Australia: Science appeals to fisheries for seagrass salvation

Jeremy Story Carter ABC News 7 May 14;

The scientific community is reaching out to the fisheries industry in the hope of preserving a vital part of its aquatic ecosystem.

Seagrass provides vital food and shelter, for a huge range of fish species, but recent years has seen it decline in eastern Victorian waters.

“There’s certainly been persistent decline over the last two decades,” said Dr Ford, a research fellow from the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology.

Dr Ford says a broad range of species are dependent on seagrass for survival.

“All these lovely local, sustainable fish that we eat, things such as King George Whiting, Garfish, Calamari, Rock Flathead, rely on seagrass in different ways,” he said.

“They either live in the seagrass, or they might actually eat the seagrass, or eat what is living on the seagrass.

“If we want to have a viable sustainable industry out of them, we need the seagrass to be there.”

A central part of Dr Ford’s research into seagrass decline, hopes to draw on the knowledge of commercial and recreational fishermen.

“The key difference to my project, to a lot of science and research that has gone on before, is that I am trying to harness the local knowledge of those who spend their lives on Gippsland waters.

“They’re out there every day when the weather’s good and they’re observing so many things,” said Dr Ford.

“As a scientist, I go out and do a short scientific survey, but I’m never going to pick up the things that they do.

“There’s so much information and observations that they have, that is vital for understanding the dynamics of the system.”

Dr Ford hopes the knowledge gained from those in the fisheries industry, can direct future ecological management strategies.

“What I’m doing is chatting to fishermen, getting them to document their observations, changes in seagrass cover and quality over time, and map algal bloom and how they might be affecting seagrass,” said Dr Ford.

“Algae can starve seagrass of light, nutrients and oxygen, so we’re trying to document what’s actually going on out there.

“[Fishermen] have such investment; their livelihood is invested in this seagrass, they are stewards of the system, they see these things and they care about them.”

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See Your City Flooded on Google Maps in Global Warming Simulation

Robin Sinha NDTV 7 May 14;

In order to promote the upcoming World Environment Day on June 5, CarbonStory - a crowdfunded organisation focussed on various environmental projects - has teamed up with two marketing agencies, BDDO and Proximity Singapore, to come up with an interactive website called World Under Water, a Street View mod for Google Maps.

The World Under Water website is powered by Google Maps and is said to be an exclusive to Chrome web browser, as per The Next Web. However, we were able to open the working website on Mozilla Firefox also.

World Under Water shows how various places from around the globe would look like when the global water level rises up due to global warming. On visiting the website, the users are given facts about global warming and rising water levels. Some of the cities included as presets on the website are Singapore, New York, Barcelona, Paris, Dubai, London, Rome and more. The interactive website lets users pan the whole place from one single point and share their awareness via Facebook and Twitter social websites.

Users also have the option to type any address in the search bar given below and see how it looks like underwater. The website also lets registered users calculate their carbon emissions and footprints based on the number of family members, income and country.

In the related news, last month Google Map's Street View snapshots got the ability to see what neighbourhoods and landmarks looked like at different periods in the last seven years that Google dispatched camera-toting cars to take street-level pictures for its maps.

Like every other feature on Google Maps, the time-tripping option is free. Google makes money off its maps from advertising, so the Mountain View company is constantly coming up with new attractions to keep people coming back.

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Great Barrier Reef's 'unprecedented' threat from dredging, dumping

Conservation society says impact of previous sediment dumps far greater than claimed
Oliver Milman theguardian.com 7 May 14;

The impact of dredging and dumping sediment on the Great Barrier Reef has been far greater than the mining industry has claimed, with nearly 150m tonnes of new dredging set to take place in the reef’s waters, a study shows.

The report collated by the Australian Marine Conservation Society states that the reef is under “unprecedented” threat from the proposed expansion of coastal ports and industrial development.

