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Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

A highly recommended read; hence reproduced here in its entirety.

The commencement address for the Graduating Class
of Arkansas College, U. S. A., 1990:

"WHAT IS EDUCATION FOR?"

by Professor David Orr
Chair, Environmental Studies Programme,
Oberlin College, Ohio


"Six myths about the foundations of modern education,
  and six new principles to replace them"


-- 'We are accustomed to thinking of learning as good in and of
itself. But as environmental educator David Orr reminds us, our
education up till now has in some ways created a monster.'
-- 'This essay is adapted from his commencement address to the
graduating class of 1990 at Arkansas College. It prompted many to
wonder why such speeches are made at the end, rather than the
beginning, of the collegiate experience.'

Originally published in IN CONTEXT #27, Winter 1991, Page 52
Copyright (c)1991, 1996 by Context Institute
Reprinted from Annals of Earth, Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1990.
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC27/Orr.htm
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-------------------------

"WHAT IS EDUCATION FOR?"

by David Orr

If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of
rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles
to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and
overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the
number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will increase by 250,000.
And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere
and 15 million tons of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter,
its waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare.

The truth is that many things on which your future health and prosperity
depend are in dire jeopardy: climate stability, the resilience and
productivity of natural systems, the beauty of the natural world, and
biological diversity.

It is worth noting that this is not the work of ignorant people. It is,
rather, largely the result of work by people with BAs, BSs, LLBs, MBAs, and
PhDs. Elie Wiesel made a similar point to the Global Forum in Moscow last
winter when he said that the designers and perpetrators of the Holocaust
were the heirs of Kant and Goethe. In most respects the Germans were the
best educated people on Earth, but their education did not serve as an
adequate barrier to barbarity. What was wrong with their education? In
Wiesel's words: "It emphasized theories instead of values, concepts rather
than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of
questions, ideology and efficiency rather than conscience."

The same could be said of the way our education has prepared us to think
about the natural world. It is a matter of no small consequence that the
only people who have lived sustainably on the planet for any length of time
could not read, or, like the Amish, do not make a fetish of reading. My
point is simply that education is no guarantee of decency, prudence, or
wisdom. More of the same kind of education will only compound our problems.
This is not an argument for ignorance, but rather a statement that the worth
of education must now be measured against the standards of decency and human
survival - the issues now looming so large before us in the decade of the
1990s and beyond. It is not education that will save us, but education of a
certain kind.



SANE MEANS, MAD ENDS

What went wrong with contemporary culture and with education? There is some
insight in literature: Christopher Marlowe's Faust, who trades his soul for
knowledge and power; Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein, who refuses to take
responsibility for his creation; Herman Melville's Captain Ahab, who says
"All my means are sane, my motive and object mad." In these characters we
encounter the essence of the modern drive to dominate nature.

Historically, Francis Bacon's proposed union between knowledge and power
foreshadows the contemporary alliance between government, business, and
knowledge that has wrought so much mischief. Galileo's separation of the
intellect foreshadows the dominance of the analytical mind over that part
given to creativity, humor, and wholeness. And in Descartes' epistemology,
one finds the roots of the radical separation of self and object. Together
these three laid the foundations for modern education, foundations now
enshrined in myths we have come to accept without question. Let me suggest
six.

First, there is the myth that ignorance is a solvable problem. Ignorance is
not a solvable problem, but rather an inescapable part of the human
condition. The advance of knowledge always carries with it the advance of
some form of ignorance. In 1930, after Thomas Midgely Jr. discovered CFCs,
what had previously been a piece of trivial ignorance became a critical,
life-threatening gap in the human understanding of the biosphere. No one
thought to ask "what does this substance do to what?" until the early 1970s,
and by 1990 CFCs had created a general thinning of the ozone layer
worldwide. With the discovery of CFCs knowledge increased; but like the
circumference of an expanding circle, ignorance grew as well.

A second myth is that with enough knowledge and technology we can manage
planet Earth. "Managing the planet" has a nice a ring to it. It appeals to
our fascination with digital readouts, computers, buttons and dials. But the
complexity of Earth and its life systems can never be safely managed. The
ecology of the top inch of topsoil is still largely unknown, as is its
relationship to the larger systems of the biosphere.

What might be managed is us: human desires, economies, politics, and
communities. But our attention is caught by those things that avoid the hard
choices implied by politics, morality, ethics, and common sense. It makes
far better sense to reshape ourselves to fit a finite planet than to attempt
to reshape the planet to fit our infinite wants.

A third myth is that knowledge is increasing and by implication human
goodness. There is an information explosion going on, by which I mean a
rapid increase of data, words, and paper. But this explosion should not be
taken for an increase in knowledge and wisdom, which cannot so easily by
measured. What can be said truthfully is that some knowledge is increasing
while other kinds of knowledge are being lost. David Ehrenfeld has pointed
out that biology departments no longer hire faculty in such areas as
systematics, taxonomy, or ornithology. In other words, important knowledge
is being lost because of the recent overemphasis on molecular biology and
genetic engineering, which are more lucrative, but not more important, areas
of inquiry. We still lack the the science of land health that Aldo Leopold
called for half a century ago.

It is not just knowledge in certain areas that we're losing, but vernacular
knowledge as well, by which I mean the knowledge that people have of their
places. In the words of Barry Lopez:

"[I am] forced to the realization that something strange, if not dangerous,
is afoot. Year by year the number of people with firsthand experience in the
land dwindles. Rural populations continue to shift to the cities.... In the
wake of this loss of personal and local knowledge, the knowledge from which
a real geography is derived, the knowledge on which a country must
ultimately stand, has come something hard to define but I think sinister and
unsettling."

In the confusion of data with knowledge is a deeper mistake that learning
will make us better people. But learning, as Loren Eiseley once said, is
endless and "In itself it will never make us ethical [people]." Ultimately,
it may be the knowledge of the good that is most threatened by all of our
other advances. All things considered, it is possible that we are becoming
more ignorant of the things we must know to live well and sustainably on the
Earth.

A fourth myth of higher education is that we can adequately restore that
which we have dismantled. In the modern curriculum we have fragmented the
world into bits and pieces called disciplines and subdisciplines. As a
result, after 12 or 16 or 20 years of education, most students graduate
without any broad integrated sense of the unity of things. The consequences
for their personhood and for the planet are large. For example, we routinely
produce economists who lack the most rudimentary knowledge of ecology. This
explains why our national accounting systems do not subtract the costs of
biotic impoverishment, soil erosion, poisons in the air or water, and
resource depletion from gross national product. We add the price of the sale
of a bushel of wheat to GNP while forgetting to subtract the three bushels
of topsoil lost in its production. As a result of incomplete education,
we've fooled ourselves into thinking that we are much richer than we are.

Fifth, there is a myth that the purpose of education is that of giving you
the means for upward mobility and success. Thomas Merton once identified
this as the "mass production of people literally unfit for anything except
to take part in an elaborate and completely artificial charade." When asked
to write about his own success, Merton responded by saying that "if it so
happened that I had once written a best seller, this was a pure accident,
due to inattention and naiveté, and I would take very good care never to do
the same again." His advice to students was to "be anything you like, be
madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid
one thing: success."

The plain fact is that the planet does not need more "successful" people.
But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers,
storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live
well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the
fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to
do with success as our culture has defined it.

Finally, there is a myth that our culture represents the pinnacle of human
achievement: we alone are modern, technological, and developed. This, of
course, represents cultural arrogance of the worst sort, and a gross
misreading of history and anthropology. Recently this view has taken the
form that we won the cold war and that the triumph of capitalism over
communism is complete. Communism failed because it produced too little at
too high a cost. But capitalism has also failed because it produces too
much, shares too little, also at too high a cost to our children and
grandchildren. Communism failed as an ascetic morality. Capitalism failed
because it destroys morality altogether. This is not the happy world that
any number of feckless advertisers and politicians describe. We have built a
world of sybaritic wealth for a few and Calcuttan poverty for a growing
underclass. At its worst it is a world of crack on the streets, insensate
violence, anomie, and the most desperate kind of poverty. The fact is that
we live in a disintegrating culture. In the words of Ron Miller, editor of
Holistic Review:

"Our culture does not nourish that which is best or noblest in the human
spirit. It does not cultivate vision, imagination, or aesthetic or spiritual
sensitivity. It does not encourage gentleness, generosity, caring, or
compassion. Increasingly in the late 20th Century, the
economic-technocratic-statist worldview has become a monstrous destroyer of
what is loving and life-affirming in the human soul."



WHAT EDUCATION MUST BE FOR

Measured against the agenda of human survival, how might we rethink
education? Let me suggest six principles.

First, all education is environmental education. By what is included or
excluded we teach students that they are part of or apart from the natural
world. To teach economics, for example, without reference to the laws of
thermodynamics or those of ecology is to teach a fundamentally important
ecological lesson: that physics and ecology have nothing to do with the
economy. That just happens to be dead wrong. The same is true throughout all
of the curriculum.

