Philippines: Mangroves and disaster resilience

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy Manila Standard Today 8 Dec 14;

As soon as it was known that Hagupit, the last but not the least typhoon that would hit the country this year, was barreling its way to the Visayas, “storm surge” warnings were up.

Two years ago , “storm surge” was not in the country’s disaster lexicon, but it was introduced there by Yolanda, complete with illustrations on how lethal it was.

Yolanda rewrote our typhoon playbook. It has increased this nation’s disaster IQ to the point that when a storm brews over the Pacific, the people on its forecast path already know the drill.

Most now pack up without prodding, batten down windows without prompting, and troop to the nearest evacuation center without being told to.

Officials have also memorized their what-is-to-be-done spiel. For sure, there’s the televised national and local command conferences where orders are barked with gale-force strength including rallying cries, the flavor of the month it seems is “zero casualty.”

But while it can be said that we have developed some sort of a muscle memory on disaster response, it seems that we have not when it comes to disaster prevention, or what the UN types would call disaster resiliency.

There is no debate that there are things to be done on how to mitigate the effects of our geographical misfortune of being the doormat to the typhoon alley.

There is actually a long checklist , but let me just focus on one, which is linked to storm surges.

It has been said that mangroves are the best coastal defense against storm surge. They’ve also been bruited as tsunami armors, which , by the way, is also a need in a quake-prone country whose archipelagic contour follows the outline of the earth’s Ring of Fire.

Sadly, we have stripped our coasts of these natural barriers. From half a million hectares at the turn of the last century, the area on which Philippine mangroves are planted has shrunk to about 120,000 hectares at the beginning of this century.

If we dial back our history lesson to the start of the Spanish conquest, we should remember that Metro Manila was one big mangrove. In fact, it got its name from the swamp plant called nilad.

During the 20th century, we converted almost a quarter of a million hectares of mangroves into fishponds, or at a rate of almost 200 basketball courts a day. To this day, the war of the backhoes against bakhaws continues.

This is not to say that there’s not one redeeming value in their conversion. Pond-raised fish, like tilapia and bangus, now account for more than half of the country’s annual fish output.

Not only do these ex-mangroves produce half of the fish we consume, but at a price half than the pricey species that commercial and municipal fishermen catch.

Because food security is a demand we cannot ignore, experts have proposed that for every hectare of mangrove converted into fishpond, we retain and nurture four. This 1: 4 ratio does exist, but sadly on the reverse.

However, it is not too late to expand our mangrove inventory. In fact, it becomes a national imperative —to boost climate change resiliency and to help attain food security. Rising seas and rising population demand that we must.

As source of cheap protein, a hectare of mangrove can yield up to 650 kilos of fish, mollusks, crabs, shellfish a year. At a bargain P100 per kilo, that’s P65,000 a year on 10,000 square meters of tidal greenbelt.

Its effect on fish density radiates to nearby waters. Corals near mangroves are known to exhibit up to 25 times more volume of fish.

Because mangroves are forests on water, then they yield wood, for fuel or even for furniture. Nipa is of course a roofing material. It is the same plant which oozes that nectar used in distilling nipa lambanog.

I’ve read one study on how a hectare of mangrove was able to yield 60,000 pieces of poles on Year 5 to 10 after planting. If you’ve been to a hardware recently, you would know how a lumber as hard as a cardboard costs nowadays.

They’re also a veritable medicine cabinet. They supply indigenous remedies to ailments. And provide sanctuary to birds. They’re not only spawning grounds for fish, they’re avian nurseries as well. Imagine mangroves to be a condominium, with stratified dwellers from the roots to the canopy.

There are mangrove benefits which are hard to pin a peso sign on. To cite one, the deep roots of mangroves are pollution sieves. They filter sediments and prevent erosion.

These are not only anchors which protect coasts hammered by typhoons, they serve as magnets for tourists, too.

