold or temperate -- new species will expand into these regions but "this will not compensate global species extinction," the study warned.
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U.N. climate deal in Paris may be graveyard for 2C goal
Alister Doyle and Bruce Wallace Reuters Yahoo News 1 Jun 15;
BONN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.N.'s Paris climate conference, designed to reach a plan for curbing global warming, may instead become the graveyard for its defining goal: to stop temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Achieving the 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) target has been the driving force for climate negotiators and scientists, who say it is the limit beyond which the world will suffer ever worsening floods, droughts, storms and rising seas.
But six months before world leaders convene in Paris, prospects are fading for a deal that would keep average temperatures below the ceiling. Greenhouse gas emissions have reached record highs in recent years.
And proposed cuts in carbon emissions from 2020 and promises to deepen them in subsequent reviews - offered by governments wary of the economic cost of shifting from fossil fuels - are unlikely to be enough for the 2C goal.
"Paris will be a funeral without a corpse," said David Victor, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, who predicts the 2C goal will slip away despite insistence by many governments that is still alive.
"It's just not feasible," said Oliver Geden, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "Two degrees is a focal point for the climate debate but it doesn't seem to be a focal point for political action."
But as officials meet in the German city of Bonn from June 1-11 to lay more groundwork for the Paris summit, the United Nations says 2C is still within reach.
Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s top climate change official, acknowledges that national plans for emissions curbs - the building blocks for the Paris accord - won't be enough for 2C.
But she says new mechanisms for future rounds of pledges, perhaps in 2025 and 2030, can hit the 2C mark. "You don't run a marathon with one step," said Figueres.
She says governments need to change their attitudes towards a low-carbon economy, based on clean energies such as wind or solar power, that can boost economic growth, cut pollution and create jobs.
TOTEMIC GOAL
The 2C cap has its roots in an Earth Summit in 1992, which pledged to avoid undefined "dangerous" human interference with the climate system.
Over time 2C became a totemic goal. It was first adopted by the European Union in 1996, U.S. President Barack Obama accepted 2C in 2009 and it was formally declared as the organizing principle of climate talks at a U.N. meeting in Mexico in 2010.
It is an ambitious cap. Temperatures have already risen by 0.85C since 1880, when industrialization became widespread. U.N. studies say that may already be causing irreversible changes, from a meltdown of Greenland's ice to collapse of coral reefs.
The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlined scenarios last year to stay below 2C that could require cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions lasting decades, at rates of three or even six percent a year.
Such cuts would be unprecedented in modern history: neither the 2009 international recession nor the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union cut economic activity enough to drive emissions down so fast, the International Energy Agency says.
Cuts of that magnitude may require yet-to-be developed technologies that could, for example, extract carbon dioxide from the air.
"It will not be a piece of cake," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who encouraged the EU to adopt the 2C goal and says it is still achievable.
"It would be perhaps comparable to what the United States did in the Second World War - they changed their economy to producing tanks rather than automobiles," he said.
On the other hand, blowing past 2C warming could shift the debate to whether humanity can adapt to 3 or 4 degrees of warming - the current trend for 2100.
Those advocating adaptation to a much hotter planet raise the prospect of designing new drought- or flood-resistant crops, building ever higher sea walls, or even encouraging migrations from lands that can no longer support their populations.
Developing nations reject that talk. "Any increase beyond 2 degrees is a death warrant for our countries," said Tony de Brum, foreign minister of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. He says rising seas could wipe low-lying states off the map.
He said small island states could block a deal if Paris sets the world on track for high levels of warming. About 100 developing nations want an even more ambitious 1.5C ceiling.
FAILURE NOT AN OPTION
Some experts want alternatives to 2C. New ways of measuring success could be concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, or progress towards zero carbon emissions by 2050 or 2100.
Alternatively, the word "overshoot" - describing the long-taboo idea that temperatures can exceed 2C and then fall again - may seep ever more into the debate.
Still, there are reasons for optimism that the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 Paris summit will agree a global deal, succeeding the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that set emissions cuts only for rich nations and avoiding the embarrassing failure of a 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen.
They note that this time, China and the United States, the top emitters, are cooperating for an accord. Corporations have joined in the search for solutions, prices of solar and wind energy have tumbled, and more development aid is on offer.
Political leaders, meanwhile, want to avoid any perceptions of failure in Paris. "There is a Copenhagen syndrome," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last week. "No world leaders want to (go through) that again."
