After Acai, What Is Amazon's Next "Cinderella Fruit"?

Hayley Rutger, National Geographic Magazine 14 Oct 08;

Once obscure Amazon fruits like açaí are riding health claims to supermarket success. Could a scaly palm fruit with three times the vitamin A of carrots be the rain forest's next popular export?

In the rain forests of Peru's remote Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, mothers don't make kids eat their carrots. Instead, kids munch on aguaje, a crisp, neon yellow palm fruit covered in maroon scales. It tastes a bit like a carrot, but packs three times the vitamin A punch.

Aguaje is just one of more than a hundred wild and domesticated fruits available to people each year in this 8,000-square-mile chunk of protected Amazon wetland at the confluence of two rivers in northeastern Peru.

Whether it's the aguaje or a tangy-sweet relative of the cacao called the cupuaçu or macambo seeds, a crunchy new alternative to peanuts, Smith has studied them all with an eye toward promoting conservation, boosting sustainable farming in a threatened region, and supporting local residents' livelihoods.

The Land Squeeze

The past three decades have seen unprecedented human migration into the Pacaya- Samiria reserve, part of an area Smith calls the "epicenter of wild-fruit consumption in the Amazon."

Other pressures, like hunting, logging, and unsustainable fishing, are on the rise as well. As these pressures grow, Smith believes small farmers hold a key to managing and protecting the region.

With support from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, the MacArthur Foundation and the Moore Foundation, he and his team, including Peruvian botanist Rodolfo Vazquez, spent six months in Pacaya-Samiria over several years documenting 148 different fruit species. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

They studied how small landowners in a dozen communities use and depend on these fruits, many of which large-scale farmers ignore.

"I'm interested in landscapes where individual landowners are in control," Smith says. "I think that's the great frontier for Amazon conservation."

Over the years, he notes, small-scale farmers have helped shape the forests where they pick and cultivate fruits by "rearranging the biological furniture" in ways that encourage biodiversity.

These farmers "have retained a biologically diverse landscape that benefits not only wildlife but also their own livelihoods," Smith adds.

Crop Insurance

One way Pacaya-Samiria residents have accomplished that is by domesticating potentially valuable wild fruit species, including macambo seeds and vitamin A-rich sapote.

They often plant and grow several at once in diverse forested plots, a strategy known as agroforestry. The combination of crops, both annual and perennial, helps the farmers avert risk.

Should one crop succumb to inclement weather, disease, or a pest outbreak, the other crops would likely survive, ensuring that the farmers have both food and income.

But Amazon experts agree that more needs to be done.

So far the Peruvian Amazon has been spared much of the deforestation caused by the timber trade and cattle ranching in Brazil, yet Smith warns that the "floodplains are going to come under increasing development pressure in the next few decades."

Overharvesting of fruits would threaten trees. And logging is of enormous concern throughout the entire Amazon region, says Douglas C. Daly, an expert on Amazonian botany at the New York Botanical Garden.

That's one reason Smith's work is important. "If we can educate people about the wealth of diversity, as opposed to just the wealth of timber, we can change things," Daly says.

Finding the Next "Cinderella Fruit"

This is where native fruits may come in. Some of the Amazon's little-known produce has the flavor, the nutrition, or the novelty to tempt commercial producers abroad, and Smith hopes that growing international awareness of the dietary importance of fruit could help create a new hit.

His knowledge is helping at least one entrepreneur take steps to market bottled water flavored with Amazon fruits. Jeff Moats, CEO of the Equa Water Corporation in Naples, Florida, plans to begin building a factory next year in Brazil's Amazon region to process fruits local residents can grow sustainably within forests.

But competition from carbonated soft drinks, a $40-billion industry in the U.S. alone, presents a formidable obstacle to anyone wanting to sell Amazon fruit juices. Entrepreneurs "cannot match the marketing muscle and advertising dollars of the major soda producers," Smith says.

Beyond this, fruit supplies can be erratic, and the Amazon region is still struggling with the basic issues of hygiene, infrastructure, and quality control.

So what are the chances you'll someday see vitamin-rich aguaje in your supermarket's produce section alongside carrots, tomatoes, and apples?

It's hard to predict, but Smith is encouraged by the example of the once obscure açaí, which was enjoyed in Brazil long before becoming a hit in eco- and nutrition-savvy foreign markets.

He also notes the success in Japan of the camu camu, a sour maroon berry with 30 times the vitamin C of oranges. The aguaje might become what he calls a "Cinderella fruit" since it fits some of the criteria that have made these other two fruits successful: It's already popular and abundant locally, easily incorporated into products like juice, and relatively simple to transport.

"The production of fruit is vital to the life of an Amazonian person and is of enormous nutritional importance," emphasizes Walter Wust, a Peruvian forester and environmental journalist who helped Smith document the Pacaya-Samiria fruits.

