Habitatnews

Sat 08 Jun 2013: 7.00pm @ Yishun Public Library - Tony O'Dempsey on the "Environmental & Cultural History of Yishun"

To register, please email your name and contact details to xiu_fang_tan@nlb.gov.sg. Admission is free but this talk is limited to 25 seats.

Click for larger view

Soil investigation works for the Cross Island Line (Tampines-Jurong MRT) will cause irreparable damage, fragmentation and wildlife loss in our Central Catchment Nature Reserve

"Concerns on Tampines-Jurong MRT route through Central Catchment Nature Reserve" by Tony O'Dempsey, 08 May 2013

"We note the article '50 km Tampines-Jurong MRT route runs deeper underground: LTA" by Jermyn Chow, The Straits Times, 6th May 2013 (see below).
We are gravely concerned that the soil investigation planned for this year will entail the drilling of bore holes every 20 metres along the proposed alignment of the Cross Island MRT through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

MRT Survey Map by Tony O'Dempsey, click for image for larger map
Our concern is that the alignment not only passes through a section of the oldest regrowth forest in Singapore, it also passes through sections of primeval forest as well as a number of rainforest streams.
The access roads required for placement of boring machines as well as their operation at 15-20m intervals will cause irreparable damage to the habitat. In particular the native fauna that depend on the swampy stream habitat in the two valleys affected will most likely be permanently lost.
Even though the MRT line is planned to transit the Nature Reserve underground, the soil investigation works will effectively disconnect the primary forest habitat of MacRitchie area from those of the rest of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
We urge the LTA to redesign the cross island MRT alignment such that it does not intersect the Central Nature reserve. The Map below illustrates the route of the Tampines-Jurong line across the Central Nature reserve as well as the proposed bore hole interval."

Relevant links

MND's "Land Use Beyond 2030" map of Singapore. Habitatnews, 06 Feb 2013
MRT through the Nature Reserve: "the line goes 'through' primary forest and good secondary forest." Habitatnews, 04 Feb 2013

"Studies for Cross Island Line to start," by Jermyn Chow. The Straits Times, 06 May 2013. 50km Tampines-Jurong MRT route runs deeper underground: LTA

While the Cross Island Line is expected to be ready only in 2030, studies will start at the end of this year to plan for Singapore's most ambitious MRT project yet.
The 50km line runs from Tampines to Jurong, passing through densely built-up areas such as Sin Ming, Hougang, Clementi, and beneath the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Catchment Area.
The LTA is planning well ahead of time because contractors will need to dig deeper underground in land-scarce Singapore for new rail projects.
The pace of construction will also depend on the ground's soil profile, which experts say changes every 2 to 3 metres.
This makes excavation works all the more challenging as the tunnel-boring machines move through different types of rock and soil, said Ms Choo Chai Foong, LTA's deputy director for design development (rail).
Ms Choo, who has been with the LTA for 16 years, said: "As stations get deeper, we must be more careful as there will be more risks and engineering methods need to be adjusted."
The LTA will not want a repeat of the tragedy in April 2004, when a deep excavation at a Circle Line worksite collapsed, killing four workers and causing a section of Nicoll Highway to cave in.
That delayed the progress of the Circle Line by around two years and consequently, the rollout of lines that were to come after it.
But Singapore is not the only city to experience delays in rail projects.
Paris' plan to double its network by building some 200km of new lines took years to be finalised and approved.
New York City's Second Avenue Subway project had been planned since 1929, but only got under way in 2007.

jermync@sph.com.sg

"Seven habits of environmentally conscious people" - Eugene Tay's suggestions from Earth Day

Excellent piece by Eugene Tay who authored "The 7 Habits of Green Conscious Singaporeans", summarising key values.

"7 habits of environmentally conscious people."

By Eugene Tay Tse Chuan. The Straits Times Forum, 22 Apr 2013.

