Big reclamation project coming up on the East Coast?
from wild shores of singapore
A lizard's last moments
from The annotated budak and Round and round and round and (Sea) apple of their eye
Kayaking to Khatib Bongsu
from wild shores of singapore
Otters@Sg.Buloh
from sgbeachbum
Osprey in comfort behaviour
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Mega Marine in the news!
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore
Monday Morgue: 17th January 2011
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Groups of residents, students and company employees are joining NParks' scheme
Jessica Lim Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
JOIN the garden party.
Residents, students and company employees have been digging in to 'grow' 400 community gardens around the island, up from 100 in 2005 when the Community in Bloom (CIB) programme was launched by the National Parks Board (NParks).
These plots - 25sqm to 1,000sqm each - may look like small patches of shrubbery, but look closer and you may spot fruit trees, chilli padi plants and vegetables.
One such garden made the news last week, when a lorry ploughed into it, uprooting more than 10 trees. The garden, wrapped around a house in Sunset Heights, Clementi, runs beside 21m of pavement.
These gardens can sprout in common spaces in Housing Board estates, plots within a school and areas outside houses and condominiums.
The CIB programme takes root like this: Interested participants form a gardening group and meet NParks officials for gardening tips.
With NParks' help, they decide on what kind of garden they would like, its size and design. It typically takes about three months for a community garden to be launched, from inception to construction. Costs are usually borne by the gardening groups, though some have funding from town councils. The size of such groups varies, from 10 to 70 members.
Fruits and vegetables harvested are usually shared among the members, who may distribute some to those living near the garden. Some groups sell the fruits of their labour at flea markets, with profits channelled back to maintaining the garden.
'The gardens not only enhance Singapore's landscapes, but they also become venues that enhance community interaction, keeping the 'kampung' spirit alive,' said Mr Ng Cheow Kheng, deputy director of horticulture and community gardening at NParks.
'When people come together to grow their favourite flowers, herbs and vegetables, they naturally interact and bond, and community spirit blossoms.'
Mr Ng added that apart from NParks' efforts to promote the programme, its success is also due to participants who help spread the gardening bug.
NParks also organises the Community in Bloom Awards to recognise the best gardens.
Singapore Management University sociologist Chung Wai Keung said the trend is 'a reaction to the over-urbanised living environment in Singapore'. He added that 'planting gives individuals a sense of returning to a simple life', noting that the gardens also recreate a sense of community associated with rural life in the past.
Ms Christina Crane, 39, founder of the food-enthusiast group Locavore Singapore, has another theory to the rise in community gardens: More Singaporeans want to eat local food.
'As a society advances, people become more concerned about where their food comes from. One way to be sure of what you are eating is to grow your food in your own backyard,' she said.
But there have been occasions when the hard work came to nought. Vandals have struck in Pasir Ris, where plots were trampled on and vegetables ripped up. The garden is now fenced up.
Such setbacks have not curbed the sprouting of gardens here. At MacPherson Primary School, pupils and teachers have turned a once-bare patch to a plot growing vegetables and fruits. It is also used as an outdoor classroom with signs illustrating the importance of food sustainability.
Similar gardens have also taken hold in Thomson Garden Estate and at condos like Ivory Heights in Jurong.
At Jurong East Avenue 1, Madam Kamisah Atan, 53, tends a garden she helped to start in 2006. 'I like sunflowers and wanted to grow them but couldn't as there was not enough sunlight in the corridor outside my flat,' said the housewife who formed a gardening group with three neighbours. They approached the town council, which gave them a $3,000 grant. Now, the garden at Block 337, measuring about 7m by 20m, has longan and banana trees, herbs and ornamental blooms.
'It was back-breaking work. Tilling the soil was very hard work but worth it,' she said.
Keen on starting a garden?
Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
HOW to start a Community in Bloom project (steps may differ depending on location):
# Step 1:
Form a gardening group among your neighbours. Get support for the project from the residents' committee, and inform the town council to get the go-ahead.
# Step 2:
Contact the National Parks Board (NParks) to help select a suitable location. Factors to consider include ground conditions and whether the garden will, say, obstruct motorists' views.
# Step 3:
Organise a session where NParks can share tips on good gardening practices, and recruit more participants for the project.
# Step 4:
Plan your garden with NParks' help. Officials can help you select the plants and decide on the size of the plot and the garden's design.
# Step 5:
Get the plan endorsed by the town council. Then prepare the ground yourself or hire a contractor. The group needs to buy the plants, gardening materials and tools. Start gardening immediately to avoid hardening or erosion of soil.
