Dialogue Session on Sustainable Singapore
upcoming session on the AsiaIsGreen and wild shores of singapore blog
Eurasian Curlew at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
and how it uses its massive bill on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Upcoming Singapore Energy Conference
on AsiaIsGreen
Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 26 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE: Singaporean filmmaker Eng Yee Peng has spent nearly a hundred thousand dollars on a documentary close to her heart.
Eng, who used to stay in Lim Chu Kang, felt compelled to preserve the rural landscape's history by making not one, but two documentaries, aptly titled "Diminishing Memories".
"For Part One of the film, I felt that I have something to improve. But Part Two of the film, there's nothing else better I can do already, based on my limited time, resources and budget," said Eng.
Audiences, especially the last surviving farmers from Lim Chu Kang, were moved to tears when the film was screened in Singapore recently.
Tickets for the initial six screenings at The Arts House were snapped up within a week. Due to the overwhelming response, another 10 more screenings of the film have been scheduled.
Part One of the documentaries has been shown at international festivals and on television in Australia and South Korea.
Part Two was later made but went 200 per cent above budget at US$60,000 – all from the director's savings. She also took a year, working 15 hours each day to complete the 49-minute film.
Eng said: "I need to stop filmmaking for a few years. I am not sure if I can continue. If you want to continue this journey in the long run, do not exploit yourself. Get enough funding and do not be afraid to justify enough funding for your project."
The director, who is a former MediaCorp producer for current affairs programmes, said she is taking on video-editing jobs for now before deciding on her next big project.
Related links
Diminishing memories website http://diminishingmemories.spaces.live.com/ with details of screening dates.
ABC News 25 Oct 08;
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the Queensland Government's plan to introduce mandatory regulations on the use of chemicals in agriculture is a turning point for the Great Barrier Reef.
At the Reef Water Quality Summit in Brisbane yesterday, Premier Anna Bligh admitted a voluntary approach to saving the reef had failed.
WWF spokesperson Nick Heath says the Government's decision to get tough on chemical run-off could be the key to the reef's survival.
"I think if we can cut these pesticides, cut these fertilisers, save farmers money we'll save the reef," he said.
"It'll be more resilient before climate change comes through. But then I'm an optimist and I'll be working very hard with the farmers and with WWF and the scientists to try and make that happen."
Mr Heath says although the restrictions are a good start, the Government must follow it through with adequate funding.
"We still need the details to come out. We like what we're hearing but we want to see some money," he said.
"If these regulations are going to work, we need a very strong and long, significant financial commitment to implementing these regulations."
Phuong Le, Associated Press Yahoo News 25 Oct 08;
SEATTLE – Seven Puget Sound killer whales are missing and presumed dead in what could be the biggest decline among the sound's orcas in nearly a decade, say scientists who carefully track the endangered animals.
"This is a disaster," Ken Balcomb, a senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island, said Friday. "The population drop is worse than the stock market."
While the official census won't be completed until December, the total number of live "southern resident" orcas now stands at 83.
Among those missing since last year's count are the nearly century-old leader of one of the three southern resident pods, and two young females who recently bore calves. The loss of the seven whales, Balcomb said, would be the biggest decline among the Puget Sound orcas since 1999, when the center also tracked a decline of seven whales.
Low numbers of chinook salmon, a prime food for these whales, may be a factor in the unusual number of deaths this year, Balcomb said.
"It was a bad salmon year and that's not good for the whales," he said. "Everybody considers these wonderful creatures, but we really have to pay attention to the food supply."
The three pods, or families, that frequent western Washington's inland marine waters — the J, K, and L pods — are genetically and behaviorally distinct from other killer whales. The sounds they make are considered a unique dialect, they mate only among themselves, eat salmon rather than marine mammals and show a unique attachment to the region.
The population reached 140 or more in the last century, but their numbers have fluctuated in recent decades. They were listed as endangered in 2005.
"We may be in the beginning of another decline in the population," said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network, a nonprofit education and advocacy group.
He said the whales seem to be having a harder time finding chinook salmon.
The whales recently have been traveling over greater distances than usual, suggesting they may be ranging farther for food, said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Lack of food may be a concern, but it's too early to know the reason for the unusual number of presumed deaths, he said.
Pollution and a decline in prey are believed to be the whales' biggest threats, although stress from whale-watching tour boats and underwater sonar tests by the Navy also have been concerns. In the late 1960s and early '70s, the population fell as dozens were captured for marine parks.
The whales were making an apparentg comeback in recent years, reaching 90 in number in 2005, "but it's been a downhill trend now for three years," Balcomb said.
Among those missing are two female whales of reproductive age, both of which recently produced calves. One of those calves, L-111, is missing, while the other, J-39, is not.
It's not unusual to lose older or younger whales, but losing two females in reproductive prime is "a bit of a concern" since they typically have a high survival rate, Hanson said.
One female whale, known to scientists as L-67, had the potential for two or three more calves, Hanson said.
She was the mother of "Luna," a juvenile killer whale from Washington waters that made headlines in 2001 when he became separated from his pod and turned up in Nootka Sound, off the west coast of Canada's Vancouver Island. A killer whale believed to be Luna died in Nootka Sound in 2006 when it was hit by the propeller of a large tugboat.
L-67 showed clear signs of emaciation — a depression behind her blow hole — before she disappeared in September, Hanson said.
"It definitely shows that she was not eating," he said, but it's unclear why. Researchers are performing tests on samples they collected from her weeks before she disappeared.
Others missing, according to the center, include K-7, the 98-year-old matriarch of K-pod, and L-101, a 6-year-old male who is a brother of "Luna."