TODAY, April 22, is Earth Day, which is celebrated globally with activities to remind us to do our part for the environment.
But do we still continue this effort after Earth Day? There are seven habits commonly found in people who are environmentally conscious that we can learn from.
One, develop a respect for nature, and renew our bond with nature and its biodiversity.
Nature has much to teach us on how to live in harmony with other creatures on earth. Without this respect and bond, there will be no desire to protect nature. Start exploring nature areas in Singapore and join guided walks to learn more.
Two, read up on local and global environmental issues. What are the current environmental trends and problems? What needs to be done? Make a commitment to learn more about these issues from channels such as websites, books, and newspapers.
Three, reduce our environmental impact by taking personal action to reduce energy and water consumption, and waste. Embrace sufficiency in our consumption, and practise the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Four, spread the green message and educate family members, friends, classmates or colleagues. Share your knowledge with them and make use of social media. Influence the organisation that you belong to, whether it is a school, company, or social group, to be more environmentally friendly.
Five, participate in government and civil society initiatives for the environment. Support local environmental causes and non-governmental organisations, and join the various activities organised by the groups or volunteer your time with them.
Six, participate actively and constructively as citizens in the formulation of government policies on the environment. This could be through government dialogue sessions or feedback channels, and also through the media. Play a part in advocating green causes that you feel strongly about.
Seven, make a conscious choice to be a responsible consumer. Buy only what you need and always think twice before buying. Choose more eco-friendly, sustainable, ethical and organic products that are made by sustainable businesses.
We can all commit to adopt and practise the seven habits and do our part for the earth."
Eugene Tay Tse Chuan

Sat 27 Apr 2013: 2.30pm @ U Town - SIP Public Forum, "Can We Plan For 2030?"

Click for pdf with details

The "Youth for Ecology Dialogues" in April and May 2013

Youth For Ecology are conducting a series of focus group dialogues with youth ages 13 to 25 residing in Singapore. They conducted their first session last Saturday at the Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore.

The session began with a briefing about issues (Information Session) and was followed by facilitated discussions in small groups thereafter (Forum Session). The participants were certainly engaged by the information session and offered thoughts from their perspective during the forum which were compiled.

Dr Adrian Loo, an observer at that session, described the session as dynamic, fruitful and "inspiring".

Youth For Ecology dialogues - Information Session

Youth For Ecology dialogues - Forum Session

Youth For Ecology say,

"Through these dialogue sessions, we would like to provoke in our participants more thinking about the natural environment and in the future of Singapore as well as to gather opinions on what everyone perceives/ considers to be important in the long run."

Their objectives:

Youth engagement: To empower youth to progress from knowing about our environment and society, towards thinking, developing perspectives, and expressing views.

Environmental consciousness: To be a credible platform for debate on local environmental issues, characterised by compassion, respect, and clear thought.

National relevance: To encourage a sense of ownership over our future as individuals, Singaporeans and world citizens.

Sessions are being held on Saturday mornings in April and May and weeknight sessions at Jurong Regional Library in May. If you are between the ages of 13 to 25, residing in Singapore and care about what happens, join them by registering at ecoyouthsg.wordpress.com.

Thanks to Adrian Loo for the LINE updates during the session, the photos and for feeding hungry youth.

Is the Sexy Island Wild? Let Neil Humphreys convince you, Channel News Asia, 8.30pm tonight!

Against the backdrop of disappearing habitats in Singapore have been attempts to nurture the little that is left. And there is plenty to care about. Ignorance of this heritage inhibits better protection, management and quite simply, the joy of living in a tropical island. Thus a battle naturalists are perpetually engaged in is introducing Singaporeans to an open secret - the wild places and their inhabitants which still inhabit this island.

Singapore's best selling author Neil Humpreys has embedded his books with these secrets - he wandered the island on his own, sought the help of local naturalists and explored various places feverishly - considerable effort is invested in order to write humorously! So the mangrove hideouts Mat Selamat explored were scrutinised by Neil for his book, "Return to a Sexy Island".

So wild places have a secret weapon, in the form of Neil Humphreys. And he's in action on television in "Return to a Sexy Island", the television series based on his latest best seller - Channel News Asia on Saturdays at 8.30pm. Tell your friends who think we're all concrete, glass and steel! There is something worth protecting after all.

