URA Draft Master Plan 2019: More housing planned for CBD, Marina Bay area

Fann Sim Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: More homes will be built in the central business district (CBD) and Marina Bay area, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Wednesday (Mar 27).

Under its Draft Master Plan 2019, which includes plans to rejuvenate the central area, URA said it will increase housing in sites such as Downtown, Marina South and Rochor so that more people can live closer to their workplaces and other amenities.

The plan for a larger live-in population in the office-dominated CBD and Marina Bay area is part of a move by URA to bring more life to the area after office hours.

"We are looking to bring in new housing options in the CBD. We want to make our CBD more vibrant, a 24/7 precinct, and housing is one of the ways where we want to bring in more people that will be living within the CBD areas," said Ms Hwang Yu-Ning, URA’s chief planner.

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Malaysia: Sarawak says all ready for dry El Nino weather

sharon ling The Star 26 Mar 19;

KUCHING: Sarawak is prepared to face the dry spell stemming from the El Nino weather phenomenon, readying about 1,000 vehicles and boats to deliver water to villages as needed.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said although this year's El Nino was weak, it was expected to last until May and had already caused dry weather with less rain.

"Several villages and longhouses are facing water shortage, so we have decided that the disaster management committees at divisional level will continue with their preparations for the dry spell.

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Coral reefs near equator less affected by ocean warming

Research based on analysis of field observations from 20-year global coral survey
Florida Institute of Technology Science Daily 20 Mar 19;

Ocean warming is threatening coral reefs globally, with persistent thermal stress events degrading coral reefs worldwide, but a new study has found that corals at or near the equator are affected less than corals elsewhere.

The findings from Florida Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Shannon Sully and professor Rob van Woesik, along with colleagues at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Reef Check, were published March 20 in the journal Nature Communications.

The work, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Zegar Family Foundation, was based on analysis of field observations from a 20-year global survey of over 3,500 coral study sites led by Reef Check founder and former director Gregor Hodgson.

As expected, coral bleaching was most common in localities experiencing high-temperature stress, but it was significantly less common in those places with high monthly variation in temperatures.

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Best of our wild blogs: 26 Mar 19

Sisters' Islands Marine Park (Pulau Subar Laut)
Offshore Singapore

A playground within nature – Love MacRitchie Walk (10 March 2019)
Love our MacRitchie Forest

Asian Openbill-Singapore’s 2nd Record
Singapore Bird Group

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HQ of Singapore construction firm being built with sustainable material from local waste

Joy Pang Minle Straits Times 25 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE - The first step in developing sustainable construction material using local waste was taken today (Mar 25), with the signing of an agreement that will include its use in the building of a new headquarters of a local construction company.

The agreement between JTC Corporation and Samwoh Corporation will see recycled materials processed from construction and industrial waste, like sedimentary rocks excavated from Jurong Rock Caverns, being used in erecting the four-storey building near Kranji Reservoir.

Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat, who witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between JTC and Samwoh, told The Straits Times he is confident Singapore can play a key role in sustainable technology.

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NEA's pay-as-you-throw idea triggers memes and serious debate

Residents worry about hike in waste disposal fee and indiscriminate throwing of rubbish
Cheryl Teh Straits Times 26 Mar 19;

One photo showed the white-and-blue Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantry photoshopped onto a rubbish chute with the caption "Electronic Rubbish Pricing".

Another showed a rubbish chute with a coin-slot, labelled "insert coin to dump rubbish", next to it.

These memes have surfaced on social media following a Straits Times report on March 15 over a "pay-as-you-throw" pilot by the National Environment Agency (NEA) later this year, to make households pay according to the garbage they throw.

Besides the lighthearted memes, the report has triggered a serious debate over the feasibility of implementing such a scheme here and the necessity of exploring this idea or even others to monitor and limit rubbish dumped by households.