(Additional reporting by John Irish and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris; editing by David Stamp)
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Best of our wild blogs: 31 May - 1 Jun 15
Join the fun on Ubin Day 13 Jun (Sat) and 14 Jun (Sun)
wild shores of singapore
"A Boar at My Door" and other delightful Singapore children's books
wild shores of singapore
Lower Peirce Recce (feat. Youth for Ecology and NUS Toddycats)
Herpetological Society of Singapore
Red-whiskered Bulbul: 4. Did a hornbill raid the nest?
Bird Ecology Study Group
The Horsfields’ have landed in Singapore
Singapore Bird Group
Morning Walk At Venus Drive (30 May 2015)
Beetles@SG BLOG
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) @ Kranji Marshes
Monday Morgue
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Keeping the birds away with gel
Odorous product being tested in housing estates facing bird menace
SAMANTHA BOH Straits Times 1 Jun 15;
A GEL that deters birds with its smell is the new weapon being tried out against the bird nuisance in two housing estates in the west.
The herb-based product from Japan is being tested in Bukit Batok and Choa Chu Kang by the authorities here.
Along a path in Bukit Batok Avenue 1, containers of the gel have been placed above five lamp posts, which are common roosting places for birds because of their broad and flat tops.
Not too far away, another trial is being conducted at Block 755 in Choa Chu Kang North 5. Rows of containers with the gel line the ledges on the sides of the block.
The trial in Bukit Batok began in December 2013 and the one in Choa Chu Kang started in February. Both are still ongoing.
Residents of the Choa Chu Kang block have endured years of disturbance from flocks of mynahs, said Madam Audrey Hoy, 56, a counsellor. "The droppings were all over, and the birds would fly into my bedroom," she said.
The situation worsens during sunset at about 7pm each day, when the birds fly back to the blocks or neighbouring trees to roost for the night, Madam Hoy said. "Sometimes, I still have clothes out and they fly all over them and soil them."
Another resident, student Nurul Ain Azhar, 23, said it can get quite disgusting as the droppings are splashed all over the walls of the building's facade.
The gel has been used in Japan for more than 10 years and was brought in by KSPA Singapore at the end of 2013.
The product typically takes about a month to become effective, based on current trials, Mr Ignatius Chua, chief operating officer of KSPA Singapore, told The Straits Times.
About 20g of the gel is placed in each of the containers, which are about 20cm apart. They have holes at the bottom to prevent stagnant water from collecting and mosquitoes from breeding.
"The birds will still keep coming back initially because they have the mindset that the place is their roosting space," Mr Chua said. "It is only after a few times that they realise they keep smelling the same odour and decide it is no longer the place to go back to."
He added that the gel does not wash away with water or melt under the sun, and should last for at least three years.
The gel is non-toxic and does not harm the birds, he added.
Besides the gel, other bird-control methods are being tested and reviewed, said a spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which oversees bird-control measures here.
Currently, town councils and the National Parks Board selectively prune trees to temporarily deter birds from roosting. Bird-control companies engaged also use a mix of tools, including spikes, nets and chemical-laced baits.
The National Environment Agency works with cleaning contractors to ensure the timely disposal of food scraps, which may attract birds at food centres and coffee shops. The AVA also clamps down on the feeding of pigeons, which has been banned since 1973. Those caught flouting the rules are fined up to $500.
Meanwhile, residents of Block 755 in Choa Chu Kang said the bird problem has eased somewhat in the last month, but they are unsure if this is because of the gel.
"It has been over two months since the block was painted and the walls still look clean - hardly any droppings," said Ms Nurul.
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Fun and food at first farm festival
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 1 Jun 15;
Around 12,000 people are expected to visit Singapore's first Farm Festival - a two-day event which began yesterday at the grounds of Kranji's Nyee Phoe, Singapore's oldest horticulture business.
Organised by the Kranji Countryside Association (KCA), the festival features more than 50 stalls of local produce and locally made artisanal food and products, and live music by local bands. There are also live farm animals, including goats, quails, mother hens, chicks and frogs.
"The festival is a culmination of the educational and outreach work KCA has been doing in the past 10 years. It is our biggest event yet and is a real community effort from the ground up," said KCA president Kenny Eng.
KCA also launched its youth wing yesterday. Called the Singapore Young Farmers, it is led by KCA honorary secretary Chelsea Wan, and aims to encourage young people to appreciate local farmers and participate in agriculture-related activities. KCA worked with Nanyang Polytechnic on an exhibition now at the festival, and will also roll out activities later this year.
