Haze hackathon gives rise to ‘fantastic’ app ideas

FRANCIS LAW Today Online 13 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE — Health advice based on the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading at one’s location — and personalised according to health status. A “haze alarm” that informs users of the PSI level through sound, for the convenience of people who cannot read PSI updates.

These were some of the ideas for mobile applications that participants of the Hyper Haze Hack came up with in a span of four hours today (Oct 13).

Held at Google’s Singapore headquarters, the hackathon was organised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and supported by search giant Google and the SPH Professional Development Fund. The event aimed to enhance media reporting and response to haze through the use of data.

The winning app idea, Haze0, provides users with both the PSI at their precise location and personalised health advisories. Users can input their health information into the app, which would then advise them on what they should do to protect themselves from the haze.

Another application, HAZE-lnut, aimed to help consolidate existing data on haze forecasts to provide its users with information on whether they can to continue with their activities for the day.

The team behind the application, which took third place in the competition, comprised renaissance engineering programme students from NTU. They were inspired by the experience of one of their group members, who was told just half an hour before a marathon that the event had been cancelled. With HAZE-lnut, the team hopes users make better decisions and avoid such incidents.

Judges at the event were particularly impressed by the participants’ creative thinking and ability to think outside the box.

“Overall, the collaboration and innovation we saw was fantastic,” said Mr Andrew Purcell, operations manager at Google and one of the judges. “... It was really fantastic to see things we haven’t thought of before.”

He added that predictive analysis was one of the areas brought up during the hackathon that should be developed further, and felt the event was a “great form to bring everybody together in order to push innovation forward”.

Professor Ang Peng Hwa from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information said: “The haze is a major problem facing Singapore and other countries. What NTU tries to do is bring people from all walks of life, students, IT professionals, app developers, and NGOs together at a common platform to tackle the haze.”

He added: “The ideas from this hackathon will spur innovation and encourage more people to work together to come up with solutions to overcome or be better informed about the haze.”


100 participate in hackathon to develop apps on haze-related issues
An app that provides the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading specific to the user's location won the top prize.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 13 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE: About 100 people participated in a hackathon on Tuesday (Oct 13) to develop mobile apps that address haze-related issues.

The hackathon was organised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), with the support of Google Singapore and the SPH Professional Development Endowment Fund.

Google’s communications manager, Robin Moroney, said: "The haze has basically just been interpreted through data in smartphones. Ever since it began, I don't think there is a single Singaporean who hasn't been checking their smartphones every single day hourly and hourly.

“The window for people's information has shrunk massively, the complexity of the data that is out there is enormous. There is enormous scope to reduce that complexity and make it into measurable actions that people can have."

An app that provides the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading specific to the user's location was among the apps developed. Users can also key in their age and health condition to get customised health advisories.

The app was developed in just six hours by a team of six people from diverse backgrounds. They include students and a business consultant. The team clinched the top prize, which included S$1,000 in cash vouchers.

Participating teams presented their ideas to a panel of judges, which included representatives from the media, and also sought advice to improve their apps.

One of the ideas proposed was an app to predict the PSI levels in the next hour using weather data.

"The health impact of the haze on anyone depends on your health status, the PSI levels, as well as the activities that you wish to do,” said NTU student May Lim, whose team came up with the idea. “All this information can be found online, but usually users have to manually retrieve all this information and judge for (themselves) whether it is safe to go out now to do the activity. So with our application, we actually run an algorithm with all this data that helps to provide an informed decision to the user."

The team bagged an Honourable Mention for Innovation.

Said Professor Ang Peng Hwa from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at NTU: "The haze is a major environmental problem facing Singapore and other countries. What NTU tries to do is to bring people from all walks of life - students, IT professionals, app developers and NGOs - together at a common platform to tackle the haze.

"The ideas from this hackathon will spur innovation and encourage more people to work together to come up with solutions to overcome or be better informed about the haze."

- CNA/ek

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Sorting out what can be recycled

Carolyn Khew, The Straits Times AsiaOne 13 Oct 15;

More residents in Nee Soon will learn how to sort out items that can be recycled, thanks to a new recycling point launched yesterday.

The recycling point will serve as a meeting place where residents can learn from volunteers how to sort out recyclable items such as paper, plastic and metal.

More than 10 volunteers will be stationed at the void deck of Block 868, Yishun Street 81, where the recycling point is, once a month.

Yesterday, more than 100 residents showed up with items such as plastic bottles and old clothing to kick-start the opening of the new recycling point.

Among them was Mr Toh Boon Teck, 62, who said he has learnt about the kind of items that can be recycled and how they should be sorted before being put in recycling bins. "Previously, I didn't know we had to sort out the items before placing them in the bins," said the warehouse assistant. "I (also) think it's important for us to reuse our items as much as we can."

A volunteer at yesterday's event, engineer Michael Toh, 41, said residents were also taught how to separate different kinds of materials for more efficient recycling.

Paper in black and white, for instance, is usually easier to recycle than paper in other colours, and should thus be separated.

Mr Toh added: "It's good to teach people how to recycle. At the end of the day, it's all about cutting down unnecessary usage and saving our resources for the next generation."

The new recycling point adds to another one launched elsewhere in Nee Soon South two years ago.

Said Member of Parliament for Nee Soon GRC Lee Bee Wah: "While recycling is common these days, many are still unaware of the importance of separating recyclable materials. Our initiative is pro-active... Through the experience, participants can also become ambassadors for the movement."

By 2030, Singapore wants to have an overall recycling rate of 70 per cent. However, its domestic recycling rate has been falling. It fell from about 20 per cent in 2013 to 19 per cent last year.

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He's got all the green connections

Danson Cheong, The Straits Times AsiaOne 13 Oct 15;

When the National Parks Board (NParks) called a tender for the first park connector more than 25 years ago, it did not expect electrical engineers to come forward.

But because of how the term "park connector" was translated in the Chinese newspaper advertisements, many thought it had something to do with electrical connections instead of parks.

"In the 1980s, the concept was so new no one knew what we were talking about," recalled a chuckling Mr Yeo Meng Tong, who spearheaded the project along the Kallang River. "I had to call (the engineers) to explain, sorry but you're not the ones I am looking for."

Now, 25 years later, the Park Connector Network (PCN) has become a "household name", said Mr Yeo, 54, who is director for parks development at NParks.