If Smith has his way, more of that bounty will someday nourish the rest of the world as well.

(See more photos of Amazon fruits.)

And with so much variety and abundance, it's not surprising that these fruits form the centerpiece of the local diet. The reserve's 100,000 residents depend on them for many nutrients—like vitamins, protein, and oils—that the rest of us normally get from a variety of other foods, including vegetables and nuts.

Money Trees?

Fruits also serve as an important source of income for the residents—especially aguaje. It generates $4.6 million every year in the markets of Iquitos, the nearest city—more than any other indigenous fruit from the Peruvian Amazon.

While U.S. farmers markets might sell a dozen or two different kinds of fruit in any given week, the Iquitos market boasts nearly 200, with varied tastes, colors, shapes, and textures: spiky yellow rinds, crunchy seeds, and orange pulp.

But outside the Amazon region, their popularity is limited. Although the Amazon has occasionally yielded commercially valuable fruits, such as the antioxidant-rich açaí added to gourmet juices and the caffeine-charged guarana used in energy drinks, international markets have yet to plumb most of the bounty of indigenous fruits growing in lush forests along rivers.

Beyond Peru and parts of Brazil, the aguaje's supercarrot possibilities remain largely unknown.

Could that change? One expert thinks it's possible. Outside the Amazon, few know more about this region's wild and cultivated fruits than Nigel Smith. The Venezuelan-born geographer, a professor at the University of Florida, has devoted much of his four-decade career to the Amazon region.

In recent years he's examined just about every aspect of the obscure fruits that blanket Peru's rich floodplain forests: how, where, and why they're grown; who consumes them; their nutritional and cultural value; and, of course, how they taste. (The sweet, "sublime" pulp of wild macambillo, a dull orange fruit, is his favorite.)

Read more!

China plans string of dams in south Tibet

Tania Branigan, The Guardian 14 Oct 08;

China is planning to build a string of new dams in southern Tibet to boost its electricity supply, the region's chief of water resources told the Guardian.

Hundreds of millions of people across Asia depend on rivers that originate in Tibet, and previous hydroelectric proposals have proved controversial because of their impact on the environment, local people and communities downstream.

But officials in Lhasa argue the dams are the least damaging way of providing power and raising living standards in the region.

"Tibet is rich in water resources and has good potential for setting up more hydropower stations and dams," said Baima Wangdui, director of the region's water resources department. "With the economic development of Tibet we need more resources. We will take great care in protecting Tibet's natural life and consider the [impact] on society."

They add that hydropower is cleaner and more efficient than coal, oil, gas or nuclear power stations to generate electricity. A 2003 study by the ministry of water suggested it could generate 1,800bn kilowatt hours a year in Tibet.

The director said he did not know exactly how many dams would be built in the next decade because there was no detailed planning as yet. But he added that experts were considering sites.

"We haven't got any hydropower stations set up along big rivers like the Brahmaputra, but in the future we will consider setting them up on these sites," he said. "The upper reaches of the rivers it is forbidden to develop; the middle reaches [in places like Lhasa and Xigatze] are more populated and can have limited development under certain conditions and can keep the balance with environmental protection; the lower reaches of those rivers in the deep valleys and some remote areas are the main part we are developing."

Zhuang Hongxiang, an official at Tibet's environment bureau, added: "We are trying to solve the electricity shortage and do the least damage to our environment." She argued that environmental impact assessments at the planning stage and careful supervision would ensure that the projects did not cause damage, particularly given that exploitation of Tibet's rich water resources was low to date.

But Tashi Tsering, a researcher on Tibetan water resources at the University of British Columbia, warned that assessments did not recognise the full impact of damming. While they consider local biodiversity, they frequently failed to consider water quality and roles played by free-flowing rivers such as nutrient recycling.

"The rivers and mountains where these dams will be built and new reservoirs will inundate are often considered sacred.

"Resettlement and compensation cannot solve the issue," added Tsering, at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. He said the government shelved a hydropower project at a sacred lake in east Tibet two years ago after opposition. "It's not that the Chinese government's policies are immovable, but it requires strategic planning and campaigning from local people, journalists and environmental groups," he said.

Aviva Imhof, campaign director at the International Rivers Federation, said: "The headwaters of most of the major rivers of Asia are in Tibet, so damming them could have implications downstream."

Read more!

Is recycling a waste of time?

We need a proper cost analysis of the time we are now required to spend recycling, compared with its benefits: is it worth it?

Tim Worstall, guardian.co.uk 13 Oct 08;

The government thinks that your time is worth nothing. At least, that's the implication of this written answer in the Commons last week.

The UKip MP, Dr Bob Spink, asked the environment secretary "what estimate he has made of the average time per year spent by a household in sorting and recycling rubbish."

An important question of course, for that time spent sorting items to be recycled is obviously a cost of such recycling schemes. The answer came back from Jane Kennedy, minister of state in the department, "No such estimate has been made".

