Best of our wild blogs: 23 Aug 13

“Forget Not Our Living Forest” talks
from Toddycats!

Starry Punggol Jetty with disturbing trash
from wild shores of singapore

A berry good time
from The annotated budak

The tale of three pairs of grey-rumped treeswifts
from Life's Indulgences

Olive-backed Sunbird panting
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Down Memory Lane - Orange Gull
from Butterflies of Singapore

Singapore, Naturally – a special two page spread in the Straits Times (17 August 2013) from Raffles Museum News

Mon, 26 Aug 2013, 2.00pm @ DBS CR1 – Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz on “MEME – Moving Towards a Science-Driven Conservation of Malaysian Elephants” from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

八月双溪布洛华语导游 Mandarin guide walk@SBWR, Aug (XXXXIII)
from PurpleMangrove

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Singapore government considering harsher penalties for companies that harm the environment: Dr Balakrishnan

Woo Sian Boon Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan today (Aug 22) reiterated that the Government is considering legislation to enhance penalties for companies whose irresponsible actions damage the environment and cause transboundary haze.

Speaking at the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards, Dr Balakrishnan said legislation will be difficult to enforce but added that a “clear and unequivocal signal” needs to be sent to errant companies. This comes after the air quality on Tuesday fell into the moderate range after weeks of clear skies, following Singapore's worst haze episode in June.

Lauding award winners for doing their part for the environment, he said companies should not work at only earning short term profits that cause negative impact to the society at large.

Using the example of the errant palm oil companies operating in Indonesia, Dr Balakrishnan said that their actions have damaged the reputation of the industry and country.

“You privatise the game but you socialise the negative environmental impact. It does not appear on the company’s bottom line but everybody else suffers,” he said.

Govt mulling tougher penalties for firms that harm environment
Channel NewsAsia 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said the government needs to send a clear and unequivocal signal to irresponsible companies whose actions damage the environment and cause transboundary effects.

Singapore experienced its worst haze in June, with PSI levels reaching a record high of 401.

The haze was caused by forest fires in Indonesia.

Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore is currently considering drafting legislation to enhance penalties for irresponsible companies.

However, he noted that such legislation will not be easy to draft, and even harder to enforce.

He said it is still necessary to send a signal to companies that such behaviour is not acceptable -- and that besides the government, companies and individuals also have a part to play.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "If we are to make companies behave responsibly, and to make the more responsible companies more profitable, we require individuals to exercise informed choice."

They can do this by demanding transparency from both governments and companies, as well as choose the right products -- products that have been produced in a sustainable and responsible way.

Dr Balakrishnan was speaking at the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards on Thursday.

Seven organisations were recognised for their environmental initiatives in Singapore and the region.

Dr Balakrishnan said such companies demonstrated that it is possible to do the right thing environmentally and in an economically viable way.

Besides winning the Environmental Achievement Award in the regional category, Malaysia-based KUB-Berjaya Enviro also won the coveted Outstanding Singapore Environmental Achievement Award.

Keppel Land won the Achievement Award in the Services category, while the Institute of Technical Education came out tops in the Public Sector category.

The Housing and Development Board took home the Green Innovation Award, while East View Primary School, Keppel DHCS and M Metal were recognised as merit winners.

- CNA/al

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Tackling haze: Learn from the Swedes

Governments need to be savvier in getting evidence of how the haze harms their countries, and work with activist groups to press neighbours to act.
Asit Biswas And Cecilia Tortajada For The Straits Times 23 Aug 13;

THE issue of transboundary air pollution is back in the spotlight with the return of hazy conditions in several parts of Singapore this week.

Transboundary air pollution is air pollution which originates partly or in whole from one state but adversely affects another state.

The problem first made global news in the 1960s, when Swedish and Norwegian scientists noted that increased acidity levels in large numbers of their lakes resulted in fish and other aquatic life dying. Some species were even wiped out.

Acid rain was the culprit and the source was located outside the Scandinavia region: from the United Kingdom, Ruhr Valley of then West Germany, and the heavily polluting countries of Eastern Europe.

Acid rain is produced by sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere reacting with the water droplets in clouds. The chemical produced returns to Earth as sulphuric or nitric acid in rain. The early solution of building taller chimneys for factories emitting industrial pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides only dispersed the pollution over wider and longer distances.

Sweden then took the issue to the United Nations. In 1979, a convention on long-range transboundary air pollution was adopted in Geneva. It entered into force in 1983 and has since been ratified by 51 UN Economic Commission for Europe members.

This first international legally binding instrument to deal with transboundary air pollution has been hailed as a success.

Between 1980 and 2005, sulphur dioxide emissions declined by more than 75 per cent, nitrogen oxides by 30 per cent and volatile organic compounds by 40 per cent. Countries like Sweden and Norway no longer worry that acid rain will harm their lakes or forests.

In Asean's backyard

THE haze problem in South-east Asia is almost of a similar vintage as Sweden's. But so far, Asean has not proven as effective in dealing with it.

The haze has its origins in forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces. Its impact is felt across borders.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the health and economic implications of the haze problem were neither well known nor properly appreciated. By 1995, haze was deemed a serious regional environmental health issue, prompting an Asean Environment Ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss transboundary air pollution. But the situation did not improve.

In 1997, forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra fuelled serious haze in Malaysia and Singapore. The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit a "very unhealthy" level of 226. Six countries and some 60 million to 70 million people were affected. The cost of the 1997 haze to Singapore's economy was estimated to be US$300 million, and to the region, US$9 billion.

The haze returned with a vengeance this year. On June 21, the three-hour PSI in Singapore reached a new peak of 401.

Officials from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have held several meetings to discuss the problem. But serious challenges prevent a quick resolution.