"Beach Forest Species and Mangrove Associates in the Philippines (2012)" - A book review by Lawrence M. Liao

Lawrence Liao is a seaweed expert who helped many of us with their taxonomy and that of seagrass identities during our Chek Jawa surveys. He wrote to inform me of this lovely book published in December 2012 for which he penned this review, which I reproduce here.

Certainly something our mangrove enthusiasts will enjoy. Thanks Lawrence!

Beach Forest Species and Mangrove Associates in the Philippines. By Jurgenne H. Primavera and Resurreccion B. Sadaba. SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department, Tigbauan, Iloilo, ISBN 978-971-9931-01-0, paperback, 28 cm., vii+154 pages. Order inquiries should be directed to the first author using this address:

Filipinos have had an ongoing romance with the coastlines of their islands. The lush beach forests dotting these coasts contain unique vegetation that adjust equally well to the challenges of the salty soil and warm tropical winds. For centuries, beach forests have provided shelter from the strong typhoon winds. The coastal plains of the Philippines were among the first sites opened for human settlement and sprouting towns and cities have displaced beach forests and mangrove swamps. This love-hate relationship between man and nature is evidenced by the many towns named after beach forest elements such as talisay, pandan, balibago and so on.

Beach Forest Species and Mangrove Associates in the Philippines is the latest contribution of the tandem of Jurgenne Primavera and Rex Sadaba who eight years earlier published the highly acclaimed Handbook of the Mangroves of the Philippines - Panay.

This latest work follows in the fine tradition of scholarship, relevance, utility and readability set by the authors in their previous work. It is easy-to-read scientific exposition, economic botany, environmental education and national pride rolled into one handy, colourful volume.

The topic on beach forests and mangroves has gained more relevance these days in the wake of the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when beach forest and mangrove greenbelts were reported to act as life-saving buffer zones. The growing intensity and frequency of weather disturbances brought by changing global climate highlight the important role of beach forests as bio-shield for vulnerable coastal communities. Sad to say, beach forests continue to disappear due mainly to conversion into human settlements and wanton harvesting for fuel wood and medicinal plant parts.

The book is a collection of 140 species both familiar and poorly known, with ~100 treated exhaustively including scientific names, English names, local/regional names, botanical descriptions and folk uses. The plethora of information is supplemented by superb nature photography uncommon in recent Philippine publications. Many of the species are illustrated for the first time in this book. Another strength of this book is the well researched section on ethnobotany culled from original and classical literature during the authors’ library visits in five countries.

A few species of established economic importance, e.g., the coconut and sago palm, are treated more extensively by showing their multifaceted uses and the historical background of such uses.

Reading through this armchair travelogue of beach forests is both a visual feast and quenching experience for information. Some species described are veritable one-species drugstores owing to their many pharmaceutical applications. The seeds of the Chinese lantern tree reportedly contain useful as hair tonic and for making candles, with potential for biofuel production. The fibers from the sea hibiscus made into the popular Hawaiian hula grass skirts are hailed as ‘fiber par excellence.’ The abrasive leaves of the vine commonly known as hagupit in Panay are find use as sandpaper, while the colorful seeds of the wild liquorice have been implicated in murder cases in India. A 600 year old bitaug or dangcalan which probably witnessed the landing of Magellan on Agusan shores was declared the Centennial Tree during the 1998 centennial anniversary of Philippine Independence.

The book sends an urgent message about the vulnerable state of the country’s beach forests, their largely untapped ecological and economic potentials and their natural heritage value for posterity. The message rings loud and clear that indigenous species should be actively promoted for reforestation purposes instead of fast-growing alien species which often alter ecological balance.

In addition, this book gets readers to know more about these poorly understood beach forests, to spend time to commune with these endangered species even if only through the colorful pages of this volume in the comfortable confines of one’s home. This book should be found in the libraries of every village school and home. It is a wise investment towards instilling scientific literacy, environmental awareness and love of Philippine natural heritage among all citizens. The authors deserve to be warmly congratulated and encouraged to continue their worthy efforts.

Lawrence M. Liao, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Biosphere Science
Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences
Hiroshima University
1-4-4, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima
Japan 739-8528

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore: Invitation for Organisers to register and the Recruitment for Volunteer Coordinators

The International Coastal Cleanup is an annual data-collecting exercise conducted in some 70 countries around the world. The progamme in Singapore (ICCS) sees some 60 organisations lead 4,000 volunteers to hit the beaches in September to collect, categorise and dispose of marine trash affecting our shores.

