Pelagic Outing October 2012
from Con Foley Photography
Enhancing the butterfly habitat @ Tampines Eco Green (Part II)
from The Green Volunteers
Girl Guides Fun at Chek Jawa Guided Walk
from Peiyan.Photography and wild shores of singapore
disappearing croc @ sg buloh wetland reserve - Oct2012
from sgbeachbum
A Rare Young Talent
from Butterflies of Singapore
Common Sandpipers’ Tail-Fanning & Raised-Wings Displays
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Alvina Soh Channel NewsAsia 13 Oct 12;
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Marine Life Park said its acquisition of 25 Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins caught in the wild, followed international requirements.
A spokesman of Marine Life Park said Saturday that they are in line with the requirements of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates the trade of animals to protect wildlife species from extinction.
The spokesman had said so in response to queries from Channel NewsAsia on a report that a court in the Philippines has moved to stop the 25 dolphins from being re-exported to Singapore.
This followed calls from environmentalists and activists to prevent the transfer of the mammals, which are housed temporarily in Manila before being sent to Marine Life Park.
A report on the website of The Philippine Star said a Quezon City court decided on Friday to stop the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources from issuing a permit to re-export the 25 dolphins in Ocean Adventure Park in Subic.
The report added that the court granted a petition by animal welfare groups and issued a 72-hour "temporary environment protection order" preventing the re-export of the dolphins.
The dolphins were imported from the Solomon Islands in 2008, 2009, and 2011 and brought to Subic for training while Marine Life Park was under construction.
The Philippine report said the court decided to stop the 're-exportation' on the grounds that doing so would cause irreparable damage to the dolphins.
Responding to the report, the spokesman of Marine Life Park said on Saturday that the movement of marine animals, including dolphins, is governed by the United Nations Environment Programme which upholds the policies of CITES.
Marine Life Park's spokesman said the dolphins are currently doing well in the Philippines.
He added that the Marine Life Park has an experienced team of animal experts who collectively represent over 300 years of experience working in more than 60 reputable zoological facilities around the world.
"With a mission to promote marine education, conservation and research, Marine Life Park strives to offer an educational and memorable experience that inspires a generation of stewards for the environment," said the statement from Marine Life Park.
But Singapore animal welfare group ACRES said on Saturday that it welcomes the latest news.
ACRES' chief executive Louis Ng said, "It has sent a very strong message out. A judge has reviewed the case, they've reviewed the literature and have agreed that this re-export shouldn't take place.
"We hope that they will make this ban permanent, and we are hopeful that the Philippines government will uphold the law and return these dolphins back to the Solomon Islands."
ACRES added that it would be a violation of Philippine law to allow the dolphins to be re-exported to Singapore and highlighted that the capture of the dolphins was unsustainable as the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins were a "very localised and small population."
Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa, billed as the world's largest oceanarium, is scheduled to open by December, and will involve more than 100,000 marine animals.
- CNA/lp
Philippine court stops export of RWS dolphins
Derrick Ho Straits Times 14 Oct 12;
A Philippine court yesterday temporarily blocked the export of 25 captive dolphins meant to be the main attraction at the Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).
A Quezon City court issued a 72-hour "temporary environment protection order" preventing the mammals from being exported to Singapore, after animal rights groups there filed a civil suit, according to the Philippine Star newspaper.
The groups included the Earth Island Institute, Philippine Animal Welfare Society and the Compassion and Responsibility Philippines. They alleged that exporting the bottlenose dolphins for sport or entertainment was illegal, cruel and would cause the extinction of the species.
The suit was filed against the Philippine agricultural secretary, Department of Agriculture and the the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, as well as Resorts World Sentosa, the Star reported.
When asked if the resort was reconsidering bringing the dolphins to Singapore, a Marine Life spokesman said last night that the dolphins were acquired in accordance with regulations stipulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
"The dolphins are currently doing well in the Philippines," it said in a statement.
It declined to say how it would respond to the action by the groups in the Philippines.
Nor would it say when it had been planning to bring the dolphins to Singapore, or if it was now doing anything to secure their transfer here.
The park has received flak from animal activist groups for its purchase and plan to have 27 wild- caught dolphins as a key attraction.
