Retreating into the mountains...

View Dharamsala & Amritsar in a larger map

Check out photos here.

Things to take note for Geography

1. Dissect the question. Underline the instructional word, 'describe', 'explain' or 'compare and contrast' etc.

2. Look at the mark allocation. One idea one mark. Develop the idea.

3. One idea one paragraph.

4. Use the figure, extract data as evidence to answer the question.

5. Don't overwrite. Don't give a summary of factors. Just go straight to the answer.

6. Use geographical keywords to explain concepts.

7. Learn to draw diagrams. Diagrams must be big enough for the marker. Not tiny ones.

8. Only last part of each question is (8m) and we mark according to LORMS. Remember to give a balanced view. For e.g, 'How effective...?". "How successful...?" Show both sides. Read question carefully.

9. Know where the various countries are located in the world map especially those countries that were mentioned in your textbook.

10. Please learn map-reading. My hunch is it will come out this 'O' level.

That's all. Will add on the list when I can think of some more. Good Luck!

Things to take note for Social Studies

Since Willson asked for some tips on the study of Geography, I thought I'll put up pointers for you to take note. Let me do for SS first.

SBQ

1. Take note of the title of the SBQ, this will give you a focus to what the key issue of the SBQ.

2. There are only a few skills you need to remember, inferential, comparison, reliability and utility.

3. Use back the instructional word, for e.g, if the question asks "How far does the source prove that...?" remember it's asking about proving, then don't write it's reliable, write it proves or does not prove to what extent.

4. When comes to comparison question, remember that there must be point of comparison. Are you comparing about the causes, consequences, impacts, etc? Don't just lift from source without the point of comparison.

5. When giving answer on purpose, remember the 3 things, provenance, target audience and intended outcome.

6. When comes to inferential, 2 inferences, support with evidence.

7. When comes to reliability question, cross-reference to check reliability. Take note of what issue you're cross-referencing to.

8. When comes to "How useful is the source as evidence...?", take note that a source can be not reliable yet still useful or may not be useless etc.

SEQ

1. Don't give long introduction. Short one to lead the marker to the issue will do.

2. Link back to question. Make sure you explain the factor that answers the question.

3. Make a stand, which factor is most important or significant.

4. Given factor MUST be well-explained. If you don't know given factor well, I suggest you do other question unless you don't have a choice.

Lastly, please manage your time well. Do not use more than 50 minutes per section.

All the best!

Keep marine ecosystems afloat: UN

Report says such 'blue carbon sinks' help mitigate climate change

Experts warn that if no action is taken to protect coastal ecosystems - like this mangrove sanctuary in Thailand - species, livelihoods and blue carbon sinks will be lost within decades. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

OCEANS, like forests, play a critical role in absorbing carbon dioxide to keep global warming at bay, and a new report has called for the preservation of marine ecosystems to offset climate change.

The Blue Carbon report, launched on Thursday by the United Nations, has found that up to a third of marine organisms such as mangroves, salt marsh plants and seagrasses that thrive in shallow coastal waters off India, and parts of South-east Asia and the Caribbean, have been lost since the 1940s.

'If more action is not taken to sustain these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within decades,' it noted.

Not only will species and livelihoods be lost, but a vital 'blue carbon sink' as well, said experts.

According to the UN report, marine ecosystems store up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year - roughly equivalent to half the yearly emissions of the entire global transport sector.

Much of the degradation has been caused by unsustainable fish farming practices, inadequate coastal development and waste management.

'We know that land use change is part of the climate change challenge,' said Dr Carlos Duarte, one of the report's chief scientists, who is from the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies in Spain.

'Perhaps less well known is that the global loss of what we could call our 'blue carbon sinks', are actually among the key components of the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations from all land use changes,' he pointed out.

The loss of such coastal ecosystems also has an economic impact as they supply half the world's demand for fish and protect against coastal erosion and tsunamis.

Coastal systems have an estimated economic worth of US$25 trillion (S$34.8 trillion) annually.

Policymakers converging in Copenhagen for the world climate summit in December are likely to agree on a plan to preserve forests in developing countries as part of a wider agreement aimed at cutting carbon emissions, said Mr Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.

The role of other ecosystems should not be overlooked, he stressed.

'If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention.'

The report noted that curbing deforestation on land together with a restoration of marine ecosystems could reduce up to 25 per cent of the carbon emissions to keep concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 450 parts per million.

This was a benchmark identified in the 2007 report by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change to keep global warming below 2 deg C, to avoid the dangerous effects of climate change like severe weather patterns.

Preventing the further loss of coastal ecosystems alone can contribute to at least 10 per cent of the emission cuts needed.

Mr Patricio Bernal, assistant director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, said: 'Because the ocean has already absorbed 82 per cent of the total additional energy accumulated due to global warming, it is fair to say that the ocean has already spared us from dangerous climate change.

