Climate change progress 'too slow'

Helen Briggs BBC 11 Jun 15;

International talks in Bonn have made progress towards a new global deal on climate change, says the UN, amid calls from NGOs for a faster pace.

Countries are working towards options to limit greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 in time for a crunch Paris summit.

The UN said progress had been made towards streamlining the text of a new agreement at talks in Bonn.

Environmental groups said ''difficult issues'' such as finance and emissions cuts had yet to be addressed.

The 11-day meeting is designed to pave the way towards a new global deal on climate change to be signed in Paris at the end of the year.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said ''step-by-step progress'' had been made towards countries' understanding of the text of the agreement and how to move forward.

Laurence Tubiana, special representative for the Paris climate conference, said the talks had been useful and had gained the trust of parties.

''I'm feeling optimistic after these two weeks,'' she said. ''We should not be frustrated and disappointed.''

Concern

However, The World Resources Institute said progress had been ''slow'' and did not match strong signals for ambitious climate action from outside the negotiations.

And Samantha Smith of WWF said that there was growing concern over ''what is needed and what is being promised on finance and emissions''.

''After difficult negotiations, all countries have said that more ambitious, immediate emissions cuts are needed and these commitments must be a clear outcome of the Paris talks,'' she said.

''However, that work needs to speed up too if we are going to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change.''

Delegates will return to Bonn in August and October for more rounds of climate talks, before the summit in Paris at the end of the year.

The key task now is to revise the draft agreement before it reaches heads of state.

Countries are expected to agree to a plan for the co-chairs of the UN climate negotiations to produce a ''clear and concise'' version of the text.

Momentum

Scientists say ambitious action is needed to avert the most severe impacts of climate change.

So far, more than 30 countries have pledged to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, with around 150 smaller countries yet to set goals.

Analysis suggests these do not go far enough to keep global warming below 2C.

Environmental groups point to key developments outside of the negotiations that are adding momentum towards Paris.

They include moves by business, such as Ikea giving $1bn to expand renewable energy and climate adaptations in developing countries.

G7 leaders have also signalled the need for action with a call for greenhouse gas emissions cuts and a move towards a low carbon future.

Bonn meeting ends with last-minute compromise on Paris climate text
Countries agree to let co-chairs of the negotiations to make their own alterations to the draft and present it for approval in July
Fiona Harvey The Guardian 11 Jun 15;

Climate change negotiators meeting in Bonn on Thursday came up with a last-minute compromise that observers hope will put the talks on track for a new global agreement on greenhouse gases.

Slow progress was made until the final hours, as nations wrangled over the wording of an 89-page draft text, intending to cut it down to a more manageable size. After two weeks, the text had been cut by just four pages to 85.

But shortly before the talks were scheduled to finish, countries agreed that the co-chairs of the negotiations should be allowed to make their own alterations to the text, and present it to all countries for approval, probably in late July. This should be a quicker process, though there is no guarantee that countries will not try to re-draw the new draft when it becomes available.

The talks in Bonn were a staging post on the way to a crunch conference in Paris this December, at which countries are supposed to sign a new global agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, to take effect from 2020 when current emissions commitments run out.

Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the US Centre for Energy and Climate Solutions, told the Guardian: “There was little chance the parties themselves were going to be able to whittle down the text to a manageable size. Thankfully, they’ve entrusted the co-chairs to do that so they can get down to the real give-and-take next time. That’s a healthy sign.”

Samantha Smith, leader of the global climate and energy initiative at WWF, said: “Progress in Bonn has been slow, but a bigger concern is the growing gap between what is needed and what is being promised on finance and emissions. While much work remains to close that gap, there is hope that governments are finally committed to take more action on emissions prior to 2020.

“All countries have said that more ambitious, immediate emissions cuts are needed: however, that work needs to speed up if we are going to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change.”

The Bonn talks are a staging post on the way to a crunch conference in Paris this December, at which governments are hoping to sign a new global pact, to take effect from 2020, when current commitments from developed and large developing countries to limit their emissions are set to expire.

Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate programme at the World Resources Institute, a US thinktank, pointed to progress made outside the talks, such as the G7’s vow to decarbonise their economies this century, and commitments by developing countries, cities and businesses on emissions.

“This week, strong signals were sent for ambitious climate action from outside the negotiations, but they did not inspire a faster pace in Bonn. Momentum is growing ahead of the Paris climate talks [but] the modest progress made in Bonn did not match the significant action taking place around the world.”

The talks have been mired in discussions ranging from concern over whether rich countries will follow through on their current pledges to provide financial assistance to the poor world, to arcane quibbles over single words in the text.

At one point, the discussion was divided over whether to use the terms “differentiated commitments/contributions”, referring to targets on cutting emissions, or the term “commitments/contributions/action”. The former was preferred by China, the latter by the US.