Planned expansion of ports, or the creation of new ones, at sites including Gladstone, the Fitzroy Delta, Abbot Point and Townsville, would involve dredging 149m tonnes of seabed to allow large ships to access ports.

The society’s report warns that the dredging process is dangerous to marine life. Worse, should this sediment be dumped within the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area, corals and seagrasses would be damaged, impacting animals such as dugongs and sea turtles.

The amount of damage caused to the reef by coastal development and dredging has proved highly contentious after the government’s decision to approve five million tonnes of sediment being dumped within the reef’s marine park, as part of the expansion of Abbot Point, near Bowen.

The mining industry has pointed to research showing the degradation of the reef is down to cyclones, bleaching and coral-eating starfish, rather than dredging. The Queensland Resource Council has branded groups such as WWF as dishonest, launching a series of TV ads to argue its case.

But in an assessment of the health of the Great Barrier Reef released last week, Unesco said it had “concern” over the dredging program, querying why work on ports had begun before a long-term strategic plan was in place.

The society’s report states that previous dredging, such as at Hay Point in 2006, damaged corals, contrary to industry claims.

“The evaluation of the impacts at Hay Point dredging stated that most of the coral colonies were healthy and that more than 95% of corals were undamaged,” the report said. “However, the way that health and damage of corals was recorded at Hay Point clouds this interpretation.

“Corals that had dead patches, but that were believed to be recovering because of new growth, were grouped together with corals that had no damage at all. Recording damage in this way has obscured the fact that these corals were damaged and underestimated the impacts of the dredging.”

Dr Selina Ward, a coral scientist at the University of Queensland, said the monitoring of projects such as Hay Point was problematic.

“We know some corals had up to 60% coverage by sediment which would have been damaging for them,” she said.

“How did they cope into the future? We don’t know because the monitoring stopped six months after the dredging.

“There are many methods for measuring coral health that weren’t used in the monitoring, and as a scientist I question the results.”

Felicity Wishart, campaign director at the conservation society, said the planned increase in dredging could have a significant impact upon the reef.

“This report highlights that the industrialisation of the reef’s coast through expanded ports will continue to cause environmental damage to the reef if it goes ahead,” she said.

North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, which will oversee the expansion of Abbot Point, said it would never propose any plan which would adversely impact the reef.

Brad Fish, chief executive of NQBP, said Unesco had overlooked scientific work which showed it would be unlikely that the development would degrade the reef.

“For Unesco to suggest that other options to develop and dispose of dredged material have not been fully investigated is not supported by the work that has been undertaken over the last 24 months and is an overly simplistic assessment of the range of issues at Abbot Point,” he said.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 7 May 14

Job Opportunity: Specialist Associate (AV/IT)
from News from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

12-17 May: Traditional Wayang at Pulau Ubin with free boat ride
from wild shores of singapore

A burst of colourful leaves in Singapore’s Garden City
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Crab expert named chief of new natural history museum

Tan Dawn Wei The Straits Times AsiaOne 7 May 14;

Professor Peter Ng of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, standing infront of the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum on 29 April 2014. A crab expert, he is one of the key figures behind the setting museum and has been appointed as its head for two years.

SINGAPORE - Singapore's first standalone natural history museum now officially has a chief, who will lead the museum under a new academic unit of the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Crab expert Peter Ng, one of the key figures behind the setting up of the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, has been appointed as its head for two years.

Professor Ng, who was for 16 years director of the natural history museum's predecessor, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, will take charge of about 40 staff members.

"We used to be a very successful mamak shop. We were small, 'family run', and we helped each other out. We're now evolving into something like an NTUC or Sheng Siong (supermarket). And that requires a different way of doing things," said Prof Ng, 54.

Meant to open late this year, it is now slated to open in the first quarter of 2015 to coincide with the university's 110th anniversary and Singapore's 50th birthday.

In 2010, Prof Ng and his mentor Leo Tan launched a bid to turn the Raffles Museum - which has one of the largest collections of South-east Asian animals in the region - into the first standalone natural history museum here.