For one thing, the fires are caused by farmers who use the "slash and burn" method to clear land for oil palm, rubber and plantation forestry.

Last year, Indonesia exported US$17.9 billion (S$22.75 billion) worth of palm oil, and around five million Indonesians depend on this industry for a living.

It is now evident that the slash and burn method is being practised by both small farmers and large plantations. It will be challenging to make a poor farmer understand that his land-clearing method is causing pollution and respiratory problems in distant lands, let alone consider alternatives. Large plantations are more interested in maximising profits than sustainable agriculture. Corruption is also rife in the issuing of land clearance permits and the enforcement of existing laws.

It is highly unlikely the haze problem will be solved overnight.

Indonesia's hands are tied

ASEAN'S approach towards solving transboundary air pollution differs markedly from Sweden's strategy.

Sweden documented through extensive research the damage wrought by acid rain to its economy and environment. It then aggressively disseminated this information through scientific papers, the media, relevant inter-governmental fora, and through activist environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The problem was almost fully resolved by the early 1990s.

In sharp contrast, Asean takes a "softly, softly" approach, in line with its non-intervention culture. In 2002, it adopted an agreement on Transboundary Haze that came into force in 2003. The pact requires parties to prevent burning of forests, and to provide information and mutual help.

Indonesia, from where the haze originates, has not ratified the pact. It will try again to get its Parliament to ratify it next year.

Having advised several countries on transboundary resources management issues, we feel that even after Indonesia has ratified the agreement, its impact on controlling the haze will be limited.

Several serious structural problems in Indonesia will have to be solved.

First, there are at least three Indonesian laws that prohibit open burning and clearing of forests. But not one major group has been successfully prosecuted and penalised for violating the existing laws. Enforcement of laws is thus a problem.

Second, policies and activities of different agencies are not properly coordinated. At the central level, the Environment Ministry is responsible for haze, but concessions for land clearance are granted by other ministries like Agriculture and Forestry.

Decentralisation has weakened control and oversight from the centre. Local communities and individuals act mostly with limited knowledge of the directives from the central and provincial authorities. It is now a cocktail of overlapping and even conflicting responsibilities that cannot be easily reversed.

Three-step action plan

GIVEN all this, we propose three immediate steps for the countries concerned.

First, apart from going after errant large-scale farms producing palm oil, the main emphasis should be placed on influencing major buyers and pressuring them to buy only from the producers of sustainable palm oil.

These companies are well known and many have already signed the UN Global Compact pledge which stipulates environmental responsibility. One commitment is that "activities on our yard should not cause harm to the environment of our neighbours".

Any purchase of environmentally tainted palm oil will pose a major reputational risk for these companies.

This is more effective than going after the producers who set fire to the land. If the main buyers actively boycott the offending producers, the problem can be promptly controlled.

Second, governments should enlist the help of activist social and environmental NGOs in the region. Unlike most governments, they are also more media-savvy, which will help to raise public awareness.

Third, invite academic and research institutions to conduct definitive studies on the economic, social, environmental and health costs of the annual haze, including in Indonesia. We need reliable estimates of the number of people affected regionally, and the future implications if the haze continues unabated.

An important reason for the Swedish success was persuading its neighbours to control sulphur emissions, based on incontrovertible scientific evidence on the extent of the economic loss and impact on its ecosystem and environment.

Sadly, similar authoritative research on the impact of haze in our region is mostly missing.

Professor Asit Biswas is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and a former senior adviser of the first two heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya, on transboundary resource issues during 1972-1992.

Dr Cecilia Tortajada is the president of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico, and has worked extensively on transboundary resource issues.

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More NTUC FairPrice shoppers bringing their own bags: Survey

Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — About six in 10 NTUC FairPrice customers bring their own shopping bags for groceries and said no thanks to disposable plastic bags, according to a recent survey commissioned by the supermarket chain.

For those who have never practised Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) — 204 respondents among the 536 customers polled — the main consideration was convenience. Top reasons respondents gave for not bringing a bag included finding it troublesome, inconvenient or they were lazy. Only 13 per cent said that they wanted to use the plastic bags as trash bags at home.

Of the customers polled, 62 per cent said that they have practiced Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB), over a third (36 per cent) reported doing so regularly and 13 per cent said that they do it all the time.

FairPrice, which released the results today (Aug 22), added that the results show how BYOB is catching on. Sixty-two per cent of the respondents said they are now practicing BYOB, compared to 33 per cent two years ago.

Encouragingly, eight in 10 customers who BYOB said that they do it to be environmentally friendly and find it convenient to use only one bag for groceries. Only 1 per cent said that they bring their own bags to enjoy discounts and rebates. FairPrice’s Green Rewards scheme gives customers a 10-cent rebate if they brought their own bags and made a minimum purchase of S$10.

The survey also found that more women eschew plastic bags — 69 per cent — with only 48 per cent of men practicing BYOB.

The survey was conducted in May. Respondents were interviewed face-to-face after checking out at NTUC FairPrice supermarkets at 10 locations: Ang Mo Kio Hub, Nex, Jurong Point, Bedok North Street 1, Bukit Panjang Plaza, Chao Chu Kang North 6, Toa Payoh Hub, Tampines Mall, Marine Parade and Bukit Timah Plaza.

Shoppers warming to bring-your-own-bag idea

6 in 10 FairPrice customers have done so at least once, poll shows
Jessica Lim Straits Times 23 Aug 13;

SIX in 10 shoppers have brought a bag from home at least once, as part of a scheme to save the environment, a survey by supermarket chain FairPrice showed yesterday.

The poll shows customers are warming to the idea, which aims to reduce landfill. It found the typical bag-toting shopper is a woman aged 35 to 54 who does it for the environment.