Rustic accommodations in the middle of a mangrove forest, with the foliage serving as natural wallpapers, are the ones that fetch premium rates. Mangrove eco-tours, which feature kayaking, among many thrill sell-points, have built a wide fan base.

Is there money for mangrove planting ? Yes, there is. For next year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources plans to spend P7 billion in planting 300 million seedlings and saplings on 300,000 hectares of land.

I know that the bias is for upland areas. But regreening should extend from ridges to (near the) reefs. And, for transparency requirements, mangrove replanting is easier to monitor and audit. How can you hide something which is visible and countable on the horizon?

And who has ever claimed that species planted on water has been burned in a fire caused by lightning?

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 7 Dec 14

Life History of the Dark Brand Bush Brown
from Butterflies of Singapore

My 3rd Visit to the Tampines Eco Green Nature Park
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Read more!

A trilling tribute to late bird scientist

Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 7 Dec 14;

He was one of South-east Asia's most respected conservation biologists, and an avid bird scientist who died suddenly in 2011 from cancer at the age of 49.

Now, Professor Navjot Sodhi, a Canadian citizen who spent the last 16 years of his life teaching at the National University of Singapore (NUS), has been immortalised by some of his former students who have named a new bird species after him.

The bird, the Muscicapa sodhii, had been spotted in Indonesia's Sulawesi several times since 1997, but researchers were not able to confirm its existence as it looks very similar to another bird, the Muscicapa griseisticta, said Assistant Professor Frank Rheindt from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences.

It was only in 2012, 15 years after the first sighting, that researchers from the United States and Indonesia managed to get two dead specimens from a local bird hunter.

Dr Rheindt and his assistant analysed the DNA of the specimens and confirmed that it was a new species that had not been named.

The bird is a small, grey-brown flycatcher with dusky streaks on its breast and throat, and short wings.

Its song consists of "thin, very high-pitched whistles, chirps, twitters, glissandos, buzzy notes and trills of highly varied and often complex form".

Mr Yong Ding Li, an ecology doctoral student at the Australian National University and one of the researchers, said Prof Sodhi had played an important role in making the Sulawesi expeditions possible before his death.

The late professor introduced the researchers to his colleagues in Indonesia, gave them advice when they were interested in mounting an expedition to the Sulawesi highlands, and even wrote letters of endorsement for the research permit applications, said Mr Yong.

Mr Yong also surveyed insects and birds in Borneo with Prof Sodhi from 2006 to 2008, and had his honours-degree work supervised by him.

"He gave us a lot of independence but was always approachable. Academics aside, he also had a great sense of humour - not many days would pass without laughter or the hyena-like giggle of his emanating from the conservation ecology lab," he said.

The bird discovery was published in scientific journal PLOS One last week.

Aside from the bird, Prof Sodhi also had a snail, a fish, a crab species and a crab genus with several species named after him.

Read more!

Malaysia: Heavy rains fill up dams

RAZAK AHMAD The Star 7 Dec 14;

PETALING JAYA: Heavy rains have now filled three of Selangor’s eight dams to maximum capacity with one recording a level of 101.5%.

The almost daily downpours also flooded two water treatment plants earlier last week, causing a shutdown of the plants and temporary supply disruption in parts of the Sabak Bernam and Hulu Selangor districts.

The Klang Gates and Langat dams both recorded 100% capacity yesterday, while the Batu dam stood at 101.5%, according to the website of the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS), which is in charge of the state’s dams.

The Sungai Selangor dam, which supplies water to 60% of the Klang Valley and whose level fell to nearly 30% of its capacity in September due to a long dry spell, is now at 61.89%.

LUAS director Md Khairi Selamat said the high level of water at the three dams did not pose any danger.

“The water level can go over 100%, and when it reaches a certain level past that mark, excess water will be chanelled out,” he said.