By January last year, they raised $60 million to build a seven-storey building on the NUS campus, and bought three near-complete dinosaur fossils from the United States.

NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan said Prof Ng was "uniquely suited" to be the museum's chief.

"He is a world leader in his field of research, an excellent and inspiring teacher, and a passionate proponent for conservation, biodiversity and science education," said Professor Tan.

He also acknowledged Prof Ng and Prof Leo Tan's contributions in making a South-east Asian natural history museum a reality.

Prof Ng's new mission will be to maintain the quality of research conducted; develop teaching programmes; and make sure the gallery reaches out to the public in the right way.

His teaching role will be reduced, and he will relinquish his duties as director of the Tropical Marine Science Institute.

He expects up to 900 visitors a day to the museum, which will be free for NUS students and staff. When the building is completed in July, an ambitious move costing nearly $1 million will follow.

The "military operation", as Prof Ng puts it, will involve moving 500,000 animal specimens in batches from the Faculty of Science into three containers for deep-freezing to kill off all pests. After two weeks, they would be thawed and ready for storage or display. The museum will raise another $50 million for operations.

Even before it opens, Prof Ng is already thinking of the next chief, who should ideally be a Singaporean and a professor interested in natural history, he said.

"I joined the university as a researcher, not an administrator," said Prof Ng. "The immortality I seek is in my science. I want to retire as a professor of crabs."

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Malaysia: Let Wong Ah Fook be a wake-up call

Chuah Bee Kim New Straits Times 6 May 14;

KICKER: Subhead summary At first, I was racing gas-powered RC cars but for the past few years, I have converted to racing electric-powered RC cars.

THERE are two lessons to be learnt from the recent demolition of Wong Ah Fook's former mansion.

Perhaps there are more, but I only know of two for now.

Lesson number one: Do not procrastinate.

I spoke to some of the residents and business operators near the site and some of them said that the place stuck out like a sore thumb.

The once majestic eight-room mansion became dilapidated over the years.

Squatters went in to occupy the premises. Two Taoist temples were also set up about 14 years ago.

No one really took much notice of the place. I think most of Johor Baru residents will know of the popular Kedai Makanan Jadi Baru (Botak) at Jalan Lumba Kuda better than they know of Wong Ah Fook's Old Mansion.

I say this because when the old mansion was facing demolition -- at that time the structure was still standing -- some actually didn't know what I was talking about.

Then I said: "The old house near Botak's restaurant."

And just like that, everyone knew the location.

Over the years, no one made much noise. In fact, I did not hear anything about preservation of the old mansion until the site was fenced up.

Then the noise started, and it grew louder and louder.

To be fair to the new owner, he had fork out a big sum of money to buy the land for development.

I do not know if he knew about the state government's plan to have the house turned into a museum or heritage site when he signed on the dotted line to buy the land, but he must have grown desperate when he eventually found out.

The second lesson here.

He probably acted in haste which resulted in the demolition at night, which to some had seemed like he had acted like a "thief in the night".

But isn't that his land now? His intention was to develop the land which had not enjoyed much notice over the years until now.

I want to switch to another subject concerning an issue that may seem like nothing now but could become an even bigger issue than Wong Ah Fook's old mansion.

This concerns the reclamation works in Tanjung Kupang, Gelang Patah which is believed to have covered up half of the Merambong seagrass meadow in Sungai Pulai.

It's just grass, right?

To an environmentalist, this seagrass is a national treasure. It stretches 1.3km and has been accorded Environmentally Sensitive Area status.

It provides nutrients to the marine life in the vicinity and the Straits of Tebrau.

The destruction of this seagrass meadow will alter the marine environment and may even cause floods in the villages nearby.

To an economist, the fishery industry is a multi-billion investment.

Any possible threat to the fishery industry is going to affect those in the business as well as consumers.