An answer that means that, quite simply, we do not know whether recycling is a good idea or not. For we don't in fact know whether it costs us more to do it than we save by doing it ... for those who have imposed it upon us have not considered one of the major costs associated with doing it.

Starting from the very beginning: your time has a value. This isn't restricted to your working hours either: the time you spend cuddling your inamorata, building a model railway or in contemplation of a pint of Old Wallop has a value to you. That is why you do these things, because you value them. If, by law, we are going to insist that you give up some of that time, to do something we tell you to do, we need to value the time you're being forced to give up. Quite what value we can put on it is a little fraught. It might be that £10 an hour, something like the average wage across the country, is the right number. It might be £5.73 an hour, for that is the minimum wage, the figure below which it is illegal for you to sell your time. But it is some cash amount per hour, for you yourself have already decided that you'd prefer the cuddling, modelling or contemplation rather than working that extra hour for such a sum.

We'd also like to know how many hours you are being asked to give up to aid in the recycling effort, thus the question asked above. I've received a similar response when asking the same department directly: they don't know because they've never bothered to consider the point. There's almost no academic research on this either, the amount of time it takes to prepare to recycle. The best I've been able to find is something from Seattle, showing that it takes a household 16 minutes per week for a simple programme and 45 minutes for one including food and garden waste. We have some 24 million households in the UK, so for a simple system we're asking everyone to give up 6 million hours a week or around 300 million a year. At minimum wage this is a £1.8bn minimum cost of such a system. At the longer estimate of hours for a more complex system and using the average wage, we have a cost of £9bn. These are the numbers we now need to plug into our cost benefit analysis of whether we should in fact be recycling.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against all recycling: no one who has bought and sold scrap metal for a living would be so stupid as to say that none of it makes sense. But we do need distinguish between things it is sensible to recycle and things that it is not. Steel, aluminium, copper, yes, clearly so, these make profits even when all of the costs are included and profit is the market's way of working out whether you are in fact adding value in a process. There are also other factors that we might want to include on our benefits side, things that aren't taken account of in market pricing. Say, perhaps, the methane given off from landfills, even the aesthetics of landfills themselves. Fine, add away: then we can work out whether recycling a particular product in a particular way actually makes sense or not. We assign values to all of the costs and to all of the benefits, tot them up and if B is higher than C then it's a good idea. If C is higher than B then it's a bad one for it makes us poorer by doing it.

It's also true that wittering on about "saving resources" doesn't get around this point. For time itself is a resource, one with a value as above. Indeed, it's not a difficult argument to make that time is the only truly non-renewable resource that we have and thus one that we really don't want to waste.

Now I agree that there's a little of tilting at windmills to all of this. Our targets for recycling aren't actually something in the power of our own government to alter. They are fed to us from Brussels, for matters environmental are a sole competence of the European Union. Local councils will be fined if they don't meet the targets and there's an end to the matter.

However, a few more numbers. We were told in the Waste Not, Want Not report that waste disposal was costing us £1.6bn a year and that if we didn't do something this could rise to £3.2bn. We thus needed to recycle more and reduce this cost … but hang on; recycling more also imposes this huge cost of our time. So are we in fact saving resources at all by pushing out our plans to recycle ever more of our waste? Or are we in fact consuming more resources than we're saving?

Here at Cif there are enough environmental and green type authors whose knowledge and brains we can pick. I'm perfectly happy to agree that the numbers I've used for the valuation of our time are back-of-the envelope stuff: however, they're the only attempt so far that anyone has made at all for the UK, as above, even the government hasn't tried to calculate them. So the labour cost alone of a simple recycling scheme is some £1.8bn a year and of a more extensive one, of the type being rolled out, is perhaps £9bn a year. I would say that this is vastly more than any benefits that we receive from that process. It's greater than the resources saved, it's greater than any environmental benefit, greater than any reduction in transport or emissions, greater than any rational calculation of what we get back for what we're being forced to put in.

So how about it? Caroline Lucas, George Monbiot, Oliver Tickell, Mark Lynas, Tony Juniper – there are enough people around here who should be able to prove me wrong. How much time is required to recycle, how should that time be valued, what are the benefits (valued in money please, so that we can compare costs with benefits), whether those benefits are environmental or more direct and, finally, show us that the benefits are greater than the costs. Please do add in CO2 savings for example, using the Stern review's estimate of social cost.

And no, saying that we've a new state religion and that we should all be required to worship Gaia for an appropriate time each week won't cut it. Anyway, it should be easy to provide these numbers – even though the government clearly hasn't done a proper cost benefit analysis, surely those urging us all to recycle more will have done so – won't they?

Read more!

Discarded nets causing untold damage to sea life

Ocean ghosts wait for the unwary
Sydney Morning Herald 15 Oct 08;

Discarded nets are causing untold damage to sea life, writes Emma Blacklock.