“The situation does not pose any danger as the dams are designed to accommodate the overflow with spillway structures,” said Khairi.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) said supply to affected parts of Hulu Selangor was now back to normal after the temporary shutdown of the Sungai Selisek treatment plant on Tuesday.

“We were notified by the treatment plant operator that heavy rains had caused the water level at Sungai Selisek to rise sharply, causing the plant to be flooded,” said Syabas corporate communications general manager Priscilla Alfred.

Syabas buys treated water from the treatment plant operators, then distributes it to nine million residents in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

On Wednesday, the Bernam River Headwork treatment plant was shut down following heavy rains which caused the water level at Sungai Bernam to overflow its banks and flood the plant.

Supply to affected areas in Sabak Bernam returned to normal yesterday.

“It is not often that floods cause a shutdown but it does happen once in a while during heavy downpours,” said Alfred.

Association of Water and Energy Research (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran said that despite the heavy rains, supply disruptions could still happen because there was not enough treated water being produced to meet rising demand.

“It can rain cats and dogs for the next six months or so, but the supply of treated water is limited to how much the treatment plants can produce,” he said.

Measures to boost the supply of treated water in the Klang Valley, namely the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project and the Langat 2 treatment plant, are ongoing.

Read more!

Malaysia: Audit how businesses affect environment

New Straits Times 7 Dec 14;

IN the wake of the environmental disaster in Cameron Highlands brought about by illegal land clearing, the need for concerted efforts to protect the environment has become more urgent.

The Cameron Highlands tragedy has proven that if we are not going to make peace with the environment, the destruction will be all the more greater in the future.

From what we have fathomed from the Cameron Highlands destruction, we have not learnt from past mistakes and that recommendations on environmental protection had gone unheeded.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced recently that as next year’s Asean chair, Malaysia would advocate sustainable growth and climate action.

As Malaysia is about to embark on a year of global climate action and sustainable economic growth, and pushes for a green agenda, all sectors of our economy should work towards ensuring that the economy and the environment could prosper together.

We can and should demonstrate that sustainable development is not an indulgence but a precursor to success. We need more green industries to provide jobs and help Malaysians gain knowledge so that young entrepreneurs can acquire the skills to support this sector.

As our focus is on sustainable growth and environmentally-friendly development, it is essential for the public and private sectors to develop environmental auditing systems and provide annual reports on the impact of their activities on the environment.

At a time when environmental concerns in the business sector are being given greater focus across the globe, environmental auditing should be an integral part of corporate management. With the advent of the “green corporate culture”, there is a need for businesses to be more conscious of environmental issues. Companies must realise there is more to gain by preserving the environment.

Problems related to illegal land clearing, deforestation, dumping of hazardous waste by irresponsible companies and smoke emissions from factories have, time and again, been reported in the media. Unless those concerned are prepared to address these issues, they will not only have to bear the full brunt of the law, but eventually lose out, as trade barriers fall in the global market.

Environmental reporting is about the company’s disclosure on the impact of its economic activities on the environment. The disclosure may provide vital information for investors to protect themselves from unexpected losses as a result of environmental costs. To the public, such disclosures will enable them to evaluate the social commitments undertaken by the corporate entity.

As has been observed, there is an emerging trend among corporations, particularly internationally, to disclose information on environment policies, objectives and programmes to the public.

Malaysian companies need to improve their environmental accounting as this trend may become an established practice worldwide to govern investment decisions. Hopefully, environmental accounting will lead to a change in the mindset on environmental issues in a company’s top management. Securing profit should not be at the expense of the environment as companies have a social responsibility to inform their stakeholders of the impact businesses have on the environment.

Shareholders must also strive to be aware that profit is not made at the expense of the environment, and that companies should be more responsible for the future generation.

The proposed environmental accounting will no doubt ensure not only greater awareness but also the development of a responsible attitude among chief executive officers towards the impact of their company’s activities on the environment.

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Kuala Lumpur

Read more!

