Earth Hour 2009
on AsiaIsGreen
octopus @ terumbu raya
video clips on the sgbeachbum blog and banded frilly sea anemone
Of nesting shift duties and Coppersmith Barbets (Part 1)
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Treehugger
on the annotated budak blog
Hazy sunrise over Sentosa
on the wonderful creation blog
Seen on STOMP: Beehives
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog and Bukit Batok hillside bush fire battle
A single abandoned fishing line can kill
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Channel NewsAsia 17 Feb 09;
JAKARTA: Thick haze from forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island blanketed the sky and disrupted air traffic in Riau province Tuesday, an airport official said.
"Four planes to (provincial capital) Pekanbaru airport have been diverted this morning to nearby airports on Sumatra due to the thick haze," airport manager Dedi Suryana told AFP.
He said the haze - a recurring problem that also affects neighbouring countries - had hampered visibility since early Tuesday.
"We closed the airport at 08:00 am (0100 GMT) as we only had visibility of about 500 metres (yards)," he said, adding that at least 1,000 metres of visibility was needed to safely run flights in and out of the airport.
An official at the forestry ministry who is monitoring the forest fires via satellite, Dedi Haryanto, told AFP 102 hotspots were detected on Monday compared with only 16 the day before.
He said most of the hotspots recorded were from slash-and-burn land clearing by local residents and the rest were from similar clearing for commercial plantations.
Heavy deforestation in Indonesia, including through forest burning, has helped make the country one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.
Riau province in the centre of Sumatra island has massive but dwindling areas of peatland forest, which are deep swamps of semi-decomposed vegetation that are major stores of carbon and release massive amounts of greenhouse gases when burned or cleared.
- AFP/yb
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 17 Feb 09;
Indonesia’s outermost islands face the risk of disappearing altogether because of human-induced climate change, and will require special measures by the government to keep them firmly on the map.
Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) researcher Dewi Fortuna Anwar said the government should ensure the physical presence of its citizens on those islands and build a “high wall” to prevent the islands from succumbing to rising sea levels.
“The government should finalize maritime border negotiations with neighboring countries as soon as possible and ensure the outermost islands remain in place,” she said Monday after a seminar on developments on the country’s borders.
“The government could also reclaim land off low-lying islands.”
Global warming is widely blamed for causing rising sea levels, temperatures and acidity in Indonesia.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said earlier that Indonesia had 17,504 small islands, of which 9,634 remained unnamed. The ministry is currently verifying 13,374 islands and drafting a profile of the 92 outermost islands.
He added Indonesia had already lost some islets to rising sea levels.
The government has warned that a 1-meter rise in sea levels could wash away 405,000 hectares of coastal areas and 2,000 islands. At present, the annual sea-level rise in Indonesia is 0.8 millimeters.
Tiny island nations, like the Maldives, have repeatedly called for assistance from the international community to protect their islands from rising seas.
Dewi warned that if the country’s outermost islands were lost, it would cause big problems, including on territorial borders and the economic exclusive zone (EEZ).
Indonesia has 108,000 kilometers of coastline and a total area, including the EEZ, of 5.8 million square kilometers.
Dewi said Indonesia was still negotiating its maritime borders with Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Indonesia shares land and maritime borders with 10 countries: India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Republic of Palau.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines how states may draw their territorial borders using baselines between the outermost points of the outermost islands.
The outermost islands also serve as the baseline to determine a country’s contiguous zones, EEZ and continental shelf.
Dewi said the government could build lighthouses on its border islands to herald the country’s presence there to the international community.
The National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping (Bakorsutanal) said Indonesia had finished determining its borders with neighboring countries.
Agency head Rudolf Matindas said there was no need too worry about climate change impacts on maritime borders.
“The rising sea levels will not occur overnight. There must be global solutions, because all countries stand to suffer from climate change impacts,” he said.
Corinne Callebaut and Ros Dina Cambodia Ka-Set 16 Feb 09;
Since Singapore was banned from mining sand in Indonesia, the city-state – which surface area covers less than 650 km2 – is struggling to find the sand it needs for its gigantic land reclamation and construction projects. As a result, it turned to a much less discriminating country, where the buying cost of sand remains quite inexpensive, Cambodia.
For the last year, the provinces of Koh Kong and Kandal have seen a heavy traffic of boats, which sometimes arrive in dozens to dredge the seabed or dig along the coasts to collect as much sand as possible and export it to Singapore. There, companies will sell it for as much as four times the initial price, according to environmentalist NGO Global Witness, who also points at the lack of transparency around this market.
Something that stirs greed but also worries marine conservation organisations, who fear the impact of the intensive exploitation. Justifiably so, as villagers have already complained with the authorities after the resulting collapse of their houses.
Dredgers lured by the sand
Koh Kong is known for its lush nature and hilly jungle, but the coastal province has also become a heaven... for dredgers, which are characterised by their imposing iron structure. For a few months, large boats coming to dredge the seabed have approached the shores of the province. Their goal: to fill up their barge with hundreds of tonnes of sand. Does the Cambodian rock dust possess any property ignored by all until recently? Actually, as Singapore has felt a little too cramped in its 647 km2 territory, it has urgently looked for great quantities of sand, an essential component of concrete.
