Uncloaking the Haze
from Green Drinks Singapore
Save MacRitchie Forest: 14. A Pangolin's Plea
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Chek Jawa Boardwalk - sign up for walk on 3 August (Sat)
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Slow death on Beting Bronok
from wild shores of singapore
Ultraviolet Fluorescence in Spiders
from Macro Photography in Singapore
Butterflies Galore! Spotted Black Crow
from Butterflies of Singapore
Today Online 23 Jul 13;
SINGAPORE — After a month of clear skies and a flurry of activities to tackle the problem, the threat of haze returned yesterday, with several parts of Malaysia blanketed in thick smog as air pollution reached unhealthy levels.
The situation prompted the National Environment Agency (NEA) to contact Indonesia to register its concerns over the “sudden spike” in the number of hot spots in Indonesia’s Sumatra region — which came after the number had fallen steadily thanks to firefighting efforts — and to extend the Republic’s support and assistance to prevent the haze situation from recurring.
Since Singapore enjoyed a respite from the haze exactly a month ago, several government leaders, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had warned that the haze would return and urged Singaporeans to be prepared. The latest warning was issued on Sunday by both Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu.
In a statement, the NEA said that there has been a “marked increase” in the number of hot spots in Sumatra in the last two days, with 261 and 252 hot spots detected on Sunday and yesterday, respectively.
With 250 hot spots or more detected on two consecutive days — and with dry weather conditions persisting and prevailing winds blowing towards other countries in the region — the NEA said it has also advised the interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre For Transboundary Haze Pollution that Alert Level 3 for Sumatra has been activated.
When Alert Level 3 is triggered, a panel comprising experts from ASEAN countries may be activated and deployed to the affected country, with the latter’s consent, to assist in assessing the fire and haze situation and provide their recommendations on resources that need to be mobilised to mitigate the fires and transboundary haze pollution.
The NEA said its Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Tay contacted Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environmental Degradation Control and Climate Change Arief Yuwono and Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environment and Social Vulnerability, Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, Mr Willem Rampangilei.
Mr Tay “expressed Singapore’s concerns that the region will once again be shrouded by smoke haze if the hot spots in Sumatra continue to remain high”, the NEA said. It added that Mr Tay also sought an urgent update of Indonesia’s efforts to tackle the fires there and urged Indonesia to take immediate action.
In response, Mr Rampangilei said there has been “new sporadic burning”, the NEA said. He also assured Mr Tay that the Indonesian government is monitoring the situation and taking various actions on the ground to suppress the fires, such as cloud-seeding and water-bombing efforts.
Mr Rampangilei also said that “law enforcement and socialisation efforts on the ground” have been strengthened and the deployment of additional police and troops to the Riau area will be considered urgently in a high-level inter-agency meeting.
Yesterday afternoon, five areas in Malaysia registered unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings: Bukit Rambai, Malacca City in Malacca, Muar in Johor, Banting in Selangor and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur.
The haze in Malaysia could continue for two to three days before rain was expected to bring relief, the authorities said.
The Indonesian media reported that flights in Dumai and Pekanbaru were affected by the poor visibility caused by smoke from the forest fires. Two Dumai-bound flights had to return to Pekanbaru, while three other flights from Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru city were delayed.
Officials from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia met last week in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the haze issue. At the meeting, Indonesia committed to ratify the regional pact on transboundary haze pollution by early next year, at the latest, and agreed to share digitised concession maps with other governments. WITH AGENCIES
Haze had ‘no clear impact’ on Changi passenger traffic, retail
Sumita d/o Sreedharan Today Online 24 Jul 13;
SINGAPORE — Fears that the haze crisis last month would hit the tourism and retail sectors turned out to be unfounded, going by numbers released yesterday by Changi Airport Group (CAG) and credit card company MasterCard.
In a press release, the CAG said the haze had “no discernible impact” on passenger and aircraft movements.
In fact, passenger traffic at Changi Airport increased by 6.1 per cent last month compared to the same period last year, with 4.67 million passengers passing through the airport — the highest monthly figure so far this year.
Flight movements also grew at the same rate, with 28,300 aircraft landings and take-offs recorded.
The CAG said air traffic to and from regions such as South-east Asia, North-east Asia, South Asia and the Middle East grew.
For the first six months of the year, Changi Airport managed 26.2 million passengers, an increase of 5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. Aircraft movements grew by 4.6 per cent to 166,800.
Separately, MasterCard said its cardholders spent US$797.4 million (S$1 billion) in Singapore between May 31 to June 30 — the first month of the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) — an increase of 12.4 per cent over the same period last year. Singapore-based MasterCard holders accounted for almost 70 per cent of the spend.
Overall, the number of transactions also rose 17.1 per cent to about 6.4 million last month, compared to the same period last year.
MasterCard Singapore General Manager Julienne Loh said: “The haze that hit Singapore in mid-June certainly did not dampen the GSS shopping spirit.”
The recent bout of haze — during which the Pollutant Standards Index reading hit a record high of 401 — lasted for about week. There were initial concerns about the impact on the economy, especially on tourism, if the haze lasted for a prolonged period, given the record PSI levels.
CIMB Research regional economist Song Seng Wun noted that the haze last month had “marginal impact” on tourism-related industries because it was short-lived and the record-high PSI readings were registered on weekdays.
“If it had been persistently bad into the weekend, we could have seen a more adverse impact,” he said.
Mr Song noted that although there were some tourists who cut short their holidays, no major conventions were cancelled because of the haze.
To date, the worst economic impact suffered by Singapore because of the haze was in 1997, when the Republic was blanketed in smog for three months.
Professor Euston Quah, head of Nanyang Technological University’s Department of Economics, had estimated that the haze cost the country about US$300 million, including an estimated loss of US$210 million in tourism.
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta
Straits Times 24 Jul 13;
JAKARTA will begin redeploying troops and firefighters in Riau province in Sumatra to help put out forest fires, following a sharp jump in the number of hot spots over the weekend that has seen the return of hazy days.