Thai, Myanmar villagers fear secretive Salween dam project

Thin Lei Win Reuters 4 Dec 14;

SOB MOEI, Thailand (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tikuepor, an ethnic Karen from eastern Myanmar living on the Thai side of the Salween River, is one of thousands of people worried about losing everything if a multinational hydropower project goes ahead in this sensitive border area.

A senior commander of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which claims to control land in Myanmar affected by the project, says the Myanmar military has moved more troops into the area and this could derail peace talks with the government.

Tikuepor was only 13 when she fled her village in eastern Myanmar to escape a campaign by the Burmese military against ethnic armed rebels, during which troops terrorised civilians to stop them supporting the rebels.

Now 54 and living in Sob Moei, a Thai village beside the fast-flowing Salween, she fears what little she knows of the hydropower project.

"I don't have a Thai citizenship card. We don't have titles for the land we live on," said Tikuepor, who goes by a single name, sitting on a bench in the school grounds. "We won't receive any compensation if we have to leave this village."

Sob Moei is located 47 kms (30 miles) upstream from the site of the long-planned 1,360-megawatt Hatgyi dam in Myanmar.

Environmental activists say Hatgyi, aimed at harnessing the power of the Salween, Southeast Asia's second longest river, could displace thousands of people, block fish migration routes and reduce the food and jobs on which riverine people depend.

Communities in the area are already marginalised - many are poor, uneducated ethnic and religious minorities living in remote places.

General Baw Kyaw Heh, KNLA's vice chief of staff, has said the Burmese troop deployment to the area threatens to derail peace negotiations between the government and ethnic armed groups.

Burmese also object to the fact that most of the electricity to be generated will go to Thailand, leaving little for energy-starved Myanmar.

Hatgyi is being developed jointly by Chinese, Thai and Burmese investors, including the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and IGE, a Burmese company dealing in timber, oil, gas and mining.

IGE is linked to the sons of Aung Thaung, a prominent Burmese lawmaker blacklisted by the United States for "actively attempting to undermine recent economic and political reforms."

Thana Puttarangsri, EGAT's manager for international issues, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the completion of Hatgyi depended on decisions by partners but refused to comment further and did not pick up subsequent calls.

Myanmar's Energy Ministry was also not available for comment despite numerous calls.

NINETEEN DAMS PLANNED

The Salween rises on the Tibetan Plateau and flows some 2,400 kms (1,500 miles) through China, Thailand and Myanmar to the Andaman Sea, crisscrossing many of Myanmar's ethnic minority areas.

Six million people live in the Salween watershed and depend on the river for jobs and nutritious food, according to the WWF. Campaigners say six dams are planned in Burma and 13 on the upper Salween in China.

In Sob Moei, a remote village at the confluence of the Moei and Salween rivers, about 40 families share Tikuepor's plight, according to the village's Thai-Karen headman, Decha Srisawaidaoruang, 30.

The village has no electricity or phone signal, though WiFi is available in the school grounds. It is an hour's boat ride from the only pier along the Salween in Thailand.

"There have not been many channels to voice our concerns about this dam and we do not have access to decision makers," said Decha.

Civil society groups are concerned that Thailand's military rulers may allow EGAT and the Thai energy industry to push the project through without assessments of its impact on people living nearby, said Pianporn Deetes, campaign coordinator for the environmental group International Rivers (IR) in Thailand.

Information about the project has been minimal, she said. "The last environmental impact assessment that was conducted was not made public."

"We're just asking the Thai government and Thai energy utilities to behave as they do at home, to comply with Thai laws that require social and health impact assessments on large-scale infrastructure projects," she said.

THREAT TO PEACE TALKS

If built, Hatgyi could destabilise the area, KNLA general Baw Kyaw Heh warned.

"With such large-scale investment and a flood of money coming into the area, there are likely to be lots of conflicts. The villagers will face the direct cost of militarisation and fighting," he told journalists at Ei Thu Ta camp.