The distinction may seem trivial, but it points to some of the entrenched attitudes that have dogged the talks over more than two decades.

“Differentiated” comes from a term used in the original UN treaties, as “common but differentiated responsibilities” was used as the way of encoding the fact that all countries, developed and developing, have an interest in alleviating climate change, but that their responsibilities varied based on historical emissions and economic development.

China is adamant that the phrase, known as CBDR in the UN jargon, is core to any existing or potential new agreement, but the US – though it accepts the principle – is wary of the phrase because it believes it has been used in the past to draw a clear dividing line between developed and developing countries. These categories are no longer so clear-cut, according to the US, because of the rapid progress of emerging economies. China, for instance, is now the world’s biggest emitter and second biggest economic power.

Moving beyond these entrenchments was always going to be a struggle, and the Bonn talks have proved no exception to the routine of long and difficult meetings, bogged down in detail, that have characterised the long-running negotiations.

However, some delegates found room for optimism in the fact that, unlike previous meetings, this fortnight’s talks have not been fractious. “There has been no drama, no theatrics,” said Diringer. “The atmosphere has not been like that.”

He praised the co-chairs of the talks, who will be key to getting countries together to form an agreement. “The co-chairs have done a very artful job of building trust and that’s paying off. All the issues are still on the table, and there’s enormous work to be done, but there’s a clear plan for moving forward. That’s probably the best we could have hoped for at this stage.”

Mohamed Adow, senior climate change adviser at the charity Christian Aid, said that a meeting of key ministers, pegged for late July in Paris, must clear the ground for an agreement.

“The crunch issues that ministers need to work on are ensuring that the Paris deal is funded, that it protects vulnerable communities and it has a mechanism to increase ambition over time. It is vital that when ministers meet in Paris on July 20-21 that they resolve these sticking points so that when formal talks resume in August countries will have no excuses.”

Nations warn time running short to prepare Paris climate deal
Alister Doyle and Megan Rowling PlanetArk 12 Jun 15;

Several nations expressed growing unease on Thursday that time is running short to resolve disputes about global warming after U.N. talks ended with little progress toward an international deal to combat climate change meant to be agreed in December.

Delegates representing almost 200 countries trimmed a few pages off an 89-page draft text at the June 1-11 preparatory meeting in Bonn, but stopped short of confronting major underlying issues such as whether to set a global goal for phasing out greenhouse gases this century.

Several governments called for a faster pace, noting there were only two preparatory sessions left before a summit in Paris in December meant to agree a global deal.

"We have not seen as much progress as we would like," said Elina Bardram, head of the European Commission delegation. "It is not something we can tinker around with indefinitely."

A senior U.S. official called the meeting productive but said: "We would like the pace to be quicker." Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: "These are negotiations of great moment to countries. The details matter a lot."
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The United Nations said the talks were on track.

"This is a step-by-step process," Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference, saying there had been progress in streamlining the text and clarifying options for action.

Su Wei, China's chief negotiator, said all countries wanted an "ambitious and balanced outcome in Paris" to limit greenhouse gases.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists says it is at least 95 percent probable that most global warming since 1950 is caused by human activities, led by burning fossil fuels.

The Alliance of Small Island States, representing nations from the Pacific to the Caribbean at risk from rising sea levels, said there had been progress in Bonn but: "We are acutely aware that we still have considerable work."

Negotiators meet again in August and October but delegates say the toughest issues will be left for Paris, including aid for developing nations and how to make the deal legally binding.

Nations asked the co-chairs of the meeting to work on the draft text before the next meeting.

Co-chair Ahmed Djoghlaf accused the media of being too negative. "Saying that the process is going nowhere is not a responsible statement," he said. "The job is huge, we are talking about a revolution."

On Monday, the Group of Seven industrialized nations set a goal of phasing out global fossil fuel emissions by 2100. The U.N. talks are deeply split about whether to follow suit.

Many developing nations favor a tougher deadline of 2050 for shifting to renewable energies while some OPEC producers would prefer to omit any deadlines at all.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

UN climate talks inch forward, putting off tough decisions
KARL RITTER Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Jun 15;

BONN, Germany (AP) — Two weeks of U.N. climate talks ended Thursday with negotiators trimming a draft global climate pact but leaving core sticking points to be untangled later, before a December summit in Paris where the landmark agreement is to be adopted.

Frustrated by the slow pace of the climate talks, some negotiators and observers called the Bonn meeting a squandered opportunity to capture the momentum of a declaration this week by seven world leaders including President Barack Obama endorsing a long-term goal of decarbonizing the global economy — moving away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

"We must go faster," said European Union delegate Ilze Pruse.

Earlier, officials leading the Bonn talks called for patience, with co-chair Ahmed Djoghlaf telling reporters no one can craft a universal agreement with more than 190 countries overnight.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together," he said.