Participants learn the issues affecting our seas first hand and experienced Organisers take it further - they educate participants about marine life of Singapore, impacts to our oceans, examine the national and international data and grapple with the curse of single-use consumer plastic. They consider how to reduce use and disposal for recycling. Action in daily life is a powerful avenue to lead to larger scale solutions.

Registration for Organisers

Registration by veteran and new Organisers alike for the 2013 programme was announced last week. See the details at the ICCS News blog.

Marine trash from Singapore shores, ICCS2012 data

The ICCS Otters who coordinate the programme meet on 22 Mar 2013 to begin the Site Allocation Exercise. They are a small group of dedicated people who have been volunteering with ICCS for up to a decade or more.

They conduct site recces, map locations and register organisations, liase with NEA and NParks, conduct workshops for Organisers, host the annual ICCS Lecture, collate the national data and facilitate and organise cleanups year round.

They work efficiently and try to keep individual work load to a manageable amount, balancing work and volunteering efforts. With the programme, they are efficient and responsive. Meetings and emails are kept to a minimum to prevent burn outs, and the team is able make a long-term contribution.

Recruitment for Coordinators

Every year, recruitment is conducted for Site Buddies and Site Captains and the 2013 recruitment has just been announced. This year the search is on for volunteer coordinators as well.

If this sounds like this is up your alley, see the ICCS News blog for details.

Kelly Ong, Pandan Site Captain since 2008

ICCS Chek Jawa South, 2012

Join us for "The Last Hurrah!" Final tours of the Raffles Museum's Public Gallery, 18-22 Mar 2013

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research has been located at its modern premises in the Faculty of Science only since 1986.

After 15 years, on 15th June 2001, the Public Gallery was opened and this was cause for much celebration. The museum logo of the common palm civet on a palm leaf, was unveiled that day to reflect the new emphasis on education and outreach.

Thousands came over the years, in a trickle, to the well hidden location in NUS with just the NUS Science Library for neighbours at Block S6 at Science Drive 2. Now, after 12 years of service, the Public Gallery will be closed at the end of this month. A new and larger location beckons in 2014 at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and the current space is needed for the intensive work of specimen preparations.

It is already partly closed wth boxes beginning to make an appearance and many of us are tied up at work. However, veteran guides could not allow this young lady to sail off with a whimper, so we have got together to celebrate her service with a final series of tours.

Lunch time and evening tours are offered from 18th to 22 March 2013. Each session is limited to just 15 people, as the space to move around the museum is very small. With a larger space beckoning, this is one farewell that need not be tearful.

So join us, for "The Last Hurrah!"

To register, please go to tinyurl.com/rmbr-lh

Click for full-sized poster by Kate Pocklington

Your guides: Amy Choong, Junius Soh, Joelle Lai, Kok Oi Yee, Adrian Loo, Lim Cheng Puay, Hwang Wei Song, , Xu Weiting, Fung Tze Kwan Kok Oi Yee, Airani S, Marcus Chua, Anand Balan & Ivan Kwan, Alvin Wong & N. Sivasothi.

MND's "Land Use Beyond 2030" map of Singapore

This is the map published in the Ministry of National Development's "A high quality living environment for all Singaporeans" released on 31 Jan 2013. The maps available online are small, but you can download the pdf from the MND webpage to examine larger views at: mnd.gov.sg/landuseplan.

Below is a screen grab of the pdf at 1530 by 973 pixels. Note that this land use map, like others issued in Master Plans in the past illustrate a "likely profile" of land use allocation and may not be definitive in every detail. Some reserve land patches have remained so over decades. Compare this with the URA 2001 Concept Plan map.

click to view at 1530 x 973 pixels

However, the map does provide some indication of intended outcomes and should be examined by every interested naturalist.

Ria Tan of WildSingapore examined the map and on her blog, Wild Shores of Singapore immediately queried "What shores will Singapore lose in 7-million population plan?"