Of those who have brought their own, 58 per cent said it was a regular thing while 21 per cent did so all the time.

And in an encouraging sign, 29 per cent started taking a bag to the supermarket within the past two years.

FairPrice interviewed 536 of its customers for the survey.

It said the initiative, which it introduced in 2007, helped to save seven million plastic bags last year. Those who take part save 10 cents if they spend more than $10 at the chain.

Three billion plastic bags are used a year here.

Singapore Environment Council director Jose Raymond said only a handful of retailers here had cottoned on to the bring-your-own-bag idea.

"It's up to the retailers to decide," he added. "We can push and engage them as much as possible but the decision is ultimately theirs."

Mr Raymond urged shops to train their cashiers to ask customers if they need a bag.

He said the survey results were "a good start", adding: "Hopefully this will encourage others to do the same."

In 2007, furniture chain Ikea became Singapore's first retailer to start charging for disposable plastic bags. It stopped providing them altogether in March. Shoppers were left with two options: bring their own carrier or buy a reusable one for either 30 or 90 cents.

Last year, clothing chain Bossini started charging 10 cents per bag - which led to 80 per cent of its customers deciding not to use one at all.

Cold Storage has started telling its cashiers to ask customers if they need a bag and encourage them to bring their own. But the chain has no plans to charge for them at present, said a spokesman for its owner, Dairy Farm Singapore.

"I think customers still expect bags," she said. "They may find it inconvenient if they had to bring their own."

FairPrice's face-to-face survey also listed the top reasons some continued to rely on carrier bags from the supermarket. These included finding it troublesome to bring their own, or simply feeling too lazy.

Bank worker Amurtha Kumaran, 42, said: "Most of the reusable bags cannot contain bulky items. In the end, we still have to use the supermarket's plastic bag."

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Volunteer youth corps to be set up by early 2014

Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 23 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE: The volunteer youth corps, which will start with a few hundred members in early 2014, will aim to offer a volunteering experience that is meaningful and fulfilling so that young Singaporeans will continue serving after their school years.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the programme at the National Day Rally on August 18.

Jonathan Low, a graduate student, is part of a group of computing students from the National University of Singapore who offer IT solutions to non-profit organisations.

Their project not only helps others, but also allows them to apply the skills they learnt in the classroom to real life.

Community projects like this are what the volunteer youth corps wants to generate -- both overseas and in Singapore.

Mr Low said: "Going overseas will allow students to have good exposure. But I think that this is where home is, so we should be volunteering here locally to make this place better."

But going on the streets with a can and asking for donations is not everyone's cup of tea, said Mr Low. Many tend to associate that, and that alone, with volunteering, he added.

He said: "I guess the idea is that with the youth corps we can see more meaningful activities where the students actively engage the beneficiaries, and they can actually see their efforts (paying off)."

The programme will build on and eventually incorporate the existing Youth Expedition Project (YEP), which sends about 4,000 young Singaporeans on overseas community service expeditions a year.

The idea is to have both a local and overseas component in the volunteering experience, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong.

Mr Wong said: "We hope we can harness the energies of our young people and expand the opportunities for them to serve, and at the same time make that service a vehicle to serve community needs as well as our national goals."

The programme targets students in polytechnics, ITEs and universities, but also includes young working adults up to age 35.

Volunteers will be equipped and well-trained before they start on their local and overseas projects, said the National Youth Council (NYC), which will be administering the programme.

When projects are completed, senior volunteers may also get a "pay-it-forward" grant that can be used to help more junior members fund their projects.

For students who wish to take a gap semester and volunteer full time, the youth corps will also offer financial support in the form of a stipend.

Volunteerism in Singapore has increased overall, but the NYC said there is a significant drop at the point where young Singaporeans leave school and start working. More are also doing ad-hoc volunteering, rather than committing to longer-term service.

Mr Wong said: "It's not because there's a shortage of opportunities. There are many opportunities to volunteer, but we think that existing opportunities are somewhat ad-hoc.

“We get feedback from young people that sometimes they want to do something for the community but they're not quite sure how to go about doing it.”

Youth and community organisations will be roped in to train, mentor and work on projects with the volunteers.

Details are being worked out, but the target is to support 6,000 volunteers every year.

Mr Wong and the NYC will be holding dialogues in the coming months with youths and community partners to develop the programme.

- CNA/gn


Resources, grants for volunteers with youth corps
Siau Ming En Today Online 23 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — The new volunteer youth corps hopes to attract young people who want to take a break from their studies to do community work, as well as those without any experience in volunteering.

The volunteers will be provided with resources and grants to implement local and overseas projects, the National Youth Council (NYC) said yesterday as it announced more details of the corps.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, the programme is expected to be implemented early next year and aims to support 6,000 volunteers annually. Funding for the youth corps will come from the National Youth Fund.

The setting up of the corps — aimed at giving young people more opportunities to be involved in community projects — was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his National Day Rally on Sunday

The programme will be open to students from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics, universities and adults between 15 and 35 years old.

Upon completion of a project with the corps, a “pay-it-forward” grant will be provided to encourage youths to continue with community work and share their experiences with junior volunteers.

The programme will have two key components, one of which involves overseas community projects that are built on the existing Youth Expedition Project (YEP). The latter promotes volunteerism among youths by encouraging them to embark on community service-learning projects.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said yesterday: “So over time, your existing YEP will be subsumed within the youth corps, it will be restructured, it will be more focused.”

The other component involves local community projects. “We will match youths to critical local community needs and enable them to make sustained and meaningful contributions,” the NYC said.

An initiative by the National University of Singapore’s computing students, Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations (CVWO), is an example of a local community project that the youth corps might be looking at.

