Senior citizens in Singapore go green, and it's not just to win prizes

No prizes, no problem
Senior citizens go green, and it's not just to win prizes in recycling exchange initiative
Genevieve Jiang, The New Paper 7 May 08;

AGE is no barrier to being environmentally-conscious, as this group of four elderly residents at Simei proves.

Aged between 55 and 77, they gather at the void deck of Block 133, Simei Street 1, every month to collect old newspapers and unwanted electronic goods from their neighbours.

They are members of the senior citizens' club at their Residents' Committee (RC).

The oldest among them is Mr Lee Huay Min, 77.

The retiree is one of the group's most active members, turning up every month without fail since the programme started last year.

Despite his age, he helps carry and weigh heavy bundles of newspapers and boxes of old electronic equipment from 9am to noon.

Said Mr Tan, who previously owned a provision shop: 'In the past, I would carry heavy packets of milk powder, or rice, and deliver it to my customers.

'So carrying heavy things isn't a problem for me. I'm used to it.'

The group is part of the Changi-Simei Zone 2 recycling exchange initiative (REIT).

REIT is a recycling exchange programme that RCs started early last year with waste collector Altvater Jakob, where residents can exchange recyclables for consumable items, such as cooking oil, once every two months.

This initiative was set up to encourage residents to participate in recycling on a regular basis.

GOOD RESPONSE

Under the scheme, the RC can get a microwave oven in exchange for collecting 3,000kg of recyclable materials such as paper, metals, glass, plastics and even used clothing.

If a total of 12,000kg of recycled materials is collected, the RC can exchange it for a digital camera.

Because of good response from the residents, the programme became a monthly affair last year in July.

So far, the residents have managed to collect about 1,000kg in recyclable materials every month.

Although this amount is not enough for the RC to exchange it for a microwave oven, residents' committee chairman Douglas Ng, 47, said that it's not their objective.

'Our purpose is to get the residents, especially the elderly, actively involved in going green.

'It keeps them active and meaningfully engaged in the community,' he said.

Mr Lee first got started on the recycling programme when he was approached by Mr Ng last year.

Since then, he has been spreading the recycling message to his neighbours and other members of the senior citizens' club.

Said Mr Lee: 'Whenever I see my friends, I'll remind them to keep their old newspapers, clothes and electronics, instead of throwing them away.

'With the environment in turmoil, we all have to do our little bit to save the earth.'

The project has also helped residents to bond.

Said Mr Ng Choon Lim, 67, who works in financial services: 'Recycling becomes a family affair when you see residents, both old and young, coming down to give us their recyclables.

'It's a fun way to get together with neighbours and friends to do something useful.'

Besides recycling, both Mr Ng and Mr Lee are also helping to spread the anti-dengue message, by going door-to-door regularly with RC members to educate residents about how to make their homes mosquito-free.

Both men occasionally get their wives, both housewives, involved.

Said Mr Ng, who has three grown-up children, all in their 30s: 'My children have their own lives, so my wife and I are now free to engage in activities that we enjoy.'

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Need help with cutting emissions? Call carbon man

Mr Vinod Kesava's nickname sums up his dedication to his job. His firm CRX, which helps companies create carbon credits to trade, has already secured contracts worth $6.8m
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 7 May 08;

MR VINOD Kesava has a nickname that says it all.

'My friends call me 'carbon man', he says with a smile. 'My life is all about carbon now.'

The epithet sums up the way the fledgling industry of carbon trading - a major weapon in the fight against climate change - has come to dominate Mr Vinod's life.

His friends might only be joking, but this is a serious business. It takes guts to set up a firm in uncharted territory where success is uncertain.

And the philosophy of Mr Vinod, 33, and his business partner and father Kesava Shotam, 67, is bold: It is better to try and fail than never to have tried at all.

Still, they relish the process and are determined to have fun along the way.

In a nutshell, carbon trading involves getting polluting firms - which are increasingly required to offset their greenhouse gas emissions - to buy and trade 'carbon credits' on a carbon market.

These credits can be generated by a firm cutting emissions below its quota or planting trees, for instance.

The pair set up Climate Resources Exchange (CRX) in July last year, but began operations just four months ago as the latest start-up to offer carbon industry-related services.

The firm could help Singapore in its push to become Asia's environmental and carbon trading hub.

In its short life, CRX has already created a service that is the first of its kind in Asia, and which promises to revolutionise the way firms approach carbon emissions.

The climate compensation accounting system, as it is called, helps firms calculate their total carbon footprint based on rigorous statistics collected from various sectors in different countries.

CRX acts almost like a problem checker and solver - the problem being carbon emissions. It identifies where and how a firm can cut emissions or create carbon credits for itself, using CRX's market knowledge.

'In a future carbon-constrained economy, we are talking about turning a company's liabilities into assets,' said Mr Vinod, CRX's managing director.

The firm is in talks with several multinational corporations, and has already secured US$5 million (S$6.8 million) worth of contracts from the United States and the region, he said.