A second principle comes from the Greek concept of paideia. The goal of
education is not mastery of subject matter, but of one's person. Subject
matter is simply the tool. Much as one would use a hammer and chisel to
carve a block of marble, one uses ideas and knowledge to forge one's own
personhood. For the most part we labor under a confusion of ends and means,
thinking that the goal of education is to stuff all kinds of facts,
techniques, methods, and information into the student's mind, regardless of
how and with what effect it will be used. The Greeks knew better.

Third, I would like to propose that knowledge carries with it the
responsibility to see that it is well used in the world. The results of a
great deal of contemporary research bear resemblance to those foreshadowed
by Mary Shelley: monsters of technology and its byproducts for which no one
takes responsibility or is even expected to take responsibility. Whose
responsibility is Love Canal? Chernobyl? Ozone depletion? The Valdez oil
spill? Each of these tragedies were possible because of knowledge created
for which no one was ultimately responsible. This may finally come to be
seen for what I think it is: a problem of scale. Knowledge of how to do vast
and risky things has far outrun our ability to use it responsibly. Some of
it cannot be used responsibly, which is to say safely and to consistently
good purposes.

Fourth, we cannot say that we know something until we understand the effects
of this knowledge on real people and their communities. I grew up near
Youngstown, Ohio, which was largely destroyed by corporate decisions to
"disinvest" in the economy of the region. In this case MBAs, educated in the
tools of leveraged buyouts, tax breaks, and capital mobility have done what
no invading army could do: they destroyed an American city with total
impunity on behalf of something called the "bottom line." But the bottom
line for society includes other costs, those of unemployment, crime, higher
divorce rates, alcoholism, child abuse, lost savings, and wrecked lives. In
this instance what was taught in the business schools and economics
departments did not include the value of good communities or the human costs
of a narrow destructive economic rationality that valued efficiency and
economic abstractions above people and community.

My fifth principle follows and is drawn from William Blake. It has to do
with the importance of "minute particulars" and the power of examples over
words. Students hear about global responsibility while being educated in
institutions that often invest their financial weight in the most
irresponsible things. The lessons being taught are those of hypocrisy and
ultimately despair. Students learn, without anyone ever saying it, that they
are helpless to overcome the frightening gap between ideals and reality.
What is desperately needed are faculty and administrators who provide role
models of integrity, care, thoughtfulness, and institutions that are capable
of embodying ideals wholly and completely in all of their operations.

Finally, I would like to propose that the way learning occurs is as
important as the content of particular courses. Process is important for
learning. Courses taught as lecture courses tend to induce passivity. Indoor
classes create the illusion that learning only occurs inside four walls
isolated from what students call without apparent irony the "real world."
Dissecting frogs in biology classes teaches lessons about nature that no one
would verbally profess. Campus architecture is crystallized pedagogy that
often reinforces passivity, monologue, domination, and artificiality. My
point is simply that students are being taught in various and subtle ways
beyond the content of courses.



AN ASSIGNMENT FOR THE CAMPUS

If education is to be measured against the standard of sustainability, what
can be done? I would like to make four proposals. First, I would like to
propose that you engage in a campus-wide dialogue about the way you conduct
your business as educators. Does four years here make your graduates better
planetary citizens or does it make them, in Wendell Berry's words,
"itinerant professional vandals"? Does this college contribute to the
development of a sustainable regional economy or, in the name of efficiency,
to the processes of destruction?

My second suggestion is to examine resource flows on this campus: food,
energy, water, materials, and waste. Faculty and students should together
study the wells, mines, farms, feedlots, and forests that supply the campus
as well as the dumps where you send your waste. Collectively, begin a
process of finding ways to shift the buying power of this institution to
support better alternatives that do less environmental damage, lower carbon
dioxide emissions, reduce use of toxic substances, promote energy efficiency
and the use of solar energy, help to build a sustainable regional economy,
cut long-term costs, and provide an example to other institutions. The
results of these studies should be woven into the curriculum as
interdicisplinary courses, seminars, lectures, and research. No student
should graduate without understanding how to analyze resource flows and
without the opportunity to participate in the creation of real solutions to
real problems.

Third, re-examine how your endowment works. Is it invested according to the
Valdez principles? Is it invested in companies doing responsible things that
the world needs? Can some part of it be invested locally to help leverage
energy efficiency and the evolution of a sustainable economy throughout the
region?

Finally, I propose that you set a goal of ecological literacy for all of
your students. No student should graduate from this or any other educational
institution without a basic comprehension of:
the laws of thermodynamics,
the basic principles of ecology,
carrying capacity,
energetics,
least-cost, end-use analysis,
how to live well in a place,
limits of technology,
appropriate scale,
sustainable agriculture and forestry,
steady-state economics,
environmental ethics

Do graduates of this college, in Aldo Leopold's words, know that "they are
only cogs in an ecological mechanism such that, if they will work with that
mechanism, their mental wealth and material wealth can expand indefinitely
(and) if they refuse to work with it, it will ultimately grind them to
dust." Leopold asked: "If education does not teach us these things, then
what is education for?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
About the Speaker
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
A profile of David Orr:
"Ancestry and Influence: A Portrait of David Orr"
By Marci Janas, Oberlin Online, 17th September 1998.
http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/98sep/orr_profile.html


Biography: David W. Orr
http://www.oberlin.edu/newserv/esc/bios/orr.html
David W. Orr
B.A., Westminster College (1965), M.A., Michigan State University (1966),
Ph.D., International Relations, University of Pennsylvania (1973).
Currently, Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at
Oberlin College, Ohio.

National Conservation Achievement Award, 1993; Lyndhurst Prize, 1992; Benton
Box Award, 1995;  Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, 1990; Distinguished
Scholar in Residence, Ball State University and Westminster College, Salt
Lake City, 1996.

Author of Earth in Mind, 1994; Ecological Literacy, 1992; more than 90
articles. Co-editor of The Campus and Environmental Responsibility, 1992;
The Global Predicament, 1979. Education Editor for Conservation Biology,
Member, editorial advisory board, Orion Nature Quarterly. Trustee of the
Educational Foundation of America, The Annenberg Rural Challenge, and the
JED Fund. Member of the Education Visiting Committee, New England Aquarium
and a Member of the Board, the Centre for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley.

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1. Leisurely walk this Sunday, 13th February: 8am: MR --> BTNR
2. Long-tail macaques, conflict with man in Thailand [report]
3. The long ride up, Tapah - Cameron Highlands, 6th Dec 99 [story]
-------------------------------------------------------------------

---> [1] Nature walk this Sunday, 13th Feb: 8am - 12pm
Meet at the carpark at the main entrance of MacRitchie Reservoir
This NSS nature walk from MacRitchie Reservoir to Bukit Timah
Nature Reserve will be conducted by Alvin Wong, N. Sivasothi and
friends of the Habitat Group. All are welcome.

We will take a leisurely pace, hence it will be 4 hours before we
see the summit of Bukit Timah.  As is usual, we will be looking at
all aspects of flora and fauna with a sprinkling of history and
geography along the way, all heavily laced with our anecdotes of
misadventures! First-timers can learn to recognise some common
plants along the way, such as Simpoh Ayer, Resam and forest giants
like the Keruing and Seraya.

Spotting birds, herptiles and insects will depend on our luck. Bring
water, a snack, raingear and wear comfortable footwear. A fresh
t-shirt to change into would be nice, for after the walk, we'll
adjourn to a well-deserved "makan" somewhere nearby.



---> [2] "Mischievous macaques the bane of residents"
by UAMDAO NOIKORN
Bangkok Post Internet Edition, Sun, 6th February 2000 [report]
http://www.bangkokpost.net/060200/060200_News03.html
[Complete article at website]
Samut Sakhon -- According to 55-year-old Prasong Boonserm, the
monkeys [Long-talied macaques, Macaca fascicularis] settled in
the area the same time as humans, a century ago. Problems
between the two groups only started a decade ago, when a forest
fire pushed the monkeys into the palm woods which was already
inhabited by another group.

"The woods aren't public land. The factory expansion will soon
catch on... they must move into the village for sure and that'll
be a disaster," noted the village's wise man. The area of woods
has reduced from 800 rai to 50 rai (1 rai ~ 0.16 hectare).



---> [3] The long ride up, Tapah - Cameron Highlands,
         6th December 1999 by Anonymous

During the last monsoon, Cameron Highlands and other areas in
Malaysia were severely affected by landslides. Furious debates
would rage in the Malaysian papers in the days that followed,
and Orang Asli communities in other areas are today still
suffering the effects for their communal farm plots were
swept away, leaving them reliant on government aid for food.

**'Farming activities involving indiscriminate clearing of land,
coupled with continuous downpours, were partly blamed for
landslides in Cameron Highlands over four days from 4th - 7th
December 1994 resulting in the death of 7 people.'**

A couple of my friends took a short holiday in Malaysia on the
6th of December, and got a whiff of the problems when they saw
first hand, the congestion that would plague the winding
mountain roads subsequent to the landslides.