For an Olive Ridley turtle living and breeding in the Gulf of Carpentaria, dodging the deadly environmental menace known as ghost nets means life can resemble a Hollywood thriller.

Ghost nets are the serial killers of the oceans, floating aimlessly in the waters of the gulf. They fish indiscriminately and do not care if you are an endangered or protected species.

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been lost accidentally, deliberately discarded or simply abandoned. They travel the oceans with the currents and tides, continually fishing as they progress through the waters.

Given that the Gulf of Carpentaria is a near landlocked body of water, it acts as a catchment for all ghost nets in the Indo-Pacific region.

Once the nets are in the gulf, due to a circular current called a gyre, they become stuck in an endless cycle of fishing, being washed ashore and washed back into the water during a storm or king tide.

Luckily for the turtles, there are "ghost busters" who are determined to rid the gulf of these environmental vandals.

Riki Gunn is one of the ghost busters. She is the project co-ordinator for the Carpentaria ghost nets program.

So far the program has removed 80,141 metres of net from remote areas in the gulf. The largest have been Taiwanese gill nets, estimated to weigh as much as five tonnes and measuring four kilometres long with a drop of 12 metres.

"The problem with ghost nets, or any marine debris, is the impact they create on the environment physically as well as ecologically," Gunn says. "Their impact on threatened and endangered species such as the Olive Ridley turtle is a major concern."

According to research, nearly 90 per cent of the marine debris entering the gulf, including the ghost nets, is a byproduct of fishing and comes from all parts of South-East Asia.

More than 200 different types of nets have been found, containing a range of rubbish and sea creatures including fishing gear, sharks, marine turtles, Indonesian water bottles and, strangely, left-footed thongs. Only 10 per cent of the ghost nets found so far have been of Australian origin.

"The Gulf of Carpentaria is one of the most pristine marine environments, apart from the Antarctic, left in the world," Gunn says. "This makes finding a solution to the problem a complex issue [which needs] more than just a quick-fix clean-up and an education campaign for local fishermen."

She says international liaison is needed to stop the main source of the menace - international fishing fleets.

The nets are being removed by sea rangers employed by local communities, who are using traditional knowledge alongside modern science and mapping. The rangers call themselves the saltwater people, recognising their cultural links with the sea.

They record the numbers, size and location of the ghost nets found and rescue animals trapped in them.

Through detailed reporting they are increasing awareness about ghost nets and are working closely with scientists to better understand their distribution, abundance, movement and impact.

Gunn says that the sea rangers are the linchpins of the program.

"It was the rangers who first brought the issue to the attention of the world," she says. They are trained in how to collect data and use global positioning systems - skills which will help them find other work as rangers and, they hope, lead to long-term employment.

Destroying the ghost nets after they have been removed can prove difficult. The nets are non-biodegradable and take up enormous areas of landfill.

The Hammond Island art group, using traditional as well as non-traditional weaving methods, make handbags from the discarded nets, which are then sold to tourists on Thursday Island.

"It is a great example of indigenous communities working together, using tradition to blend with the modern and creating sustainable outcomes," Gunn says.

"Using the community, particularly local indigenous people, is ultimately the key to solving the problem of ghost nets."

The ghost net program is gaining worldwide recognition as an example of how a community can speak up for the environment in which they live and make a real difference.

"The community knows what will and won't work for them. They understand the local attitudes, capabilities and most importantly the environment that they live in.

"Working with the community for solutions gives them ownership of the solution.

"They will try harder to make it work as it is their idea," Gunn says.

Will the floating fishing nets ever be eliminated?

"I can see this happening in my lifetime but there needs to be lots of co-operation between governments to bring in registration of fishing gear," Gunn says.

"Also needed are awareness campaigns so that fishermen are made aware of the impact of their actions."

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 14 Oct 08

Smooth Otter at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Work on Sentosa bridge continues
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Read more!

Singapore to announce development plans for Semakau Landfill in November

May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 13 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore is expected to announce development plans for its offshore landfill during a global congress that will be held here from November 3 to 6.

The masterplan for the Semakau Landfill includes test-bedding environmental technologies and increasing its use for educational purposes.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said Minister of Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, will reveal the plans at the congress.

The International Solid Waste Association Congress, themed "East Meets Waste", will focus on challenges Asian cities face in dealing with waste management as they urbanise and grow their economy.

It will be held at Suntec City and is expected to attract over 800 delegates from more than 60 countries.

The inaugural 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) Packaging Awards will also be presented at the congress to deserving signatories who have succeeded in reducing packaging waste.

Piles of rubbish are thrown out every day in Singapore, amounting to 15,280 tonnes of waste last year, enough to fill about 600 football fields.

The solid waste industry is big business in Singapore and around the world. The sector is worth about S$1 billion and this is expected to grow as Singaporeans produce more waste every day.

