New RGS Seagrass Team at Labrador
a new team is back with Mr Lim on the Labrador blog
Hantu Reef Survey
and reef seems well, on hbing's memories blog
Reclamation starts at Sentosa, massive works continue near Labrador
MPA notices on the wildfilms blog
Close encounter with an Asian Koel
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
A Northern Painted Jezebel visits Singapore!
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog
Colugo at MacRitchie
on the tidechaser blog
Some baulk at 10-cent donation for plastic bags; some won't shop, others get plastic bags elsewhere
Shuli Sudderuddin, Straits Times 15 Jun 08;
Housewife Winnie Loh, 52, was on her way to Prime supermarket in Tampines last Wednesday when she made an abrupt U-turn.
She had forgotten that it was Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) Day.
'I forgot to take my bag and I think 10 cents is too expensive a donation to make for a thin plastic bag. I'll just come back tomorrow,' she said.
A Sunday Times check of 20 supermarkets and 100 customers islandwide last Wednesday found that 50 per cent of the shoppers came without a bag.
Twenty per cent of the customers bought fewer items or decided not to shop when they realised that it was BYOB Day.
But supermarket chains told The Sunday Times that there had been no adverse impact on their sales because of BYOB Day.
Mr Seah Kian Peng, the managing director (Singapore) for NTUC FairPrice, said that many customers had responded positively. He noted that since the campaign was launched, plastic bag use had dropped by over 12 per cent.
Supermarkets did not want to reveal their savings from the reduced use of plastic bags.
BYOB Day was started in April last year to address the issue of the excessive use of plastic bags: 2.5 billion of them are disposed of annually.
Run by the Singapore Environment Council, the programme involves supermarket chains such as FairPrice, Cold Storage and Giant. They encourage shoppers to donate 10 cents for each plastic bag used. Supermarkets said the cost of each bag ranges from one to five cents depending on its size.
The SEC said that, as of December last year, it had collected roughly $80,000 from the BYOB Day scheme. The money is used to fund environmental programmes.
Although BYOB Day was initially slated for the first Wednesday of each month, it has been held every Wednesday from June 4 to make it easier for consumers to remember the date.
But it seems it will still take some work to get everyone to support the scheme.
As a spokesman for Sheng Siong supermarket said: 'A very small proportion of customers refuse to accept the BYOB scheme as most of them are not aware of the programme or of environmental protection.'
Ms S.L. Ong, a private tutor in her late 40s, feels that BYOB Day is unfair. 'Everything has already increased in price and GST is so high. The provision of plastic bags should be a service, not something that supermarkets charge for,' she said.
Ms Cindy Neo, 37, who works in Luck Hup Chai trading minimarket next to Prime supermarket in Tampines, said that her customers buy small items on Wednesdays and then ask for big plastic bags. They then go to Prime to shop.
A check with 20 supermarket cashiers revealed that they sometimes experienced customer displeasure although the donation was not compulsory.
Ms Chong Pei Shan, 30, a cashier at Giant in Tampines, said: 'A man came last Wednesday with many items but, when I told him it was BYOB Day, he walked away leaving everything behind.'
But at least one company here has had success in making people pay for plastic bags. A spokesman for home furnishings company Ikea said that, after it started charging for bags last year, usage dropped by 85 per cent almost immediately. The reduction has remained strong at 80 per cent.
Can supermarkets follow in Ikea's footsteps?
Said Mr Poh Tang Seng, a manager at FairPrice's Bukit Batok MRT branch: 'You just can't force people to pay or they will walk away and not come to the supermarket any more.'
Additional reporting by Carmen Onggo, Alvin Lim and Gabriel Yue
Channel NewsAsia 15 Jun 08;
SINGAPORE: Petrol prices have gone up a staggering 12 times since last July with the latest price hike announced just last month.
Reports have it that public transport ridership has hit a record high of 4.78 million rides a day – a phenomenon that could also be due to increased capacity on trains and buses.
Even though it is still a challenge to find someone who has given up his or her car for public transport, Mr Lim Peng Han – who has done just that – tells of the merits of ditching private for public transport.