The garden will be left to the group to maintain. But NParks will step in if it deems that the garden has been neglected. It will then work with the group to see how it can help. For more information, go to www.nparks.gov.sg/cib
NParks will be organising Gardeners' Day Out from March 12 to 13 at the HortPark in Alexandra to cater to gardening enthusiasts and those keen on the Community in Bloom project.
Brian Williams The Courier-Mail Adelaide Now 17 Jan 11;
SCIENTISTS fear muddy floodwaters will cripple Moreton Bay's dugong and sea turtle herds.
With the Brisbane River running at a peak of 13,000 cubic metres per second, a huge plume of turbid water has spread across the bay.
It is expected to cause enormous damage to the seagrass beds upon which many inshore marine species depend.
Thousands of tonnes of flood debris now lines the mouth of the Brisbane River and its surrounds.
Queensland Conservation Council chairman Simon Baltais said the bay looked like a war zone.
Conservation groups Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, as well as the coast guard and fishing organisations, are planning a massive river and bay clean-up to fix the mess.
Bond University Emeritus Professor Tor Hundloe said that while farmland profited from the rich silt deposited by floods, marine areas usually suffered.
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Professor Hundloe, also the KAB chairman, said an inspection was needed first to prioritise problem areas.
"It will take a major co-ordinated effort, but everyone's willing to chip in," Professor Hundloe said.
"I've been in contact with the Premier's office and I've got Bond uni students who are more than happy to duck my lectures to help out."
Mr Baltais said under normal conditions, wildlife had evolved to recover from such large-scale natural events.
"But they are already stressed from pollution and over-development," Mr Baltais said.
Although the seagrass beds nearest the mainland, along which dugong graze, will be damaged, reports from Moreton Island's Tangalooma Resort director Trevor Hassard were that the eastern side of the bay remained relatively clear.
A strong wind was blowing much of the polluted water back towards the mainland.
In 1992, a major Mary River flood hit Hervey Bay.
Of the bay's 1800-strong dugong herd the largest in Australia it was thought just 200 survived.
Most of Hervey Bay's seagrass was denuded or died, especially below 10m, after turbid water and silt reduced light levels.
Mr Baltais said no timeframe had been set for an inspection and clean-up, but it probably should include the Navy.
"We're in the hands of the recovery taskforce," he said.
"We don't want to compromise activities and plans that are already being put in place."
Mr Baltais said until the array of material such as sunken boats, refuse and construction material was removed, the bay would remain dangerous for boats.
Professor Hundloe said no other city in Australia had a waterway at its doorstep like Moreton Bay.
"We've got to do something about this major environmental disaster," he said.
New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
ON Jan 1, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry launched a nationwide campaign to get all hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas petrol stations to stop giving out free plastic bags on Saturdays.
As a result, shoppers now have to pay 20 sen if they want the outlet they visit on Saturdays to give them a plastic shopping bag.
The money collected will be channelled to a special fund to conduct environment preservation and protection-related programmes as well as activities for consumers.
The ministry says the government launched the efforts to reduce waste after its projections showed that Malaysians would create 30,000 tonnes of solid waste daily by 2020.
Selangor had enforced its "No Plastic Bag Day" policy on Saturdays last year. State executive councillor Elizabeth Wong recently said that the policy would include Sundays this year. It was reported in November last year that the number of plastic bags used in Selangor went down by four million.
Penang began enforcing its "No Free Plastic Bags" ruling from Jan 1. It was reported that the Penang Consumer Watch Group in all 40 state constituencies will monitor the daily no plastic bag rule through random checks at several outlets.
Mini-markets and sole proprietorship businesses will have to adhere to the ruling on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The no plastic bag campaign is also implemented in other states under the municipal councils and city halls.
Last June, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall launched its "No Plastic Bag on Monday". Proceeds from the sale of plastic bags go to the Environmental Action Centre fund for environmental and cleanliness projects.
Green initiative wins strong public support
New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
THE no plastic bag campaign should be carried out every day to reduce the use of non-biodegradable material, said Centre for Environment Technology and Development Malaysia chairman Gurmit Singh.
"People should start bringing their own shopping bags and stop using styrofoam containers for takeaways.
"It is a small step but has proven to be effective. Consumers should opt for this idea as it can change their lifestyle by not wasting things."
In interviews, most consumers agreed with the concept of extending the campaign every day as it will create awareness about saving the environment.
"I take a lot of initiatives in supporting this campaign by recycling and using organic products," says housewife Nur Sonia Abdullah,47.
According to K.J. Pestana, 71, the issue of garbage disposal is a big problem and the idea of charging customers 20 sen for each plastic bag will help reduce its consumption.
"It hurts our wallet but it is a great way to encourage people to bring their own bags.
"Supermarkets should provide recyclable bags because not everyone will remember to bring their own bags when they go shopping."