"It's clear that investment in Hatgyi and similar projects are obstructing the peace process in Myanmar, particularly in Karen state," Baw Kyaw Heh said.

Ei Thu Ta, 90 minutes upstream from Ban Sob Moei and on the Myanmar side of the river, was set up around 2006 for over 3,700 displaced Karens who say they fled abuses by the Burmese army.

Myanmar's semi-civilian government is currently negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with guerrilla groups. (Additional reporting by Kaweewit Kaewjinda in Bangkok and Soe Zeya Tun and Min Zeya Oo in Myanmar) (Reporting by Thin Lei Win; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 6 Dec 14

Night Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (05 Dec 2014)
from Beetles@SG BLOG

Blue Sprite mating and ovipositing
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Read more!

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve's extension opens to the public

AsiaOne 6 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE - Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee officiated the opening of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve's (SBWR) extension this morning, marking the completion of phase two of the reserve's masterplan.

The reserve is the largest mangrove forest in Singapore, and is home to almost half of true mangrove plant species in the world. It became Singapore's first ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003, and is recognised as a site of international importance for migratory birds.

The 31-hectare extension, with its rich mangrove and coastal forests which are home to diverse species of fauna such as crabs and mudskippers, will be able to provide new outdoor recreational and educational activities.

Six new guided walks will be conducted on Saturdays by volunteers, the National Parks Board (NParks) announced today.

At the opening, Mr Lee announced that work on phase three of the masterplan has begun and will be completed by end-2017.

The third phase includes the sensitive enhancement of two conservation areas: the western end of the reserve, where Cashin House is situated, and the Kranji Marshes.

With the intention to keep the activity in the area low, nature appreciation of coastal habitats, education and outreach will take centre stage at the 6.16ha western end of SBWR.

The freshwater Kranji marshes will be enhanced to attract more marsh birds and include shelters and trails for better visitor access.

Speaking at the opening, MOS Lee said: "In 2008, NParks launched the Sungei Buloh Masterplan to ensure that Sungei Buloh continues to be a living wetland and a tranquil sanctuary for wildlife. The Masterplan included a new extension to be built at the fringe of the existing reserve, which will help reduce the pressure on the existing reserve as more Singaporeans and tourists visit the reserve."

NParks added that there has been a 50 per cent increase in active volunteers from last year, the highest rise in its volunteerism rate since its volunteer programmes began in the 1990s.

NParks said it welcomes more people who are passionate about nature to join its volunteer programme at www.nparks.gov.sg/volunteer.

Work begins on phase three of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Masterplan
Sara Grosse Channel NewsAsia 6 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE: Work on phase three of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Masterplan has begun and will be completed by end 2017.

Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee announced this at the opening of the reserve's extension on Saturday morning (Dec 6), marking the completion of phase two.

The third phase of the Masterplan includes the sensitive enhancement of two conservation areas: the western end of the Reserve, where Cashin House is situated, and the Kranji Marshes.

The Kranji Marshes will be enhanced to attract more marsh birds and to include shelters and trails for better visitor access. The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve extension opens on Saturday (Dec 6) to members of the public.

- CNA/by

Kranji Marshes to be more accessible by 2016
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 7 Dec 14;
Singaporeans will have better access to the Kranji Marshes when the area reopens in 2016 with shelters and trails.

The National Parks Board (NParks) has started works to improve the 56ha freshwater marshland, including clearing the ponds of weeds and replanting vegetation to attract more birds.

The wetland on the outskirts of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is well loved by nature lovers, and especially rich in marsh birds. The plans are part of Phase 3 of NParks' Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve masterplan, which also includes improving the western end of the reserve by 2017.

Within the next few years, NParks will spruce up the currently disused Cashin House - a former residence extending out to sea in Lim Chu Kang. Nature trails will also link the reserve to the house, which is historically significant as it may have been the first landing point of the Japanese in Singapore during World War II.