"Our trip to Cameron Highlands was surely an unforgettable one.
We were told that the bus ride from Tapah (a town at the bottom of
Cameron Highlands) to Cameron Highlands would be about two hours.
We were in for a really big surprise, for only we reached Cameron
Highlands 12 hours later!

The delay was due to severe landslides along the long and narrow
winding road to Cameron Highlands. According to the locals, it was
one of the worst landslides ever. We saw a total of 49 landslides
along the road, some big some small. The landslides had certainly
left the place in ruins.

We had to make a 'stopover' each time we came across a big
landslide. We could not proceed until the earth, the rocks and the
fallen trees were removed from the road. The 'stopover' was as long
as four hours for very severe landslides. Obviously, the landslides
caused a major traffic jam. We could see a very long trail of cars
down the narrow winding road.

Having started our bus ride from Kuala Lumpur at 11am, we reached
Tapah by about 2pm, and finally reached Cameron Highlands 12 hours
later at 2am  the next morning! Though exhausted and hungry, we
were so thankful and relieved that we made it to our destination.

The locals made a very interesting remark that the hardest hit were
companies that sell perishable goods like fresh flowers. They would
initiate their own cleanup if no help was forthcoming from the
authorities so as to ensure timely delivery of their goods."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**Source: Asian Disaster Reduction Centre: Country Reports: Malaysia
"Accomplishments, current activities and future requirements for
disaster reduction in Malaysia." Prepared by Crisis And Disaster
Management Unit, Division For National Security, Prime Minister's
Department, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA, February 1999
http://www.adrc.or.jp/countryreport/MYS/index.html

See also: Disaster Information for Malaysia
http://www.adrc.or.jp/nations/nationinformation.asp?NationCode=458&Lang=en
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"Save the Napolean Wrasse & Green Sea Turtle"

a slide & video presentation by

MICHAEL AW,
world reknown underwater photographer, and author of Beneath Bunaken,
Dreams of a Rainbow Sea and 24-hours Beneath a Rainbow Sea

An event for divers, enthusiasts of underwater photography
and those concerned with conserving our reefs and oceans.

SUNDAY, 5th March: 6.30pm
Silkroads TeaHouse, 32 Pagoda Street

OR

MONDAY, 6th March: 7.00-8.00 pm
Student Reference Centre
National Library (Stamford Road)

Includes: a poster display of Michael's work, book sales and signing

For Silkroads TeaHouse event only: Raffle Draws too!
Proceeds from food and drinks will be donated to OceanNEnvironment

Source: Thanks to Sylvia Low & friends, via Ria Tan.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Background
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael will talk about the beautiful and endangered Green Sea
Turtles and the Napoleon Wrasse and give a sneak preview of the
documentary "24 hours beneath a Rainbow Sea", which was produced
by Michael Aw & film-maker Leandro Blanco, with music written and
performed by Miguel Zelada.
See: http://www.24hoursdive.com/Video.htm

You may have read of the topics of the talk in issues of the
Asian Geographic, a new magazine full of excellent photographs.
20% of their profits 'contribute directly to OceanNEnvironment's
research and preservation projects in Asia'.

Asian Geographic, Volume 1, No. 1: September 1999
24 Hours Beneath a Rainbow Sea by MICHAEL AW, NICHOLAS PILCHER et al.
Documenting a reef over a 24 hour period in the Maldives
proved a significant logistical challenge. Forty-five people from
13 countries managed to successfully complete this arduous task.

Asian Geographic, Volume 1, No. 2: December 1999
Turtles turned Turtle by NICOLAS PILCHER.
Six sea turtle species make their home in Southeast Asia.  Battling
a decline of coastal space for nesting, the collection of their
eggs and slaughter for human consumption, these graceful animals
are soldiering on.

Asian Geographic, Volume 1, No. 2: December 1999
The Vanishing Napolean by MICHAEL AW.
The magnificent Napoleon wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus is in
high demand in the restaurants of Asia.  Caught live through
the highly destructive practise of cyanide fishing, the Napoleon
is disappearing from many reefs in Southeast Asia.  The Maldives
remains as a sanctuary.

For more information on the magazine, see:
Habitatnews No. 99-48: Mon, 20th September 1999
http://www.onelist.com/omessages/habitatnews?archive=55

Habitatnews No. 99-62: Thu, 23rd December 1999
http://www.onelist.com/omessages/habitatnews?archive=69

-------------------------------------------------------------------
About the speaker
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Aw's photographs and articles on environmental issues,
natural history, travel log and technical aspect of SCUBA have
been featured in publications such as Australian Geographic, GEO
(Australasia), Asian Geographic, Underwater GEOGRAPHIC, Nature
Focus, Action Asia, Scuba Diver and SportDiving. His photographs
have received numerous awards and honours including the prestigious
Superb Close-Up Award in the Nikon International Photo Contest, 1995.

He is also the author and photographer of many books on underwater
exploration. His credits include two Gifts of State publications
"Beneath Bunaken" for North Sulawesi and "Dreams from a Rainbow Sea-
Maldives" for the Maldives. Michael is also the author of "Tanah
Air? Biodiversity of Indonesia" and two 24-hour almanacs,
"Metamorphosis" and "24-Hours Beneath a Rainbow Sea".

In collaboration with award-winning film maker, Michael
completed a video documentary based on "Dreams of a Rainbow Sea".
The video documentary of his 24-hour dive expedition in the Maldives
was selected for broadcast by the National Geographic Channel.

In response to the unrelenting degradation of the reefs and marine
life through human action, Michael set up OceanNEnvironment in 1996.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
OceanNEnvironment           http://www.OceanNEnvironment.com.au
-------------------------------------------------------------------
OceanNEnvironment is a non-profit organisation registered in
Australia.  The mission of OceanNEnvironment is to promote and
initiate conservation projects as well as to document the impact
of man-made pollution on the ocean reefs through research programs
and educational expeditions.

OceanNEnvironment's objective is to present information about our
natural heritage in an exciting and thought provoking manner. The
aim is to motivate people to learn, to love and to help preserve
our natural world.

Currently the key issues on OceanNEnvironment's agenda are -
lobbying for restriction of export of Cheilinus undulatus
(Napoleon Wrasse) to the live-fish trade in Hong Kong, initiation
of the World Monitoring and Preservation Program for Napoleon
Wrasse ("Napwatch") and a sea turtle hatchery in Indonesia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Related links
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.tnc.org/hawaii/reefrpt.htm
Environmental, economic and social implications of the live reef
fish trade in Asia and the Western Pacific by Robert E Johannes
and Michael Riepen on the Nature Conservacy of Hawai'i website.

http://www.traffic.org/reef-fish/executivesummary.html
The Hong Kong Trade in Live Reef Fish for Food by TRAFFIC East Asia
and WWF Hong Kong
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Docents at the Singapore Zoological Gardens
Email Application Exercise 2000!

Missed 'em last year? Stop kicking yourself...they are now open
for email applications once again; just tell them
"you're interested!" by sending an email to:

szgdocent@...

DEADLINE is 31st March 2000!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
What happens next...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Docents will then send you:
- an application form,
- the deadline for written applications,
- other relevant details, e. g. specifics of the training programme,

From what I know, this happens next:
- an interview
- a training programme
- graduation!

According to friends there, last year's application exercise
saw several habitatnews subscribers join the Docents to do
their bit for conservation through education.

If you need more information about the Docents, read on or see:
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/eliot/554/

-------------------------------------------------------------------
WHO ARE THE DOCENTS? WHAT DO THEY DO?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Docents at the Singapore Zoological Gardens are a young group
of enthusiastic volunteers united by a passion for animals and the
commitment to reach out to visitors and to raise awareness about
conservation.

Docents talk to visitors of the Singapore Zoological Gardens and
Night Safari, running Discovery Stations once a month, and also
providing guided tours of the Zoo on Sundays.

Their special programmes inform visitors about wild animals and
the need to conserve them and their habitats, and inculcate a
respect for animals.

