Tanah Merah - Still the best mainland coral garden!
from wonderful creation
Life History of the Common Jay
from Butterflies of Singapore
Chestnut Avenue
from Singapore Nature
A breezy work day at Chek Jawa
from Psychedelic Nature
Muddy anemone madness in the mangroves!
from wild shores of singapore and Singapore Nature
Dr Daphne at Big Sisters Island
from Singapore Nature
Is there a middle path between the development and conservation lobbies?
Jessica Lim Straits Times 19 Jun 11;
To some, Bukit Brown signifies a living history book and a wildlife haven. Others find it a oasis, away from the city's hustle and bustle.
Either way, most will agree that the cemetery, off Lornie Road, is the last of its kind.
Years back, Bukit Timah Cemetery made way for KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and Pek San Theng in Bishan is now chock-a-block with Housing Board flats.
The changes come against a backdrop of dwindling cemeteries. Available records show that in 1952, there were 229 burial grounds, including many small ones since exhumed.
Current records indicate there are 60 cemeteries, almost all of them small ones.
Unsurprisingly, a controversy is brewing around the recently announced redevelopment of Bukit Brown Cemetery in a case of 'the living versus the dead'.
The heat generated online and in the pages of the press captures the dichotomy between compact but economically vibrant Singapore's conservation and development aspirations.
The 'for development' stance, taken by the Government, stresses the need to use the 86ha of prime land to house our growing population in the long term.
The 'for conservation' stance, taken by historians and concerned citizens, say its destruction will wipe out an invaluable piece of a past social and historical life.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) says there are no intentions to conserve the site, and that plans are in place to build the Bukit Brown MRT Station at Jalan Mashhor, a stone's throw from the 80,000-tombstone cemetery.
An empty shell now, the station will open when the area is more developed.
In its response to concerned readers who wrote letters to The Straits Times, the URA explained that its hands are tied: while it shares the sentiments for conservation, it sees a need to strike a balance. The area is needed for housing, it says.
Critics do not buy into this argument. The Singapore Heritage Society has produced a book to document Singapore's cemeteries and has argued for conservation in the form of open-air museums or parks.
A petition by Dr Irving Johnson, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore's Department of South-east Asian Studies, is being circulated to keep Bukit Brown intact.
Among suggestions made are calls for the Government to develop housing sites elsewhere, such as the golf course across the cemetery.
With both arguments equally persuasive, perhaps the solution lies in a middle path.
I personally love old things and would never replace the old-school pattern of mosaic tiles of my living- room floor with marble. And the idea of soulless glass windows in place of my impossible-to-clean diamond-shaped window grilles fills me with dread.
That is why I am a preservation sentimentalist. Save the squeaky old mesh Gillman Village bridge? Yes. The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station? We must. The Bukit Brown Cemetery? But of course.
Alas, reality is not quite so pat.
The cemetery's ageing tombstones are overgrown with weeds and potholes riddle its roads.
Planners do need to look at the situation a decade or two down the road, even if there may be no immediate need now to pump new housing into the market.
Indeed, even if the Government decides to conserve Bukit Brown fully, it would need greater public support - which is not the case now.
One other idea being floated is for the URA to gazette the site as conserved and sell it with this proviso to developers.
But profit-seeking developers might back off. Prospective buyers, too, may not want to be tied down.
Above all, current conservation criteria apply only to buildings and other structures with architectural merit. It would be a stretch to label tombstones as such.
Truth be told, Singapore still lacks a conservation culture. The hope is that, with time, this will change. But for now, perhaps partial conservation is the answer.
Some of the cemetery's green space, with its graves and weather-beaten trees intact, should be kept as a buffer between MacRitchie Reservoir and busy Lornie Road.
A green corridor should also be preserved for joggers and wildlife.
Notable graves should be given a second look and the area's role as a natural water filtration system for MacRitchie Reservoir should also be taken into account.
The good news is that the URA has not foreclosed an acceptable way to keep a part of Bukit Brown intact. Over to you, history folk.
Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 18 Jun 11;
SINGAPORE: Mr K Shanmugam, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister and MP for Nee Soon GRC, has said it is important to channel the energy of animal lovers towards constructive and feasible solutions to resolve concerns over the treatment of animals.
He was speaking at a public forum on animal welfare policies, the first such forum in Singapore.
The event at Chong Pang on Saturday also saw the launch of the Chong Pang Animal Welfare Programme to mark the end of cat culling in the constituency.
Organisers - animal welfare group ACRES and the Cat Welfare Society - say the forum is not a one-off event. They are working to replicate it at other constituencies.
More than 400 people turned up at the event.
Mr Shanmugam said education for the young and public engagement is "the way to go" for a successful animal welfare programme in Singapore.