That is fairly quick success, considering it started operations only in January after raising $2 million in capital.

But these visionaries behind CRX are no strangers to the carbon game.

In 2003, when carbon emissions and trading was still a new concept, especially in Asia, the father-and-son team fought against all odds to raise about $2 million from investors to start Asia Carbon Group with two other co-founders.

They had to set up its headquarters in the Netherlands for technical reasons, as Singapore ratified the Kyoto Protocol only later in 2006, said Mr Kesava.

The team was a pioneer in the trading of carbon credits from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects through the Asia Carbon Exchange, the world's first CDM-focused exchange and auction platform, in 2005.

The CDM is a United Nations-regulated scheme that allows carbon credits to be generated from validated projects and traded.

Asia Carbon went on to develop about 100 projects in Asia that will create about 23 million carbon credits until 2012, which could be worth about $585 million.

Unfortunately, a difference of opinion in the direction of the firm led the father-and-son team to sell their stake and leave - to set up shop all over again. On this, both admitted it was a 'difficult time' since the company was partly their brainchild.

'We had different visions for the business, new innovative ideas that we felt needed to be expanded, but not everyone agreed. It was difficult, but we are all still friends,' said Mr Vinod.

As Mr Kesava puts it, there is no looking back.

Today, carbon trading is a US$60 billion global market that is still growing.

'This is where we can innovate to get ahead of the game. The possibilities are endless,' said Mr Vinod.

One example of how CRX innovates to set itself apart is by taking knowledge of the carbon market to the development and humanitarian aid industry.

CRX's chief policy officer, Mr Federico Graciano, 35, has 10 years' experience in the non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector.

'So much of the development work in Asia involves infrastructure and energy-related projects that could reap carbon credits. The NGOs just don't have that knowledge and experience to tap that. Here's where we come in,' he said.

This role has taken CRX to Aceh and Nias island, which were hit by the tsunami on Dec 26, 2004. The company is assessing the environmental impact of the work done by NGOs' in these places.

'The main thing is to provide the NGOs with an understanding of where they can improve in their projects' sustainable development and, where possible, harvest carbon credits as extra revenue. This can be channelled back into humanitarian aid efforts. It's a win-win situation,' said Mr Graciano.

CRX has a staff strength of four that is growing. It has almost firmed up a tie-up with a US-based global NGO - a milestone - though details can be disclosed only later, said Mr Vinod.

The company also offers a whole host of other services such as carbon finance and asset management, including developing CDM projects, trading carbon credits and management consulting.

'There's some uncertainty in the market about the post-Kyoto agreement, but we are confident that the carbon economy is here to stay,' Mr Vinod added.

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Singapore: Light pollution vs development

Let the stars out tonight
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times 7 May 08;

TEN years ago, I met a few amateur astronomers who loved stars as much as they hated light at night.

Since the glow of city lights is never far from even the thickest patch of jungle here, they fled to cemeteries in search of the dark.

These stargazers came to mind again last month when I stumbled upon the International Dark-Sky Association, a US-based group dedicated to fighting light pollution.

Somewhat incongruously, it had chosen to set up shop at Light + Building, the world's biggest lighting fair held once every two years in Frankfurt. Amid the gaggle of groomed salesmen hawking state-of- the-art lamps, the association's staff hand out literature extolling the beauty of the night sky and calling for tighter lighting rules.

We are familiar with the halo of light that hangs over cities called the 'urban skyglow'. This glow results mostly from fixtures that do not direct their light to the ground but 'wastes' some of it skyward. These energy-sapping fixtures are the chief reason why stars are not visible in cities.

There are other victims of ill-conceived lighting besides amateur astronomers denied their view of the Milky Way. For example, stray beams of light confuse migratory birds. Hatchling sea turtles, which orientate themselves using light from the night sky reflected off the ocean's surface, may never make it out to sea when lured inland by artificial lights from beachfront buildings.

Then there is health. A recent study by scientists at the University of Haifa in Israel adds to the growing evidence that exposure to artificial light raises the risk of breast cancer. By overlaying satellite images of Earth at night with breast cancer registries, they found a link between the two conditions. Scientists suspect this is because artificial light at night suppresses the body's production of the hormone melatonin.

Also, overly bright light can hinder vision and compromise road safety when it creates steep transitions from light to dark.

The association's literature says: 'The idea that more light always results in better safety and security is a myth. One needs only the right amount of light, in the right place, at the right time. More light often means wasted light and energy.'

That message may be well received now when skyrocketing oil prices are driving building owners to consider energy-efficient lamps. But there are other things at stake for Singapore, beyond the dollars and cents.

The Republic is on the brink of remaking its city centre. It is building two integrated resorts, three waterfront gardens, new shopping complexes along Orchard Road as well as glitzy hotels and condominiums. Add to this an ambitious plan to jazz up the Central Business District, Marina Bay, Orchard Road, Bugis Street and the Singapore River with white light, animated lights, underwater lights and even lights in trees to bring out the allure of the Garden City after sundown.