He noted that some delegates worked so hard in Bonn they missed Saturday's Champions League soccer final in Berlin.

French climate envoy Laurence Tubiana likened the pain-staking U.N. process to giving birth, saying it's difficult to judge the outcome until everything is done.

"You have to wait until the baby is born to see its face," she said.

The Paris deal, which is supposed to take effect in 2020, would be the first where both rich and poor countries pledge to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say are raising global temperatures, resulting in more intense heat waves, rising sea levels and other climate impacts.

A previous agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only required rich countries to take action.

In Bonn, negotiators reorganized sections as they shortened a 90-page text to 85 pages. The co-chairs were asked to streamline the text further by August.

The draft still contains multiple options on contentious issues, including how to differentiate between the obligations of rich and poor countries to fight climate change and what commitments of financial support to fight climate change poor nations want from the rich.

It remains unclear whether the pact will be legally binding.

Also undecided is whether the first round of emissions targets should cover the 2020-2025 period or 2020-2030. Most targets submitted so far are for the latter, while the United States insists on the former.

"The modest progress made in Bonn did not match the significant action taking place around the world," said Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.

Norway, meanwhile, recently announced its $900 billion oil fund would divest from coal — the most polluting fuel — and Pope Francis is expected to release his high-level teaching document on ecology and climate change next week.

____

Karl Ritter can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/karl_ritter

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'Low chance of quake in Singapore'

Samantha Boh The Straits Times AsiaOne 10 Jun 15;

The chances of a serious earthquake in Singapore remain extremely low, given that its nearest fault line is 300km away in eastern Sumatra, said veteran geologist Kerry Sieh.

He said last Friday's 6.0-magnitudequake in Sabah, though rare, was the result of a shifting 10km fault line about 10km beneath the surface, south of Mount Kinabalu.

"Unlike Sumatra, Nepal, Taiwan and Japan, which straddle fast-moving tectonic plate boundaries, Sabah is not a place well known for destructive quakes," said the head of the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University. There have been three quakes of such intensity there in the last century.

Professor Sieh and his team are now poring through seismic recordings from around the world, measurements of ground deformation from orbiting satellites, and analyses of Sabah's mountainous topography to understand what happened and why. They suspect that the fault in question is part of a system of faults that runs nearly 200km across Sabah.

Prof Sieh noted that there has been no record of an earthquake in Singapore to date, although weak tremors are felt occasionally from distant quakes. While there is no such thing as absolute certainty in earthquake prediction, he stressed that unlike Sabah, there is no indication the plate Singapore is on is "mildly cracking".

His team plans to try and pin down what exactly happened in Sabah, and put appropriate safety measures in place.

Earth now in active seismic cycle: Expert
The Earth goes through cycles of these seismic activities, with periods of greater frequency and magnitude, and it is now in an active cycle, says a geologist.
Janice Lim Channel NewsAsia 10 Jun 15;

SINGAPORE: Nature's wrath struck in 2004, when a tsunami hit the coasts of several countries around the Indian Ocean. This marked the beginning of what geologists call an "active cycle", where the Earth experiences greater seismic activity.

Said Professor Kerry Sieh, director at the Earth Observatory of Singapore: "The Earth goes through cycles of seismic energy release, and less release and more release.

"We have definitely been in the active cycle in the last 11 years since 2004. All the magnitude-8.4 earthquakes and bigger, up to 9.2, they all happened in the last 11 years. Several of those have been in Asia."

The previous active cycle was in the 1950s to mid-1960s, which saw several earthquakes with a magnitude of a high 8 and above 9. But for the next 40 years, there were no records of a quake with a magnitude above 8.3, until 2004.

Since then, a string of devastating earthquakes has caused much destruction, like in Sumatra in 2005 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

"We don't know whether we are at the end of the cycle or not," said Professor Sieh. "My hunch is we will continue to see a larger number of large earthquakes. But that's only a hunch because we don't really have a way of telling whether we are at the end of the cycle or not."

In response to the recent Sabah quake, Professor Sieh supported the call by Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to relook safety protocols for climbers on Mount Kinabalu and also offered his team's expertise.

- CNA/hs

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Urban city leaders need to be prepared for 'transformative influences': Desmond Lee

Challenges that cities currently face, and will face in the future, can be capitalised to benefit their people, says Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 10 Jun 15;

NEW YORK: Trends such as urbanisation and globalisation are shaping the development of urban cities, and leaders need to be flexible to capitalise on these "transformative influences" to benefit their people, said Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee on Wednesday morning (Jun 10).

"Increasingly intertwined, the confluence of these forces has had, and will continue to have, a tremendous impact on societies around the world. As city leaders, we need to be prepared for these transformative influences, and be flexible and adaptive enough to capitalise on these forces to benefit our people,” Mr Lee said at the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in New York City.