Singapore stirs the sandmen
As the city-state had long exhausted its own supplies of sand, neighbouring Indonesia was its main supplier for many years. But in February 2007, the latter put an end to sand exports towards Singapore by imposing a ban that is still in force, as the relationship between Singapore and Indonesia remains conflicting. The reason: the intensive dredging by the smallest nation in Southeast Asia has reportedly resulted in the archipelago losing several islands, that were literally devoured by excavators. Authorities even expressed fear that the losses may jeopardise their territorial sovereignty. “Sand mining had caused very severe environmental damage in Indonesia, including in the islands of Sebayik and Nipah,” Desra Percaya, spokesperson of Indonesian Foreign Ministry, had then declared in Indonesian daily Jakarta Post .
Losing its main supplier, Singapore had worried about the higher cost of importing sand if it had to find other suppliers somewhere else and even forecast an increase by 3% of the price in relation to Indonesian sand. In their search for inexpensive sand, the barges of sand companies eventually dropped anchor off the coasts of Cambodia. The Kingdom offers not only unbeatable prices but also comparatively favourable conditions.
Shifting sands
In its report entiteld “Country for Sale ” made public on Thursday February 5th, Global Witness, an NGO specialised in monitoring natural resource management and campaigning on human rights, devotes three pages to the opacity which it says surrounds the trade of sand in Cambodia. Several witnesses interrogated by the organisation have thus reported that many ships belonging to Chinese, Korean or Taiwanese companies, came to purchase sand off the coasts of Koh Kong province, with the intention for all to export it to Singapore. The organisation spoke to workers who reportedly claimed that documents, contracts and payments were all directed to the office of Ly Yong Phat, a Senator affiliated with the ruling party CPP who dominates business enterprise in the province and is often criticised by human rights organisations for the forced evictions of residents from the many lands he has acquired.
“I completely refute the allegations from Global Witness,” Ly Yong Phat replied in a telephone interview to Ka-set. “The government has granted me this concession for sand mining, so it is normal that I am the referee. Besides, I am not the only one responsible, there is also another person. I am in charge of the area of Koh Pao and Svay Ambel rivers, and since I started to be in charge of the mining, floods have stopped happening. I even denied authorisation to a Thai company because there was not enough sand... I think exports in the province do not exceed 4,000 tonnes a month.”
Also contacted by Ka-set, Pech Siyon, head of the industry office in Koh Kong, estimates the quantity of sand dredged around Koh Kong province to be between 7,000 and 8,000 tonnes a week. “Three companies have been authorised to mine sand for about one year: Ly Yong Phat Group Company [owned by the above-mentioned Senator], Odom Cement Company Ltd and Dani Trading. Each exploits specific zones,” he explains. “Apart from these companies, no one else has the right to mine sand. Some do it but under the direction of the three companies who have received official approval.”
Global Witness estimates that nearly 15,000 tonnes of sand are exported each week... which would mean an annual revenue of 8.6 million dollars for the sand industry in Koh Kong province.
Environment: Danger warning?
In addition to the lack of transparency over this market, another source of concern exists: the risk that the intensive pumping might endanger deep-sea ecosystems. Following the example of the disappearance and collapse of islands in Indonesia, Cambodia unfortunately seems to also suffer from the intensive sand dredging.
For example, inland, despite the bans from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, many ships have come to extract sand in tributaries of the Tonle Bassac, in the area of Takhmau, in Kandal province. Yet, many villagers have complained with authorities that their house and land started to collapse, which had never happened before. According to a member of an NGO very active on environmental issues related to the Tonle Bassac, who prefers to speak anonymously, “the dredging has become intensive for some time. It is mobile dredging, boats are constantly moving from one place to another. It is completely illegal, but in spite of many promises, the government does not seem very active in fighting these activities.”
For his part, a worker of another environmental organisation, who also prefers to speak under anonymity, worries about the possible impact of intensive sand dredging on the seabed. “For now, we have not observed a direct impact on deep-sea ecosystems. However, we remain very concerned with the potential consequences it could have on the fragile marine life – on sea horses for example or on all the benthic species, like lichen or algae.” Echoing these words, the OSPAR Commission – in charge of implementing the current legal instrument guiding international cooperation on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic – has precisely insisted in its recommendations on the potential impact of sand dredging in marine environment. “All dredged materials have a significant physical impact at the point of disposal. This impact includes covering of the seabed and local increases in suspended solids levels. (…) Biological consequences of these physical impacts include smothering of benthic organisms in the dumping area.”
Yet, the conservationist believes in a solution that would enable Cambodia to continue benefiting from sand extraction while protecting nature. “Every company involved in the extractive industry or likely to have an impact on environment should contribute a sum of money – some kind of tax – as compensation. Thanks to this tax, the government could fund marine conservation projects and help Cambodian people,” he argues. Utopian? Possibly, but at least, he is not lulled by the sandmen operating in Cambodia.
On the web:
- Note on the physical alterations and destruction of habitats of the Global Programme of Action for the protection of marine environment from land-based activities (GPA), which is part of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme).
See also Singapore's sandy footprint on the wild shores of singapore blog for more links
Oleh Melati Mohd Ariff, Bernama 17 Feb 09;
CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- "Malaysia should learn from what had happened in Europe. For the people there, the realization came too late and everything was gone, the damage has been done."