The authorities, keen to rope in private buildings, have dangled incentives before their owners to add to the glow. The city is set to get a whole lot brighter.

Doomsayers may write Singapore off as a lost cause as far as sensitive lighting is concerned, but the Dark-Sky group will have none of that. After all, it is not fighting lighting per se, but rather bad lighting. The association's public affairs officer Kim Patten says it works closely with companies to promote downlighting - which come with special fixtures to direct light downwards - and gives its stamp of approval to products which pass muster.

Handsome architecture need not stay shrouded in the dark when sensitive lighting can lend it a whole new perspective. Ms Patten says: 'We respect architecture. Feel free to use light, but we prefer downlight. We also ask that you turn it off sometime at night, for example, at 11pm or 12am. We are the dark sky, not dark ground association.'

The debate between light pollution and development need not be polarised. Simple solutions - like choosing motion-activated lights - can go a long way to create a middle ground.

Perhaps with some compromise, we may still find space for the stargazers on this crowded island.

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Singapore: Expect little respite from the heat

Temperatures set to climb as May and June are traditionally the hottest months here
Diana Othman, Straits Times 7 May 08;

IF THE weather has been sweltering lately, it is because May is on record as the second-hottest month of the year here.

The fortnightly weather forecast by the National Environment Agency (NEA) indicates that up till the middle of this month, higher-than-average daily temperatures can be expected.

There will be little relief from rain, and winds will be too light to cool things down.

To top it off, a slight haze is also expected on some days between now and May 15.

In the first five days of this month, the mercury hit 34.1 deg C at its highest.

The average daily temperature for those five days was 29.3 deg C, slightly higher than the average daily temperature of 28.3 deg C in May in past years.

Expect temperatures to climb still higher - perhaps to 38 deg C - heading into June, traditionally the hottest month here.

Associate Professor Matthias Roth from the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore listed factors such as lower-than-usual humidity, dryness of the air and clearer skies for pushing temperatures up.

He explained: 'Humidity actually absorbs heat from the sun's radiation. It has been less humid lately and, together with clearer skies, more intense sunlight is shining down on us.'

The NEA also noted that April and May were 'inter-monsoonal months' - the period between the end of the December-to-March north-east monsoon and the start of the south-west monsoon, which prevails from June to September.

April and May are marked by relatively strong solar heating and light, variable winds, it added.

Although widespread thundery showers will fall between now and mid-May, they will be brief squalls that bring little respite.

Several people The Straits Times spoke to have been taking measures to keep cool in the last week or two.

Insurance agent Jessie Tan, 49, had the air-conditioners in the three bedrooms of her Jurong home cleaned to optimise the cooling effect.

'All along I felt that the air-conditioners made the rooms cool enough but, lately, I don't feel the cool air as strongly,' she said.

Although her 14th-floor condominium unit is usually windy, the breezes seem to have died down.

'My daughter wants me to switch on the aircon every day now,' she said.

Over in Bedok Reservoir, 67-year-old retiree Larry Chong usually throws open the windows and turns on the fan.

But that has not seemed enough lately, so the air-conditioners have come on more often.

'If I don't, my house will feel like an oven,' he said.

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Jamu, turtle eggs seized from ship in Singapore

Today Online 7 May 08;

A GROUP of suspected smugglers got egg on their faces over the weekend when officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Customs found undeclared sea turtle eggs (picture) and other contraband goods on board their ship.

The officers, who had boarded the cargo vessel MV Penguin Indoraya II at the Marina Wharf last Friday, unearthed suspected prohibited Indonesian traditional medicine (jamu), boxes of turtle eggs and 23,250 sticks of cigarettes, for which duty had not been paid, among declared goods.

They seized 11 cartons of undeclared assorted jamu and about 12,140 turtle eggs, which have been sent to the Health Sciences Authority and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore respectively for further investigation.

Under the Endangered Species Act, any person who smuggles sea turtle eggs is liable, on conviction, to a maximum fine of up to $50,000 per scheduled species and/or a jail term of up to two years.

If the jamu is found to be adulterated with undeclared substances or drugs, this would constitute an offence under the medicines and/or poisons acts and anyone found guilty of such offences can be jailed up to two years and/or fined.

The total Customs duty and Goods and Services Tax on the cigarettes amounted to $10,340. If convicted, a first-time offender can be fined up to a maximum of 20 times the amount of duty evaded.

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Top US-based firm to design new Marina South cruise terminal

Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 7 May 08;

THE new cruise terminal in Marina South will be designed by the same architects who are behind a port that can accommodate the world's biggest cruise ships.

The deal to build Singapore's second cruise terminal was won by Bermello, Ajamil & Partners. It is also designing a US$37.4 million (S$51 million) expansion of a terminal in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The terminal in the United States will be the home port of Royal Caribbean's Genesis class of ships, the world's largest. It is designed to process over 12,000 people in eight hours, making it the biggest and most efficient terminal when completed.