- CNA/ir
No more culling of cats in Chong Pang
Melissa Lin Straits Times 19 Jun 11;
Chong Pang has become the first constituency where stray cats will not be culled, after Nee Soon GRC MP K. Shanmugam launched an animal welfare programme there yesterday.
Instead of culling, grassroots workers and volunteers from animal welfare organisations will work together to sterilise the cats.
These plans were outlined yesterday at the first forum on animal welfare policies held at Chong Pang Community Club.
The public forum was organised by Singapore-based charity Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) in collaboration with the constituency's grassroots organisation.
Mr Shanmugam chaired the discussion with the executive director of Acres, Mr Louis Ng.
Emotions during some moments ran high as more than 400 people, mostly animal lovers, filled the hall and gave their views on the state of animal welfare in Singapore.
At one point, the crowd erupted in jeers when a dog breeder's name was mentioned by one participant, prompting Mr Shanmugam to appeal to those present to keep the dialogue 'civilised'.
The two-hour-long forum was split into three main topics of discussion - domestic animals, wildlife, and animals in the entertainment industry.
A hotly debated issue was about animal abuse and what was being done about it.
A forum participant said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, which investigates complaints of animal abuse, was not doing enough, and called for an independent policing unit to ensure that abusers are prosecuted.
Mr Shanmugam, who is Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, pointed out that it is not easy to convict someone of animal abuse given that in these cases, the animal victims are unable to testify.
In the legal system, it has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt that a person did commit a crime before he can be convicted.
Nonetheless, he said there was a lot of merit in the suggestion and that it was feasible to consider more active enforcement of rules against animal abuse.
A suggestion for mandatory caning of animal abusers was also floated, but Mr Shanmugam said that implementing this would be to swim against the tide of international opinion in this area, given that the general trend is against caning.
Others called for greater transparency by government agencies and for flat owners to be allowed to keep cats in Housing Board flats.
In a suggestion that drew a few laughs, an advocate for shark conservation said government-organised banquets should stop serving shark's fin soup.
Mr Shanmugam said that, overall, the forum was 'extremely constructive' and that he would pass on the several ideas to the relevant government agencies.
But printer Roger Chow, 33, who attended the event, felt that the experience was 'underwhelming'.
The owner of a cat had gone to the forum dissatisfied with the way animal abuse cases were handled, and had hoped to see a change in sight.
'There was no indication that anything constructive will be done,' he said.
'There was only an indication that the authorities were willing to listen. I think it will take a longer time than expected for changes to take place.'
Still, polytechnic lecturer Hamidah Zam Zam, 49, who was also at the forum, felt that it was a great step forward for animal welfare supporters in Singapore.
'The fact that people are coming forward and that the place was full today makes me feel very positive that it will only get better from here,' she said.
Channel that animal passion for good
Today Online 19 Jun 11;
SINGAPORE - It is important to channel the passion and energy of animal lovers to resolve concerns about the treatment of animals, said Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam.
At the first-ever public forum in Singapore on animal welfare policies, Mr Shanmugam said: "These here today are an extremely passionate group of people. There are others who may be less passionate but, when you point out the issues to people, who's going to say, we should be less humane, we should be cruel to animals, or we shouldn't treat animals well?"
"I think it's possible to work with people, and convince them - or convince a significant section of them - that these are things we ought to do," he added.
About 400 animal lovers filled the Community Centre hall at Chong Pang, raising suggestions such as the setting up of an animal police like in Miami, micro-chipping for both cats and dogs, and mandatory caning for animal abusers.
Could this forum signal a sea change in animal welfare initiatives in Singapore?
"Something like this would have been unthinkable five years ago, but the fact that we have a forum, a full house ... yes, it is a huge step forward.
"I was told that Singaporeans (have) no compassion, no feelings ... so I hope after this, more people will come forward," said Mr Shanmugam, who is a Member of Parliament for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency.
The forum also saw the launch of the Chong Pang Animal Welfare Programme, aimed at putting an end to cat culling in the area.
Forum organisers Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) and the Cat Welfare Society said this was not a one-off event and they hoped to replicate such forums in other constituencies.
Antara 18 Jun 11;
Bogor, W.Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s Sumba hornbills are under threat of extinction as indiscriminate forest exploitation is progresively destroying their habitats, a bird conservation organization said.
"Indiscriminate deforestation is doing enormous damage to the hornbills` feed sources. This situation is increasingly threatening their ability to survive," said Dwi Mulyawati, an activist of bird conservation organization Burung Indonesia here Saturday.
She said hornbills fufill an important function in forest regeneration. Without hornbills, forests would soon lose their ability to regenerate and with the forests gone, so would all their natural potentials.