'But each day we are dumping 25 million tonnes of carbon into the ocean, turning it more acidic and hence posing a huge threat to organisms.'

amreshg@sph.com.sg

Marine ecosystems store up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year - roughly equivalent to half the yearly emissions of the entire global transport sector.

Squatters clog city's waterways

Plans to relocate them to provinces have failed; focus is now on resettling them in city

By Alastair McIndoe, Philippines Correspondent A resident wading near his flooded home in the town of Santa Cruz, Laguna province. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE A WIDE canal running along the E. Rodriguez squatter settlement in Manila's Pasay district is so clogged with garbage that its fetid waters are carpeted with plastic bags, empty food cartons and rotting vegetables. Around 600 families are jammed into the warren of shanties there. Space is so precious that shacks on the edge of the embankment are precariously perched on stilts in the water. There are just a handful of toilets in E. Rodriguez. Solid human waste is thrown in plastic bags into the river; residents call them 'flying saucers'. 'The authorities tried many times to relocate them to areas outside Manila, but they don't want to move,' said Mr Bernard Pierquin, a Frenchman who has lived in this community for nearly 20 years and runs the Alouette Foundation education project for slum children. 'Nobody should be forced to live in these conditions, but they see even fewer job opportunities away from here.' As the clean-up continues in the wake of the devastating flooding caused by tropical storm Ketsana last month, squatter settlements such as E. Rodriguez are now a key issue in the debate on managing future floods, after garbage-choked drainage systems badly aggravated the disaster. Decades of unbridled urban development and population growth in Manila have forced the poor in this city of 14 million to settle on the margins. Today, the banks of waterways are congested with squatters living in flimsy housing, vulnerable to flooding and jeopardising flood-control defences. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), which oversees the 16 cities that make up the capital region, estimates that 70,000 families - some 350,000 people - live in these high-risk areas. That is about a seventh of Manila's total squatter population. Many moved here from impoverished rural areas where wages are well below the meagre earnings of tricycle-taxi drivers, factory workers and pavement vendors, typical jobs of the urban poor. The authorities have tried for years to move the squatters to relocation sites in nearby provinces. 'They have had very little success,' admitted MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando. He pointed out that relocated families complain of a lack of jobs in their new housing settlements - and often drift back to the capital looking for work. So the controversial policy is being dropped in favour of inner-city relocations in medium-rise housing for rent on unused government land. Social housing schemes have already been launched in the capital, although on a very modest basis. In particular, Taguig City's Family Townhomes Project, a no-frills, mid-rise scheme, has caught the attention of mayors looking for models for cheap mass housing. The new thinking on squatters is now the official policy of an inter-agency council on informal settlers set up by President Gloria Arroyo earlier this year. 'But it can't be done overnight,' said Mr Fernando, who chairs the group. Right now, cash incentives are being offered to flood victims living along waterways to settle in the provinces. Nobody is suggesting that the impact of squatters living along the capital's drainage systems was solely responsible for the severity of the flooding. Experts say the toll from 10 days of back-to-back storms that pummelled the northern Philippines - 773 dead and damage estimated at 23 billion pesos (S$692 million) - was linked to climate change and environmental factors as well as botched urban planning. But with the prospect of more frequent and more severe storms, calls are mounting for the authorities to make the resettlement of squatters living alongside Manila's waterways a priority. According to the Asian Development Bank, the capital region produces 6,000 tonnes of garbage daily, but only 70 per cent is collected and taken to landfills. The rest is thrown into waterways or dumped in open areas. For 60 families displaced by the flooding in a makeshift camp in Bagong Silang, part of a squatter area in Manila's Quezon City, moving into a government housing block such as Taguig's Family Townhomes Project would be heaven-sent. The residents now live in huts made of chipboard and rust-pocked sheets of corrugated iron on a muddy vacant lot. Incredibly, given the dire conditions, their shelters are clean and tidy inside. 'Of course, we want to be relocated, but not to the provinces; it is too difficult to find work there,' said Ms Evelyn Abines, who came with her family to the big city five years ago from a small town on the southern island of Mindanao. 'But we are open to any relocation in the city.' amcindoe@yahoo.com

1 in 6 people in the world goes hungry

UN report stresses need for countries to boost agriculture

NAIROBI: Parents in some of Africa's poorest countries are cutting back on school, clothes and basic medical care just to give their children a meal once a day, experts say.

Still, it is not enough. A record one billion people, or one in six people, are starving, and a new report says the number will increase if governments do not spend more on agriculture.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which issued the report to mark World Food Day yesterday, 30 countries now require emergency aid, including 20 in Africa.

The trend continues despite a goal set by world leaders nine years ago to halve the number of hungry people by 2015.

