First visit to South Cyrene
from wild shores of singapore
The eyes of the Red-breasted Parakeet
from Bird Ecology Study Group
back to chek jawa
from isn't it a wonder, how life came to be
And then there were four hornbills
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Monday Morgue: 11th October 2010
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Lynda Hong Ee Lyn Today Online 11 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE - Recyclers are calling for greater regulation to ensure unwanted electronic appliances, including used computer peripherals, are disposed properly.
Such junk - also known as electronic waste, or e-waste - could release toxic chemicals when incinerated or dumped into landfills, they pointed out.
Given the lack of collection points for e-waste in housing estates, recycling companies such as Cimelia rely on karung guni men to collect e-waste from households. But this forms only five to 10 per cent of e-waste collected every month. On average, Cimelia collects between 500 and 700 tons of e-waste each month, mainly from factories and companies.
Cimelia's director, Mr Venkatesha Murthy, said karung guni men would first try to refurbish all re-usable electronics and electrical appliances for resale in Singapore or export to other countries. They would then sell what they could not salvage to Cimelia.
Public waste collectors Veolia and SembWaste told MediaCorp that e-waste forms a small portion of recyclables collected from households, with SembWaste putting the proportion of e-waste figure at about one to two per cent. So, given Singaporeans' penchant for electronics products, where does the Republic's e-waste go?
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the economic value in the materials recoverable from e-waste meant that there was "minimal" amount of such junk ending up at the incinerator or landfill.
But Mr Venkatesha pointed out that e-waste could be easily exported to other countries like China and Africa, as Singapore did not have a tracking system to trace where electronic products were disposed.
Recycling Point Dot Com founder Joseph Tan suggested a governing body such as NEA administer the funds to ensure the proper disposal of an electronics products.
Several countries, including Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan and Korea, have introduced Extended Producer Responsibility laws, which are based on the principle that producers should bear responsibility for all the environmental impacts of their products.
In Japan, consumers are required to return unwanted electronic appliances to the retailers and pay a national recycling fee and an additional fee to cover the retailers' transport costs to the collection point.
When asked if consumers would be charged for the collection and disposal of unwanted appliances, the NEA said it encouraged e-waste recovery efforts through second-hand dealers, voluntary take-back and recycling schemes implemented by several large IT and mobile phone companies.
The NEA's first nationwide e-waste take-back initiative on Sept 11 - which was held over one week - collected 3,600 kg of e-waste and small household appliances, which will be reused or dismantled for recycling.
SMU students required to do community work, but a 'majority' continue even after graduation
Judith Tan Straits Times 11 Oct 10;
THE Singapore Management University (SMU) compels its students to serve 80 hours of community service as a condition for graduating.
True, some cynical or selfish ones see the stint as 'a necessary evil', but the school's administration is heartened that the 'majority' are sufficiently bitten by the community service bug after this to carry on volunteering even after they launch their careers.
The school did not cite figures on the proportion who keep up the volunteering post-graduation - be it by becoming volunteer teachers or by taking on pro-environment projects here and abroad.
But as of July, it has counted more than 9,100 students who have clocked more than a million hours in community service.
To mark the 10th year of this scheme, it is holding a photo exhibition to show how its students have given their time, talents and energy to various causes.
Photos of Inspirat10n, as the exhibition has been called, will be launched at the campus at 7pm today.
Ms Ruth Chiang, the university's director for career services, said SMU made the programme part of its curriculum to infuse its students - future leaders - with ethics.
She said: 'Many of our students grew up in abundance, and there's a segment of society that they've not been in touch with - the poor and needy. We want them to see first-hand the people who need help getting out of the vicious circle.'
Mr Theodore Teo, SMU's assistant director for career services, cited the example of a student from China, an only child who 'used to believe community work was something idiots do as there's no material gain'. But having to serve 28 days in a Beijing old folk's home changed her thinking. She volunteers there to this day, he said.
SMU is the only university here and in the region to impose this 80-hour community service requirement on its undergraduates; neither the National University of Singapore nor Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has an equivalent programme.