The regeneration of many tree species was dependent on the continued presence of fruit-eating animals like the hornbill that help spread the trees` seeds across the forest soil.
"Researchers have observed that hornbills can be appropriately given the nickname `forest farmer` because of their prowess in sowing seeds," Dwi said.
A hornbill can fly to and fro over an area of up to 100 square kilometers. This meant the birds belonging to the Bucerotidae family can drop seeds anywhere within the 100-suare-km area, she explained.
Reserch conducted in a production forest had shown a 56-percent reduction in hornbill feed sources as a consequence of the elimination of 76 percent of trees that produce their feed.
According to data collected by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), of the 13 hornbill species that exist in Indonesia, the Julang Sumba (Aceros everetti) is threatened by extinction and has been listed in the vulnerable category.
"This species is only to be found in Sumba island (East Nusa Tenggara) and its population is now estimated at less than 4,000 with an average density of six individuals per square kilometer," Dwi said.
If the hornbills died out, certain tree species would inevitably disappear as aging parent trees would be expiring without successors.
Figs are one of the favorite feeds of hornbills that are available almost all year round.
It was estimated that some 200 fig tree species produce the hornbill`s main feed. Among all bird species, the horbill is considered to be the most adept at sowing fig seeds because of their cruising capability.
"According to hornbill and tropical forest researchers Margaret F.Kinnaird and Timothy G.O`Brien, there is a close correlation between hornbills and healthy forests," Dwi said.
Hornbills are part of the Bucerotidae family, a large group of birds that can be easily recognized, especially by their horns (Casque) at the base of their beaks. In the world there were 55 hornbill species, dispersed in the tropics of Asia and Africa.
Indonesia has 13 hornbill species. Nine of them exist in Sumatra where they are locally named enggang klihingan ((Anorrhinus galeritus), enggang jambul (Berenicornis comatus), julang jambul-hitam (Aceros corrugatus), julang emas (Rhyticeros undulatus), kangkareng hitam (Rhyticeros cassidix), kangkareng perut-putih (Anthracoceros albirostris), rangkong badak (Buceros rhinoceros), rangkong gading (Rhinoplax vigil) and rangkong papan (Buceros bicornis).
The four other species can be found in several of Indonesia`s main islands. In Sumba island they are locally named Julang Sumba (Rhyticeros everetti), in Sulawesi Julang and Kangkareng Sulawesi (Rhyticeros cassidix) and in Papua Julang Papua(Rhyticeros plicatus). Kalimantan has the same hornbill species as in Sumatra, except the rangkong papan (Buceros bicornis)..
In Indonesia, the hornbill is also called julang or kangkareng
Burung Indonesia is a nonprofit organization whose international name is Wild Bird Conservation Society of Indonesia (BirdLife Indonesia Association). It operates in partnership with BirdLife International which is based in England.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 17 Jun 11;
BONN (AFP) – On the heels of another halting round of talks on climate change, UN scientists this week will review quick-fix options for beating back the threat of global warming that rely on technology rather than political wrangling.
Experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), meeting for three days from Monday in the Peruvian capital Lima, will ponder "geo-engineering" solutions designed to cool the planet, or at least brake the startling rise in Earth's temperature.
Seeding the ocean with iron, scattering heat-reflecting particles in the stratosphere, building towers to suck carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere, and erecting a giant sunshade in space are all on the examining table.
Critics say such schemes -- some of which have been tested experimentally -- are a roll of the dice with Earth's climate system and its complex web of biodiversity.
And even if one problem is solved, they argue, it may be impossible to anticipate knock-on effects and unintended consequences.
There is a political danger as well, climate policy experts caution: the prospect of a quick fix to global warming could weaken an already fragile global consensus on the need to reduce greenhouse gases or subvert complicated methods for measuring emissions cuts.
"It's a convenient way for Northern governments to dodge their commitments to emissions reduction," said Silvia Ribeiro of the ETC Group, a technology watchdog group.
Last week, more than 100 organisations, including ETC and Friends of the Earth, sent an open letter to the IPCC "demanding a clear statement of its commitment to precaution and to the existing international moratorium on geo-engineering."
Only four years ago, in its landmark Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC dismissed geo-engineering in a brief aside as charged with potential risk and unquantified cost.
But now the Nobel-winning panel is taking a closer look, a telling sign, for some, that the effort to tackle global warming through politics is taking too long and bearing too little fruit.
Delegates ended another 12-day talkfest in Bonn on Friday under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), still deeply riven over who should cut their emissions, by how much and when.
Current pledges fall far short of holding temperature rise in check below 2.0 degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial levels, a widely accepted threshold for safety.
IPCC officials defend the new review on several grounds.
To begin with, it is what members of the 194-nation intergovernmental body asked for, said Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a leading Belgian scientist and vice chair of the IPCC.