The count also includes a calf, J-43, that was born in November but is believed to have not survived the winter.
The whale census may increase if baby orcas are born this fall. And there's a slim chance the whales may reappear elsewhere, as "Luna" did, Hanson said.
But Balcomb said: "We've been monitoring. They're just gone."
Yahoo News 24 Oct 08;
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AFP) – Political leaders in the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands have publicly rebuffed attempts by Washington to persuade them to support a huge marine sanctuary in their waters.
A US official said during a visit to the western Pacific territory this week that President George Bush wanted to establish the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument before he leaves office in January.
Supporters of the 115,000 square mile (297,850 square kilometre) reserve said it would be an important part of Bush's legacy as he leaves office.
"To be as blunt as possible, we do not feel... that stealing our birthright to curry favour with posterity is appropriate," Northern Mariana leaders said in a joint letter published Thursday.
Northern Marianas Governor Benigno R. Fitial, the Senate president and the House of Representatives speaker wrote to Bush's senior advisor on environment and energy James Connaughton, who led a trip to the territory earlier this week to promote the sanctuary.
Local leaders oppose the reserve because they say it would remove resources from local control, banning fishing and any future mining in the area.
The sanctuary would surround the territory's uninhabited northern islands of Maug, Asuncion and Uracus, and include parts of the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean waters in the world.
Connaughton told legislators on Monday the waters around the three islands were chosen because they have the "greatest marine diversity on the face of the earth and all (the) corals are intact."
But local politicians said they felt they were being railroaded into supporting the plan.
"We certainly do not appreciate the rush to judgment that necessarily must take place, and possibly has already taken place, to secure the designation prior to January 2009," the letter added.
"Even though this was ostensibly the beginning of discussions, many present were left with the feeling that the result was pre-ordained and the discussion was more pretence than substance."
Local people believe the animals are getting angry as the country's runaway development destroys ever more of their habitat
Dinah Gardner, The Independent 26 Oct 08;
There are fewer than 300 wild elephants left in China, so when Jeremy McGill, an American tourist, stumbled across a group of adults earlier this year in a nature reserve in Yunnan province, near the border with Laos, he whipped out his camera and started taking pictures. It almost cost him his life.
"I was alone when I came across the four elephants," he said. "One scooped me up into his mouth and bit me. My body was folded in half, my head between my knees, and then the elephant spat me out and stomped on me. Suddenly they stopped and walked away. I was found about an hour later, just lying there with my intestines hanging out of my body."
A few weeks later, a Chinese migrant worker returning to his home village was stamped to death by an elephant. In Wild Elephant Valley, the same reserve where Mr McGill was attacked, a woman selling food was killed in June. Elephants will get aggressive if they feel threatened, but so many attacks in the space of six months is unusual, according to Grace Gabriel, Asia regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), who has worked on elephant conservation projects in China for a decade.
Humans and elephants are coming into contact increasingly frequently as Yunnan's development sees forests cut down to make way for rubber and paper plantations, new highways, dam projects and factories. China's elephant population is split into nine groups in isolated pockets of jungle that are becoming ever smaller, but Ms Gabriel thinks this is not the only cause of fatal encounters. Like local people, she believes the elephants are angry.
In recent years, she points out, several baby elephants have been caught in traps set by poachers for other animals. But when they are rescued by the local nature conservation authority, they are not released back into the wild, and she says at least two have died in captivity. Jin Yanfei, an ecology student from Beijing Normal University who studies the elephants in Wild Elephant Valley, said local officials wanted to breed elephants to perform tricks for tourists and to sell on to zoos.
Two young elephants are being kept at Wild Elephant Valley's "propagation centre". The youngest, Yongyong, was rescued last year when he was a few months old – in the wild, elephants normally stay with their mothers until they are least eight years old. We found him alone in a bare concrete yard, pacing agitatedly as far as the chain on his front leg would allow. I was told that Yongyong was kept like this 24 hours a day; after a few minutes, an official from the centre ushered us away.
Zhang Jun, a taxi driver in nearby Jinghong, the regional capital, spelled out the local view. "The park took in an injured elephant a few years ago, and the family came looking for her," he said. "That's why they've been attacking people. Everyone knows the elephants are angry."
Local farmers are also angry about loss of their crops to marauding elephants. Over the past three years the provincial government has paid out an average of about 5m yuan (£460,000) a year in compensation, but this covers only 30 per cent of the damage at most. Although poaching for ivory is a problem in Laos and Vietnam, Chinese farmers have not so far tried to harm or kill the elephants. Apart from the fact that guns are illegal, killing elephants, which are a protected species, carries a possible death penalty.
Ms Gabriel is campaigning for forest corridors to join up the patches of jungle where China's remaining elephants live. "These elephants have nowhere to go," she said. "If these habitats are not linked, if corridors are not built, China may not have wild elephants 100 years from now."
Marcela Valente, IPS 25 Oct 08;
From the environmental impact perspective, it is essential to differentiate between community and industrial aquaculture.
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 25 (Tierramérica) - Fish farming is expanding in Latin America, fuelled by the demands of a global market that is facing the stagnation of commercial fishing. But some people are warning about the limits of industrial production of fish and the environmental and social risks.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 45 percent of the fish consumed in the world comes from fish farms. Today that means 48 million tonnes, but by 2030 that volume would have to be doubled because of the decline in commercial fishing and the increasing demands of a growing population.
In Mexico, aquaculture dates back to the pre-Hispanic era. Historians say that several species were raised in ponds and that the Maya Indians controlled fish reproduction in natural pools known as "cenotes".