Started in April 1997, the group of about 53 docents are self-run,
conduct their own training programme, produced their own training
CDROM, produce a newsletter, and conduct regular meetings, informal
get-togethers discussing the issues of the day and social outings.
Phew!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
WHO WILL ENJOY BEING A DOCENT?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A good Docent is someone who:

* Agrees with the mission of the group and is willing to work
    hard to achieve it.
* At least 21 years old. Must be responsible, independent,
    enthusiastic, and self-motivated.
* Enjoys talking to and working with people. Their main task is
    to educate.
* Is a team player and able to work well with other volunteers of
    different backgrounds.
* Is proficient in English and enjoys the outdoors.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT ARE THE REWARDS OF BEING A DOCENT?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
* An opportunity to participate in a meaningful activity that
    makes a difference; to the animals, the zoo, and to conservation.
* A chance to learn more about animals and their conservation.
* A chance to work with a world-class zoo.
* A chance to work with other people who share their interest
    and passion.
* While we have serious aims, the current docents believe they should
    achieve these in a fun way. So they do have a lot of fun!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Main source: http://victorian.fortunecity.com/eliot/554/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you clicked today? http://www.hungersite.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews No. 2000-10: Sun, 12th March 2000
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@onelist.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss
Archives: http://www.onelist.com/messages/habitatnews
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Note - in India to see mangroves; back by 20th March - Otterman
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Slide talks in March, organised by the Nature Society (Singapore)
See http://www.post1.com/home/naturesingapore/

1. Wed 15th March: "Fabulous Figs" by Shawn Lum

2. Wed, 22nd March: "An African Safari" by Wee Yeow Chin

ALL ARE WELCOME

Location - The Ang Mo Kio (AMK) Community Library is off
AMK Ave 6, a five minutes walk from AMK Bus Interchange or
the MRT Station. Check the Singapore Street Directory ('88/'89)
Map No. 168. There is a large carpark behind the library and
lots of places to eat at after the talk!
-------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] "FABULOUS FIGS"

by Dr Shawn Lum

Wednesday, 15th March 2000: 7.15 pm
Ang Mo Kio Library

Figs are a diverse group of plants that have a number of amazing
adaptive features. In this informal talk, Shawn will look at some
of the amazing variety and growth forms of figs. Their method of
pollination must surely rank as one of the wonders of the biological
world! Tips on their identification will be given, as a prelude to
the fig walk on Saturday, 18th March 2000

Shawn Lum is a botanist at NIE/NTU. An articulate and humorous
speaker, and this talk is yet another in a continuing series by the
NSS Plant Group which he leads. His lectures in this series are meant
for the layman, and if you take notes, you will be on your way to
figuring out figs after this slide talk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------


[2] "AN AFRICAN SAFAR - IN SEARCH OF THE BIG 5 IN KENYA"

by Dr Wee Yeow Chin

Wednesday, 22nd March 2000: 7.15 pm
Ang Mo Kio Library

- Thanks to Jean Wee.


SYNOPSIS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyone going on a safari in Africa is expected to see the Big Five.
These are the larger animals that were once a challenge to
the colonial-age "white hunters." These animals needed the most skill
to stalk and much courage to kill. Also, the trophies were
the most valuable.

Africa's big five includes the lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and
rhinoceros. A recent nine-day tour of Kenya by five NSS members took
us to the Samburu/Shaba National Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru National
Park and Masai Mara Game Reserve. The last named reserve is part of
the larger Serengeti Plains of Tanzania that is famous for the largest
concentration of wild animals in the world.

Not only did we manage to see Africa's big five, we were also
fortunate to encounter cheetahs, giraffes, hyenas, zebras,
hippopotamuses, baboons, warthogs and a host of large and small
birds. Join us at this talk and share with us the many encounters we
had with the wild animals of Africa


ABOUT THE SPEAKER
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Wee Yeow Chin retired from National University of Singapore a few
years ago where he taught botany to biology students, and introduced
generations of them to wayside trees and ferns.  He was also active
in the field of nature conservation, and was the Honorary Secretary
and later President of Nature Society (Singapore).

He has written a number of books on various aspects of our urban
flora from ferns to wayside trees. Currently he spends most of his
time writing and giving talks as well as travelling the world to
observe and photograph the flora and fauna of the various countries
in their natural habitats. Nice, huh?

Prof Wee is a natural speaker and has an unassuming humour stemming
from the days he would play tricks on his students, making his talks
an enjoyable affair.

> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Habitatnews No. 2000-11: Fri, 31st March 2000
> The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
> To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@onelist.com
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Current nature-related news for the busy Singaporean
> Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Contents
> 0. No reply to recent emails?
> 1. Thu 6th - Sun 9th April: Marine Photo Exhibition
> 2. Sun 9th April: "Mangroves of Taiwan & other stories"
> 3. Mon 10th April: 'Student opportunities at Operation Wallacea'
> 4. "Being open about shellfish" [article]
> 5. Recently issued IUCN guidelines
> 6. "Primates on the brink" - report from the Primate Specialist Group
> 7. Habitatnews webpage under construction
> 8. Internet hint: A marvelous & free search engine - Copernic2000
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ---> [0] No reply to recent emails?
> If you emailed me in early March and have not received a reply,
> please resend the message. Just after downloading almost 200 email
> messages in mid-March, the powerbook's 6GB hardisk melted.
> A free replacement is on the way and the practise of daily back ups
> prevented a catastrophe. In the meantime, I am using PC, sigh!
>
> ---> [1] Marine Photo Exhibition
> by the Marine Conservation Group of the NSS
> in conjunction with Boats & METS Asia 2000
> World Trade Centre, Thursday 6th April - Sunday 9th April, 2000
>
> ---> [2] "Mangroves of Taiwan & other stories..." by N. Sivasothi
> Sunday, 9th April 2000: 3pm at the SBNP Theatrette
> Please see: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/taiwan.html
> The speaker was in Tawian for an Otter conference in Dec '99 and
> visited southern and northen mangrove sites. He will comment on
> several topics based on his travels and conversations, including:
> Taiwan mangroves - species, distribution, some conservation issues,
> land subsidence and replanting, the Tamshui River and Kuantu
> Reserve, MRT access to the mangroves, comparisons with Singapore;
> Otters - the Kinmen otter cub and implications;
> Taipei Zoo - the integrated education programme for Taipei city
>
> ---> [3] "The Wildlife of the Wallacea Region of Indonesia
> and research opportunities for students" by Tim Coles
> Monday, 10th April 2000: 1pm at LT31, Science Faculty,
> Science Drive 1, The National University of Singapore
> For details please see: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/wallacea.htm
> Tim Coles is a trustee and research scientist of the Operation
> Wallacea Charity Trust. He will talk about opportunities for working
> on coral reef and tropical raingforest projects this coming June-
> September 2000.
>
> ---> [4] "Being open about shellfish" by C. Celestine
> The Star Online: Sunday, 26th March 2000 [article; link expires soon]
> http://www.thestar.com.my/online/newsreport.asp?file=/2000/3/26/features/2
> 6rnshel.asp&newspage=features
> Shellfish is a much sought after delicacy even though it's known to
> cause adverse allergic reactions and is prone to bacterial contaminations.
>
>  - a light read; recipes included at:
> http://www.thestar.com.my/online/newsreport.asp?file=/2000/3/26/features/2
> 6rnrec.asp&newspage=features
>
> ---> [5] Recently issued IUCN guidelines
> The following are now available at:
> http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/siteindx.htm
> i. IUCN Guidelines for the Placement of Confiscated Animals,
> ii. IUCN Guidelines for the Prevention of Biodiversity Loss Caused
>   by Alien Invasive Species
>
> ---> [6] "Primates on the brink"
> Full report in pdf format at:
> http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/news/primates25.htm
> by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group & Conservation International
> 'New List Spotlights World's Top 25 Most Endangered Primates'
> 'After surviving a century with no extinctions, 25 species of primates
> are now at risk of disappearing forever.  24 of the 25 species are
> found exclusively in seven of the world's 25 "biodiversity hotspots".'
> 'The main causes for primates' decline are tropical forest habitat
> destruction and local bushmeat hunting. Live capture for the pet trade
> and export for biomedical research also threaten some species.
> "Close to 20 percent of the world's primates stand a reasonable
> chance of disappearing within the next 10 to 20 years..."'
> 'Biodiversity hotspots, where 96 percent of the most threatened
> primates live, are identified by Conservation International as 25
> places that cover only 1.4 percent of the Earth's land surface, but
> claim more than 60 percent of all plant and animal diversity.'
> 'Hotspots with the most endangered primates are Indo-Burma
> (especially Vietnam), Madagascar, Brazil's Atlantic Forest Region,
> the Guinean Forests of West Africa and Sundaland.'
>
> ---> [7] Webpage under construction at http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
> Far from complete; but just to let you know it started. Kindly provided
> by Centre for Technology and Application (http://www.cita.nus.edu.sg).
> It'll get developed with time
>
> ---> [8] Internet Hint: Copernic2000, an efficient and free
> metasearch engine for Macintosh and Windows
> See http://www.coppernic.com
> There is no way to search the ENTIRE web, not yet anyway.
> A single search engine is rarely efficient enough for research.
> Metasearch engines help by combining the results of several
> search engines from one site. Copernic goes one step further by
> providing a browser-independent desktop tool. It will integrate
> with Internet Explorer - version 5 now also available for the
> Macintosh; see http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2904
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Click to donate food today at http://www.hungersite.com/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews No. 2000-11: Fri, 31st March 2000
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@onelist.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Current nature-related news for the busy Singaporean
Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
0. No reply to recent emails?
1. Thu 6th - Sun 9th April: Marine Photo Exhibition
2. Sun 9th April: "Mangroves of Taiwan & other stories"
3. Mon 10th April: 'Student opportunities at Operation Wallacea'
4. "Being open about shellfish" [article]
5. Recently issued IUCN guidelines
6. "Primates on the brink" - report from the Primate Specialist Group
7. Habitatnews webpage under construction
8. Internet hint: A marvelous & free search engine - Copernic2000
-------------------------------------------------------------------

---> [0] No reply to recent emails?
If you emailed me in early March and have not received a reply,
please resend the message. Just after downloading almost 200 email
messages in mid-March, the powerbook's 6GB hardisk melted.
A free replacement is on the way and the practise of daily back ups
prevented a catastrophe. In the meantime, I am using PC, sigh!