The contract to build the Marina South terminal, estimated to cost between $250 million and $300 million, was awarded on Monday by JTC Corporation.

Bermello, Ajamil & Partners will be joined by local firm RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, known for such projects as the 274m bridge over Henderson Road.

Maunsell Consultants (Singapore), which did work for the Circle Line including the Nicoll Highway portion, has been appointed engineering consultant.

The Marina South facility, dubbed the International Cruise Terminal, will be Singapore's second terminal. It will address the squeeze at HarbourFront's Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC).

It will have two berths which can accommodate ships of all sizes. This is impossible at the SCC because of a height restriction due to the cable-car lines running nearby.

The Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) director for leisure planning and cruise Chew Tiong Heng said the consortium was chosen for its track record and a concept that best fitted the requirements for the new terminal.

Although architectural design was a key criterion in the contract, the STB declined to reveal more details.

Bermello, Ajamil & Partners has been involved in cruise projects worldwide, including terminals in Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York and the Dubai Maritime Centre.

Engineering and Architectural Design Projects Awarded for Singapore’s International Cruise Terminal
JTC press release 6 May 08;

Bermello, Ajamil & Partners, Inc. and RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd appointed for architectural design

Maunsell Consultants (Singapore) Pte Ltd appointed as engineering consultant

Singapore, 5 May 2008 – The Singapore Government has appointed Bermello, Ajamil & Partners, Inc. and RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd for the architectural design of the International Cruise Terminal at Marina South, and Maunsell Consultants (Singapore) Pte Ltd as the engineering consultant for the same project.

Architectural Design

Singapore’s new International Cruise Terminal is intended to boost the existing cruise facilities and infrastructure to accommodate the new generation of larger cruise ships. The architectural design will incorporate a terminal building alongside two berths, designed for operational efficiency and a seamless visitor experience. It will also have all other facilities necessary to accommodate the largest ships currently in service, as well as those currently under construction.

With these considerations, three firms with the requisite experience were invited to participate in a limited tender. Besides having had prior experience in cruise terminal planning, each firm was required to choose a Singapore partner and participate as a consortium:

· BEA International and CPG Consultants Pte Ltd
· Bermello, Ajamil & Partners, Inc. and RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd
· DMJM Design and DP Architects Pte Ltd

At the close of the tender on 7 March 2008, three proposals were submitted from all invited consortia. An evaluation panel of key executives from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and JTC Corporation (JTC) selected the consortium comprising internationally renowned firm Bermello, Ajamil & Partners, Inc. and their Singapore partner RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte) Ltd, to design the new cruise terminal.

Mr Chew Tiong Heng, STB’s Director for Leisure Planning & Cruise, said, “All three invited bidders submitted strong proposals, reflecting a keen interest in the project. The evaluation panel eventually chose a winning consortium which stood out not only for its track record and experience in cruise terminal planning and design, but also a concept that best met the needs and functional requirements of the International Cruise Terminal.”

Engineering

Four engineering consulting firms with the specialist knowledge and experience in marine engineering were invited to submit proposals for the engineering of the terminal. At the close of the tender on 22 February 2008, all four firms submitted proposals. The four engineering consultants were:

· Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd
· Maunsell Consultants (Singapore) Pte Ltd
· Parsons Brinckerhoff
· Surbana Corporation Pte Ltd

Following the evaluation of the proposals, Maunsell Consultants (Singapore) Pte Ltd was selected based on a combination of factors, including its technical experience and strong track record in handling similar projects in the past. Maunsell will oversee all the engineering aspects of the project, including the engineering designs of the berths and buildings, till completion.

On schedule for 2010

The architectural design and engineering projects were awarded by JTC, the government agency overseeing the engineering and technical aspects, and overall development of the International Cruise Terminal. Mr Koh Chwee, JTC’s Director of Engineering Planning Group said, “JTC will leverage on our expertise in major ports and marine infrastructure construction and embark on this challenging International Cruise Terminal project. We endeavour to provide innovative and leading-edge solutions to fast track the implementation of the project and complete it on time. JTC will work with STB to make this cruise terminal the next iconic feature in Singapore.”

With the appointments, the International Cruise Terminal is on schedule to be completed in 2010. Piling and construction works for the berth deck are expected to commence in the second half of the year, and an operator for the terminal is targeted to be appointed by STB in the third quarter of this year. The final design for the cruise terminal and other details will be shared at a later date.

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$9.7b price tag for landmark Tianjin eco-city

Officials give assurance that project will cater to all sectors of society to promote harmony
Chua Chin Hon, Straits Times 7 May 08;

TIANJIN - THE ambitious eco-city being jointly built by Singapore and China in this northern port city will cost about 50 billion yuan (S$9.7 billion), officials here said yesterday, while giving the assurance that the project will not benefit only the rich.

