Asia's mega-cities need clean energy drive to cope with environmental threats

Henning Gloystein Reuters 28 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Avoiding threats from climate change and pollution will require Asia’s booming cities to become much more efficient in their use of energy resources, delegates at a city development conference said on Thursday.

Asia is home to 15 out of the world’s 20 biggest cities, and the United Nations estimates another 2.5 billion people will live in cities by 2050, by far the most in Asia.

This growth caused serious pollution problems and will challenge transport networks, food supply chains, and energy supplies, the delegates said.

“Cities occupy 2 to 3 percent of our planet’s surface, yet they consume 70 percent of all energy,” said Soren Kvorning, President for Asia Pacific at Danfoss, a Danish engineering firm with a strong focus on Asia.

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Climate change: Global impacts 'accelerating' - WMO

BBC 28 Mar 19;

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says that the physical and financial impacts of global warming are accelerating.

Record greenhouse gas levels are driving temperatures to "increasingly dangerous levels", it says.

Their report comes in the same week as the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported a surge in CO2 in 2018.

However, new data from the UK suggests Britain is bucking the trend with emissions down by 3%.

This year's State of the Climate report from the WMO is the 25th annual record of the climate.

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Mar 19

No more fires in Indonesia? Blazes on Sumatran peatland say otherwise
Mongabay.com

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Tech for urban farming among R&D focus as Singapore looks to beef up food security

Tang See Kit Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: As part of his job, Liew Woei Chang keeps a close eye on hundreds of tilapia fish daily.

But the 39-year-old does not work in the fish trade. In fact, the tilapia that he monitors possess quite an atypical trait.

A freshwater fish, tilapias tend to grow slower or face high mortality rates when reared in sea water. Together with four other researchers, Dr Liew, a research investigator at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL), has been looking at how to change that.

Eight years since the research programme started, the team has “almost achieved” that.

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Malaysia, Johor: Hot spells caused 15 major fires

nelson benjamin The Star 28 Mar 2019;

JOHOR BARU: The present hot and dry spell has caused 15 major fires in six states, destroying land equivalent to the size of nearly 450 football fields.

Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid (pic) said the 15 hotspots involved peat soil, farms and estates, landfill, forest and plantations covering some 239ha of land.

Mohammad Hamdan said the hotspots included six in Sarawak, Pahang (four), Johor (two), and one each in Kedah, Kelantan and Perak.

“Most of the major fires have been put out and so far there are still 56ha to be doused,” he said, adding that there was a landfill fire the size of 3.23ha, which had been raging in Kota Tinggi in Johor for about three weeks.

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El Niño 2019: Possible impact in Indonesia

Yopi Ilhamsyah Jakarta Post 27 Mar 19;

The worst ever recorded El Niño of 2015 caused the world’s weather to change. Presently El Niño is predicted to be more frequent, turning into a major climate anomaly threat. Given its normal 5-year return period, its early appearance this year has raised alarm bells. It is feared that El Niño-affected regions in Indonesia will severely suffer from sufficient water resources that might alter the planting season, reducing agricultural productivity and threatening national food security.

Many studies have revealed a strong correlation between El Niño and rainfall variability which further leads to retreat of the rainfall onset in Indonesia. A significant shift of the rainy season is found as El Niño signs strengthen, causing a prolonged dry season. Based on monthly average rainfall characteristics in 30 years, Indonesia is identified to have three main types of climatic zones, i.e., monsoonal, equatorial, and local type climates. The peak of the rainy season of the monsoonal type climate occurs in January-February. Meanwhile for the equatorial type climate (e.g., Aceh, North and West Sumatera, Riau and Kalimantan), two peaks of rainfall are found in March and October.

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Indonesia: Flash flood strikes Ulu Ogan, South Sumatra

Antara 28 Mar 19;

A flash flood hit Kelumpang Village, Ulu Ogan Sub-district, Ogan Komering Ulu District, in South Sumatra Province, on Tuesday evening, following incessant heavy rain that triggered the Kepayang River to overflow its bank (Antara photo)

Baturaja, South Sumatra (ANTARA) - A flash flood hit Kelumpang Village, Ulu Ogan Sub-district, Ogan Komering Ulu District, in South Sumatra Province, on Tuesday evening, following incessant heavy rain that triggered the Kepayang River to overflow its bank.

The flooding did not last long, but it was among the worst experienced in the past 15 years, Dadang, a resident of Kelumpang, noted.

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URA Draft Master Plan 2019: More housing planned for CBD, Marina Bay area

Fann Sim Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: More homes will be built in the central business district (CBD) and Marina Bay area, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Wednesday (Mar 27).

Under its Draft Master Plan 2019, which includes plans to rejuvenate the central area, URA said it will increase housing in sites such as Downtown, Marina South and Rochor so that more people can live closer to their workplaces and other amenities.

The plan for a larger live-in population in the office-dominated CBD and Marina Bay area is part of a move by URA to bring more life to the area after office hours.

"We are looking to bring in new housing options in the CBD. We want to make our CBD more vibrant, a 24/7 precinct, and housing is one of the ways where we want to bring in more people that will be living within the CBD areas," said Ms Hwang Yu-Ning, URA’s chief planner.

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Malaysia: Sarawak says all ready for dry El Nino weather

sharon ling The Star 26 Mar 19;

KUCHING: Sarawak is prepared to face the dry spell stemming from the El Nino weather phenomenon, readying about 1,000 vehicles and boats to deliver water to villages as needed.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said although this year's El Nino was weak, it was expected to last until May and had already caused dry weather with less rain.

"Several villages and longhouses are facing water shortage, so we have decided that the disaster management committees at divisional level will continue with their preparations for the dry spell.

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Coral reefs near equator less affected by ocean warming

Research based on analysis of field observations from 20-year global coral survey
Florida Institute of Technology Science Daily 20 Mar 19;

Ocean warming is threatening coral reefs globally, with persistent thermal stress events degrading coral reefs worldwide, but a new study has found that corals at or near the equator are affected less than corals elsewhere.

The findings from Florida Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Shannon Sully and professor Rob van Woesik, along with colleagues at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Reef Check, were published March 20 in the journal Nature Communications.

The work, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Zegar Family Foundation, was based on analysis of field observations from a 20-year global survey of over 3,500 coral study sites led by Reef Check founder and former director Gregor Hodgson.

As expected, coral bleaching was most common in localities experiencing high-temperature stress, but it was significantly less common in those places with high monthly variation in temperatures.

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Best of our wild blogs: 26 Mar 19

Sisters' Islands Marine Park (Pulau Subar Laut)
Offshore Singapore

A playground within nature – Love MacRitchie Walk (10 March 2019)
Love our MacRitchie Forest

Asian Openbill-Singapore’s 2nd Record
Singapore Bird Group

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HQ of Singapore construction firm being built with sustainable material from local waste

Joy Pang Minle Straits Times 25 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE - The first step in developing sustainable construction material using local waste was taken today (Mar 25), with the signing of an agreement that will include its use in the building of a new headquarters of a local construction company.

The agreement between JTC Corporation and Samwoh Corporation will see recycled materials processed from construction and industrial waste, like sedimentary rocks excavated from Jurong Rock Caverns, being used in erecting the four-storey building near Kranji Reservoir.

Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat, who witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between JTC and Samwoh, told The Straits Times he is confident Singapore can play a key role in sustainable technology.

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