Currently, fish farms in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru produce volumes that are the envy of Argentine producers. But in Argentina, the continent's southernmost country, the climate and topographic conditions are not conducive to developing large-scale fish farming, say some experts and activists.
Environmentalists here point out that the social and environmental harm that can arise from aquaculture do not justify industrial-level promotion, and recommend instead fomenting responsible fishing in seas and rivers that still have a rich biodiversity.
With an output of 710,000 tonnes annually, Chile is the region's leading aquaculture producer and one of the top 10 in the world, alongside China and India. It is also the world's second leading producer of farmed salmon and trout (both of the Salmonidae family), after Norway. But the sector is not without its risks.
In 2007, the outbreak of infectious anaemia in salmon closed down many fish farms in Chile. One thousand of 55,000 jobs were lost, according to the government, though the unions say the layoffs affected 3,000 workers.
Argentina has its potential, "but it is not Chile or Brazil," Laura Luchini, national director of aquaculture, told Tierramérica.
"Some provincial governments are promoting this sector, but our job is to make sure people keep their feet on the ground," she said.
Along Chile's long, southern Pacific coast, there are many fjords, making it "very favourable for this activity," said Luchini.
In contrast, Argentina's southern Atlantic coastline does not have any fjords, which provide protection, except in Tierra del Fuego, the country's southern-most province, where mussels are farmed.
Fish farming in this country is being developed on a small scale, with trout, Patagonian flounder and mussels. But production amounts to no more than 3,000 tonnes per year -- an insignificant volume when compared to fishing, which produces between 850,000 and 1.1 million tonnes of fish and shellfish.
"Nor can our country compare to Brazil, which has tropical waters," said Luchini. South America’s giant produces 250,000 tonnes annually of fish and shrimp in freshwater and on its Atlantic coast, in an inlet near the southeastern city of Florianópolis.
The aquaculture official believes that the enthusiasm of Argentine producers, who see enormous potential in fish farming, is a response to the pace of the sector's growth worldwide. "While fishing production has slowed and beef production is growing at a rate of 2.5 percent, aquaculture has grown 8.5 percent annually for the last eight years," she said.
Aquaculture has become a booming activity due to the higher global demand for food and the possibility of tracing the history, location and path of a product along the entire supply chain.
By 2045, FAO estimates that fishing and fish farm production will become homologous. Producers in Argentina believe that with credits, subsidies and better technology, they will be able to make the most of the opportunity to do good business, said Luchini.
But there are no magic solutions. Claudio Baigún, a biologist who is an expert in freshwater fish resources, agrees that the expectations of the producers do not take into account Argentina's limitations.
"They take Chile or Brazil as a guide, but Argentina is different. There are projects to raise pacú (Piaractus mesopotamicus) in Rosario (in the eastern province of Santa Fe). But while in Bolivia or Brazil, with their warm waters, the species matures in eight months, in Argentina it takes 18," Baigún told Tierramérica.
"Argentina is at the limit in South America for raising warm water species," he added. In any case, he warned that aquaculture is not a panacea. There are fish diseases, high costs of energy and fish food, and also the risks associated with the lack of genetic variation among the fish raised in pools.
"We want to believe that fish farming will resolve everything, but we have to preserve what we have, promote responsible management of the fish stocks and not believe that aquaculture is a life-preserver that's going to save us," said Baigún, a researcher at the Technological Institute of Chascomús.
From the environmental perspective, Jorge Cappato, director of the Proteger (Protect) Foundation, maintains that it is essential to differentiate between community and industrial aquaculture, because the latter could have greater negative social and ecological impacts.
In a conversation with Tierramérica, Cappato, whose foundation works to preserve biodiversity and promote sustainable fishing, remarked that "the chemical products used in fish farming -- antibiotics, pesticides, fertilisers -- have negative effects on the water.
"Local communities of artisanal fisherfolk then lose access to sufficient fish stocks and run the risk of being turned into fish farmers," he added.
Colombia produces 70,000 tonnes of farmed fish per year, according to 2006 data from the Colombian Agriculture Institute. With the disappearance of the "bocachico" (Prochilodus magdalenae), the principal freshwater fish species, local small-scale fishermen were turned into fish farmers, Cappato said.
"They earn less, are poorer and have less nutritious diets," said the Argentine foundation director, who visited the fish-raising ponds along the Sinú River, in the northern Colombian department (province) of Córdoba.
Cappato also mentioned the case of Ecuador, where the intensive production of lobster has been promoted in coastal areas of mangrove forests. The companies "destroyed 60 percent of the mangroves, left jobless the women who caught shrimp, and when a virus appeared they left, leaving behind empty concrete tanks."
The destruction of mangroves is also a problem in Mexico, which in 2007 produced 261,000 tonnes of farmed seafood, with shrimp in first place.
The shrimp industry is responsible for a large part of the disappearance of these important ecosystems, according to the Mangrove Ecology Group. In 2007, according to an official inventory, there was a 27 percent decline of mangrove forests since 2000 along Mexico's Pacific, Gulf and Caribbean coastlines.
(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.) (END/2008)
Flood warning issued for East Johor: will Chek Jawa be affected?
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Malayan Water Monitor catching catfish
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Pompelon marginata
and other moths on the Moth Mania blog
Asian Youth Energy Summit 2008
on AsiaIsGreen
Seafood is the scariest food
on blogfish
Consume less!
on the flying fish friends blog
Sonia Verma, The Times 25 Oct 08;
The Government’s decision comes before the resort’s gala opening next month, billed as the most expensive private party yet staged. Some suspect that the decision to free Sammy has been prompted by fears that the negative publicity could overshadow the festivities.