The CVWO, which is supported by the youth fund this year, involves the development of an IT system to better manage the administrative tasks of voluntary welfare organisations.

Fresh graduate Jonathan Low, 26, the CVWO’s current President, said: “We face uncertainty every year when it comes to raising funds”. The club would be able to obtain a “source of sustained funding” if it were to join the youth corps, he added.

Mr Wong, who is also the NYC Chairman, said when it comes to contributing to the community, the feedback gathered from youths is that they “don’t always know how to go about doing so”. Hence, the NYC will work with several youth organisations to develop training and mentoring programmes for the youth corps members.

Volunteer youth corps to start in early 2014
Siau Ming En Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — A volunteer youth corps, targeted at youths aged 15-35, will be set up by the National Youth Council (NYC) in early 2014 to support overseas and local community projects.

Previously announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, the NYC targets reaching out to 6,000 youth corps volunteers annually.

The youth corps will have two components: One component of the youth corps involves overseas community projects that will be built on the existing Youth Expedition Project, and the other component involves local community projects that will match youths to critical local community needs.

Upon completion of the community projects, there will also be a ‘pay-it-forward’ grant for youths to continue with volunteering and share their experiences with junior volunteers.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Chairman of the NYC, Mr Lawrence Wong, said the youth corps will be “an investment in the democracy of deeds” and expand opportunities for youths to service and meet critical community needs.

6,000 sought for youth corps
Janice Heng Straits Times 23 Aug 13;

BEING part of the National Youth Council's (NYC) new volunteer youth corps - which the Council hopes will be 6,000-strong - is more than just signing up for community work.

Participants have to do both an overseas project and a local one.

And although they will be matched to critical local needs at the start, they will have to develop their own projects after doing research on the ground.

"We want the projects to be projects that meet the needs of the community, not just projects that you want to do," said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Lawrence Wong yesterday.

The volunteer youth corps was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday, in a move meant to urge more young people to do community work.

Though the eventual target is 6,000 volunteers each year, the pilot will involve just a few hundred when it starts early next year.

"We want to expand the opportunities for young people to serve, and to make that service a vehicle to meet critical community needs as well as national goals," said Mr Wong. These could include caring for the elderly or fighting global warming, he added.

The youth corps, for those aged 15 to 35, is aimed mainly at students in the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities but is open to working adults. They will receive training and mentoring, funding for projects, networking opportunities and allowances if they want to take time out from their studies for full-time volunteering.

They can also get a "pay-it-forward" grant at the end of their youth corps time, which they can use to mentor new volunteers.

The overseas part of the programme will initially be via the Youth Expedition Project (YEP).

The YEP is chiefly for overseas projects, but it will eventually be subsumed and replaced by the youth corps programme, with its more substantial local component. "We don't quite today have a good platform to facilitate community service projects within Singapore itself," said Mr Wong.

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) will identify specific local organisations to work with volunteers and mentor them. They may also get funding to help build their mentoring capabilities.

The youth corps' budget has not been decided, but it will tap the $100 million National Youth Fund announced in this year's Budget. Over the next few months, MCCY and NYC will hold dialogues for young people and other community partners to work out further details.

ITE student Terence Koh's project, designing mobility devices for the elderly, was held up yesterday as an example of a local project with long-term impact - the sort MCCY wants to fund in the youth corps programme.

But the 19-year-old said he was unsure if he wanted to be part of the programme, given its overseas part. "I'd rather do it locally as I prefer to help those here."

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Malaysia: Outlet in hot water over exotic menu

Yuen MeiKeng The Star 22 Aug 13;

KUALA LUMPUR: Apart from standard fare, the kitchen of a restaurant in Cheras was allegedly serving up exotic dishes featuring bear’s foot and tapir’s nose under its “special order” menu.

Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) enforcement officers raided the restaurant and seized 2.95kg of bear flesh, 1.2kg of pangolin scales, three soft-shelled turtles, 20 bats, 7.4kg of wild boar parts and other types of exotic meat.

“The animal parts were found in the kitchen and freezer of the restaurant during a raid by the Perhilitan wildlife crime unit,” said Perhilitan enforcement director Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim during a press conference here yesterday.

He said Perhilitan officers had observed the restaurant for two months before making their move because the exotic meat was not offered daily.

“The demand for the dishes is high. The average price of an exotic dish sold by the shop is about RM60.

“Those featuring bear’s foot or tapir’s nose should fetch higher prices,” Abdul Kadir said.

Two restaurant workers – a man and his sister, both in their 40s – were arrested to assist in investigations but were granted a RM15,000 bail each with two sureties.

The pair are expected to face court charges on Sept 19.

Among others, the case falls under Section 68(1)(b) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 for taking or keeping any part of a totally protected wildlife without a special permit.

Those convicted can be fined up to RM100,000, jailed up to three years or both.

Abdul Kadir said Perhilitan officers also raided four restaurants in Kedah for similar offences and made similar seizures that included what is thought to be the head of a clouded leopard.

“There have been 78 cases involving wild boar meat, five involving bats and four involving tapir parts reported since 2006,” he said.

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Australia: Prawn fishery bounce back informs on seagrass importance

Aaron Fernandes Science Network Western Australia 22 Aug 13;

tigerprawnProf Loneragan says this study highlights the value of monitoring and adaptive management to conserve fish stocks. Image: James F ClayINSIGHTS into the impact of cyclones on tiger prawn habitats in north Western Australia has demonstrated the resilience of the species, as well as underscored the importance of protecting seagrass for fisheries production and marine biodiversity.

In 1999, a team of researchers began evaluating tiger prawn (Penaeus esculentus) stock in Exmouth Gulf but later expanded their research to assess the impact of Cyclone Vance when it struck before research began.