Unhealthy air quality levels were reported in some parts of Malaysia yesterday, while Singapore has been spared so far because of the wind direction.
Troops and relief officials sent to Riau last month, when the worst haze in years shrouded the region, but they were pulled out after relief operations were scaled down on July 10. The Riau authorities then took over operations from Jakarta.
"The number of hot spots spiked even as the provincial government did its utmost. The national government is stepping in," Mr Willem Rampangilei, a deputy minister at the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare, told The Straits Times yesterday.
He was speaking after an inter-agency meeting to discuss the haze situation.
Yesterday, disaster officials conducted more than 22 water-bombing operations, mostly over provincial capital Pekanbaru, and just one cloud-seeding sortie, as there were not enough clouds.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there were 183 hot spots in Riau yesterday - higher than the 167 recorded on Monday and Sunday's 172.
Coordinating People's Welfare Minister Agung Laksono chided local officials on the ground for not doing enough to prevent and stop open burning, which was blamed for last month's haze that hit Singapore and Malaysia hard.
"Local governments need to be proactive," he said. "They need to tell their people that clearing land by burning is against the law."
The spike in hot spots came after an Asean meeting on transboundary haze in Kuala Lumpur last week. Indonesia had declined to make its concession maps public, agreeing to share them only with governments.
On Monday, Singapore registered its concerns with Indonesian officials over the latest situation and also extended its support and assistance to Indonesia.
Malaysia also wrote to Indonesia to register its concerns, according to a Bloomberg report, as air quality remained at unhealthy levels in some parts, including Malacca and Johor. The haze also affected states further north yesterday.
In Bukit Rambai, Malacca, the Air Pollutant Index reading hit the unhealthy level of 118 at 7am, said the Malaysian Meteorological Department. In Tanjung Malim, Perak, it reached a high of 110 - also unhealthy - at 2pm.
Additional reporting by Lester Kong in Kuala Lumpur
Encroachments cause forest fire in Tesso Nilo National Park
Jakarta Globe 23 Jul 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Encroachments on forest land have caused forest fires in Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Riau Province, according to an official.
Encroachers set fire to clear land for plantations, Kupin Simbolon, the head of Tesso Nilo National Park, said here on Tuesday.
Last June, when Riau Province were hit by massive forest fires, 18 hotspots were detected in the national park, he said.
The areas which are prone to encroachments and thus man-made forest fires, are Bukit Kusuma, Toro dan Dolit.
"If there are no rains within three days, many hotspots are detected," he said.
The TNTN officers have intensified patrol to prevent further encroachments, he said, adding that so far no one was arrested for encroachment on forest land.
The 83,068-ha Tesso Nilo National Park is located in Pelalawan and Indragiri Hulu Districts, Riau Province.
Based on an investigation by WWF and TNTN in 2011, a total of 52,266.50 ha land in the national park has been encroached and around 36,353.50 ha forest land has been converted into oil palm plantations.
There were 1,613 families who encroached the national park until 2009. They claimed that they have lived in the forest area far before the government designated the area as a national park.
(T.F012/Uu.F001/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Indonesia Comes Under Fire for Forest Fires
Baradan Kuppusamy Jakarta Globe 23 Jul 13;
Kuala Lumpur. With a propensity to devour everything in their path and spiral quickly out of control, leaving behind swathes of scorched earth, forest fires are considered a hazard in most parts of the world.
In Indonesia, however, fires are the preferred method for clearing large areas of land for massive plantations of commercial crops.In the first half of 2013, research studies have already recorded 8,343 forest fires, a higher number than in preceding years.
While some blazes occurred naturally, igniting in the country’s vast rainforests that are transformed in the dry summer months into an expanse of kindling, experts say that many fires were created by plantation companies and, to a lesser extent, by local communities, to clear millions of hectares of jungle land needed for oil palm plantations.
According to the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor), oil palm plantations covered 7.8 million hectares in Indonesia in 2011, and produced roughly 23.5 million tonnes of crude palm oil that year.
The cheapest and easiest way to clear enough land to yield these huge quantities of oil is to set fire to acre upon acre of rainforest and let the wind and the flames do the work. This method is also efficient in reducing the acidity of peat soil.
Peat soil is a soggy organic matter that acts as anathema to palm trees. This explains why about two-thirds of forest fires in Indonesia occur on peat lands.
Unfortunately, peat soil becomes extremely toxic at high temperatures, emitting greenhouse gases and creating haze and smog. Peat fires can burn on for weeks, even months, endangering wildlife and human communities far from the site of the actual fire.
For years, palm oil-producing companies in Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for 85 percent of the world’s palm oil production every year, have come under fire from activists and scientists who say the “forest fire method” poses serious environmental and health risks for the entire region.
While most of these fires originate in Sumatra, changes in wind direction mean that smoke travels to nearby countries.
Last month, for instance, the international community pilloried Indonesia for fires that choked parts of neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
The haze that enveloped the latter was so bad that the government in Kuala Lumpur declared a state of emergency in parts of the country where air pollution index readings reached a critical 750 on June 23, well above the “hazardous” level of 300.
Malaysian citizens were advised to stay indoors, while Singaporean authorities cancelled outdoor summer activities as panicked residents emptied stores of their supply of protective masks.
The average air pollution index rating in both Malaysia and Singapore now hovers at over 100, a dramatic increase from the preceding decade, which “could contribute to climate change and is seriously detrimental to the health of people in the region,” Gurmit Singh, a renowned Malaysian environmentalist, told Inter Press Service (IPS).
Blame has been bandied about, with governments, corporations and even local communities named as culprits, but public censure has failed to prompt concrete action.
Environment ministers representing five members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) flew to Malaysia’s capital last week in search of a lasting solution to what has become a predictable annual crisis, but the talks concluded on July 17 with no firm agreement on the table.
All that officials from Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand approved was a plan for Indonesia to refer Asean’s 2002 Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution to its parliament by 2014 — hardly a promising solution, since the accord appeared before Indonesia’s legislature in 2009 but was not mentioned once during the entire session.