Yesterday, the agency spelled out its plans as it celebrated the completion of the masterplan's second phase, which involved a 31ha extension to the 130ha reserve.

The extension includes a new visitor centre, a mid-canopy walk through a secondary forest, a coastal boardwalk and other attractions like the Mud Experience, where visitors can step onto mudflats during low tide to get up close to creatures living in the mud, such as mudskippers.

Mr Desmond Lee, Minister of State for National Development, opened the extension yesterday. "Sungei Buloh is a unique place not just for birds, but also for us city dwellers who need a respite from the hustle and bustle of city life," he said.

Fourteen NParks volunteers were also given long-service awards yesterday. NParks said its volunteer ranks have grown by 50 per cent in the past year and number some 1,500 people today.

The agency also paid tribute to a group of about 50 former and current volunteers who have helped contribute to Sungei Buloh's growth since the 1990s.

One of them, nature guide Kwan Sau Kuen, 60, said she was motivated to volunteer because she noticed visitors leaving the reserve disappointed that they could not spot any birds.

"What they didn't know was that the patches of brown they thought were soil were actually birds. That was when I knew I had to do my part."

She added: "Sungei Buloh is one of the few places in Singapore that has been kept rustic and natural. It is important to conserve the wonders of the mangroves for the next generation to enjoy."

Read more!

China Aviation Oil, NParks team up to produce video series on Singapore biodiversity

CAROLYN KHEW AsiaOne 5 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE- Filming has begun for a series of videos that will capture the unique flora and fauna of Singapore.

A specialised video crew from Australia which has many years of experience in shooting wildlife, has been hired for the project which will be rolled out in the first quarter of next year.

The Biodiversity Video Series will be released in primary schools and places of interest such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

It will also feature examples of how individuals can do their part for the environment.

The video project is part of activities under a tie-up between jet fuel trader China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation (CAO) and the National Parks Board (NParks) to support environment protection.

The collaboration between CAO and the Garden City Fund, a registered charity of NParks, was announced yesterday.

Prof Leo Tan, Chairman of the Fund, said: "It is important that the younger generation continues to understand, appreciate and connect with our greenery and natural heritage."

CAO, which has key markets in China and Europe, has been involved in several projects with NParks, including the planting of tree saplings and conservation work at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

On Dec 3, 35 CAO employees also helped to clear weeds at Admiralty Park.

Said the Chief Executive Officer of CAO Meng Fanqiu: "These are great opportunities for CAO's employees to participate in meaningful causes such as the protection of Singapore's biodiversity,"

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/environment/story/china-aviation-oil-nparks-team-produce-video-series-spore-biodivers#sthash.DYpNCkTU.dpuf

Read more!

Pilot project to test managing stray dogs without culling

KENNETH CHENG Channel NewsAsia 6 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE — Stray dogs on Jurong Island will no longer be culled: Instead, they will be trapped, neutered and released back into their community as part of a pilot Trap-Neuter-Release-and-Manage (TNRM) programme launched on Thursday.

Announcing the trial project on his Facebook page yesterday, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said the programme involved managing the island’s stray-dog population without culling. “This is a trial project to try to see if we can avoid culling,” he wrote.

The programme traps the stray dogs, sterilises them, then returns them to the wild. The two-year trial is a partnership between JTC Corporation and three animal welfare groups: Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) and Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD).

ACRES chief executive Louis Ng said a 1,800sqm holding facility — comprising an on-site hospital, recovery room, assessment area, outdoor enclosures and an administrative office — has been built and funded by JTC.

The animal welfare groups are tapping their operational funds and hoping to raise money to finance the initiative, which can cost at least S$200,000, SOSD president Siew Tuck Wah said.

There are an estimated 300 stray dogs on Jurong Island, a marked increase from 2005, when there were about 50 to 70 dogs, ASD president Ricky Yeo said. “We are glad that … JTC is open to the idea,” he added.