Airene Morrison,45, says it is not easy to drastically reduce plastic use.
"However, we are trying our best to support this cause," she adds.
There are also those who feel that a daily implementation of the policy could be burdensome.
Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia's Muhammad Sha'ni Abdullah argues that adopting this practice on a daily basis might be unfair to those with a low income.
At the same time, he says, this campaign is a necessary push for people to adopt sustainable practices.
University student, Khairuldin Izzuddin, 23, says it is not practical to implement such a practice because in the long run, it would not be that effective.
Rubbish, say plastic makers
New Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
PLASTIC bag makers felt the pinch when the no-plastic bag ruling was enforced in Selangor and Penang.
Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) president Lim Kok Boon says the campaign affects manufacturers whose sole product is the plastic bag.
"We have yet to determine the total losses from this move. However, one manufacturer had indicated that its output of plastic bags went down by half after Penang imposed the three-day ban per week."
He says some manufacturers are now producing plastic garbage bags as people have to purchase more of them because they can't get the free packets at shops.
Lim adds the situation is ironic as there will be an even bigger amount of plastic ending up in a landfill as garbage bags are thicker in gauge, larger in size and without the cut-off (the portion of a shopping bag that is cut off to form the handle), thus using more plastic compared with a regular plastic shopping bag.
"Consumers not only end up having to incur additional cost but actually contribute to even more plastics being sent to the landfill."
Lim disagrees that substituting plastic bags with degradable or biodegradeable materials is a better option. He says one misconception is that degradation is good and since plastic bags do not degrade, they must be harmful.
He explains that degradation constitutes a breakdown of any organic material whereby the hydrogen and the carbon present in the organic matter, in the presence of oxygen, result in the formation of water and carbon dioxide.
"It is important to note that water mixed with decomposing organic matter will form leachate that can contaminate the groundwater and pollute streams.
"Carbon dioxide has a higher adverse environmental effect as it is a harmful global warming greenhouse gas.
"Even worse is when degradation takes place in the absence of oxygen, which is usually the case in a landfill as organic matter buried under tonnes of rubbish is devoid of oxygen.
"In this case, degradation in the absence of oxygen results in the carbon and hydrogen combining with each other to form methane gas, which is 22 times more harmful than carbon dioxide to the environment."
Lim also says that saving plastic bags does little in reducing overall waste. He says plastic waste in Malaysia constitutes seven per cent of municipal solid waste and plastic bags less then two per cent.
He adds that plastic bags do not degrade and this is good for the environment as it represents a form of carbon capture without having carbon dioxide or methane being released into the atmosphere.
Sify 17 Jan 11;
New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming caused extensive coral bleaching in some of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2010, which, according to a scientist, is the severest in over a decade.
Scientists from Marine Research Laboratory, Central Agriculture Research Institute in Port Blair and Regional Remote Sensing Centre in Nagpur, which is under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), conducted a study to assess the extent of bleaching during 2010 at selected reef sites in the islands.
The sites surveyed January-June 2010 included Red Skin Island within Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, North Bay, Chidiyatapu - popular tourist destinations - Havelock Aquarium and Havelock Wall, a popular diving site, South Button Island and Nicolson Island, which are protected islands.
'Reef surveys conducted there revealed that the corals have been extensively bleached during April-May 2010, ranging from 37 percent to 70 percent in various sites,' P. Krishnan from Marine Research laboratory told IANS.
According to Krishnan, similar bleachings were reported in 1998 and 2002 in this region. However, the extent of the current bleaching surpasses earlier observations.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are bestowed with the richest coral diversity among all Indian reefs. A total of 177 species of hard corals falling under 57 genera have been reported from these islands.
Bleaching is one of the major threats which has significantly affected the reefs across the globe during different time-periods. Coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on earth and are home to over 25 percent of all marine species in the sea.
Corals are animals having symbiotic association with zooxanthellae, the algae which are responsible for the colouration of the corals.
Expulsion of the algae leads to the whitening of reef-building corals, widely referred to as bleaching. It is caused by physiological, algal, host-related stresses and various ecological and anthropogenic factors.
Sea surface temperature (SST) is a critical factor for the well being of symbiotic association of host animals like corals, giant clam and sea anemones with the microalgae.
'Three 100-metre transects were laid for surveys on the bottom topography, live coral cover and extent of bleaching. The atmospheric temperature and sea surface tempearture were measured using a mercury bulb thermometer,' Krishnan said.
Daily sea surface temperature maps for the period April 20 to May 12, 2010 were analysed to gauge the change in sea surface temperature during the period when bleaching was observed.
'The maximum atmospheric and sea surface temperature recorded were between 31-34 degrees Celsius. During summer, sea surface temperature rise of 2 to 3 degrees above the normal maximum can kill the corals,' Krishnan said.