Associate Professor Lok Tat Seng, NTU's dean of students, said that for charitable acts to be meaningful, the desire to serve must come from the heart, rather than be imposed from outside.
SMU's Mr Teo said its students are briefed and told about the 'why' behind the programme.
The school has noticed that most students, after getting their feet wet, do become convinced of the good that can come out of what they do, and carry on volunteering after graduation.
Mr Teo added: 'They develop confidence and passion in the different areas - society, humanity, education and the environment. It's all part and parcel of becoming a responsible adult.'
College mates team up to 'give back'
Straits Times 11 Oct 10;
FOUR Singapore Management University (SMU) alumni have set up aidha, a non-profit body, to impart principles of entrepreneurship and money management to foreign maids.
Separately, an SMU alumna who is now a senior associate in human resources at the Singapore Exchange spends a good part of her annual leave volunteering as an English teacher in Timor Leste.
All five say their commitment to giving back to society started at SMU, which requires its students to log 80 hours of community service before graduating.
Fund manager Harsh Saxena, 25, a founding member of aidha, said: 'We want to help these maids by teaching them how to manage their money and making them aware of the ways of today's technological world.'
Teacher Angad Singh, 26, fund manager Amrt Sagar and marketing executive Sujeet Kulkarni, both 24, feel the same way.
In Sanskrit, aidha means 'that to which we aspire', and indeed, the organisation has helped put some maids on the road to financial independence.
By extending micro credit, aidha has enabled some of them to launch small businesses in their home countries.
An Indonesian maid who learnt from aidha about Skype-to-Skype calls has since started an Internet cafe in her village, collecting fees from those who want to make Skype calls.
Mr Kulkarni said: 'Helping someone get back on his feet gives us a sense of satisfaction. It's different from material returns.'
The four friends have also set up Moksh, which works with volunteer groups to rebuild lives in Third World countries.
Moksh, another Sanskrit word, means 'liberation from worldly intents'.
This Chinese New Year, they were in Chiang Mai, rebuilding homes.
'We were knee-high in mud and digging, but it was still a great feeling,' Mr Saxena said.
Ms Jessene Lim, 28, also knows what it feels like to forgo creature comforts in her quest to help others.
It is hot, humid and filled with mosquitoes where she teaches English in Timor Leste, but she said: 'It is a young country and has needs we take for granted. As long as I know why I'm there, I'll continue going.'
In 2005, after the Indian Ocean tsunami the year before, the diving enthusiast went with some SMU friends to Surin Island near Phuket to document the damage to marine life there. The data they gathered on sea creatures at varying depths was handed over to researchers at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University.
The group has since extended the project and collected data from waters off Surin, Timor Leste, Cambodia and Sabah.
Ms Lim said: 'I feel proud when my work yields results that lead to better things.'
JUDITH TAN
The Star 11 Oct 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Biosafety Board has approved the release of genetically-modified Aedes mosquitoes for field testing, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.
However, the decision would still need Cabinet approval, he said.
“Clinical trial at the laboratory level was successful and the biosafety committee has approved it for testing in a controlled environment,” he said.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry would present it to the Cabinet for approval, he told a media conference at the 61st session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific here yesterday.
The board had assessed the field experiment proposal from the Institute of Medical Research to release the mosquitoes in Bentong, Pahang, and Alor Gajah, Malacca, in early October.
Male Aedes Aegypti would be genetically-modified and when mated with female Aedes mosquitoes in the environment, it is hoped the killer genes would cause the larvae to die. (The Aedes Aegypti mosquito can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses).
“We see it as the most efficient and fastest way in eradicating Aedes mosquitoes from our local environment,” Liow said, adding that Aedes is not a species endemic to Malaysia.
However, he said, dengue posed a major concern in Malaysia because the number of cases has increased by more than 25% this year.
Liow said his ministry was taking the disease seriously because it was not only a health issue but also an environmental hazard.
WHO Western Pacific regional director Dr Shin Young-soo said Malaysia is leading in the research in this area but cautioned that care be taken in introducing a new species to the environment.
He said global experts on tropical diseases research would discuss the issue soon and decide on what they would do with the new development.