A 13ft whale shark that has spent weeks as the star attraction in a huge tank in the lobby of a luxury hotel is to be freed after a campaign that included protest songs and the setting up of a “Free Sammy” page on Facebook.
Since the £950 million Atlantis hotel opened in Dubai last month, visitors have been greeted by the sight of Sammy and tens of thousands of other fish swimming about in a giant aquarium.
The whale shark is a juvenile and a protected species. Environmentalists were appalled by the display and began a fight against the hotel’s state-owned developers to have Sammy removed.
The surprise order to liberate her from the hotel, on the giant, man-made Palm Jumeirah development, was issued by the Government of the United Arab Emirates this week.
Such battles between environmentalists and wealthy developers are common in the West but are new to Dubai, where any opposition to its trillion-dollar building boom is rare, and victory against influential, state-owned developers is more elusive still.
“The whale shark should be freed,” Rashid Ahmad bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, told The Times. “There is no decision yet on the timing, but definitely it will be freed.”
The campaigners have demanded that the speckled grey whale shark — the world’s largest fish species — be returned to the sea. She was caught in the shallows off the Gulf coast in August.
Sammy’s plight has dominated local news headlines. Dubai’s main daily, The Gulf News, led a “Free Sammy” campaign, decrying the confinement of the whale shark as “cruel beyond belief”. Children donned “Free Sammy” badges, activists waved placards and supporters put bumper stickers on their cars.
DJs at Dubai 92, a local radio station, played their own Free Sammy song, to the tune of Michael Jackson’s Free the World: “Free the whale shark, Make it a better place, For all the small fish who are scared they might be eaten,” the remix ran. “There are frogs and dolphins who are scared they might be dinner.”
Dubai residents also launched a Facebook campaign, signed by more than 8,000 people.
Sammy was swimming in an open-air aquarium with 65,000 fish, stingrays and other sea creatures. Environmentalists, wildlife activists and scientists condemned its cramped living conditions as life-threatening for her.
The whale shark is harmless to people, feeding on plankton and small fish. In the wild it can live to 100 and roams across thousands of miles.
Environmentalists say that the owners of the Atlantis hotel have disregarded international permit laws, holding her illegally and using her as a ploy to attract tourists. The captivity of whale sharks in the United States and Japan has provoked controversy in the past.
The Atlantis — developed by Sol Kerzner, a South African property tycoon, and Nakheel, a government-owned developer — refused to comment on the row or the government order. However, previous statements have argued that the shark was “under duress” at the time of its capture and claimed that the hotel’s vets were nursing it back to health and studying it for scientific purposes.
The decision to release Sammy came as a surprise to even her staunchest supporters, highlighting how local sensibilities in the UAE are changing, in part because Dubai is attracting growing numbers of expats concerned about the environment.
With its chilled swimming pools, desert snow domes and man-made islands, the UAE has one of the world’s highest per capita carbon footprints. But the Government has embarked on several big green projects in an effort to shed that reputation, including Masdar, the world’s first carbon-neutral city being built in Abu Dhabi.
Azzedine Downes, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said that the decision to free Sammy set an important precedent against excess at any cost. “It offers us a snapshot of a much bigger problem: the losing battle that wildlife faces.”
The Government’s decision comes before the resort’s gala opening next month, billed as the most expensive private party yet staged. Some suspect that the decision to free Sammy has been prompted by fears that the negative publicity could overshadow the festivities.
Larger than life
— The largest accurately measured whale shark was a 40ft male caught in Bombay in 1983. Its mouth was over 4ft wide and its fins were more than 6ft long
— An adult male can reach 40 tonnes and live as long as 100 years
— They have been tracked travelling distances up to 8,078 miles, from California to the western Pacific
— Whale sharks are filter feeders, sucking up plankton, squid and small fish as they swim
— They have several thousand 3mm teeth in 11 or 12 rows
Sources: www.sharks.org; Times Archive
Free Sammy
A whale shark's place is in the wild
The Times 25 Oct 08;
“Moby-Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!” Thus urges Starbuck, the first mate, to Captain Ahab to desist from his pursuit of the leviathan of Herman Melville's novel. A less dramatic and thereby more poignant drama of human fascination with creatures of the deep is being played out in a hotel in Dubai, as we report on page 4. The Atlantis hotel has captured not a whale, but a whale shark - so a fish, rather than a mammal. And what a fish.The largest variety in the ocean, a whale shark can grow as long as 40 feet.
The hotel claims to have “rescued” the young shark that it now holds. The shark, which has been nicknamed Sammy, was allegedly in distress. It has been held in captivity - specific- ally, the hotel's aquarium - since early September. There is no indication that the hotel intends to release the shark, whose presence is clearly being marketed as a tourist attraction.
The hotel should reconsider the treatment of Sammy. There are some animals for whom captivity is an aid to conservation of the species. The whale shark is not one of them.
Whale sharks are migratory creatures. They may live for decades in the wild, but their life span in captivity is known to be much shorter. They are protected creatures under international convention. The hotel should therefore accede to public pressure and set Sammy free. He would then have to find his way through the man-made archipelagos off the Dubai coast to reach truly open water, and he might need help. Keiko the killer whale, star of the Free Willy films, certainly did. Either way, he deserves the chance to show the world what makes Sammy swim.
WHY aspire to be a second Boston or second London and not a first-rate Singapore?
Business Times 25 Oct 08;
It's time - particularly during a global crisis - for Singapore to rethink its economic model and employ niche targeting right where it has unique strengths to become a world leader, rather than stay a follower in various sectors, an economist suggests.
While highly successful so far, Singapore's growth model - built on wooing multinationals to drive key sectors here - may not be sustainable in the changing environment, says Linda Lim, professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and director of its Center for South-east Asian Studies.