Responding to media queries, JTC said it had been approached by a task force comprising the three animal welfare groups and that it had agreed to provide the space for them to set up the facility to carry out the programme.

The groups — which had been in discussions for almost a year with government agencies and Mr Shanmugam, a known advocate for animal welfare — praised the initiative as a significant development. They added that they hoped the trial, if successful, would be extended to other areas in Singapore.

Describing the project as a “very big step forward for the stray dogs” here, Mr Ng said: “For the first time, we are departing from the culling policy (for stray dogs).”

He added that the TNRM method had been successful in addressing the population of stray cats in the Chong Pang estate, which is under Mr Shanmugam’s watch.

It is hoped that the pilot will help reduce the stray-dog population on Jurong Island by 25 per cent in the first five years. Trappers will be hired on a contractual basis and veterinarians will be roped in to neuter the animals. About six veterinarians have agreed to be part of the project so far, the groups said.

Dr Siew said animal welfare groups have been using the TNRM method for decades, but that this pilot marked the first time a government agency has collaborated with welfare groups to do the same. “People who are advocates for stray dogs have been dreaming about this for decades,” he added.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority did not address the question on whether the TNRM programme would be extended to other parts of Singapore if the trial is successful. It stated that its priority was to ensure public safety and public health in the management of stray dogs. “Stray dogs, whether sterilised or not, can continue to pose a public-safety threat and hasten the spread of rabies,” it said.

The authority added that as the pilot initiative was an arrangement between JTC, Jurong Island tenants and the animal welfare groups, the parties involved would have to take the necessary precautions and be prepared for any public-safety and nuisance issues that may arise.

Official scheme to sterilise stay dogs begins
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 8 Dec 14;

Singapore has started its first official programme to sterilise stray dogs here, in a bid to control their numbers without culling.

The pilot project on Jurong Island, which has an estimated 300 stray dogs, was launched yesterday, with Law and Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam as the guest of honour.

"Many of us are concerned about stray dogs in Singapore... and this is a trial project to see if we can avoid culling," said the dog lover in a Facebook post.

Jurong Island was chosen to test the "trap, neuter and release" method as it is a controlled environment where other stray dogs cannot get in or out, said animal welfare groups involved in the project.

Asked whether there are plans to expand the programme, they replied that it would depend on the results of the trial.

State industrial landlord JTC has built a facility on the island where the dogs will be sterilised, and it is also providing funding.

It is working with the following animal welfare groups: Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) and Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD).

Acres will manage the project, while ASD and SOSD will handle the day-to-day operations.

Acres executive director Louis Ng said the programme was a very big step forward for Singapore in its management of stray dogs.

"I hope this project shows that our society cares about the welfare of animals and also the safety of our residents," he said.

The project is expected to be more effective than culling.

In a note comparing the "trap, neuter and release" method with culling, Mr Shanmugam noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had found culling street dogs ineffective in controlling the spread of rabies.

Instead, the WHO said mass vaccination of a significant portion of street dogs has been proven to be a better way to prevent the disease's spread.

Neutered dogs are also less aggressive and more affectionate, and neutering results in fewer street dogs over time, according to Mr Shanmugam's post.

In contrast, "culling is indiscriminate, and the problem dog is seldom the dog that is caught". Street dogs also tend to breed and replace those that have been culled.

The neutering method has a one-time cost of about $1 million as the street dog population will naturally decline afterwards. In contrast, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority spends over $700,000 annually on culling.

Mr Shanmugam also posted photographs of the first female dog to be neutered under the programme.

"She is physically healthy after the neutering and (has been) micro-chipped, and happy to be back in familiar surroundings," he said.

Read more!

Smart nation push: Public to get access to more govt data

Aw Cheng Wei The Straits Times AsiaOne 6 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE - More government data will be made available to the public to develop innovative solutions as Singapore strides forward on its smart nation journey.