The PCN has more than 300km of cycling and jogging paths spread over five loops across the island.

The newest, the 36km Central Urban Loop, which links residents in Ang Mo Kio, Hougang and Serangoon, was launched just last month.

Two more loops, the Southern Ridges and Central Nature, are at the planning stage. A Round Island Route, which will circle Singapore and link up the other PCN loops, is in the works too.

Ground support for this public institution - which is set to expand to 360km by 2020 - has been tremendous, said Mr Yeo, but this was not so in the project's early years.

It was conceptualised in 1987 by Japanese landscape architect Junichi Inada, who was then at the Parks and Recreation Department, which later became NParks.

It was a bold plan to link up "fragmented parks and green spaces", so people could walk and cycle between them, said Mr Yeo, Mr Inada's colleague at that time.

Mr Yeo, then a 27-year-old government scholar fresh out of Berlin Technical University, led a team of three to implement the plan.

At the start, the team tussled with the Public Utilities Board (PUB) as Mr Yeo zoomed in on the 6m-wide maintenance strips along drainage canals as the best way to link up parks. "To the layman, this might not seem like much, but think about how many kilometres of canals we have," he said, pointing out that these were now "green veins" connecting the island's parks.

Back then, the PUB was worried about the project affecting the canals' drainage and flood-prevention capabilities, and whether it was safe to have people so close to the canal edge, said Mr Yeo.

"(Preventing) flooding was their main concern, and we needed to make sure that was still being addressed," he added.

It took "a few years" to convince the PUB that canals could also be used for leisure.

"Today, the PUB is the one leading the ABC programme - that's a good thing that has come out of this," said Mr Yeo, referring to the scheme to turn utilitarian drains, canals and reservoirs into clean and beautiful lakes and streams.

Over the years, Mr Yeo has seen the transformation of the PCN. For instance, despite its original recreational purpose, it is now increasingly plied by commuting cyclists.

"When we first completed the Kallang Park Connector in 1992, we noticed that a lot of Bishan estate residents used it as a shortcut to get to the bus stop in Braddell Road," said Mr Yeo, adding that this was one of the first signs that the PCN could be used for more practical purposes.

Indeed, the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced in June that it was studying whether the 10km-long Kallang Park Connector could become a seamless commuting route for cyclists into the city.

The PCN now forms most of the 330km or so of cycling paths under the National Cycling Plan, which is led by the Land Transport Authority and aims to have 700km of cycling paths ready by 2030.

Mr Yeo said the growing number of people commuting by bicycle and other mobility devices is "very encouraging". "It shows a direction where we could depend less on cars - which pollute the air and congest the road," he said.

While Mr Yeo drives to work most days, he walks home once a week from NParks' headquarters in Botanic Gardens to Ang Mo Kio, where he lives in a five-room flat.

The walk can take 12-16km, and two to three hours to complete, and often takes him through the Kallang Park Connector.

"The Kallang (connector) is always close to my heart… It's a nice walk, I listen to the BBC and when I reach home I feel fresh," said Mr Yeo, a father of two.

And while the core purpose of the PCN - connecting parks - would always be there, in future the network could connect places too.

"It can happen," said Mr Yeo.

It is something cyclists are eagerly anticipating.

Mr Francis Chu, co-founder of cycling group Love Cycling SG, said the PCN comprises the backbone of Singapore's cycling network, and as more parts of the network are gradually connected, its practical use would "dramatically improve".

Mr Han Jok Kwang, an avid recreational cyclist, said there should be better integration between the PCN and cycling networks within towns. "With more integration, cycling to work, and first- and last- mile travel on bicycles will increasingly be more attractive," he said.

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How Singapore companies are going green

With the haze problem persisting in the region year after year, Channel NewsAsia takes a look at what it takes for companies to go green. While there is greater awareness, for small and medium enterprises, it is still about the bottom line.
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 13 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE: Singapore printing company Asiawide Print Holdings’ business model is built on sustainability. Everything in its printing process is eco-friendly - from the soy-based ink it uses, to the printing plates for mass production.

Eco-friendly material costs about 10 to 30 per cent more.

The company said there is greater interest in environmentally-friendly material, but only from multinational firms. Eight in 10 of its customers do not ask for paper products which are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. FSC is an international certification which promotes responsible management of the world's forests.

"In the end, if the cost matters to our customer, definitely going green may not be one of the considerations,” explained Mr Terrence Hong, chief business officer at Asiawide Print Holdings.

The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) said that on average, it will cost a company about S$5,000 per product line to get it green-certified. The more complex the test requirement, the higher the fee.

Mr Kavickumar M, head of eco-certifications at SEC, said: "There are also more complex product categories, which require, for example, biodegradability testing - that takes a long period and that could easily cost up to about S$5,000 to S$6,000. Different test labs have different price requirements. So it is also a very competitive industry.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises usually tend to feel the pinch because this is a voluntary scheme. How can they compete with the big players who have more funds and capital for this sort of endorsement projects and programmes?"

Mr Hong added: “In Asia, Japan is more green-focused. In other parts of Asia, we are not so well-equipped about this green direction yet.”

Singapore has its own green labelling certification, called the Singapore Green Label, and about 3,000 products have been given this stamp of approval. They cover a range of products, from building material and fittings to cosmetics, appliances and office equipment.

In the wake of air pollution caused by haze, some products which carry the label were taken off the shelves. The products are related to Asia Pulp and Paper Group, which is one of the companies being investigated for causing the forest fires in Indonesia.

Still, SEC is engaging companies to make the switch. It is also lobbying consumers to choose eco-friendly products.

"We will continue to work both with businesses and consumers to drive the demand base. So obviously, if you increase the demand for green products, it will definitely help to bring the cost to almost the same as products which are not sustainably produced,” said Mr Edwin Seah, executive director of SEC.

Mr Kavickumar added that interested SMEs can start small: "This being a voluntary scheme, they can choose not to certify all their products. They can come forward to certify products that they think are more marketable, more saleable in the market and obviously those that have more demand in the market.

"So as and when they feel that the demand changes and they have a new line of product coming in, they can choose not to re-certify these products. So they can choose a selected group and not a whole range of products."