Mosquitoes v mosquitoes to fight dengue
Australia, Malaysia to release infected insects to stop spread of disease
Ben Nadarajan Straits Times 12 Oct 10;
RESEARCHERS in Australia and Malaysia will be bucking convention in the fight against dengue by releasing mosquitoes into the wild rather than preventing them from breeding.
The number of dengue cases has doubled over the last 10 years and the situation this year is significantly worse than last year, said World Health Organisation regional director Shin Young Soo.
Dengue infects 50 million people worldwide every year and is the fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease.
Malaysia plans to introduce 2,000 to 3,000 dengue-spreading Aedes mosquitoes into two states by the year end. They are engineered such that their offspring will have shorter lifespans.
The Australian tests involve mosquitoes infected with bacteria which stop the transmission of dengue, apart from shortening the already short life of the mosquito.
The infected females produce fewer eggs and older mosquitoes have weaker mouth parts, which make them less able to bite humans and transmit the disease.
Known as wolbachia, these bacteria are found naturally in many insects like fruit flies and butterflies, although not in the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the main carrier of dengue. It does not infect vertebrates, including humans.
University of Queensland scientists have received the green light from the federal government to conduct field tests and release the insects into the wild in January.
Project leader Scott O'Neill told The Straits Times that only a small number of mosquitoes will be released into two suburbs in Cairns to mate with wild mosquitoes. The bacteria will pass on to their offspring, 'invading' the mosquito population over a number of generations.
'It Is like a vaccine, but instead of giving it to people, we give it to mosquitoes, and it will spread in the mosquito population,' Professor O'Neill said.
The group plans to conduct similar field tests next year in Vietnam, where dengue is a much bigger problem.
'If it works, it could be a sustainable low-cost approach to dengue control, which will be more environmentally friendly than spraying lots of insecticides,' said Prof O'Neill.
The scientists are also looking at using the same method on other mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria.
International dengue expert Duane Gubler, programme director of emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, does not see any downsides to the new method.
'Most insects, including Aedes albopictus, the secondary dengue vector in Singapore, are infected with this bacterium naturally. I see no adverse effects of adding Aedes aegypti to the list,' he said.
He added that several ways of curbing dengue are emerging. For example, a group in Britain and California has developed a 'sterile mosquito' which cannot fly.
But is it not easier just to kill the pests?
Prof O'Neill said: 'We have been trying to kill mosquitoes for the last century with little success. If we could do it easily, that would be great.'
Singapore's National Environment Agency said the trials in Australia are important because they would establish if the strategy works.
'We need to assess the effectiveness of these techniques and their possible impact on the environment, taking into account Singapore's unique circumstances,' its spokesman said.
Malaysia to use lab mosquitoes to fight dengue
Yahoo News 11 Oct 10;
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – Malaysia could be the first country in Asia to use genetically modified mosquitoes to battle a rise in dengue fever, government authorities said Monday.
The program calls for genetically engineered male mosquitoes to be released into the wild that would mate with females and produce offspring that live shorter lives, thus curbing the population.
Malaysian scientists say laboratory test trials have made them optimistic.
"It is a pilot project, and hopefully it will work," Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters on the sidelines of a World Health Organization conference in Malaysia.
Dengue fever, spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is common in Asia and Latin America. Symptoms include high fever, joint pains and nausea, but in severe cases, it can lead to internal bleeding, liver enlargement, circulatory shutdown and death. There is no known cure or vaccine.
Efforts to urge Malaysians to keep neighborhoods clean and destroy stagnant sources of water — which are mosquito breeding grounds — have failed, and "innovative ways" are needed to combat dengue, Najib said.
In Malaysia, the number of dengue-linked deaths totaled 117 between January and early October — a 65 percent surge from last year, according to Health Ministry statistics. Dengue infections overall increased 17 percent from last year to more than 37,000 cases.
Malaysian authorities plan to release between 2,000 and 3,000 genetically modified mosquitoes in two areas, said Lim Chua Leng, a Health Ministry official. The plan, which cannot be undertaken without Cabinet approval, would be the first such release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Asia to combat dengue.