'It is actually a world emergency that calls for action from both developing and developed countries,' said Dr Otive Igbuzor, head of international campaigns for ActionAid International. 'We know a child dies every six seconds of malnutrition.'

Spiralling food prices have added to hardships, especially in the world's most desperate countries, where the poor can barely afford a single meal a day.

The inflated prices - which caused riots across the world last year - have stabilised, but remain comparatively high, especially in the developing world, said Dr Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO.

Ms Grainne Moloney of the Somalia Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit said that in the country, ravaged by violence and anarchy for almost two decades, the monthly expenditure for food and other basic needs for a family of six has risen 85 per cent in the past two years.

Ms Moloney, a nutrition expert for the Horn of Africa nation, said that on average, such a family spent US$171 (S$240) in September this year, compared with US$92 for the same amount of food and other needs in March 2007.

'Families are cutting out school, cutting out clothes. A lot of them are going for cheaper cereals,' she said, adding that despite these desperate measures, one in five children in Somalia is acutely malnourished.

Dr Igbuzor said the trend could be seen in impoverished countries across Africa.

The long-term trend is due largely to reduced aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture since the mid-1980s, the Rome-based FAO said in its State of Food Insecurity report for this year.

In 1980, 17 per cent of aid contributed by donor countries went to agriculture. That fell to 3.8 per cent by 2006, and only slightly improved in the past three years, Dr Diouf said.

'In the fight against hunger, the focus should be on increasing food production,' he said.

'It is common sense...that agriculture would be given the priority, but the opposite has happened.'

FAO economist David Dawe said the decline may have been caused by insufficient private investment in agriculture and competition for public funds from other aid fields, including emergency relief.

Governments and investors may also have chosen to put their money into other economic sectors because agriculture's share of the economy in some developing countries has dropped as people move to cities and find work in industry.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

We value your feedback.

Dear 4E and 5N,

While in your mid of study and you're taking a little break and surfing the net, can you help to do two surveys in the school's E-learning portal. We want to collect feedback from you so that we can use the data to improve next year's programme. Please go to

1. the E-learning portal and log in.

2. Click the tab on 'Survey'.

3. Do the survey for 'Needs analysis survey' and 'Core value survey for students'.

Thanks a lot! Your comments matter. :-)

4 ways to boost your brain power By K. Malathy

By K. Malathy

"Good quality sleep keeps the brain alert and responsive, while lack of sleep can lead to poor focus and memory loss."

Dr Alvin Seah, neurology specialist at Raffles Hospital-- PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

As major school examinations loom, anxious parents will want to do all they can to help their children achieve better grades.

Here are some tips to boost brain power.

1: Sleep

Getting enough sleep is absolutely essential. Children may need up to 10 hours of sleep. DrAlvin Seah, a neurology specialist at Raffles Hospital, feels that sleep is often underestimated in its contribution towards optimal brain function.

'Sleep helps the brain to rest and recover and consolidate memories, though we do not as yet know how exactly this is done,' he said.

'Good quality sleep keeps the brain alert and responsive, while lack of sleep can lead to poor focus and memory loss."

2: Light meals

Avoid large meals or meals heavy in fats, particularly just before an exam. Dr Seah explained: 'When we eat a heavy meal, blood is diverted to the digestive tract and away from the brain. This makes us sluggish and sleepy."

3: Diet

Have a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, which will boost the immune system. Ms Jin Jin Hua, a senior acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner, said this is good for key internal organs which directly affect the brain.

'According to TCM principles, the health of the kidney, spleen and liver are particularly important to the key brain functions of memory and attention," MsJin said.

She suggested soupy meals with fish or chicken and dates. Other brain foods include black sesame, walnut, wolfberry and American ginseng.

In China, children sometimes go for exams with a sliver of American ginseng on their tongues, she said, adding that ginseng helps keep the brain alert and focused. Drink plenty of water too, she advised.

4: Relaxed environment

Keep the home environment harmonious and free of argument. Reduce stress for the child so he can focus on his revision. Ms Jin, who has a son sitting for the PSLE this year, said parents should resist nagging their child to study harder.

400,000 newborns die in India each year: Report

Stark infant mortality figures despite rapid economic growth; most deaths are preventable

NEW DELHI: More than 400,000 Indian babies die every year from preventable causes within 24 hours of their birth, despite the country's recent rapid economic development, a report said yesterday.

India accounts for a fifth of all newborn deaths worldwide, according to the major report published by charity group Save the Children to launch a global campaign to reduce infant mortality.

Nearly two million children aged below five die every year in India - one every 15 seconds - the highest number anywhere in the world, research has shown.

Government initiatives in India to provide basic health care to all have not changed the grim reality for the nation's babies, said Mr Thomas Chandy, head of Save the Children in India.

'Although the schemes are there and the intention and allocation of resources are there, in many places, they are not reaching out to people,' he added.