Separately, the SEC and the Consumers Association of Singapore have reached out to more than 3,000 companies, urging them to declare that they procure wood, paper and pulp material only from sustainable sources. These companies include retailers, bookstores, manufacturers, printing companies, as well as distributors of recycled material.

- CNA/xq

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Sentosa to trial self-driving vehicles from early-2016

The trial will start in January 2016 and the public could get to ride on the driverless vehicles from as early as March or April.
Olivia Siong, Channel NewsAsia 13 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE: From beach trams and buses, to segways and the latest intra-island cable car, there are a myriad of transport options already available for visitors to head to Sentosa Island - and choices are set to grow.

Come January 2016, Sentosa will be testing out self-driving vehicles to provide on-demand point-to-point shuttle services. The project is a collaboration between Sentosa, the Transport Ministry and ST Kinetics.

Visitors will be able to call for the shuttle on their smartphones or at information kiosks around the island. They will then be ferried to their destination of choice on Sentosa.

A WELCOMED IDEA

Visitors welcomed the idea. Said 28-year-old Adrian Buang, a Singaporean visiting the island: "It reminds me of Jurassic Park actually! It's hassle free. Basically anybody can just grab and go."

"People come back to Sentosa even though they have been here before,” said Vyomesh Chandan, 41, visiting from Cambodia. “I'm sure I'd want to come back for that, sounds exciting enough."

"It'll be more convenient for people with children especially, because going up and down from the buses or rails etcetera may not be as convenient as compared to personalised vehicle going in,” said another visitor from Singapore, Samantha Lee, 27.

41-year-old Andrea Liu, living in Singapore with two kids says it will help with long queues.

"Having these trams and buses are great, but sometimes you're in long queues and you want to go to a specific destination. If (driverless cars are) available around the island ... (we'll) have more choice in transporting us around Sentosa," she said.

TRIAL TO BE DONE IN THREE PHASES

Sentosa says the trial will be done in three phases. The first could last about three to four months and will take place on service roads with minimal traffic.

Phase 2 will be carried out on service roads near Sentosa's beach areas, which see light human and vehicular traffic. This phase will likely take three to four months as well and is also when the public will start being allowed onboard.

Phase 3 will then take about a year, when the self-driving vehicles will ply actual roads with regular traffic. The trial will also be a time to work out how these vehicles adapt to conditions on the island.

"We see a lot of slopes that are in Sentosa,” said Mr William Ng, Assistant Director of Operations Planning and Development for Sentosa Leisure Management. “So basically based on electric vehicles we will need to test whether they can actually overcome the slope factors, the gradient factors.

“Also the weather, because we are very near to the sea itself, you're talking about heavy rains and strong winds."

There are also plans to boost Wi-Fi coverage along routes plied by the vehicles. This is expected to improve safety by allowing data from the vehicles to be transmitted to the command centre for monitoring.

"The AV (autonomous vehicle) will actually use this Wi-Fi to transmit data to our command centre whereby they can monitor where the AVs are using GPS or they can do data analysis be it live video streaming to see where the AVs are looking at," said Mr Ng.

Sentosa will decide whether the driverless vehicles will become a permanent feature after the trial. It expects there to be productivity gains in the long run.

The entire study at Sentosa is expected to last for two years. The insights will also help authorities evaluate the possibility of deploying similar self-driving shuttle systems for intra-town travel in other parts of Singapore in the future.

- CNA/ek

Driverless vehicles slated for use in four areas
VALERIE KOH Today Online 13 Oct 15;
SINGAPORE — Efforts to get driverless vehicles to hit Singapore’s roads are picking up speed, as the first four areas the Government wants to roll out this technology were unveiled: Fixed mass transport services for intra- and inter-town travel, on-demand shuttle services, freight transport, and utility operations, such as road sweeping.

Three trials of such vehicles were announced today (Oct 12) by the committee tasked with rolling out the technology in Singapore, with the first one starting as soon as December.

From Dec 1 to Dec 14, visitors to Gardens by the Bay can try out the two Auto Riders that can take up to 10 passengers each around a 1.5km loop. The tourist attraction hopes to use these driverless vehicles to ferry visitors from the middle of next year.

The second trial involves freight transport. The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and port operator PSA today inked a memorandum of understanding to develop and test an autonomous truck platooning system, which involves a driver taking the wheel of one cargo truck, leading one or more driverless trucks through wireless communication.

A Request for Proposals will be launched by December and prototypes will be tested along a 10km route along West Coast Highway, between Brani and Pasir Panjang terminals, over three years.

The third trial is for an on-demand transportation service on Sentosa island. Starting from January next year, the MOT, Sentosa Development Corporation and Singapore Technologies Engineering will start looking at ideas to have self-driving shuttles that visitors can call for either through their smartphones or kiosks placed across the island.

Speaking at a press conference today, MOT’s permanent secretary Pang Kin Keong, also the chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore (CARTS), said: “It’s not the replacement of one driven car today by a driverless car of tomorrow that excites us. What we’re much more interested in is the introduction of new mobility and transportation concepts that can enhance commuter mobility, and the overall public transport experience, especially for the first- and last-mile travel.”

Ideally, this would reduce the reliance on private vehicles, and allow the saved road space to be used for other purposes, he added. Driverless technology can also relieve road congestion and alleviate manpower constraints, said Mr Pang, adding that widespread public use of such vehicles here is possible in the next 10 to 15 years.

The PSA, for instance, said driverless vehicles would reduce its manpower costs, increase productivity and ease traffic flow, as transportation is shifted to off-peak hours.

Mr Pang urged organisations with large campuses or with “transportation or mobility responsibilities” to start studying driverless technology to enhance their efficiency and productivity.

“Self-driving and new mobility concepts can also allow us to dream and imagine a very different new town of the future, with a vastly different, vastly improved living environment ... where the surface is no longer dominated by roads and carparks, by the noise and pollution of cars. Instead, it’s dominated by greenery, pedestrians, cyclists, and clean, quiet, slow-moving and self-driving pods for intra-town and first-last mile commute,” said Mr Pang.

Many countries are studying such technology, said Mr Pang. “But for Singapore, we are driven by the fact that it is an imperative for us,” he added, citing land and manpower constraints.