WHO Western Pacific regional director Shin Young-soo on Sunday said he welcomed Malaysia's efforts to step up the fight against dengue, but also reportedly cautioned that care must be taken in introducing a new species to the environment, The Star newspaper reported.
Some Malaysian environmentalists say releasing such mosquitoes could have unintended consequences.
Antara 11 Oct 10;
Medan (ANTARA News) - Sumatran tigers are getting closer to extinction as evidence showed that their habitats are rapidly decreasing, an environmentalist said.
"Forest encroachments by irresponsible people have been on the rise in Sumatra in recent years in addition to illegal forest clearings making way for plantations," Rasyid Assaf Dongoran, director of the Sumatra Rainforests Institute (SRI) said on Sunday.
Sumatran tigers, Dongoran added, would not survive more years if their habitats continued to reduce making them increasingly difficult find food. He said only around 400 tigers were left in Sumatran forests.
"These rare animal species in Sumatra are sure to become extinct sooner or later, as the result of continued illegal forest encroachments in the name of economic development," Dongoran pointed out.
Dongoran added that reports on forest destruction and the tree felling had become daily consumption to the public in provinces of Sumatra, from Aceh to Lampung.
This dismaying fact adds to the previous announcement by the local administrations on the legal clearance of forested land making way for oil palm plantations.
"If the forest degradation rate increased unchecked because the lack of serious attention of the government and the society, the extinction would sure to come," Dongoran said. (*)
Fazleena Aziz The Star 11 Oct 10;
THE Selangor Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) has been in talks with residents of Taman TAR and Taman TAR Committee Care for the Environment and Wildlife in Ampang on the problem of monkeys and wild boars in the area.
StarMetro had featured the wildlife-friendly group, which has been feeding the monkeys and wildboars in nearby jungle for about three years.
Some residents are unhappy with the group’s activities as there is a signboard by the Federal Territory Perhilitan forbidding the feeding of monkeys and animals.
Selangor Perhilitan director Rahmat Topani said a committee would evaluate all the concerns by both the residents and group before taking action following a meeting held on Sept 29 with both parties.
“We have heard views from both parties and need to do a bit of research in the area.
“It was not advisable to feed the monkeys because they become dependent and their generation will face problems in finding food later,” he said, adding the animals might venture further in search of food from their habitat.
He said there are about 40 wild boars and 200 monkeys in the jungle.
Rahmat also spoke about the neutering programme by Perhilitan to curb the increasing monkey population in the Klang Valley.
The programme, at the pilot stage now, is conducted by the Biodiversity Conservation Department. It involves chemical castration and vasectomy done in a laboratory.
He said for Selangor, they would start with Bukit Gasing.
“It is not a simple task because we have to train our officers to do the job.
“We also have to look at the number of monkeys before and after the programme,” he said.
The number of complaints involving monkeys has reduced over the years.
Some of the action taken involved relocating the monkeys to other jungles and killing the aggressive ones.
When asked about monkey behaving aggressively especially with the recent case in Seremban involving a new-born baby which was fatally bitten, Rahmat said it was possible for the animals to become aggressive but was not able to comment on the tragic incident.
“Generally, if they become aggressive, it must have been provocated. This is why it is dangerous to feed the animals because they are used to it and will try to grab the food or even a woman’s purse,” he said.
Did I Spot A Very Rare Damselfly?
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Another pleasant trip to MacRitchie
from Urban Forest
Nephila antipodiana
from Trek through Paradise
Back to eastern Semakau
from wonderful creation
TeamSeagrass on Chek Jawa
from teamseagrass and Psychedelic Nature
Explosion at Chek Jawa, of sea anemones
from wild shores of singapore
Butt launch!
from wild shores of singapore
Sungei Buloh bird makes Guardian's Week in Wildlife
from The Biology Refugia
Is Pasir Ris water really unsafe?
from Water Quality in Singapore
Bird Ecology Study Group links up with GreenAnswers
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Lin Yang Straits Times 10 Oct 10;
Environmental groups worldwide rallying to work for climate change solutions today are trying to rebrand their image and recharge the excitement lost since the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December.