The ideal temperature for corals to survive is between 25-29 degrees Celsius. The average sea-water temperature during the first week of May in all the study sites was 33.8 degrees Celsius, which resulted in extensive bleaching in different parts of the islands.
The atmospheric temperature showed a sudden increase in air temperature in the first, third and fourth weeks of April, the scientist said.
The coral cover estimated at the different study sites was analysed separately to determine the extent of bleaching.
It was observed that the branching corals were the worst affected due to bleaching.
It was also found that the fully bleached corals were maximum at Havelock Island-Wall (69.49 percent), followed by South Button Island (67.28 percent), Nicolson Island (56.45 percent), Havelock Island-Aquarium (43.45 percent), Red Skin Island (43.39 percent), North Bay (41.65 percent) and Chidiyatapu (36.54 percent).
Indian coral reefs have experienced 29 widespread bleaching events since 1989, but intense bleaching occurred in 1998 and 2002. The corals which were affected to the extent of 60 to 70 percent during the earlier events of bleaching recovered, but those fully bleached died.
Michael Richardson for the Straits Times 17 Jan 11;
GENERATIONS of Australians have learnt that their island-continent is a land of alternating droughts and floods. Recent prolonged rain and devastating flooding across north-eastern Australia, particularly in the state of Queensland, have underscored this heartbreaking cycle.
Weather experts have said the immediate cause is natural, attributing it to periodic fluctuations in the sea surface temperature of the central Pacific Ocean along the equator and in the air pressure of the atmosphere above.
Known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Enso), it affects weather patterns in many parts of the Pacific, including Australia and South-east Asia.
Enso has two extreme phases in its typical see-saw every three to eight years. One, El Nino, is associated with hotter-than-normal temperatures and diminished rainfall. The other, La Nina, usually brings above-average wet weather and lower temperatures.
The Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology said earlier this month that the La Nina phase bringing the deluge to north-eastern Australia was the strongest since at least the mid-1970s. As a result, the country had its third wettest year on record last year.
Indonesia's Meteorological Office reported last week that rain across the far-flung island-nation would continue until June. It said the dry season, which normally starts in April and lasts until October, would start only in July.
Meanwhile, Brazil and Sri Lanka have been hit by unusually heavy and damaging downpours, just as northern Europe and much of the United States felt the bite of abnormally frigid winter weather.
Despite these bursts of wet and cold weather, two leading US climate agencies said last Wednesday that the average land and sea surface temperature last year tied with 2005 as the warmest on record, since data collection started in 1880. The global temperature was 0.62 deg C above the 20th-century average.
Attributed by many scientists to the growing release of carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming gases from human activity into the atmo-sphere, this temperature rise is happening at the same time as the natural Enso cycle.
Dr James Hansen, director of one of the US climate agencies, said the average global temperature in the past decade increased as fast as during the previous two decades, despite year-to-year fluctuations associated with Enso.
A summary on the state of the Australian climate published last year by the Meteorological Bureau and the CSIRO, Australia's leading scientific research organisation, said that in the past 50 years, the mean temperature in Australia had risen by about 0.7 deg C and was projected to increase further, by 0.6 to 1.5 deg C, by 2030.
It added that if global greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow at business-as-usual rates, the country could be 2.2 to 5 deg C hotter by 2070.
Scientists said the worldwide warming trend increases the likelihood of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods. In addition to being the hottest year ever, last year was also the wettest on record.
A hotter world causes more evaporation from land and oceans. A warmer atmosphere holds and releases more water, which can mean more violent storms and bigger floods.
The equatorial expanse of the Pacific Ocean, which is far larger than the Indian and Atlantic oceans, is critical to the development of Enso.
During La Nina, trade winds blowing towards the west bring moist air to northern Australia and Indonesia. Heated by the tropical sun and warm water, the air rises to create towering bulbous clouds and heavy rainfall.
The question that must concern South-east Asia is whether man-made global warming from burning fossil fuels and clearing forests is intensifying natural weather patterns like Enso and, if so, how?
It is clear that if an exceptionally dry El Nino phase occurs against the backdrop of long-term man-made global warming, one will make the other even hotter. This happened in Indonesia in 1997 and 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, when forest fires spread haze pollution across South-east Asia.
Some scientists also think there is a link between the rising global sea temperature and the strength of Enso cycles.
The annual climate statement by the Australian Meteorological Bureau, issued on Jan 5, noted that sea surface temperatures in the Australian region last year were the warmest on record, 0.54 deg C above the 1961 to 1990 average. The past decade was also the warmest on record for sea surface temperatures.