While the technology is “almost there”, there are still some gaps. These include the ability to navigate in adverse weather conditions and the cost factor. “Because this is fledging technology, a lot of it is quite expensive still. For there to be public widespread deployment, cost needs to come down,” said Mr Pang. Questions had also been raised about liability issues in the event of an accident involving driverless vehicles. Mr Pang said CARTS is looking at a comprehensive liability and regulatory framework for the day-to-day use of driverless vehicles.

The Land Transport Authority’s Chief Executive Chew Men Leong noted that autonomous vehicles are far safer than human-driven cars, given the sensors mounted. “The idea is that using all these sources of information achieves a much higher level of awareness than a normal driver would have,” he said.

Experts interviewed agreed that driverless vehicles are safe.

Dr Walter Theseira, a senior lecturer at UniSIM, said: “This is unlikely to be more dangerous than a person driving it, especially given its faster response time.”

While accidents involving driverless heavy vehicles potentially present more danger, Dr Theseira said “it makes perfect sense to trial the trucks because one of the big usage applications is cargo vehicle movement”.

He added: “These are areas where the vehicles are used all the day and the initial high cost of the autonomous vehicle will be quickly paid for, and by the fact that you don’t have to hire a person to drive it anymore.”

The adoption of autonomous vehicles in the United States have caused a stir because of the drivers that were put out of jobs. Singapore, on the other hand, faces challenges in attracting truck drivers.

Dr Park Byung Joon, a UniSIM adjunct associate professor, said: “If driverless vehicles become a thing for everyone, drivers are going to become a thing of the past. There aren’t going to be taxis and buses. We’re not going to have such jobs in future.

“But we’re still far away from seeing these on the roads. It’ll happen but not so soon. It’s not something we should worry about now,” he added.

Gardens by the Bay’s director of operations Ng Boon Gee said its existing tram drivers can be trained to become visitor guides on the Auto Riders.

Around the world, at least 25 companies have ventured into autonomous vehicle technology. Google has been running trials in Texas and California, while Uber will be partnering the University of Arizona for research. In trials closer to home, robot taxis will start ferrying passengers from their homes to supermarkets in Japan from next March.

In Singapore, A*STAR and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) started running autonomous vehicle trials at one-north since August and October respectively.

A Request for Information relating to autonomous vehicles being used for on-demand transport services and bus services was issued previously. So far, eight proposals from companies such as BMW and Uber have been submitted and trials will start at one-north in the second half of next year.


Driverless vehicles hit the road in trials around Singapore
Christopher Tan, The Straits Times AsiaOne 13 Oct 15;

From as early as December, visitors to Gardens by the Bay will be able to hop on to driverless shuttles that will take them around the sprawling grounds.

The two Auto Riders can each accommodate 10 people and are wheelchair-accessible, with a motorised ramp that deploys and retracts at the touch of a button. The vehicles, which have been tested in Switzerland, are making their Asian debut here as part of a multi-agency autonomous vehicle trial.

Yesterday, the Transport Ministry signed two memoranda of understanding (MOU).

One MOU is with port operator PSA to jointly develop autonomous truck platooning technology for cargo transport between terminals. In truck platooning, several trucks move together like a train, with only a controller in the first to improve productivity. The other MOU is with Sentosa Development Corp and ST Engineering to test self-driving shuttles across Sentosa.

Meanwhile, A*Star's Institute for Infocomm Research and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have started driverless trials in one-north, while the Nanyang Technological University has been doing the same on its campus.

Permanent Secretary for Transport Pang Kin Keong said yesterday: "Self-driving vehicles can radically transform land transportation in Singapore to address our two key constraints - land and manpower.

"The trials will help us shape the mobility concepts which can meet Singapore's needs, and also gain valuable insights into how we can design our towns of the future to take advantage of this technology."

Unlike autonomous vehicle trials elsewhere, Singapore is focusing on applying the technology to public buses, freight carriers, autonomous taxis and utility operations such as road sweepers.

In buses, the technology will solve Singapore's perennial bus driver shortage. In taxis, the technology allows for many more journeys with a smaller fleet. Such vehicles are far costlier though, but experts believe that the initial outlay will be offset by manpower savings.

A*Star executive director Lee Shiang Long said: "I'm quite confident that Singapore will be the first city to implement this new technology. This is because unlike trials in other countries, which are left pretty much to the private sector, the Government is behind the efforts here."

A*Star converted a Toyota Alphard Hybrid to run autonomously, equipping it with laser sensors that cost as much as a luxury car.

Elsewhere, the Land Transport Authority has received responses from eight firms to a request for information to carry out its own trial in one-north. It will evaluate the proposals, and expects to begin trials by the second half of next year.

When asked how much the Government is investing in all these efforts, Mr Pang would only say "quite a fair bit". But given Singapore's land and labour constraints, going autonomous is "a strong imperative".

European, Japanese, US and Chinese companies - including big names like Google, Bosch and Toyota - are researching in this field.

Some, like Daimler and Tesla, are expected to launch autonomous models in the next five years.

SIM University's adjunct associate professor, Dr Park Byung Joon, said: "I think what Singapore should do is to provide a test bed to attract researchers to come here.

"If not, we might be trying to re-invent the wheel."

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Energy management important to Singapore's economic strategy: S Iswaran

In an interview with Channel NewsAsia, the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) also talks about how Singapore's energy landscape has evolved.
Nicole Tan Channel NewsAsia 14 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE: Ahead of the upcoming Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW), Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran said energy management is an indispensable part of Singapore's economic strategy.

In an interview with Channel NewsAsia on Tuesday (Oct 13), he also talked about how Singapore's energy landscape had evolved in the last 50 years.

Mr Iswaran: The key change over the years has really been first ensuring greater resilience in our energy sector. This is really to ensure Singapore has got, as far as possible, diversified sources of energy, in order to ensure the resilience of energy supply to Singapore.

The second thing we've been focusing on is greater competition in the energy market, whether in terms of generation, retail, and sales to the end consumer, households or businesses alike. In this area, we've progressively been enhancing retail contestability, lowering the threshold and therefore allowing more consumers to have choices.

Ultimately, we want to move towards full retail contestability, which means every household and energy consumer will have a choice in terms of who they buy energy from and the kind of package, not unlike what you might do for telecoms. That’s something the Energy Market Authority (EMA) is working on, and I think we’ve been making good progress and we hope to do more in the coming years.

Q: Why is energy management so important for Singapore, given the context that we are a small country with no natural resources?