Let the Wong Ah Fook issue be a wake-up call.

Don't procrastinate but don't act in haste, either.

Read more!

Indonesia: 100 Countries Convene in The World Coral Reef Conference

Antara 6 May 14;

Jakarta, May 6, 2014 (ANTARA) -- The first World Coral Reef Conference (WCRC) 2014, which will be attended by at least 200 participants from 100 countries representating the governments and regional and international organisations, NGOs, as well as scientists and academics, will be held on May 16, 2014 in Grand Kawanua International City (GKIC) Manado. WCRC is a conference dedicated to respond the coral reef damage on the global basis. The Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sharif C. Sutardjo, will serve as The Coordinator for the National Organizer of the WCRC 2014.

Sharif said that by organizing the WCRC, it's expected to be able to yield the Manado Communique, an agreement aiming the realization of the sustainable coral reef management. Furthermore, the event can drive the coastal countries to initiate their own coral reef saving and protection programs. "The Conference will be jointly coordinated by the central and regional government urged by the concerns on the increasingly degradated world coral reef," explained the Minister.

The Director General of Marine, Coastal and Small Islands, Sudirman Saad which act as the Chief Coordinator for the National Organizer of WCRC 2014, explained that the event aims a few things; to formulate the government's efforts in managing the sustainable global coral reef; to be a insight and experience sharing platform in the local coral reef management; to assess the global coral reef condition and its connection with the sea's role regarding to the global climate change; to compile the togetherness values, equate the interpretation, and the purpose of the coral reef ecosystem management.

Sudirman added that as the series of event of WCRC, there will be other events held, such as International Blue Carbon Symposium (IBCS), World Ocean Business Forum (WOBF), Extra Ordinary Senior Official Meeting (SOM) CTI-CFF and CTI – CFF Ministerial Meeting (MM). IBCS is designed to bridge the reseachers and the stakeholders of the blue carbon within the scope of the coral triangle region. WOBF aims to promote the Indonesian marine and fishery business potency and investment opportunities in the international forums. While the SOM and MM CTI-CFF is an agenda of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).

On 2007, the countries located throughout the coral reef triangle region initiated the Coral Triangle Iniative on Coral Reef, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) to promote the global collaboration on the sustainable coral reef ecosystem. All of the scientists convened in the Coral Reef Symposium 2012 stated that the coral reef suffered the degradated condition, quantitavely and qualitatively. "The coral reef condition has increasingly threatened particularly by various human activities causing the sedimentation and the pollution, habitat damage, and overfishing. Therefore, WCRC is held, one of which, to urge the countries' governements to act," Sudirman concluded.

For more information, please contact:

Anang Noegroho
Head of Statistic and Data Center
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
+62-21-351-9070

Editor: PR Wire

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Best of our wild blogs: 6 May 14

10-11 May: World Migratory Bird Day
from wild shores of singapore

Oriental Pied Hornbill chick hooked by a discarded fishing line from Bird Ecology Study Group

Butterflies Galore! : Chocolate Albatross
from Butterflies of Singapore

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Stronger measures needed to halt forest fires: Balakrishnan

Devianti Faridz Channel NewsAsia 5 May 14;

SINGAPORE: There is an urgent need for governments, non-governmental organisations and local communities to collaborate, insist on transparency, expedite investigations and prosecute those responsible for forest fires, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan.

He said this is why Singapore has drafted legislation that will impose criminal and civil liabilities on companies causing transboundary haze.

Dr Balakrishnan made that point in his speech at the Forests Asia Summit in Jakarta on Monday.

The root of the problem is misaligned commercial interests, he noted, with companies burning forests for short-term profits.

"The main victims are the locals living on adjacent lands," Dr Balakrishnan added.

"The same companies causing the problem are not being made to pay for the damage they cause to the people most affected."

He urged governments to take stronger measures against companies found responsible for destroying the environment, including those behind the illegal burning of agricultural land.