Those were the words of Anthony Van der Ent, a biologist and environment scientist from Holland.
He said: "Most of the environment (in Europe) has been spoiled, polluted or degraded due to massive unsustainable development from the early 1950s. The people of Europe are trying to restore everything back.
"Needless to say it involves a lot of work and money. For instance, it would take thousands of years to restore pristine forests."
According to Van der Ent, Malaysia and other Asian countries are in the same situation to what Europe experienced during the 1950s in terms of economic growth and robust expansion of the industrial and agriculture sectors.
"There are still quite a lot of areas left in Malaysia that are worth conserving but at the pace things are going right now, I am very much concerned that there would not be anything left especially in Cameron Highlands," he said, adding that in the 20 years to come Malaysia would be in the same 'boat' as Europe was in 15 years ago.
CONCERN FOR CAMERON HIGHLANDS
The Dutchman chanced upon Cameron Highlands during a visit to Malaysia with his globe-trotting parents seven years ago and the highland has captivated him so much that he has been coming back for brief visits each year ever since.
In 2005 Van der Ent, then a student at Saxion University Deventer, Netherlands together with another student, Chantal Termeer carried out a study on the river water quality of the 'Upper Bertam' water catchment zone.
Sungai Bertam is the most important river flowing into the TNB Ringlet Reservoir.
The research project on the chemical and ecological water quality of the rivers of the Upper Bertam catchment was assigned to them by a community group of Cameron Highlands, Regional Environment Awareness Cameron Highlands or REACH.
The five months study showed serious pollution of organic compounds and silting being the two most significant causes for water quality deterioration of the Upper Bertam river catchment.
RIVERS IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS
Eight rivers drain Cameron Highlands with Sungai Bertam, Sungai Telom and Sungai Lemoi, being the main ones.
The three rivers have a total of more than 123 tributaries. As such they have a very substantial role in not only supplying water for consumption but also to cater for the needs of the agricultural sector.
Cameron Highlands is also significant because it forms the water catchment for two major rivers of the lowlands -- Sungai Pahang and Sungai Perak.
"A water catchment is the land area in the upper reaches of a river system, normally in the highlands and mainly forested. The highlands and particularly the montane ecosystem forms some of the most important water catchment areas in Peninsular Malaysia.
"The montane forests are water producers and the supply of this precious and most endangered and limited natural resource, both in terms of quantity and quality is very much dependent on forested water catchment areas in the highlands," explained Van der Ent.
He said that forest cover plays a vital role for a water catchment.
"Based on our study then, about 30 per cent of land cover in the Bertam catchment is used by agriculture and urban development", said Van der Ent.
WATER AS INDICATOR
Water quality is seen as the best indicator to benchmark the quality of an environment, as its deterioration can be a direct result of unsustainable development.
How has it been since the 2005 study or since the water crisis that hit Cameron Highlands in 1998?
REACH's president Ramakrishnan Ramasamy told Bernama the overall water situation in Cameron Highlands is not getting any better.
"We are very much concerned about this and a lot of our efforts are focused on these issues. REACH itself was formed because of water quality and quantity in Cameron Highlands.
"Even though it was only formalised in 2001, we had started to voice out our concern way back in 1998 when Cameron Highlands suffered a major water crisis," he said.
Ramakrishnan said as much as 80 per cent of available water resources in Cameron Highlands is being diverted for agriculture sector. He also estimated 80 per cent of the farms in Cameron Highlands are established on slopes higher than the 25-degree gradient permitted.
"Since 2000, we are facing 4.0 million litres shortage of water everyday for a population of 29,000. As of last year, the population has increased to more than 33,000.
"To overcome this shortage, a reservoir was planned at Sungai Terla. At the start of the project there were only six farms above the proposed reservoir and by the time the project took off and completed, the number of farms had grown to more than 60," he said.
CONTINUED CONTAMINATION
For Ramakrishnan, the growing number of farms only spells trouble for water supply in Cameron Highlands.
"Because there are too many farms in the area upstream the Sungai Terla reservoir, the water is contaminated, not only with agricultural wasteS but also with human wasteS as well. Most of the farms hire foreign workers and they do not have proper sanitation," he said.
A farm would have about 10 workers and most of them use chicken droppings as fertilizer.
"When we tested the water, we found E.coli bacteria and when the contaminated water is sent to the lab for further testing, it was found to contain human waste, " he said.
Ramakrishnan blames the local authorities for lack of enforcement and failing to control the opening of new farms located in the area upstream the reservoir.
He said there was a major landslide due to illegal land clearing causing the silting of Sungai Terla in 2008 and the reservoir had to be shut down.
"When there is a reservoir, there should not be any human activity including farming. Due to the lack of enforcement, these farmers are encroaching into water catchment areas, further contaminating the water source.
"The entire area of Cameron Highlands is a water catchment area and most of the forests here work like a sponge, they collect water and retain water. Streams flow from these forests. If you disturb the forests, it means you are cutting back on the water source," he explained.
According to Ramakrishnan, REACH conducts regular tests at least once in three months both for raw and treated water collected from all towns in Cameron Highlands.
"It was frightening, in treated water the presence of E.coli bacteria was too much to count," he said.
Ramakrishnan said last year, REACH collaborated with a group of researchers from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Skudai, Johor to undertake a study on the water quality in Cameron Highlands.