The statement added that 'very warm sea surface temperatures contri-buted to the record rainfall and very high humidity across eastern Australia during winter and spring'.
Echoing the scientific panel advising the United Nations on climate change, the Meteorological Bureau-CSIRO assessment for last year said that there was a greater than 90 per cent certainty that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions has caused most of the global warming since the mid-20th century.
If those who believe that man-made global warming gases are intensifying extreme Enso weather are right, the devastation in Australia is a warning that we alter the climate at our peril.
The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Kranji field survey (15 Jan 2011)
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore
110115 Sungei Buloh
from Singapore Nature
Singapore Welcomes the Malay Dartlet
from Butterflies of Singapore
Barred Kukri Snake, Striped Kukri Snake
from Creatures Big & Small
Dr John Yong shares on "What is a ‘healthy’ Mangrove Eco-system?"
from wild shores of singapore
Otters at Sungei Buloh and mangrove marvels at Kranji
from wild shores of singapore
Oriental Pied Hornbill feeding on a spider
from Bird Ecology Study Group
More on Monitors
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
Pasir Ris Park On The First Day of 2011
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Volunteers search for marine life at reserve's mudflats in 1st NParks biodiversity survey
Lin Yang Straits Times 16 Jan 11;
Knee-deep in mud, with his back bent and hands digging through a soggy mixture of sand and soil, Mr Cliff Ho could not hide the smile on his face.
The 27-year-old police officer was one of 20 volunteers who showed up yesterday to survey wildlife in the mudflats of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. He was savouring every moment of this outdoor expedition.
'The last time I saw a mudflat was during a school camp in primary school,' he said. 'Now I realise, as someone from the younger generation, I must play my part in conservation efforts.'
The Sungei Buloh project is part of the first Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey done in Singapore, a four-year effort that began last year to document the marine life that inhabits Singapore's coastal waters.
The National Parks Board (NParks), which leads the project, roped in Shell Companies in Singapore and the Care-for-Nature Trust Fund as sponsors, as well as the
National University of Singapore (NUS) to provide scientific expertise.
However, most of the work is done by volunteers. NParks has recruited more than 80 people to do the grunt work.
Yesterday, the volunteers travelled to the research site in Sungei Buloh in mid-afternoon. After trudging through an obstacle course of thick mud, they used small planter shovels to dig 20cm-deep holes for the purpose of taking samples.
Next, the samples were sifted with water to remove sediment and reveal the marine life.
The volunteers then picked out and separated all the biodiversity offered by the mudflats, including ribbon worms, bristle worms, hermit crabs, fiddler crabs, mussels, anemone, and several species of clams.
The samples, placed into plastic containers, will be taken to the laboratory at the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute, where they will be identified and catalogued.
Ms Ria Tan, founder of wildlife website Wild Singapore, was also helping out. She often recruits volunteers to monitor coral reefs, seagrass patches and mudflats across the island.
During a break, she related a story of how durians are pollinated by bats, which eat the nectar of mangrove flowers.
'Our natural world has many examples of ecosystem services, where different species depend on each other for survival,' she explained. 'Often, these connections are not obvious to us until something has disappeared.'
Mr Ho is one who recognises the importance of this.
'We need to document what's left,' he said. 'Reserve lands are decreasing. Maybe 20 years down the road, you won't have these mudflats any more.'
The question of development versus conservation filled the minds of volunteers and researchers alike.
Dr Tan Koh Siang, the survey's lead scientist, sees his role as a provider of facts when the crucial choices have to be made.
'We are not conservation campaigners,' he said. 'When the time comes, the Singapore Government will look at the facts and decide whether to preserve this land or not.'
However, he has great hopes for his volunteers.
'By giving them ownership of this work, maybe they'll become one of our main pillars for conservation.'
3.8km link is part of ambitious makeover and will provide easier access from Bedok
Andrea Ong Straits Times 16 Jan 11;
Sports enthusiasts, food lovers and families looking for recreational spots in the east will find it easier to get to their playgrounds.
A new 3.8km green corridor linking up the popular East Coast Park with Bedok Town Centre, as well as Bedok Reservoir, will be built over the next five years.
This means that Singaporeans will be able to walk - taking about 20 minutes, or cycle directly from the MRT station or bus interchange in Bedok, to either of the two recreational spots.
It is part of a larger 'ambitious' makeover for the East Coast, and comes on top of previously announced plans for a revitalised Bedok town with a new food centre, an integrated sports complex, a mall and an air-conditioned bus interchange.
Also in the pipeline is a cycling network connecting schools, parks and MRT stations in an area stretching from Kaki Bukit to Tanah Merah.