The outcome of the high-level meeting comes as no surprise to T. Jayabalan, a public health consultant and adviser to Friends of the Earth-Malaysia.
“For almost 20 years these governments have adopted a lackadaisical attitude towards resolving the problem [of forest fires]” he told IPS.
“No concrete measures have been taken because any measure imposed will impact the profits of palm oil companies,” he added.
A quick look at the stakes involved in palm oil production supports Jayabalan’s claim: according to Cifor, crude palm oil brought in $12.4 billion in foreign exchange in 2008, while the government bagged another billion dollars in export taxes alone that same year.
The sector employs around 3.2 million people every year —not something insignificant in a country where 30 million people live below the poverty line.
Earlier this year, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association unveiled an ambitious plan to grow the sector by 5.4 percent by the year 2020, adding another four million hectares to existing plantations around the country.
With such zealous plans in the pipeline, a solution is urgently needed, “rather than more talk and postponement of key decisions,” Jayabalan stressed.
He and other experts believe the first step must entail recognizing the role palm oil companies play in creating fires.
Data published last month by the Washington-based World Research Institute (WRI) shows that the number of fires per hectare, is “three to four times higher within oil palm concession boundaries than outside of them.”
The research also suggests that there are significant discrepancies between maps issued by the ministry of forestry and those being used by oil palm companies.
According to WRI, Company Business Land Use Rights license boundaries are generally nested within, and are smaller than, the concession boundaries the government is using. This creates confusion about responsibility for fires found on land thought to be within concessions but outside areas the companies fully control and are directly developing.
With more fires expected in the months between August and October, environmentalists are urging governments to “come to terms with the haze and its root causes because people in the region suffer from the pollutants,” Singh said.”Various studies have shown that haze pollution leads to an increase in the number of people suffering from upper respiratory tract infections, asthma and rhinitis.”
Countries in the region are also being called upon to cooperate in the development and implementation of prevention mechanisms, monitoring and early warning systems, information-sharing networks and other channels for providing mutual assistance.
Unfortunately, these steps have currently been stalled by Indonesia’s refusal to ratify the AseanHaze Pollution Agreement.
Inter Press Service
Isabelle Lai The Star 24 Jul 13;
PETALING JAYA: Transboundary haze from Indonesia has reached parts of Terengganu, Kelantan and Penang, causing visibility levels to dip.
Meteorological Department central forecasting office director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said visibility was poor at Kuala Terengganu Sultan Mahmud Airport, reaching up to 3km as of yesterday evening.
“It was up to 6km at Kerteh Airport (in Terengganu) and Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas,” he told The Star.
However, visibility was up to 10km at Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Kota Baru, Kelantan, which he said was considered good.
Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya and Subang experienced poor visibility levels around noon, but later improved to 6km and 9km, respectively.
Muhammad Helmi said the haze outlook would remain the same till tomorrow when rain was expected over Johor, Pahang and the Klang Valley.
“The haze should still continue its slow spread northwards and inland as the number of hotspots in Sumatra has decreased only slightly,” he said.
Despite the spread, the 5pm Air Pollutant Index (API) readings provided by the Department of Environment showed only two areas with unhealthy air quality – Bukit Rambai (103) and Tanjung Malim (106).
Nine areas hovered just below unhealthy levels – Muar (94), Port Klang (97), Seri Manjung (94), Kuala Selangor (92), Petaling Jaya (90), Kemaman (96), Kuala Terengganu (93) and Batu Muda (90) and Cheras (93) in Kuala Lumpur.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s reading on Monday, Sumatra had 252 hotspots compared to 261 on Sunday.
The haze has made a comeback in the past few days after the number of hotspots increased from three on Thursday to 159 on Saturday.
However, it is not as severe as the choking smog enveloping Singapore and parts of the peninsula last month when API readings reached hazardous levels in some areas.
Indonesia’s The Jakarta Post reported that Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, had very limited visibility after it was once again choked by haze, believed to be from resumed land and forest burning.
It said visibility at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport there had hit an all-year low of 700m at 7.30am yesterday, while a number of flights had been postponed or delayed for hours.
DOE asks Indonesia to douse forest fires
New Straits Times 24 Jul 13;
KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia has been urged to take immediate action to prevent and put out the forest fires in central Sumatra which have brought the haze back to Malaysia.
Department of Environment (DOE) director-general Datuk Halimah Hassan sent a letter to her Indonesian counterpart on Monday to express Malaysia's concern over the sudden spike in hot spots in central Sumatra.
"The marked increase in hot spots has occurred since Sunday.
"We are now experiencing the westerly monsoon season during which winds blowing from the hot spots in central Sumatra cause a haze in the central and southern parts of the west coast of the peninsula," she said in a statement yesterday.
The westerly monsoon, which causes the hot and dry spell, is expected to end in early October.
The fresh bout of haze comes after Indonesia expressed its hope to ratify the 2002 Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution early next year. This came at the 15th meeting of the sub-regional ministerial steering committee on transboundary haze pollution here last Wednesday.
Nine Asean nations had signed the agreement in 2002 except Indonesia.
The agreement is the first regional one in the world that requires participating countries to tackle transboundary haze pollution resulting from land and forest fires.
A satellite image by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre showed 252 hot spots in Sumatra on Monday, compared with 261 hot spots on Sunday.
In Malaysia, 26 hot spots were identified on Monday, of which six were in Johor, five in Kelantan, seven in Pahang, four in Perak, two in Negri Sembilan and one each in Selangor and Sarawak.
Halimah said DoE would conduct continuous research and take enforcement measures at every hot spot detected.
"We will also watch the air quality index throughout the country closely as outlined by the National Haze Action Plan."
She said DOE would keep tabs to ensure no open burning was done in all states, take steps to prevent peat fires and have a 24-hour operations room to receive complaints on open burning.
Meanwhile, the Air Pollutant Index (API) in several areas in the central and southern part of the peninsula went up as at 5pm yesterday.
Two areas were deemed to be unhealthy compared with Monday's four.