This year's forum aims to explore innovative solutions to urban challenges. Into its sixth edition, the three-day event brings together about 70 mayors and city leaders from around the world.

By 2050, around 70 per cent of the world's population will live in cities. Cities account for 80 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), but they also produce more than half of greenhouse gases.

Deputy Secretary-General for United Nations Jan Eliasson speaking at the forum. (Photo: Ministry of National Development's Facebook page)

Deputy Secretary-General for United Nations Jan Eliasson said: "Urbanisation is one of the strongest defining forces shaping the 21st century. Urbanisation can be a transformative force for the sustainable development goals by making cities and human settlements safe, resilient and sustainable."

"City leaders who best adapt to these demographic, social, economic and cultural shifts will be the ones whose cities are more economically viable, more environmentally sustainable, more socially vibrant and alive," he added.

Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio said there have been examples of national governments looking away from problems rather than taking them on directly.

"Sometimes it's more politically convenient to ignore problems or minimise them, than to accept the challenge. But then, in that environment, mayors become even more important. We become the bright shining lights, the actual leaders willing to accept challenges, to talk about them bluntly and honestly with our people, to show people that even amidst the complexities, that there are real and tangible solutions," he said.

Mr de Blasio also spoke about his administration's plans for sustainability and equity as the city develops. For example, he said New York City has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

This is the second time the event is held outside Singapore. This year, New York City was chosen because it won the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in 2012. Organisers hope that by holding the forum in New York City, participants will have a chance to observe how policies were implemented successfully in the city.

The Singapore delegation did just that, by visiting sites on Monday, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial park.

Rooftop garden at the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial park in New York City. (Photo: Ministry of National Development's Facebook page)

There, the officials visited a rooftop vegetable farm, which supplies produce to restaurants. Executive director of Centre for Liveable Cities Khoo Teng Chye said this could be adapted in Singapore, with the advantages going beyond food production.

"It's the idea that you bring communities together," he said. "There is a lot of community bonding when you do this urban farming. It looks very simple, but actually, you're applying a lot of knowledge, a lot of technology, to try to successfully cultivate - as they say - high-yield, high-density farming."

The farm also plants microgreens, which are the shoots of salad vegetables, that can be sold to restaurants at higher prices.

- CNA/fs/ek

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Singapore's seachange on show in Venice

Charles Lim's massive project on Singapore's reclamation was like a race on the high seas
AKSHITA NANDA Straits Times 9 Jun 15;

Buoy oh buoy - the massive maritime-themed installation at the Singapore Pavilion of the Venice Biennale was a challenge from start to finish for creator Charles Lim.

The award-winning film-maker, artist and former national sailor channelled a lifelong fascination with the sea into Sea State, which looks at the impact of reclamation and expansion works in Singapore. Curated by Shabbir Hussain Mustafa and on display in Venice until Nov 22, the work includes maps, charts and video installations grouped around a 5m-tall aluminium buoy encrusted with barnacles.

The idea is to show how the seas around Singapore have changed over the years, with islands absorbed into the mainland via reclamation works.

So Lim, 42, chose as his centrepiece a navigational marker similar to that which once marked an island off the coast of Singapore, Pulau Sajahat. It disappeared from maps in 2002, thanks to reclamation.

Getting the company which created the original buoy to make a replica was relatively easy compared with the task of turning the shiny new buoy into something approximating the barnacle- encrusted original.

"We wanted to submerge it for a year but it's illegal to submerge a buoy," Lim says. Eventually, he found a sponsor willing to let him keep the buoy in offshore waters for four weeks.

Then came the challenges of transporting the buoy while ensuring that the barnacles and sea-life encrustations did not drop off in transit.

When the buoy finally reached Venice's historic military shipyard, the Arsenale, one of two main locations for the ongoing Biennale, it was discovered that it was too big to fit through the 16th-century windows on the 250 sq m first-floor space that Singapore has signed a 20-year lease on.

Luckily, Turkey, which has the space next door, allowed the Singapore contingent to use its staircase and corridor to bring in the buoy.

The story of the buoy gives only a slight indication of the mammoth work that is Sea State, a culmination of more than 10 years of Lim observing, filming and recording Singapore's relationship with water, reclaimed land and history.

Part of the inspiration was the artist's own story: He grew up in the Mata Ikan kampung which no longer exists in Simei, and his paternal grandmother searched the shore for seashells which were then ground to make acidic limewater for painting house walls.

He remembers seeing her scars from the work, while his father, a self-taught sailor who later had his own pest control business, explored the sea on a homemade bamboo raft as a boy.

"Actually, I hated sailing at first," laughs Lim, who represented Singapore in sailing at the 1996 Olympics. "My father bought a boat and raced it on weekends so I began to associate sailing with him."