'Every child, no matter where or to whom they are born, has an equal right and deserves an equal chance to survive. And every one of us has a moral responsibility to act and act now.'

The report, gathered from research in 14 countries, calculated that globally two million children die each year within 24 hours of birth.

India's child mortality statistics are particularly stark, with 72 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007, higher than in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. Bangladesh lowered its child mortality rate from 151 in 1990 to 61 in 2007.

Major causes of death in the first years of life include malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhoea - afflictions that are cheap and easy to cure.

'I've had four children, but I lost my second child when he was just two days old,' Ms Mewa, a 25-year-old mother who has tuberculosis and lives in Ajmer in Rajasthan, told Save the Children.

'I don't know why my son passed away. He wasn't even ill. I guess if I could know one thing, I'd like to know what treatments there are that I could use for my children. That's all.'

Low-cost solutions could reduce neonatal mortality by up to 70 per cent, but public reluctance to fund increased health costs has stopped the Indian government from taking action, the report's authors concluded.

'Change is indeed possible. If people understood how affordable and feasible it is to prevent children dying, they would be shocked,' said Mr Chandy.

India has clocked a decade of rapid economic growth that has allowed it to boost spending on poor and rural communities, but Save the Children said most of such programmes have not benefited those who are most in need.

More than half of all Indian women give birth without the help of skilled health-care professionals, leading to infections and complications. In far-flung areas, doctors and hospitals are rare and villagers often put the health of their children in the hands of poorly trained substitutes.

Mr Chandy said poverty was only one factor in the high number of newborn deaths. 'Some local cultural practices are not helping,' he said, citing tribal groups that refuse to breastfeed their babies after birth.

About US$40 billion (S$57 billion) could significantly reduce child deaths worldwide through improved home care, breastfeeding and immunisation, according to the Giving Every Child the Chance to Survive report.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu backed the call for action, decrying the 'sad reality that young children, especially in developing countries, continue to die from preventable diseases, while governments spend large amounts of money on weapons of mass destruction'.

The report added that India was set to miss its Millennium Development goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015 - but pointed out that other countries such as Nepal, Peru and the Philippines were on target.

'Clearly a lot needs to be done,' Indian Health Secretary Sujata Rao told the Indian Express after the report was released. 'We have to use the existing resources and focus on specific states.'More than 15,000 people were surveyed for the research data, which was collected in August and last month from countries ranging from India to Britain, Italy, China and Kenya.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Norway is best place to live in; S'pore is at 23rd

UN index ranks several in Asia high; China up 7 spots

Data collected before the global economic crisis showed people in Norway (seen here) had the best living standards. -- PHOTO: SKINET.COM

BANGKOK: Norway has retained its status as the world's most desirable country in which to live, according to United Nations data released yesterday which ranks sub-Saharan African states afflicted by war and HIV/Aids as the least attractive places.

Data collected prior to the global economic crisis showed people in Norway, Australia and Iceland had the best living standards, while Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone scored worst in terms of human development.

Several Asian countries were ranked in the 'very high human development' category. Japan, staying in 10th, was the only Asian country in the top 10. Singapore ranked 23rd, swopping places with Hong Kong at 24th. South Korea and Brunei came in at 26th and 30th respectively, retaining their previous positions.

China made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens, moving up seven places on the list to rank as the 92nd most developed country.

The United States dropped one spot to 13th.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index was compiled using 2007 data on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, education, and life expectancy, and showed marked differences between the developed and developing world. It was published as part of the UN's Human Development Report (HDR) 2009.

Singapore ranked highly in terms of life expectancy at birth and GDP per capita, coming in respectively at 13th and seventh place among all the nations with available data.

In 2007, a newborn could be expected to live up to 80.2 years and the probability of not surviving up to the age of 40 was 1.6per cent, the second lowest among all countries.

Singapore's 2007 GDP per capita stood at US$49,704 (S$70,143), after adjusting for purchasing power. Adult literacy was 94.4 per cent.

The UNDP, which has published the index annually since 1990, said human development had improved globally by 15 per cent since 1980, with China, Iran and Nepal the biggest climbers in the chart.

But it also noted that progress has been much more significant in education and health than on the income front.

'The persistent inequality in the distribution of world incomes should continue to be a source of concern for policy makers and international institutions,' said HDR author Jeni Klugman in the report.

The report also called on governments worldwide to look at changes to their immigration policies with a view to offering a 'new deal' to migrant workers whose skills can help spur economic recovery.

'This is not the time for anti-immigrant protectionism but for reforms which promote longer-term gains. Convincing the public of this will take courage,' said Dr Klugman.