The two were Bukit Rambai in Malacca and Tanjung Malim in Perak, which recorded readings of 103 and 106 respectively.
However, Bukit Rambai's reading improved from that on Monday when it was 119. But in the case of Tanjung Malim, it went up significantly from the previous day's healthy reading of 50.
Isabelle Lai The Star 24 Jul 13;
PETALING JAYA: Pangolins are the most common mammals seized during raids on illicit wildlife trafficking, with demand for the animal fuelled predominantly by China and Vietnam.
Two of the eight pangolin species are now listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
Pangolins are desired for their meat while their scales are prized by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.
The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) has foiled 50 cases of attempted smuggling since 2010 and seized nearly 1,500 pangolins.
Its enforcement director Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said he expected demand for pangolins, also known as anteaters or tenggiling in Bahasa Malaysia, to increase with the coming of the winter season in China.
“According to our records, most pangolins are destined for neighbouring countries, including Thailand and Vietnam.
“The bulk of them end up in China.
“Malaysia is a transit point as we have found some pangolins here that were brought in from Indonesia,” he told The Star.
In July alone, Perhilitan officers have already stumbled across three cases of trafficking, with one in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah, where 30 pangolins were found in a car boot.
“Most of the attempts to smuggle the pangolins out are through motor vehicles.
“Malaysia’s network of roads is comprehensive, in addition to the long coastline,” Abdul Kadir said, adding that it was impossible to pinpoint where the smugglers would land.
Seized pangolins will be tagged with a microchip before being released back into the wild once they are confirmed to be healthy.
Abdul Kadir stressed that Perhilitan’s enforcement activities were carried out with the cooperation of agencies such as the police and the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency.
While the department has an intelligence gathering unit as well as a wildlife crime unit, he said tip-offs from the public were also of immense help.
In a recent landmark conference in Singapore, global experts noted that pangolins were under threat more than ever, with more than 200,000 of them seized between 2000 and 2012, but this is estimated to be just a fraction of those illegally traded.
Bruce Gale, Senior Writer Straits Times 24 Jul 13;
ANYONE looking for the office location of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (Jaan) will have a hard time finding it. Jaan is one of Indonesia's most active non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in conservation issues.
But it does not make its location available. Instead, visitors to its website are told for "security and safety reasons" to use e-mail.
All this may seem excessively cautious, but its field director, Ms Femke den Haas, who often provides information to the police about the activities of criminal gangs involved in the illegal wildlife trade, begs to differ.
"We regularly receive threats," Ms den Haas, 35, told me in Jakarta earlier this month.
Last November, Jaan's office was trashed by thugs. And in the following month, neighbours warned Ms den Haas about strangers loitering near her residence in south Jakarta. She was not at home at the time, and has not been back since. Cars were nevertheless seen parked nearby for several days, their occupants apparently waiting for her to return.
Founded in 2008 by Ms den Haas with a core team that started working together in 2003, Jaan has 14 full-time staff, 25 active volunteers and a network of 150 supporters and informers across the archipelago. A Dutch native, Ms den Haas has been working with animals since she was 15.
While reliable statistics on the true extent of the illegal trade in protected species in Indonesia are hard to get, it is almost certainly lucrative and very well organised.
In April, officials at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport confiscated 687 endangered baby pig-nosed turtles reportedly bound for Hong Kong. The smuggled turtles were found in packages registered as hold baggage on a Sriwijaya Air flight from Papua via Makassar (South Sulawesi) on March 15.
The identity of the sender and receiver could not be traced since the shipment lacked proper documents. Still, without such papers, the fact that the package ended up in the aircraft's hold suggested collusion by key airline personnel. But no arrests were reported.
Thanks to the exotic pet trade, the pig-nosed turtle, which is native to Papua and northern Australia, is almost extinct. Reports say that juveniles and adults can fetch prices from US$550 to US$2,000 (S$690 to S$2,500).
Ms den Haas said the most commonly traded endangered animal is the slow loris. The illegal trade in them is among the most cruel.
Traders looking for buyers in local or foreign markets keep these small nocturnal primates exposed to daylight, play with them as puppets, and cut their teeth with wire cutters or pliers - to prevent a potentially lethal bite from the frightened animals. But it frequently leads to serious infection. "Death usually comes within two or three weeks," Ms den Haas said.
Within Indonesia, slow lorises are popular as temporary pets for children. They are also smuggled into Japan, where women find them cute. Other markets include China, Europe and the Middle East.
In Indonesia, it is also illegal to capture wild macaque monkeys. But because these monkeys are not on the list of protected species, traders who use harsh training methods to get the monkeys to dance for prospective local buyers face few restrictions.
Ms den Haas said that investigations by her organisation show macaque monkeys illegally captured in Indonesian forests are exported to China. Falsified documents declaring them as bred in captivity allow the monkeys to be re-exported to the US as well.
Indonesia has tough laws protecting many endangered plants and animals. Violators of the 1992 law on animal, fish and plant quarantines, or the 1990 law on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, face up to three years' imprisonment and fines of up to 150 million rupiah (S$19,500). Sadly, these laws do little to deter either buyers or sellers.
One reason is public apathy.
"In the West," explained Ms den Haas, "animals are seen as creatures that can feel pain and have emotions." In Indonesia, "people treat animals as things".
But such attitudes are changing. Last year, Jaan joined local celebrities to urge the authorities to take action against the world's last travelling dolphin show in Java. A public petition gathered 100,000 signatures within three months.
Jaan's strength, however, lies in its hands-on approach. "We don't avoid conflict," Ms den Haas said. Jaan representatives are often present when the authorities confiscate illegal shipments of endangered animals.
And unlike many other NGOs with similar objectives that focus on political advocacy, Jaan has both the facilities and expertise to handle many of the recovered animals.
Confronting criminal gangs directly, however, has its price. With the exception of taxi company Bluebird and transport company Sante Fe, corporate sponsorship has been difficult to get. But Ms den Haas is undeterred.
"The source of the problem needs to be tackled head-on," she said.