"They did a test and they were shocked as well to see how contaminated our water was," he said.
WRATH OF MOTHER NATURE
There is one other issue that has got Ramakrishnan more than worried. He fears the wrath of Mother Nature on Cameron Highlands.
And it is happening.
He cited the many landslides that occurred especially end of last year were due to heavy rain.
"My biggest fear is that some of the landslides occurred on slopes that was free from human dealings," he said.
"In December last year, for just an hour's drive over for a stretch of less than 10 km around Pos Terisu (an Orang Asli settlement about 15 km from Kuala Terla) we lost count of the number of landslides that had occurred, big and small ones, " he said.
According to Ramakrishnan, at the rate the clearing of forests around Pos Terisu is being done, the agriculture activities there would surpass Bertam Valley in no time.
"The Orang Asli settlement is being surrounded by agricultural land now," he said.
Ramakrishnan recalled a major landslide in Habu in the late 1990s when a farmer built his own reservoir in the area above the reservoir constructed by the Water Works Department (JBA).
"The (farmer's) reservoir burst and swept down the JBA's tank. The massive landslide that it caused killed two passers-by," he said.
Ramakrishnan then cited the floods that hit Kampung Raja and according to him, floods have becoming more frequent in Kampung Raja for the past two years.
He also spoke on the flood that hit the big football field in Tanah Rata.
"The last time I remembered when the football field was flooded, it was in the 1980s. Last year it flooded again, one reason because of the severe silting in Sungai Bertam. The river could not cope and it was due to the rampant agricultural activities upstream of the river," he explained.
Ramakrishnan expressed his profound concern with the silting that is taking place especially in Sungai Bertam that flows into the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam.
The capacity of the dam is only to hold water and not silt. Ramakrishnan said he had highlighted this issue for the local authorities to check on activities at the upstream of Sungai Bertam.
He estimated that 600,00 cubic metres of silt is being swept into the dam every year.
"If you do not slow down the activities on the upstream and if the dam is to burst, everything here until Lipis would be gone and the survival chance is almost none.
"I feel very sad and worried with what is happening. I participated in a lot of relief work during natural disasters, both locally (floods in Segamat) and abroad (earthquakes in Iran and China, Acheh after the tsunami).
"I have seen the effect of all these disasters and I worry Cameron Highlands may suffer the same fate. This frustrates me more," said Ramakrishnan who is a member of the Malaysian Volunteers Fire and Rescue Association.
-- BERNAMA
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 17 Feb 09;
Singapore has recorded the highest number of vegetation fires in decades due to the dry spell.
SMOKE haze is back and will probably stay till the end of the week.
This time, it is not caused by fires elsewhere. Instead, record numbers of bush fires have flared up here, fuelled by the soaring temperatures and dry weather, and with weak winds unable to blow the smoke particles away.
The weatherman said that the pollutants standards index (PSI), which hit its highest level in a year - 57 - on Sunday, will hover in the moderate range over the next few days.
Another record wilted that day, when temperatures reached a scorching 35 deg C, the highest ever recorded for the month of February.
According to the Meteorological Services Division of the National Environment Agency (NEA), the weather on most days this month has been dry and still, with the prevailing north-east monsoon in its dry phase.
Experts said that 'light wind conditions' since Friday have allowed the build-up of particles in the air.
The lack of rainfall and high temperatures have fuelled the 288 bush fires recorded by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) since the year began. This is more than two-thirds the 426 cases recorded for the whole of last year.
SCDF's public affairs director, Lieutenant-Colonel N. Subhas, said the fires are probably started by cigarette butts thrown carelessly onto tinder-dry vegetation.
'The dumping of rubbish on vacant land acts as additional fuel to sustain the fires,' he said.
NEA has advised the public to be 'more vigilant' to minimise the incidence of such bush fires.
Though satellite pictures detected 47 hot spots in Sumatra yesterday, NEA said it is unlikely that the haze originated there as 'only localised thin plumes could be observed near the fires'.
The hot and hazy conditions are chasing people indoors. A check with 13 preschools found that five cut down outdoors play time, or moved it indoors completely yesterday.
The principal of Happy Talent Childcare Centre, Ms Jenny Seow, 39, told The Straits Times: 'Some children found it difficult to breathe after exerting themselves. We are especially monitoring children with a history of asthma.'
NEA said that the moderate air quality over the next few days is no cause for concern for the general population.
But those with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease could find their symptoms worsening, said Associate Professor Daniel Goh, head of the University Children's Medical Institute at the National University Hospital.
'These patients should look out for early signs and symptoms of their condition, such as cough and breathlessness; and make sure they take their regular medications properly and diligently,' he said.
There is respite on the horizon. NEA said the hazy conditions will improve once wind speeds pick up - as expected - later this week.
Additional reporting by Judith Tan and Jalelah Abu Baker
Hot, dry month
PSI
# Friday (Feb 13): 50
# Sat (Feb 14): 53
# Sun (Feb 15): 57
# Yesterday: 54
(Moderate PSI: 51 - 100)
RAINFALL
# For Feb till yesterday: 19mm
# Long term average for Feb: 162mm
# Highest rainfall this month: Northern areas around Sembawang and Lower Peirce Reservoir (60 to 75 mm)
# Lowest rainfall this month: Eastern and western parts around Changi and Tuas (less than 10 mm)
TEMPERATURE
# Highest till yesterday: 35 deg C on Feb 15
# Previous high: 34.7 deg C on Feb 19, 2005.
Record high of vegetation fires in Singapore
Today Online 17 Feb 09;
IT HAS been hazy, but be prepared for the haziness to linger, at least for the next two to three days.