This is the first time an official price tag has been disclosed for the landmark project, the biggest bilateral venture between Singapore and China since the Suzhou Industrial Park in the early 1990s.

Unconfirmed reports in the Chinese media had previously estimated the cost of the eco-city at 30 billion yuan.

Mr Lin Xuefeng, vice-chairman of the Sino- Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Administrative Committee, told a press conference here the project would cost about 50 billion yuan to build.

He added, however, that this preliminary estimate could vary, depending on the projected cost tabled by the Sino-Singapore joint venture company building it.

Environmental awareness is growing in China, especially among the property-owning middle class. But the poor and those living in less developed regions continue to struggle with the fallout from all-out economic growth, such as polluted air and poisoned rivers.

Asked if this flagship project will benefit only those who can afford to live there, Mr Lin said planners will draw on the experience of Singapore's Housing Board to ensure that residents from a wide spectrum of society are housed in the eco-city.

'Social harmony is first and foremost a housing issue,' he added. 'We hope to create a harmonious city that is suitable for different sectors of society.''

According to a draft master plan released yesterday, at least 20 per cent of homes in the eco- city will be public and subsidised. The 2,000 villagers who have to relocate for the project will also be guaranteed jobs and housing in the new city.

The overall population of the city will be kept at around 350,000, though there are no plans to restrict the number of cars, said Dr Dong Ke, a senior urban planner with the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design.

Instead, planners hope to reduce residents' reliance on cars by setting up an efficient public transport network and by designing walkways linking homes, shops and public spaces.

Another highlight of the plan is the proposed building of a new university focused on environmental technology.

Mr Lin said the university would be vital in providing the technical expertise and manpower required for the eco-city, though it has yet to get the official green light from Beijing.

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Mangrove destruction partly to blame for Myanmar toll: ASEAN chief

Yahoo News 6 May 08;

The destruction of mangrove forests that served as a buffer from the sea is partly to blame for the massive death toll from a cyclone in Myanmar, the head of the ASEAN regional bloc said Tuesday.

More than 15,000 people have died after the cyclone swept through the Irrawaddy river delta over the weekend and pounded Myanmar's main city of Yangon, the country's state media reported.

"Why the impact is so severe is because of the increase of the population," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which military-ruled Myanmar belongs.

This has led to an "encroachment into the mangrove forests which used to serve as buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and the residential area," he said in a speech in Singapore.

"All those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."

Surin was giving a keynote address at the launch of a new centre at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies to focus on non-traditional security threats. These include climate change, degradation of the environment, and diseases such as bird flu.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the devastated town of Bogalay, in the heart of the Irrawaddy river delta where the storm swept ashore, had suffered most of the losses.

The Irrawaddy is one of the most heavily silted rivers in the world because of deforestation and intensive agriculture activities along its banks, the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation said on its website.

It said land outside the reserved forests has been converted for agricultural use and mangrove forests within the reserve "are now disappearing at a rapid rate."

The centre cited a study which said that if the rate of destruction between 1977 and 1986 was maintained, all mangrove forest would disappear in 50 years.

Mangrove loss 'left Burma exposed'
Mark Kinver, BBC News 6 May 08;

Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of the weekend's cyclone, a top politician suggests.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had resulted in mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms, being lost.

At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials.

A study of the 2004 Asian tsunami found that areas near healthy mangroves suffered less damage and fewer deaths.

Mr Surin, speaking at a high-level meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore, said the combination of more people living in coastal areas and the loss of mangroves had exacerbated the tragedy.

"Encroachment into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and residential areas; all those lands have been destroyed," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.

"Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."

His comments follow a news conference by Burma's minister for relief and resettlement, Maung Maung Swe, who said more deaths were caused by the cyclone's storm surge rather than the winds which reached 190km/h (120mph).

"The wave was up to 12ft (3.5m) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," the minister said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

Storm shelter

Mangroves have been long considered as "bio-guards" for coastal settlements.

A study published in December 2005 said healthy mangrove forests helped save Sri Lankan villagers during the Asian tsunami disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people.

Researchers from IUCN, formerly known as the World Conservation Union, compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant waves.

While two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without similar vegetation.

"Mangroves are a very dense vegetation type that grows along the shore," explained Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist for IUCN.

"Where the saltwater and freshwater meet, that is where the mangroves grow; they often extend from several hundred metres to a few kilometers inland.

"Especially in river deltas, mangroves prevent waves from damaging the more productive land that are further inland from the sea."

Lowering defences

A recent global assessment found that 3.6 million hectares of mangrove forests had disappeared since 1980.

The study carried out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that Asia had suffered the greatest loss, with 1.9 million hectares being destroyed, primarily as a result of land use change.

It found that large-scale conversion of mangroves into shrimp and fish farms were among the main destructive drivers.

Other pressures included new development to accommodate the growth in the tourism sector and rising populations.

Mette Wilkie, a senior forestry officer for the FAO, said most of the mangroves in Burma had suffered as a result of being overexploited.