The University of Western Australia Science Alert 24 Jul 13;
Researchers have used non-destructive stereo video technology to obtain proof that marine reserves can have positive effects on reef shark populations.
In a study of shark populations in Namena Reserve, Fiji's largest marine reserve (located on the southern coast of Vanua Levu Island), the researchers found the number of sharks in the no-take reserve is two to four times greater than in adjacent areas where fishing is permitted.
A paper on the study, led by researchers from UWA's Oceans Institute, the UWA School of Plant Biology, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), appears in a recent edition of the journal Coral Reefs. The authors include PhD student Jordan Goetze and research assistant Laura Fullwood.
The researchers conducted their study over three weeks in July, 2009, in Namena - a 60sqm reserve established in 1997 and managed by local communities.
Lead author Mr Goetze and the WCS Fiji team used stereo-baited remote underwater video systems to record reef shark data at eight sites within the reserve and eight sites outside the reserve. They examined both shallow and deeper depths (between 5-8 metres, and 25-30 metres respectively).
"The study not only provides evidence that Fiji's largest marine reserve benefits reef sharks, but achieves this in a non-destructive manner using novel stereo video technology," said Mr Goetze.
"A lot of previous studies have used long-lines to estimate shark abundance and biomass which often results in the animals being killed or harmed. By using the stereo video technology we can make estimates of abundance and biomass without harming the sharks."
The 60-minute video segments taken captured images of five different species of reef shark, providing the researchers with data on shark abundance. They also were able to estimate the length and size of the sharks whenever the animals were within eight metres of the camera, allowing them to gauge biomass inside and outside Namena Reserve.
Outside the reserve, in areas where fishing is permitted, the researchers found fewer sharks. They noted that because local Fiji communities traditionally consider sharks to be sacred, eating them was typically taboo. However, as demand for shark products grows, higher prices were driving some locals to catch sharks.
"Worldwide, increasing rates of harvesting are leading to the depletion of many of the world's shark species," Mr Goetze said.
He said the most likely driver of higher shark densities within the reserve was the significantly greater availability of prey fish found within the reserve boundaries compared with adjacent areas.
Dr Caleb McClennen, Director of WCS's Marine Program, said the study provided solid proof that marine reserves could have positive effects on reef shark populations.
"Shark populations are declining worldwide due to the demand for shark products, particularly fins for the Asian markets," Dr McClennen said. "We need to establish management strategies that will protect these ancient predators and the ecosystems they inhabit."
The study was made possible by support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the UWA Marine Science Honours program.
Cowrie surprise at Sekudu
from wild shores of singapore
Pied Fantail Fledglings
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Butterflies Galore! Peacock Pansy
from Butterflies of Singapore
Rare animal species and Buddhist monks in danger of losing their home to cement quarry from Mongabay.com news by Jeremy Hance
Sinar Mas buys stake in Indonesian pulp, paper, and tissue firm from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler
Grace Chua Straits Times 23 Jul 13;
SINGAPORE has registered its concerns to the Indonesian authorities over the rising number of hot spots amid fears of a repeat of last month's haze episode.
Indonesia has acknowledged that there has been "new sporadic burning". There were 252 fire hot spots on Sumatra yesterday, including 167 in the province of Riau, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Last month, when the haze was at its worst, there were more than 400 fires on Sumatra.
NEA chief executive Ronnie Tay has contacted the appropriate ministers in Indonesia to express Singapore's concerns and extend assistance to detect and put out the fires early. Indonesia's deputy minister for environment and social vulnerability, coordinating ministry for people's welfare, Mr Willem Rampangilei, admitted that there has been "new sporadic burning".
An NEA spokesman said: "He assured Mr Tay that the Indonesian government is monitoring the situation and taking various actions on the ground to suppress the fires, such as cloud seeding and water bombing efforts.
"He added that law enforcement and socialisation efforts on the ground have been strengthened, and the deployment of additional police and troops to the Riau area will be considered urgently in a high-level inter-agency meeting."
Cloud seeding is done to induce rain to help put out the fires.
Singapore's air quality until 4pm today is expected to be good to moderate, although this could change with the wind, the NEA said. Lately, it has been blowing in a southerly direction, buffeting any haze away from the Republic.
The 24-hour PSI (Pollutant Standards Index) is expected to be in the good band, or less than 50. The 24-hour PM2.5 reading is expected to be slightly elevated, but normal activities can continue.
Experts said this year's dry season is especially arid.
Nanyang Technological University weather researcher Koh Tieh Yong said computer simulations indicate winds from the south are likely to persist for the next day or two, so the haze might not return yet.
"Overall drier weather may hang around for the next 10 to 15 days despite occasional showers," he said. "So if the number of hot spots in Riau and Jambi does not decrease, any subsequent change in the wind direction to blow from the west or south-west would increase the risk of haze in Singapore."
Mr Dedi Hari, World Wide Fund for Nature Indonesia's forest fire mitigation coordinator, said the hot spots are mainly in peat areas around the districts of Rokan Hilir, Dumai and Bengkalis, and were caused by dry, hot weather.
Assistant Professor Jason Blake Cohen, a climate researcher in the National University of Singapore's civil and environmental engineering department, said the fires are very likely man-made. Fires started by lightning and other natural causes in South-east Asia are "extremely rare", he said.
The increase in hot spots comes after last week's Asean meeting on transboundary haze in Kuala Lumpur, at which Indonesia declined to make its concession maps public, agreeing only to share them with governments.
The maps show the areas where companies are allowed to carry out activities such as growing palm oil.
Dr Nigel Sizer, director of think-tank World Resources Institute's global forestry initiative, said the new hot spots are a "cause for great concern".
The lack of published maps makes it harder for non-governmental organisations, local governments and government agencies - especially in Riau - to respond quickly, he said.
"The key thing in the immediate term is to respond rapidly and try to put the fires out before they become larger," he added.