Two of the dolphins died of a bacterial infection while being kept at Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Last month, RWS said the dolphins, which animal activists want released back to their natural habitat, would be on display only next year as they would need enough time to settle into their new enclosure.
Straits Times 14 Oct 12;
Orchard Road's hawk patrols have failed. It turns out that the bird of prey is no match for the pesky, noisy mynahs plaguing the shopping strip.
It is the latest attempt to fix the bird nuisance that has failed, and for business owners there it is back to the drawing board.
Mynahs have been bothering retailers and shoppers since 2008, after the Somerset carpark was redeveloped and the trees felled.
The birds moved from that roosting spot to the area near Cathay Cineleisure Orchard and The Heeren, and an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 descend at dusk, especially between 6.45pm and 7pm.
People have complained about noise and droppings that strike pedestrians, cars and walkways. So far this year, the authorities have received 13 reports about the bird nuisance.
When earlier efforts flopped, the Orchard Road Business Association hit on the idea to bring in the hawks last year, hoping that regular hawk flights would shoo the mynahs away.
Jurong Bird Park was happy to help, and provided a hawk and handler for three test runs from September last year.
Alas, the big bird was found to be intimidated by the large flock of mynahs, said park general manager Raja Segran.
He thinks there are other reasons why the idea could not take off, though some might suspect these are just a hawk's excuses:
The mynahs' new surroundings meant the hawk needed a long time to adjust;
The thick-canopied trees made it difficult for the bird handler to keep contact with the hawk;
Vehicles could knock down the hawk.
"The movement of the crowd and noise from vehicles along that stretch made the hawk very distracted," he said. "The flow of traffic on Orchard Road made it too risky to fly our birds there."
Just in case anyone thinks it might all be a case of a cowardly hawk, he also had this to say: "Birds of prey are persistent hunters, and if they decide to go after a prey the pursuit can sometimes lead to accidents."
The main thing, though, is that the mynah numbers proved overwhelming.
In the trials, which included releasing the hawk onto a tree, it was found that at first the hawk frightened the mynahs off.
"But after a while, the mynahs were seen coming back to the tree where the hawk was, as if very curious to see what bird it was," he said.
It proved too much for the intimidated hawk.
In 2009, several Orchard Road malls installed sonic devices to scare the birds away. That did not work. The use of chemicals to get rid of the birds was deemed inhumane.
Using birds of prey to solve bird nuisance problems has worked elsewhere. In Britain, two hawks, accompanied by their handlers, successfully drove seagulls away from a mall in Exeter. They did four flights a week for 20 weeks.
For now, mynahs rule in Orchard Road. And the search is on for the next best idea.
Jessica Lim
Isabella Cota PlanetArk 11 Oct 12;
Costa Rica on Wednesday passed a blanket ban on shark finning, in which the fins are sliced off sharks, often while they are alive, before the fish are thrown back into the ocean to die.
President Laura Chinchilla signed an executive order banning shark finning in the Central American nation's coastal waters, closing loopholes in an existing law passed in 2001.
"Costa Rica may set an example to the world when it comes to environmental protection, but it must be noted that we had a significant lag when it comes to protecting the oceans," Chinchilla told reporters at a signing ceremony in Manuel Antonio National Park on the country's Pacific coast.
The new order amends previous legislation that outlawed shark finning but continued to allow the transportation and importation of fins from other countries.
Penalties under the ban include fines and the cancellation of fishing licenses for those who are caught finning sharks. Catching sharks for food, as a means of subsistence, however, will continue to be allowed.
Chinchilla also announced an investment of up to $15 million in a new radar system that will allow authorities to better identify boats breaking the ban.
Environmental activists have campaigned against shark finning for years. They say it is cruel, and a threat to sea life and the preservation of the oceans.
Shark fins are in high demand in Asian countries including China and Japan, where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy.
(Reporting by Isabella Cota; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Eric Beech)
Roger Harrabin BBC News 13 Oct 12;
A 10-fold rise in Marine Protected Areas has been recorded over a decade.
A report to a UN meeting on biodiversity in Hyderabad reports that more than 8.3 million sq km - 2.3% of the global ocean area - is now protected.