A Singaporean academic who has been in the US for some four decades, she was a speaker at the Singapore Economic Policy Conference yesterday.
In her view, the Singapore growth model has both tried to do too much - going against what theories such as comparative advantage and diminishing returns propose - and achieved too little in terms of delivering returns for Singaporeans relative to foreigners and foreign firms.
'Singapore cannot be internationally competitive and a world leader in semiconductors, life sciences, healthcare, education, financial services, creative industries and casino tourism, all at the same time,' she says in her paper for the conference.
Speaking to BT, Prof Lim said: 'Of course you can make an argument for doing 10 sectors instead of three; you say diversify. But if we do all, everyone becomes uncompetitive; all face rising costs as they compete with each other for scarce land and talent.'
Outlining her alternative strategic vision, she says that the starting point is to take stock of 'what you have, including your geographic location'.
Then look for a strategy of differentiation: 'What do you have, what can you do that nobody else can do? You want to develop a blockbuster drug? Any number of places in the world can do it. You have to look at what is specific about you.
'Perhaps it may be that if we want to have financial services, then we cannot have life sciences, integrated resorts. You have to make a choice, you cannot have everything. You choose the thing you can do better than anybody else.'
And one indicator of a 'market advantage', she says, is whether a country needs to provide 'inducements, or investment incentives, otherwise known as subsidies' to attract talent.
'If people are naturally coming here, that's fine.'
And not least, 'let the private sector do it', she says, suggesting that capital and talent be released to local entrepreneurs, to be allocated according to market forces. When and if private enterprise fails, it will take only small parts, rather than big chunks, of the economy down with it, she argues.
Singapore is particularly well-placed for a whole cluster of economic activities 'from finance to forestry and fisheries', Prof Lim says.
'Where are we? We're next to the biggest forests in the world. Why not be a carbon finance centre? People are doing this in San Francisco! They are doing Indonesian . . . avoiding deforestation . . . out of San Francisco! Why can't we do it from here?
'Why do we want to be a second Boston or second London? We want to be a first Singapore. There are already second, third and fourth Singapores all over the world - people are copying our strategy.'
Singapore could also be a centre of expertise in creative fields such as traditional and modern Asian arts and culture. Already, Singapore is the best place in the world to do South-east Asian studies, Prof Lim says.
Economic growth here has focussed on quantitative targets, but it may be time to look at the qualitative aspects such as its 'purpose' and nature.
'I'm saying, look at net value creation for citizens. 'People for growth' - growth as an end in itself - is not the same as 'growth for people', growth as a means toward greater welfare for people.'
Rethink Singapore economic growth model, says don
Straits Times 25 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE should relook its economic growth model in an era of tighter government regulation and multilateral oversight that could evolve in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Professor Linda Lim from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, told the Singapore Economic Policy Conference yesterday that the growth model that has served Singapore may be out of place in a changed environment.
Prof Lim said the growth strategy - the 'EDB (Economic Development Board) model of give them a tax break and they will come' - has both tried to do too much and achieved too little in terms of delivering high and secure incomes and living standards.
'We've 40 years of savings and repressed consumption, so do we throw it at UBS and Citigroup and lose 60 per cent of the value, or do we use it for ourselves?' said Prof Lim, a Singaporean and a frequent contributor to The Straits Times.
Instead of letting the state make big bets on a few major, capital-intensive, projects dependent on foreign capital, labour and skills in which they have no intrinsic comparative advantage, it might be worthwhile to consider releasing capital and talent to local entrepreneurs, she said.
These people can innovate and create value in smaller but nimbler locally rooted enterprises, she added.
Prof Lim said that a national government, for example, should not use domestic savings to create employment disproportionately for foreigners simply in order to claim success in establishing a particular sector of its choosing that may not be validated by underlying market forces.
Singapore, she said, can become a 'global model' for environmentally-friendly buildings and lifestyle.
Other clusters of 'regionally integrated' economic activities might be in the creative fields of traditional and modern Asian and Western arts and culture.
Another cluster is social and health services in, for example, developing policies, systems, products and services for an ageing population, Prof Lim said.
'Don't think of yourself as an outpost of a declining empire, or a second Shanghai or a second Boston. Why not be a first Singapore?' she told the audience of economists and academics.
GABRIEL CHEN
Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewAsia 24 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE: The United Nations (UN) gave Singapore top marks in its latest report on the state of the world's cities, and has said it is keen to deepen its collaboration with Singapore as a knowledge hub.
The UN also called on cities to take on pro-growth policies that support the poor and strengthen infrastructure. It said all these can make a difference when it comes to sustainable living.
The UN said people's consumption and lifestyle patterns, and not urbanization, are to blame for climate change. To solve the problem, cities need to use less fossil fuel, maximise recycling and have a well-planned transport network.
Singapore, which set up an inter-ministerial committee on sustainable development in February, has been highlighted for its low per capita car ownership.
With its greening policy, Singapore has also been singled out as a country that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits. Another achievement is that Singapore is the only country with no slums.
Director of Monitoring and Research at UN-HABITAT, Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, said: "Obviously, (the) government has taken pro-active steps over a long period of time because it has to be sustained.
"One of the problems you find in most countries is they actually start well, but you need constant investment, sustained effort (and) visionary leadership to sustain those kinds of actions."
The latest UN report by UN-HABITAT, the agency working to boost the liveability of cities, studied 245 cities. The report is a lead-up to the UN World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China in November.
It noted another worrying concern of rising sea levels, and Southeast Asia in particular is at the highest risk due to its low elevation.