The 69-year-old retiree has sold his 1.3 litre Seat Ibiza after 40 years of driving.
He said: "I get savings of around S$400 because the cost of petrol has gone up so much. I take public transport, which is so convenient – buses and trains are air-conditioned."
Car dealers also said business is considerably slower now after the boom in the fourth quarter of last year. One company said it sees only about four to five customers on weekdays.
Nonetheless, the maddening morning rush hour squeeze means that for many Singaporeans who have already tasted the convenience of car ownership, going public is not an option.
Hoon Chieng Ming, a bank officer who gave up his 2-litre Subaru Forester for a motorbike, said: "After being a car owner for five or six years, it's something that's really difficult to give up."
Having made the switch to a bike, Mr Hoon said he now forks out less than S$100 a month for petrol.
Fuel prices aside, motorists in Singapore also have to contend with the 60 or so ERP gantries islandwide.- CNA/so
Peh Shing Huei, Straits Times 15 Jun 08;
Tianjin mayor Huang Xingguo said yesterday that he hoped the Eco-City project in the northern Chinese port city would pave the way for greater 'green' cooperation with Singapore.
The tie-ups do not have to be just on the government level, as he encouraged any enterprises - big or small, private or public - to invest in Tianjin's Binhai New Area.
The only criteria is that the projects must be green, and not 'highly polluted, with high emissions and energy consumption', he told Singapore reporters.
The Tianjin Eco-City is the biggest collaboration between Singapore and China since the Suzhou Industrial Park project, which was launched in 1994.
The 30 sq km Eco-City site is in Tianjin's Binhai district and aims to promote green living.
It could eventually accommodate 350,000 people when it is completed in 10 to 15 years' time.
Mr Huang, who is here on a three-day visit to learn more about Singapore's city management, sustainable development and public transportation policies, is a key player in the project.
He met Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Friday.
Mr Goh first mooted the idea of an eco-city during a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing in April last year.
Mr Huang said he briefed Mr Goh on the development of the Eco-City, including the completion of the management building and service centre by the end of next month.
He added that Mr Goh proposed using the Slim City Initiative of this year's World Economic Forum to share the concept and experience of the Eco-City with mayors around the world.
The initiative is an exchange programme between cities and the private sector to support action on resource efficiency.
Race for alternative energy hots up
Japan car goes with the flow - on water
Straits Times 15 Jun 08;
The race for alternative fuels has become all the more urgent as oil prices soar in world markets, leading to protests and strikes in many countries. A look at the latest developments in three key areas of what may turn out to be the new frontier in energy usage.
Tokyo - Tired of petrol prices rising daily at the pump?
A Japanese company has invented an electric-powered and environmentally-friendly car that it says runs solely on water.
Genepax unveiled the car in the western city of Osaka on Thursday, saying that a litre of any kind of water - rain, river or sea - was all you needed to get the engine going for about an hour at a speed of 80km.
'The car will continue to run as long as you have a bottle of water to top up from time to time,' Genepax's chief executive officer Kiyoshi Hirasawa told TV Tokyo.
'It does not require you to build up an infrastructure to recharge your batteries, which is usually the case for most electric cars,' he added.
Once the water is poured into the tank at the back of the car, a generator breaks it down and uses it to create electrical power, TV Tokyo said.
Whether the car makes it into showrooms remains to be seen. Genepax said it had just applied for a patent and is hoping to collaborate with Japanese car manufacturers.
Most big automakers, meanwhile, are working on fuel cell cars that run on hydrogen and emit - not consume - water.
Hydrogen technology has been around for decades, but serious study of its use in cars is relatively new.
General Motors (GM) and Honda, like most other carmakers developing the technology, mix hydrogen gas with oxygen from the air in a device called a fuel cell to create electricity which drives electric motors.
Proponents note that hydrogen vehicles emit no greenhouses gases, unlike petrol-powered cars. They have a greater range than today's electric cars and can be refuelled faster than a battery can be charged.
Several car makers are also testing plug-in hybrids which could allow owners to plug the vehicle's battery into a standard wall outlet to recharge it. GM is developing such a vehicle - the Chevrolet Volt - which it hopes to launch in 2010.
