Have a Heart, save the rainforest

The expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia (above) and Malaysia has led to deforestation, which has an impact on wildlife and fresh-water supply, as well as contributes to carbon emissions. -- ST FILE PHOTO

The head of the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF's) Heart of Borneo rainforest conservation initiative, Mr Adam Tomasek, was in Singapore recently to speak about the programme. The WWF is working with Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to protect 220,000sq km of highland rainforest on the island of Borneo which is rich in species diversity. Mr Tomasek, 37, speaks to Grace Chua on the scheme's progress three years after the 2007 declaration was signed.

Three-nation pact shelters Borneo's ecosystem from logging, development

What were the issues facing the Heart of Borneo initiative?

It really comes down to economic development. Palm oil was a relatively new industry just 20 years ago and the impact of converting forests to oil palm plantations was not very well known.

As companies expanded in Indonesia and Malaysia, we started to see some of the impact and realities in higher rates of deforestation.

That is a combination of the timber industry rising and plateauing, and the palm oil industry on the upswing.

In those countries, over 80per cent, almost 85per cent, of the carbon emissions comes from deforestation and land use conversion... not urban development, not coal-fired power plants... It is keeping forests or turning them into something else.

What has the initiative achieved in the three years since the pact was signed?

There are a number of examples. One of them is that the Sabah state government has implemented a no-logging policy on more than 200,000ha of land.

This area has the highest density of orang utan in Malaysia.

They have also removed proposals to have more oil palm plantations.

There are real conservation outcomes - about 5,000 to 6,000 orang utan live in this part of Sabah, and they have a safe home.

And a one-million-ha forest corridor that will connect the four main national parks in Borneo is being planned, allowing species to roam around.

How did you get Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to put aside their differences and cooperate?

In that long negotiating process, they agreed that they all shared the island. Borneo is still draped in these wonderful tropical rainforests, and there is a lot of pride in that.

But it is not just about forests. It is about the other things that come along with having a healthy forest ecosystem. One example is fresh water.

All the major cities, all the economic developments in the lowlands are completely dependent on water that comes from the highest parts of Borneo. And some watersheds are transboundary, so there is an interdependency.

In 2006, Brunei Shell - which runs the oil and gas refineries along the Brunei coast - came to the conclusion that if it were to lose the upstream fresh-water sources that it had not valued economically, in no more than 48 hours, the industrial energy and natural gas plants would be shut down.

Then all of a sudden you had a business voice on the table.

What challenges remain?

They are related to economic development. For instance, the Sarawak government started a statewide renewable energy drive to generate hydroelectric power and maybe export electricity, but that will affect watersheds.

So we have to ensure that the commitments around the Heart of Borneo are really embedded in these economic growth decisions.

What does the initiative mean for Singapore?

The Heart of Borneo is part of the regional heritage and Singaporeans can take pride that this is one of the few places in the world where you get orang utan, pygmy elephants and rhinoceroses living together.

In Singapore, citizens have a voice and they have a choice.

Palm oil is in almost every choice - food, cosmetics and so on. Being aware of good choices is a really big step.

There are very strong Singaporean business links to palm oil - such as holding, parent or investment companies - and there are very strong linkages to a lot of big industrial sectors.

We have been trying to engage them in a regional context.

But it is slow work. Agricultural product suppliers Olam and Wilmar or Asia Pulp and Paper have a lot of different business interests.

Part of it is figuring out what is in their best interests and where the liabilities and risks are.

(We are trying to) bring together a kind of green business network that would cut across the different sectors.

What do you think you can do to support the movement of 'Save the Forest'? You can post your thoughts under comments.

No modified eggplant just yet

Feb 10, 2010, ST

Indian govt says more tests will be conducted before launch of Bt brinjal

By P. Jayaram, India Correspondent

DELHI: Bowing to public pressure, the government yesterday put off the launch of the country's first genetically modified vegetable at least until more tests are done on such food crops.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he was halting the introduction of Bt brinjal, as the modified eggplant is known.

'I am issuing a moratorium on the Bt brinjal until further notice,' he told reporters a day ahead of a scheduled government announcement on the subject. 'The long-term effect on human health needs to be studied.'