That is what has been predicted as light wind conditions mean particles in the air are not dispersed. Smoke from vegetation fires have also contributed to thehaziness.
The dry weather has led to more frequent outbreaks of such fires, with the highest number of vegetation fires in decades, reported Channel NewsAsia. In the first two weeks of this month, 106 fires were recorded. This follows the record 182 last month, well above the average of 26 cases for the month over the past decade.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force described this as unprecedented and said it is installing dry hydrant systems to provide water supply in areas with dry vegetation.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said forest fires have been spotted in Sumatra, especially in Riau. But it said that the current haze is not due to smoke from these.
NEA also said Singapore’s 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) crept up to the moderate range (between 51 to 100) over the weekend, rising from “good” the week before. The PSI at 4 pm yesterday was 54, putting overall air quality in the low “moderate” range.
Dry spell causes bush fires to surge to record numbers
Cheryl Frois, Channel NewsAsia 17 Feb 09;
SINGAPORE: Singapore has recorded the highest number of vegetation fires in decades due to the dry spell.
In the first two weeks of this month, 106 fires have been recorded. This follows a record 182 in January, well above the average of 26 cases for the month over the past decade.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has described this as unprecedented and said it is installing dry hydrant systems to provide water supply in areas with dry vegetation like Tampines and Fort Road.
Smoke from these vegetation fires has contributed to the particle build-up in the air, resulting in Singapore experiencing slightly hazy conditions since last Friday.
The weak winds have also contributed to the bleary conditions, as they are unable to blow the smoke particles away.
The National Environment Agency said Singapore's 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) crept up to the "moderate" range of between 53 and 57 over the weekend, rising from the "good" range the week before.
The haze is leaving many Singaporeans hot under the collar.
"Even at night, it's really hot, even turning on the air-con doesn't help," said a member of the public.
"Exercise is out of the question, movements out in the open are restricted," said another.
"I couldn't breathe. I've been coughing, because I'm quite allergic to the haze," said a third.
"Even the poor doggies at home" are feeling the heat, said a fourth.
The haziness and hot weather is expected to persist over the next three days, as wind conditions continue to be light.
- CNA/ir
Institutional reform was key, says World Development Report
Chew Xian, Business Times 17 Feb 09;
(SINGAPORE) Singapore's development experience warranted a factbox in the recent World Development Report, published annually by the World Bank.
In the latest issue released last November, the authors charted the country's move from 'slums to world city'.
'Doing so is a tall order for any government, but Singapore shows it can be done,' the report says.
The World Bank noted that at independence in 1965, 70 per cent of Singapore's households lived in badly overcrowded conditions, and a third of its people squatted on the city fringes.
'Unemployment averaged 14 per cent, GDP (gross domestic product) per capita was less than US$2,700, and half of the population was illiterate. Falling mortality rates and migration from the Malay Peninsula implied rapid population growth, further increasing the pressure on both housing and employment: 600,000 additional units of housing were needed, and private supply was less than 60,000,' the report says.
However, the slums were cleared within a few decades and Singapore became one of the cleanest and most advanced cities in the world, says the World Bank. The secret was in institutional reforms that created a government renowned for its accountability, which became a major provider of infrastructure and services.
A housing authority was also created to clear slums, build houses and renew the urban landscape, says the report. 'At the height of the programme, HDB was building a new flat every eight minutes,' it notes.
The World Bank concludes that 'for a city-state in a poor region, it is not an exaggeration to assert that effective urbanisation was responsible for delivering growth rates that averaged 8 per cent a year throughout the 1970s and 1980s'.
'It required a combination of market institutions and social service provision, strategic investment in infrastructure, and improved housing for slum dwellers.'
However, it notes that Singapore's success was not easily replicated for any country that is not a city-state. 'Perhaps the most successful example of how slums can be eradicated, Singapore is to some extent an anomaly . . . Most countries will not be able to replicate Singapore's efforts - aligning priorities and the effort of central, state, and city governments is difficult for any country that is not a city-state,' the report concludes.
Other schemes that came in for praise were Singapore's pricing of vehicles to reduce congestion, which the World Bank calls 'extreme but effective'.
From slums to world-class city
World Bank holds Singapore up as model of development, pointing to its sound policies in urbanisation
Aaron Low, Straits Times 17 Feb 09;
THE World Bank has held Singapore up as a model of a country which managed to transform its slums and become a world-class city.
In its annual World Development Report 2009, the World Bank attributed this achievement to a government known for its accountability, meticulous planning and coordinated action.
The report discusses the relationship between geography and development and says that a key part of a country's success lies in implementing sound policies that develop economic activity.
It also observes that stopping people from rural areas migrating to cities can be counter productive as this can stifle innovation and growth.
But by instituting flexible regulations and versatile land use, policymakers can make urban areas attractive to firms and investors.
In illustrating these points, the 383-page report, published last November, highlighted the example of Singapore in one of its nine chapters.