And Toyota, the world's top maker of petrol-electric hybrids, announced on Wednesday that it would introduce a plug-in hybrid with next-generation lithium-ion batteries by 2010.
Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in laptops and cellphones, can store more energy in smaller packages and are seen as crucial for extending the cruising distance of purely electric vehicles.
Reuters, Los Angeles Times, AP
California to get clean energy from 'sunflowers'
Straits Times 15 Jun 08;
The race for alternative fuels has become all the more urgent as oil prices soar in world markets, leading to protests and strikes in many countries. A look at the latest developments in three key areas of what may turn out to be the new frontier in energy usage.
Dimona (Israel) - On the scorched floor of Israel's Negev Desert blooms a field of 1,640 robotic mirrors that behave like sunflowers.
Slightly larger than ping pong tables and guided by a computer, the mirrors, called 'heliostats', turn imperceptibly to follow the sun and focus its rays on a water boiler at the top of a 60m tower.
Water inside the boiler turns to steam, which powers a turbine and produces electricity. The steam is then captured and cooled naturally so that the water, scarce in the desert, can be reused.
This futuristic assembly is Mr Arnold Goldman's scale model and testing ground for five larger solar fields his company plans to build in the Mojave Desert in California to supply as much as 900MW of clean energy to Californians over the next decade.
Mr Goldman, a 65-year-old Israeli entrepreneur, built the world's leading solar thermal power company, Luz International, in the 1980s, then watched it go bankrupt in 1991 as oil prices dropped.
Now he is a player again, and his comeback illustrates the extent to which thermal solar power is regaining favour with policymakers and investors.
His new company, California-based BrightSource Energy, signed a deal in April to deliver at least 500MW of solar energy to Pacific Gas and Electric - the largest power-purchasing agreement in the history of solar power.
As fossil fuels become more expensive, solar power is being sought after as a clean, renewable source of electricity. But harnessing the sun's rays has proved expensive and often inefficient.
BrightSource's chief executive officer John Woolard estimated that the new technology could cut the costs associated with solar energy by 30 per cent to 50 per cent.
The heliostats improve on previous designs and are cheaper to build and operate, he said. They also achieve a higher concentration of sunlight, higher temperatures - up to 537 deg C - and higher steam pressure.
'This is the highest performing, lowest cost solar thermal energy system in the world today,' Mr Goldman said at the inauguration of the pilot solar field on Thursday.
Los Angeles Times, AP
Yahoo News 14 Jun 08;
Sri Lanka on Saturday released eight orphaned baby elephants into the jungle after rescuing them from near certain death, wildlife officials said.
The eight baby jumbos were freed from the Elephant Transit Home where they had been cared for inside the sprawling Udawalawe wildlife sanctuary.
The jumbos arrived by truck and were let loose in the jungle to integrate with an estimated 400 wild elephants at Udawalawe park.
Their progress will be monitored with the aid of radio collars.
"This is the eighth batch of baby elephants we are releasing since we started this programme in 1998," said Tharaka Prasad, the vet taking care of the jumbos at the transit home.
With the eight taken deep into the heart of the wildlife sanctuary and made to fend for themselves, a total of 64 babies have been freed to re-integrate with herds inside Udawalawe, 210 kilometres (131 miles) south of Colombo.
"We minimise their contact with people and bring them up in semi-wild conditions," Prasad said.
Sri Lanka's elephant population has dwindled from an estimated 12,000 at the start of the 20th century to around 4,000.
Official figures show about 150 are killed annually by villagers whose crops are destroyed by marauding elephants that claim the lives of 50 farmers each year.
Many of those elephants cared for by the wildlife officials have been injured after being struck by trains or shot by farmers. Others are rescued from pits into which they had fallen.
Channel NewsAsia 15 Jun 08;
DES MOINES, Iowa : Iowa's biggest cities were submerged Saturday after swollen rivers forced thousands of residents to flee their homes amid devastating floods in the Midwestern US state.