The percentage is small but the rapid growth in recent times leads to hope that the world will hit its target of 10% protected by 2020.
This would have looked most unlikely prospect just a few years ago.
The aspiration was agreed by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2004 with a target date of 2012. Progress was so slow at first that the target was slipped to 2020 - with some researchers forecasting it would not be reached until mid-century.
But recently there have been huge additions - like Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the UK-controlled Chagos archipelago and US-controlled uninhabited territories in the mid-Pacific.
The Cook Islands recently announced a 1.1 million sq km MPA - that is four times the area of the UK land mass. New Caledonia's is even bigger - 1.4 million sq km.
Australia has added a further 2.7 million sq km to its listing of the Great Barrier Reef. Now 28 countries have designated MPAs of more than 10%.
But these statistics may not be quite so impressive as they appear as most of them are far distant from people who would be likely to over-exploit them.
And a recent paper on the demise of the Barrier Reef demonstrates that declaring an area protected does not necessarily shield it from distant influences like over-nutrification.
Mark Spalding from the Nature Conservancy, lead author of the report, told BBC News: "This is great news in the sense that the prospect looked so hopeless until recently. We really should manage to meet the 10% target now.
"But we have to ask whether the targets in themselves are enough - or whether governments need to be smarter to ensure that they're protecting the very most important areas.
"I don't want to knock any of the MPAs but some appear to be easy wins, where you could stick a pin on a map and maybe send a patrol vessel. We need more than that."
Dr Spalding said it was vital now for nations to concentrate efforts on MPAs near heavily-populated coastlines where marine resources were most at risk.
The UK government has been accused of dragging its feet after postponing by a year the introduction of MPAs around the coast of England.
Sights Unseen (PURE Magazine Oct-Dec 2012 Issue, featuring Private Lives: An Exposé on Singapore’s Rainforests from Raffles Museum News
Rio N. Araja Manila Standard 13 Oct 12;
The Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued a 72-hour temporary environmental protection order directing Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Asis Perez to prevent the re-exportation of 25 dolphins to Singapore.
The order of Judge Bernelito Fernandez of Branch 101 bars the shipment of the 25 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), which were caught in the waters of Solomon Islands, to the Marine Life Park at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.
Fernandez said he saw the need to issue the TEPO “as this will result in grave and irreparable damage to the population of the dolphins from the Solomon Islands and generations yet to come and to the environment in general as the said activity has been scientifically shown to be detrimental to the survival of the species and in violation of domestic law and international conventions.”
The judge issued the TEPO after environmental and animal welfare groups filed a petition urging the government to stop the trans-shipment of the dolphins to Singapore. The cetaceans are now at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic while Marine Life Park is being finished.
Marine Life Park, billed as the world’s largest oceanarium, is scheduled to open on Dec. 7 and will involve more than 60 million liters of water and 100,000 marine animals from over 800 species.
Trixie Concepcion of Earth Islands Institute said the importation of the dolphins should have been barred because it violates the country’s commitment under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species and Philippine Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, or Republic Act 9147.
Anna Cabrera, director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society, said the import permits were issued without proper evaluation of the best scientific data, adding that the marine mammals were forcibly snatched from their families and will make shorten their natural lives.
She noted that dolphins, whales and other cetaceans are not suited to captivity since they are highly social creatures that are used to being in families or pods.
Other complaining groups include the Compassion and Responsibility to Animals, Welfare Philippines, Dolphins Love Freedom Network, Save Philippine Seas, Save Freedom Island Movement, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines and other individuals.
The groups asked Alcala and Perez to deny the re-export permit application and work for the release of the dolphins back to their natural habitat.
Philippine court halts dolphin export to Singapore
(AFP) Google News 13 Oct 12;
MANILA — A court has blocked the export of 25 captive dolphins trained in the Philippines to become show animals at a Singapore casino, a Filipino official and animal rights groups said Saturday.
A civil suit filed by the rights groups alleged the traffic in live Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins for sport or entertainment was illegal, cruel and would cause the extinction of the species.
The large marine mammals were shipped to a marine park in the northern Philippines between 2008 and 2011, said Anna Cabrera, head of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society.