The present global financial crisis, however, could cause a temporary setback.

Lee Yuen Hee, CEO of NEA, said: "Waste is a more long-term issue. Once the crisis is over and countries resume their economic growth, governments will have to continue to invest in waste management infrastructure."

At a news conference on Monday, organisers said the congress will be the first in Southeast Asia.

Harald Kloeden, chairman, Organising Committee, International Solid Waste Association Congress, said: "The biggest reason is that Asian markets here and environmental issues are strong growing.

"Singapore is a very good example for all the countries around... Singapore and this congress can showcase what are the newest technologies, what are the newest solutions to tackle our environmental problems."

Participants will visit sites like the Tuas Incineration Plant and the Marina Barrage to learn from Singapore's practices and to network.

Turning dumps into eco parks
Esther Ng, Today Online 14 Oct 08;

THE world may be staring at a recession, but the daily task of managing and reducing waste will continue regardless of how the markets are doing.

So stakeholders will get a chance to share their experiences, learn about new technologies and explore business opportunities in sustainable waste management at the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Congress from Nov 3 to 6 at Suntec City.

More than 800 delegates from some70 countries are expected to attend the conference, co-hosted by the National Environment Agency (NEA), ISWA and the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS).

As this is the first time the conference is being held in Asia, the focus will be on the challenges Asian cities face in dealing with waste management.

These include the viability of landfills as a waste management solution, new technologies to convert waste into renewable energy source, emerging disease and antibiotic resistance related to livestock waste in Asia, and the reduction and recycling of packaging waste.

Said NEA’s chief executive officer Lee Yuen Hee: “Singapore was chosen because we have managed to balance waste management in tandem with economic progress.

“One example would be our Semakau landfill which has won many international awards.”

More than just a landfill, Semakau doubles as a bio-diversity hotspot, attracting rare species of plants and animals. And the NEA plans to open it up to more recreational activities, in addition to guided eco-tours of the island.

- CNA/so

Related article

Plans for eco-park on Semakau landfill
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 10 Sep 08;

Read more!

Will new Jurong Lake be eco-friendly?

Charlotte Leong (Ms), Straits Times Forum 14 Oct 08;

SINCE the unveiling of plans for Jurong Lake District during the launch of the Draft Masterplan 2008 in May, some ground works have started near Chinese Garden MRT station.

A nature lover and frequent visitor to Jurong Lake, I enjoyed seeing aquatic animals in their natural habitat in the past. However, the water is now brown and murky, possibly due to an increase in sedimentation from the ground works.

This is not confined to the area near the ground works, but extends to the lake in and around Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden. The change in the environment would negatively affect the ecosystem of these aquatic animals and I am concerned about their ability to adapt and survive.

While I am impressed by the plans for Jurong Lake District, I wonder if such transformations come at a cost to the ecosystem and current environment of aquatic animals. I would like to know what measures the authorities have taken to ensure that the transformation of the Jurong Lake area is not at a cost to the environment and aquatic ecosystem. While economic and social goals are important, one should take care that the environment is not negatively affected.

Related article

Hundreds of fish dead at Jurong Lake
Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, The New Paper 13 Oct 08;

Read more!

Former MP Ho Kah Leong holds solo exhibition featuring Pulau Ubin

Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewAsia 13 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE: Pulau Ubin, a small rustic island north east of Singapore, is the subject of a solo exhibition by former Member of Parliament and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ho Kah Leong.

The exhibition features paintings of passenger boats docked at the jetty, the tranquil quarry lake and bygone village life.
These are some of Dr Ho's favourite scenes of Pulau Ubin since he started painting the island 15 years ago.

Each of the 20 pieces is priced at S$12,000 and many pieces have already been sold.

This is Dr Ho's eighth solo exhibition.

Some of the 71-year-old artist's paintings have been compiled into a calendar to raise funds for a senior citizens charity.

The exhibition is at the Black Earth Art Museum, 352 Joo Chiat Road, till October 19. It is open from noon to 9pm daily, except Mondays.

- CNA/yt

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Rahs: A better early warning system

Upgraded system will alert policymakers to impending global crises
Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times 14 Oct 08;

THE Government is planning a multimillion-dollar upgrade of a high-tech early warning system designed to help spot crises such as the current global financial meltdown.

Known as a risk assessment and horizon scanning (Rahs) system, it is designed to ferret out information about impending wars, epidemics, financial meltdowns and other geo-political issues from information sources including newspapers, online forums and blogs.

Sophisticated artificial intelligence programs then distil the data to see if it is important and if the issue is gaining momentum.

If it is, these Rahs systems will alert policymakers, so they can 'anticipate and manage potential changes', said Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Professor S. Jayakumar, the guest-of-honour at the second International Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (Rahs) symposium yesterday.