Singapore ranked No. 10 in terms of the share of immigrants as part of total population, at 35 per cent. The emigration rate was 6.3 per cent, with 51.2 per cent of emigrants moving to another Asian country.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

Most desirable countries to live in

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Iceland

4. Canada

5. Ireland

6. Netherlands

7. Sweden

8. France

9. Switzerland

10. Japan

-

23. Singapore

Least desirable countries to live in

173. Guinea Bissau

174. Burundi

175. Chad

176. Democratic Republic of the Congo

177. Burkina Faso

178. Mali

179. Central African Republic

180. Sierra Leone

181. Afghanistan

182. Niger

It's No Laughing Matter: Analyzing Political Cartoons

This activity is good for your social studies. Check out this website to learn more about analysing political cartoon. Nice!

Sand Painting

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

It's so touching. The below story is just as sad and beautiful...

'I am your friend now, rock...'

Chew Chia Shao Wei of Raffles Girls' School won first prize in this year's Commonwealth Essay Competition. Shao Wei, 15, won in Class A, for students aged 16 to 18. Below is her essay.

THERE was something vaguely sad about the rock. It was as old as it looked, standing weathered and lonely amidst the stretch of sand, and its thoughts were quiet as it listened to the waves.

The wide unconquerable sea touched the edges of the land like a curious animal in the way it rolled forward eagerly onto the shore. It left the land unwillingly, pulling as it went, grasping for what it could. The sand in the shallow water swirled.

The sea was no stranger to the rock on the beach. The sea came often to the rock, rushing up wetly against its warm grey, and always as it swept away it took an infinitesimal part of the rock with it. The rock had known the waves for a long time, and learned it was in its nature to erode.

One day, the sunlight on the rock was interrupted by a brief darkness in the blurred shape of a bird. The rock, interested, observed the bird winging its way uncertainly about the sky, then landing, presently, on the very rock that wondered about it.

'Where am I?' said the bird, largely to itself, as it gripped the surface of the dark grey rock with its feet and peered out at the sea.

'What are you?' countered the rock.

'I am a bird,' said the bird in surprise.

'You are a rather rude sort of bird,' the rock pointed out calmly. 'I was enjoying the sun when you came and blocked some of it from me.'

Birds exist for a very short while in comparison to rocks, and have less time to develop the exceptional serenity that rocks possess. The bird hopped from one foot to another, flapping its white wings in annoyance.

'You are a big, stupid rock!' the bird cried, its beak clicking irately. 'Funny you should feel so important, when one of these days you will have been reduced by the sea to a tiny grain of sand!'

'Yes,' agreed the rock, surprising the bird yet again, 'I shall feel rather sad when that day comes.'

'Wait, no - you are confusing me - we are in the middle of an argument!'

'I made a comment, and you responded rather explosively, after which I shared with you a private thought in concurrence with something you had said. That was not an argument at all.'

The bird paused mid-hop, disgruntled. 'Well, you are a very well-spoken rock,' it conceded, 'and not at all stupid; I'm sorry.'

The rock hummed peaceably in response and returned to its own thoughts. The bird, feeling wholly ignored, allowed itself to settle down on its newfound perch, and examined mentally the conversation that had just taken place.

Some time passed before the bird spoke again, hesitantly, as if now remembering its manners and unwilling to intrude upon the rock again.

'Rock, will you truly end up one day as nothing more than a grain of sand?'

'I expect so,' the rock rumbled. 'The sea works at me constantly, you know.'

'Is that awfully sad?' asked the passionate bird, who, while given to tempers, was intrinsically kind-hearted.

'Only to those who care,' the rock admitted, 'only to me.'

The bird was deeply moved by this, by the loneliness of the rock and the seeming inevitability of its fate. The bird considered the situation, and felt it must do something to aid the rock. Although their acquaintance had gotten off to a bad start, the bird found it rather liked the warm, rough rock, and was unwilling to leave it alone to the hunger of the sea.

'I care,' volunteered the bird, 'I will do something to help you, rock, if you will let me.'

'No,' said the rock, laughing in a way that did not mock the bird. 'Don't waste your time.'

But the bird had found a cause.

'I am your friend now, rock,' it said, and the rock was touched.

'You are just a bird,' the rock said, 'and you will be able to do nothing.'

The bird did not disagree. 'I will try.'

Over the next few days, the bird tried a variety of ways to get the rock out of harm's way. It started with simple pushing, which had proved futile, and progressed to increasingly creative ideas. On the eighth day, the bird had looped several lengths of seaweed around its friend, in the hopes of being able to pull it further up the shore.

The rock had never observed with much significance the passing of the days, and entire years blurred in its long memory, but this had been a week that would stand out forever. The frustration, the laughter, and the gratitude that the rock had experienced along with the bird would be preserved as colour images amidst a wash of sepia recollections.

The time had come, however, to begin to dissuade the bird of its altruistic notions, lest it exhaust itself with the efforts of the fruitless undertaking.