Dr Balakrishnan said that halting development is impossible, and that people have the right to jobs despite the threat of climate change.

But he said this means regional governments need to find solutions that allow for sustainable economic development.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "There is therefore an urgent need for governments, for NGOs and for local communities to insist on transparency, to collaborate more effectively, to pursue investigations and to prosecute those responsible."

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also echoed these sentiments and warned Southeast Asia to stay clear of a self-destructing path of development.

President Yudhoyono encouraged Southeast Asian governments, organizations and civil society to continue developing a regional strategy to promote a low-carbon economy.

Dr Yudhoyono has acknowledged that the Riau forest fires were a "major disaster" and has committed to the development of a unified map of land use which will help mitigate deforestation, said Dr Balakrishnan.

- CNA/nd/ir

Urgent need for quick action on haze management, says Balakrishnan
Today Online 6 May 14;

SINGAPORE — There is an urgent need for governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities to work together and insist on transparency, expedite investigations and prosecute those responsible for forest fires, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan.

Despite South-east Asia experiencing one of the worst episodes of haze last year — which had “brutal” impact on the economy, livelihoods, people’s health and the environment — the fire-burning season began even earlier this year, said Dr Balakrishnan, who was speaking at the Forests Asia Summit in Jakarta yesterday.

Last month, Dr Balakrishan had expressed frustration at the unwillingness of countries — among them Indonesia and Malaysia — to share the land use and concession maps needed for ASEAN’s haze monitoring system to work. The system aims to identify responsible parties and the causes of regional haze.

Yesterday, he stressed that it was important to remember that while the haze affected Singapore, there are far more citizens in Indonesia and Malaysia who were affected.

“Businesses also suffered losses and workers who work at worksites and even wafer fab (plants) were affected because the air in the plants was contaminated. Airports were closed and we all know that in fact, the external cost of haze far exceeded the short-term profits that the companies would have gained,” he said.

He also pointed out the irony of climate change negotiators running up large carbon footprints jetting off all over the world to engage in talks.

“I find it ironic that we argue about shaving a few percentage points in the international commitments, but yet right here in our neighbourhood, we are releasing such copious amounts of carbon dioxide,” he said.

In the meantime, while companies responsible for industrial-scale deforestation are not liable to pay for the damage that they cause to the external environment, the larger economy and the people are most affected by the hardships, he added.

It is impractical to call for a halt to development, but companies and other stakeholders can all operate in a more transparent way.

“Unilever has committed that it will track the source of its palm oil, all the way down to its plantations and therefore sends a message that it wants its sources to be derived from sustainable practices,” he said.

NGOs also play an important role. In a day and age where satellite photos are made available almost real-time, air quality sensors are always on, and with easy Web access, “we got to turn those eyes and build a system of transparency which makes people accountable for their actions”, Dr Balakrishnan said.

At the summit, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose term ends this year, called on his successor to continue with Indonesia’s moratorium on granting forest concessions. The move, he said, has managed to reduced an estimated 211 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, from what would have been the case if it was business as usual.

Singaporean Minister: Economic interests causing ‘environmental vandalism’
Bruno Vander Velde on the CIFOR blog Forest News 6 May 14;

Editor’s Note: Minister Balakrishnan’s speech can be watched in its entirety, above. His address begins at the 20:14 mark.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Short-term economic interests in Southeast Asia are driving “environmental vandalism,” Singapore’s top environmental official said Monday.

Vivian Balakrishnan, the Singaporean Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, spoke in direct terms about the causes and effects of deforestation in the region, urging greater transparency, stronger law enforcement and stricter penalties for activities related to deforestation.

“We have a problem,” he said. “The root of this problem is misaligned commercial interests.”

Balakrishnan spoke to nearly 2,000 attendees at the Forests Asia Summit in Jakarta, minutes after the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, delivered the keynote address. Relations between Singapore and Indonesia were strained last June when haze from peat fires in Sumatra drifted into Singapore, causing its worst air pollution on record.