"My concern is to fulfill an IPCC mandate to provide the best information available to take informed decisions to protect the climate and the environment," he said by telephone.
"We will look at the advantages and possibilities, but we will also look at the potentially negative aspects."
The experts meeting Monday, he added, review the state of scientific knowledge but do not make policy recommendations.
"In the absence of an objective IPCC assessment, the only information available to policy makers would be from quite a diverse range of sources, some of which might have an interest at stake," he said.
Geo-engineering schemes can be as simple as planting trees to absorb CO2 or painting flat roofs white to reflect sunlight back into space, a technique already in use in many sun-baked urban settings.
They also include scattering sea salt aerosols in low marine clouds to render them more mirror-like, sowing the stratosphere with reflective sulphate particles, or "fertilising" the ocean surface with iron to spur the growth of micro-organisms that gobble up CO2.
At the sci-fi end of the scale is a proposal -- which exists, for now, only on paper -- for a sunshade positioned at a key point between Earth and the Sun that would deflect one or two percent of solar radiation, turning the planet's thermostat down a notch.
In an analysis published in September 2009, the Royal Society, Britain's academy of sciences, judged that planting forests and building towers to capture CO2 could make a useful contribution -- once they are demonstrated to be "safe, effective, sustainable and affordable."
It also noted that blunting the impact of solar radiation would still not lower atmospheric concentrations of CO2, which is also driving ocean acidification.
Seahorse surprises at Punggol shore
from wonderful creation
The Sea Anemone Workshop 2011: Day 3
from wild shores of singapore
Still in the club
from The annotated budak
House Crows and juveniles of Asian Koel
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Letter from Tan See Nin Director (Physical Planning) Urban Redevelopment Authority
Today Online 18 Jun 11;
WE REFER to Mr Ronald Chan's letter 'Why destroy natural habitat when other land available' (June 15).
The Urban Redevelopment Authority has been consciously conserving both built and natural heritage in our planning for Singapore.
For instance, just across the road from Bukit Brown is our Central Catchment, a large protected tropical nature reserve which has a special place in the heart of many nature lovers.
Planning for the long-term in land-scarce Singapore does require us to make difficult trade-off decisions.
We will have to continue to ensure that sufficient land is safeguarded island-wide, and find ways to make good use of our limited land in order to meet future demand for uses such as housing, industry and infrastructure.
Bukit Brown is needed in the future for housing, as it is centrally located and is close to established residential areas. There is provision for a future MRT station along the Circle Line to serve the area.
We thank the writer for his feedback.
Thomson Line Depot To Be Constructed In Mandai
LTA News Release 16 Jun 11;
1. The site for the Thomson Line (TSL) depot has been gazetted today after extensive engineering studies and site surveys. Located in Mandai, the depot will house the Operation Control Centre and provide stabling and maintenance facilities for TSL trains. Construction for the depot is scheduled to commence in end- 2012.
2. The construction of the TSL is part of plans to develop a comprehensive rail network system to meet future travel needs. It will improve rail accessibility along the North-South corridor and improve connectivity to the other lines.
3. The proposed TSL is fully underground, and will run along the North-South corridor, from Woodlands through the CBD to Marina Bay. There are plans for the line to interchange with the North-South Line at the existing Woodlands MRT station, and for the northernmost terminal station to be located in the vicinity of Republic Polytechnic. The proposed Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link between Singapore and Johor Bahru is planned to integrate with the TSL at the northernmost terminal station. The TSL is currently under detailed engineering study. Details of the TSL will be released at a later date after the study is completed.
4. While all efforts have been made to minimise land acquisition, one farm will have to be acquired to facilitate the construction of the depot. The Singapore Land Authority has gazetted the land affected by acquisition today.
Annex A: Artist Impression of Thomson Line Depot (pdf)
Thomson Line to terminate near Republic Polytechnic
It will integrate with rail system to Johor; land for depot in Mandai gazetted
Neo Chai Chin and Wayne Chan Today Online 17 Jun 11;
SINGAPORE - Residents in Woodlands could see greater interest in their properties, while Singapore's largest orchid farm in Mandai will have to relocate, following the latest plans for the 30-kilometre Thomson Line (TSL) that will start running by 2018.
If the proposed Rapid Transit System Link between Singapore and Johor Baru goes according to plan, the two lines will be integrated at the TSL's northern-most terminal station, which the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced yesterday: At a site near Republic Polytechnic.
The station will be north of the Woodlands MRT Station, which will be the future interchange for the Thomson and North South lines, the LTA said.
Further details of the TSL, such as its alignment and the sites of other stations, will be released after detailed engineering studies are completed.
