wildsingapore news

Best of our wild blogs: 28 Nov 09

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Venus Drive from Singapore Nature Malayan Night Heron catches an earthworm from Bird Ecology Study Group Wildfacts updates: Sightings in November on wild shores of singapore

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Sentosa's whale shark plan being reviewed

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:20:00 +0000

Straits Times 28 Nov 09; THE authorities are still looking into whether Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) will be allowed to drop a controversial plan to exhibit the world's largest fish. The resort said in May that it might not be able to care for the animals, which can grow to more than 12m long and weigh up to 15 tonnes. The whale sharks had been touted as a star attraction at the resort's 8ha oceanarium, the biggest in the world, when Genting International's RWS won its bid for the Sentosa integrated resort three years ago. Whale sharks have been notoriously difficult to keep in...

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Singapore Economic Roundtable: Singapore constrained in green policy response

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:18:00 +0000

Business Times 27 Nov 09; The factors: its size, cost competitiveness considerations SINGAPORE's policy response to climate change is limited by its size and considerations of cost-competitiveness, local economists said at a forum yesterday. Monitoring the environmental impact of individual internal projects and focusing on optimising technology to boost energy efficiency is more realistic than committing to carbon emission targets, some participants at the 12th Singapore Economic Roundtable said. Opening the session on climate change with a presentation on policy implications, Bindu...

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PUB spending $68m to stem flooding

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Drains to be widened in several areas over the next three years Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 28 Nov 09; THE PUB is spending $67.5million over the next three years to widen the drains in five areas around Singapore to make them less prone to floods. They are in Jalan Haji Alias, Telok Kurau, Keppel Road, Jurong Port Road and Lincoln Road. The national water agency also recently completed 10 projects in places such as Sims Avenue, Geylang and Commonwealth Avenue, which are low-lying areas prone to being inundated by the year-end deluge. The projects were fast-tracked and completed in...

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Floods a freak event, or could we have tracked it?

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:14:00 +0000

Straits Times Forum 28 Nov 09; IT IS heartening to learn from Wednesday's report, 'Work to expand canals next year', that PUB intends to take concrete steps in the wake of what was described as 'an extraordinarily intensive storm on Nov 19'. I hope this will go at least some way to relieve the anxiety of residents in the flood-prone Bukit Timah area. Although we are into the annual monsoon period when heavy rain is only to be expected, it does seem strange that with all the sophisticated tracking technology now available to meteorologists, there was no advance warning of this...

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Guppy fishing is cruel

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Straits Times 28 Nov 09; Using live guppies as amusement at Geylang Prawn Fishing Restaurant (above) is socially irresponsible, says a reader. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE Iam writing to express my concern over the use of live guppies as amusement for children at Geylang Prawn Fishing Restaurant (Out With Racquets, In With Rods, LifeStyle, Nov 22). Just as the use of dogs or cats forpublic entertainment with ropes or nets in a commercial setting would unlikely be welcomed by the public, I hope guppies would be given the same consideration. There is no justification for the continued use of...

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Singapore clear of malaria cluster but expert says system needs to be ready for another

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:10:00 +0000

Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 27 Nov 09; SINGAPORE: Singapore has been clear of malaria clusters for about two months. But an expert warns that because the country is so globalised, it is a matter of time before another one appears. Hence, the public health system needs to be poised to deal with it. Dr Laurent Renia, a researcher who has three to four years of experience with Singapore's malaria situation, said that in the first 14 days of infection, the malaria parasite remains dormant in the liver. In the recent malaria clusters here, with nearly all the 28 people infected living in...

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‘No plastic’ for three days campaign in Penang

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

The Star 28 Nov 09; GEORGE TOWN: It is “No Plastic Day” on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too in Penang from Jan 1. The state government has decided to extend its “No Plastic Monday” campaign against the use of plastic bags to three days in a week. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said all hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini-markets would be required to abide by the ruling for their licences to be renewed under the Local Government Act and Municipal Council of Penang Island (Food Establishments) by-laws. “Consumers who insist on plastic bags will still pay 20sen per plastic bag, which will then be...