But he also acknowledged the wider effects of continued deforestation on the climate.

“Even as we clear forests because we need more land for agriculture, ultimately this is self-defeating, because climate change progresses and sea levels rise,” he said. “Nature will take revenge on us.

“If we contuinue on this trajectory, all of us are in trouble.”

Read more!

Singapore's journey in harnessing solar power

Grace Chua The Straits Times AsiaOne 6 May 14;

SINGAPORE - People have long dreamt of harvesting energy directly from the sun.

That dream became a reality when Bell Laboratories unveiled the first modern solar cell made of silicon 60 years ago.

And in Singapore, solar cells have been around for more than three decades, warming water for homes and generating electricity for bus shelters and a Pasir Ris fish farm.

In fact, the earliest research started long before a recent national push turned solar energy from a minor curiosity in Singapore into a part of a $1.7 billion clean-energy industry.

In 1839, French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel first noticed small electric currents being produced when metals in an electrolyte solution were exposed to light.

More than a century later, researchers from Bell Labs, the renowned research arm of telecommunications firm AT&T in New Jersey, noticed the same effect with a silicon material.

The first modern solar cells were made of silicon doped with arsenic and boron, and were able to convert about 6 per cent of the light that hit them into electricity.

Today, solar photovoltaic or PV cells are typically made of a silicon semiconductor material containing deliberately introduced impurities to alter its electronic properties. The material absorbs some of the light that hits it, and electrons within the silicon cell are knocked loose and able to flow freely. The flow of these electrons is a current.

Initially, Bell Labs' solar cells were used to power telecommunications equipment in remote areas. By 1958, they had gone to space on the Vanguard satellites in the United States' space programme.

At first, the cost of solar cells was astronomical, at up to US$250 per watt of generation capacity in the 1950s, compared to about S$1 a watt today.

Even so, the 1979 energy crisis caused by the Iranian Revolution sparked renewed interest in solar energy around the world, including Singapore.

Many in landed homes chose to install solar water heaters, which do not generate electricity but simply heat water collected in a tank.

And in 1983, a floating fish farm off Pasir Ris, Marina Farm, installed a $6,000 set of solar panels to cut its $800 diesel generation bill by half, while the Port of Singapore Authority started using solar cells to power its navigational beacons.

Despite foreign investments in electronics manufacturing then, there were only a handful of solar-system manufacturers and installers here in the 1980s.

Among them were Sunergy Manufacturing, Solar Generators Singapore and Compo Enterprises, the precursor to solar firm Sunseap.

"Local demand was so small, so what we did was mainly for re-exporting," said Compo and Sunseap founder Phuan Pui Jong, 70.

Research, too, was paltry, said Professor Yoon Soon Fatt, chair of Nanyang Technological University's school of electrical and electronic engineering.

"We did some work in the early days on the structure of silicon solar cells," said Prof Yoon, who joined the then-Nanyang Technological Institute in 1989.

"At that time there was no support, nothing. But as a young faculty member, you're always looking for new research areas. Solar PV was something that was interesting; the dream was to try and see how to squeeze as much efficiency out of silicon as we could."

It ramped up slowly. In 1982, the National University of Singapore built a $10,000 prototype low-energy house at its Kent Ridge campus with solar panels on its roof, while Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic installed their first solar panels between 1991 and 1996 to test how well various systems worked in a humid tropical climate.

And the first solar installation to be connected to the national grid was a 4.2-kilowatt set-up at Tuas Naval Base in 1997.

In 2007, national support for the industry took a sharp turn.

The Economic Development Board injected $350 million into growing the clean energy sector, from research to test-bedding new technologies - both to boost energy security here and to diversify industry.

In 2011, these were topped up with an infusion of $195 million, while a National Innovation Challenge for new research on energy resilience received $300 million.