"There are very limited areas that you would describe as pristine or densely covered mangrove in the Irrawaddy area," she said, referring to the region of Burma where Cyclone Nagris first made landfall.

"There are some efforts in place to try to rehabilitate and replant mangroves, but we do know that the loss rate is quite substantial still.

"During the 1990s, they lost something like 2,000 hectares each year, which is about 0.3% being lost annually.

"But that does not give you the whole picture because the majority of these tidal habitats are being degraded, even if they are not being completely destroyed."

Growing awareness

However, the global picture is not entirely bleak. The FAO assessment showed that the annual rate of destruction had slowed from 187,000 hectares during the 1980s to 102,000 hectares during the early 2000s.

Some nations, such as Bangladesh, had actually increased mangrove cover, the FAO reported.

The role mangroves can play in reducing the devastation caused by extreme weather events was among the reasons behind Bangladesh's decision to protect one of the world's largest examples of the coastal habitat.

The Sundarbans, located in the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, contain about 100,000 hectares of mangrove forest habitat.

"This has been allowed to grow, or in part at least, because Bangladesh was really hammered by a typhoon that killed something like 300,000 people a couple of decades ago," Dr McNeely said.

"They realised that if they did not have that mangrove buffer, another typhoon heading up the Bay of Bengal would cause even worse damage because the population is even more dense than it was then."

Delta of death
Straits Times 7 May 08;

Witnesses describe rice fields littered with corpses, while charitable organisations expect death toll to rise as tens of thousands remain missing in wake of Cyclone Nargis
YANGON - THE area worst affected by the cyclone that struck Myanmar is a vast and populous delta criss-crossed by canals and inlets, factors that made the damage extensive and delivering aid extraordinarily difficult.

Several other reasons have also been cited for the scale of the disaster, including the destruction of mangrove forests that acted as a buffer against the sea, the lack of an early- warning system and a tidal wave that came in the wake of the killer storm.

Based on a satellite map made available by the United Nations, the storm's damage was concentrated over an estimated 30,000-sq-km area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines - less than 5per cent of the country.

But the affected region is home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57million people.

Aid workers say delivering food, clean water and other supplies to far-flung villages will require an intensive response.

'Our fear is that many in the rural population have been cut off,' said Mr Paul Risley, spokesman in Asia for the World Food Programme, a UN agency. 'In some villages, 90per cent of shelter was destroyed or damaged.'

Witnesses yesterday described rice fields littered with corpses, and there are fears the official death toll of more than 22,000 will rise further as tens of thousands remain missing.

Christian relief organisation World Vision, one of the few international agencies allowed to work inside Myanmar, said its teams had flown over the most affected regions and witnessed horrific scenes on the ground.

'They saw the dead bodies from the helicopters, so it's quite overwhelming,' Mr Kyi Minn, an adviser to World Vision's office in Myanmar's main city of Yangon, told AFP in Thailand by telephone.

'The impact of the disaster could be worse than the (2004 Asian) tsunami because it is compounded by the limited availability of resources on top of the transport constraints,' he said.

Save The Children, another relief agency allowed to operate in the country, said it expected the toll to climb as high as 50,000.

'If at this stage, only four days in, the government is telling us the numbers are already reaching over 20,000 and there are 40,000 people missing, I think it could well go higher,' spokesman Dan Collinson told AFP.

'I wouldn't be surprised if it went as high as 50,000.'

Aid agencies reported their assessment teams had reached some devastated areas but getting in supplies and large numbers of aid workers would be difficult.

Mr Richard Horsey, the Bangkok-based spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, said the delta was riddled with waterways, but these were not easily accessible, even during normal times.

'The big concern is waterborne diseases. So that's why it's crucial to get safe water in. Then mosquito nets, cooking kits and clothing in the next few days,' he said. 'Food is not an emergency priority. Water and shelter are.'

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the destruction of mangrove forests that served as a buffer against the sea was partly to blame for the huge death toll.

'Why the impact is so severe is because of the increase of the population,' he said.

This has led to an 'encroachment into the mangrove forests which used to serve as buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and the residential area,' he said in Singapore.

'All those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces.'

Questions were also being raised yesterday about inadequate warnings on the approaching storm, although Indian meteorologists insisted they had given Myanmar a 48-hour warning before the cyclone struck land.

'Forty-eight hours before Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing (landfall), its severity and all related issues to Myanmarese agencies,' Indian Meteorological Department spokesman B.P. Yadav said.

The department is mandated by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation to track cyclones in the region.

Myanmar Minister for Relief and Resettlement, Maung Maung Swe, told reporters yesterday that the high death toll was caused by a massive wave that gave people nowhere to run.

'More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself,' he told a news conference.

'The wave was up to 3.5m high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages,' he said, giving the first detailed description of the disaster. 'They did not have anywhere to flee.'

In Yangon, power remained cut for a fourth day for almost all its 6.5million residents, while water supplies were restored in only a few areas.

Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns wielding knives and axes joined residents in clearing roads of fallen ancient trees that were once the city's pride.

Of the dead, only 671 were in Yangon and its outlying districts, according to state radio. The rest were all in the vast swamplands of the delta.

NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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Climate link with killer cyclones spurs fierce scientific debate

Richard Ingham and Anne Chaon, Yahoo News 6 May 08;

Climate scientists have begun to debate whether global warming is producing more powerful storms, after Nargis smashed into Myanmar -- brutally changing gear from a Category One to a Category Four cyclone just before it made landfall.

Nagris wasn't an isolated incident: Hurricane Katrina laid waste to parts of the US Gulf Coast in 2005.

And in 2007, super-cyclone Gonu the Arabian peninsula was hit by a super-cyclone, Gonu.

Are these events -- massively costly in lives and treasure -- all linked?

Could they be part of an alarming trend of weird, more powerful storms stoked by global warming?

That's a question that causes fierce jousting among climate scientists.

Experts agree that a single weather event cannot be pinned to climate change, which is part of a long-term pattern spanning decades or centuries.

"It's impossible to say," Adam Lea of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre at University College London told AFP.

"It's only in the long term that you get the perspective that lets you say whether an extreme event is part of a wider trend," said French researcher Herve Le Treut, who contributed to last year's landmark report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But that's where the scientific consensus ends.

Some experts argue the evidence is already hard enough to identify a probable trend: storms are becoming more powerful as global warming heats up the oceans.

One of the most respected voices in the field is that of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel, who calculates that the power of tropical cyclones has roughly doubled since the 1950s.

The massive increase has especially occurred over the last three decades, mirroring a rise in man-made global warming, he notes. And the trend stepped up a couple of gears from the mid-1990s, when global mean temperatures began to scale ever-higher annual peaks.

Others, though, say these judgements are premature.

They argue that we still need long-term historical data -- in which big weather oscillations and cycles in hurricane activity are filtered out -- in order to get a clear picture.

Far more is known about storm activity in the Atlantic, for instance, than in the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic records themselves go back only 30 years or so, to the advent of satellite monitoring, Le Treut noted.

A study published last year by Johan Nyberg of Sweden's Geological Survey used Caribbean corals, whose growth is affected by temperature and nutrients stirred up by storms, to get a view spanning two and a half centuries.

Nyberg concluded that 1971-94 was abnormally calm for hurricane activity and that the big increase in storm numbers since 1995 was "not unusual" when compared to the longer record.

Tropical storms are called hurricanes when they occur in the Atlantic, typhoons when they happen in the Pacific and cyclones when they brew in the Indian Ocean.

The basic cause is the same -- heat and moisture provided by seas warmed to at least 26 or 27 degrees Celsius (78.8-80.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

But another factor is vertical wind shear, or the angle of prevailing winds.

This determine whether the nascent storm develops into the notorious wheeling "eye" of a cyclone or is torn into harmless shreds.

It's still unclear what impact global warming will have on vertical wind shear, say some experts. A theoretical combination of lower wind shear and warmer seas could result in storms that last longer, are more vicious and more frequent, too.

The IPCC's 2007 report said tropical cyclones were "likely" to become more intense, packing higher winds and rain, by 2100. But it also highlighted the fact that human settlement in vulnerable areas increased the toll from when the storms strike.

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Cubs a ray of hope in India's fight to save tigers

Bappa Majumdar, Reuters 6 May 08;

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Fourteen tiger cubs have been spotted in a leading Indian sanctuary, a rare piece of good news in the country's fight to protect its dwindling population of big cats from poachers and habitat destruction.

The cubs have been sighted regularly over the past few weeks in Ranthambore National Park in western Rajasthan, R.N. Mehrotra, the state's chief wildlife warden, told Reuters on Tuesday.

"The cubs belong to six or seven different mothers and they are all around three-and-a-half months old," Mehrotra said.

"Two more tigresses are pregnant and we are constantly monitoring them to ensure they stay safe," he said by telephone.

Wildlife experts welcomed the news and said they also have information about sightings of tiger cubs in four other reserves.

"Ranthambore is back to its heyday of the 1980s, and the secret of success is in better management and a lot of protection, which was not there earlier," said Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

India is believed to have half the world's surviving tigers, but their numbers are thought to have dived to around 1,500, half of the previous estimate announced in 2002, wildlife officials said in February this year.

"It is fantastic news and new cubs means the habitat is good and conditions ideal in Ranthambore for breeding," said Sujoy Banerjee from WWF-India's Species Conservation Program.

But experts cautioned that the threat of being poached had not gone away, and tigers remained vulnerable both inside and outside parks.

Ranthambore reported just 32 tigers in the latest census made public earlier this year, down from 46 in 2004.

The losses were largely blamed on poachers feeding a thriving market for tiger body parts among followers of Chinese medicine.