For instance, Rahs systems may detect a rise in online forum discussions about easy home loans accompanied by mortgage defaults - the genesis of the current financial turmoil; or reports about a rise in melamine sales to the milk industry, in tandem with complaints of kidney stones by parents of infants - and end up uncovering the China milk scandal.

In his opening address to the 300 participants of the two-day, closed-door event at Marina Mandarin hotel, Prof Jayakumar warned that the ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis and food and energy shortages offered 'only a glimpse of the complexity and uncertainty the future has in store'.

Thus the need for such systems, so policymakers can collect and analyse the oft-missed 'weak signals and wild cards' that herald an impending crisis, and take steps to deal with them, he said.

Singapore's Rahs project, launched in 2005, is managed by the National Security Coordination Centre.

According to its website, the Government-wide network comprises '20 agencies covering strategic and operational counter-terrorism intelligence, environmental scanning and scenario planning, bio-medical surveillance, cyber surveillance, maritime security, chemical-biological-radiological-explosives surveillance, energy security and education'.

The American and British governments, too, have embarked on similar initiatives.

The Singapore Government is looking to upgrade its current Rahs system, said civil service head Peter Ho at a gala dinner last night.

This will, he said, allow the authorities to do 'deep Web harvesting, tracking blogs and forums, and sentiment analysis...along with other new capabilities'.

Deep Web harvesting refers to obtaining information from private websites that cannot be located via public search engines like Google. Sentiment analysis is used to detect bias in the author - for example, whether the writer is a closet-environmentalist or big-business lobbyist.

When completed, said Mr Ho, 'Rahs version 2.0' will be 'an important addition to the (Government's) larger strategic planning toolkit'.

The Straits Times understands that details of the project, which is expected to cost a few million dollars and be completed within a year of being awarded, should be unveiled next month on the Government tender website Gebiz.

Software company Radar Networks' chief executive officer Nova Spivack, one of the speakers at the event, said that such systems have, in the past, been sorely neglected in the 'geo-political area' despite their obvious value as an intelligence-gathering tool.

It will take five to 10 years, he said, before Rahs is mature enough to spot nasty surprises like the ongoing financial turmoil.

Local universities to help govt assess risks
Younger generation to learn strategic anticipation
Lee U-Wen, Today Online 14 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE'S three local universities have been roped in to help the country strengthen its ability to assess risks and anticipate events.

The outreach effort has already resulted in valuable feedback from students and academics on how the government can improve Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS), Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S Jayakumar said yesterday.

Speaking at the start of a two-day international symposium, he said that the government wants to 'expose the younger generation to the importance of strategic anticipation and planning'.

Since last year, students at the Singapore Management University (SMU) have used the programme to analyse the supply chain for agricultural commodities. The National University of Singapore (NUS) has used it to study the Asian financial crisis. And Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is looking at possible scenarios relating to China, global food and multilateral security issues.

The government has learnt much in the past three years since it established RAHS, Prof Jayakumar said. '(It) is a natural part of a networked government, offering a whole-of-government approach to detecting and identifying early indicators of strategic issues, both threats as well as opportunities.'

He cited examples such as the Asian financial crisis, severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US that 'surprised' the world when they occurred. More recently, uncertainty has seeped in, thanks to fear of global warming, food shortages and the collapse of financial institutions.

'These issues offer us only a glimpse of the complexity and uncertainty the future has in store,' Prof Jayakumar said. 'It is important to have a coherent and systematic framework to anticipate and manage potential changes. However, it is not possible for us to have a crystal ball through which we can see the future, nor can we predict what strategic surprises lie ahead.'

What the government can do, he said, is to 'encourage a coordinated analysis of trends, weak signals and wild cards'.

At a dinner last night for the symposium participants, Head of Civil Service Peter Ho said that while uncertainty and unpredictability 'produce enormous challenges for governments, societies and nations', opportunities also abound.

'The key is how to identify black swans and wild cards, and then how to deal with their consequences, the wicked problems,' he said. 'We will use RAHS to help manage complexity and disruptive change.'

Diversity is vital in these efforts to reach out to as wide a community as possible, Mr Ho said.

'We should look at the potential value of establishing links to domain experts in academia, private sector and industry, and with our friends from abroad.'

This year's RAHS symposium, the second, is being attended by 300 security experts, academics, technologists and futurists from 25 countries.

Read more!

Singapore's BCA Green Mark debuts in Malaysia, set to go beyond

Developers adopting green yardstick for projects in China, Thailand, Indonesia
Ong Boon Kiat, Business Times 14 Oct 08;

AS Singapore continues to shape an eco-friendly habitat by getting developers to embrace the Green Mark, this green building yardstick is starting to find its mark beyond these shores.

The Green Mark scheme - a four-tier green building benchmark developed by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) - made its debut in Malaysia last month, and looks set to move into regional countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Before last month, there were two Green Mark certified buildings outside Singapore, both in Beijing. Upcoming projects could substantially add to this tally and lift Singapore's green credentials in the region.