"Finally somebody was willing to fund this sort of research'," Prof Yoon said. "It's nice to look back and think we've come quite far over the years."

In 2010, the Housing Board began installing solar panels en masse on HDB rooftops to power lights and common areas, in a five-year, $31 million drive.

Today, the total installed solar capacity here is around 15 to 20 megawatts, a tiny fraction of Singapore's energy needs.

But a White Paper last year by the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore suggested solar PV could meet some 4.8 per cent of the country's 2025 energy needs, especially as costs go down, and if steps are taken to manage the intermittent nature of the sun's energy.

"The future of solar will be several gigawatts of solar installed in Singapore," said Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore chief executive Armin Aberle.

Read more!

'Green' scheme no throwaway idea

Maryam Mokhtar The Straits Times AsiaOne 6 May 14;

From getting Philips to sponsor energy-saving light bulbs for rental flats to giving residents grocery vouchers in exchange for their newspapers and old clothes, Dr Amy Khor has built up a reputation for being a "green" mayor and MP over the years.

But a decade ago, even recycling companies were sceptical about whether her ideas could be sustained, the Mayor of South West District recalled in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Her environmental initiatives - such as a weekly "Trash-for-Cash" programme which lets the district's approximately 800,000 residents exchange unwanted items for daily necessities like rice - are still going strong though.

Last year, about 2,350 tonnes of recyclable materials were collected under the district's numerous recycling efforts. Many of these initiatives were started soon after Dr Khor became mayor in 2004.

"It takes considerable community energy to sustain and expand (such programmes), because recycling habits do not come naturally to us. But, we all know cognitively that our environment needs our individual and collective effort," said the 56-year-old, who is also Senior Minister of State for Health.

Her focus, however, will turn to explaining the benefits of the Pioneer Generation Package come May 27, when she will hand over the job of mayor to Parliamentary Secretary (Social and Family Development) Low Yen Ling to focus on additional responsibilities at the Health Ministry.

The change was among the promotions and appointments announced last Tuesday by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He said that Dr Khor, who co-chairs a Pioneer Generation taskforce, would focus on implementing the package, and helping older Singaporeans understand and benefit from its raft of measures that are meant to help with their medical costs.

Mr Lee said she had done a lot as mayor by expanding community outreach, deepening engagement with residents and partnering grassroots organisations and business corporations.

Apart from environmentally friendly initiatives, Dr Khor, who is also Senior Minister of State for Manpower, has spearheaded social programmes such as Adopt-a-Rental Block. Under this, volunteers from schools, companies and the grassroots visit the elderly and low-income families, and help them with their needs.

The South West Community Development Council (CDC) was also the first to hold training sessions for grassroots volunteers, so that they could assess residents' needs better when giving out social aid.

The CDC started a baby bliss card incentive - giving newborns in the district specially designed cash cards with $38 stored value.

"If I may be allowed to say so, this is the original Jubilee package for the SG50 celebrations," said Dr Khor, referring to the special gift that all Singapore babies born in 2015, Singapore's 50th year of independence, will get.

Those who have worked with Dr Khor said she was good at engaging with different kinds of people, from ordinary residents to corporate chiefs.

Said ITE College West principal Yek Tiew Ming: "She's a really good people person and has this great ability to connect. People really like her. She's also very hands-on. When we're working on a project, you don't just see her at the launch, she follows up afterwards and gets her hands dirty."

Read more!

All households to receive free N95 masks from this week

Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 5 May 14;

SINGAPORE: Starting on Tuesday, every household in Singapore will receive free N95 masks - right in their mailbox.

That's courtesy of a community programme by Singapore Power, SingPost, and Temasek Cares, the philanthropic arm of Temasek Holdings.

They will be distributing 1.2 million emergency preparedness "starter kits" to homes nationwide from May 6-12.

The next time a haze hits Singapore, there's unlikely to be a last-minute scramble for masks.