The four-carriage trains that will ply the fully underground line will be able to transport 40,000 passengers per hour in each direction. The new line was reported in 2008 to have 18 stations and will bring commuters to the Marina Bay area, passing through estates such as Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming and Thomson.
With LTA's announcement, Dennis Wee Group director Chris Koh expects property prices near the future terminal station to rise once the Rapid Transit System Link is completed. Citing the heavy passenger movement between Singapore and Johor Baru daily, Mr Koh said: "I won't be surprised if prices go up by five to 10 per cent easily."
The LTA has also gazetted a site in Mandai for TSL's depot. Construction on the 32-hectare depot, set to be the largest here, will begin at the end of next year.
Singapore's fifth train depot - after Bishan, Changi, Ulu Pandan and Tuas (to be completed in 2016) - will house up to 90 trains.
As a result, the 43-hectare Orchidville farm - equivalent to the size of 60 football fields - will have to move. It has been on a 20-year lease from the Government since 1993.
Its owner Joseph Phua, 56, who will be entitled to statutory compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, told MediaCorp yesterday that over half of the 1.5 million plants - including some rare ones costing up to S$600 each - at the farm may have to be disposed of.
He also said he will likely have to downsize his operations to a fifth of what it is now, as it would be difficult to find a equivalent-size piece of land. The farm, which employs about 100 workers, will then have to retrench some employees.
Mr Phua will meet the authorities next month to discuss compensation and hopes to secure an alternative site in Mandai. He also hopes the cost of relocating could be defrayed.
"There are so many plants for us to move and to develop the piece of land isn't a matter of one month or two months. (The application process) already takes more than six months ... for a piece of land," he said.
Mr Phua said the farm, which receives about seven to eight tour groups a day and has a restaurant for corporate functions, will remain open till the end of next year.
Singapore-Johor rapid transit link by 2018
Channel NewsAsia 27 Jun 11;
SINGAPORE: The Singapore and Malaysian governments plan to open a rapid transit link between the city-state and the neighbouring city of Johor Bahru in Malaysia's south by 2018, both governments said in a joint statement on Monday.
"The terminating stations of the (rapid transit system) link will be in the vicinity of JB Sentral, Johor Bahru and in the vicinity of Republic Polytechnic, Singapore," the statement said.
"It is targeted that the RTS link will be operational by 2018. The RTS link will have a co-located (customs, immigration and quarantine) facility in Singapore and another co-located CIQ facility in Johor Bahru so that commuters need to clear immigration only once for each way of travel."
The announcement comes as Malaysia and Singapore officially sealed the Points of Agreement (POA) on Malayan railway land in Singapore.
The signing ceremony took place in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Monday.
Foreign Minister K Shanmugam signed on behalf of Singapore while Malaysia's side was represented by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
The signing officially marks an end to year-long negotiations on implementation details that kickstarted following the landmark announcement of the POA breakthrough by the prime ministers of both countries in May 2010.
The joint statement by the prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia said that preparations for the relocation of Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) from Tanjong Pagar to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint on July 1 are on track.
A joint venture company, called M+S Pte Ltd, and Iskandar JV Company will be established by Thursday.
M+S will develop the four land parcels in Marina South as an integrated development and the two land parcels in Ophir-Rochor, also as an integrated development.
Iskandar JV will undertake two wellness developments in Iskandar Malaysia.
In addition, Khazanah and Temasek will jointly consider other potential developments which are commercially viable in Iskandar Malaysia of up to 500 acres of land, inclusive of the said 215 acres.
Also on schedule is the implementation of the work plan to hand over the waterworks under the 1961 Water Agreement by Singapore free of charge and as a matter of goodwill after the expiry of the agreement on 31 August 2011.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed appreciation and satisfaction on the work done by the ministers and officials in achieving the historic breakthrough in the POA.
Both prime ministers also reiterated their commitments towards further strengthening bilateral relations.
They noted that the resolution of the POA would pave the way for the two countries to explore new areas of cooperation.
- CNA/ir
Cheah Ui-Hoon Business Times 18 Jun 11;
Green Corridor Walks
Along the railway track from Bukit Timah to Old Holland Road
www.greencorridor.org
IF you wanted to do a last-chance-to-do-it kind of walk, you've only this weekend (but hopefully more later) to join the Save the Green Corridor folks on their railway track hikes before the Tanjung Pagar railway station closes. The Malayan railway services packs up on June 30 after about 80 years on the island republic and, sadly, the tracks which have helped preserve a contiguous stretch of green woodlands in Singapore will be taken out from July 1 onwards.
Which means that the vegetation will soon grow and swallow up all vestiges and imprints of the former railway tracks, such that in a month or two it'll be as if Singapore never had a railway running through its centre for almost a century.
