River Notes by you.

These are some beautiful notes by the students. Don't they make you feel like studying? :-)

Geneva Grace, 5N1

Muhammad Afiq Nabil, 5N1

Miroshini D/O Dashnamoorthy, 5N1

Lim Wan Ting, 5N1

Aron Tan Jie Long, 5N2

The Burden and Beauty of the Humanities

The humanities, rightly pursued and rightly ordered, can do things, and teach things, and preserve things, and illuminate things, which can be accomplished in no other way. It is the humanities that instruct us in the range and depth of human possibility, including our immense capacity for both goodness and depravity. It is the humanities that nourish and sustain our shared memories, and connect us with our civilisation's past and with those who have come before us. It is the humanities that teach us how to ask what the good life is for us humans, and guide us in the search for civic ideals and institutions that will make the good life possible.

By Wilfred M. McClay

'The Burden and Beauty of the Humanities'

American Educator, Winter 2008-2009

Figures for 5N Revision Papers

Hi 5N, Based on some feedback that you can't see the black and white photos of the revision paper, so I've uploaded here for your easy viewing. I also forget to give you the coloured map. It is below. Please come with you work done!

Question 2(c) Photograph A

Question 2(c) Photograph B

Question 4(b)

The Girl Effect

River Notes, Manipulative

This is the sample. Enjoy your note-making and make them beautiful so you'll like to look at it and study it. :-)

Page 1

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Mangroves may vanish in 100 years

ST, Apr 14, 2010

World's mangrove species are threatened by rising sea levels and coastal developments

By Grace Chua

Bruguiera hainesii or berus mata buaya is one of the two rarest mangrove species in the world, with just two plants left in Singapore. -- PHOTO: JEAN YONG

MANGROVE expert Jean Yong was strolling with his wife along Pasir Ris beach in 2003 when he chanced upon a delightful find.

The National Institute of Education plant physiologist had spotted a mangrove plant he could not identify.

The mystery mangrove turned out to be a Bruguiera hainesii or berus mata buaya (crocodile eye in Malay and named for the big knob-like protrusions on its tree trunks), one of the two rarest mangrove species in the world, with just two plants left in Singapore. The other is at Pulau Ubin.

The other rare species is the Sonneratia griffithii found in India and South-east Asia. It has not been found in Singapore.

There are fewer than 90 adult Bruguiera hainesii trees left worldwide: four in Vietnam and some 80 in Malaysia, and conservation organisation the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers them 'critically endangered'.

And it gets worse: The world's 70 species of mangroves, which are located along coastlines, may be set to get rarer, as they are threatened by sea-level rise and coastal developments. They are also being cleared for aquaculture such as prawn farms.

Effectively, mangrove forests may disappear in just 100 years. That is what Assistant Professor Yong and 20 other mangrove experts and IUCN scientists have warned about, in a report published last week in international biology journal PLoS ONE.

'Mangroves are at the worst place in the world - the transition between coastal and marine habitats, which face the most pressure,' Asst Prof Yong said.

By expert estimates, these tidal wetland ecosystems provide at least US$1.6 billion (S$2.2 billion) worth of services a year, such as protecting coastlines from erosion, improving water quality and providing habitats for commercial fish species.

Here, they can buffer the coastline from waves more effectively than concrete berms, and are home to snails, mudskippers, crabs and the birds that feed on these swamp-dwellers.

Singapore has about 500ha to 600ha of mangrove area, mainly at Sungei Buloh and Pulau Ubin, and with pockets at Labrador Park, Pasir Ris and other areas.

That figure is on the rise as conservation projects take root, but it is still a tiny fraction of the 6,400ha of mangroves the country had in 1953.

There are 36 species of 'true' mangroves (trees which usually grow only in tidal habitats) here, or just over half of all known species.

And what of the very rare Bruguiera hainesii trees here? The National Parks Board (NParks) is monitoring the health of Singapore's two specimens and its staff prune weeds around them to let sunlight through.

NParks' care is not limited to the rarest mangroves - it collects and cultivates young plants of 10 or so rare species, which are then replanted in national parks and reserves, explained Dr Lena Chan, deputy director of NParks' National Biodiversity Centre.

It will take time to see results, however.

Bruguiera hainesii are the 'slow giants' of the mangrove world, Asst Prof Yong said.

They grow up to 33m and may live as long as 300 years, but the seedlings grow less than 30cm a year.

So while reforestation of mangrove areas is an option, the paper's authors write, it is usually successful only when large numbers of fast-growing species are planted - other rare and slow-growing species cannot be replanted easily.

'Mangrove areas may be able to be rehabilitated in some regions, but species and ecosystems cannot be effectively restored.'

caiwj@sph.com.sg

Born Free

Check out the rich biodiversity in the tropical rainforest of Borneo!

'The hungriest place on Earth'

April 10, 2010

Droughts, tribal clashes lay waste to Akobo in south-eastern Sudan

Ruot Wiyual, two, collapsing on her bed in a hospital ward in Akobo, Sudan. A recent survey by aid groups found that almost 46 per cent of children in the region are malnourished. Most humanitarian agencies regard a rate of 15 per cent to be an emergency threshold. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

AKOBO (SUDAN): The United Nations calls this the 'hungriest place on Earth'. Some say the worst is yet to come.

In a hospital ward in the Akobo region of south-eastern Sudan, emaciated babies and young children bear the signs of hunger: exposed ribs and distended stomachs.

Outside, old villagers recline motionless in the shade, too frail to walk.

Two years of failed rains and tribal clashes have laid the foundation for Africa's newest humanitarian crisis. The World Food Programme quadrupled its assistance levels in this region from January to March.

International aid agencies, which are already feeding 80,000 people here, are bracing themselves for the worst. Even if spring rains materialise this year, the harvest will not come in until autumn.

'And if there is no rain, it will get worse,' said Dr Galiek Galou, one of three doctors at the hospital in this town on the border with Ethiopia.

Southern Sudan lies in a drought-prone belt of Africa, but the situation has been exacerbated by rising inter-tribal violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives last year. Because of the global financial meltdown, the government has fewer available resources.

The food crisis is also a legacy of a devastating north-south civil war of more than 21 years that left two million people dead and many more displaced. The conflict is separate from the war in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which began in 2003 and has killed 300,000.

The aid groups Save the Children and Medair have canvassed the Akobo community for the past week, searching for the hungriest children. They found 253 whom they classified as severely malnourished, meaning they will die without immediate intervention.

The children are enrolled in a feeding programme that relies primarily on fortified peanut butter. Another 200 severely malnourished children are being fed in a separate programme, said the UN's Dr Natalie Lewin.

A recent survey by Save the Children and Medair found that almost 46 per cent of children in the region are malnourished. Most humanitarian agencies regard a malnutrition rate of 15 per cent to be an emergency threshold, said Ms Lise Grande, the top UN official in southern Sudan.

'This year, 4.3 million people in southern Sudan will need some sort of food assistance,' Ms Grande said.

'That could be as much as nearly half of the population in the south. When you have that many people who need food, you can see the dimensions of the crisis.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Before you over order or waste food, think again!