BCA told BT that it recently received Green Mark applications from 'major' Singapore developers for their projects in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Malaysia. It has also received requests from developers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Singapore construction industry regulator declined to elaborate on these projects at this early stage.

Replying to BT's queries, a BCA spokesman said: 'Our priority is to shape a sustainable (building environment) in Singapore using the Green Mark. Some of our Singapore developers and consultants are keen to get their overseas projects certified under the BCA Green Mark; hence, we will provide the assessment for them.

'Arising from this, some of their overseas counterparts become aware of the Green Mark and decide to adopt it in their projects as well.'

Singapore energy consultant G-Energy Global has also been receiving similar requests from abroad.

The firm last month helped Malaysian developer Goldis Berhad secure a provisional Green Mark rating for its upcoming 30-storey office tower, named GTower, in Kuala Lumpur.

G-Energy director Vincent Low told BT that his firm is now talking with two Singapore developers in China and three from Indonesia on getting the building certified.

BCA said that it was 'heartened' by the Green Mark's rising regional prominence and hopes this yardstick would eventually become the de facto green building rating system for the tropical region. 'The Green Mark provides a meaningful differentiation of buildings in the real estate market,' BCA said.

Mr Low said that overseas developers he has spoken to have been impressed with this benchmark's premium image, which they say helps increase tenant appeal. Overseas developers also like the fact that their energy savings can be expressed in concrete terms under this yardstick, he said.

The Green Mark rates a facility's eco-friendliness based on criteria such as energy and water efficiency, building management, indoor environmental quality and innovation. There are four tiers in the Green Mark - Certified, Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum - with the last tier the most rigorous.

Around 130 buildings and parks in Singapore have so far been certified. In April, this benchmark was made a mandatory requirement here for new buildings and retrofitting works with floor area exceeding 2,000 square metres. To encourage take-up in Singapore, the Green Mark offers cash incentives for developers, building owners, project architects and engineers.

Overseas adopters do not qualify for such incentives. But none was needed to entice Malaysia's Goldis.

'Achieving the Gold standard will mean GTower has an approximately 20 per cent energy savings compared to a similar sized development without energy saving features,' said Colin Ng, Goldis head of corporate investments.

He said that GTower's green investment will come up to RM30 million (S$12.6 million), which would be spent on achieving more stringent building specifications, as well as on energy-efficient gear like air-con chillers.

GTower 'will save an equivalent of 9,125 trees per year', Mr Ng said.

According to BCA, meeting the Green Mark's basic tier will require an extra outlay equivalent of less than one per cent of the overall construction cost of a building.

The additional cost of achieving the Gold rating is between 0.7 and 1.2 per cent of construction cost.

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From water-scarce island to hydrohub

Business Times 14 Oct 08;

The PUB story of sterling achievements and grand ambitions could be a case study in the education of water managers, reports EMILYN YAP

'IS water the new oil?' That was the question splashed across the cover of BusinessWeek in June. For a prominent business magazine to feature this on its front page, the world has clearly sat up to the importance of water as a resource.

But for more than 40 years, Singapore has already been working fervently on securing its water supply. With the national water agency PUB managing the resource, the country has evolved from a water-scarce nation into one which others now look to for water solutions.

In fact, PUB aims to make Singapore a global hydrohub - a centre of ideas, solutions and technologies for the water industry. 'Perhaps one day, when the world thinks of 'sustainable water solutions for cities', they will think of 'Singapore',' said PUB's CEO Khoo Teng Chye.

With such sterling achievements and grand ambitions, PUB certainly surprises no one for winning the Singapore Quality Award (SQA) this year. The SQA is the top accolade for business excellence, given to organisations with outstanding management capabilities and superior results.

'All of us at PUB are very honoured and delighted to win the SQA on our first application,' said Mr Khoo. 'Winning the SQA this year is indeed a strong testimony of the dedication and commitment of the many PUB staff who have in the past 40 years strived relentlessly to ensure that Singapore has an efficient, adequate and sustainable water supply for now and in the future.'

Underlying Singapore's long-term water sustainability is the Four National Taps strategy. Water from local catchment areas, imported water, reclaimed water and desalinated water form the main sources.

'We have developed new sources of water from the 17 reservoirs in our local catchments like the new Marina Reservoir, our five NEWater factories and our desalination plant,' said Mr Khoo.

According to PUB, Singapore is probably the only country in the world that takes an integrated approach in managing water - from collection, treatment, distribution to reclamation, the entire water cycle is managed as a system.

The SQA will add to the string of awards which PUB has been winning for its work. It clinched the Singapore Innovation Award two years ago and was named Water Agency of the Year by an industry journal Global Water Intelligence in the same year. Last year, it also won the Stockholm Industry Water Award.