Bird was picking the rope of seaweed up in its mouth for the seventh time that day when the rock addressed it.

'I do thank you for your efforts,' it began, 'but I am beginning to feel that this was a hopeless enterprise. I know you have expended much energy over it, and it has not gone unappreciated, but perhaps we must stop here.'

The bird dropped the end of the seaweed and made to protest, but the rock would not allow it.

'You have been a faithful friend, but it seems that here I am and here I will remain. The sea works slowly, and I have much time left yet. One day, I will be sand on the beach, but the idea does not bother me so much now.'

The rock did not add that through getting to know the bird, it had realised exactly how much more ephemeral was the life of the bird, and begun to feel selfish for being unsatisfied with the idea of eventually ending up a small grain of sand.

'Let us abandon this pursuit, and instead look to happier things,' the rock ended, hoping to mollify the bird. In truth, it was unsure that the bird, now robbed of his cause, would stick around for much longer, and the thought made it feel a shiver of unhappiness.

The bird, wordlessly, began the task of unwrapping the seaweed it had covered the rock in. There was resignation in its wingtips. When it had finished, it glanced at the rock with which it had spent eight sun-drenched days, then flapped slowly into the distant sky.

The rock watched it go.

The beach was blanketed by night when the rock once again felt the feet of the bird sharp against its surface.

'I am sticking around,' the bird told the rock, 'so you won't forget me, even when you are just a grain of sand.'

The rock said nothing, but it was happy.

The years moved on, then, like they always had. The rock stayed in the same place even as the world changed around the little beach, and the bird, going off frequently on expeditions to see the world, returned always to the rock it had met so long ago.

'Tell me a story,' the rock asked the bird once, as it landed lightly.

'But you are so old and wise, no story would interest you,' teased the bird. It was older now, and it knew ever so much more about the world.

The rock chuckled, and the bird complied. 'I will tell you about the strange things I saw the last time I flew past these cliffs...'

Sometimes, it was the bird that asked for the story.

'The earth was young once,' the rock would begin, in a vivid story of the colours of the wind.

And always, imperceptibly, the years moved on - like they always had.

One morning, a long, long time from the day the bird and the rock had first met, the rock was abruptly aware of a different quality to the day. There was something in the air, maybe, or something about the sea, or the sand - the rock was uncertain, but something was different and wrong. The colours felt wrong, for instance, the sky felt green and the sand was turning white, and the sea when it touched the rock felt hot and cold and hot again.

'Bird...'

That was a strange thing for the rock to do, for it never spoke aloud when it was alone. But it called out anyway, tentatively, 'Bird... Bird...'

The word was snatched away by the wind, but it seemed to echo in the dark beach. The rock was very still, and began to feel something it had never before felt: fear. It spread slowly and coldly like the pink sun rising softly over the horizon, and the rock found that it knew that its friend the bird had died.

'How and why,' the rock murmured numbly to itself, to the sand, to the sea. 'How and why and how and why and why. Goodbye, goodbye, oh, goodbye.' So saying, it slipped gently asleep.

The bird never returned, just as the rock never again expected it to. The rock became silent once more, unused to conversation as it had once been. Its thoughts were numerous but never aired now, and frequently, it thought of its dearest friend, the bird.

As for the years, they moved on like they always had, and the world changed around the rock, just like the world was wont to.

Centuries passed, and there was something vaguely sad about the rock that was as old as it looked, standing weathered and lonely amidst the stretch of sand. And as it listened to the waves, it thought of the sun on its surface, and the bird-shaped shadow that fell just so across the warmth, warmer than the sun itself.

Such a beautiful story... Can you spot the geography element in the story?

Indigenous food in danger of vanishing

Biodiversity under threat as communities adopt Western diet

ROME: The rich diversity of food in indigenous communities across the world is threatened by the spread of Western eating habits through globalisation, a United Nations (UN) agency has said in a new book.

LOCAL FARE The Karen community of Sanephong in Thailand, near the Myanmar border, has 661 inhabitants. They have a choice of 387 species of food, including vegetables and fruit such as wax gourd, jackfruit and tree ear, as well as wildlife such as the painted bullfrog and bush-tailed porcupine. The Mand village on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei is home to 26 local varieties of bananas, including the utin llap, which contains huge amounts of beta carotene. The Inuits around Baffin Bay in Canada's frozen north eat 79 different types of wildlife, including caribou and ringed seal. The Maasai tribe in Kenya has access to 35 different species of herbs, leafy vegetables and wild fruits.

About three-quarters of the genetic diversity once found in agricultural crops has been lost over the last century, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in the book, titled Indigenous People's Food Systems.

'This book shows the wealth of knowledge in indigenous communities, in diverse ecosystems, and the richness of their food resources,' said FAO senior nutrition officer Barbara Burlingame.