Singapore isn't just losing its Tanjung Pagar tracks, but also its Jurong Line which had long since been disused, but which provided a good walking guide into the woodlands between Teban Gardens and Sunset Way and had often been used by groups like the Singapore Adventurer's Club.
The Nature Society of Singapore (NSS) had put in a proposal for the government to preserve 40km and over 170ha of Malayan Railway land as a Green Corridor, and from the start of this month, has been holding weekly weekend walks to lots of interested folks along the railway tracks.
One of the easiest walks to do is between Bukit Timah Road (King Albert Park) to Old Holland Road for that 2- to 3-km stretch of railway. On the second Saturday of June, the walk was also timed to catch the Northbound and Southbound trains trundling along the tracks between 8 and 11am.
NSS member Margie Hall guided the walk and, knowing that this is a nostalgic walk more than anything else, allowed plenty of time for shutterbugs to record practically every metre of the trek. She also took the opportunity to explain the nature of first and secondary forests in the woodlands and to point out the birds that we could hear and see along the way. Despite it being muggy, this is one of the loveliest nature walks to do in Singapore - thanks to its 'wilderness' nature, given that much of the greens along the railway track are just natural forest.
Given its pending closure, the KTM railway tracks have probably never seen so much pedestrian activity in its 70-plus history in Singapore, all crammed into the space of one month. The railway masters have had a busy time entertaining queries from curious walkers, and shooing photographers as well as posers off the tracks - not to mention wedding couples - when there's a train approaching. Walkers should be cautious of the risks of walking along a 'live' railway track (you can't always hear the approaching trains, seasoned walkers warn) and also be cognisant of the fact that you're walking on Malaysian land.
For walks this weekend and possible future walks, go to www.greencorridor.org .
Jessica Lim Straits Times 18 Jun 11;
BUKIT Brown Cemetery off Lornie Road will be turned into a walk-through museum tomorrow and next Sunday.
Visitors who show up between 8.30am and 11.30am those two days can take a walk through the place, making stops at some of the more prominent graves, which will be marked out with placards.
The information markers come courtesy of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API), a society which conducts guided tours for small groups through the cemetery.
API is welcoming larger groups to the cemetery in a drive to raise public awareness of the rich cultural heritage buried in the mounds and grass there, on the back of the announcement that Bukit Brown has been slated for housing development.
API founder Charles Goh said he hoped that those who visit the cemetery will 'realise what they are losing'.
He added that the walk-through museum will be a fixture if the public response on these two Sundays is good.
A ground-up movement calling for the conservation of the cemetery has picked up steam since the end of last month, when it emerged that the Government had plans for the 86ha of rolling hills.
An online petition calling for the conservation of Bukit Brown has attracted more than 170 signatures since it was launched on June 5.
Dr Irving Johnson, an assistant professor of South-east Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore who initiated the drive, said he plans to send the signatures with a letter to the President.
The Singapore Heritage Society (SHS) has also acted. It has produced a book titled Spaces Of The Dead: A Case From The Living to document the cemeteries here and to argue for them to be conserved as open-air museums or parks.
And more than a dozen readers of The Straits Times have written to the newspaper's Forum page to weigh in on both sides of the issue.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said last month, however, that the Government has to be 'very selective' about what to conserve because land is so scarce here.
It has not given a timeframe for the redevelopment, but plans for the Bukit Brown MRT station in Jalan Mashhor have already been drawn up.
A URA spokesman said the Government's land sales arm has noted the people's views, but added: 'While we cater for conservation, we also need to balance it against other needs in the community, such as housing for people.'
She added that Bukit Brown will be needed for housing, as it is centrally located and near established residential areas.
Those visiting the cemetery tomorrow or next Sunday can approach it from Lornie Road. From there, turn into Sime Road, which becomes Kheam Hock Road, and into Lorong Halwa, where the cemetery gates are.
Firm launches cheaper power plant tech which uses renewable biomass
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 18 Jun 11;
A HOME-GROWN firm has cracked the secret to using hydrogen fuel cells for power - at a lower cost and using renewable biomass to boot.
Real Time Engineering (RTE) this week officially launched its fuel-cell power plant technology. It converts biomass such as sawdust, palm oil, fruit peels or plant waste into electricity - also known as 'waste-to-energy'.
RTE is behind the 1MW hydrogen power plant powering industrial landlord JTC Corporation's CleanTech One building.
JTC's $90 million building, which incorporates state-of-the-art green features like solar energy systems and sky gardens, will offer office space that can house up to 50 green businesses when it is completed by the end of the year.
The power plant, which was incubated at Temasek Polytechnic's (TP) Clean Energy Research Centre in Tampines for three years, is the fruit of a collaboration between researchers from both sides.