This must however be balanced against the need to protect the privacy of people as well as the national security of the country.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister in charge of Singapore's smart nation programme, said: "National security, privacy and identity are the amber zones. For everything else, the default mode (for data) should be to share."

Speaking to the media last night at the Singapore Maker Festival - a gathering of tech tinkers and enthusiasts - Dr Balakrishnan lauded existing efforts to share government data publicly but added that even more can be done.

Instead of just sharing the raw data for developers to create apps, public agencies can consider sharing the building blocks of government apps already developed - or application programming interface (API) in geekspeak - so innovators can quickly build improved versions without having to recode everything from scratch.

Dr Balakrishnan also said that seniors, young people and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the first three groups that the Government will prioritise in its smart nation push.

With seniors, the aim is to ensure that they are not left behind in the digital divide. Remote monitoring of the elderly at home empowers them to lead independent lives while letting their families have peace of mind. Plans are also under way to make technology more accessible to them, including increasing the number of citizen connect centres where they can reset their SingPass accounts and get help on e-citizen services.

For young people, it is important to help them acquire the necessary tools such as having programming skills and computational thinking which helps develop good problem-solving abilities.

"This has to become almost standard literacy in the digital age," Dr Balakrishnan added.

The smart nation initiative will benefit SMEs in two areas. First, said Dr Balakrishnan, it will be cheaper to produce prototypes when facilities such as those for 3D printing become widely available. "This will lower barriers to entry," he added. Second, new technology and services will provide for new streams of revenue.

The minister said becoming a smart nation is not about adopting technology solutions for the sake of technology but using it to meet the needs of people and improve lives. "This is about human beings, not about machines. It is about what people need, not what technology can offer," he added.

He also addressed public concerns about privacy and the potential high costs of adopting new technologies. Changes to the law may be necessary to address privacy issues more comprehensively such as those to do with security, identity theft and data abuse, he said.

Dr Balakrishnan added that programmes will be put in place to ensure no one is left out because of costs. Similar to the need to extend public Wi-Fi to even more places such as nooks and crannies in tunnels, he said: "We must close up the final dark shadows so that there are no digital shadows in our society."

Govt to make more public data available as part of Smart Nation push
TAN WEIZHEN AsiaOne 5 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE — In the push to make Singapore a Smart Nation, the Government will commit to make more public data available than ever before, said Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Programme Office Vivian Balakrishnan today (Dec 5).

This is to fulfil the private sector’s need for data as they develop applications, as long as they do not infringe upon issues of national security and privacy.

Noting that there have been concerns about privacy, Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said that legislative changes might be afoot to allay these concerns, as increasingly more data will be used in the development of the Smart Nation.

Dr Balakrishnan was speaking to reporters in a session before the Singapore Makers Festival Makers Meetup.

He added that seniors, youth and small and medium businesses will be a focus as the Government seeks to make citizens more digital literate, and for businesses to capture the resulting opportunities.

Beyond that, key areas such as public transport will be included in the vision of a Smart Nation, and on-road trials for autonomous vehicles will start next month. Driverless cars could make transport more efficient, convenient and accessible, he pointed out.

Read more!

Malaysia: Malacca to go plastic-bag free in 2016

The Star 6 Dec 14;

MALACCA: Malacca plans to go plastic-bag free in 2016.

Malacca Green Technology Corporation chief executive officer Datuk Kamarudin Md Shah said that in the run-up to implementing the measure, the state government would enforce a 'No Plastic Bag Day' on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Jan 1 next year.

"The decision to go without plastic bags on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from next year was approved by the state executive council on Feb 26," he said in a statement.

The state government implemented the 'No Plastic Bag Day' on Fridays and Saturdays from April this year.

Kamarudin said the initiative was in accordance with a government effort to enhance environmental quality and progress towards a green technology city state by 2020.

He advised Malaccans to support the state government move by bringing along their own bags on their shopping trips. - Bernama

Read more!