Unveiling the details yesterday at Bedok Town Centre, Senior Minister S. Jayakumar, an MP for East Coast GRC, called the makeover an 'ambitious' one that 'will benefit not only residents of East Coast but also other Singaporeans'.
The vision is 'to be the Gateway to the East Coast', he said. 'This means giving everyone greater access to what the East Coast is best known for - a great place to have fun, leisure and good food.'
The makeover is part of the $1 billion second phase of the Remaking Our Heartland programme to rejuvenate mature estates over the next five years. The other two towns selected are Hougang and Jurong Lake.
MPs from the three GRCs - East Coast, Marine Parade and Aljunied - benefiting from East Coast's makeover were also present at an exhibition on the new plans, where the public can give their feedback. It is at Bedok Town Centre and runs till Wednesday.
So far, they are getting the thumbs-up from residents.
Madam Siti Rohdiah, 37, a personal assistant who lives in Changi, visits East Coast Park once a month with her family to relax and eat their favourite barbecued chicken wings at the food centre there.
'Now, we have to travel there by taxi or bus. The bus ride can take more than an hour because we have to transfer buses twice,' she said. 'We will most definitely use the new corridor.'
Currently, there is no direct route for non-drivers to get from Bedok Reservoir to East Coast Park. They have to take buses or use the 6km Bedok Park Connector. Those coming from Bedok Town Centre have to traverse the expressway and roads via underpasses, or take a bus.
Now, the new cycling and pedestrian path, which runs parallel to Bedok North Avenue 1 and Bedok South Avenue 1, will cut travelling time. It will also be lined with gardens and sports facilities.
Meanwhile, a new integrated sports facility will be built in Bedok North Street 1, replacing the existing Kampong Chai Chee Community Centre, Bedok Sports and Recreation Centre (SRC) and swimming complex. The current SRC will be used for housing developments and a new stadium.
The bustling Bedok Town Centre will also be given a new lease of life, said SM Jayakumar, with a transport hub that incorporates a mall, the new bus interchange and a condominium.
It will also have a new hawker centre with a multi-storey carpark, built next to the existing one.
The existing site will be developed into a town plaza for community events.
Lastly, an 11km heritage foot trail will be built. Tracing the old Upper Changi Road, it contains information boards on the area's history and links up famous food spots at Simpang Bedok and Siglap.
Speaking to the media, SM Jayakumar called the Remaking Our Heartland developments 'town council plans, plus plus'. Many of the projects involving multiple agencies are beyond the town council's purview and budget, he noted.
As Bedok's MP for 30 years, SM Jayakumar said the area has seen a 'total change' over the years.
'But things cannot stand still. With other new towns coming and new estates, we have to move on with the times and see how we can have a total remake of this area,' he said.
Gateway to East Coast
S Ramesh and Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 15 Jan 11;
SINGAPORE : Plans for the "Gateway to the East Coast" were unveiled on Saturday as part of the S$1 billion Remaking Our Heartlands (ROH) programmes for three areas announced a week ago by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
Senior Minister S Jayakumar, who is an MP for East Coast GRC, said the plans once realised, will benefit not only those living in the East Coast but other Singaporeans too.
Plans to remake the area will focus on improving homes, revitalising the town centre and providing more recreational choices.
"Much of East Coast is an ageing estate. Therefore to make people feel that it is an exciting place to live and work in, you have to have constant upgrading. But this is not ad hoc upgrading. We are pulling all the pieces together, and many agencies have come forward. In five to six years time, when you come here, it will be completely transformed, it is exciting," said Professor Jayakumar.
Over the next five years, the Bedok Town centre will be transformed into a vibrant new hub with a new air-conditioned bus interchange.
Stallholders at the food centre at Block 207 Upper Changi Road have been very much concerned about the re-development plans for this area. Under the Remaking Our Heartlands plans for the East Coast , there will be a new food centre built next to their food centre and it is expected to be be ready by 2014.
The stallholders hope that the new food centre would continue to be managed by the HDB or the National Environment Agency, to keep rentals low.
To preserve the history of the East Coast, a Heritage Corner will be built at the new Town Plaza in 2015.
HDB will create a physical heritage foot trail, which traces the early road network of the East Coast area.
And for the first time, Bedok Reservoir and the East Coast Park will be directly linked by a corridor.
The new green spine will enable cyclists and pedestrians to get across from both areas.
A comprehensive cycling network will be introduced within the East Coast area to enhance cycling connectivity to MRT stations, major employment areas, parks, schools and neighbourhood centres.
Sports enthusiasts can also look forward to a new integrated sports facility located within the town centre.
It will house a swimming complex, sports hall, tennis centre and a community centre.
The ROH plans for East Coast were announced a week after plans for Hougang have been made public.
Plans for the Jurong Lake area will be launched next weekend.