"The dolphins, caught in the wild from the Solomon Islands, were forcibly snatched from their families and will live short, miserable lives in captivity as show animals for Resorts World in Singapore," Cabrera said in a statement.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the government office in charge of the dolphin permits, would formally respond to the court order on Monday, said bureau director Asis Perez.
He disputed the suit's allegation that dolphin trading would be detrimental to the survival of the species and thus not authorised by the Philippines' wildlife conservation law.
"These are regulated species that you can trade, and we are supposed to regulate the trade," he told AFP.
"They were sent here only for the purpose of training them," he said.
The importers had complied with all regulatory requirements, and have asked for government permission to ship them to Singapore after their training, Perez added.
The dolphins were to have been sent to Resorts World Sentosa, a giant casino resort in Singapore, according to a copy of the written order issued by regional trial court judge Bernelito Fernandez.
Fernandez said he was studying the animal rights groups' plea to ban dolphin traffic in the Philippines, said the court document, furnished to AFP by Earth Island Institute, one of the other plaintiffs.
Court officials were unavailable for comment Saturday.
Resorts World Sentosa's Philippine lawyers named in the suit could not be contacted.
Swiss-based conservation group International Union for the Conservation of Nature said on its website that there were many threats on local bottlenose dolphin populations.
However, "the species is widespread and abundant, and none of these threats is believed to be resulting in a major global population decline", it added.
QC court stops shipment of dolphins to Singapore
Julie M. Aurelio Philippine Daily Inquirer 14 Oct 12;
MANILA, Philippines—A Quezon City court on Friday barred the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) from reexporting to Singapore 25 captive dolphins held at Ocean Adventure Park in Subic, Zambales.
The DA and BFAR, as well as the Singapore-based Resorts World in Sentosa, Singapore, were also ordered not to import any more dolphins into the Philippines while the temporary environment protection order (Tepo) was in effect.
QC Regional Trial Court First Vice Executive Judge Bernelito Fernandez granted the 72-hour Tepo sought by several animal rights groups that raised the alarm over the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins’ plight.
Extreme urgency
“After a thorough review of the allegations in support of the prayer for the issuance of a Tepo, this court finds that there exists extreme urgency and that the subject 25 captive dolphins and the petitioners will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury should the reexporting of the captive dolphins and the importing of additional dolphins into the country be undertaken at this time,” the two-page order read.
Fernandez issued the Tepo on Friday afternoon as Executive Judge Fernando Sagun was in Bacolod City on official business. Fernandez ordered the personal serving of the Tepo on the three respondents.
The petition filed by the Earth Island Institute (EII), Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and Compassion and Responsibility to Animals Welfare Philippines et al. will be heard by RTC Branch 101.
Fernandez said this branch was the “only designated environment court” in Quezon City that could act on the petition.
The petitioners sought the Tepo after learning that the dolphins—which were imported from the Solomon Islands in 2008, 2009 and 2011—were to be reexported to Singapore.
The EII said it received a notice from the BFAR seeking its comment on the reexportation of the dolphins on Oct. 4.
Trained to perform
The dolphins had been kept in Subic where they were trained to perform in aquatic shows while the Singapore marine attraction was being built.
The petitioners noted that other countries had banned the dolphin trade altogether.
Aside from the Tepo, the animal welfare groups asked for the nullification of dolphin import permits dating back to 2008 and the voiding of all such permits from the Solomon Islands.
The importation and exportation of the marine creatures violates the country’s international agreements and the Wildlife Preservation and Conservation Act.
The petitioners also asked the court to direct the respondents “to hold in custody the dolphins currently at Ocean Adventure at their expense until they are rehabilitated for release back to the wild.”
This is aside from the periodic reports the respondents must make before the eventual release of the dolphins.
Jakarta Globe 12 Oct 12;
The destruction of protective reefs, mangroves, wetlands and forested slopes has seen Indonesia drop five spots to 33rd place out of 173 countries on the World Risk Index for vulnerability to disasters.
The report, released in Brussels on Thursday by the German Alliance for Development Works, the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security and The Nature Conservancy, examines the risks of and solutions for natural disasters and determines the risk of becoming the victim of a disaster as a result of natural hazards.