---> [1] Marine Photo Exhibition
by the Marine Conservation Group of the NSS
in conjunction with Boats & METS Asia 2000
World Trade Centre, Thursday 6th April - Sunday 9th April, 2000

---> [2] "Mangroves of Taiwan & other stories..." by N. Sivasothi
Sunday, 9th April 2000: 3pm at the SBNP Theatrette
Please see: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/taiwan.html
The speaker was in Tawian for an Otter conference in Dec '99 and
visited southern and northen mangrove sites. He will comment on
several topics based on his travels and conversations, including:
Taiwan mangroves - species, distribution, some conservation issues,
land subsidence and replanting, the Tamshui River and Kuantu
Reserve, MRT access to the mangroves, comparisons with Singapore;
Otters - the Kinmen otter cub and implications;
Taipei Zoo - the integrated education programme for Taipei city

---> [3] "The Wildlife of the Wallacea Region of Indonesia
and research opportunities for students" by Tim Coles
Monday, 10th April 2000: 1pm at LT31, Science Faculty,
Science Drive 1, The National University of Singapore
For details please see: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/wallacea.htm
Tim Coles is a trustee and research scientist of the Operation
Wallacea Charity Trust. He will talk about opportunities for working
on coral reef and tropical raingforest projects this coming June-
September 2000.

---> [4] "Being open about shellfish" by C. Celestine
The Star Online: Sunday, 26th March 2000 [article; link expires soon]
http://www.thestar.com.my/online/newsreport.asp?file=/2000/3/26/features/26r
nshel.asp&newspage=features
Shellfish is a much sought after delicacy even though it's known to
cause adverse allergic reactions and is prone to bacterial contaminations.
  - a light read; recipes included at:
http://www.thestar.com.my/online/newsreport.asp?file=/2000/3/26/features/26r
nrec.asp&newspage=features

---> [5] Recently issued IUCN guidelines
The following are now available at:
http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/siteindx.htm
i. IUCN Guidelines for the Placement of Confiscated Animals,
ii. IUCN Guidelines for the Prevention of Biodiversity Loss Caused
   by Alien Invasive Species

---> [6] "Primates on the brink"
Full report in pdf format at:
http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/news/primates25.htm
by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group & Conservation International
'New List Spotlights World's Top 25 Most Endangered Primates'
'After surviving a century with no extinctions, 25 species of primates
are now at risk of disappearing forever.  24 of the 25 species are
found exclusively in seven of the world's 25 "biodiversity hotspots".'
'The main causes for primates' decline are tropical forest habitat
destruction and local bushmeat hunting. Live capture for the pet trade
and export for biomedical research also threaten some species.
"Close to 20 percent of the world's primates stand a reasonable
chance of disappearing within the next 10 to 20 years..."'
'Biodiversity hotspots, where 96 percent of the most threatened
primates live, are identified by Conservation International as 25
places that cover only 1.4 percent of the Earth's land surface, but
claim more than 60 percent of all plant and animal diversity.'
'Hotspots with the most endangered primates are Indo-Burma
(especially Vietnam), Madagascar, Brazil's Atlantic Forest Region,
the Guinean Forests of West Africa and Sundaland.'

---> [7] Webpage under construction at http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
Far from complete; but just to let you know it started. Kindly provided
by Centre for Technology and Application (http://www.cita.nus.edu.sg).
It'll get developed with time

---> [8] Internet Hint: Copernic2000, an efficient and free
metasearch engine for Macintosh and Windows
See http://www.coppernic.com
There is no way to search the ENTIRE web, not yet anyway.
A single search engine is rarely efficient enough for research.
Metasearch engines help by combining the results of several
search engines from one site. Copernic goes one step further by
providing a browser-independent desktop tool. It will integrate
with Internet Explorer - version 5 now also available for the
Macintosh; see http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2904
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Click to donate food today at http://www.hungersite.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------

?
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o? F??~\, Th??@F??
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="MS_Mac_OE_3038602684_2769744_MIME_Part"

> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--MS_Mac_OE_3038602684_2769744_MIME_Part
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews 2000-13: Sat, 15th April 2000
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@onelist.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss
Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue -

1 - Launch of Sensory Trail at Pulau Ubin
2 - Events on Saturdays at Sungei Buloh Nature Park
3 - Antartica Slide Shows at the Singapore History Museum
4 - William Farquhar's Collection on display
------------------------------------------------------------------

---> [1] Sensory Trail on Pulau Ubin opens today!
Congratulations to the Singapore American School's SAVE club,
NParks and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped
(SAVH)! At 10.30am today, the American Ambassador to Singapore,
Steven J Green, launches the Sensory Trail at Pulau Ubin.

Under the NParks co-adoption programme, today is a witness to the
fruition of an idea hatched by SAVE's Katherine Frazier & Nature
Society (Singapore)'s Evelyn Eng-Lim in 1995, to provide access to
otherwise difficult areas for handicap groups.

20 signs in Braille and English identifying plant and two clues
to animal life feature in this trail which includes a garden site
with a diverse variety of vegtebles and aromatic plants.

Today, one of SAVE's friends, Junaidah, read the signs for the
first time, and in some signs, there was more information in
Braille than in English. Apparently, since editing signs in
Braille was a new experience, Braille took up more space than
expected! It all works out rather nicely, for then the visually
impaired can then guide their their seeing friends.

This was a SAVE student project but they got a lot of help.
NParks had been extremely supportive, and in this former waste
land, you will see their touch in the bridges, hand-railings, and
even a honest to goodness well! A garden contains an array of
plants due in no small way to the green (no, golden!) fingers of
NParks staff.  Andrew Tay and others of the Nature Society
(Singapore) were a great resource, helping the students to identify
plant species as well as helping with the text.

All project will have amusing stories, and one was just enacted -
all the braille inserts were delivered mixed up, and with no one
to read them, even the orientation was a mystery! A quick trip to
SAVH saved the day - all the signs were labelled and are now
firmly (and freshly) glued to the signs!

Kate Thome will be recounting the background of this trail at the
launch, and some of you will remember her from her days as the
inspirational leader of at the International Coastal Cleanup.

Congratulations to them all!

--- Source: The invitation card and a phone conversation
with Kate Thome; thanks.


---> [2] Saturdays at Sungei Buloh Nature Park
A young author speaks: "101 ways to help save the earth",
22nd April: 9am
HeronWatch 2000: 22nd April, 20th May & 17th June: 3pm to 5pm
PrawnWatch 2000: 27th May, 9th June & 24th June: 9am to 11am

Sungei Buloh Nature Park has a host of activities in store for you,
and next Saturday, 22nd April, you can listen to a young lady speak
about 101 ways to help save the earth, based on a book she penned
as a teenager. Sponsored by National Geographic Channel Asia.

That same afternoon, guides will take you on tours for a discovery
of Herons at the park. More details in the next issue of Habitatnews.

Source: L. Goh, SBNP; thanks.


---> [3] Antartica 2000 Public Slide Shows
"31 December, 1999: 4am (Singapore Time) - the 1st Singapore
Antarctica Expedition reaches the South Pole after 57 gruelling
days of a trek on ice..." [See: http://www.antarctica2000.com.sg/]

Now, the Antarctica Team will be presenting a slide show on their
journey at the following dates:
Wed 19 April: 7pm - AV Theatrette, Singapore History Muzeum
Sat 22 April: 2pm - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum
Sun 23 April: 10am - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum
Sun 23 April: 2pm - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum

Admission is free.

For details of the Singapore History Museum (how to get there, etc)
see: http://www.travel.com.sg/sections/articles/4a/0,1176,306,00.html

Source: J. Soo, S. C. Khoo, via H. C. Tan/orb2; thanks


---> [4] William Farquhar: His Collection of Natural History
Drawings and His Public Life
<http://singapore.calendarone.com/cgi-bin/weblink.exe/DetailPage2@calendaron
e?id=26976&uid=shmuseum1&puid=shmuseum1&ban=y>
'Farquhar commissioned local artists to paint the flora and fauna
of the Straits Settlements, and the collection is possibly the
only known record of environmental history of the region during
the early 1800s. Rotated every three months, 35 paintings will be
on display at one time.'