- CNA /ls
Mazlinda Mahmood New Straits Times 16 Jan 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: It looks like 2011 will not just be the Year of the Rabbit, it is also the Year of the Bat.
At the launch of the Year of the Bat 2011-2012 at Zoo Negara yesterday, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's professor of ecology and taxonomy of small mammals, Dr Zubaid Akbar Mukhtar Ahmad, said bats were very much misunderstood.
"Bats are not to blame for the spread of diseases but human disturbance to the environment is."
Dr Zubaid said by helping disperse seeds, fruit bats play a major role in forest regeneration.
"Studies conducted in Thailand showed that the plant-visiting Lesser Dawn Bat species are most effective in pollinating durian and petai.
"In terms of disease and pest control, an insect eating bat can eat up to 600 mosquito-sized insects in an hour and they make a major contribution to natural pest and disease control."
Zoo Negara director Dr Mohamad Ngah said Zoo Negara as a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is celebrating the Year of the Bat to promote conservation, research and education on the 1,100 species of bats, of which half are at risk of extinction.
The worldwide campaign will focus on the ecological benefits that bats provide, such as pest control and seed dispersal.
"Bats throughout the world need continuous protection and this campaign is important to encourage people across the world to get involved.
"According to WAZA, 700 million people visit zoos every year. Zoo Negara itself receives about a million visitors annually.
"This is why zoos are the best place to spread information on the need to protect bats from being hunted for food and medicine and needlessly killed," he said.
At the same time, Zoo Negara is also partnering with Animation Society of Malaysia (Animas) to attract children to Zoo Negara and has chosen a famous local cartoon character 'Keluang Man' as the official mascot.
Zoo Negara houses a megabat species commonly known as Malayan Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus).
They feed exclusively on fruits and have an average lifespan of eight years.
Malaysia has about 118 species and 34 of them are at risk of extinction.
In conjunction with the campaign, Zoo Negara is organising seminars and talks on bats every third Saturday of the month until March.
For more information, log on to http://www.zoonegaramalaysia.my.
WWF 15 Jan 11;
Hong Kong, China - A new WWF report shows that Hong Kong people are living well beyond the Earth’s limits, consuming over two times our planet's capacity to sustain us.
According to the Hong Kong Ecological Footprint Report 2010, if everyone in the world lived a similar lifestyle to that of Hong Kong people, we would need the equivalent resources of 2.2 Earths. Hong Kong has the 45th largest Ecological Footprint per person compared to 150 countries with populations larger than 1 million people in 2007.
Ecological Footprint
The Ecological Footprint measures the extent of human demand for the regenerative capacity of the biosphere. Both quantities are expressed in units of global hectares (gha). Hong Kong has an average per person Ecological Footprint of 4.0 gha, which is more than double the 1.8 gha of biocapacity - the area actually available to produce resources and absorb CO2 - available per person globally.
Reliance on imports, high carbon footprint
Hong Kong’s excessive reliance on imported resources such as crops, meat, seafood and timber makes it most vulnerable to a changing world.
“While it is unrealistic to think that Hong Kong could ever be self-sufficient in terms of renewable natural resources, Hong Kong has become excessively reliant on the natural resources of the rest of the planet,” notes Dr Andy Cornish, Director, Conservation at WWF-Hong Kong.
“This reliance has not caused Hong Kong significant difficulties so far, but the increasing global ecological overshoot will inevitably mean more global competition for natural resources and is changing the rules of the game – rules that Hong Kong must adapt to. Extreme weather events will be more common as the climate changes, making it even more urgent that we reduce our excessive reliance on imported resources.”
Hong Kong’s carbon Footprint is significant, representing 60 percent of its total Ecological Footprint. While Hong Kong’s per person carbon Footprint is excessive, having grown 24 times since 1962, in terms of proportion, CO2 emissions released in Hong Kong account for only 26 percent of the total carbon Footprint. The remaining 74 percent is embodied in imports, meaning that CO2 is emitted elsewhere to supply imports to Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong will have to seriously reduce its carbon Footprint to bring its overall Ecological Footprint down, and that will require a holistic and comprehensive climate and energy strategy,” said Dr Cornish.
Seafood, timber from unsustainable sources
In addition, Hong Kong is still consuming seafood and timber products which are mostly from unsustainable sources, although a massive recent increase in Forest Stewardship Council paper providers is evidence of increasing demand for sustainable products. Increases in the consumption of beef per person are less positive, where the beef consumption per person has surged in recent years, contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases.
"We are in a new era where humanity’s growing Ecological Footprint is outpacing what nature is able to renew. In such times of global overshoot, cities and countries that maintain high levels of resource dependence are putting their own economies severely at risk," said Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel.