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Dark roads will lead to brighter future says UK pollution commission

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Ben Webster, The Times Online 28 Nov 09; The bright lights of the M4 motorway which could soon become a dim memory Street and motorway lights should be dimmed or switched off to save energy and let people see the stars, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says. It says there is little evidence that such lighting significantly cuts accidents or crime. It recommends the removal of thousands of motorway lights, possibly even at junctions. Its report, Artificial Light in the Environment, also calls on councils to consider reducing street lighting. The report says that since 1993...

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Raja Musa peat swamp in Malaysia shows signs of new life

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:54:00 +0000

Salina Khalid, The Star 28 Nov 09; A year ago, the Raja Musa forest reserve near Batang Berjuntai was in a deplorable state with hardly any of the original species of trees seen at the peat swamp. What used to be a heavily forested area had become barren land. Pockets of the forest reserve were planted with cash crops like tapioca, pineapple, starfruit and banana trees instead of the original species like Mahang (Macarang species), Meranti (Shorea spp), Jelutong (Dyera sp,), Rengas (Gluta renghas) and Ramin (Gonystilus bancanus), which are commonly found at peat forests. For more than 10...

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Indonesia loses 1.1 million hectares of forest each year: minister

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:52:00 +0000

www.chinaview.cn 28 Nov 09; JAKARTA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The deforestation in Indonesia takes up to 1.1 million hectares each year, while the government is only able to restore 500,000 acres each year, a local media reported here on Saturday. Speaking in South Kalimantan province's capital city of Banjarmasin on Friday, the Environmental Affairs Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said that should such a condition continue to occur, it would endanger 30 to 40 million people around the country living around the devastated forests. "Smog from the forest fire, extreme climate change, flood,...

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Battling Siberia's illegal loggers

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Alfonso Daniels, BBC News 27 Nov 09; Wagons brimming with logs accumulate in the Siberian railway station of Dalnerechensk, more than 8,000km (4,971 miles) east of Moscow. They are waiting to cross the nearby Chinese border. Once in China, they will be processed and used for construction or turned into garden furniture and other products to be sold in European and US shops. More than a third of all Russian logs are smuggled by mafias, a practice that doubled between 2005 and 2007, according to official figures. It is a huge business. China imports nearly six out of 10 logs produced in the...

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Top French chefs take bluefin tuna off the menu

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:42:00 +0000

Gersende Rambourg Yahoo News 26 Nov 09; PARIS (AFP) – Top French chefs this week pledged to keep bluefin tuna and other threatened fish species off the menu, whatever the cost. With half of the fish eaten in Europe dished up in restaurants, it was high time for the food-loving nation's leading chefs to take a stand, said one of the country's greatest chefs, Olivier Roellinger. Roellinger, celebrated for his fish and seaweed fare in western Brittany, took bluefin tuna -- aka red tuna -- off the menu five years ago. "We have a responsibility towards all those who are in charge of feeding...

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Carbon offsetting 'not working' says travel firm

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:40:00 +0000

BBC News 28 Nov 09; Consumer carbon offset schemes do not lead people to change their behaviour, the first holiday firm to run such a scheme has argued. Responsible Travel said they were a "distraction" from climate change's real urgency and is ending its scheme. Such schemes involve individuals paying a premium for the emissions generated by certain choices, such as flying. The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance says offsetting has an impact, but governments must do more. Carbon offset schemes also cover things like choosing to drive a car or choices around the way...

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Australian marine scientists issue call to arms after devastating report

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Beborah Smith, Sydney Morning Herald 28 Nov 09; MORE than 70 Australian marine scientists have called for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the release of the first report card on the impact of climate change on the marine environment. Oceans around the continent have warmed and become more acidic and the East Australian Current has strengthened, bringing hotter, saltier water 350 kilometres further south than 60 years ago. This has caused coral bleaching and is the likely cause of a 10 per cent reduction in growth rates of corals on the Great Barrier Reef,...

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Momentum grows for Copenhagen climate deal

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:34:00 +0000

Pascal Fletcher and Adrian Croft, Reuters 27 Nov 09; PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - World leaders on Friday rallied to a diplomatic offensive to forge a U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen next month and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said an agreement was "within reach". Ban, and Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen who will host the December 7-18 U.N. climate talks, hailed what they portrayed as a growing international momentum toward a pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. "Our common goal is to achieve a firm foundation for a legally binding climate treaty as...