Unprecedented flooding covered hundreds of city blocks in Cedar Rapids as officials urged residents to limit their water use to drinking, according to the municipality's website.
In the state capital Des Moines, population 200,000, public works crews and Iowa National Guard soldiers raced to build a berm after a levee breached in the early hours of Saturday.
The University of Iowa, based in Iowa City, cancelled classes until June 22 as the flood threatened its dorms, research facilities, library and art museum. The university urged employees to work from home if possible or consider volunteering in the emergency relief efforts.
"This has been a very trying week for our state," Iowa Governor Chet Culver said in a statement. "Responding to a crisis like this takes the cooperation of everyone, from the federal government down to the local communities."
Extreme weather has left at least 15 dead and thousands homeless in the state in recent days, said Bret Voorhees, spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Five others were killed in other parts of the Midwestern United States.
Two people were killed by floodwaters in Indiana and two delivery people drowned Sunday when their car fell off a washed out road into a flooded creek, the National Weather Service said.
Another person was killed Wednesday when a tornado ripped through the town of Chapman, Kansas.
The disaster began when a major tornado struck on May 25. It was followed by heavy rains, with more thunderstorms expected this weekend, and on Wednesday another twister touched ground in western Iowa, killing four boy scouts.
Serious flooding has hit the entire region, including parts of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and was expected to continue through next week.
"We're trapped with nowhere to go," said Gloria Hines, who lives about a dozen blocks from where the river spilled over in Cedar Rapids.
The floodwaters had not reached her home yet, but the street was made impassable by water gushing out of storm drains. A few small fish spilled out of the contaminated sewage ways.
Torrential rains Thursday left downriver towns preparing for the worst and the National Guard called in to help an army of volunteers with sandbagging and rescue efforts.
"Our predictions of a 100-year flood, or greater, are really coming to pass," said Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey.
A boat ride through Cedar Rapid's water-logged downtown saw every branch of government crippled by the floods.
The library, the federal building and city hall were all filled with water, which rippled through basements and pulled files and furniture out through the windows.
Inmates in the county jail were evacuated along with their mattresses.
On one building, clutching the cats that nearly cost them their lives, perched Charles Schmitt, 19, and girlfriend Kayla Lambreacht.
They had fled their nearby home when the basement filled with water. But when they stopped to take a picture one of the cats jumped into the river, prompting Schmitt to go in after it, and his girlfriend to follow.
Clutching two storage bins that Lambreacht tossed into the water, they floated for 45 minutes before they found a building to climb into.
"We kept calling 911 but the phone went out," Schmitt said. "We were up there for two hours."- AFP /ls
Flooding from a weather rut of clashing air masses
Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Yahoo News 13 Jun 08;
Hot sticky air hovers on the East Coast. Cool air is parked in the West. And when they repeatedly collide, it storms over an already saturated Iowa.
This has been the stuck weather pattern for weeks and it's led to tornadoes, thunderstorms, heavy rain and eventually record flooding.
Add to that La Nina in the Pacific Ocean, which some meteorologists think could be a factor. La Nina, which is the cooler side of El Nino, causes changes around the world, including more rain and snow in some of the Midwest. Even though La Nina itself is falling apart, its effects may still be felt in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Iowa's rivers and land probably could have handled the massive rain — more than 15 inches in the last two weeks in some places — if it weren't for the heavy snow in the winter and lots of rain in the early spring, said Rob Middlemis-Brown, director of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Center in Iowa City.
"The ground never dried out," he said.
That ground was saturated, rivers were already high when the latest batch of concentrated localized storms started in late May, leaving water nowhere to go but over river banks.
The Cedar River, like other flooding rivers in Iowa, eventually dumps into the Mississippi. The National Weather Service issued moderate to major flood warnings Friday for much of the middle Mississippi River region.
For parts of Iowa and southern Wisconsin, this year's flooding is worse than the 1993 great Mississippi and Missouri river floods, said Ken Kunkel, interim director of the Illinois Water Survey. More rain is falling and in a shorter time now than in 1993. But for the entire Midwest, it was worse 15 years ago, he said.