When Singapore gained independence in 1965, the country was in dire straits as it faced massive overcrowding, a lack of public services and high unemployment, it noted.
Seven in 10 households were in badly overcrowded conditions, while a third of its people lived in squatter areas on the city's edges. An estimated 600,000 homes were needed, but only 60,000 were in private supply.
Unemployment was at a high of 14 per cent, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was less than US$2,700 (S$4,000) and half the population was illiterate.
Mortality rates were rising rapidly while migration from Malaysia and the surrounding regions put increasing pressure on housing and employment.
Yet, just 40 years later, Singapore had overcome these and other problems to become 'one of the cleanest and most welcoming cities in the world'. It is also now one of the world's top centres of commerce.
With five million people packed into 700 sq km of space, Singapore's US$300 billion exports in 2006 was close to that of the Russian Federation, which is 16 million sq km, said the World Bank.
'Improving institutions and infrastructure and intervening at the same time is a tall order for any government, but Singapore shows how it can be done,' it said.
The secret of Singapore's success?
'First, institutional reforms made the Government known for its accountability. Then, the Government became a major provider of infrastructure and services,' the report said. 'Multi-year plans were produced, implemented and updated.'
The report highlighted the Housing Board's role in clearing slums, building public housing and renewing the urban landscape. At one point, the HDB was building a new flat every eight minutes.
As a result, nearly nine in 10 Singaporeans live in public housing, and most of them own their homes.
Through land acquisition laws, the Government acquired one-third of city land and slum dwellers were relocated to public housing.
'For a city-state in a poor region, it is also not an exaggeration to assert that effective urbanisation was responsible for delivering growth rates that averaged 8 per cent a year throughout 1970s and 1980s,' said the World Bank.
'It required a combination of market institutions and social service provision, strategic investment in infrastructure, and improved housing for slum dwellers.'
But the factors for its success also make Singapore an anomaly, as not all countries can have rapid economic growth and a 'focused government in power since 1965'.
Nor are many countries able to align priorities of country and city together, the way Singapore, as a city-state, can.
Singapore's transport policies were also cited by the World Bank.
It noted that cars cost four to five times as much as they do in the rest of the world because of the Certificate of Entitlement auction system and car taxes. This was an 'extreme but effective' way to optimise private car use.
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 17 Feb 09;
LAND-SCARCE Singapore's push to build floating structures for oil and petrochemical storage is becoming more pressing, with the government now identifying potential offshore sites.
The move will help address the urgent issue of no space being available on Jurong Island for activities such as oil storage - which has led international traders to set up terminal and blending facilities in neighbouring Johor.
In September last year, Europe's Vitol Group said it would spend RM1 billion (S$419 million) on the first phase of a 750,000 cubic metre terminal at Tanjung Bin to blend and store crude oil, petroleum and petrochemical products.
'Vitol wanted to build its facility here, but unfortunately we had no more space on Jurong Island,' an official told BT.
Other Singapore-based players that store oil in Johor include European trader Trafigura and Titan Petrochemicals.
Singapore - the world's third-largest refining and oil trading hub - is set to start building the Jurong Rock Cavern soon. But this will be more for strategic oil storage. The push to build offshore storage facilities will benefit international oil traders that want their own terminal facilities.
Signalling increased momentum, JTC Corporation is seeking a consultant to explore and identify sites for very large floating structures(VLFS) in Singapore waters. The tender closes this Friday, Feb 20.
The site study is part of a study that kicked off in November last year to assess the environmental impact of VLSFs.
This followed the completion of a study in late-2007 that showed such structures are technically feasible and comparable in cost to land-based oil storage.
In the site study, the consultant will conduct initial screening of available water space followed by detailed screening, ranking the sites based on usage constraints.
The study will cover anchorage and navigation areas, pipeline and cable routes, wave height, wind speed, coral reefs, mangrove stands, recreational areas and aquaculture facilities.
JTC wants the study completed in six weeks. So despite the economic slowdown, it clearly sees the need to beef up infrastructure to support the oil and gas industry.
Its earlier estimates show that even with 3.5 million cu m of new oil storage to be added to Singapore's existing 4.6 million cu m of capacity, there will still be a shortfall of at least 3 million cu m.
For VLFS to be viable, the minimum storage capacity should be 300,000 cu m - equivalent to that of a big tanker.
A VLFS would comprise two rectangular modules, each measuring 180 m by 80 m by 15 m and with 150,000 cu m of storage capacity. Preliminary cost estimates are at least $180 million, comparable to the cost of onshore storage.
See also Very Large Floating Oil Storage in Singapore on the wild shores of singapore blog for a summary of project details and more links
Patwant Singh, Channel NewsAsia 17 Feb 09;
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Sports Hub may be seeing a delay in construction due to financing problems caused by the global economic crisis. But the government is going ahead to call for tenders for the proposed Changi race track, saying there are interested parties.
In October 2007, the government announced that a plot of land in Changi will be the site for a permanent race track. Since then, fans and other parties have been waiting for tenders to be called.
Not designed for F1, the Grade 2 track will pose a challenge, due to the compact 20-hectare plot allocated. Now, the Singapore Sports Council has taken the feedback of interested bidders and may set aside more land for the track.
This will allow the staging of world class events like the Moto GP, which requires at least a 3.5-kilometre track.