Mr Iswaran: If you take economic activity, energy is a key input. If you take wafer fabrication industry for example, the slightest disruption in energy supply will result in significant losses for them; even if it's just for a few minutes, it'll disrupt their operations and cause them significant losses.

So it's a key parameter when investors make their decisions, it's a key determinant of economic competitiveness and sustainability of economic competitiveness in the long term. That's one of the main reasons we emphasise energy policy, and in particular the resilience of our energy supply. As a small city-state relying almost entirely on imported energy, it's an indispensable part of our economic strategy.

Q: What are the Government's top priorities in the energy sector, particularly as Singapore functions as a major trading hub for commodities and energy?

Mr Iswaran: These are the three elements - economic competitiveness, energy security and environment sustainability, which we take into account when thinking through the issues and formulating our policies for the present, but also for the future in terms of energy for Singapore.

One of the areas we'll be focusing on is retail contestability, broadening the options for consumers and ensuring that there is a way for people to choose, whether it’s households or small businesses. Choice between suppliers of electricity - this is an important part of ensuring we have a vibrant electricity market and one that will continue to provide value and choice and quality service for consumers.

The other area is diversifying our sources. Beyond carbon-based sources, development of alternative energy sources is another aspect. We're quite limited, alternative energy disadvantaged, we have limited options, by virtue of size and built up environment. One area where there's been considerable work being done is the solar aspect, because we think it's an area where there is potential for solar energy to be an important part of the energy mix in Singapore.

Q: You have talked about how Singapore is a player in an international arena. What is the importance of international engagement?

Mr Iswaran: Energy policy to a considerable extent is domestic-focused. Every country has its own energy policy. We also need engagement across economies and across countries, because there are areas for collaboration which can reinforce each other’s strategy, and indeed a regional approach could yield significant benefits for all countries.

In ASEAN, there are discussions on a trans-ASEAN gas pipeline, which if it were to eventuate, even if in limited form, it means therefore there’s greater resilience in gas supply network within ASEAN, which will be to the benefit for member states. At the same time, Singapore also has established itself as a thought leader through our Government agencies and also range of international organisations and private sector organisations in the space of energy.

Thinking about issues pertaining to future of gas, future of alternative energy, policies that will facilitate evolution of alternative energy, as part of national energy mix - these are areas where our agencies and many other players in Singapore have been involved in. Singapore becomes a good platform and SIEW in particular is a forum where I've seen considerable discussion take place in that regard.

- CNA/xq

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Malaysia: Dam-aging effects

DR. ZAKI ZAINUDIN New Straits Times 13 Oct 15;

THE worsening haze reminds us about the consequence of environmental exploits. There is a lesson to be learnt here; there can be no action without ramifications. As more and more of the planet’s resources are destroyed, environmental stability and ultimately human habitation are also affected.

Actually, humans have used the planet’s resources since the beginning of civilisation. However, the magnitude of exploitation was not as gargantuan back then as it is now.

The environment was able to cope and reach a kind of stability or equilibrium with its human inhabitants. Things now, however, are shifting in one direction as global population soars to numbers never seen before. Demands for resources for example, food, water and energy, are at unprecedented levels. To satisfy the demand, more and more environmental resources are exploited.

In Malaysia, dams are constructed to store water for supply, generate electricity, mitigate floods, or a combination of one of these functions.
In Klang Valley, for example, the water level at the Sungai Selangor Dam usually comes under close scrutiny during dry spells as water service providers struggle to avoid disruption and meet consumer demand.

I remember when I was growing up, I was taught that hydroelectric dams were an environmentally friendly source of energy. Hydro dams, after all, produce electricity without the need to burn fossil fuels such as coal or gas. There is no emission of air pollutants such as smoke, NOx or SOx. The flowing water is used to turn giant turbines to generate electricity.

Notable hydro dams in Malaysia include the Kenyir Dam in Terengganu, Pergau Dam in Kelantan and Bakun Dam in Sarawak. Malaysia has more than 15 hydro dams of various sizes. The Kenyir, Pergau and Bakun dams are anticipated to produce more than 3,000MW of electricity between them.

The reservoir for the Bakun Dam is said to be the size of Singapore. And there are more on the way.

Not all dams are environmentally friendly. On the contrary, certain dams, depending on size and location, can harm the environment. Dams are erected on mountainous river valleys because a barrier needs to be created to block the natural flow of a river. When the flow is blocked, water is displaced from the bank and fills the surrounding area.

The water quality at these locations is usually pristine; the bottom of the river visible from the riverbank. You can see fish swimming in the water.

This is where the famous Kelah fish dwells and where elephants, yes, wild elephants, roam free. Mother Nature retains all its splendour here, rich in flora and fauna. The water quality is comparable to Class I of the National Water Quality Standards, the best water quality.

Yes, such places exist in Malaysia, but perhaps not for long, as more and more large-scale dams are built. As with most projects, land clearing is inevitable during dam construction. This incurs erosion, sediment transport and siltation.

The amount of erosion that happens is dependent on the scale of the project; essentially, the larger the project, the more the erosion. This causes the teh susu phenomena, inherent to many rivers in Malaysia.

It is true there are measures to reduce this kind of pollution, however, even slight deterioration is easily visible, since the water quality was pristine to begin with. Aquatic creatures will die because of this, especially the more sensitive ones, like kelah.

Besides the murky appearance, sediment will also settle at the bottom of the river, blanketing river rocks. Aquatic habitats are destroyed and fish lose their breeding sites. A fact that may not be known to many: fish need river pebbles to lay their eggs for insemination.

Then there is the logging impact. What has logging got to do with dams? Well, Malaysian forests are rich with timber and since the area behind the dam is going to be underwater anyway, (for some) it only makes sense to reap the benefit of this resource for commercial gains.

Trees would be felled and exported out of the dam site before and during construction. The destruction of their habitat means forest animals, including elephants, will have to look to other areas for sustenance.

Besides forest creatures, Orang Asli may also need to relocate. To them, losing the forest means losing their source for supplies and maybe even income. Orang Asli folk sell forest items, such as petai hutan, a favourite among enthusiasts, including myself.

Loss of the forest means the loss of a carbon sequestration zone. As it is widely known, trees capture carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Hence, this process not only produces oxygen, but also regulates temperature. This is why in areas where there are fewer trees, the temperature would inevitably be hotter. So, in the case of Bakun, a carbon sequestration zone the size of Singapore is lost.