KCA said it hopes the youth wing will also give young people here a deeper understanding of Singapore's food system, as well as home-grown innovations and solutions for the food industry.
"Food and energy will be increasingly scarce due to the growing world population and uncertain climate. Agriculture should not be a sunset industry - it is an essential activity and needs to be up and coming... especially for a small country like Singapore," said Ms Wan. The festival, at 240 Neo Tiew Crescent, is on from 2pm to 9pm, although the market stalls close at 7pm.
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Pre-schoolers take on the world
Bryna Sim The Straits Times AsiaOne 1 Jun 15;
SINGAPORE - Pre-schoolers are never too young for any activity, it seems. Pre-schools in Singapore have been offering unusual activities for kindergarteners in recent years.
These include overseas exchange programmes, visits to soup kitchens and old folks' homes, plant cultivation, meditation, film-making and wire sculpturing.
Pre-school operators say it is never too early to expose kids to such activities which can teach them about other cultures, independence, values and skills.
Activities that involve overseas travel are usually add-ons to the core curriculum, which means parents pay extra for them, on top of the school fees. For example, Genius Hive's Taiwan trip costs $1,400 for a child and $1,400 for the accompanying parent.
Creative O's local soup kitchen visits also entail a transport fee of about $7 a child for each trip. There are no additional costs for visits to old folks' homes though.
Other activities at pre-schools, such as wire work and meditation, are part of the curriculum.
Beyond day camps and stay-in camps, at least one pre-school operator organises a three-day, two-night, Outward Bound-style camp every year.
Creative O Preschoolers' Bay takes Kindergarten 2 children to St John's Island on a camping trip every September, sans parents. The children pack their bags themselves and once there, they learn to cook, prepare a barbecue and play challenging outdoor games.
Principal Tan Beng Luan says the camp is meant to put the children in a new environment, away from their usual comforts. She adds: "They get to learn life skills such as planning, problem-solving, co-operation and responsibility."
Eight children aged five and six from Genius Hive Pre-school are now in Taiwan for the school's inaugural overseas adventure trip.
They will attend classes there with kids in three local schools, visit a farm and spend time at Baby Boss theme park, which allows them to role-play adult jobs.
Centre manager Kimberly Quek says: "Children learn and remember best when they can see, touch, hear, feel and taste. We believe this overseas trip will provide numerous learning opportunities for them."
Besides experiencing a different culture, the kids are also expected to come up with personal learning objectives for the trip, encouraging goal-setting and ownership.
The Little Skool-House International, a brand under NTUC First Campus, has been organising overseas trips to a rural part of Taiwan since 2009. The kids learn how to grow crops such as sugarcane and sweet potatoes, prepare simple meals and experience rural life there.
Several pre-school operators, including Busy Bees and Metropolitan YMCA's MY World Preschool, encourage their pre-schoolers to help the less fortunate and develop social awareness and compassion. These can come in the form of visits to old folks' homes or packing goodie bags for the needy.
Children at Creative O Preschoolers' Bay are taught to go one step further. Beyond monthly visits to three different charity homes, they are also responsible for planning the entertainment - songs, drama, dance or games - and snacks for the elderly.
Ms Tan says the children are "very serious" about this task and will discuss and rehearse before the visits.
"Adults should not underestimate children," she adds. "The children make good suggestions about what snacks or games are suitable for the elderly from their observations on earlier visits."
Since March this year, the pre-school has taken on a new community service project - helping out at Willing Hearts soup kitchen, which distributes free meals to the needy. The children do simple tasks, including pasting consume-by stickers on the lunch boxes and handing them out at distribution centres.
In doing so, they learn to be kind and helpful, and are "engaging in the process" of contributing to the community, says Ms Tan. She adds that at the soup kitchen, the children see how volunteers help to prepare ingredients, cook and pack the food. "It's very meaningful for them to see the effort that goes into producing these meals."
Other pre-schools seek to nurture character in different ways.
Kindergarten 1 children at NTUC's My First Skool centres are taught the value of responsibility by caring for a plant for an entire year.
When a plant dies along the way, the teacher will discuss with the child the reasons for its death, emphasising the importance of being a good care-giver and encouraging him to grow a new plant. Says Dr Connie Lum, head of Chinese Language Curriculum at NTUC First Campus: "Pre-school is an ideal time to instill core values as the children are able to understand that their behaviour has an impact on others."