While ethnic communities in far-flung parts of the world can pick from a wide range of fruits and vegetables, Western industrialised nations rely heavily on four commercial crops - wheat, rice, corn and soya, the FAO said.

Traditional foods frequently contain very high levels of micro-nutrients that are good for the body.

For example, in Mand, a hamlet on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, one of the 26 local varieties of bananas contains huge amounts of beta carotene and is more effective in combating Vitamin-A deficiencies than any pharmaceutical supplement.

But even in places like Mand, where only 27 per cent of 500 villagers now get dietary energy from traditional food, the introduction of processed foods is causing health problems, the book's researchers found.

'The shift away from traditional food resources to commercial, convenience foods is often accompanied by an increase in diet-related disorders like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure,' Ms Burlingame said.

Globalisation also threatens treasure troves that the researchers found in other communities such as the Karens in Thailand, near the Myanmar border, the FAO said.

Karens can choose from 387 food species, with 208 species of vegetables and 62 different kinds of fruit, including wax gourd, jackfruit and tree ear.

Kenya's Maasai tribes enjoy 35 different species of herbs, leafy vegetables and wild fruits, while the Inuit of Baffin Bay in Canada's north eat 79 different wildlife foods including caribou meat and ringed seal, the book found.

Ms Burlingame said preserving such resources is crucial, not only for the indigenous groups concerned, but also to maintain the biodiversity of food worldwide.

She said the first step is to better understand the nutritional importance of these foods. Indigenous peoples take pride in their food knowing how unique and beneficial it can be, she said.

The next step, she said, is to take advantage of global markets so that indigenous foods and medicinal plants found in some of these remote regions can be distributed more widely.

The book, released on Tuesday, was co-published by the Centre for Indigenous People's Nutrition and Environment at McGill University in Montreal.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

GDP alone not an adequate measure of well-being

By Joseph E. Stiglitz

Striving to revive the world economy while simultaneously responding to the global climate crisis has raised a knotty question: Are statistics giving us the right 'signals' about what to do? In our performance-oriented world, measurement issues have taken on increased importance: what we measure affects what we do.

If we have poor measures, what we strive to do - say, increase gross domestic product (GDP) - may actually contribute to a worsening of living standards. We may also be confronted with false choices, seeing trade-offs between output and environmental protection that don't exist. By contrast, a better measure of economic performance might show that steps taken to improve the environment are good for the economy.

Eighteen months ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy established an international Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, owing to his dissatisfaction with the current state of statistical information. On Sept 14, the commission will issue its long-awaited report.

The big question concerns whether GDP provides a good measure of living standards. In many cases, GDP statistics seem to suggest that the economy is doing far better than most citizens' own perceptions. Moreover, the focus on GDP creates conflicts: political leaders are told to maximise it, but citizens also demand that attention be paid to enhancing security, reducing air, water and noise pollution, and so forth - all of which might lower GDP growth.

The fact that GDP may be a poor measure of well-being has, of course, long been recognised. But changes in society and the economy may have heightened the problems, at the same time that advances in economics and statistical techniques may have provided opportunities to improve our metrics.

For example, while GDP is supposed to measure the value of output of goods and services, in one key sector - government - we typically have no way of doing it, so we often measure the output simply by the inputs. If government spends more - even if inefficiently - output goes up.

Likewise, quality improvements - say, better cars rather than just more cars - account for much of the increase in GDP nowadays. But assessing quality improvements is difficult. Health care exemplifies this problem: much of medicine is publicly provided, and much of the advances are in quality.

Another marked change in most societies is an increase in inequality. This means that there is increasing disparity between average (mean) income and the median income (that of the 'typical' person, whose income lies in the middle of the distribution of all incomes). If a few bankers get much richer, average income can go up, even as most individuals' incomes are declining. So GDP per capita statistics may not reflect what is happening to most citizens.

We use market prices to value goods and services. But now, even those with the most faith in markets question reliance on market prices, as they argue against mark-to-market valuations. The pre-crisis profits of banks - one-third of all corporate profits - appear to have been a mirage.

This realisation casts a new light not only on our measures of performance, but also on the inferences we make. Before the crisis, when US growth (using standard GDP measures) seemed so much stronger than that of Europe, many Europeans argued that Europe should adopt US-style capitalism. Of course, anyone who wanted to could have seen American households' growing indebtedness, which would have gone a long way toward correcting the false impression of success given by the GDP statistic.

Recent methodological advances have enabled us to assess better what contributes to citizens' sense of well-being, and to gather the data needed to make such assessments on a regular basis. These studies, for instance, verify and quantify what should be obvious: the loss of a job has a greater impact than can be accounted for just by the loss of income. They also demonstrate the importance of social connectedness.

Any good measure of how well we are doing must also take account of sustainability. Just as a firm needs to measure the depreciation of its capital, so, too, national accounts need to reflect the depletion of natural resources and the degradation of the environment.