Lim was educated in boarding school in England, returned to Singapore for national service and then studied in London at the Chelsea College of Art and Design before completing his bachelor's of fine arts from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design.

He began experimenting with film, thanks to his wife, arthouse film director Wee Li Lin, who also acts as his manager and producer.

Various iterations of the Sea State project have been exhibited at Manifesta 7, the 2008 European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Trentino, Italy; the Shanghai Biennale in 2008; and at the 2011 Singapore Biennale.

In the 2008 short film titled "it's not that i forgot, but rather i chose not to mention", a man swims laps across a leaf-choked abandoned swimming pool in Singapore.

Three years later, a surreal excursion through the drains and canals of Singapore, All The Lines Flow Out, received a special mention at the 2011 Venice Film Festival as well two awards in 2012 - best experimental short at the Nashville Film Festival and a Silver Award at the 17th Hong Kong Independent Film and Video Awards.

Lim's working relationship with curator Mustafa began with In Search Of Raffles Light, an archival project and exhibition about the Raffles Lighthouse on Pulau Satumu, one of several islands south of Singapore. It was exhibited at the National University of Singapore Museum in 2013.

Forgotten histories, including the disappearance of Pulau Sajahat as well as the relocation of Singaporeans from the offshore islands, are shown through maps and topographical installations at Sea Stage at the Venice Biennale.

Equally memorable is another surreal journey above and below the seascape of Singapore through two linked video installations.

One titled Capsize shows Lim riding the waves and when his vessel apparently sinks beneath the waves, the eye is drawn to the opposing screen. Here, in the film titled Phase 1, workers carry an Optimist sailboat through the Jurong Rock Caverns, the 130m-deep, 61ha area excavated below Jurong Island and used for chemical storage.

"These are new ways of looking at the sea. You have saltwater raining down but you don't get the feeling of being under the sea," says Lim, who originally planned to have someone else film this part of the project. He had to take it on when the cameraman hired refused to go in.

"This is how I think we as Singaporeans feel sometimes, very unstable on reclaimed land.

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Singapore tops list of important maritime capitals

Jacqueline Woo The Straits Times AsiaOne 9 Jun 15;

SINGAPORE has retained its top spot as the most important maritime capital.

It emerged first among 15 cities that were benchmarked in five categories: shipping centres, finance and law, technology, ports and logistics, and attractiveness and competitiveness.

Hamburg was ranked second in the report by Norwegian consulting firm Menon, followed by Oslo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

"With its business-friendly policies and being strategically located on the trade route between Europe and Asia, Singapore has gained a position in the global economy few would have predicted 40 years ago," said the report, which comprised of responses from 196 maritime professionals from 33 countries.

It added: "As recently as 10 years ago, Singapore lacked maritime research and education, and the lines between foreign and domestic companies were weak.

"Today, the city plays a key role in all aspects of the maritime industry."

The inaugural Menon report three years ago also ranked Singapore in first place.

According to this year's report, which came out last week, Singapore led the way in port services and logistics, beating Hong Kong, Rotterdam and Shanghai.

It was also named the most attractive and competitive city for the maritime industry, given the ease of doing business here and the complete maritime cluster.

Singapore was second as a shipping centre after Athens, which has "an impressively large and strong shipowning community".

But it was ranked fifth in maritime technology, behind Oslo, Hamburg, Tokyo and Busan.

"The city's weaknesses are a limited base of human capital and the increasing costs of hiring local and foreign expertise," said the report.

Singapore was listed fourth for law-related maritime services and insurance, a category where London took first place, followed by Oslo and New York.

The report said Singapore is expected to keep its position as the global leader even in five years.

It also noted that Shanghai is poised to "increase its importance and become the second most important maritime city", in line with the growing influence of the Chinese economy.

The report added: "The fact that the two cities that are expected to become the most important centres for the industry are located in Asia says something about the changing centre of gravity in both the world economy and the maritime industry."

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore chief executive Andrew Tan told The Straits Times in a statement that with more countries investing in their port infrastructure and related services, the global maritime sector is "poised for future growth, even as it weathers the current cyclical downturn".

"With its strategic location and pro-business environment, Singapore is well placed to take advantage of the growth in Asia's maritime trade. The opportunities are immense," added Mr Tan.

"We want to be part of that narrative by planning for the long term, providing certainty and investing in future capabilities."

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Butterfly garden is thriving next to golf course

Carolyn Khew The Straits Times AsiaOne 9 Jun 15;

WHEN Mr Foo Jit Leang started a butterfly garden two years ago, he wanted to show that wildlife can thrive next to a golf course.

Today, the butterfly garden at Seletar Country Club, where the 65-year-old is a member, is home to over 90 species of butterflies, 58 species of moths and other fauna such as birds and dragonflies.