For details of the Singapore History Museum (how to get there, etc)
see: http://www.travel.com.sg/sections/articles/4a/0,1176,306,00.html

Source: website

--MS_Mac_OE_3038602684_2769744_MIME_Part
Content-type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>2000-13: Ubin's Sensory Trail; Sat at SBNP, Antartica, Farquhar Coll=
ection</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">-----------------------------------------------------=
--------------<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#5DBACA"><B>Habitatnews 2000-13: Sat, 15th April 2000<B=
R>
</B></FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">The Habitat Group's Nature Information Lis=
t<BR>
To subscribe, email: </FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>habitatnews-subscribe@=
onelist.com<BR>
</U></FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">------------------------------------------=
-------------------------<BR>
Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss<BR>
Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg<BR>
------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
In this issue - <BR>
<BR>
1 - Launch of Sensory Trail at Pulau Ubin<BR>
2 - Events on Saturdays at Sungei Buloh Nature Park<BR>
3 - Antartica Slide Shows at the Singapore History Museum<BR>
4 - William Farquhar's Collection on display<BR>
------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#800000"><B>---> [1] Sensory Trail on Pulau Ubin ope=
ns today! <BR>
</B></FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">Congratulations to the Singapore American =
School's SAVE club, <BR>
NParks and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped <BR>
(SAVH)! At 10.30am today, the American Ambassador to Singapore, <BR>
Steven J Green, launches the Sensory Trail at Pulau Ubin.<BR>
<BR>
Under the NParks co-adoption programme, today is a witness to the <BR>
fruition of an idea hatched by SAVE's Katherine Frazier & Nature <BR>
Society (Singapore)'s Evelyn Eng-Lim in 1995, to provide access to <BR>
otherwise difficult areas for handicap groups.<BR>
<BR>
20 signs in Braille and English identifying plant and two clues <BR>
to animal life feature in this trail which includes a garden site <BR>
with a diverse variety of vegtebles and aromatic plants. <BR>
<BR>
Today, one of SAVE's friends, Junaidah, read the signs for the <BR>
first time, and in some signs, there was more information in <BR>
Braille than in English. Apparently, since editing signs in <BR>
Braille was a new experience, Braille took up more space than <BR>
expected! It all works out rather nicely, for then the visually <BR>
impaired can then guide their their seeing friends.<BR>
<BR>
This was a SAVE student project but they got a lot of help.  <BR>
NParks had been extremely supportive, and in this former waste <BR>
land, you will see their touch in the bridges, hand-railings, and <BR>
even a honest to goodness well! A garden contains an array of <BR>
plants due in no small way to the green (no, golden!) fingers of <BR>
NParks staff.  Andrew Tay and others of the Nature Society <BR>
(Singapore) were a great resource, helping the students to identify <BR>
plant species as well as helping with the text. <BR>
<BR>
All project will have amusing stories, and one was just enacted - <BR>
all the braille inserts were delivered mixed up, and with no one <BR>
to read them, even the orientation was a mystery! A quick trip to <BR>
SAVH saved the day - all the signs were labelled and are now <BR>
firmly (and freshly) glued to the signs!<BR>
<BR>
Kate Thome will be recounting the background of this trail at the <BR>
launch, and some of you will remember her from her days as the <BR>
inspirational leader of at the International Coastal Cleanup.<BR>
<BR>
Congratulations to them all!<BR>
<BR>
--- Source: The invitation card and a phone conversation <BR>
with Kate Thome; thanks.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#800000"><B>---> [2] Saturdays at Sungei Buloh Natur=
e Park<BR>
</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">A young author speaks</FONT></B><FONT C=
OLOR=3D"#000080">: "101 ways to help save the earth",<BR>
22nd April: 9am<BR>
<B>HeronWatch 2000</B>: 22nd April, 20th May & 17th June: 3pm to 5pm<BR=
>
<B>PrawnWatch 2000</B>: 27th May, 9th June & 24th June: 9am to 11am<BR>
<BR>
Sungei Buloh Nature Park has a host of activities in store for you,<BR>
and next Saturday, 22nd April, you can listen to a young lady speak <BR>
about 101 ways to help save the earth, based on a book she penned <BR>
as a teenager. Sponsored by National Geographic Channel Asia. <BR>
<BR>
That same afternoon, guides will take you on tours for a discovery <BR>
of Herons at the park. More details in the next issue of Habitatnews.<BR>
<BR>
Source: L. Goh, SBNP; thanks.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#800000"><B>---> [3] Antartica 2000 Public Slide Sho=
ws<BR>
"</B></FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080">31 December, 1999: 4am (Singapore Ti=
me) - the 1st Singapore <BR>
Antarctica Expedition reaches the South Pole after 57 gruelling <BR>
days of a trek on ice..." [See: http://www.antarctica2000.com.sg/]<BR>
<BR>
Now, the Antarctica Team will be presenting a slide show on their<BR>
journey at the following dates: <BR>
Wed 19 April: 7pm - AV Theatrette, Singapore History Muzeum<BR>
Sat 22 April: 2pm - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum<BR>
Sun 23 April: 10am - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum<BR>
Sun 23 April: 2pm - Sultan Hussein Room, Singapore History Muzeum<BR>
<BR>
Admission is free.<BR>
<BR>
For details of the Singapore History Museum (how to get there, etc)<BR>
see: http://www.travel.com.sg/sections/articles/4a/0,1176,306,00.html<BR>
<BR>
Source: J. Soo, S. C. Khoo, via H. C. Tan/orb2; thanks <BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#800000"><B>---> [4] William Farquhar: His Collectio=
n of Natural History <BR>
Drawings and His Public Life</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080"> <BR>
</FONT></B><FONT COLOR=3D"#000080"><http://singapore.calendarone.com/cgi-b=
in/weblink.exe/DetailPage2@calendarone?id=3D26976&uid=3Dshmuseum1&puid=3\
Ds=
hmuseum1&ban=3Dy><BR>
'Farquhar commissioned local artists to paint the flora and fauna<BR>
of the Straits Settlements, and the collection is possibly the <BR>
only known record of environmental history of the region during <BR>
the early 1800s. Rotated every three months, 35 paintings will be <BR>
on display at one time.'<BR>
<BR>
For details of the Singapore History Museum (how to get there, etc)<BR>
see: http://www.travel.com.sg/sections/articles/4a/0,1176,306,00.html<BR>
<BR>
Source: website</FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>


--MS_Mac_OE_3038602684_2769744_MIME_Part--

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews 2000-17: Saturday, 29th April 2000
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@onelist.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss
Webpage: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release from Nature Society (Singapore)
--- Thanks to Victor Yue, Nature-Singapore Mailing List, and Goh Si Guim

Nature Day 2000: "Nature in the City"
Sat 29th April - Monday 1st May
Parco Bugis Junction Atrium

Opening: Sat 29 April 2000, 12 noon
Guest of Honour: Mr Tan Guong Ching, CEO, Housing & Development Board

The Nature Society (Singapore), with the sponsorship of Parco Bugis Junction
and Bossini, is organising Nature Day 2000, a three-day event lasting from
29th April to 1st May.

Nature Day 2000 will be one of the Society's major events this year.  It has
as its theme "Nature in the City", and aims to highlight the rich natural
heritage of Singapore, a home which many feel is nothing more than an urban
landscape.

Members of the Nature Society hope to share the pride they have in knowing
that our island home is not only a beautiful and comfortable
place to live, but that it also boasts an exceedingly rich and diverse flora
and fauna.

The three-day event will feature displays highlighting our natural heritage,
activities and nature walks held on a regular schedule, nature quizzes, bird
call demonstrations, entertainment, booths selling nature-related items, and
much more -- all in the name of celebrating Nature.

Other organisations will also be participating in Nature Day 2000: the
Sungei Buloh Nature Park, the Singapore Environment Council, the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Nature's Niche, and the SAVE Club
(Students Against the Violation of the Environment) of the Singapore
American School.

Nature Day 2000 will be launched at 12 noon on Saturday, 29th April.  Guest
of Honour for the event will be Mr Tan Guong Ching, Chief Executive Officer
of the Housing & Development Board.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Click a free donation of food today at: http://www.hungersite.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

Feedback
1. Nature photographers on Arts Central TONIGHT
2. Maps of Asia exhibition, 20th Oct - 19th Nov
3. Ornamental Value of Lichens, 10th Nov: 3pm
4. WWF Living Planet Report 2000, released 20th Oct 2000
   - We need two more planets.
   - Singapore second most greedy nation?
   - Not so, counters ENV.
   - Where to download the report.
5. Nature on the internet - Timothy's diary
6. Nature on the internet - Chan Sow Yan's explorations
7. Nature on the internet - Richard Melczko's Mudskipper & Goby Page
8. Introducing the Science Centre Guidebooks 2000 - launch in 2001
   - A Guide to Common Seashells of Singapore
   - A Guide to Growing The Native Plants of Singapore

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [1] Nature photographers on Art Central TONIGHT
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'Watch Art Central today, Sunday at 9.30 pm. The program
"Still Frames" is featuring nature photographers including
Morten Strange and Lady McNeice.'

