Best of our wild blogs: 13 Jan 19

Flew In Visitors (12 Jan 2019)
Beetles@SG BLOG

Butterfly of the Month - January 2019
Butterflies of Singapore

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Why Singapore is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world

Extreme heat, combined with the island’s high humidity, could be life-threatening, the programme Why It Matters discovers.
Desmond Ng and Tang Hui Huan Channel NewsAsia 13 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: The recent spells of hot weather that Singaporeans have been experiencing may not be just temporary heatwaves.

The island is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world - at 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade - according to the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS). It is almost 1 deg C hotter today than in the 1950s.

What is even grimmer news – Singapore’s maximum daily temperatures could reach 35 to 37 deg C by year 2100, if carbon emissions continue to rise at the same rate, warned Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, senior research scientist with the MSS Centre for Climate Research Singapore.

Other countries already experience hotter temperatures than this - but the reason this spells trouble for Singapore, is that humidity is high here all year round,

This could lead to potentially deadly situations, as the programme Why It Matters found out.

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Singapore needs to relook way it uses resources if it's to become a zero-waste nation: Masagos

Calvin Yang Straits Times 12 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE - Singapore has to relook the way it uses resources if it is to achieve its vision of becoming a zero-waste nation, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli on Saturday (Jan 12).

If done right, the country will also be able to create new economic opportunities for local businesses and jobs for Singaporeans, added Mr Masagos, who was speaking at the launch of Singapore's Year Towards Zero Waste at Our Tampines Hub.

The year-long campaign aims to raise awareness of waste issues here and the need to treasure precious resources.

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Wild boar killed in accident outside Waterway Point in Punggol

Channel NewsAsia 12 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: A wild boar died after being run over outside Waterway Point in Punggol on Saturday (Jan 12).

Animal welfare group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) received a call at about 11.55am alerting them to two wild boars near Waterway Point.

One was reported to be in the car park, while the other had died after being run over.

When officers from ACRES arrived at the scene, they found only the carcass of the dead wild boar. The carcass was subsequently cleared by the National Environment Agency, ACRES said.

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2 Asian leopard cats abandoned at Bukit Batok, rescued by ACRES

Channel NewsAsia 12 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: Two critically endangered Asian leopard cats were rescued by an animal welfare group after being found abandoned in a carrier at Bukit Batok West last month.

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said it received a call at about 10am on Dec 20 from a member of the public, claiming to have found two Asian leopard cats abandoned in a carrier at Bukit Batok West Avenue 6.

The cats were picked up by ACRES in the afternoon.

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Indonesia: Riau resident accused of igniting forest fire after throwing cigarette butt

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 12 Jan 19;

Dumai Police arrested a resident for allegedly starting a forest fire in Purnama subdistrict in Dumai, Riau, after he threw a lighted cigarette butt onto peatland.

Police chief Comr. Restika P. Nainggolan said the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Sabri, had attempted to put out the fire when the fire brigade arrived.

"Apparently he is one of the land owners," Restika said on Friday.

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$1m prize for innovative solutions for clean energy, sustainability

Cheryl Teh Straits Times 12 Jan 19;

Local non-profit organisation Temasek Foundation has launched its Liveability Challenge this year, issuing a global call for companies to come up with innovative solutions for clean energy and sustainability in tropical cities.

Its Ecosperity arm is offering a $1 million prize - which it claims is the biggest in Asia for such a competition - to the winning company, which will go towards project development, crowdfunding campaigns and mentoring opportunities.

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From fighting diabetes to food waste, start-ups cook up new ideas for food

Tang See Kit Channel NewsAsia 12 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: Affecting more than 420 million people globally, diabetes has been described as one of the world’s fastest growing chronic diseases and for Alan Phua, it is one that he lost both his grandmothers to.

So when Verleen Goh, his business partner and a trained food scientist, suggested developing a product that’s not only diabetes-friendly but can also help with prevention, he agreed.

The product they envisioned will make starchy white rice “healthier” by lowering its glycemic index (GI), which is a measure of how a carbohydrate-containing food raises blood glucose level. White rice, a staple of meals here in Singapore and the rest of Asia, has a high GI value that is deemed unhealthy for diabetics or those trying to keep their blood sugar at a healthy level.

After three years of research and development, the founders of Alchemy Foodtech have turned that idea into reality.

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Panic as family finds 3m-long python in toilet, then struggles to find agency to help remove snake

Adeline Tan The New Paper 11 Jan 19;

When his wife's screams woke him up at 6.45am, he found a slithery intruder in their Housing Board maisonette in Eunos.

What ensued was a two-hour drama where the family had to deal with a 3m reticulated python in their home while waiting for help to arrive.

Recalling the incident, which happened on Dec 30, the resident, who wanted to be known only as Mr Goh, said his wife had run into their bedroom to wake him.

"She said there was a huge snake in the toilet. I thought she was exaggerating or had mistaken something else for a snake," he told The New Paper.

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Malaysia: Green turtle with 'floater syndrome' rescued off Gaya Island

Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 11 Jan 19;

KOTA KINABALU: An endangered green sea turtle, believed to be suffering from 'floater syndrome', was rescued by guests of a resort off Gaya Island, near here, on Tuesday.

The turtle was spotted floating at sea by guests and surf team of Shangri-la’s Rasa Ria Resort at 11.55am.

Sabah Wildlife Department assistant director Dr Sen Nathan said the group tried to push the turtle back further toward open water but the reptile kept swimming back to them.

Turtles with 'floater syndrome', a condition caused by excess accumulation of gas in the body, could not dive for food or protection.

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UN Environment expects Indonesia`s major role in marine waste prevention

Antara 11 Jan 19;

Children join a clean coast campaign in Parangkusumo Coast, Bantul, Yogyakarta, some time in 2018. (ANTARA FOTO/Hendra Nurdiyansyah/foc).

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - UN Environment`s Regional Director for Asia-Pacific Dechen Tsering expects Indonesia to play a major role in preventing plastic waste from entering the sea.

"With regard to marine waste, we can see awareness, policies, regulations, and implementation," Tsering noted in a written statement received in Jakarta on Friday.

Tsering remarked that marine waste mostly came from Southeast Asia. She also realized that Indonesia and other countries in the region are working hard to tackle this problem.

Hence, Indonesia and the UN Environment plan to create a Regional Center for Capacity Initiative to Protect the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities.

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Republic Polytechnic launches course to groom high-tech farmers

Cheryl Teh Straits Times 11 Jan 19;

A new course here aims to train the next generation of high-tech farmers so that Singapore can produce more of its own food.

The Diploma in Applied Science in Urban Agricultural Technology, launched by Republic Polytechnic (RP) on Wednesday, is the first full-qualification diploma course in agricultural technology in Singapore.

The course was developed by RP, in consultation with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, to develop a local core agriculture workforce with modern agricultural knowledge and techniques to drive the sector's growth and transformation.

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