Statistical frameworks are intended to summarise what is going on in our complex society in a few easily interpretable numbers. It should have been obvious that one couldn't reduce everything to a single number - GDP. The report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress will, one hopes, lead to a better understanding of the uses, and abuses, of that statistic.

The report should also provide guidance for creating a broader set of indicators that more accurately capture both well-being and sustainability; and it should provide impetus for improving the ability of GDP and related statistics to assess the performance of the economy and society. Such reforms will help us direct our efforts - and resources - in better ways.

The writer, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a professor at Columbia University.

PROJECT SYNDICATE

According to the author, what are some of the limitations of using GDP to measure well-being of a nation?

What are the other indicators he mentioned that may have the same problems as GDP?

What did he suggest as a better way of measuring well-being?

Not perfect, but still a role model

By Tom Davenport

WE OFTEN talk about judgment with regard to individuals, but organisations and countries can have good and bad judgment as well. I was recently in Singapore. Every time I visit, it has struck me as a country with good judgment.

Singapore has just celebrated its 44th birthday as an independent country, and it deserves to congratulate itself (although it rarely engages in self-congratulation - another aspect of good judgment). In fact, I would argue that in many ways, Singapore is a great example for the United States. Why? Here are a few reasons:

Singapore is a hardworking, disciplined country. It decides what it needs to do, and then does it. Every year for National Day, for example, the Government publishes a list of challenges it needs to overcome. This year's list included such bracing issues as: 'How to maintain high economic growth and improve living standards?' and 'How to stamp out new diseases and keep health-care costs down?' There is also the lighter but sociologically problematic challenge of 'How to get younger Singaporeans to marry and have children?' The list of challenges is enormously appealing in its clarity and directness.

Singapore is obsessed with education - not just for children, but throughout life. Another of its declared challenges is: 'How to design job-training programmes and wage supplement schemes for low-income older workers?' The country regularly tops the ranks of educational achievement. While it was once justifiably criticised for emphasising rote learning, it has introduced programmes that encourage creativity.

Singapore is a highly capitalist society, but its Government plays a strong guiding role. Some of the country's smartest citizens go into government. The Government creates industrial policy and actively facilitates growth and capability-building in certain areas. It did a masterful job emphasising information technology (IT) and building up that industry, and now it's actively pushing biotech and services.

For example, in services, the Government wanted to build on organisations with great service like Singapore Airlines and Raffles Hotel. So it encouraged the Singapore Management University to start an Institute for Service Excellence, and stimulated the development of a Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore that would be applied to all service industries.

Like the US, Singapore is a highly diverse society, with lots of citizens with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Arab backgrounds. Yet they all seem to get along pretty well, and the country's culture is greatly enriched by the diversity. Public housing is ethnically and religiously integrated. Other countries could probably use a version of Singapore's Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, which prohibits religious rabble-rousing.

Singapore invests heavily in infrastructure - housing, roads, IT, airport (only one, but Changi Airport is a very impressive facility). About 83 per cent of its citizens live in public housing, but the estates are clean and well-maintained. The country is rolling out a new high-bandwidth fibre-optic network. Buses and subways are clean and run on time.

Singapore's economy is doing pretty well. It does anticipate a decline in gross domestic product of about 5 per cent this year, but there are signs of a strong recovery. Its stock market is booming. Its banks didn't go crazy with sub-prime lending or bizarre derivatives. One economist told me that the Asian financial crisis of 1997 was worse than the current recession for Singapore.

Okay, it's not a Utopian society. The Government is a bit authoritarian for my tastes, but not as much as it was in the days of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the country's first prime minister from 1959 to 1990. The prohibitions against spitting and selling chewing gum are a little much - though I really like the clean streets.

Yes, you may be caned if you misbehave, but that might be better than locking up the world's highest proportion of citizens in jails. I feel that Singapore destroyed much of its interesting architecture in the headlong rush to modernise. And it seems to me that too many of its citizens are obsessed with luxury brands and conspicuous consumption.

These are relatively minor concerns, however, compared to the country's strengths. And many of the seemingly autocratic regulations might be justified by the ethnic diversity and high population density of the country.

Singapore is tiny compared to the US - and most other countries, for that matter. But that doesn't mean it can't be a model. US President Barack Obama keeps saying that we need to buckle down and work hard to build an economy based on real production, not hollow financial chicanery. We need a little more social order, and a little less individualism. Singapore has already pulled off both objectives, and continues to provide a good example of good judgment for the US and the rest of the world.

The writer holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, where he also leads the Process Management and Working Knowledge Research Centres. Reprinted with permission from Harvard Business Review.

1. According to the author, in which aspects are Singapore a role model to other countries and in which areas are we 'not perfect' yet?