'PUB has succeeded in combining all the complex components of a well functioning water management system that has been accepted by the general public, business and industry,' said the award committee chairman, Lars Gunnarsson.

'The PUB story would fit well as a study example in the education of water managers. This is an exemplary model of integrated water management in a framework of good policy and innovative engineering solutions.'

This year has been fruitful for PUB and the SQA win will make it even more memorable. PUB organised the inaugural Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) in June, a week-long event which acted as a platform for the discussion of challenges, solutions and new technologies in the water industry. Deemed a huge success, the event drew over 8,500 participants from 79 countries and facilitated the conclusion of $367 million worth of deals.

In fact, PUB was preparing for both SIWW and the SQA application process at the same time. While the timing was a challenge, 'with support from all PUB staff, both SIWW and the SQA assessment were successfully held', said Mr Khoo.

The first Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize was also given out at the SIWW to Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO of Zenon Environmental, a GE unit. The award recognised Dr Benedek for his pioneering work in low-pressure membranes for water treatment.

One project PUB is particularly proud of is the Marina Barrage, a dam that forms Singapore's first reservoir in the city. 'It is the best example of our integrated approach to water management,' said Mr Khoo.

As a 'three-in-one' project, the barrage will act as a tidal barrier to prevent flooding, create a reservoir for water supply, and become a water 'piazza' for Singapore's new downtown at Marina Bay. The Marina Barrage won the Asean Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award last year.

'Winning the SQA is recognition that these achievements can be sustained as each organisation has institutionalised the values, structures, systems, and processes to ensure that it keeps improving and innovating to meet the changing needs and challenges of Singapore,' said Mr Khoo.

And through the SQA framework's emphasis on evaluation and improvement, PUB has built systems to constantly review processes to progress and avoid complacency. In addition, 'winning the SQA has boosted staff's morale and encouraged them to remain focused on the goal to achieve the organisation's mission and vision', said Mr Khoo.

The SQA will not spell the end of breakthroughs at PUB. Building on the success of the first SIWW, PUB has already started preparing for the event next year.

Under the theme 'Sustainable Cities - Infrastructure and Technologies for Water', it will feature top-tier delegates and speakers from leading international water companies, utility operators and water agencies. Participants will come from emerging or key markets such as Australia, South Korea, Turkey and the US.

At a time when water scarcity could be a major challenge confronting the world, Singapore has already got a headstart towards achieving self-sufficiency and winning the SQA is one evidence of this for PUB.

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From days of muddy trails to years of factory building

JTC celebrates 40th year of housing manufacturing here
Business Times 14 Oct 08;

TREKKING along muddy trails, clearing land and even escaping from knife-wielding locals - these adventures sound like scenes from an Indiana Jones movie, but they were all part of a day's work for JTC Corporation staff in the early days of developing Jurong.

Driving their endeavours was a bold attitude and a determination to succeed - characteristics that remain today.

'The early generations of people at JTC had a can-do spirit and dared to take risks, similar to pioneers riding into the wild wild west,' said JTC assistant CEO Ong Geok Soo. 'They helped seed the culture which has permeated JTC over the years.'

Having been with JTC for 37 years, Mr Ong is well-placed to make this observation. The agency celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

JTC was set up in 1968 to oversee Singapore's industrialisation. Its key task then was to create a modern Jurong Industrial Estate (JIE) out of the marshy jungle.

'There were a lot of parallel activities going on in the creation of JIE,' Mr Ong said. 'Besides preparing the land, factories and infrastructure for industries, the government was also developing a township for workers, with housing in Taman Jurong and the Chinese and Japanese Gardens.'

The venture, initiated by Goh Keng Swee, acquired the moniker 'Goh's folly' at one point because of the high risks and costs involved. Difficulties lay not just in attracting investors but in convincing workers to move to relative wilderness.

Work on the ground presented its own challenges. Mr Ong recalled the sensitivities of clearing land for development.

'When we encountered shrines, for instance, workers usually did not dare to clear them for fear of offending the gods,' he said. 'We had to get shrine-keepers to agree to a shift and conduct rituals before we could proceed.'

And when it came to re-settling farmers, even the safety of JTC's employees was occasionally at risk. 'Farmers or their children would sometimes come at us with parangs,' Mr Ong shared with a smile.

Conditions were also tougher back when technology was less advanced. Financial officers had to trudge along muddy trails in Jurong to distribute cash wages because there were no automated banking services then, he said.

Despite the challenges, JIE took off in a big way and propelled Singapore's industrialisation. But that was certainly not the end of the agency's role. It has been undertaking projects of growing scale and complexity to maintain Singapore's competitive edge in manufacturing.

'In the early days, projects proceeded at almost breakneck speed because Singapore's survival was on the line. Over the years, we have adopted a more systematic process,' said Mr Ong.

'But JTC is still able to respond quickly to industries' needs, by working closely with other agencies in a whole-of-government approach,' he pointed out.

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