Buddhism-inspired preschool My Little Gems has a concentration programme, which is based on Buddhist meditation techniques. At least twice a day for up to 15 minutes, the children meditate by focusing on their breathing and surroundings.
Principal Ben Lim says that in sustaining attention on an object of focus and in being mindful of themselves and their surroundings, the children learn to manage their emotions and exercise self-control.
Apart from ballet and gymnastics, some pre-schools also offer yoga, film-making and wire sculpturing as ways to enhance a child's gross and fine motor skills.
Children at EtonHouse pre-schools have in recent years been exploring wire work. EtonHouse Bilingual Pre-School principal Ng Shu Ping says this helps them strengthen their fine motor skills, as well as understand the material's properties.
Parents whom SundayLife! spoke to are supportive of these various activities.
Mr Tan Ming Kang, 42, whose five-year-old son Octavius Trajan is on Genius Hive Pre-school's trip in Taiwan with his mother, believes the trip will do his son much good.
"He will be exposed to a different environment and gain insight into how things work in a different place," says the consultant in an IT firm.
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A Singapore legacy comes full circle
The gripping tale of South-east Asia's first natural history museum and its new lease of life.
Peter Ng Kee Lin for The Straits Times 30 May 15;
OUROBOROS is the name of a mythological Greek snake - a snake that consumes its own tail. It is one of the oldest mystical concepts known to man, first observed in Egypt 1,600 years before Christ. A powerful symbol of the cyclical nature of time. About coming full circle, and then starting again.
Such are the strange and interesting life and times of Singapore's museum of natural history.
From roots that trace back to 1823, when Stamford Raffles himself mooted the idea of a Singapore Institution for natural history; then 1849, when two coins donated by the Temenggong of Johor were acquired by the colonial government and the idea of a museum was seeded; to the establishment of a legal body, the Raffles Museum, in 1878.
This entity is South-east Asia's first natural history museum. But the world is an unpredictable place - many dramatic events occurred. Between 1942 and 1945, Singapore experienced a war of unprecedented cruelty and violence when the Japanese occupied the territory. Through fortune, the museum survived.
Then in 1965, Singapore was suddenly no longer part of the Federation of Malaysia but an independent country. And in these traumatic times, as a young nation grappled for survival, the Raffles Museum became the National Museum of Singapore.
And the powers to be were confronted with a decision. Two "needs" collided - the need for economic survival and the need for heritage. Both causes were important - just that one was more immediate.
Decisions have consequences. In the ensuing tragedy, there was no place in the "new" museum for the century-old collection of animals. Specimens which once awed a mesmerised public and were the legacies of hundreds of research scientists from around the world were deemed expendable.
Out of sheer necessity and providence, the homeless treasures found an unlikely temporary residence in the then University of Singapore.
It was left to the stubborn and seemingly illogical persistence of a few good men and women left in the museum and nascent university to hold the fort.
Backdropped against the fading light of the Raffles Museum, this generation of scientists ensured the collection survived. Not by design but through fortitude. Failure was never an option. And failure would have been terrible.
A 'pariah' collection
AT THAT juncture in time, giving the country's heritage and treasure away to another land was an option. Even throwing it away in the rubbish heap was an option. The collection did not survive unscathed. In those times of tribulation, we gave Malaysia the whale skeleton that had adorned the original Raffles Museum building since 1907. And in the process, we gave away the memories of three generations of Singaporeans. This is one hair shirt we will have to wear for generations to come.
Nothing ever stays the same. As the world changed, and a young Singapore grew stronger, wealthier and confident, it also became more sentient. Desperation was replaced by a new appreciation of our past.
The "pariah" Raffles collection became the Zoological Reference Collection of the Department of Zoology in the university in 1972. It had no permanent home and only a skeleton crew. It was a nomad, homeless, even when the University of Singapore fused with Nanyang University to form the National University of Singapore.
Only in 1988, after 16 years of wandering, was a purpose-built abode created in the new university campus of Kent Ridge. Opened by the nation's Education Minister at that time, Dr Tony Tan, this landmark event was witnessed by arguably the most famous director the museum ever had, the late Michael Tweedie. He was with the museum for 24 years between 1932 and 1956, and discovered hundreds of new species of reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans and molluscs.
Past and present met to witness what was then widely believed to be the ultimate salvation of the Raffles collection. Not exactly the old museum in its heyday, but at least it had a permanent home - or so we thought then!