Some butterfly species spotted in the garden include the Painted Jezebel, which can be found in both urban and forested areas, and the Common Rose, which has red spots on its hindwings.

The Common Rose was named Singapore's national butterfly in a recent contest held by Nature Society (Singapore).

"Golf courses are scenic green spaces but they are notorious for being environmentally unfriendly. We (started with) butterflies as they are probably the most beautiful creatures," said Mr Foo.

Tours are conducted at the garden for students and teachers to learn more about butterflies and biodiversity.

The idea to set up a garden was first mooted by the club's chairman in 2012 after sightings of otters and masked lapwing birds at the club, which sits atop a hill and overlooks Lower Seletar Reservoir and the Strait of Johor.

He then asked Mr Foo to look into setting up pockets of native areas within the club's premises, which spans a 6,364m-long golf course. Mr Foo read up on butterflies and sought advice from nature experts about the right kinds of host plants to be planted.

Today, the garden, about half the size of a football field, has about 30 host plants, including the Aristolochia acuminata. More commonly known as the Dutchman's Pipe, the plant attracts the Common Rose butterfly.

Strix Wildlife Consultancy director Subaraj Rajathurai said: "Having a butterfly garden is an opportunity for the club to show it can have a golf course and also share the space with wildlife."

Nature Society president Shawn Lum said mobile creatures such as butterflies are limited by the number of liveable habitats available and the distance of these pockets of habitat from one another. "As the amount of habitat available determines the population size of butterflies, the creation of new butterfly gardens serves to extend pockets of good butterfly habitat into new areas," he said.

Mr Foo said his love for nature sprung from his childhood days spent in a kampung. "We reared our own chickens and grew vegetables... Even when I was studying at a university in Canada, I spent many long weekends enjoying the wilderness in the four seasons."

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Calls for collaboration on sustainable city development projects

Two calls for collaboration were announced on Tuesday (Jun 9) morning for leaders in the government sector to take part in projects on the sustainable development of cities.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 10 Jun 15;

NEW YORK: Two calls for collaboration were announced on Wednesday morning (Jun 10) for leaders in the government sector to take part in projects on the sustainable development of cities.

At the opening of the World Cities Summit Young Leaders Symposium, Singapore's Second Permanent Secretary for National Development Chew Hock Yong said the first is for a research project to explore innovative and viable business and financing models for cities.

The call was made by the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore and a young leader, Joris van Etten, from the Cities Development Initiative for Asia.

The second call for collaboration seeks to identify good urban planning practices that integrate social protection and labour policies. It was from Ulrich Hoerning, a young leader from The World Bank.

Mr Chew said he looks forward to these projects being showcased at World Cities Summit 2016 in Singapore.

The symposium, which is into its second edition, brought together about 50 young leaders to discuss and launch initiatives to tackle urban challenges. It is organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in Singapore.

In the afternoon, the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum will see about 70 mayors and leaders discussing topics on sustainable development, such as providing affordable housing and a strong transportation network.

Now into its sixth edition, the forum will be chaired by Singapore's Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee.

The city was selected as the venue as it received the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Laureate in 2012 for its transformation from one at risk in the post-Sep 11 period, to a vibrant and sustainable urban community.

On the last day of the event , the mayors and leaders will commit to a declaration for sustainable living - the first time they're doing so in the history of the forum.

URBAN FARMING BRINGS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

The event had kicked off on Monday (Jun 8) with visits to various sites in the city so delegates can get first-hand perspectives on how policies were implemented successfully.

Officials from URA and the Centre for Liveable Cities visited the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial park. They were given a tour of the historical site - one of the first naval shipyards in the United States when it was established in 1801.

Following its closure in the late 1960s, it was converted into an industrial park, so it could continue to provide jobs for its citizens. Now, it houses more than 330 tenants, from manufacturers to seafood importers. The tenants employ more than 6,400 people, up from 3,600 in 2001.

The officials also visited a rooftop vegetable farm in the industrial park. Together with his partners, 34-year-old Ben Flanner opened Brooklyn Grange in 2010, out of a "passion for vegetables".

The farm supplies produce to restaurants and grocers, and runs a subscription service where customers can get a regular supply of produce for a weekly fee.

Centre for Liveable Cities Executive Director Khoo Teng Chye said this presents "lots of opportunities" for Singapore as the country has "lots of rooftops".

He thinks the advantages go beyond food production. "It's the idea that you bring communities together. There is a lot of community bonding when you do this urban farming."

Mr Khoo added: "It looks very simple, but actually you're applying a lot of knowledge, a lot of technology, to try to successfully cultivate, as they say, high-yield, high-density farming ... You cultivate all these specials, (for) salads and they say it's high-value stuff that you sell to the top restaurants."

The Singapore delegation, led by Mr Desmond Lee, also visited the High Line, a public park built on a historic freight rail line on west Manhattan. Mr Khoo said it has a close parallel with Singapore's Rail Corridor and offers lessons to be learnt.