Singapore has said in parliament in September that it has taken measures in terms of building requirements on reclaimed land and drainage infrastructure. A two-year study to understand the specific implications of climate change, including rising sea levels, is also expected to be ready in 2009.
Director of Centre for Liveable Cities, Andrew Tan, said: "Moving forward, I would say that having achieved the level of environmental quality we have in Singapore, there is still a need for us to maintain these efforts.
"It's necessary for Singaporeans to be proud of what they have achieved, but at the same time, to know that sustained efforts is required."
The UN has lauded the 43-year-old city state as a model city. However, experts cautioned that as all cities progress, they will no longer be measured just by their level of economic, social and environmental progress.
Cities like Singapore will also have to look at its inclusiveness and its quality of life. Related to this, the report said cultural assets too should be protected to nurture the soul of the city.
- CNA/yt
Singapore lauded as slum-free city
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 25 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE is the only city in the world without slums, a new report by the United Nations Habitat has found.
The director of UN Habitat's monitoring and research division said the achievement was one that should be studied and, if possible, replicated in other cities.
'There is about 6 per cent slums in more developed countries, so to have zero incidence is an achievement worth celebrating,' said Professor Banji Oyeyinka.
The world organisation released its findings yesterday in cities, including Singapore, to coincide with the 63rd anniversary of the UN.
The report studied factors that contributed to harmonious urbanisation in 245 cities which provided data to UN Habitat.
In Asia, where half the population lives in cities, a third live in slums, the bi-annual State of the World's Cities 2008/2009 report said.
These were defined as areas where there was overcrowding, a lack of safe drinking water, sanitation, durable housing materials and rights over tenure.
Prof Banji said Singapore showed how long-term planning worked to achieve success in slum elimination.
A quarter of Singapore's population lived as squatters or in slums in 1959, with as many as 200 people living in a shophouse before the Government stepped in to build public housing. Over 44,000 flats were ready in 1964.
Asked how much time was necessary for a concerted effort to eliminate slums, Prof Banji said it would depend: 'Just for provision of clean water throughout a city, it would need 10 years of consistently and effectively applied policies.'
For the world to understand the best methods to eliminate such pools of disease and poverty, he invited researchers studying cities to collaborate with UN Habitat. He also invited non-government organisations and universities to send their data.
The Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore, set up by the National Development Ministry and Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources in June to enhance Singapore's expertise in urban development, is interested in collaboration.
Its director Andrew Tan said: 'We want to learn the best practices of other cities, like Japan's responsible communities, which take care of the cleanliness of their own environment.'
About 50 researchers, analysts and policymakers attended the launch.
The UN Habitat's next report will be released in 2010.
Republic is a 'carbon sink'
Straits Times 25 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE is known to be a carbon sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases into the atmosphere, said the editor of the United Nations Habitat Report 2008/2009, Ms Rasna Warah.
She said that the city's intense use of greenery with its numerous parks, gardens and nature reserves allowed carbon dioxide to be trapped and stored in the plants.
This was a sustainable solution for other cities to explore, she said.
'Singapore shows urbanisation does not damage the environment, when combined with environmentally friendly policies like the intense use of greenery and low motor usage here compared to other cities with similar income levels,' she said.
The report alluded to Singapore's success in this regard, but noted it did not take into consideration the amount of carbon dioxide produced by industry for products and services destined for foreign countries, including oil refineries and aviation.
The energy consumed in agriculture, in heat and light for residential buildings and power consumed by industry as well as transport were considered.
UN lauds Singapore urban development
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 25 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE has been lauded as an example of a successful urban centre by a United Nations report that studies the state of the world's cities.
The report was issued by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) this week, which aims to provide an update on the challenges facing global urban areas.
Published every two years, this year's report has the theme Harmonious Cities, focusing on three main areas of urban development: spatial, social, and environmental harmony.
Singapore's 'financial trade and communication services' have contributed to its 'significant economic and population growth in recent years', the report said. It also pointed out that Singapore has made 'concerted efforts to reduce levels of air pollutants'. This was aided by Singapore's low private motor use, efficient public transportation system and low levels of energy consumption. Singapore also does not have any slums, which is rare in an urban centre.
UN executive director for UN-HABITAT Anna Tibaijuka wrote: 'Enlightened and committed political leadership combined with effective urban planning, governance and management that promote equity and sustainability are the critical components to the building of harmonious cities.'
Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) director Andrew Tan pointed out that concerns over employment, the environment, safety and security tend to surface as cities increase in size. 'Dealing with these challenges requires a multi- faceted response at the national, regional and international levels,' he added.
CLC is a think-tank that brings together Singapore's expertise on sustainable urban development from the government, industry and academia.
The key findings of the report can be found on the CLC website (www.clc.org.sg), which was launched yesterday.
UN-HABITAT unveils State of the World’s Cities report
UN-HABITAT website 23 Oct 08
Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT said that the crisis should be viewed as a “housing finance crisis” in which the poorest of poor were left to fend for themselves.
"Clearly you cannot have a harmonious society if people are not secure in their homes," she told reporters at news conference to launch of the State of the World's Cities 2008/2009, a flagship report published every two years by the UN agency.
"The financial crisis we are facing today cannot be seen as an event -- it is a process that has been building up over time and this process now has bust." She said governments had to provide cheaper homes for those on lower incomes because the supply of affordable housing could not be left entirely to the market.
The UN-HABITAT said income distribution (measured through Gini coefficient levels) varies considerably among less-developed regions with the divide most noticeable in African and Latin American cities. In both regions, the gulf is often extreme compared to Europe and Asia, where urban inequality levels are relatively low.