In 1998, the powers at the university decided that the collection should become a research facility. It morphed into the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in the Faculty of Science. And a new Education Minister, Mr Teo Chee Hean, heralded its revival in 2001.
Acts of madness
IN THOSE halcyon times, some "nationalists" questioned why the university should retain the name of "Raffles" for the facility. Was this name but a vestige of a colonial memory that was best excised in the name of national pride? The heart says yes but the head says no. The Raffles name is not merely to honour an Englishman who founded modern Singapore. The name is a link to the museum's history. It is its bloodline. Good or bad, right or wrong - it is part of the museum's bloodline.
The bloodline echoes its own wants. It surpasses human intent. It brings out visionaries and heroes. It compels "acts of madness" - it encourages "impossible dreams". But "madness" and "impossible" are relative terms.
I like the definitions of these two powerful words by acclaimed US journalist Ambrose Bierce, author of the classic lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary: madness - one who is affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; and impossible - something "lacking in patience and money". Like Singapore - "mad" to be a separate island-state and "impossible" for it to survive. Really?
The bloodline ensured that the Raffles Museum was revived as the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Resurrected with the unwavering support of former president S R Nathan, and the financial might and philanthropic largesse of the Lee Foundation. As well as an army of donors and fellow believers.
A "ground-up" exercise that fulfilled the "impossible dream", to the tune of $56 million - enough to build a new museum of substantial substance, and add three dinosaurs to boot. In the words of our second prime minister Goh Chok Tong, NUS has, to all intents and purposes, built a "People's Museum". Or as the museum's own staff quip - it is a "museum of the impossible".
It has taken NUS a long time to achieve the "impossible dream" - 45 years since it left Stamford Road in the then National Museum, and over 10 years since it was tasked by Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh to try nevertheless.
NUS apologises to Singapore for this tardiness in delivery. The difficult, NUS will normally do immediately. The impossible, that takes a little longer. But it has now been done.
As much as money is the lifeblood of a project - however noble - the building of a true natural history museum is not just about concrete and hardware. It needs one element money cannot buy. Heart. People with heart. And the staff of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, some who have been with the institution under one name or another for over 40 years, stepped up to the plate when it mattered.
The money enabled. The people ensured. The passion, energy and work ethos of the old museum staff - over and far above what is expected of normal employees - helped make the "impossible dream" a reality. Dreamers and doers. Heroes and heroines. They believed in the cause - even when it caused them no end of grief. As the French artist Renoir once remarked, "The pain passes, but the beauty remains". And that beauty is a state-of-the-art natural history museum for Singapore that opened in time for its 50th birthday.
Natural history lives on
THE new museum is more than just a guardian of our memories. The nostalgia I see in the older generation of Singaporeans when they glimpse "old friends" in the gallery is palpable. It is an emotional roller coaster for them. The museum is a time capsule for the old. It is a wellspring of memories for the young.
It is also a symbol - a symbol of our need to appreciate fellow life forms we share the earth with. To catalogue, to document our fellow denizens. To know so we can understand, so we can protect. It is a tool of science, an engine for education, and a means to empower the next generation, so they do not repeat the environmental sins of their forefathers.
The museum is a symbol of our humanity and our responsibility as good planetary guardians. To give young people "impossible dreams" so our very real nightmares do not recur.
The year 2015 is Singapore's 50th year of independence, the nation's golden jubilee. It is also NUS' 110th year of founding. Today, the Education Minister of 1988 is the seventh President of Singapore. Today, our Education Minister of 2001 is the nation's Deputy Prime Minister.
Today, we mourn our whale, even as we cheer our three dinosaurs. Today, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research is the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Today, the original vision of Stamford Raffles for a "Singapore Institution" is revived - as a museum for Singapore and South-east Asia's biodiversity.
Ouroboros is about the cyclical nature of time and endurance.
There is a belief that the origins of the famous mathematical symbol for infinity - the famous "lazy eight" or lemniscate - was derived from an Ouroboros overlapping in the middle. It makes sense. After all, the Ouroboros also represents an entity that persists from the beginning with such force and quality, it cannot be extinguished. That entity is Singapore's original and first natural history museum.
The writer, a systematic biologist who is an expert on crabs, is head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore.
- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/invitation/story/singapore-legacy-comes-full-circle-20150530#sthash.fZekLo8t.dpuf
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