Technical director of the Red Rooster Racing Team, Andrew Morrice, said: "If you have space, then you will be able to have more facilities like paddocks, workshops, other things. The track itself, (if it is) 3.5 km, you will be able to have higher speed corners, you will be able to have more technical corners and all that."
Besides the Moto GP, which media reports claim has already signed a deal for a race in Singapore, other events that may be staged include the A1 and the Japan GT.
Interested bidders Channel NewsAsia spoke to said the project may cost anything from S$100,000 to S$300,000. But based on the current global recession, financing it may be a problem.
On the bright side, construction costs may be lower, thus the bidders are hoping the project can be fast-tracked.
The Sports Council does not want to say when exactly tenders will be called, saying it will be soon.
- CNA/yt
See also Changi Race Track - more land may be set aside on the wild shores of singapore blog for more links and details
Dan Laffoley and Sylvia Earle, Business Times 14 Feb 09;
COULD the oceans become the place where humanity finally gets its act together, or will we become the victim of many environmental threats coming together at the same time? Already over-fished and used as a garbage dump, the oceans now face the risks posed by climate change - rising levels, coral bleaching and ocean acidification, to name a few.
If the oceans were a human patient, we'd be saying that it is suffering from a severe burn-out. The critical question now lies in whether we believe we have enough information to act.
As a species, we have a seemingly endless quest for knowledge, which builds generation upon generation. Yet we appear at times to be incapable of acting on that information.
There are exceptions to this, but too few of them. In 2004, an expedition of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Marianas region in the Pacific Ocean used a robotic system to bring pictures of amazing undersea volcanoes and smoking chimneys rising out of the inky depths.
Unknown at that time, this work contributed data that resulted a few weeks ago in the new marine monument declaration by outgoing President George W Bush, pushing the scale of maritime protection up a notch.
It is still striking, though, that after so many decades of effort to protect the seas, the area under protection rose from just 0.65 per cent to 0.80 per cent of the total ocean area.
Future action will depend on how, and how quickly, we use the information we have about our seas to good effect.
Despite hundreds of years of map-making and more recent advances - increasingly good acoustic mapping at affordable prices, for example - which have improved our knowledge of the oceans, today the ocean area mapped by humans still stands at only about 5 per cent of the total.
Protecting our ocean world for the future requires a rapid evolution in thinking and action. Three years ago, almost 200 countries made a commitment to increase the protected area of the oceans by 700 per cent by 2012. That would cover 10 per cent of all ocean areas under national jurisdiction.
The protection has increased since then, but at a fraction of the pace needed if we are to meet this target. Since the end of 2005, the total global marine protected area has increased from 2.2 to 2.9 million square kilometres - a huge achievement, representing a 30 per cent increase, but simply not enough. More than 99 per cent of the world's oceans are completely unprotected.
If we act only where we have ample data, the action will always be too little, too late when viewed against the vastness of the ocean realm and the consequences of human use. Countless species and habitats will be lost before they are even discovered and described.
Our future strategy must play to current strengths, but also protect us from our ignorance. As we consider how to increase the protection of our oceans, we need to move beyond individual habitats and species to ecosystem and marine 'landscape' scale actions.
While we do have more than 4,500 individual marine protected areas across our oceans, it is striking that 10 of these cover 74 per cent of the total area of protected ocean.
The US declaration on marine national monuments is a significant step in the right direction, yet, another 28 countries need to do the same in the next three years if we are to meet our modest target of protecting 10 per cent of ocean areas under national jurisdiction.
The American initiative encapsulates the approach developing in several areas around the globe. 'Going large,' either through very large individual marine protected areas or through networks of smaller ones, is the most efficient way to secure the wildlife and a renewed stream of benefits that we can use - be it tourism or sustaining local communities and industries.
In short, the network of marine protected areas - both large and small - needs to grow, and it needs to grow fast.
A renewed interest in large-scale marine mapping and making the most of new technologies is one of the best ways to help us decide where and what to protect, especially the areas of ocean outside the jurisdiction of any individual country - the High Seas.
We also need expeditions to study and document new habitats and species. We need initiatives to complement the mapping to make oceans more 'visible' to the public. More and better information about our oceans can only help make better decisions about their future.
The recent launch of Ocean in Google Earth is a major step in this direction as it provides a highly accessible, visual and user-friendly source of information on how we have used and abused the seas, and how we can better manage and protect them.
The use of new communication technology illustrates how our impact on our oceans is reaching a tipping point, at which the conditions that nurtured and supported life on Earth over the millennia change to something far less desirable.
Now is the time to implement large-scale protection that many countries have already agreed to and should be delivering by 2012.
However disconnected you may feel from the oceans, remember that every breath you take, every sip of water you drink and even the very balance of salt in your blood ties you and every one of us to the fate of our oceans and seas. -- IHT
Dan Laffoley is marine vice-chairman of IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas and one of the advisers for Ocean in Google Earth.
Sylvia Earle is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographical Society, founder of the Deep Search Foundation and lead adviser for Ocean in Google Earth.
It will have enough for 1.3m people; those at high risk, kids to get priority
Salma Khalik, Straits Times 17 Feb 09;
SINGAPORE is stepping up its defences against a possible bird flu pandemic with the purchase of enough vaccines for 1.3 million people.