Singapore expresses concern to Indonesia as hotspots in Sumatra rise
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 22 Jul 13;
SINGAPORE: Singapore has expressed its concern to Indonesia over the sudden spike in the number of hotspots in Sumatra and added that the region will be shrouded by smoke haze if the hotspots continue to remain high.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said this comes as satellite data shows a marked increase in the hotspot numbers in the last two days.
There were 261 hotspot counts on July 21 and 252 hotspots on July 22.
NEA said its Chief Executive Officer, Ronnie Tay, wrote to his Indonesian counterpart Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environmental Degradation Control & Climate Change, Mr Arief Yuwono to register this concern.
He also called Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environment and Social Vulnerability, Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare, Mr Willem Rampangilei.
Mr Tay extended Singapore's support and assistance to Indonesia's efforts to prevent the haze from recurring.
This is in the area of early detection and the suppression of fires, as well as in offering an aircraft to assist in cloud seeding operations.
NEA said Mr Tay urged Indonesia to take immediate action and give an update of its efforts to tackle the fires.
Responding to this, Indonesia's Deputy Minister Rampangilei shared that there has been new sporadic burning.
He assured Mr Tay the Indonesian government is monitoring the situation and is taking action through cloud seeding and water bombing efforts.
NEA said it will continue to monitor the situation.
Meanwhile, NEA said it has advised the interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre through the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre that Alert Level 3 for Sumatra has been activated.
- CNA/fa
Singapore registers concerns over spike in hotspots
NEA CEO writes, calls Indonesia officials
Today Online 23 Jul 13;
Daily detected hotspot count. Image: http://www.haze.gov.sg/
SINGAPORE — As the number of hotspots suddenly spiked over the last two days, the Republic today (July 22) registered its concerns with Indonesia over hotspot counts.
In a letter and call to Indonesia officials, National Environment Agency (NEA) Chief Executive Ronnie Tay raised concerns that the region would “once again be shrouded by smoke haze if the hotspots in Sumatra continue to remain high”, said the NEA in a statement.
Mr Tay also sought an “urgent update” of Indonesia’s efforts to tackle the fires and urged Indonesia to take immediate action.
Said NEA: “Mr Tay reiterated Singapore’s offer to provide support in the early detection of hotspots and suppression of fires, as well as to renew our standing offer of an aircraft to assist in cloud seeding operations.”
Yesterday and today, hotspot counts rose to 261 and 252, respectively. This is a marked increase from 159 hotspots on July 20 and 43 on July 19 and between 0 to 3 hotspots between July 14 to 18.
Yesterday, the NEA cautioned that hazy conditions may return to the Republic in the coming days, if dry weather persists in most parts of Sumatra and wind direction changes in the next two days.
Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environment and Social Vulnerability, Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, Mr Willem Rampangilei, whom Mr Tay had called, said there has been “new sporadic burning”, said the NEA.
“He assured Mr Tay that the Indonesian government is monitoring the situation and taking various actions on the ground to suppress the fires, such as cloud seeding and water bombing efforts.”
Mr Rampangilei also said that the government has strengthened law enforcement and socialisation efforts, and the deployment of additional police and troops to the Riau area “will be considered urgently in a high level inter-agency meeting”.
The NEA said it will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with its Indonesian counterparts on the transboundary haze issue.
The NEA has also advised the interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre, through the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), that Alert Level 3 for Sumatra has been activated.
The ASMC has a regional warning system for the fire and haze situation based on three levels of alert. Alert Level 3 is activated when there are 250 hotspots or more detected on two consecutive days with dry weather conditions persisting and prevailing winds blowing towards other ASEAN countries. When Alert Level 3 is triggered, a panel of experts from the member countries may be deployed to the affected country, with the country’s consent, to assist in assessing the situation and provide their recommendations on resources that need to be mobilised to mitigate the fires and transboundary haze pollution.
Singapore is represented by experts from the SCDF in the panel and hosts the ASMC that supports the panel.
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta
Straits Times 23 Jul 13;
INDONESIA will begin cloud seeding to induce rain over Riau province as early as today, officials say, as the smoke from forest fires returned to shroud parts of the province and neighbouring Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur and Muar.
The skies are still clear in Singapore, but the National Environment Agency (NEA) says that the haze may return if the wind changes direction. Today's air quality until 4pm is expected to be good to moderate.
NEA chief executive Ronnie Tay yesterday registered Singapore's concerns over a sudden spike in the number of hot spots in Sumatra in a letter to Mr Arief Yuwono, Deputy Minister at the Environment Ministry. He also extended Singapore's support and assistance to Indonesia.
The number of forest-fire hot spots in Sumatra rose sharply at the weekend.
Yesterday, the PSI hit hazardous levels in parts of Riau, which affected several flights in the morning. For instance, the Pollutant Standards Index reading was 619 in Rumbai, north of provincial capital Pekanbaru.
Satellite readings showed 252 hot spots across Sumatra yesterday, with 167 in Riau. The province had 173 hot spots on Sunday, up sharply from 63 a day earlier.
In Malaysia, the Air Pollutant Index reading in places such as Malacca, Muar in Johor and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur was above 100, which is in the unhealthy range.
The return of the forest fires before October, when the dry season ends, had been anticipated.
But the sharp jump in the number of hot spots over the weekend came as a surprise, said Mr Heru Widodo, head of the weather modification team at the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).
"We have not had the clouds to seed the past several days, but we should see them back above Riau on July 23 or July 24, according to the latest weather forecast," he told The Straits Times.
Forest fires sent pollution levels to record highs in Riau province and also Malaysia and Singapore last month.
After declaring the haze in Riau a national emergency, Jakarta took charge of efforts, including intensive cloud-seeding and water-bombing operations. Soldiers were sent in to help put out the fires. They were pulled back gradually after the emergency status was lifted on July 10.
Additional reporting by Lester Kong in Kuala Lumpur
Indonesia: Three flights delayed due to haze in Pekanbaru
Antara 22 Jul 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - At least three flights from Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport, Pekanbaru city, to Jakarta and Malaka (Malaysia) were delayed on Monday morning due to haze reducing visibility.