Spearheaded by two global activist networks 350.org and 10:10, the events this year have an overarching aim to get activists working on sustainability projects within their own communities.
From installing solar panels in the Maldives to showcasing urban farming in Singapore, more than 6,600 events have been registered on 350.org's website alone.
In the run-up to the Copenhagen conference last year, the same groups triggered demonstrations around the world to put pressure on governments to agree to binding CO2 emissions reductions.
What came out of Copenhagen was a set of soft, non-binding reduction targets that disappointed many in the activist community.
Mr Wilson Ang, who is president of Eco Singapore and coordinates 350.org events locally, recalls his frustration with last year's outcome: 'A lot of young people showed up in Copenhagen, and the result was nothing.
'Now, instead of waiting for governments to act, we want people to take action on their own.'
Yet, until now, the movement had overlooked the disconnect between science and public will.
Even though scientific evidence points overwhelmingly to the existence of climate change, the general public, and many governments, have scoffed at committing to cuts in emissions out of fear that doing so would raise energy prices and slow economic growth, especially in the current economic climate.
Instead of broadcasting a message of hope, environmental groups have also used fear, explains researcher Nic Marks of London-based New Economics Foundation.
They 'have scared everybody with images of the worst-case scenario, and any psychologist will tell you that denial of taking action is the natural human protection against fear'.
Mr Marks suggests that countries like Singapore must cast energy conservation and sustainable lifestyles as positive measures for social progress, or else people will avoid doing anything and go down the road of Western-style consumerism.
Mr Howard Shaw, executive director of the Singapore Environmental Council, agrees.
Public will is low because Singaporeans have enjoyed good environmental management by the Government.
'We have been environmentally pampered since day one,' he says.
So it becomes easy to 'aspire to have the latest gadgets or the biggest car', without putting much thought into what those actions do to the environment.
After Copenhagen, a strategic consensus emerged among activist groups that the public needs positive messages on how to change their lifestyles and build a new, more sustainable world.
As a result, 350.org came up with 'Global Work Party' as this year's theme, while 10:10 tagged their event with the phrase 'A Global Day of Doing'.
The challenge is to get people 'to realise that it is within their ability to effect change with their everyday actions', explains Mr Ang.
'Hopefully, by showing these real actions, governments will start doing something.'
Headlining today's events in Singapore is a group that embodies this shift.
The Ground-Up Initiative organises Singaporeans to grow herbs and vegetables at Bottle Tree Park near Yishun, as well as plant community food gardens around the island.
The group wants Singapore to become more sustainable by growing more food locally.
Group members are coordinating a carnival to showcase their work, and have invited more than 50 other vendors to demonstrate their sustainability initiatives.
The group's founder, Mr Tay Lai Hock, wants to create a platform where Singaporeans can change their lifestyle and appreciate a closer relationship with the Earth.
'You can't address climate change without talking about consumerism, along with organic farming and living a simpler life. It's all inter-related,' he says.
Cleantech industry expected to power ahead with a strong focus on R&D
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 10 Oct 10;
Fresh out of university and armed with a newly minted degree in mechanical engineering, Ms Chen Wan Ying had the world at her feet.
Surveying the job landscape, she wanted something that would match her interest in technology with her desire to make a difference. She found it - in wind energy.
'I wanted to do research in wind turbines to help drive down the cost of wind power, making such renewable energy more competitive and on a par with oil and gas,' she told The Sunday Times.
The 25-year-old research and development engineer for Danish wind power giant Vestas' Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore is one of the 8,000 clean technology, or 'cleantech', workers here. Collectively, they are also known as Singapore's 'green collar' workforce.
The figure, disclosed by the Economic Development Board (EDB) for the first time, signals a turning point for Singapore's nascent cleantech industry. It is expected to power ahead and provide some 18,000 jobs by 2015.
Cleantech refers to green technologies such as solar or wind power which seek to minimise their environmental impact.
EDB's director of cleantech Goh Chee Kiong told The Sunday Times that out of the anticipated 18,000 jobs, 3,000 will come from research and development, 'which gives you an indication of the innovation intensiveness of the industry'.