Bt refers to Bacillus thuringiensis, a natural bacterium that kills pests that play havoc with crops and cause huge losses to farmers.

Since such genetically modified, or GM, crops are pest-resistant, they give better yields.

Mr Abhijit Sen, an agricultural economist and a member of the Planning Commission, said promoters are keen to start cultivating a variety of GM food crops. These include maize, mustard, sugarcane, chickpea, rice, tomato, potato, banana, soyabean and medicinal plants. Now all that will have to wait till the moratorium on Bt brinjal is lifted.

Mr Ramesh faced protests and was heckled by farmers, activists and scientists when he visited six cities in regions that grow brinjal, a native vegetable of India with some 2,500 varieties, for public hearings on the issue.

Some fear such GM foods carry health hazards, including cancer.

Yesterday, Mr Ramesh said: 'It is my duty to adopt a cautious approach to Bt brinjal till independent scientific study establishes...the safety of the product.'

Many of the state governments, including those ruled by the Congress party which heads the ruling coalition in Delhi, oppose Bt brinjal.

The United States rushed its chief scientific adviser, Ms Nina Fedoroff, a proponent of GM food, to lobby policymakers before the government announcement. The controversial US biotech firm, Monsanto, has a stake in Mahyco, the Indian seed firm that developed Bt Brinjal.

The government's decision comes at a time when agricultural scientists have been calling for a second 'green revolution'.

The first, in the mid 1960s, saw the introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and use of fertilisers turning the country from a net importer of food to one that could feed itself.

Supporters of GM food argue that India must embrace the technology to feed its growing population and to avoid the kind of food shortages and high prices that have already started to crop up.

India allowed farmers to grow Bt cotton - the only GM crop commercially grown in the country so far - in 2002, despite strong opposition from farmers and others at that time.

Now India is reaping the financial harvests of its standing as the world's second largest producer of Bt cotton after China.

The government's biotech regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, approved Bt brinjal for commercial cultivation after it passed all the recommended lab tests over the last six years.

But the Planning Commission, which charts the government's development strategy, warned that the country's food exports could be hit if the cultivation of GM food crops was allowed.

Senior officials of the commission said that several European nations and others preferred importing food items from India because it was 'GM-free.'

Mr Kushal Singh Yadav, coordinator of the food safety and toxins programme of the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based advocacy group,warned against the introduction of GM crops.

'It is a good decision,' he said. 'It is the right step.'

pjay@sph.com.sg

Drought in China; millions at risk

Feb 26, 2010, ST

Crops hit and it may have to turn to imports

A resident walks across a partially dried reservoir basin in Shilin in China's Yunnan province. Millions of hectares of crops have been affected by the severe drought in the south-western region of the country, including sugar, rubber, wheat and vegetables. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIJING: A severe drought in south-western China has left more than seven million people without adequate drinking water and hit hectares of crops there.

It is the worst dry spell in 60 years for Yunnan province, the country's second-largest producer of sugar cane and rubber.

The local agricultural bureau said that the drought, which began late last year, has affected a total of 2.55 million ha of crops, including wheat and vegetables, accounting for 85 per cent of the province's total growing area.

Farmers have almost completed harvesting sugar cane and will start tapping rubber trees in April.

Lower Chinese output could force China, a major rubber consumer, to import more.

Also badly hit is the neighbouring province of Guizhou, whose reservoirs and hydro-power generated electricity supplies are at risk.

The drought has also affected the top sugar producing region of Guangxi.

That could cut China's production to only 11 million tonnes in the 12 months to September, 12 per cent lower than the previous year, and not enough to meet the country's demand, according to the China Sugar Association.

Nearly six million people and 3.6 million head of livestock are facing drinking water shortages in Yunnan.

If the drought continues, the number of people without sufficient drinking water will rise to 7.92 million next month, Xinhua news agency cited Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong as saying.

In addition, more crop land will be affected and grain production will be greatly reduced.

On Tuesday, Mr Qin said the risk of forest fires would increase as the drought persisted.