Once a dam’s construction is completed, the reservoir behind the dam starts filling with water. To avoid drowning, remaining animals will have to make for higher ground or re-locate to other areas outside the valley. During this time, some water may be released to maintain the flow of the downstream river segments. The volume of water released is dubbed “environmental flow”.

Unfortunately, while there may be guidelines relating to amount of water that should be released, the matter is a subject of contention. Ideally, the amount should be sufficient to sustain aquatic life downstream.

However, dam operators are pressed for time and releasing more water means it will take a longer time to fill the reservoir, delaying its operations. Releasing too little water, on the other hand, means environmental disaster.

After the dam is filled, it can commence operations. Typically, during this stage, lesser environmental impact is incurred as more water can be released into the river. The reservoir (or lake) and river ecosystems now begin the long journey to recovery, if they recover at all.

It is obvious that environmental impacts are incurred between the dam construction and operation. Entire river-catchment systems are altered, including aquatic as well as terrestrial flora and fauna.

Because the scale of alteration is so big, mitigation measures cannot address all issues. While it is understandable Malaysia needs to equip itself with power and water, and while it is also true the country cannot continue relying on fossil fuel, this does not mean we need to revert to a solution that has devastating effects.

As of the moment, the environmental emphasis, assessment and mitigation relating to dam construction in Malaysia is done at the end of the project spectrum, long after project inception, but before actual construction.

However, by then, the matter has snowballed into something big with little chance of going back. Thus, it is necessary to place a greater emphasis on the environmental impact of dam projects since the inception stage.

The writer is associate professor of Water Quality and Water Quality Modelling at International Islamic University

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Indonesia, Singapore, Swiss scientists believe another Ciliwung river is possible

Corry Elyda, The Jakarta Post 13 Oct 15;

More than a dozen scientists from institutions in Switzerland, Singapore and Indonesia have collaborated for years to create several models figuring rehabilitation of the Ciliwung River, providing future scenarios that “balance concerns over flooding, water quality and ecology with the reality that a rapidly growing megacity is not a utopia”.

The group’s report was recently issued amid criticism from a school of thought that believes the current Ciliwung “normalization” project carried out by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry’s Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC) is a “traditional and old-fashioned engineering approach”.

The ongoing BBWSCC project is widening the river, constructing concrete embankments and creating a meander cut-off at Kampung Pulo in East Jakarta.

Singapore-based research program Future Cities Laboratory, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and Indonesian universities including the University of Indonesia (UI), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) have suggested that other, greener and more innovative, models of Ciliwung rehabilitation are possible.

“Jakarta needs a strong vision for the Ciliwung River as the first public green corridor of cities and regions in its watershed,” the research report said.

Paolo Burlando, the chair of hydrology and water resource management at ETH Zurich, said that the study, which brought together disciplines from engineering, hydrology, landscape architecture and ecology to social sciences, explored how various approaches delivered alternative future scenarios, while taking into account flood mitigation and environmental concerns.

“The project is as much about the reinvention of the river as a brand for Jakarta and West Java — a brand capable of projecting a strong and positive environmental image with sustainable goals, as it is about solving immediate engineering challenges to better manage risk,” he said.

Ciliwung, starting from Mount Gede, meanders 119 kilometers from Bogor through Depok and Jakarta before emptying into the Java Sea.

According to the study, approximately 5 million people reside within the river’s 384 square km catchment.

The study, Burlando said, had reached no definitive conclusion, but offered hypothetical scenarios demonstrating the existence of alternative scenarios to the current project, in which the river is essentially channelized by removing all natural landscape.

“We believe that it is possible to still have a relatively natural river landscape that does not increase the flood risk but eventually reduces [it],” Burlando said on the sidelines of a symposium on the study at Tarumanagara University (Untar).

He added that the BBWSCC’s formula would “only transfer the problem downstream”.

“Closer to the sea, you will have more problems,” he said.

The river’s main challenges include flooding that occurs every rainy season and heavy pollution; Jakarta does not have a wastewater management system and shallow groundwater risks contamination.

According to Burlando, the study shows that while land-use management alone cannot remove the flood risk, maintaining a good forested upper catchment area would help reduce frequency of floods.

The BBWSCC, in collaboration with the Jakarta administration, has evicted 1,040 families in Kampung Pulo and plans to evict more in Bidaracina in East Jakarta and Bukit Duri in South Jakarta to make way for widening and river inspection roads.

Responding to the alternative proposals, Jakarta Water Management Agency head Tri Djoko Sri Margianto said that it was hard to use “green” approaches to flood mitigation.

“River banks are densely populated areas. We need a wider river if the wall is to be natural, which will be difficult for the city administration, as it means we will need to relocate more people,” Tri said.

Another collaboration of architects, planners and hydrologists has proposed creating a kampung susun (elevated village) at Kampung Pulo, in which residents could remain near the meander and take care of the river’s natural embankments.

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Indonesia: Relaxing timber rules raises fears for forest governance

Ayomi Amindoni, thejakartapost.com 13 Oct 15;

The government’s plan to relax certification requirements for downstream timber products has raised concern from environmental groups.

Eyes on the Forest (EoF) activist Ian Hilman said a relaxed certification policy would worsen illegal logging activities and aggravate forest governance in Indonesia.

"Illegal [logging] still occurs in the upstream timber industry. It is possible that a relaxed certification regulation will open the possibility of illegal activity in the downstream industry,” he said at a discussion in Jakarta on Monday.

The environmental activist was speaking in response to the government’s plan to revise Trade Ministerial Regulation (Permen) No.66/2015, which replaced Permen No.97/2014 on the export of industrial forestry products.

Through Permen 66, the government removed an export declaration (DE) requirement, which will come into effect on Dec. 31, 2015.

The Trade Ministry said Permen 66 still needed to be revised to ease the timber exporting process for small and medium enterprises. The ministry and several timber associations started to discuss the revision of Permen 66 in a meeting last week. During the meeting, they agreed that small and medium enterprises should be allowed to export their timber products without meeting the criteria of the timber legality verification system (SVLK).

SVLK is applied to reduce illegal logging and timber trading and to improve management of industrial timber products and allow better timber legality assurance.

Ian said the government’s plan to relax the certification policy had forgotten a long history of illegal logging in Indonesia and only accommodated the interests of certain parties.