The rest will range from manufacturing to skilled engineering positions, project managers and finance professionals, he said.
On top of that, the Building and Construction Authority is seeking to train about 20,000 workers in the building industry - converting such blue collar workers into a green workforce able to design and run green buildings.
'There is a distinct trend that we are hearing and sensing from younger Singaporeans - that many of them would like to work in industries related to sustainability and climate change, and such a growing green collar workforce would fulfil that aspiration,' said Mr Goh.
Mr Andrew Xiao, 25, chief production engineer for Alpha Biofuels, is another such graduate who consciously chose to join a cleantech firm. The firm converts waste oil, such as cooking oil, into biodiesel for energy.
'The key focus for me was to find a job that helped to transform our economy into a more sustainable one - that's why I joined Alpha,' said Mr Xiao, who oversees the biodiesel production floor.
Although he did consider the more alluring prospect of working for a multinational cleantech firm, he said he was glad he joined a smaller firm.
'I seem to get a lot more exposure than my peers who joined the big firms. The pay is competitive and I'm learning a lot.'
The direct honours graduate, with an environmental engineering degree from Nanyang Technological University, hopes to set up his own cleantech firm one day.
Cleantech jobs may be popular with young graduates, but they are also increasingly appealing to mid-career professionals who want a change of environment but hope to capitalise on their existing skills, noted Mr Goh.
In the case of Mr Choo Thian Siong, 33, his skills as an architect in his former job were applied to his current one: solar research.
He is now working for the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris) as a research scientist involved in building integrated photovoltaics and energy efficient buildings. He joined Seris about two months ago after gaining a Masters of Environment degree from the University of Melbourne.
'My job at Seris enables me to apply what I've learnt into building designs through private sector collaborations,' he said
Singapore's growing green collar workforce will eventually serve its economy well, noted Credit Suisse's Asian chief economist Joseph Tan.
'This sector will be increasingly important for Singapore. There is a renewed awareness of environmental issues here and globally. Globally, the cleantech industry is rapidly growing,' he said.
Apart from its contribution to Singapore's gross domestic product, advances in clean technology will also help Singapore become more competitive, he added.
'This will enable our economy to be much more efficient, cutting down waste and helping businesses and individuals reduce cost.'
Daniel Ryntjes Channel NewsAsia 9 Oct 10;
WASHINGTON: Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has delivered the keynote address at a Washington conference designed to encourage world decision makers to make smarter decisions on urban planning.
Mr Tharman was speaking as finance ministers gather in Washington for a series of meetings at the IMF and World Bank and with the G7 and G20 groups of nations.
Singapore is partnering with the World Bank to encourage developing nations to create smart and ecologically orientated cities as officials deal with rapid urban growth.
The World Bank calls urbanization the defining phenomenon of this century, with the developing world being at the centre of this demographic transformation from rural life.
The challenges this creates and the possible solutions are being discussed at the
Singapore-World Bank Conference on Urban Development in Washington.
"Our challenges on poverty alleviation are not necessarily just in rural areas. It's going to be in urban areas, for much of the world. So we can't afford to sit back and not take a strategic view about how the World Bank should be transforming itself as well," said Janamitra Devan from the International Finance Corporation, which is a member of the World Bank Group.
During his keynote address at the conference, Minister Tharman said Asia needs to get to grips with the task ahead.
He said: "The next 15 to 20 years will be years of immense challenge for Asia because of the magnitude of urbanization that's going to take place in South East Asia, India, China, especially."
Some of Singapore's top urban-planning professionals went to Washington to share some of their best practices in areas like housing, sustainable industrial development, water and waste management.
Mr Tharman said: "But the challenge of providing reasonably high quality, high density living, organizing cities so as to allow for economic innovation and growth is an immense challenge. And we can either succeed or fail, and we can easily fail, if we don't go about this without sufficient pre-thought and planning."
After recently leaving her job as Indonesia's finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati is now a managing director at the World Bank and she endorses the example Singapore is providing to developing countries.
She said: "Singapore has become a leader among developing and developed countries cities in its effort towards achieving economic growth and at the same time maintaining social harmony and environmental sustainability."