Local fire control officials say that at least 84 forest fires have been reported in the province since November, up 611 per cent from the same period the previous year.

Xinhua said 21 Chinese boats had been grounded and crews rescued on the Lancang-Mekong River, which is at its lowest level in 50 years.

The local authorities have stopped issuing permits to vessels to cross the border because the river is flowing at only half the normal level.

XINHUA, REUTERS

Have you 'poked' your MP today?

Five years ago, the PAP's Penny Low (above) became the first MP to have a blog. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

Madam Phua tossing yusheng with residents in her Paya Lebar ward on Monday. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF CYNTHIA CHUA

A photo on Dr Lim's Facebook page of himself and ministers K. Shanmugam and Khaw Boon Wan at a constituency countdown party for 2010. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIM WEE KIAK

Feb 20, 2010

More than half of the 81 PAP Members of Parliament have taken to the social networking site Facebook to complement their online presence. What has their cyber experience been like? Are they still finding their way around or have they got into their stride?

By Zakir Hussain

Enter Web 2.0

ADVANCEMENTS to Internet applications, however, meant websites that leveraged on Web 2.0 technologies - those that allow readers to interact directly with one another and make it easy to produce, publish and share content with little effort - had an advantage over others.

As blogs took off here, Foreign Minister George Yeo became the first Cabinet minister to blog on the sites of two constituency activists in 2006.

Twelve new MPs born after Independence tagged themselves as the post-65ers and started group blog P65.sg to write about their constituency work and discuss topical issues with youth who may not read mainstream media.

The move came after a call by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to new MPs to establish themselves with voters and hold the ground ahead of the next elections, which must be held by February 2012.

Significantly, the blog allowed readers to comment, but soon fell silent as contributions slowed, with some MPs simply posting their parliamentary speeches. It was later relaunched to include a wide range of committed contributors.

But Internet-savvy party members were worried that anti-PAP voices were drowning out the party's views online.

The party began a quiet campaign to get members to go into Internet forums and blogs to rebut anti-establishment views that were rampant.

Still, it lacked an online platform to engage directly with a growing number of netizens on a personal level.

As Facebook, which started in 2004, caught on rapidly in recent years, several MPs began to dabble in it.

Ms Low and Mr Yeo aside, pioneers include Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Transport Teo Ser Luck, and MPs Zaqy Mohamed of Hong Kah GRC and Lim Wee Kiak of Sembawang GRC.

By comparison, opposition MPs Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim of the Workers' Party (WP) and Mr Chiam See Tong of the Singapore People's Party (SPP) do not have Facebook pages of their own, but have sites managed by their supporters. However, their parties - like the NSP - rely on their websites, which are regularly updated, to get their views across.

As Dr Gillian Koh of the Institute of Policy Studies observes, the opposition is somewhat less trusting of the mainstream media and the key parties have chosen to use the Internet to record speeches in full and give their alternative points of view.

However, they do not seem to directly engage netizens much through their formal sites or blogs.

The situation is different in Facebook pages set up by the WP Youth Wing or Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam, which post regular updates of events and photos of walkabouts and activities.

The SDP is the only opposition party that updates its website almost daily and allows readers to post comments on its main website.

zakirh@sph.com.sg

In good governance, we learnt that the government uses a number of channels such as media, Meet-the-people's sessions, emails and Feedback units to communicate with the citizens. The latest is using web 2.0 technologies such as the social network platforms, for example, Facebook. What are your views about them using the new technologies to engage the citizens? Will this be more effective?

Survey for 3EA

Please do the survey at the school e-learning portal.

1. Log in to School e-learning portal
2. Click the tab 'Survey' for students.

3. Click Geography/ History

Deadline is 28 February. Thanks!