That's because this year's flooding — while it has the same weather pattern as 1993 — is much more concentrated and localized in the Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana region, Kunkel said. The flood 15 years ago was over a wider geographic area and lasted longer.
But give this year more time, he added. The 1993 flooding peaked in July and August. It's only early June, so flooding for the broader region could be as bad as 1993 or worse if current patterns hold, Kunkel said.
The good news is that after rains continue on-and-off through Sunday night, close to a week of dry weather is predicted, said Steve Hilberg, director of the Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, Ill.
However, it's still too early to tell if that weeklong respite will be just a break or a real change in the weather, he said.
Reuters 13 Jun 08;
GENEVA (Reuters) - Drought in Ethiopia has caused food shortages, killed livestock and more than doubled the number of people needing urgent humanitarian aid to 5 million, the United Nations said on Friday.
"Seasonal rains have been poor or have failed in many parts of Ethiopia with dramatic effects on harvests in crop-producing areas," said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The United Nations is seeking $325 million to provide nearly 400,000 tonnes of food aid as well as health and other assistance through November to people in Ethiopia's hard-hit south and southeastern regions, which border Somalia and Kenya.
Some 4.6 million people are now in need of assistance, compared to 2.2 million before the drought took hold, Byrs said.
As many as 75,000 children are already suffering from acute malnutrition and illness as a result of the drought, which the United Nations said has compounded pressure on poor Ethiopians squeezed by an increase in the global prices of cereals and other foods.
(Reporting by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)
BBC News 14 Jun 08;
Progress towards developing a global strategy to cut emissions is too slow, according to environmental group WWF.
It issued its warning at the end of key UN talks that considered what measures should replace the current set of climate targets, which expire in 2012.
The group said the negotiations in Bonn had failed to make any progress because nations were presenting "shopping lists, not blueprints" for action.
The UN's climate chief agreed that the process needed to become more focused.
The two-week gathering is part of a process that will culminate at a key conference in Copenhagen towards the end of 2009.
It is hoped that the summit in the Danish capital will see nations agree on a new set of targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
'Daunting challenge'
"Progress at the end of this second round in a series of UN climate negotiations was considered feeble," said Kathrin Gutmann, WWF's climate policy co-ordinator.
"The science tells us that governments need to think at a much larger scale of action than ever before to get climate change under control," she added.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, agreed that the talks needed to become more focused.
But he added that the talks had seen delegates shift from discussions to negotiations.
"We now have a clearer understanding among governments on what countries would ultimately like to see written into a long-term agreement to address climate change," he observed.
"But with a little more than a year to go to Copenhagen, the challenge to come to that agreement remains daunting."
As well as setting new targets for reducing emissions, the talks also have to deliver agreements on how to help developing nations adapt to shifts in the climate, the development of green technology, and how the international community is going to finance the measures.
The next set of talks will be held in Ghana in August, with the final round of negotiations in 2008 being held in Poland in December.
All the fish you can eat, and less
the perils of overfishing on the budak blog
Nest parasitism: Banded Bay and Indian Cuckoos
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Staking claim on what's ours
Evangeline Majawat, New Straits Times 14 Jun 08;
THE Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks decision by the International Court of Justice has thrown the spotlight on previously unknown, and even uncared for, islands, shoals, rocks and other maritime features. Maritime Institute of Malaysia director-general Datuk Cheah Kong Wai and Research Fellow Capt Rakish Suppiah explain to EVANGELINE MAJAWAT just what ownership of these dots in the ocean means.
Q: What are the international maritime laws which govern the seas?
Cheah: Historically, there was no uniformity in the maritime environment and as a result, various countries practiced different principles. To create some form of uniformity, countries came together and agreed that there should be a treaty to govern the ocean.
This treaty led to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) on Dec 10, 1982.
Malaysia ratified Unclos in Oct 1996. By ratifying Unclos, states can claim maritime zones as provided for in the convention.
Q: What if a country doesn't ratify Unclos?
Cheah: Then they're not bound by it. However, they must abide by the customary international law, which is accepted by the international community as the norm.
Q: What are maritime zones?