Staff at Singapore Power have been volunteering their time getting the 'Stay Prepared' starter kits ready for the power company's meter readers and technicians to deliver to households across the island in one week -- including the weekend.

V S Raju, deputy director of Metering Data Management at Singapore Power, said: "We want to make sure that we reach out to residents, who can actually be at home then, so we can have an opportunity to explain (the programme) to them if there's a need to."

Each starter kit contains three N95 masks. And on the back of the packet are useful numbers -- like the police, civil defence and dengue hotlines -- residents can call in case of an emergency.

The flat, folded masks may be unfamiliar as it's a one-year-old design by technology company 3M.

Helen Foo, general manager of Safety & Graphics Business at 3M Singapore, said: "It's very comfortable and easy to use, and it's flat and easy to store.

"So an N95 mask need not have to be a cup-shaped version. A flat-fold N95 mask can be just as effective as it is."

Organisers said 1.2 million kits will be distributed to reach every household.

Another 17,000 will be delivered to 144 charity homes, while 300,000 more are on standby.

But masks are just a small part of preparing for an emergency, said Temasek Cares chairman Richard Magnus.

"We want every single household to begin to think about 'where do I get additional N95 masks for other members of my family?' And once they form that habit of mind, then it will become intuitive to start preparing for unforseen events in Singapore. That's the intention too," he said.

Postal workers at Singapore Post will deliver the kits to HDB flats and high-rise apartments, while Singapore Power meter readers will cover the country's landed homes.

If kits cannot be delivered to a postal address, residents will receive delivery advice with information on where to collect their kits.

Singapore Power has also set up a hotline (1800-738-2000) for the public to get information about the delivery process. The hotline will operate from May 5 to May 24, 8am to 8pm daily.

Costing some S$4 million in total, the starter kit programme taps into a S$40 million Temasek Emergency Preparedness Fund launched in March.

- CNA/de

Free N95 masks in kits for every home
Adrian Lim MyPaper AsiaOne 6 May 14;

SINGAPORE - Every household here will receive three N95 face masks, as part of a nation-wide push to get individuals to think about being prepared for emergencies, such as haze crises and flu pandemics.

The 3M brand foldable masks are packed in a "Stay Prepared" kit that will also contain instructions in four languages on how to put them on, and useful emergency contact numbers.

A total of 1.2 million kits will be delivered to homes between today and next Monday. The initiative is led by Temasek Cares, a non-profit philantrophic arm under Temasek Holdings, in partnership with Singapore Power and Singapore Post.

Temasek Cares will be pumping in $4 million from its $40 million war chest, called the Temasek Emergency Preparedness Fund, for the mask distribution programme.

The fund was set up earlier this year to help Singaporeans prepare and deal with emergencies. Last month, a $1.5 million project to train 60 therapists to help children deal with traumatic situations, such as accidents, was also launched.

Richard Magnus, chairman of Temasek Cares, said the kits will give households an "initial stock" of masks to encourage them to plan their own contingencies.

"It's a habit of mind we want to prompt... Last June, there was a severe haze that impacted Singapore... we need to be prepared," said Mr Magnus.

The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre expects this year's haze to be worse than last year's.

This is because of lower than usual rainfall expected from now till October in parts of the region and the El Nino weather pattern, which is linked to drought, said reports.

Being prepared earlier will also prevent a repeat of last June, when people scrambled to stock up on face masks.

An additional 17,000 kits will also be delivered to over 140 charity homes, and another 300,000 have been prepared on standby for needy families.

Mary Abishagam, 57, a senior administrative assistant with Singapore Power, said she will be volunteering an extra three hours every day, on top of her regular work, to help pack the kits for delivery.

"It's going to be challenging, but we will manage... We are getting people prepared and not many people have thought of keeping masks in their homes," she said cheerily.

Members of the public who wish to get more information about the delivery of the kits can call a hotline, 1800-738-2000, from today until May 24, between 8am and 8pm daily.

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