Topics for CA 1

3E

Geography: - Chapter 1, Introduction to Issues in Physical and Human Geography

Chapter 2, Map Reading and Basic Techniques

Social Studies- Chapter 2, Governance in Singapore

5N

Geography: - Chapter 11, Food Consumption

Chapter 12, Intensity of Food Production

Social Studies: SBQ: Chapter 2: Sustaining Economic Development

SEQ: Chapter 3: Rise of Venice

Time: 1 hour

Marks: 30m

Genes aside, you are what you eat

8 Feb 2010
To keep obesity at bay, exercise discipline at the dinner table
By John McBeth, Senior Writer

FOR the life of me, I can't understand the attraction of The Biggest Loser, the Hallmark reality television show where grossly fat people compete to see how much weight they can lose - and then probably put it all back on later.

That's because I can't help thinking to myself how such young, able-bodied people could have become so overweight in the first place if they had eaten properly, played sport or even got off the couch occasionally.

The programme makes no real effort to explain that. Instead, we are treated to the spectacle of competitors with unbelievable rolls of fat sweating and straining to take off a few pounds each week.

I assume they were all given a prior medical check. But is it really good for people carrying that much weight to exert themselves in such a manner? Shouldn't they be doing some fast walking first?

'It must be morbid fascination, but I just like watching all those fat people,' says one of my friends, a slimly-built teacher and physical education instructor. 'Maybe it makes me feel better that I'm not as fat as that.'

Obviously, genes play a big role in determining a person's susceptibility to weight gain - but only up to a point, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose figures on obesity are still less than comprehensive.

But with an estimated 300 million people worldwide now defined as clinically obese, WHO points the main finger of blame at 'energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats'.

The Biggest Loser Asia is the biggest eye-opener. The 16 initial contestants weighed in at a staggering 2,307kg, or an average of 144kg. Their average age was 30, with the youngest being 19 and the oldest 41.

What my teacher friend notices is that the Asians in the programme lack the work ethic of their American counterparts and tend to be the biggest whiners. The need to speak English means the contestants are relatively well educated and that in turn suggests a more privileged upbringing and all that that entails in Asia.

Many also have a broad American accent, which probably partly explains why they have a weight problem in the first place. There is also that thing in Asia about fat children being some sort of status symbol.

But the point is, only a few decades ago, one would have hardly seen a fat person in a region where skinny reigned supreme. What changed it all was economic growth - and with it, the explosion of American fast-food restaurants.

The only such outlet in Bangkok I can remember in the early 1970s was a small Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) joint on downtown Silom Road, with a big cut-out of Colonel Sanders standing on the potholed footpath outside.

It wasn't very popular with the Thais. In fact, back in those days rice was king and most Thais wouldn't even look at Western food. Why would they, when they have arguably the world's best cuisine?

Fast forward to 2003 and there are now 281 KFC outlets in Thailand - plus another 650 or more across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Then add the 750 McDonald's and 370 Pizza Hut outlets that have sprouted in the same four countries.

The year 2003 was also when the Thai Public Health Ministry disclosed that 33.8 per cent of Thai females and 31.5 per cent of males were obese - a remarkable 50 per cent increase in only five years.

Perhaps more troubling was a second study, based on a weight-to-height ratio, showing that obesity among five- to 12-year-old Thai children rose from 12.2 per cent to 16 per cent in just two years.

For all the fast-food temptations, Asians are still a lot thinner than their Western counterparts. More than 60 per cent of Americans, for example, are either overweight or obese, including 20 per cent of teenagers.

On one recent Biggest Loser show, a 212lb (96kg) American woman, tensely preparing to mount the scales, said she was worried that eating out with her friends on just one evening had undone her recent weight loss.

Why? Didn't she look at what she was eating? Hasn't anyone heard of a little discipline at the dinner table?

Most of us eat fast food occasionally. I hate to say it, but every six months or so, I get the urge for a KFC fix myself. But in my experience, the whole issue for children revolves around decent parenting.

I had to eat everything on my plate before I was allowed to leave the table. As a result, there is not a single vegetable I don't like - even those that I used to hate. In fact I'm sure I eat more vegetables than most so-called vegetarians. That is the result of the decent parenting my generation received.

But how many times have I sat down with a lot of my younger friends and watched their children simply refuse to look at anything grown in a garden. They don't know what they're missing.

Of course, we won't be discussing beer drinking in this column.

thane.cawdor@gmail.com

So what are the reasons for obesity to take place according to this article?