South African cities top the list of the world’s most unqual cities, followed by Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Urban inequalities in this highly unequal region are not only increasing, but are becoming more entrenched, which suggests that failures in wealth distribution are largely the result of structural or systemic flaws.
Mrs. Tibaijuka said the proportion of people living in slum conditions in wealthy countries could rise because of the credit crunch. With 1 billion people already living in slums at the dawn of the new urban era, the report warned of unrest should governments fail to tackle the urban poverty crisis more seriously.
"I would not be surprised that, if we did another global survey on people living in slum conditions without security of tenure, this number will have increased in developed countries as a result of this crisis," she said referring to a recipe for riots and social upheaval to which the financial turmoil might lead.
"I am not surprised that world leaders are now seizing on the matter because without leadership, without governance, it is a clear test of social tensions," she said. Click here for further details.see Presskit
Background
Not so harmonious cities
In many cities around the world, wealth and poverty coexist in close proximity: rich, well-serviced neighbourhoods and gated residential communities are often situated near dense inner-city or peri-urban slum communities that lack even the most basic of services. Here the expert in charge of UN-HABITAT’s State of the World’s Cities report, Eduardo Lopez Moreno, explains the report’s latest research on a divide so prominently marked by electrified fences and high walls often patrolled by armed private security companies with killer dogs.
Income distribution (measured through Gini coefficient levels) varies considerably among less-developed regions with the divide most noticeable in African and Latin American cities. In both regions, the gulf is often extreme compared to Europe and Asia, where urban inequality levels are relatively low.
South African cities are the most unequal in the world, followed by Brazil. Latin American and Caribbean cities are among the most unequal in the world, with Brazilian and Colombian cities topping the list, closely followed by some cities in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Urban inequalities in this highly unequal region are not only increasing, but are becoming more entrenched, which suggests that failures in wealth distribution are largely the result of structural or systemic flaws.
And all too often it is not the actual degrees of inequality that matter, but the perceptions of it. And nothing defines that perception better perhaps than the example of a sign with a skull and cross bones carrying the warning “armed reaction” on a high electrified fence cocooning a suburban Johannesburg home.
When gross inequalities are associated with unjust systems that perpetuate poverty, curb upward mobility and exclude the majority, you have a formula for trouble. Put another way: when inequalities are perceived as the result of unfair processes or the unequal distribution of opportunities, people are less likely to accept them. Indeed such perceptions can nurture high crime rates, social unrest or even conflict.
There is no doubt that social unrest and insecurity reduce incentives for investment and force governments to increase the amount of public resources devoted to internal security – resources that might have otherwise been spent on more productive sectors of the economy or on social services and infrastructure.
Inequalities take various forms, ranging from different levels of human capabilities and opportunities, participation in political life, consumption, and income, to disparities in living standards and access to resources, basic services and utilities. Although the traditional causes of inequality – such as spatial segregation, unequal access to education and control of resources and labour markets – have persisted, new causes of inequality have emerged. These include inequalities in access to communication technologies and skills, among others.
“Digital exclusion”, for instance, has exacerbated inequalities within sub-Saharan Africa and resulted in the further marginalization of the region within a globalizing economy.
A society simply cannot claim to be harmonious if large portions of its population are deprived of basic needs while others live in opulence. A city cannot be harmonious if some groups concentrate resources and opportunities while others remain impoverished and deprived. Income inequalities not only threaten the harmony of cities, but also put the harmony and stability of countries at risk, as they create social and political fractures within society that threaten to develop into social unrest or full-blown conflicts. An excessive distributive polarization of income and wealth challenges social cohesion in many parts of the world, and the demands for narrowing social distance are in fact demands for social inclusion, social mobility and equal opportunities; in short they are demands for human dignity.
In Africa, urban income inequalities are highest in Southern Africa. South Africa stands out as a country that has yet to break out of an economic and political model that concentrates resources, although the adoption of redistributive strategies and policies in recent years have reduced inequalities slightly.
Unfortunately, rising economic growth rates in several African countries have not reduced income or consumption disparities. Instead, urban inequalities in many African cities, including Maputo, Nairobi and Abidjan, remain high as wealth becomes more concentrated. In general, urban income inequalities in African countries tend to be higher than rural income inequalities, and Northern African cities tend to be more equal than sub-Saharan African cities.
In Asia, on the other hand, cities tend to be more equal than cities in other parts of the developing world, although levels of urban inequality have risen or remain high in some cities. These include Hong Kong, New Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Davao and Colombo.
Cities in China tend to be more equal than other Asian cities, with Beijing being among the most equal city in the region, although some Chinese cities, such as Shenzhen, are experiencing relatively high inequality levels similar to those of Bangkok and Manila. China’s booming economy has also led to rural-urban and regional disparities, with populations living in cities located on the eastern part of the country enjoying significantly higher per capita incomes than rural populations living in remote western parts of the country.
In Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Indonesia, levels of urban inequality are generally low and are comparable to many cities in Europe, Canada and Australia, even through urban poverty is much greater in the former.
However, recent analyses suggest that India will experience rising levels of urban inequality in the future as a result of liberalization and industrialization policies coupled with lack of adequate investment in provision of public goods to the most vulnerable populations.
From many countries around the worlds, the evidence suggests that the benefits of economic growth are not realized in societies experiencing extremely high levels of inequality and poverty. Societies that have low levels of inequality are more effective in reducing poverty levels than those that are highly unequal.
Inequalities also have a dampening effect on economic efficiency as they raise the cost of redistribution and affect the allocation of resources for investment.
Levels of inequality can be controlled or reduced by forward-looking mitigation efforts on the part of governments. UN-HABITAT analysis of urban inequalities in 28 developing countries indicates that since the 1980s, nearly half of these countries managed to reduce levels of urban inequality while enjoying positive economic growth.