Vaccines give the best protection against the flu, but the one for H5N1 or bird flu became available only in 2007.
The original defence against a bird flu pandemic was to give the more than 50,000 'essential' people, such as doctors and policemen, six weeks' supply of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that reduces the effects of the illness by preventing the bug from multiplying.
But there has been growing resistance to the drug recently, which could mean it might be less effective in the event of a bird flu pandemic.
This past winter, the northern hemisphere has thrown up a 15 per cent resistance to the medicine in another flu strain - the H1N1 - up from 1 per cent the previous winter.
The vaccine Singapore will be spending tens of millions of dollars to buy is targeted at the H5N1 or bird flu virus. It is not effective against other strains of flu. So if the next pandemic is not the H5N1, the vaccines would be useless.
This is why Singapore is also increasing its stockpile of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that works for all flu strains.
By the end of this year, Singapore will have 1.7 million courses, up from the original 1.05 million courses. Each course consists of 10 capsules which are taken over five days. It also has 50,000 courses of Relenza, another antiviral.
The United States has stockpiled about 26 million doses of the H5N1 vaccine. Countries like Switzerland and Ireland have enough for their entire population. Singapore expects to get its 2.6 million doses within six months.
For the vaccine to be effective, people need to get two doses three weeks apart.
The plan is to start vaccinating the moment the World Health Organisation declares an increase in human-to-human transmission.
For the moment, these transmissions remain rare.
A Ministry of Health spokesman said the vaccines will be given to essential staff, as well as children and people at high risk, such as transplant patients.
She added: 'A person who is vaccinated may still suffer from flu-like illness as the vaccine is not 100 per cent protective. Such a person will then be given Tamiflu as treatment.'
Infectious disease experts say it is just a matter of time before another deadly influenza or flu pandemic sweeps the world. More than 40 million people died in the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.
The pandemics of 1957 and 1968 spanned the globe in just six months, killing two million and over one million people respectively.
Should the next pandemic be caused by the H5N1 or bird flu virus, the results could be lethal.
More than half the 407 people who have been hit by bird flu so far have died of it.
salma@sph.com.sg
Should the next pandemic be caused by the H5N1 or bird flu virus, the results could be lethal. More than half the 407 people who have been hit by bird flu so far have died of it.
# The vaccine Singapore is stockpiling is targeted at the H5N1 or bird flu virus.
# For it to be effective, people need two doses three weeks apart.
Jaswinder Kaur New Straits Times 17 Feb 09;
Pulau Sipadan is one of 261 nominees in the New7Wonders of Nature online campaign, alongside Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, the Maldives, the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls on the Canada-United States border and Australia's Great Barrier Reef. A panel of experts will reduce the list to 21 on July 21. To vote for Sipadan, log on to www.new7wonders.com/nature
A QUARTER of a century ago, Pulau Sipadan was a sleepy island shaded by coconut trees. Very few divers had ventured into its blue-green waters in the Celebes Sea to discover the wonders of its marine life.
Sipadan found itself on the world stage when renowned ocean adventurer Jacques Cousteau showcased what it had to offer in a film entitled Ghost of the Sea Turtles, describing it as an "untouched piece of art".
By 1990, small wooden resorts began appearing on the beaches of Sipadan, which is about the size of 30 football fields.
Just a 90-minute speedboat ride from Sabah's east coast town of Semporna, divers found themselves swimming with fish in almost every imaginable colour, and exploring a diversity of corals only seen at top dive sites.
Stories started appearing in special interest magazines around the world, highlighting another interesting fact -- shaped something like a mushroom, Sipadan is an oceanic island formed by corals that grew on top of an extinct undersea volcano rising 600 metres from the sea bed.
Gazetted as a bird sanctuary under the Land Ordinance during British rule in 1933, it was pushed once again into the world's focus nine years ago. But this time for the wrong reasons.
Gunmen kidnapped 21 people, Malaysians and foreign tourists, and took them to the southern Philippines. All were released in stages within a year.
Despite the setback, divers continued to come and Sabah received the best news ever two years later when the International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled that Sipadan and nearby Ligitan belonged to Malaysia, in a 16-1 majority verdict over Indonesia.
By September 2003, a joint state and federal committee on the management and supervision of Sipadan and Ligitan was established. This was followed with a directive to the five dive operators to vacate the island by Dec 31, 2004.
The move was made not only for security reasons, but also to protect the island's barracudas, large schools of trevally, turtles, coral gardens and macro-life such as mantis shrimps.
In the last four years, a maximum of 120 day-trippers have been allowed to dive at Sipadan each day.
Almost three years ago, a barge laden with construction material scraped a portion of corals, leading to a huge outcry in the diving fraternity.
Though the headlines then were alarming, with one screaming "Sipadan reefs probably lost forever", scientist Dr Elizabeth Wood, who first visited the island in its pre-diving era, said Storm Greg in 1996 damaged some shallow water reefs while the increase in water temperature had contributed to coral bleaching.
An officer from the British-based Marine Conservation Society said reefs close to the jetty had suffered from years of pressure from divers and boats, while Marine Research Foundation director Dr Nicolas Pilcher said reports on the "barge incident" were exaggerated, pointing out that schools of bumphead parrotfish that roam over reefs do similar damage.
Despite some bumps on the road, Sipadan is today still on the "must-do" list for divers.
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