"As a region particularly reliant on the ecological health of the rest of the world, Hong Kong stands to benefit from minimizing its resource dependence. The more it can provide a high quality of life for its residents on a smaller Ecological Footprint, Hong Kong will not only address global risks, but more directly, it will make its economy more resilient facing the future," he added.
Hong Kong businesses and individuals need to take action
WWF calls for immediate actions from Hong Kong businesses and individuals. “Consumers can demand that the seafood and timber products we consume are produced sustainably. In this way we can leverage Hong Kong’s buying power and act as a regional catalyst to drive natural resource producers towards sustainability. In turn, this will create increased and reliable sources of sustainable products supply for Hong Kong,” concluded Dr Cornish.
“The potential impacts of climate change overseas to the resources Hong Kong imports provide additional self-interest incentives to increase efficiency, reduce wastage and source sustainably. It is imperative to do so sooner rather than later,” he continued.
Hong Kong Eco-footprint Report and The Living Planet Report
The Hong Kong Ecological Footprint Report 2010 and WWF's flagship publication, The Living Planet Report, is produced in collaboration with Global Footprint Network. Both provide an invaluable benchmark to track our shift in consumption and the size of our Ecological Footprint. WWF will produces the reports every two years, from which trends can be identified and actions proposed.
Earth Hour 2011
The release of the Hong Kong Ecological Footprint Report 2010 also marks the launch of Earth Hour 2011, a global campaign that aims to show governments, individuals and businesses that it is possible for everyone to take positive actions to conserve our living planet.
Earth Hour 2011, the global lights off campaign, will be held on 26 March, 8:30PM. This year WWF is calling on individual citizens to take the future into their own hands by going beyond the hour, beyond climate and to focus on living for a sustainable future. In 2010, hundreds of millions of people from 4,600 cities across 7 continents turned off their lights for one hour in a show of solidarity for the future of our planet. WWF-Hong Kong invites everyone to join Earth Hour and expects at least 2.5 million participants in Hong Kong.
Details of each action over the next two months leading up to the Earth Hour day will be available at wwf.org.hk/earthhour.
Roger Harrabin BBC News 13 Jan 11;
Pressure on local authorities to meet targets of keeping waste out of landfill is at risk of backfiring, a report has said.
The document by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) says councils are focusing too much on the quantity of recycling rather than quality.
This is tending to produce a poor-quality stream of recyclable material. Because of this, the lower-grade material sometimes has to be sent to landfill anyway.
The report says the waste industry must change its culture so the focus is not only on increasing the quantity of recycled materials but on retaining the quality and value of reusable materials.
This would allow recycled materials to be fed back into the economy as first-rate saleable goods.
Circular economy
The syndrome is particularly acute with paper recycling. One of the UK's main paper mills has been rejecting some British recycled paper because shards of glass in the paper have been tearing the mills.
In its State of the Nation: Waste and Resource Management 2011 report, the ICE says the changes needed would cost between £10-20bn by 2020.
But it says the progression to a "circular economy" where recovered and recycled materials are good enough to be routinely brought back into use could contribute 10% to CO2 reduction as part of a broader efficiency drive.
The EU Landfill Directive states targets for reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites in the UK.
The targets are set against a 1995 baseline: Reducing 25% by 2010, 50% by 2013, and 65% by 2015.
The government's "Waste Strategy 2000" introduced targets to recover 45% of waste by 2010 and 67% by 2015.
Most recycled materials have a lower CO2 footprint than raw materials. The ICE says 50% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from timber.
Tax opportunity
Jonathan Davies from ICE said: "The UK's waste management policy has been too narrowly focused on diverting waste from landfill.
"But we still need more action also to drive up the quality of the material being produced. Without this, the UK could generate increasingly poor quality recycled materials for which there are few buyers, and ironically their most likely final destination is landfill."
The report says council tax payers could benefit from the change in approach, as producing and selling higher value recycled materials will generate more income for councils.
It says ministers should utilise some of the £842m per year generated by Landfill Tax to help capitalise the proposed Green Investment Bank, and support new low-carbon waste technologies.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "We welcome this report by the Institute of Civil Engineers - a very timely input to the current review of waste policies in England. It contains some interesting ideas and policy suggestions which we will look at in detail as part of our review."
Shifting priorities on waste presents many challenges. Many councils have moved to co-mingled waste in which domestic waste is sent to recycling centres where items are separated by air-blowing machines like giant tumble-driers.
The system is cheaper than separation by hand, but can leave fragments of waste in the wrong recycling streams - glass in paper is a particular problem.
Another challenge is developing markets for recycled materials. The UK waste industry is fragmented with different councils adopting very different approaches.
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