- CNA

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Singapore, UN agency sign milestone deal to tackle food security issues

This is the first agreement signed between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Singapore since the latter joined in 2013.
Channel NewsAsia 9 Jun 15;

SINGAPORE: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Singapore on Tuesday (Jun 9) inked a deal to improve food and nutrition security in Southeast Asia, with a special focus on food safety and fisheries.

The collaboration would look at improving the health and safety of food, including street foods, and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the FAO press release said. Other areas include cutting food losses and waste, making trade and agriculture more sustainable, and building resilience to animal and plant-related threats.

The agreement is the first for both parties since Singapore joined the FAO in 2013, it added.

The agreement foresees knowledge exchanges, technical consultations and other forms of cooperation, including the deployment of experts across the region, as well as trainings, study visits, joint seminars and workshops.

In addition to exchanging and deploying professionals in the field, FAO and Singapore will also work together on developing food policies, creating agricultural research programmes and training material, and disseminating new technologies, the press release said.

"We look forward to strengthening cooperation with FAO on food security, as well as in related areas such as food safety, and animal and plant health," said Minister of State for National Development Maliki Osman.

"This is part of our continuing effort to boost Singapore's food security, and demonstrates our commitment to contribute advance food security globally - particularly through research and development and technology development," he added.

- CNA/kk

Dr Maliki speaks about Singapore's agricultural landscape in Rome
AsiaOne 9 Jun 15;

SINGAPORE - Minister of State for National Development and Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman has shared Singapore's experience in managing an evolving agricultural landscape at the 39th Session of the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Conference in Rome.

He joins other world leaders in the discussion of FAO's programme and budget for the next two years.

At the conference, Dr Maliki said that local agriculture remains an important pillar of our food security. Hence, the Government would continue to support the industry through a range of assistance and development schemes.

While in Rome, Dr Maliki also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Director-General of the FAO, Dr Jose Graziano da Silva, on technical co-operation with the FAO on behalf of Singapore.

The MOU will enable more opportunities for collaboration between the both parties in areas such as food security and nutrition, food safety, street food management, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, sustainable forestry, and animal and plant health.

Dr Maliki said: "We look forward to strengthening co-operation with FAO on food security as well as in related areas such as food safety, and animal and plant health. This is part of our continuing effort to boost Singapore's food security, and demonstrates our commitment to contribute advance food security globally, particularly through R&D and technology development."

The FAO leads international efforts to alleviate hunger and poverty by promoting agricultural development, improved nutrition and the pursuit of food security. Singapore has been a member of the FAO since June 2013.

FAO's Director-General, Dr Jose Graziano da Silva said: "I am confident that this agreement will further strengthen regional and global exchanges in the realm of food and agriculture, and it represents a major step for Singapore and FAO in the global development arena. We look forward to a growing partnership."

Dr Maliki is accompanied by officials from the Ministry of National Development and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.

Singapore and FAO to collaborate on food safety, illegal fishing
Parties sign first agreement since country joined FAO in 2013
FAO 8 Jun 15;

8 June 2015, Rome - Singapore and FAO will work together to improve food and nutrition security in Southeast Asia, with a special focus on food safety and fisheries, according to a new agreement signed today - the first since the city-state joined the Organization in 2013.

Improving the health and safety of food, including street foods, and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing are key areas in a larger collaboration that will also look at cutting food losses and waste, making trade and agriculture more sustainable, and building resilience to animal and plant-related threats.

"During my first official visit to Singapore last year, I was impressed by its innovative efforts to ensure food security and food safety," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva during today's signing ceremony. "I see the value of sharing its good practices with other countries," he added.

"We look forward to strengthening cooperation with FAO on food security, as well as in related areas such as food safety, and animal and plant health," said Singapore's Minister of State Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman. "This is part of our continuing effort to boost Singapore's food security, and demonstrates our commitment to contribute advance food security globally - particularly through Research and Development and technology development," he added.

The agreement foresees knowledge exchanges, technical consultations and other forms of cooperation, including the deployment of experts across the region, as well as trainings, study visits, joint seminars and workshops.

In addition to exchanging and deploying professionals in the field, FAO and Singapore will also work together on developing food policies, creating agricultural research programmes and training material, and disseminating new technologies.

Strong opportunities

Singapore, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has developed from a small port city into a major commercial and financial hub.

Since joining the Organization in 2013, the Government of Singapore has been engaging in dialogues with FAO regarding opportunities to advance food security and food safety in the country and across Southeast Asia, resulting in this first cooperation agreement.

The country's strong research and development capabilities offer many opportunities for feeding into FAO's work and exchanging knowledge with other countries.

Singapore is also a front runner in urban agriculture innovation, with vertical farms and rooftop gardens contributing to food security and quality of life in the city-state of over 5 million people.