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Legal treaty for climate change wanted: CHOGM

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Lim Ai Lee, The Star 28 Nov 09; PORT OF SPAIN: Commonwealth countries, including Malaysia, have agreed to press for a legally binding treaty to be implemented during the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. The decision was made at a special session on climate change held after the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, were invited as guests to give their views at the session on Friday. The...

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Hacked E-Mail Data Prompts Calls for Changes in Climate Research

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:30:00 +0000

Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times 27 Nov 09; Some prominent climate scientists are calling for changes in the way research on global warming is conducted after a British university said thousands of private e-mail messages and documents had been stolen from its climate center. The scientists say that the e-mail messages, which have circulated on the Internet and which disclose the inner workings of a small network of climatologists who chart the planet’s temperature, have damaged the public’s trust in the evidence that humans are dangerously warming the planet, just as many countries are...

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Nov 09

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

When the Melastoma Blooms from Butterflies of Singapore

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Best of our wild blogs: 27 Nov 09

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

28 Nov (Sat) is Buy Nothing Day from wild shores of singapore 11 Dec (Fri): Workshop for Nature Guides - Molluscs from wild shores of singapore White-bellied Sea Eagle mobbed by crows from Bird Ecology Study Group Reclamation at Pulau Tekong continues to Jun 10 from wild shores of singapore Greenpost-ing from spotlight's on nature

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Singapore and the world in 2050

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Straits Times 27 Nov 09; What will Singapore, and the world, be like in 2050? There were plenty of ideas of what sort of sustainable communities were needed when thinkers and visionaries put their heads together at the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design's World Design Congress here this week. The designers looked at existing research and thought up new ways of life for societies 40 years on. Tan Hui Yee looks at four of the ideas New tastes and power sources DINNER is served, Sir, and we have a wonderful selection for you tonight: succulent barbecued sewer rat,...

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Havoc on trees, animals: LTA must do more to save our rainforest

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Letter from Ginny Leow-Guerville, Today Online 23 Nov 09; WITH no notice to residents living near the forest along Blackmore Drive and Bukit Timah Road, work commenced last Friday morning at relentless speed to clear the primary rainforest for the purpose of evaluating land use for the new Blackmore MRT station. The massive clearing of undergrowth of the forest led to several different species of birds flying desperately around the forest in panic. My six-year-old daughter and I have often seen squirrels and monitor lizards there and are devastated by the sudden loss of their natural...

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The ultimate Christmas gift? Buy nothing

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:50:00 +0000

Buy Nothing day is a protest against the environmental 'shopocalypse' that is the Christmas shopping rush Reverend Billy Talen, guardian.co.uk 26 Nov 09; Tomorrow is Buy Nothing day in the United States. A group of people including myself will preach and sing at the front door of Macy's department store in New York. We do this every year. We'll be there at 5am, when shoppers who have been up all night wait in line rush the glass doors. This is the human comedy at its most sad, and it is an environmental "shopocalypse". Buy Nothing day is an old idea – that we should drop out of consumerism...

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For giant turtles, beach offers a precarious start to life

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:46:00 +0000

Patrick Fort AFP Google News 27 Nov 09; POINTE DENIS, Gabon — After two hours of scouring the beaches of Pongara National Park in the dark night, Joan Ikoun-Ngossa and his patrol finally find a leatherback turtle. It has just laid its eggs and is struggling awkwardly back to the sea. For its young, however, there is just a one in a thousand chance of making it to adulthood, thanks to a deadly combination of humans, natural predators, pollution and sometimes sheer bad luck. With the help of a light -- coloured red, so as not to dazzle or upset the turtle -- Ikoun-Ngossa of Aventures Sans...

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The 'bycatch' of birds downed by industrial fishing

hello@wildsingapore.com (ria) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Michael McCarthy, The Independent 27 Nov 09; Concern is growing about the huge number of seabirds being killed by fisheries in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said yesterday. Although conservationists' fears have so far focused on seabirds in the Southern Ocean, especially albatrosses, there is mounting alarm over the numbers of northern species, such as shearwaters and petrels, falling victim to large-scale industrialised fishing methods. The most deadly of these is longlining, which involves hooks set with bait on lines which...

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