"It will also open up the chance of illegal logging and weaken forest governance efforts," he said.

Zainuri Hasyim of the Indonesian Independent Forest Monitoring Network (JPIK) said that if they relaxed the certification process, all forest governance efforts that had been conducted recently would come to nothing.

"The SVLK should be maintained as it is an attempt to improve forest governance," he said.

Earlier, the Trade Ministry’s director for agriculture and forestry exports, Nurlaila Nur Muhammad, said that several ministries and timber-related business associations had agreed

to the ministry’s proposal for the revision of timber export requirements.

Nurlaila said parties in the meeting had agreed to simplify procedures on ironwood exports and revoke SVLK requirements on 15 downstream timber products, including furniture. The revision was aimed at helping local timber producers export their products, she said. (ebf)(++++)

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Australia says strong Indian Ocean Dipole reinforcing El Nino

Lincoln Feast PlanetArk 14 Oct 15;

Climatic conditions in the Indian Ocean are reinforcing the current powerful El Nino weather pattern, Australia's weather bureau said on Tuesday, meaning drier conditions are likely for the country's east.

The positive Indian Ocean Dipole, the Indian Ocean's equivalent of the Pacific Ocean-based El Nino, is at its strongest since 2006, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said in a weekly update.

This year's El Nino is the strongest in almost 20 years, forecasters have warned.

"El Nino is usually associated with below-average spring rainfall over eastern Australia, and increased spring and summer daytime temperatures in Australia south of the tropics," the bureau said. "A positive IOD typically reinforces the drying pattern, particularly in the southeast."

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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Enforcing a global climate deal: speak loudly, carry no stick

Alister Doyle PlanetArk 13 Oct 15;

Negotiators have several terms for the way they plan to enforce any deal reached at global climate talks in Paris this December. "Peer pressure" and "cooperation" are a couple. "Race to the top" is the American buzzword.

What you won't hear mentioned is the word "sanctions". Or "punishment".

For all their efforts to get 200 governments to commit to the toughest possible cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, climate negotiators have all but given up on creating a way to penalize those who fall short.

The overwhelming view of member states, says Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, is that any agreement "has to be much more collaborative than punitive", if it is to happen at all.
"Even if you do have a punitive system, that doesn't guarantee that it is going to be imposed or would lead to any better action," Figueres said.

To critics, the absence of a legal stick to enforce compliance is a deep - if not fatal - flaw in the Paris process, especially after all countries agreed in 2011 that an agreement would have some form of "legal force".

They warn that a deal already built upon sometimes vague promises from member states could end up as a toothless addition to the stack of more than 500 global and regional environmental treaties, while the rise in global temperatures mounts inexorably past a U.N. ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), with the prospect of ever more floods, droughts and heatwaves.

INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE COURT?

That fear finds its sharpest expression in a proposal from Bolivia's socialist government for an International Climate Justice Tribunal with powers to penalize countries that break commitments.

Diego Pacheco, Bolivia's chief negotiator, said anything less would be "dangerous to Mother Earth".

But the idea is a non-starter with almost every other country going to the Paris talks, from Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

Even the European Union, which has long argued for a strong, legally binding deal, is increasingly talking about a "pledge and review" system under which national commitments would be re-assessed every five years against a goal of halving world emissions by 2050.

Elina Bardram, head of the European Commission delegation, insisted that strong compliance mechanisms were vital. "Weak rules would undermine the whole structure," she said.

However, many developing nations oppose reviews of their goals, wanting oversight to be limited to the rich.

Nick Mabey, chief executive of the E3G think-tank in London, says a Paris deal is likely to be more like international agreements limiting nuclear weapons than accords under the World Trade Organization, which can impose sanctions.

A watchword of nuclear non-proliferation - "trust but verify" - could be the basis, he said.

Yvo de Boer, the United Nations' former top climate official, said he remembers the moment when he realized that the principle of sanctioning countries for non-compliance was dead.

In 2001, as a senior member of the Dutch delegation, de Boer attended a closed-door meeting of environment ministers in Bonn, Germany, that was designing rules to enforce the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obliged about 40 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

EMPTY ACT

He recalled being struck by the strength of objections, even from once-supportive countries such as Australia and Japan, to any attempt to punish those who fell short of emissions commitments.

"The agreement was to be legally binding, but it became very clear that a lot of countries didn't want sanctions," he said.

Despite the opposition, a sanctions regime was agreed later in 2001. It required any developed country that missed its greenhouse gas targets between 2008 and 2012 to make even deeper cuts in the future.

But even those sanctions were an empty act of bravado by rich nations angered by U.S. President George W. Bush's decision in March 2001 to stay out of Kyoto, said Jan Pronk, a former Dutch environment minister who chaired the Bonn meeting.

"There was a political feeling that the United States cannot just kill something that is so important internationally," Pronk recalled. But now that even the flawed Kyoto agreement had expired, he added, "sanctions don't mean anything any more".

He noted that Japan, Russia and Canada - which was set to break its pledge - have simply abandoned Kyoto in recent years, without suffering sanctions.

"Kyoto was the high-water mark for the idea of sanctions in climate agreements," said Alex Hanafi of the U.S. Environmental Defense Fund.

"RACE TO THE TOP"?

Both China and the United States, the two top carbon emitters crucial to any effective agreement, made clear from the start of the current negotiations they would not agree to any form of international oversight. The U.S. position instead speaks of a collective "race to the top", in which countries push each other to see who can be the greenest.

Nor do the loose commitments being made by countries lend themselves to easy enforcement. Russia's pledge, for example, says only that limiting emissions to somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of 1990 levels by 2030 "might be a long-term indicator".

All countries agree that that the emissions curbs pledged so far are too small to get the world on track to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

That means a strong mechanism will be needed for ratcheting up pledges after Paris.

Critics say that simply shaming outliers will not ensure compliance and that, unless there are costs for non-compliance, any country can share in the global benefits of reduced temperature rises while leaving the hard work of emissions cuts to others.

But Figueres, the U.N. climate chief, believes that cuts in greenhouse gases can serve countries' economic self-interests. China, for instance, can improve the health of millions by shifting from coal-fired power plants that cause air pollution.

And sharp falls in the costs of solar and wind power also mean that greener technologies can help, rather than hinder, economic growth, benefits that were not so evident under Kyoto, she said.