Malaysia, for instance, has been steadily reducing levels of urban inequality since the early 1970s through the implementation of pro-poor policies and through human resources and skills development. Similarly, Indonesia’s Growth, Stability and Equity programme has ensured that income distribution and poverty alleviation are integral components of economic growth and development.
Policies promoting equity in Rwanda have also ensured that the high economic growth rates that the country is currently experiencing do not increase inequality levels. These countries have shown that it is possible to grow economically without increasing inequality levels, and that reduction of inequalities is, in fact, a pro-growth strategy.
Desmond Ng, The New Paper 25 Oct 08;
SINGAPORE Power (SP) made more than $1 billion in profit in the last financial year.
Yet, it increased electricity tariffs by about 20 per cent earlier this month.
Asking for more, when the cash box is already full, puzzles ordinary people.
And why a hike now, when Singapore is in a technical recession and inflation is high?
Singapore Power's profit after taxation was $1.09b for the last financial year, according to its March 2008 financial report.
This included an exceptional gain from the sale of the Singapore Power Building.
SP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, has explained that the tariff hike was due to fuel oil price increases and the profits are to fund future infrastructure projects. (See report, right.)
But this, clearly, has not appeased consumers despite detailed replies from the Government to queries from Members of Parliament (MP) in the House earlier this week.
MP Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Nominated MP Gautam Banerjee were among those who queried the excessive returns.
Ms Lee asked: 'Our SP Services made millions of dollars and yet the price of the electricity tariff goes up.
'So maybe we really have to look into a separate formula of pricing the electricity tariffs. Perhaps one of the yardsticks is the profitability that they make.'
Singapore Power is the parent company of SP Services, which supplies electricity to all households here.
The Energy Market Authority (EMA) regulates the transmission charges of SP Services as it is a monopoly.
Given the billion-dollar profit, it is little wonder that consumers remain unhappy over the hike, despite painstaking explanations from the company.
Why can't our billion-dollar Singapore Power absorb the hike? Or cushion the blow with a smaller hike?
Technician Alvin Cheong finds the raised tariffs difficult to stomach.
The 39-year-old, who is married with a son, 2, pays electricity bills of about $120 a month.
'I understand that the company needs to make money. But I find it hard to accept when they make a huge profit and still increase prices,' he said.
Some asked if SP, which is essentially a monopoly service provider, should make such huge profits.
Dr Huang Fali, an assistant professor of economics from SMU, explained that public utility firms providing essential services such as electricity, water and transport should focus on maximising the welfare of society.
She said: 'This includes making consumers better off. That's the aim of a public utility firm.
'But when these providers make money, it's tough to justify price increases.'
Assistant professor Gopi Rethinaraj of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy noted that the Government is usually cautious and plans for the future, especially in terms of infrastructure.
'Obviously, anyone would be upset when prices go up. But ultimately, this revenue would be going back into the economy in other ways such as the creation of more jobs and infrastructure for future generations.
'Sometimes, profits are made for capital investments. If it's going to find its way back to infrastructure, then it's fine,' said Prof Rethinaraj, who specialises in climate policy and energy technology.
MP Lee Bee Wah told The New Paper that many of her residents still find it difficult to accept the company's explanation.
She said: 'The sentiment among them is that you (Singapore Power) made a billion dollars profit and upi still increase tariff by 21 per cent. That's a lot of money.
'If the company has already made so much, does it still need to raise the tariff?'
She hopes the company will revise its pricing formula and consider pegging profitability to the formula.
Infrastructure: Who should pay?
Mr Leong Sze Hian, president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, questioned the logic behind consumers paying for future infrastructure.
'In most countries, such infrastructure funding is rarely borne by the operators. (It) is part of national development and, rightly, should come from the state's coffers.'
Mr Leong said that few companies dip into their past profits for future growth and expansion.
Usually, these funds are raised through bank loans or the issuance of bonds.
He said: 'No company will rely solely on their past profit for growth; it'll come from a mix of sources.
'If their growth is based purely on profits, they'll never grow because you never know if your profits will be sustainable into the future.'
In its annual report, SP said its electricity grid is rated 'as one of the world's best performing networks'.
SP recorded revenue of $5.4b and assets of $29b in the last financial year.
Fair rate of return helps investment
ABOUT $5 billion will be used to invest in the Singapore electricity grid infrastructure over the next five years, said Singapore Power.
The company said its bottomline does not benefit from the tariff increase to consumers.
This is because all the extra earnings go into paying for the higher cost of fuel, according to a Straits Times report last week.
Singapore Power said that the $1.09b profit included the results of their international operations and the sale of investments.
Singapore Power has three arms of business.
First is the electricity grid, the second is the gas grid and the third is SP Services.
Minister of State for Trade and Industry SIswaran told Parliament on Tuesday that all three are regulated by the the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to make sure that they do not earn a super normal rate of return.
Said Mr Iswaran: 'So the EMA uses international industry benchmarks to ensure that whatever rate of return they earn is a reasonable rate of return compared to international standards.
For investment
Mr Iswaran continued: 'Why should there be a reasonable rate of return?'
He said it is because if there wasn't such a rate, 'how do you continue to improve and upgrade your infrastructure?'
If Singapore Power does not earn what is considered a fair rate of return by industry standards, then the company will be tempted to cut back on that investment.
This is because it is not in their shareholders' interest and therefore not in the company's interest.
Mr Iswaran added that with reasonable returns, the company will continue to upgrade itself in terms of technology and efficiency and those benefits will then filter down to consumers.
Posts
visitors since Nov 07