"I am confident that this agreement will further strengthen regional and global exchanges in the realm of food and agriculture, and it represents a major step for Singapore and FAO in the global development arena," FAO's Director-General said. "We look forward to a growing partnership."

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Vietnam: New species discovered in Mekong during 2014 studies

Vietnam News Service 9 Jun 15;

HCM CITY (VNS) — A bat with nightmarish fangs (Hypsugo dolichodon), the world's second longest insect (Phryganistria heusii yentuensis) and a colour-changing thorny frog (Graciaxal lumarius) were among the 70 new species found in Viet Nam in 2014, according to a report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The 70 species represent more than half of the 139 species found in the Greater Mekong region.

In total, 90 plants, 23 reptiles, 16 amphibians, nine fish, and one mammal were discovered in the Greater Mekong and detailed in the annual report, Magical Mekong, issued by WWF-Viet Nam on Thursday to celebrate its 20 anniversary in Viet Nam.

They include a crocodile newt (Tylototriton shanorum) in Myanmar whose breeding habitat is under threat, a "soul-sucking" dementor wasp (Sirindhornia chaipattana) from Thailand, a stealthy wolf snake (Lycodon zoosvictoriae) from Cambodia and the world's 10,000th reptile (Cyrtodactylus vilaphong) discovered in Laos.

This brings the total new species discovered in the Greater Mekong, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, to 2,216 between 1997 and 2014 – an average of three new species a week.

"We are excited to be able to say that Viet Nam is rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species, some of which are unique to Viet Nam – with many still to be discovered," said Dr. Van Ngoc Thinh, country director for WWF-Viet Nam.

"Viet Nam's rich and globally important ecosystems are truly the gift that keeps on giving. We should, therefore, protect them together for the next generations," he said.

The world's second-largest insect, a stick insect that measures 54 cm, was found less than one kilometre away from a village in northern Viet Nam.

"We've only skimmed the surface of new discoveries in the Greater Mekong," said Carlos Drews, WWF Director Global Species Programme. "However, while species are being discovered, intense pressures are taking a terrible toll on the region's species. One wonders how many species have disappeared before they were even discovered."

Such pressures include a proposed new border crossing and road in Cambodia's Mondulkiri Protected Forest, two unsustainable dams in Laos, rising deforestation rates, and continued illegal poaching.

A commitment to protecting key wildlife habitat is also crucial, with countries cooperating across borders to make sustainable decisions on issues such as where to construct large infrastructure, like roads and dams.

"In our next five-year strategy, WWF-Viet Nam will work to ensure effective conservation, sustainable management and climate change resilience in the country. We will aim to expand our work to provide key environmental strategies and contribute to conservation and sustainable development," Thinh said. — VNS

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Yellow-breasted buntings 'being eaten to extinction by China'

Birds once abundant in Europe and Asia could share the same fate as passenger pigeon as they are killed in millions for food
Agence France-Presse The Guardian 9 Jun 15;

A bird that was once one of the most abundant in Europe and Asia is being hunted to near extinction because of Chinese eating habits, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The population of the yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) has plunged by 90% since 1980, all but disappearing from eastern Europe, Japan and large parts of Russia, said the study, published in the Conservation Biology journal.

Following initial population declines, China in 1997 banned the hunting of the species, known in the country as the “rice bird”.

However, millions of these birds, along with other songbirds, were still being killed for food and sold on the black market as late as 2013, said the study.

It said consumption of these birds has increased as a result of economic growth and prosperity in east Asia, with an estimate in 2001 claiming 1m buntings were consumed in China’s southern Guangdong province alone.

The birds breed north of the Himalayas and spend their winters in warmer southeast Asia, passing through eastern China where they have been hunted for more than 2,000 years, according to the conservation group BirdLife International.

At their wintering grounds, they gather in huge flocks at night-time roosts, making them easy prey for trappers using nets, the group said.

The songbird, which nests on the ground in open scrubs, is distinctive for its yellow underparts.

The paper in Conservation Biology drew parallels between the migratory bird and the North American passenger pigeon, which became extinct in 1914 due to industrial-scale hunting.

“The magnitude and speed of the decline is unprecedented among birds distributed over such a large area, with the exception of the passenger pigeon,” the paper’s lead author, Dr Johannes Kamp from the University of Munster, said in a statement released by BirdLife International.

“High levels of hunting also appear to be responsible for the declines we are seeing in yellow-breasted bunting.”

Yellow-breasted buntings have since 2013 been classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as an “endangered” species due to rapid population decline from trapping outside their breeding grounds.

“To reverse these declines we need to better educate people of the consequences of eating wildlife. We also need a better and more efficient reporting system for law enforcement,” said BirdLife International’s senior conservation officer Simba Chan.

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