The Paris accord also holds out carrots for participation by developing nations, including a new mechanism to fund loss and damage from hurricanes, droughts or rising sea levels.

De Boer, who now works for the Global Green Growth Institute in South Korea, said that ditching sanctions was, ultimately, part of the price of getting a broad, global agreement.

"The sting has been taken out of the process ... That means the chances of a deal are much better."

(Editing by Bruce Wallace and Kevin Liffey)

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Marine food chains at risk of collapse, extensive study of world's oceans finds

Important ecosystems could be massively damaged by 2050 unless greenhouse gas emissions and localised pollution is drastically reduced, researchers say
Oliver Milman The Guardian 13 Oct 15;

The food chains of the world’s oceans are at risk of collapse due to the release of greenhouse gases, overfishing and localised pollution, a stark new analysis shows.

A study of 632 published experiments of the world’s oceans, from tropical to arctic waters, spanning coral reefs and the open seas, found that climate change is whittling away the diversity and abundance of marine species.

The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found there was “limited scope” for animals to deal with warming waters and acidification, with very few species escaping the negative impact of increasing carbon dioxide dissolution in the oceans.

The world’s oceans absorb about a third of all the carbon dioxide emitted by the burning of fossil fuels. The ocean has warmed by about 1C since pre-industrial times, and the water increased to be 30% more acidic.

The acidification of the ocean, where the pH of water drops as it absorbs carbon dioxide, will make it hard for creatures such as coral, oysters and mussels to form the shells and structures that sustain them. Meanwhile, warming waters are changing the behaviour and habitat range of fish.

The overarching analysis of these changes, led by the University of Adelaide, found that the amount of plankton will increase with warming water but this abundance of food will not translate to improved results higher up the food chain.

“There is more food for small herbivores, such as fish, sea snails and shrimps, but because the warming has driven up metabolism rates the growth rate of these animals is decreasing,” said associate professor Ivan Nagelkerken of Adelaide University. “As there is less prey available, that means fewer opportunities for carnivores. There’s a cascading effect up the food chain.

“Overall, we found there’s a decrease in species diversity and abundance irrespective of what ecosystem we are looking at. These are broad scale impacts, made worse when you combine the effect of warming with acidification.

“We are seeing an increase in hypoxia, which decreases the oxygen content in water, and also added stressors such as overfishing and direct pollution. These added pressures are taking away the opportunity for species to adapt to climate change.”

The research adds to recent warnings over the state of the oceans, with the world experiencing the third global bleaching of coral reefs.

Since 2014, a massive underwater heatwave, driven by climate change, has caused corals to lose their brilliance and die in every ocean. By the end of this year 38% of the world’s reefs will have been affected. About 5% will have died.

Coral reefs make up just 0.1% of the ocean’s floor but nurture 25% of the world’s marine species. There are concerns that ecosystems such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which has lost half its coral cover over the past 30 years, could be massively diminished by 2050 unless greenhouse gas emissions are slashed and localised pollution is curbed.

Meanwhile, warming of the oceans is causing water to thermally expand, fuelling sea level rises caused by melting land ice. Research released in the US on Monday found that Antarctic ice is melting so fast that the whole continent could be at risk by 2100, with severe consequences for coastal communities.

Problems in the ocean’s food chains will be a direct concern for hundreds of millions of people who rely upon seafood for sustenance, medicines and income. The loss of coral reefs could also worsen coastal erosion due to their role in protecting shorelines from storms and cyclones.

“These effects are happening now and will only be exacerbated in the next 50 to 100 years,” Nagelkerken said. “We are already seeing strange things such as the invasion of tropical species into temperate waters off south-eastern Australia. But if we reduce additional stressors such as overfishing and pollution, we can give species a better chance to adapt to climate change.”


Global marine analysis suggests food chain collapse
University of Adelaide ScienceAlert 12 Oct 15;

A world-first global analysis of marine responses to climbing human carbon dioxide emissions has painted a grim picture of future fisheries and ocean ecosystems.

Published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), marine ecologists from the University of Adelaide say the expected ocean acidification and warming is likely to produce a reduction in diversity and numbers of various key species that underpin marine ecosystems around the world.

"This 'simplification' of our oceans will have profound consequences for our current way of life, particularly for coastal populations and those that rely on oceans for food and trade," says Associate Professor Ivan Nagelkerken, Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow with the University's Environment Institute.

Associate Professor Nagelkerken and fellow University of Adelaide marine ecologist Professor Sean Connell have conducted a 'meta-analysis' of the data from 632 published experiments covering tropical to artic waters, and a range of ecosystems from coral reefs, through kelp forests to open oceans.

"We know relatively little about how climate change will affect the marine environment," says Professor Connell. "Until now, there has been almost total reliance on qualitative reviews and perspectives of potential global change. Where quantitative assessments exist, they typically focus on single stressors, single ecosystems or single species.

"This analysis combines the results of all these experiments to study the combined effects of multiple stressors on whole communities, including species interactions and different measures of responses to climate change."

The researchers found that there would be "limited scope" for acclimation to warmer waters and acidification. Very few species will escape the negative effects of increasing CO2, with an expected large reduction in species diversity and abundance across the globe. One exception will be microorganisms, which are expected to increase in number and diversity.

From a total food web point of view, primary production from the smallest plankton is expected to increase in the warmer waters but this often doesn't translate into secondary production (the zooplankton and smaller fish) which shows decreased productivity under ocean acidification.

"With higher metabolic rates in the warmer water, and therefore a greater demand for food, there is a mismatch with less food available for carnivores ─ the bigger fish that fisheries industries are based around," says Associate Professor Nagelkerken. "There will be a species collapse from the top of the food chain down."

The analysis also showed that with warmer waters or increased acidification or both, there would be deleterious impacts on habitat-forming species for example coral, oysters and mussels. Any slight change in the health of habitats would have a broad impact on a wide range of species these reefs harbour.

Another finding was that acidification would lead to a decline in dimethylsulfide gas (DMS) production by ocean plankton which helps cloud formation and therefore in controlling Earth's heat exchange.

Journal Reference:

Ivan Nagelkerken and Sean D. Connell. Global alteration of ocean ecosystem functioning due to increasing human CO2 emissions. PNAS, October 12, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1510856112

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