Singapore is now engaged in explaining how the city-state was transformed and providing expertise to developing nations on how to plan and execute smarter cities.
But Minister Tharman said Singapore is still learning from other nations as well.
He said: "We are not a model of something that has reached perfection. We are merely a model of constant learning and adaptation and trying to make the best use of the ideas that we find in the world around us."
The conference also touched on the joint Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City currently in development in northeast China as a test bed for future urban solutions.
- CNA/ir
Planning 'vital' for Asia's growing cities
Tharman warns breakneck pace of development could go awry without a long-term overview
Chua Chin Hon Straits Times 10 Oct 10;
Washington - The rapid urbanisation of Asia and the developing world could easily go awry if the breakneck pace of development is not integrated with long-term planning and best practices from around the world, Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said.
Speaking at a forum here last Thursday on how Singapore's experience in sustainable development could be replicated or customised for developing countries, he added that the challenge for Asian policymakers would be particularly pronounced, given that the urbanisation process is taking place within a relatively shorter time frame.
'The next 15 to 20 years would be of immense challenge to Asia, because of the magnitude of urbanisation that is going to take place in South-east Asia, India and China,' Mr Tharman said at the forum, which was jointly held by the World Bank and International Enterprise Singapore, the agency spearheading the development of Singapore's external economic wing.
'The task of providing reasonably high-quality, high-density living, and organising cities so as to allow for economic innovation and growth, is an immense challenge,' he added.
Experts believe that the world will have 26 mega-cities by 2025, each with a population of more than 10 million. Many of them will be in booming Asian countries like China and India, which are undergoing rapid development.
It has been estimated that 70 per cent of the Chinese population and 46 per cent of the Indian population will live in an urban environment in the next two decades, leading to heightened pressure on resources and the need for better ways to control congestion and pollution.
Touching on Singapore's experience in managing urbanisation over the years, Mr Tharman said the chief lesson learnt was the importance of long-term, integrated planning.
Without thorough planning, it would be hard to find a good balance between the competing and often conflicting needs for housing, transportation, industrial activity and a clean environment.
'Planning ahead before the need becomes urgent is written into the culture of every government agency (in Singapore),' said Mr Tharman. 'If you don't plan ahead, it is hard to find the right trade-offs.'
Another key feature of Singapore's approach towards urbanisation is in letting the market decide how best to allocate scarce resources, like land and water, whenever possible.
But in areas where market forces are inadequate, such as public housing or pension funds, policymakers have to intervene in order to maintain greater societal balance, he noted.
Added Mr Tharman: 'We are not a model of something that has reached perfection, but merely a model of constant learning and adaptation that tries to use the best ideas from around the world.'
Officials from Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority and Public Utilities Board also shared their experience with about 100 World Bank officers from Asia and Africa at the conference.
Evangeline Majawat New Straits Times 9 Oct 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: Putting a price on biodiversity loss could significantly push the green agenda forward internationally and locally, according to experts.
Speakers at the Malaysian Nature Society's (MNS) international conference on tropical biodiversity said placing a monetary value on ecosystem services would "open up" politicians and policymakers' eyes to the adverse impact on biodiversity.
This could force them to take more concrete measures to protect the ecosystem.
BirdLife International chief executive officer Dr Marco Lambertini said most countries had failed to turn commitment into positive impact.
"What is of real value, like water, is not highly priced," he said at the two-day conference here.
He said if biodiversity was taken to be a "natural bank", it would be in the red and heading towards bankruptcy.
The Asean Centre of Biodiversity estimates ecosystem services to be valued at RM7.26 billion (US$2 billion).
However, its executive director Rodrigo Fuentes stressed that the extent of the valuation of ecosystem was limited.
"Take for example, the value of bees in the agro-system. We know that bees have a big value as pollinators. So, what is their real value?
"I think not everything can be (given) a monetary value. But for that which we can't, surrogate measures are in place."
However, valuation could be the push factor for politicians to seriously commit to the green agenda.
Science adviser to the prime minister, Prof Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid, said monetary value "excites" politicians.
"At the end of the day, it would be (what) do they tell their constituents... why should they protect the environment and for what?"