Murdoch University’s Neill Loneragan says tiger prawns are highly dependent on beds of seagrass and algae at the juvenile stage, and the destruction caused by Cyclone Vance gave them the opportunity to assess the impact on species when seagrass cover is lost.

“Our first survey was in June 1999, three months after the cyclone hit,” Professor Loneragan says.

“The whole system had been devastated by Vance, there was a 40 per cent loss of mangroves, the sediment had been overturned and there was virtually no seagrass or algae present in the system.

“We recorded the cover of seagrass and algae across the eastern and southern Exmouth Gulf, in relatively shallow waters less than 5m deep.

“Seagrass is most abundant in those areas and it’s also where the postlarvae and juvenile stages are found.”

The cyclone caused major disruption and loss of seagrass and macroalgal beds, the critical prawn nursery habitat, and mangroves in the shallow inshore waters.

As a result, prawn landings and recruitment to the fishery were markedly lower in the two years immediately afterwards, before rising again as the cover of macrophytes increased to over 40 per cent in 2003.

“In the year [2000] the prawn catch was extremely low, it had dropped to 80 tonnes and in fact, the Department of Fisheries closed the fishery early to conserve the prawn stocks,” Prof Loneragan says.

“Seagrass can take a long time to recover depending on the species, but in this case within three years it increased its cover up from around two per cent immediately after Cyclone Vance to 30–40 per cent.”

Prof Loneragan says the huge loss of seagrass and macroalgae reduced the settling habitat for post-larvae and the nursery habitat for juvenile tiger prawns, which likely lead to the lower recruitment to the fishery in subsequent years.

“This study demonstrates three things. Firstly, we were quite surprised to observe the resilience of both seagrass and the prawns after suffering the impacts of the cyclone,” he says.

“Secondly, it highlights the value of monitoring and adaptive management to conserve fish stocks.

“Lastly, it illustrates the importance of seagrass and macroalgae as habitats for fisheries and biodiversity.”

Notes:

The research, Impact of cyclones and macrophytes on the recruitment and landings of tiger prawns, Penaeus esculentus, in Exmouth Gulf Western Australia was recently published in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

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Best of our wild blogs: 22 Aug 13

Hungry Ghost Festival 2013
from Pulau Ubin Stories

Chek Jawa checkup - 21082013
from Psychedelic Nature and wild shores of singapore

A south landing
from The annotated budak

Ashy Tailorbird feeding a large Plaintive Cuckoo fledgling
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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New homes, parks on cards after air base moves

Sumita d/o Sreedharan Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — New residential areas, parks, schools, community facilities and job clusters for residents in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the island. These are some of the “exciting possibilities” thrown up by the relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said yesterday in response to TODAY’s queries.

Apart from freeing up 800 hectares of land, the relocation could also see height restrictions removed for surrounding estates such as Toa Payoh, Hougang, Sengkang, Punggol, Bedok and Tampines — giving rise to more development possibilities, be it in the form of taller residential buildings or towering office skyscrapers.

Currently, the tallest flats in these areas are the 40-storey Toa Payoh Crest and 42-storey The Peak @ Toa Payoh.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that over the next two decades, the air base will be moved from Paya Lebar to Changi.

Adding that the relocation is a “large-scale endeavour and will take time to realise”, the MND nevertheless said that the “large size of the site and its fairly central location give rise to many exciting possibilities for new developments to enhance the living environment in the eastern part of Singapore”. It added that new transport corridors across the land currently occupied by the airbase could potentially be created, enhancing connectivity for residents in the area to commute to the city and the western part of the island.

The specific development plans will be shaped over time to “support development options for future generations of Singaporeans”, MND added.

Analysts have estimated that the area which the Paya Lebar Airbase sits on could potentially house at least 60,000 new homes.

The airbase is currently flanked by the industrial areas of Ubi Avenue, Defu Lane and Kaki Bukit to the West and residential estates such as Tampines and Pasir Ris to the East. It is also on the fringes of fast-growing Punggol and Sengkang new towns.

The planned Cross Island Line (CRL) could pass through estates near the area such as Hougang and Pasir Ris.

Analysts cited older flats in the Chai Chee/Bedok area, two-storey shophouses in the Kovan area and industrial buildings in the Paya Lebar area as some potential places for redevelopment.

Mr Colin Tan, Head of Research and Consultancy at Suntec Real Estate Consultants, said: “There are also shophouses in the Serangoon/Hougang area that are getting older and they may catch the eye of private developers now that higher properties can be built.”

Mr Tan said that there is “great potential” for the area to be “an alternate employment hub” to the Central Business District if it is combined with the neighbouring Tampines area. “There is the potential of a mega hub that is greater than Woodlands and the Jurong Lake district,” he added.

Chris International Director Chris Koh said that the industrial properties around the airbase in Paya Lebar have leases of between 30 to 60 years.

“These properties can be taken back by the authorities when the lease is up and without the current height restrictions, they can be very attractive locations based on the infrastructure that has been building up in the area,” said Mr Koh. “The road structures were built with the expected high population in mind, so it will not be difficult to develop the area around it.”

ERA Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim allayed concerns that all low-rise blocks, especially those that are built below their potential plot ratio due to existing height restrictions, may be put on enbloc sale. “Based on urban planning principles, there will always be variations in height... so I think the worry is unfounded,” he said.

More details on the redevelopment of the areas affected by the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase could be shared by the Government when the Land Use Master Plan is unveiled later this year.

Air base move will revive ‘sleepy town’
Emily Liu and Sumita Sreedharan Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — Whenever he needs a change of scenery from the four walls of his office at Kaki Bukit Avenue 3, exhibition designer Rodney Lim needs only to look out of his window — where an uninterrupted view of Singapore’s south-eastern cityscape awaits him.