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Malaysia: 3 charged over Sg Kim Kim pollution

Rizalman Hammim New Straits Times 25 Mar 19;

JOHOR BARU: “THERE are no chemiclas in court, so why are you wearing a mask? Remove it.”

This was the stinging rebuke delivered by judge Jailani Rahman to the director of a used tyre processing factory, who was wearing a disposable mask for his charge proceedings at the Sessions Court here yesterday.

The accused, Wang Jing Chao, 34, a Singaporean, was called out for the charge to be read.

Wang was the last of three people brought to court over charges of collusion and of disposing of a scheduled substance into Sungai Kim Kim.

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Malaysia: Wildfires and smog pose a danger in Sarawak

stephen then The Star 26 Mar 19;

MIRI: Choking smog are enveloping residential estates in many parts of Miri and Kuala Baram districts during the night and pre-dawn hours.

This smog comes from wildfires that rage at night in several hotspots.

The air pollution is making it hard for residents who have to breathe in the foul air.

Firefighters from the Miri and Lopeng Bomba stations are working non-stop to fight the fires, but some are burning so close to housing estates, they pose a real physical danger.

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Malaysia: Rain eases dry spell

ROSLI ZAKARIA AND OLIVIA MIWIL New Straits Times 26 May 19;

KUALA LUMPUR: AFTER weeks of prolonged hot and dry weather, rain finally brought relief to residents of the Klang Valley, Terengganu and Sabah yesterday.

The hour-long downpour, however, caused flash floods in some parts of the city here.

In Kampung Datuk Keramat, firemen had to rescue a 15-year-old disabled person and a 4-month-old baby trapped in floodwaters.

The Fire and Rescue Department said several cars were stranded in the flood.

Keramat Fire and Rescue Department operations commander Suhaimi Abdul Shukor said floodwaters in Kampung Datuk Keramat were 3m deep.

The rain also led to several felled trees in the city’s main arteries, such as Jalan Ampang and Jalan Genting Klang.

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Malaysia, Johor: No water supply to 75,000 following closure of Simpang Renggam plant

Bernama New Straits Times 26 Mar 19;

KLUANG: Water supply to about 75,000 consumers of SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd in Johor have been cut off since Saturday morning (March 23).

This follows the temporary closure of the water treatment plant in Simpang Renggam in Kluang.

The plant was closed because of ammonia pollution in Sungai Benut.

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Indonesia: Wildfires rage on in Riau, authorities use helicopters to put out flames

The Jakarta Post 25 Mar 19;

The head coordinator of the Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Edwar Sanger, said the wildfires were likely to keep spreading, as the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru was still detecting hot spots.

Edwar said Bengkalis was the hardest hit regency with 1,263 ha of burned land. Most districts in the regency have experienced wildfires since early this year. However, the worst wildfires were recorded on Rupat Island, where peatland was on fire throughout February, causing thick smoke that spread to the city of Dumai on the Sumatran mainland.

Aside from Bengkalis, severe wildfires were reported in the east coast areas of Rokan Hilir (407 ha), Meranti (222.4 ha) and Dumai (192.25 ha).

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Indonesia: Protecting Orangutans in natural habitat deemed crucial

Antara 25 Mar 19;

The Indonesian authorities foiled a tourist's attempt to smuggle an orangutan out of Bali Island recently. (ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo)

Jakarta (ANTARA) - It is incredibly heartbreaking to see a picture of a tourist in Bali attempting to smuggle a drugged orangutan kept in a rattan basket into Russia.

During X-ray screening, Bali's conservation agency staff spotted the two-year-old male ape in the 27-year-old Russian's suitcase on March 22, 2019. The Bali police arrested the tourist, who had planned to bring home the "sleeping" orangutan and keep him as a pet.

Orangutans (orang means human and utan means forest) are among the rarest animals, as only 100 thousand of the protected species remain worldwide.

Preserving wildlife in its natural forest habitat is a vital step in ensuring that conservation efforts were successful in the long term.

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