"This morning the visibility is only 300 meters while normal visibility to conduct flight service is 1000 meters and above. Hence we delay some flights," Airport Duty Manager Hasnan said here on Monday.
The visibility started to get back to normal condition on Monday noon.
Meanwhile according to ANTARA`s observation local people have started to feel the effect of haze in their respiratory system.
"I don`t bring face mask today because I thought the haze has really gone since last month," Anton (42) said.
Spokesman to National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Agus Wibowo confirmed the re-emerge of haze in Pekanbaru city citing drought season that started to come in mid July as the cause of it.
Update from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said up till Monday morning there were 220 hot spots spread out in Riau province namely in Rokan Hilir district (148 spots), Rokan Hulu district (38), Siak district (31) and Bengkalis district (22). The agency indicated the hotspots as the locations of forest fires.
Last June 17, the Riau province`s government declared an emergency status for haze. Hundreds of families were forced to evacuate as haze had affected them and fire had almost reached their homes.
Meanwhile, the Police of Riau have arrested 23 suspects in connection with forest and peat land fires in the province. It was said that the suspects had deliberately burned forest in order to open a new plantation.
(Reporting by Fazar Muhardi/translating and editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
The Star 23 Jul 13;
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia should follow Singapore’s no-nonsense attitude in confronting the annual haze menace, says the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia (EPSM).
According to EPSM president Nithi Nesadurai, the response from the Singapore Government was strong and swift following the choking smog that enveloped the country last month.
“We, on the other hand, seem to have a very accepting and understanding attitude, even during the years when we bore the worst of the haze,” he told The Star.
Nithi said such an attitude did not give Indonesian authorities a sense of urgency to resolve the issue permanently.
“We should take a firm stand. We have a very good relationship with Indonesia, and we should use it to express our frustrations when we need to.
“It’s not about saying nice things to each other all the time,” said Nithi, who also called for a more proactive instead of reactive stance from Asean nations.
Pointing out that the intergovernmental ministerial steering committee meeting should have taken place earlier in the year instead of after another haze episode, he argued that preventive action was possible, noting the “crystal clear skies” over Malaysia when it hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games as opposed to the horrific haze the country experienced in 1997.
“This is the time every year when they start clearing forests. But it’s only when the haze appears that everyone starts running up and down,” said Nithi, who also condemned those conducting local open burning, adding that they could not possibly be ignorant that such activities were illegal.
173 Hotspots Detected In Riau, Haze Is Back
Ahmad Fuad Yahya Bernama 22 Jul 13;
JAKARTA, July 22 (Bernama) -- The haze is back to blanket Riau and reduce vision Monday morning, to 70 metres at the Pekanbaru Airport, and 800 metres in Dumai.
This was caused by the increase in the number of hotspots detected in Riau, to hundreds, to indicate simultaneously that there was a recurrence in the burning of forests in a number of places in the province.
The hazy situation also affected arrivals and departures of aircraft to and from the Pekanbaru Airport, in Riau.
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) of Indonesia said, to date, satellite monitoring detected 173 hotspots in Riau.
This included 69 hotspots in Rokan Hilir, Bengkalis (41), Rokan Hulu (nine), Siak (20), Dumai (12) and one each in Kampar, Pelalawann and Kepulauan Meranti.
BNPB said smoke from the forest fires had badly affected the quality of air in a number of areas in Riau.
BNPB Information, Data and Public Relations Centre head Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the agency had coordinated aid to the Riau Government by providing two Hercules C-130 aircraft and four Casa aircraft for cloud seeding operations to avoid the haze disaster.
Water bombing operations were ongoing, using three BNPB Bolco helicopters and a Sikorsky helicopter which could carry 4,500 litres of water to be dropped on the hotspots in Riau, he said in a statement on Monday.
Equipment and soldiers were also in readiness to be mobilised if the situation warranted it.
The peak of the forest and peat fires is from August to October, whether in Sumatera or Kalimantan.
According to BNPB, 99 per cent of the forest fires were due to deliberate burning and in this regard, the agency had urged the authorities to be stern in their enforcement to deter and stop the burning of forests in Indonesia.
-- BERNAMA
Haze back after false lull
Isabelle Lai The Star 23 Jul 13;
PETALING JAYA: The haze is back in the Klang Valley, Putrajaya, Pahang and Johor, and is expected to spread further inland over the next few days, said the Meteorological Department.
Its central forecasting office director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said visibility in the Klang Valley had “reduced markedly” in a day, with the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang recording visibility of up to 2.5km yesterday afternoon.
“While this later improved, some areas in Petaling Jaya and Subang still had reduced visibility of up to 3km and 4km respectively,” he told The Star.
As of 5pm yesterday, the Department of Environment’s Air Pollutant Index recorded four areas with unhealthy air quality – Bukit Rambai in Malacca (119), Banting in Selangor (110), Muar in Johor (103) and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur (110).
Readings for Malacca city, Nilai and Port Klang hovered dangerously close to the unhealthy mark at 99, 96 and 94 respectively.
No readings were available for Putrajaya, which the DOE attributed to a technical error at the station.
The return of the haze comes just days after Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said his country hoped to ratify the 2002 Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution early next year after last week’s meeting with four of his Asean counterparts.
The treaty aims to stop transboundary haze by requiring parties to prevent burning, monitor prevention efforts, exchange information and provide mutual help.
At the meeting, the ministers had commended Indonesia for its ability to put out the land and forest fires, resulting in a drastic drop in fires.
Its effort had included waterbombing raging fires on plantations in Riau and cloud seeding.
Last month, air quality levels turned hazardous in some parts of peninsular Malaysia as well as Singapore, resulting in the closure of schools and a spike in respiratory illnesses.
Muhammad Helmi said the haze was spreading at a slow rate with the light wind pattern, which was expected to remain steady throughout the week.
He said the haze had also reached parts of Pahang and Johor, and would move northwards to Perak and Penang.
“The main reason for the spread has been the jump in the number of hotspots in Sumatra,” he said, adding that drier weather conditions in the region would contribute to an increase in Indonesian forest fires.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest reading on Sunday, Sumatra has 261 hotspots.