This is because his office is on the top floor of a 10-storey industrial building, one of the tallest in the vicinity.

“You can see all the way to Marina Bay Sands,” he explained, gesturing towards the familiar silhouette in the distance. The view was the reason he picked the spot as his office — which overlooks the entire eastern side of Singapore — seven years ago, Mr Lim, 47, added.

High-rise buildings remain elusive in large swathes of the east due to height restrictions — which are imposed for safety reasons — on areas around Paya Lebar Air Base.

During the National Day Rally on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced plans to relocate the air base to Changi, thus freeing up these areas from the height restrictions for future redevelopment.

Some residents TODAY interviewed, such as those living in Jalan Tenaga near Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, were looking forward to the changes, even though they are many years away.

“The redevelopment of this place will hopefully inject some life into the entire area and have a positive effect on our property prices,” said businessman Hashim Sulaiman, 40.

Others hoped for more amenities and recreational facilities.

“Right now, we live in a rather sleepy town. So, somewhere we can take our children to on the weekends, for sports or to shop, would be great,” said insurance agent Susan Chua, 38.

Many are unlikely to miss the sound of planes flying overhead on busy afternoons — although some residents and workers in residential neighbourhoods, such as Eunos, Tampines and Hougang, said they had learnt to tune out the engine noise.

“I’ve been here for more than 10 years, I think I have got used to it already,” said Mr Darren Lee, 30, sales manager of Monster Garage Trading at Bartley East Road, which is located south of the air base.

While the industrial area surrounding Mr Lee’s auto-repair company is not easily accessible by public transport — most of his customers either drive or come by taxi — the location still attracts a lot of traffic.

Traffic congestion could be particularly bad during rush hour in the mornings and evenings on roads leading from the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway to the Kaki Bukit Industrial Park.

“Eunos and Kaki Bukit area is famous for the traffic jam,” said Mr Nor Azman, a 50-year-old building management executive.

The widening of Eunos Link — which borders between Kaki Bukit and Ubi — from three to four lanes about two years ago has offered some relief, but not solved the entire problem, he said.

Mr Lim, who also drives to work, avoids the traffic by coming in early in the mornings and leaving late in the evenings. “More development in the area will only add to the traffic,” he said.

In any case, those interviewed said they appreciated the practical benefits of moving the air base out of the area.

“It’s a good thing, because Singapore’s land is scarce, we need to build vertically,” said Mr Nor Azman.

Transport corridors, lifting of height limits after airbase moves
Melissa Tan Straits Times 22 Aug 13;

NEW transport corridors and the relaxing of height restrictions for at least six housing estates in the north-east and east are in store after the air force moves out of Paya Lebar, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said yesterday.

The relocation of the Paya Lebar Airbase, expected to happen after 2030, will free up 800ha of land for redevelopment.

"The large size of the site and its fairly central location give rise to many exciting possibilities for new developments to enhance the living environment in the eastern part of Singapore," MND said in an e-mailed statement in response to media queries.

There was "potential to introduce new transport corridors across the land", it added, and height restrictions could be lifted in several towns currently affected by flight paths.

These towns include Toa Payoh, Hougang, Sengkang, Punggol, Bedok and Tampines.

MND also told The Straits Times that existing height restrictions for buildings affected by flight paths range from between one and two storeys for industrial buildings in Kaki Bukit Industrial Estate, to between 16 and 17 storeys for housing developments in Punggol.

Transport experts said yesterday that an MRT line, as well as major roads and expressways, could be built through the 800ha of land freed up by the relocation.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng said that a Cross Island MRT Line proposed by the Government in January would previously have had to go around the airbase rather than through or under it due to security reasons.

"But now that the airbase will be relocated, there's no need to compromise (on the line's route). It could also be built cheaper and faster," Professor Lee said.

Slated to be ready by 2030, the planned 50km Cross Island Line will run from Jurong to Tampines.

Nanyang Technological University adjunct associate professor Gopinath Menon, a retired Land Transport Authority planner, noted that parts of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) had to be built underground because of the airbase.

"The KPE could be moved to the surface level," he said, adding that any new township built on the vacated land would require surface-level access roads. That township could also get its own MRT station.

Knight Frank research head Alice Tan said future developments in the area would complement the growth of the proposed North Coast Innovation Corridor, a commercial belt stretching from Woodlands and Sembawang to the future Seletar Regional Centre and Punggol.

However, CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim said that the impact of the relocation on property prices in surrounding areas "would depend on how state planners react". He expects the Urban Redevelopment Authority to release Singapore's Master Plan 2013 - a statutory plan on land use - by early next year.

Paya Lebar Airbase is surrounded by low-density developments such as industrial estates, but consultants said that the land use for those areas could eventually be intensified or changed.

As for the towns such as Bedok and Tampines that could have height restrictions relaxed, Mr Sim said the future en bloc potential could result in property prices appreciating 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

However, he cautioned against any "knee-jerk" price rise, saying the airbase relocation was many years down the road.

MND said yesterday that the relocation was "a large-scale endeavour and will take time to realise". It added: "The specific new development plans for Paya Lebar Airbase and the surrounding area will be shaped over time."

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The rising challenge of Singapore's fragile food security

Barry Desker Today Online 22 Aug 13;

The world is being haunted again by the spectre of a global food shortage.

Demand for food over the next decade is expected to increase by 1.1 per cent annually. But global food productivity gains have declined from 2 per cent in 1970-2000, to 1.1 per cent today — and are continuing to decline.

A 2011 study reported that the world consumed more than it had produced for seven out of the past eight years. These concerns will lead to growing attention paid to the nexus between food, water and energy resources, especially as climate change is expected to have an increasing impact globally.