“The new World Risk Report gives us a vivid picture of how environmental destruction on a global scale is increasingly becoming a direct threat to human beings as well,” said Alliance director Peter Mucke.
He added that where slopes had been deforested, where protective reefs, mangroves and wetlands had degenerated or even completely disappeared, the forces of nature hit with far more intense force on inhabited areas.
The top 15 most at-risk nations are all tropical and coastal where coastal habitats like reefs and mangroves are incredibly important for people’s livelihoods. Reefs, for example, can reduce wave energy approaching coasts by more than 85 percent.
Abdul Halim, TNC Indonesia’s marine program director, said that Southeast Asia, and in particular Indonesia, had by far the greatest number of people in low elevation areas and its reefs were the most threatened.
“We must strive to inspire government and local stakeholders for higher engagement in marine conservation and sustainable use of resources,” he said.
The countries with the greatest number of at-risk people who may receive risk reduction benefits from reefs (people living at elevations below 10 meters and within 50 kilometers of coral reefs) are Indonesia and India, with more than 35 million people in danger in both nations.
Next is the Philippines with more than 20 million and China with more than 15 million, while Brazil, Vietnam and the United States have more than seven million each.
The report was launched to coincide with the International Day for Disaster Reduction.
It noted that the recorded number of disasters and casualties worldwide for the decade from 2002 to 2011 was alarming: 4,130 disasters, more than a million deaths and economic losses of at least $1.195 trillion.
Green Drinks: Julian Wong – Systems Thinking for Sustainability
from Green Drinks Singapore
Plant-Bird Relationship: 5. Fabaceae
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Straits Times Forum 12 Oct 12;
TWO ideas to optimise land usage will help alleviate the population crunch ("Population 6m: Is there room?"; last Saturday).
In 2006, when the population was 4.4 million, the Singapore Tourism Board had plans to develop the southern islands, leveraging on the natural ecosytem and resources, into a destination similar to Dubai's The Palm islands, primarily for the wealthy. The following year, the plans were put on hold.
With a combined land area of 140ha, the six islands could, if feasible, be developed for public housing, complete with amenities such as schools, day-care centres, malls and supermarkets, and be connected to the mainland by LRT to the HarbourFront MRT station.
Since the Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore's first 50-storey public housing was built, I had expected it to be the forerunner for more such massive, space-saving blocks to mushroom throughout the island. And with time, there would be even taller structures - 70-, 80-, 100-storey public housing and commercial blocks - one key way to optimise our scarce land resource.
We should fully optimise the "natural resource" of going skywards to help accommodate six million people or more.
Clinton Lim
Straits Times 12 Oct 12;
FORGET the old "five Cs" when it comes to the priorities of most Singaporeans these days.
Now, intangibles such as control, confidence, community and career are more important than material gain here, according to a survey by OCBC Bank.
Another is "can" in the sense of having a can-do attitude.
These non-material "new" five Cs, as the survey calls them, have supplanted the traditional five Cs - cash, car, condominium, country club membership and credit card.
Those five Cs, used extensively to define wealth, are no longer as relevant today, said the bank in a statement.
"The wealth business is our stronghold, and we want anyone who is wondering about how they can grow their wealth to come to us," said Ms Madeline O'Connor, OCBC Bank's chief marketing officer.
The survey was conducted by OCBC to better understand customers' definition of wealth.
About two-thirds - 65 per cent - of respondents rate the intangibles as more important while the remaining are sticking to the material yardsticks of wealth.
About 70 per cent of those polled who live in Singapore prefer the pursuit of goals such as having a happy family, 52 per cent chose travelling, while 53 per cent picked staying healthy at a ripe old age.
Less than 12 per cent and 4 per cent picked owning a luxury car and a country club membership as worthy life goals.
Other "C" choices which received the highest ratings included care, compassion, children and character.
The survey is part of the bank's "Strive for More" campaign to attract customers to bank with them and support new products and services.
It was conducted over the first week this month via Facebook and iPads installed in 50 taxis islandwide. Those lucky enough to ride in one of these cabs and who took the survey between 6pm and 9pm enjoyed a free ride on OCBC Bank.
A total of 2,100 responses were collected.