Cheah: Under Unclos, a coastal state can claim territorial sea of up to 12 nautical miles. Beyond the territorial sea, it is called the contiguous zone and extends another 12 nautical miles.
A country can also claim 200 nautical miles (measured from the baseline) as its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). There is also the Continental Shelf.
States can claim all these zones so long as they don't overlap with the maritime zones of neighbouring countries. (A baseline is the line along the coast measured during low tide).
Q: Who draws our country's boundaries?
Cheah: It's a comprehensive process that involves many agencies.
The map is drawn based on input from agencies such as the mapping division, Foreign Affairs Department, Fisheries Department, Attorney-General's Chambers and the Survey and Mapping Department.
Q: Are the maps updated? Is our baseline affected by reclamation work?
Cheah: The map used is the Peta Baru 1979. Maritime boundaries are not affected by reclamation work.
If a country reclaims land within its territorial sea, the baseline remains unaffected and will continue to follow the natural coast.
Q: Can you define an island? What other marine features are there?
Cheah: The definition is very technical. Under Article 121 of Unclos, an island is a "naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide".
An island must be able to support habitation and sustain economic life. Then there are rocks, reefs and low tide elevations.
Q: Is Pedra Branca an island?
Cheah: It's a rock. But it is subject to interpretation. There will be discussions and justifications to define what Pedra Branca is.
Q: Does an island exert its own maritime boundary?
Cheah: An island, as defined by Unclos, can claim its own territorial sea and EEZ.
Q: What about rocks?
Cheah: Under Article 121(3), "rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shelf have no Exclusive Economic Zone or continental shelf. But it is entitled to its own territorial sea".
Q: What about a low tide elevation?
Cheah: A low tide elevation is important because it can be considered to be a basepoint. In the case of Middle Rocks, the baseline could extend to South Ledge if South Ledge was taken to be a basepoint.
Q: What's the challenge now with Pedra Branca/Middle Rocks?
Cheah: As you've pointed out, there is a need to unravel the technicalities of the definition. We leave it to the technical teams of both countries to discuss and come to an agreement.
It's quite tricky because depending on the definition, the feature could generate certain zones. Therefore, it is important for discussions before delimitation can be carried out.
Q: How does an inclusion of a new feature affect a country's maritime boundaries? Does it extend its rights?
Cheah: Yes.
Q: How does one lay claim on "unclaimed marine features"?
Cheah: Any marine feature which lies within your territorial sea is definitely yours. Perhaps we need to assert our authority by carrying out activities.
Q: Must there be some sort of activity by the state as a sign of its sovereignty even if the islands lie in one's territorial sea?
Rakish: Not as such. Unless the island is clearly proclaimed under International Law and charted in the map, it isn't necessary for any activities.
However, in the case where an island has been proclaimed but remains uncharted, it is necessary to prove that we have sovereignty by having some sort of economic or commercial activities. It would be even better, if we could station army personnel or navy guarding the island.
There are countries that would love to exert the notion of terra nullius (no man's land) to exert claim that they were the first to occupy the land. Take for example, Pedra Branca.
Q: Is there any threat of any neighbouring countries laying claim if there is no active assertion by Malaysia on a feature.
Cheah: In the past, you could have done it but not these days. The government is aware whether the islands or rocks belong to us. Any foreign state must obtain permission from us to conduct any sort of activities.
We can claim islands/features which lie up to 200 nautical miles into the EEZ. For example, Layang-layang island in Sabah.
In the case of islands in the South China Sea, we have put up personnel, living quarters and set up government-commissioned scientific researches.
Rakish: It has been proven with Pedra Branca. Malaysia had its claim on that island but Singapore's activities, (and our) lack of documentation and relevant documents granting the republic the authority to manage the island, contributed to its case. Singapore was able to show its authority of its commercial and economic value of Pedra Branca.
Q: What about Batuan Unarang off the east coast of Sabah? Why should a sovereignty dispute arise when it lies within our waters?
Cheah: Batuan Unarang came into dispute after the Sipadan case was settled. Batuan Unarang lies at the border of the territorial sea. The boundary is somehow vague which gives rise to the dispute.