Nineteenth-century economists struggled with the Malthusian dilemma: As populations rose, it was assumed that a forced return to subsistence agriculture would act as a check on population growth. The reality was that the opening of new agricultural land, technological innovation and higher-yielding crops resulted in a capacity to feed an ever-growing population.

However, as once-autarkic economies such as China and India have opened to global trade — and more wealthy societies are eating more protein, consuming more calories and enjoying more varied diets in recent years — there is growing concern with the fragility of the global food system.

These concerns were highlighted by the spike in food prices and disruptions in food supply during the 2007-2008 global food crisis.

WHY GROWING ASIAN CITIES SHOULD WORRY S’POREANS

My colleagues at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies have emphasised that governments need to work with the private sector and other key stakeholders. Instead of piecemeal strategies, an integrated and holistic approach to policy formulation and implementation is critical to deal with the four dimensions in food security: Availability, physical access, economic access and utilisation.

Although agricultural issues appear distant from an urbanised Singapore, food security is politically sensitive precisely because we are dependent on international markets for our food supply. Sharp increases in the price of key food imports, export bans by major food suppliers and difficulties in obtaining adequate supplies could have significant domestic ramifications.

Three trends warrant attention. Firstly, over the next decade, rapid urbanisation will increase the problem of managing food production. In Asia, major cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Yangon are located in fertile rice-growing regions. Urban sprawl is taking over some of the most fertile lands in the surrounding countryside as rural migration to urban centres occurs.

Rapidly increasing urban populations will lead to growing pressures on governments to curb food price rises, undermining the incentive for rural populations to increase food production. This phenomenon is replicated around the world.

Secondly, this is often accompanied by mistaken agricultural policies, such as the encouragement of rice consumption in the islands of eastern Indonesia under former President Suharto. This led to shifts in food preference by the local population, even though these areas are better suited to growing root crops such as cassava.

Elsewhere, food exporters like Argentina implemented export controls when local supply shortages occurred as farmers responded to global price increases.

This resulted in food importing countries seeking long-term supply contracts and negotiating purchases of agricultural land in poverty-stricken economies. In recent years, this has been a significant cause of unrest in African and Asian countries such as Mozambique, Zambia, Myanmar and Cambodia, as Chinese companies have purchased huge tracts of agricultural land.

At the same time, price support schemes such as Thailand’s above-market purchases of rice produced rice mountains as the government is reluctant to sell on world markets at a substantial loss.

ENERGY VS FOOD SECURITY?

Thirdly, there is a negative impact on global food supply as major grain exporters such as the United States, Canada, Argentina and Brazil encourage biofuel production through high government subsidies.

The diversion of grain production to produce biofuels is occurring at a time when there is rising demand for protein and cereals by a growing middle class globally. This “fuel/grains” trade-off will lead to grain prices fluctuating in global markets at prices higher than current levels.

Although it was earlier anticipated that energy security and food security would be competing objectives, the rise of the shale oil and gas revolution has changed the global outlook. The US will soon be self-sufficient in oil and natural gas, Australia could rival Qatar as an exporter of gas, and Europe is re-thinking its opposition to exploiting its shale resources.

Questions are being raised on whether biofuel policies, established as a response to energy supply panics, will be re-thought as governments become aware of the negative impact on food supply.

There is a policy lag as farmers will continue to push for biofuel subsidies, even though the rationale for such subsidies has disappeared. In the US, for example, 30 to 40 per cent of the corn crop is diverted to biofuels annually, and the influential American farm lobby will seek the retention of current subsidies.

IMPORTANCE OF WATER

Another critical issue will be water management, as agriculture uses 70 per cent of global freshwater resources, primarily through the farming of livestock.

And, with rising incomes, there is a shift to meat-based diets — especially in East Asia — leading to rising demand for meat products.

The issue of water management will assume growing importance as water scarcity will be a constraint in expanding food production. Pricing is a critical issue.

Most governments charge farmers 10 to 20 per cent of the price paid by industrial users or households for water consumption.

This leads to sub-optimal use of scarce water resources, such as the growing of water-intensive crops in semi-desert conditions. With water scarcity, conflicts over access to water between countries, as well as between farmers and ranchers within states, will also attract attention.

WHERE FOOD-PRICE INFLATION COULD LEAD

If food-price inflation occurs, the greatest impact will be felt by food import-dependent countries like Egypt and Bangladesh.

There will be pressure to increase food subsidies for basic foodstuffs, but their governments will find it impossible to accede.

Rising powers like China and India will face similar pressures, but could shield themselves through policies of self-sufficiency, increasing subsidies for vulnerable groups within their domestic population and imposing export bans to stabilise domestic prices.

Globally, the challenge of higher food prices will result in innovation and experimentation. Advances in molecular biology — such as the transfer of genes from one plant species to another to produce crops with new or improved features — offer the most promise for significant increases in food production. Although there is strong resistance to genetically modified (GM) crops, especially from the European Union and Japan, food price pressures will lead to greater acceptance elsewhere.

There are already commercially-available herbicide- and insect-resistant soybean, cotton, corn and potato species; ongoing research on rice and canola is likely to result in commercial applications within the next five years.

Salt-tolerant and drought-tolerant crops, micro-irrigation systems and hydroponic greenhouse technologies are significant new directions of research, while techniques aimed at reducing inputs such as seed, fertiliser and water will reduce the negative environmental impact of farming and increase yields.

Concurrently, automation of farming processes will lead to greater efficiency, reduce manpower demands and lower costs of production. As there are major losses during post-harvest storage and transportation, significant increases in food crops for consumption could be obtained through better storage facilities and greater efficiency in food distribution and supply chain networks.