The conference entitled "Challenges and solutions for tropical biodiversity" is part of MNS's 70th anniversary celebrations.
Update Existing Policies, Legislation To Protect Malaysia's Biodiversity
Bernama 9 Oct 10;
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Existing policies and legislation in relation to biodiversity should be reviewed, updated or replaced to reflect contemporary realities, the Raja Muda of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah told an international biodiversity conference on Saturday.
Sharing his thoughts at the Malaysian Nature Society International Conference, he believed there was a need to incorporate the economics of biodiversity and the multi-million dollars worth of services it provided, into decision-making process.
Raja Nazrin, who was very encouraged by the comprehensiveness of Malaysia's National Policy on Biological Diversity and the recent adoption of the Common Vision on Biodiversity (2009) and enactment of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, said that well-planned policies and well-crafted legislation were crucial ingredients in protecting biodiversity.
In his address entitled 'Safeguarding Malaysia's Biodiversity For Our Future', he said that limited finances, inadequate expertise and poor governance practices would lead to haphazard implementation and lax enforcement.
"Of course, policies and laws are only as effective as their implementation and enforcement. There must also be sufficient resources to efficiently regulate, manage and protect our natural spaces," he said.
Raja Nazrin also reminded that the responsibility of conserving biodiversity should not remain with government agencies and non-governmental organisations.
"I believe that corporate bodies are well placed to make a significant contribution. Businesses have the ability to produce technological innovations and deliver the means for genuine progress in sustainable development.
"When a well-run business applies its vast resources, expertise and talents to problems that it understands, feels strongly about and has a stake in, it can make a greater impact than any other institution," he said.
Noting that Malaysia was one of the few mega-diverse countries in the world, Raja Nazrin urged Malaysian to 'think global and act local' in tackling the biodiversity issues faced in the country.
He said by developing and supporting local solutions to these issues, Malaysia could contribute to the knowledge base of replicable solutions for other parts of the world to adapt and apply.
Raja Nazrin also hoped to see more cutting-edge research on tropical biological diversity issues produced by Malaysian educational institutions.
-- BERNAMA
Yahoo News 9 Oct 10;
MONTREAL (AFP) – The International Civil Aviation Organization has set a goal of capping emissions from international aviation beginning in 2020 while gradually improving fuel efficiency.
The UN agency approved the "aspirational" goal, which is not binding on any of its 190 members, in a final resolution late Friday of a meeting here of its general assembly.
The organization also unanimously supported a comprehensive aviation security strategy that calls for identifying and preventing new forms of attacks, streamlined security checks, and helping states improve their capabilities in this area.
President Barack Obama issued a statement Saturday praising the security declaration as "a historic new foundation for aviation security that will better protect our world from evolving terrorist threats."
On the environmental side, IAOC reaffirmed a goal of improving fuel efficiency by an average two percent a year through 2050.
It also said its members agreed to "work together to strive to achieve a collective medium term global aspirational goal of keeping the global net carbon emissions from international aviation from 2020 at the same level."
The goal was not binding on any individual state and the resolution included a host of caveats such as the "special circumstances" of developing countries, the maturity of aviation markets and sustainable growth of the industry.
In a press release, the ICAO acknowledged that some member states expressed reservations about the resolution but said its passage nevertheless made ICAO the first UN agency to lead a sector in "a globally harmonized agreement for addressing its CO2 emissions."
"It is a major achievement," said Helen Kearns, spokeswoman for the European Commissioner for Transportation Siim Kallas.
"Contracting states will have to submit to ICAO how they intend to reach their target," she told AFP in Brussels.
"Second, it does not prevent anybody to go further and faster and acknowledges certain parties would do so," she said, adding "EU can go ahead."
Kearns said the resolution endorses a European plan for imposing a carbon emissions tax starting in 2012 on flights destined for or originating in Europe, which has drawn legal challenges from US airlines.
The International Air Transport Association also hailed the resolution as "historic."
"For the first time, we have globally agreed aspirational goals to stabilize emissions," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general. "This is a good first step that prepares the way for future achievements."
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