TP provided the engineering know- how to put together the fuel-cell power plant, while RTE developed a unique catalyst that enables hydrogen to be extracted from biomass at a low cost.
Hydrogen fuel cells work by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity and water. It has been tipped as a key clean energy of the future as global fossil fuel resources dwindle and the world looks to cleaner sources.
These sources, such as solar and wind energy, are vital as they do not emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, which scientists blame for causing climate change, compared with fossil-based fuels.
In a demonstration of a smaller 100- kilowatt system, tomato juice is fed into a reactor, where a catalyst converts it into hydrogen, carbon and water. The extracted hydrogen is used to power the fuel cell, which in turn produces electricity. Potable water and synthetic crude oil are produced as separate by-products.
This synthetic crude, which can be collected and sold to refineries for processing into transport fuel, is so-called 'carbon neutral', as it is produced from renewable biomass and can replace fossil- based fuels used in transport vehicles.
RTE managing director Philip Wong, the project's overall orchestrator, and Dr Wang Chi Sheng from Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University, designed and tested the system for six years before it reached commercialisation this year. Dr Wang is known for inventing the 'plasma reformer' - a process that breaks chemical bonds - which is patented worldwide.
But their plant would not have been possible without the collaboration of TP, which helped to design and integrate the fuel cells into the system, said Mr Wong.
TP's clean-energy centre director Gareth Tang said its research engineers built up its fuel-cell system design and integration over the years. 'The deep technical know-how in fuel-cell materials, design and controls were applied by our engineers and researchers in this project.'
The centre, set up in 2007 with funding from the Economic Development Board, conducts research and development into clean technology - marked as a pillar of growth for Singapore's economy.
Mr Wong puts the cost of a 1MW fuel- cell power plant, which has a life cycle of 20 years, at US$10 million (S$12.4 million). It takes 18 to 24 months to design, build and install one such plant.
The break-even period of this investment is three to five years, and the firm is in talks with organisations across Asia to set up four more power plants, he said. 'Some other advantages of this system are that it's reliable with no risk of blackouts, and it is not intermittent, unlike other sources such as solar or wind which depend on the elements for power.'
The cost of the power generated is competitive, even compared to national grid prices in many countries, he added.
RTE's efforts in fuel-cell power technology were recognised when it won the Prime Minister's Enterprise Challenge Prize in 2009.
Stephen Schaber & Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 17 Jun 11;
The world’s largest sea pen for dolphin rehabilitation off the north coast of Java may be left unused as the government plans to release captive dolphins into the sea without preparing them for the wild, activists said on Thursday.
“Without rehabilitation the dolphins have a very small chance of survival,” Femke Den Haas, Jakarta Animal Aid Network founder, said on Thursday.
The Ministry of Forestry signed a memorandum of understanding with JAAN in October for a five-year plan to rehabilitate and reintroduce 70 captive dolphins to life on the high seas.
JAAN said it became aware of the government’s plan to return the dolphins directly back to the sea without prior retraining during meetings with Darori, the head of the Directorate General of Protection and Conservation of Nature (PHKA).
The group claimed the PHKA plans to release to the open sea dolphins that had been held at the Taman Safari Center in Batang and a traveling circus based in Kendal, Central Java, according to Den Haas. The circus holds permits for six dolphins but owns more than 20, he said.
JAAN spokesman Pramudya Harzani said the decision to bypass the plan was made by the ministry without any clear explanation.
“They just decided so and we are unclear why suddenly they are excluding us and want to release the dolphins without proper rehabilitation,” he said.
But the ministry was quick to deny allegations that it was breaching the agreement.
“We certainly hope that the program will go on as planned, but we are still assessing things, such as the technical preparation on the field,” said Bambang Novianto, the ministry’s biodiversity director.
Ric O’Barry, the world’s best-known dolphin activist and star of the 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary, “The Cove,” said on Thursday that the world was watching to see what would happen in this case.
“This is an opportunity for Indonesia to send a message to the rest of the world about how much it cares for nature,” O’Barry said.
He also said his son was producing a television special about the JAAN rehabilitation program for the show “Blood Dolphins” on cable television channel Animal Planet, which airs in Indonesia.
He added that he thought the Ministry of Forestry was completely unaware of the worldwide publicity, whether good or bad, Indonesia’s decision would attract globally.
“This is a potential windfall of positive publicity for Indonesia,” he said. “I hope the decision-makers do the right thing.”
O’Barry explained that staying in the sea pen in Karimun Jawa Island, which has cost $50,000 to build, would help the captive dolphins regain their strength to swim in the strong currents of the open sea.
“They haven’t been able to use their muscles to swim because they have been confined in small pens for a long time, and releasing them to the sea without rehabilitation will only mean killing them as they may not be able to survive,” O’Barry said.