Each country may claim that Batuan Unarang lies in their waters. Malaysia and Indonesia are in discussion to reach an amicable agreement. Sovereignty of any island must be discussed diplomatically.
Q: Can local fishermen go to an island within our territorial sea, and should a dispute crop up, can the government use that as a basis when presenting the case?
Cheah: It will not carry much weight. It's not concrete evidence.
Q: Why is the EEZ important?
Cheah: By claiming EEZ, it gives sovereign rights to explore, exploit and manage the natural resources, living and non-living, in that zone.
It is all mainly for economic purposes such as fisheries, scientific researches and also environment protection and conservation. Other states may explore the zone as long as it is with the permission of the sovereign state.
Rakish: In many regions, states that are unable to claim a full EEZ because of the presence of neighbouring states will delimit the EEZs, usually through negotiations.
Q: How does a country's sovereignty correlate to maritime boundary?
Cheah: A country's sovereignty extends only to the territorial sea which is 12 nautical miles. Similarly, the sovereignty also extends to the airspace above for 12 nautical miles.
Beyond that, a country only has sovereign rights which means you have certain rights which are exclusive to that state. For example, fishing or exploitation of natural resources can only be carried out by the EEZ of the state which owns it.
Rakish: A state would have sovereignty over islands outside the 12 nautical miles limit, if these islands have been proclaimed to be under the state's jurisdiction under international law, for example Pulau Perak (Malaysia) and Greenland (Denmark).
Q: Is the principle of equidistance automatically applied during delimitation discussions between disputing countries?
Cheah: The countries must discuss and agree first. The line is drawn depending on the natural features.
Q: How would a concave/convex feature of a coast affect the delimitation based on the principle?
Cheah: Unclos defines all technicalities and would address all unfairness that should arise. For example, if you have a bay, the baseline is the straight line connected by points at the entrance of the bay.
Straits Times 14 Jun 08;
A CASINO a mere 50-minute ferry ride from Singapore may still become a reality.
Two months after Bintan officials said that plans to build a casino have been scrapped, island regent Ansar Ahmad said otherwise.
The proposal, from Malaysian developer Landmarks last October, was submitted to the Jakarta government for approval early this year.
If approved, the casino will be the first to host legalised gaming in Indonesia.
'The plan is still being debated between the local Bintan and Jakarta central governments,' Mr Ansar said at the sidelines of a ground-breaking ceremony of Bintan's latest development, the 1,300ha Lagoi Bay early last month.
Asked why the Bintan urban-planning authorities had said in April that the request was killed 'a long time ago', he said the confusion could have arisen from differences in opinion between the local and central governments.
The involvement of many government departments further complicated the issue.
'Under Indonesian law, gambling is prohibited, unless approved by the government. There was some confusion whether the approval is by the local or central government,' he said in Bahasa Indonesia.
'For us, as long as the central government approves the plan, we will carry it out.'
Certain quarters, such as the religious department, are not keen on the casino plan, he said, adding: 'We will have to make the community understand that access is limited to foreigners and selected people, and there will be barriers such as high entrance fees. Then maybe they will be more receptive.'
It is not known when a decision is expected but the central government will need time to study the proposal and collect public feedback, he said.
Mr Ansar stressed that the casino is only a small part of the bigger plan, which is the US$3.1-billion (S$4.2-billion) integrated resort built by Landmarks, boasting high-class villas and designer boutiques.
Landmarks' biggest shareholder is the Genting group, which is also building one of the two Singapore casinos.
The 338ha Treasure Bay Bintan resort, where the proposed casino will be based, is one of two major developments taking place on Bintan. The other is the Lagoi Bay development which launched its land sales last year.
Las Vegas-based gaming analyst Jonathan Galaviz said even if Bintan has a casino within an integrated resort, it would not have an adverse impact on Singapore since the Republic is still 'a necessary travel gateway via ferry service' to Bintan.
Singapore's status as an air hub cannot be easily replaced so it will continue to be an important transit point for tourists who want to head to Bintan, he said.
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