Trade in dead tigers is illegal, but a single one can fetch up to $50,000 on the international black market. Bones are worth about $400 a kilogram, a penis almost $850, a tooth $120 and a claw $10, tiger experts say.

The clearing of large areas of forest land for homes and cultivation has added to the decline.

It was the revelation in 2005 that all 22 tigers thought to live in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, also in Rajasthan, had disappeared that prompted the setting up of a new tiger taskforce, which includes wildlife experts and community leaders.

Since then, park authorities have stepped up security and monitoring of the cats, and have curbed the movement of villagers in key reserves.

"We at least know that tigers don't breed when they are disturbed," Wright of the WPSI said. "A lot of hard work has gone into Ranthambore and the results are just starting to show now."

(Editing by Mark Williams)

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Possible new case of chikungunya in Singapore

Straits Times 7 May 08;

SINGAPORE may not have seen the last of chikungunya, the mosquito-borne disease characterised by fever and joint aches.

The Ministry of Health was alerted to a possible new case last Friday and is now awaiting confirmation from a second blood test on retiree E.C. Sng, who is in his 60s.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is not taking any chances.

On Monday, a team of 16 descended on the Bukit Timah area, where Mr Sng lives.

A spokesman said the team will continue its search-and-destroy efforts in the area to remove mosquito breeding spots. It has found three in homes there so far.

Mr Sng said he may have caught the virus on a golf course in Jakarta on April 8.

He started feeling ill three days later while on a flight to Sydney. Doctors in Australia diagnosed his fever, extremely painful joint aches and headache as dengue.

Mr Sng decided to return to Singapore for treatment. Preliminary blood tests indicated that he may have chikungunya.

The disease hit the headlines in January when Singapore had its first case of local transmission. In all, 13 people in Little India were infected.

A massive effort by the NEA, including testing the blood of more than 2,600 people in the vicinity and checking more than 5,500 premises, succeeded in stopping the transmission of the disease.

In all previous cases, the patients were infected overseas instead of locally by Aedes mosquitoes carrying the virus.

SALMA KHALIK

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Virulent strain of HFMD affects 1 in 4 sick children in Singapore

Straits Times 7 May 08;

Rise is worrying, but Health Ministry says not necessary for all pre-schools to close
By Salma Khalik

ONE in four children who came down with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) this year was infected with the virulent strain EV-71, said the Health Ministry (MOH) yesterday.

This is a jump from the 16 per cent reported in mid-April, and a potential cause for worry.

Batch tests conducted by the ministry showed that 26 per cent of the 10,490 children infected so far this year contracted the EV-71 virus, which was responsible for more than half of the seven deaths here in October 2000, when Singapore had its first major outbreak of the disease.

No fatalities have been reported in the current outbreak here, but the EV-71 virus has already killed 26 children in China this year.

Just two weeks ago, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the re-emergence of EV-71 was worrying.

Noting that the strain does not surface every year, Mr Khaw said its appearance was the reason his ministry had been enforcing stricter measures, such as mandating school closures, to stem the spread.

However, the ministry told The Straits Times yesterday that it is not considering repeating the drastic step it took in 2000, when it ordered all the 1,000 or so pre-schools and childcare centres to close temporarily.

But it said the number of such centres which have been told to close or were urged to do so voluntarily is escalating.

As of Monday, 17 centres have been told to shut down.

Forced closure of 10 days is ordered when a centre has 13 sick children and transmission of the virus has not been broken after 15 days.

The ministry also wants 48 pre-schools and childcare centres where transmissions have been occurring for more than 15 days to close voluntarily.

Meanwhile, the number of infections shows little sign of abating. Last week's figure of 1,465 new cases was just one shy of the record set the week before.

The 285 new cases on Monday was higher than the one-day peak of 258 cases in 2000.

By 3pm yesterday, there were already 125 new cases.

So far this year, 130 children have been hospitalised because of the disease.

Said an MOH spokesman yesterday: 'We expect cases to remain high for a few more weeks till the mid-year school holidays.'

Regionally, infections also continue to climb.

In China, state media reported yesterday that the number of EV71 cases had risen to more than 12,000, with 26 children killed so far.

Taiwan has also seen a spike in the number of EV71 infections this year, while doctors in Vietnam say they are treating far more children this year for symptoms of HFMD.

Despite the rising numbers here, Madam Halimah Yacob, head of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health, cautioned against rushing to close affected childcare centres and kindergartens.

Saying such a decision has to be ' very carefully considered', she added: 'This would cause tremendous disruption to the children and working parents, and may unwittingly also cause panic and alarm among the public.'

Fellow GPC member Lam Pin Min agreed, but said that if the situation worsens, Singapore might need to take tougher action, such as closing a centre the moment it has a confirmed case, he said.

The closure of pre-schools and centres in October 2000 resulted in a dramatic drop in cases, but also caused an uproar among parents, who were forced to scramble for alternative childcare arrangements and later criticised the Government for acting too hastily.

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