Policymakers and observers of international affairs tend to focus on “hard” security issues such as great power rivalry, nuclear competition, territorial conflicts and competing maritime claims.

But issues like food, energy and water security affect many more people and have an immediate domestic impact. Expect more discussion of this issue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Barry Desker is Dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.


More awareness needed on importance of food security
Chelsea Wan Today Online 2 Sep 13;

I read the commentary “The rising challenge of our fragile food security” (Aug 22) with much interest. Mr Barry Desker rightly highlighted that food security is a “politically sensitive” issue, especially for import-dependent nations like Singapore.

Just because agriculture and farming is out of sight for many of us does not mean it should be out of our minds. However, among my peers, I find that young Singaporeans are not aware of the challenges facing food supplies and do not seem to care.

Singapore ranks 16th among 107 countries in the Global Food Security Index 2013 compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. We scored much higher compared to our neighbouring countries in South-east Asia, and even higher than other wealthy Asian nations such as South Korea and Japan.

This ranking, I believe, is testament to our high standards of living, our government agencies’ good work in regulating quality of food and the assistance available to help poorer Singaporeans with access to food.

But we should not take high levels of food security for granted. As a nation, there are four things we should do.

First, we should do more to boost local production of food to decrease our reliance on import markets. This can be done through agricultural research and development, which might help us maximise the limited land and water resources that we have.

At our frog farm, we have successfully harvested frog fallopian tubes (which were usually thrown away) and processed it into edible hashima.

Second, we should look at alternative sources of food. If people are willing to try out different sources of protein, such as frogs, crocodiles and quails, the strain on food supplies might be eased.

Third, we should look at ways to reduce the environmental impact of food production. Mr Desker mentioned that “most governments charge farmers 10 to 20 per cent of the price paid by industrial users or households for water consumption”. We, farmers in Singapore, do not enjoy such subsidies and pay the same rate for agricultural water as other manufacturers. Thus, we have to make judicious use of water.

At our farm, we have worked with local tertiary institutions on ways to recycle frog skin by making it into usable hide. We have done internal R&D on processing the frog fats into usable oil for lamps.

We also encourage our customers to bring their cooler bags or recycle the styrofoam boxes (provided by us) when they shop with us to enjoy a recycling effort rebate.

Finally, we should educate young Singaporeans more about agriculture and food production.

Many of our senior citizens are familiar with agriculture, as Singapore used to have more farms. They may also have experienced periods of hunger and food shortage in Singapore’s early days.

But our younger Singaporeans never had to worry about having enough food to eat and may take things for granted.

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Malaysia: Captured rhino boost for breeding plan

New Straits Times 22 Aug 13;

KOTA KINABALU: Efforts to increase the Sumatran rhinoceros population in Sabah is on with the capture of a wild female rhino.

Earlier this year, the state government approved the target capture of a female rhino in Danum Valley for breeding purposes.

"We think that there are no more than 10 Sumatran Rhinos left in Sabah," said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

Although some had claimed there were about 30 rhinos, Masidi said evidence collected via camera trap and other methods showed that the number was tiny.

"It is probably safer to assume there are no more than 10 in Sabah now. Of the total, three are in captivity, including Tam, a male, and Puntung, a female, in Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

"These two have been together for more than two years for the purpose of captive breeding but there is no indication that they are even interested in mating," Masidi said after a meeting with the Sabah Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and WWF-Malaysia here, yesterday. The capturing of a female rhino was a long-term aim to reestablish a fully wild rhino population in the state.

The female rhino will be placed in an enclosure in Danum so that she can mate with the male rhino in captivity.

"We have given ourselves until July next year to see some results," said Masidi, adding the government was considering working with the Cincinnati Zoo in United States for the rhino breeding if the initial effort failed.

In the process, he said Tam's sperm would be sent to the zoo to be artificially inseminated into its Sumatran Rhino with the hope that it would be successful.

Sabah Perhilitan director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said governmental and non-governmental professionals in Sabah say there was an urgent need to get as many rhinos into fenced and managed conditions as soon as possible.

"This is so that every rhino can be closely monitored and treated as necessary, to get them producing embryos."

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Malaysia's fish stocks at very low level

Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 22 Aug 13;

THREAT TO ECONOMY: High demand, overfishing blamed for situation

KOTA KINABALU: MALAYSIA has lost almost 92 per cent of its fishery resources due to overfishing between 1971 and 2007, to meet increasing demand, said WWF-Malaysia.

At 55kg per capita, the non-governmental organisation said Malaysians are one of the largest consumers of seafood in Asia.

Hypothetically, in 2048, which is the predicted doomsday for global fisheries, Malaysians would require almost double its current production.

"The inevitable crash of the fisheries could potentially cripple the nation's economy and jeopardise the food security and livelihood of our people," said WWF-Malaysia executive director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma.

"We are working with government agencies, businesses, local communities and consumers to reverse the decline in fish stocks and achieve sustainable fisheries management."

Dionysius, said yesterday campaigns like "Save our seafood 2.0" introduced a guide which helped consumers to make ocean-friendly decisions on seafood.

"To help shift our fisheries towards this direction, consumers are encouraged to look for Marine Stewardship Council or Aquaculture Stewardship Council certified products."

On the subject of timber, he said, exports were expected to double by 2020 based on predictions by the National Timber Industry Policy 2009-2020 and the Ministry of Plantations and Industrial Commodities .

"The current demand for timber products far exceeds its supply.

"This increase in demand will inevitably put pressure on the remaining natural forest, resulting in it being unsustainably harvested."

Therefore, he said sustainable forest management was essential in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems and important for the wellbeing of forest-dependent people.

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