--- Source: Thanks Bee Choo!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [2] "Rediscover Asia Through Maps"
<http://www.nus.edu.sg/museums/nlb.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Library Board presents a series of exhibition showcasing excerpts
from Mr S C Tam's map collection. He is a curator of Marco Polo's Cartocell
and founding member of the Map Education Foundation in Hong Kong. His
collection comprises of some 30,000 maps covering several decades of Chinese
and Southeast Asian history.

There are several venues and features, please see:  <http://www.nus.edu.sg/museums/nlb.htm>
Exhibitions are opened during Library Opening Hours and admission is free.

Of particular interest is the feature on maps on Singapore which will be on
display at the National Reference Library Foyer (Level 1) from 14 - 19 Nov

--- Source: Tan Sok Koon, via NUS Museums mailing list.
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--> [3] "The Ornamental Value of Lichens for Botanical Gardens"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Parks Board presents a talk by
Prof. Harrie Sipman
Department of Biology, Freie Universitat Berlin
RMBR Short-Term Research Visitor

Friday, 10th Nov 2000: 3.00 - 4.00 pm
Gardens Briefing Room, Singapore Botanic Gardens

--- Source: Janice Yau, NPARKS via Ng Bee Choo.
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [4] WWF Living Planet Report 2000 released, 20th October 2000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 WWF Living Planet Report 2000
<http://www.panda.org/livingplanet/lpr00/>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'While the state of the Earth's natural ecosystems has declined by about
33 per cent over the last 30 years, the ecological pressure of humanity on
the Earth has increased by about 50 per cent over the same period, and
exceeds the biosphere's regeneration rate.'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2 Needed - two more planets
WWF press realease, 20th October 2000
<http://panda.org/news/press/news.cfm?id=2095>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'If every human alive today consumed natural resources and emitted carbon
dioxide at the same rate as the average American, German or Frenchman we
would need at least another two earths'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.3 "Planet consumed by greedy nations: by NICK NUTTALL
The Times, 20th October 2000
<http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,22161,00.html>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'The world1s seas, freshwaters, forests and croplands are being exploited
at such a rate that nothing will be left by 2075... The study balanced a
nation1s ability to provide for itself against its pollution levels, [and]
shows that many parts of the western world and Middle East are out-consuming
the planet1s ability to replenish itself. People in the United Arab Emirates
are the most environmentally damaging on the globe. Singaporeans are the
second most environmentally damaging, followed by Americans, Kuwaitis,
Danes and New Zealanders.'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4 Green rating of Singapore flawed: ENV by SHARMILPAL KAUR
The Straits Times Online,
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/primenews/pri8_1026.html>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Much of this is "apparent consumption" wrongly assumes that whatever
Singapore imports is consumed in Singapore but, in fact, much of it is
exported for consumption elsewhere.'

ENV also questions WWF's ranking of Singapore as the second most prolific
producer of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, at 19 tonnes per person.
Not so, says ENV, which says the right figure is 8.7 tonnes. The study
"...estimates each country's consumption by adding its imports to its
production and subtracting its exports. Resources ...that go into the
production of the goods for exports are thus counted as Singapore's
consumption, even though the goods are actually consumed in another
country."

'Ironically, as Singapore becomes more successful as a manufacturing
hub, this apparent consumption would increase, she said.'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5 WWF Living Planet Report 2000 - Download Centre
<http://www.panda.org/livingplanet/lpr00/download.cfm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download the report and examine the data and assumptions of the
report yourself.
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [5] Nature in the Internet: Timothy Pwee's diary
<http://www.geocities.com/slowloris9/Diary/sdiary.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NSS member Timothy Pwee is often totting a digital camera during his many
sojourns to nature areas local and abroad. He puts up simple webpages about
these trips very quickly, and thus has a diary online. Take a look at recent
trip reports:

Ubin Vertebrate Survey, August 2000
<http://www.geocities.com/slowloris9/Diary/000820.htm>

A Holiday in Brunei, September 2000
<http://www.geocities.com/slowloris9/Diary/brunei/0009brun.htm>

--- Source: Thanks Tim!
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [6] Nature on the Internet: Sow Yan's Webpages, Mailing Lists
        & Message boards on fishes, molluscs and explorations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1 Freshwater Fishes by Chan Sow Yan
<http://www.bigai.ne.jp/~chansy/trip/html/fishpix.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
They talk about Freshwater Fishes of Southeast Asia especially riverine and
forest stream catfishes or any fishes native (or introduced and its impact
on native populations) to Southeast Asia.
Supports the mailing list  <freshwaterfishes@egroups.com>
To subscribe, send an email to <freshwaterfishes-subscribe@egroups.com>
Message board - <http://members.boardhost.com/fishes/>
This was started in February 1998. Contributors are Jordan Goh, Beng YT
(by fishing the alien fishes), David Liw (leisure fisherman), and some
from the Fishing Forum.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.2 Molluscan Pictures by Chan Sow Yan
<http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~chansy/>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identification and information on Singapore, West Malaysia and the rest
of Southeast Asian molluscs with emphasis on terrestrial landsnails in
restricted limestone hills and its biotopes (including limestone hill
stream freshwater molluscs).
Started in September 1996 (counter started in February 1997).
Sponsored by Machiko Yamada of Japan, Dr. Eric Loeve, and all the free web
services. Trips and tips from a group of Singapore shell collectors some of
whom are from ShellNutx <http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~chansy/shellnutx.htm>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.3 Exploration Trails by Chan Sow Yan
<http://www.bigai.ne.jp/~chansy/trip/html/explore.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supports the mailing list <Singapore-explore@egroups.com>
To subscribe, send an email to <Singapore-explore-subscribe@egroups.com>
Image collection on the untouristy part of Singapore and West Malaysia.
Started in February 1998. Will be configuring a public message board for
visitors to send it their message.

--- Thanks Sow Yan!
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [7] Richard Mleczko's Mudskipper and Goby website
<http://www.ozemail.com.au/~thebobo/goby.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard put up this page to fill the gap on information on mudskippers and
gobies, the less than mainstream fish. Pictures galore!

--- Thanks to Tony Wu, Habitatnews subscriber.
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [8] Introducing - BP/SSC Guidebooks 2000; but launch in 2001?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The launch of the two guidebooks for 2000 in this BP/Singapore Science
Centre Series is likely to be postponed to a more suitable time in 2001.
Unfortunately this means one of the first breaks in what has been a
continuous series for many years now.

The price is likely still to be $5.15 - I will have some comments about
that in the next issue of Habitatnews. For now, lick your lips, for some
choice morsels await when the guidebooks are launched:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.1 "A Guide to Common Seashells of Singapore"
by Tan Koh Siang & L. M. Chou
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Features mainly the gastropods and bivalves which dominate but also covers
in brief all the seven major groups of molluscs in the introduction. There
is some duplication for the mangrove molluscs with the previous guidebook
(first author was the mollusc contributor for that book). Inevitable in
order to show the diversity of species involved, however the contents and
pictures, of the few repeated species are new and they emphasise different
aspects of their biology.

There are many guidebooks out there that cover the region which have been
frustrating to use for the local enthusiast, especially since some scientific
names have changed. This guidebook promises to be an accurate rendition of
the common seashells, certainly long awaited by many a beach-comber!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.2 "A Guide to Growing The Native Plants of Singapore"
Hugh T.W. Tan and T. Morgany
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Featuring examples of native species i.e., those naturally occurring in
Singapore, thus excluding naturalized species, introductions or escapes
form cultivation. There are no endemics (only occur in Singapore) since
Singapore has no plant examples!

This will be a good guide for horticulturalists, agriculturalists,
landscape designers, nursery growers, nature and gardening enthusiasts, conservationists, teachers and students. It will promote the use of
native vascular plants (herbs, shrubs, trees and climbers) and includes
information on Singapore, plants, native and exotic species, the reasons for
growing native species, how to grow plants, photographs and descriptions
(including scientific and common names of species and its family,
morphological description, horticultural value, drawbacks and advantages,
means of propagation, availability at commercial nurseries, conservation
status in the Singapore context) of 65 selected species, horticultural usage categories, references, glossary and index.