This is yet another sharp spike from 159 on Saturday, 43 on Friday and three on Thursday.
Malaysia also showed a jump in the number of hotspots to 19 on Sunday from five on Saturday.
The Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre’s latest haze map showed moderate haze had spread from central Sumatra, where many hotspots are clustered together, towards peninsular Malaysia.
Singapore’s The Straits Times Indonesian correspondent in Jakarta meanwhile reported that two Dumai-bound flights were forced to return to Pekanbaru yesterday morning due to poor visibility from the haze.
It said the airport in Dumai was closed for over a week when the haze last month was at its worst.
Muhammad Helmi said light to moderate rainfall was expected over the Klang Valley and Pahang, and slightly heavier rainfall over Johor after Thursday.
“There will be some reduction in the haze after the rain, but exactly how much haze it clears up remains to be seen,” he said.
Air quality worsens
Hashini Kavishtri Kannan New Straits Times 23 Jul 13;
RIAU FIRES: Four areas record unhealthy Air Pollutant Index readings
KUALA LUMPUR: THE air quality in several parts of the country deteriorated yesterday as even more fires in Sumatra were detected.
The number of hot spots also increased, adding to the haze.
If there were only two spots considered "unhealthy" on Sunday, yesterday the number rose to four.
The Department of Environment (DoE) said the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), based on satellite imagery from the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, detected 261 hot spots in Indonesia on Sunday, up drastically from the previous day's tally of 159.
In Malaysia, there were 19 hot spots, with the most being in Johor (seven), followed by Kelantan and Pahang (four each), Perak (two) and one each in Selangor and Sabah. On Saturday, there were only five hot spots in the country.
The haze hovering over the country was mostly because of forest fires in Indonesia.
"Winds are carrying smoke from the hot spots in central Sumatra, in particular Riau province, to the central region of the west coast of the peninsula," the DoE said.
On Sunday, Bukit Rambai in Malacca and Cheras here were the only two areas deemed unhealthy, with Air Pollutant Index (API) readings of more than 100.
At 3pm yesterday, the two areas had increased to 126 and 117. They were joined by Banting in Selangor and Malacca city in the unhealthy category, with API readings of 111 and 105, respectively.
Muar registered 100 on the API.
Two hours later, however, Malacca city fell back into the moderate level at 99, only to be replaced by Muar, which went up four points.
Bukit Rambai (119), Cheras and Banting (110 each) remained in the unhealthy category.
Nilai and Port Klang recorded readings close to the unhealthy level with 96 and 94, respectively.
Fishing folk land poor catch
New Straits Times 23 Jul
MUAR: The return of the haze in the Straits of Malacca forced many fishermen to stay on land yesterday, with only about seven per cent of the 1,000-odd boats here leaving for the sea.
Fishermen cast their nets within three nautical miles off the Muar coast and hauled up fish worth between RM200 and RM500, barely enough to cover expenses, including fuel, wages, food and drink.
Although the sky was sunny, it was hazy, and the condition worsened at noon with visibility reduced to one nautical mile.
Chia Tee Tee, 61, said when he left Parit Jawa fishing village with three assistants at 5am yesterday, the sea was normal.
"A few hours later, haze enveloped the Straits of Malacca, reducing visibility to one nautical mile. It worsened towards noon."
Another fisherman, Tan Yong Hwee, 53, said he and his two assistants fished at the coastal areas, to avoid collision with vessels travelling along international waters because of the hazy condition.
Tan said some fishermen suffered runny noses, red eyes, coughs and skin irritation after being exposed to the haze.
Muar-Batu Pahat Fishermen's Association president Ser Boon Huat said more fishermen would abandon their outings as the haze was expected to worsen in the next few days, according to reports from the Department of Environment.
Ser also called on fishermen to light up their boats during the day to avoid collision with other vessels plying the international waters.
Melody Zaccheus Straits Times 23 Jul 13;
KEEN to share the beauty of their estate, eight Seletar residents have spent the last 18 months putting together a 282-page book detailing the rich history and heritage of their neighbourhood.
Down The Seletar River: Discovering A Hidden Treasure Of Singapore features little-known historical nuggets, anecdotes, 19th-century paintings and archive photos of the area.
It was produced to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Seletar Hills Estate Residents' Association (Shera) whose chairman Percival Jeyapal, 71, was also the project's director.
Particularly fascinating for him was learning about the gravestone of Jane Buyers near the Seletar Country Club. She was the wife of shipbuilder JC Buyers, who worked in Singapore from 1863 to 1885.
"There are few incidents of gravestones that go back so far in time," said Mr Jeyapal. "To find a gravestone in a remote part of the island which used to be a mangrove swamp points toward colonial shipbuilding activity in the area."
The book is divided into five sections. It starts by tracing the area's history from the early 1800s when the Orang Laut, or sea people, made it their home.
It then delves into the lives of immigrants from China and India who settled there and grew pepper, gambier and rubber.
It also details life during the inter-war years, when the British set up a military airbase.
It goes on to chronicle the housing rush at Seletar Hills, the development of Jalan Kayu and memories and stories of Seletar residents today.
"It was important for us to tell the story of Seletar and how it evolved from its roots as a backwater estate, through the eyes of its occupants," said primary author Eugene Wijeysingha, 79, a retired principal.
Seletar, as defined in the book, includes Jalan Kayu, Seletar airbase and parts of Ang Mo Kio, Yio Chu Kang and Lorong Buangkok.
Featuring a foreword by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the project was supported by the National Heritage Board, Bukit Sembawang Estates, Fairview Developments and Tuan Sing Holdings.
The book will go on sale from Saturday at its official launch at Seletar Country Club. It is priced at $40, but members of Shera and residents can purchase it for half that. Proceeds will go to the President's Challenge.
"Few people realise the history of this beautiful estate," said project manager Ginger Tiah, 66. "I'm glad we can leave such a legacy behind so that future generations will know the people and stories behind its development."
Posts
visitors since Nov 07