Den Haas added that the dolphins must also be retrained to use their sonar.
“They stop using the sonar because it annoys them,” Den Haas said. “When in captivity they stop using it because the signal bounces [off the walls of the pool] and returns to them.”
Pramudya also said the dolphins would require between one and six months of rehabilitation, depending on length of captivity.
JAAN said ideally the dolphins would be released around Karimun Jawa Island because there was a good chance the dolphins could reconnect with their pods.
“Every dolphin has a unique sound and the ability to transmit its signal tens of miles,” Den Haas said. “We will utilize GPS pegging after release to monitor whether the dolphins have reunited with their families.”
A survey conducted by JAAN has revealed that many dolphins were held in captivity by groups in Indonesia operating under the guise of conservation, education or therapy. JAAN carried out the survey after receiving reports of abuse from members of the public concerned about the aforementioned traveling circuses.
Celebrity Says World Watching Indonesia’s Dolphin Decision
Stephen Schaber Jakarta Globe 16 Jun 11;
The world is watching to see if Indonesia is really going to release formerly captive dolphins directly to the wild or hand them over to a rehabilitation program, according to Ric O’Barry, the world’s most well-known dolphin activist and star of the 2009 Academy Award winning documentary, “The Cove.”
“This is an opportunity for Indonesia to send a message to the rest of the world about how much it cares for nature,” O’Barry said.
The Indonesian government stated its intention to release dolphins previously held in captivity directly back into the sea during meetings with the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), according to the animal rights activist group.
This circumvents a memorandum of understanding the government signed with the nongovernmental organization, which declared that all illegally kept dolphins will be placed in JAAN’s dolphin rehabilitation program before returning to the wild.
Dismay Over Plans for Indonesia’s Captive Dolphins
“This is a huge opportunity for positive publicity for Indonesia,” he said. “I would hate to see them blow it.”
O’Barry said his son was producing a television special about the JAAN rehabilitation program, located on Karimun Jawa Island, for the show "Blood Dolphins" on cable television channel Animal Planet, which screens in Indonesia.
The American campaigner has previously appeared on Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper 360 and the Oprah Winfrey Show, the US’s most popular daytime talkshow, to discuss his crusade to save dolphins from the captivity industry.
He said he thought the Minister of Forestry, the government agency responsible for dolphin conservation, was completely unaware of the worldwide publicity, whether good or bad, Indonesia’s decision will attract globally.
“This is a potential windfall of positive publicity for Indonesia,” he said. “I hope the decision makers do the right thing.”
He noted, however, that the Indonesian government had made improvements in the protection of dolphins.
“The positive thing is that [the government] has stopped the illegal capture of the dolphins and is intent on preventing further abuse,” he said.
But the dolphins, O’Barry emphasized, must be taught to live in the wild before returning to their natural habitat.
“[Directly releasing the dolphins] is them putting in great danger,” O’Barry said. “They need to rebuild muscle strength, become accustomed to swimming in tides and currents and learn how to hunt live food again.”
This controversy comes on the heels of the Australian cattle export ban. Australia suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months after a documentary showing images of animal cruelty in Indonesian slaughterhouses aired on Australian television last month.
O’Barry, a dolphin activist for the past 40 years, is best known for his role in the award winning documentary, “The Cove,” which exposed the mass dolphin herding and killing practices conducted by fishermen in the traditional whaling town of Taiji, Japan.
Indonesia to review dolphin release plan: official
Yahoo News 17 Jun 11;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesia said Friday it would consider rehabilitating captive dolphins before releasing them into the wild, after animal welfare activists criticised a plan to dump them directly into the sea.
"We'll consider the concern of activists to put the captive dolphins in a rehabilitation programme before their release," conservation official Darori told AFP.
"Ultimately, we all want the dolphins to be healthy and survive after their release. We want their release to be a success," he said.
Activists say the dolphins from a zoo and a travelling circus need months of training to learn to swim straight, hunt, deal with ocean currents and use their sonar.
Without such rehabilitation they will almost certainly die in the open sea, they say.
The Jakarta Animal Aid Network said plans to release the mammals directly into the sea contravened a memorandum of understanding it had with the government to provide proper rehabilitation.
US dolphin activist Ric O'Barry, who was featured in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove", said Indonesia would attract negative international publicity if it went ahead with plans to release them without rehabilitation.
"This is an opportunity for Indonesia to send a message to the rest of the world about how much it cares for nature," O'Barry was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe website on Thursday.
"They need to rebuild muscle strength, become accustomed to swimming in tides and currents and learn how to hunt live food again," he said.
There are reportedly about 50 dolphins illegally held in captivity in Indonesia, which has banned the illegal capture of dolphins in its waters.
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