As competition for resources increases and urban populations expand, Singapore is embracing sustainable development. Other cities must follow suit, argues Flemmich Webb
Flemmich Webb Guardian Professional 11 Oct 12;
Cities present a sustainability conundrum: though they are the most efficient way to provide infrastructure and services for large populations, they are, in absolute terms, incredibly inefficient.
Cities cover just 2% of the Earth's surface yet consume about 75% of the world's resources, and given that more of the world's population now live in cities than in rural areas, it's clear they are key to tackling climate change and reducing resource use.
Urban administrators face huge challenges to make cities more sustainable. From traffic jams and inefficient buildings to social inequality and housing, the problems are complex and hard to tackle — but not insurmountable.
Some cities are forging ahead with the use of innovative urban planning, technological and governance models, showing that with the right focus and resources, cities can become "smart" or more sustainable.
According to the latest Siemens' Green City Index for Asia, Singapore is the best-performing city in the region when measured against a range of sustainability criteria.
"Singapore is at the leading edge of sustainability," says Nicholas You, chairman of the World Urban Campaign Steering Committee at UN-Habitat. "It's an island state with limited resources so it had no choice but to go green if it wanted to survive economically."
Singapore's experiences have important lessons for other urban centres. Take its water treatment. In 1963, water functionality was shared between multiple ministries and agencies, which made it difficult to formulate a coordinated, long-term strategy.
With a rising population and finite freshwater resources, action was needed, so ministers set up a national water agency, PUB, which became the sole body responsible for the collection, production, distribution and reclamation of water in the city.
Today, its water operation has been transformed. Two thirds of Singapore's land surface is now a water catchment area with water stored in 17 reservoirs, including the Marina Basin, right in the heart of the city.
Called NEWater, wastewater is collected and treated to produce water that's good enough to drink. This meets 30% of the city's water needs, a target that will be increased to 50% of future needs by 2060.
Earlier this year, Siemens was contracted to identify CO2 reduction opportunities in transport, residential and non-industrial buildings, and IT/communications in the Tampines district.
As part of the city's plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, Siemens will report back in 2013 with implementation costs, a plan to implement the changes and the design of pilots to trail three technological solutions.
"This will be a good test-bed for new technologies to prove what we can do," says Dr Roland Busch, Siemens' CEO of infrastructure and cities sector. "It's a way to demonstrate in the highly competitive environment that is Singapore, that we can bring energy efficiency to the next level in addressing all the basic needs of cities."
EDF and Veolia recently signed an agreement with Singapore's Housing Development Board (HDB), the city-state's largest developer, to develop software that will help it develop sustainable, urban planning solutions in HDB towns.
ForCity will simulate the built environment of a city and its impact on resources, the environment, people and intervention costs to help the HDB make its towns function more efficiently and become more pleasant to live in. The tool will be trialed in the Jurong East district of Singapore.
Transport is another sector that has seen investment recently. On an island of 4.8 million people with limited space, moving people around as efficiently as possible is key to its economic viability. A decade ago, city administrators warned that congestion could cost Singapore's economy $2-3bn a year if transport infrastructure was not improved.
Then, there were two separate transport-charging systems in the city: road tolls and public transport, including the metro and buses. But since 2009, after a series of smart card innovations, people have been able to use e-Symphony, an IBM-designed payment card that can be used to pay for road tolls, bus travel, taxis, the metro, and even shopping.
The card can process 20 million fare transactions a day and collects extensive traffic data, allowing city administrators to constantly tweak routes to ensure the most efficient journeys and minimise congestion.
All these measures combine to make Singapore a smarter city. "What we have done is to research and try to distill the principles for Singapore's success in sustainable urban development – we call it a liveability framework," says Khoo Teng Chye, executive director at the Centre for Liveable Cities based in Singapore.
"Quality of life, environmental sustainability and competitive economics. These are the components that make cities liveable."
As the competition for resources increases and cities expand to accommodate rising populations, even those without the geographic constraints of Singapore will have to embrace smart city principles. If they don't, they will lose out financially, unable to attract businesses and talent from cities that do. The planet simply can't sustain current levels of resource use and environmental degradation. It's not a choice; cities have to change.
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