--- Source: Thanks to Hugh Tan, Tan Koh Siang & Anne Dhanaraj.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you clicked today? Visit http://www.hungersite.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SPECIAL: The Sungei Selangor Dam project & fireflies
See the dedicated website at: <http://www.savesungaiselangor.org/>

1. The Sungei Selangor Dam: An introduction
2. "A last glimpse(?) of the Sungei Selangor fireflies" by Alvin Wong.
3. Booking procedure for Kuala Selangor Nature Park
4. Archives from Habitatnews on the Sungei Selangor Dam
5. "Human cost of Dams too high" - World Commission on Dams
--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [1] The Sungei Selangor Dam: an introduction
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We first mentioned the imminent Sungei Selangor Dam project in
Habitatnews 99-09 (Tuesday, 26th January 1999).  A link was provided
to a Star Online article by Tan Cheng Li which was quoted:

'Kampung Pertak in Kuala Kubu Baru, Hulu Selangor, a centuries-old
village is being threatened by a dam to be built to contain the waters
of Sungai Selangor. Some 5km of this road the road which winds from
Kuala Kubu Baru to Fraser's Hill will also be inundated. When completed
by 2004, the RM1.4bil project to quench the thirst of Selangor and
Kuala Lumpur would have flooded 600ha of land.'

Alvin Wong was in KL recently and did it the lazy way this time. He
called a travel agent listed in Lonely Planet Guide from his hotel
(e.g. Reliance, Asian Overland). They provided a van and driver, and
a tour guide. Larger groups by coach are actually the norm. From
about 2pm, they visited Bukit Melawati, Kuala Selangor Nature park,
had dinner and then visited the fireflies, and returned to KL by 10pm.

Here are some of his comments:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [2] A last glimpse (?) of the Sungei Selangor fireflies
From: Alvin Wong <awtc@...>
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 20:50:42 +0800
Subject: Kuala Selangor fireflies
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'Try to go down to Kuala Selangor to see the spectacular fireflies
lighting up stretches of Sonneratia mangroves.  The long term future
of this natural wonder is in limbo with the construction of the dam
on the upper reaches of Sungei Selangor.

I was in Fraser's Hill and Kuala Selangor last week. Travelling
pass Kuala Kubu Baru on the way up to Fraser's Hill, you can see
the construction work on the dam axis. According to the taxi-driver
(who's a KKB resident), the works will be completed in 3 years' time.

When the dam is completed, the volume to freshwater downstream will
be reduced. That means salinity of S. Selangor would increase. This
would in turn, affect the ecology the Sonneratia  mangroves (which
the fireflies rely on) since Sonneratia appears to requires more
freshwater conditions.

There are two locations in Kuala Selangor where you can view the
firelies: Kampong Bukit Belimbing (KBB) and Kampong Kuantan (KK).
Both have tourist operations to ferry tourists down the mangroves
at night to see the fireflies. A seafood restaurant owner advised
us that the KBB site was where we could see more fireflies.

There we discovered that the operation was a motorised one, unlike
our previous experience some years  ago at KK. The boat we were in
was allowed to drift right into the trees disturbing the fireflies,
which tourists attempted to catch as they flew past the boat! Less
than ideal situation, but they might have argued that the entire
habitat was threatened, let alone a few fireflies.

Nowadays, there are coach-loads of tourists everynight. Although the
tourist dollar could be affected, the dam project was whisked through
at a rapid pace by Malaysian standards.

So go up north for a visit or re-visit, before the firefly phenomenon
is gone!
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [3] Booking procedure for Kuala Selangor Nature Park
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that the booking procedure for the nearby Kuala Selangor
Nature Park has apparently changed - you now have to call them up
and arrange to deposit the full accommodation fee into a Maybank
account No. and then subsequently fax them a copy of the bank slip.
Call the park for details at: 03-889-2294
See: <http://www.mns.org.my/main/mnscentre.htm>
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [4] Archives on the Sungei Selangor Dam project
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews No. 99-15A: Sat Mar 13, 1999
The Sungei Selangor Dam project: websites/articles
<http://www.egroups.com/message/habitatnews/30>

Habitatnews No. 99-15: Fri Mar 12, 1999
"More than 'firefly magic' at stake" by Leslie Lau
The Star Online, Sunday, March 7, 1999
<http://www.egroups.com/message/habitatnews/29>
Article was posted in entirety; it confirmed rumours of the then
impending dam project.

Habitatnews No. 99-24: Thu, 22nd April 1999
SPECIAL: UPDATE ON SUNGEI SELANGOR DAM
<http://www.egroups.com/message/habitatnews/40>
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [5] "Human cost of Dams too high" by ALEX KIRBY
BBC News, 16th November 2000
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_1026000/1026052.stm>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'The World Commission on Dams (WCD) was set up by the World Bank and
the World Conservation Union. Members surveyed 125 large dams, eight
of them in detail. It found that:
* globally, dams account for 19% of electricity generated and for
  an estimated 12-16% of global food production
* many fall short of their physical and economic targets
* they have led to the loss of forests, wildlife habitat, and
  aquatic biodiversity. Efforts to counter their impact have
  met with limited success
* estimates suggest that some 40-80m people have been displaced
  by dams worldwide, yet mitigation, compensation and resettlement
  attempts are often inadequate.

It is almost always the most marginal members of society who are
harmed by dams. "Little or no meaningful participation of affected
people in the planning and implementation of dam projects has taken
place", the commission says.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you clicked today? Visit http://www.hungersite.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

1. "Fabulous Figs" by Joseph Lai  [slide talk THIS SATURDAY]
2. Ayer Itam, "A shrinking sanctuary" [article]
3. Conversation on Cryptozoology

--------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] "Fabulous Figs", a slide talk by Joseph Lai Tuck Kwong,
Conservation Officer, Sungei Buloh Nature Park
16 Dec 2000, 3pm, at the Theatrette, Sungei Buloh Nature Park
--------------------------------------------------------------------
All are welcome. Tel: 794 1401; <http://www.sbnp.org>
Admission fees apply: $1.00 for adults;
$0.50 for children/students/senior citizens.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Figs are fabulous plants indeed. Having one of nature1s strangest
growth habits and handsome diversity of forms, the figs have a quiet
but quintessential place in ancient civilizations, religion,
mythology and traditions.

Numbering about 800 species worldwide and distributed throughout the
tropics and temperate regions, figs are well recognized especially
the massive rooting banyans. Like rays of divine light, the banyan
roots stream earthbound with seemingly reckless abandonment, filling
not only the soft earth but also the fertile imagination of man.

But here lies the paradox. Loved and revered by many yet to some it
is hated and condemned as a strangler of other trees or destroyer
of buildings. However, not all figs are stranglers or destroyers.

This talk hopes to increase public awareness of how fabulously
beautiful figs are, how interesting they are in many aspects and
most importantly, how vital figs are to the natural world. A number
of common roadside figs will be on display.
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [2] "A shrinking sanctuary" by Tan Cheng Li
Pictures by Sia Hong Kiau
The Star Online, Tuesday, November 21, 2000
<http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2000/11/21/features/21lihitam&sec=features>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This article discusses the value of the Ayer Hitam (also known as
the UPM forest) forest and the issues surrounding its survival. It
provided an insight into the various aspects of the issue; excerpts
are listed below, but I recommend reading the entire article.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"TIGERS in the Klang Valley? Paw marks have been spotted in the Ayer
Hitam forest reserve. All that remains today is just over a tenth of
the original area, 1,250ha., now leased to Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM) for research and educational use.

A road cutting right through the reserve has been proposed and an
adjacent housing project, threatens to eat into the area. At the edge
of the Ayer Hitam forest reserve, trees are drowning in a pool of
water because forest streams, diverted into drains choked with slit
and construction debris, are no longer able to flow freely.

'"An MoU is just an understanding which can be revoked".  There is
no shortage of development plans for Ayer Hitam; among them are a
state park as well as the relocation site for Zoo Negara as the
zoo's current site in Ulu Klang has been earmarked for - you
guessed it - development.'

'It has a third of the tree species found in the country. And
recently, a species of moss new to the country was found. While the
receding forest cover has caused many large mammals to decline in
numbers or even disappear completely, there are still wild boar, mouse
deer, Malayan sun bears and, of course, tigers.'

'It also provides a stopover for migratory birds such as the Siberian
blue robin, Japanese sparrowhawk and crested honey buzzard on their
long journey south to wintering grounds.'

'In the peninsula, little lowland dipterocarp (below 300m) forest
remains ... Selangor is left with only three such areas: the Ayer
Hitam, Bukit Cerakah and Sungai Buloh forests. [E]ach one a unique
sub-type of the lowland rainforest.'

'"It is a small area and may not support the population of animals.
Extinction rate for forest islands is usually very high." Forests
flanked by open space and polluting development can sometimes suffer
from the 'edge effect.'

'One of only two sizeable forested areas left within the Klang
Valley; the Bukit Nenas Forest Reserve in the city centre is the
other. Taking up just over 1% of the 120,820ha which make up the
Klang Valley, Ayer Hitam is "... an island of forest in a sea
of development."'
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [3] Conversation on Cryptozoology
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sivasothi, 18/08/2000 20:49

Hey fellas, Jasmin is asking:

"what's the cryptozoology scene like in Asia? - I'm not talking
about the incidental discovery of new species that biologists make
on a regular basis - but actual, funded projects that chase after
fairy tales and folklore. Or at least, a specific entity.

Are there any such self-funded organizations in Asia at all? Or are
all the discoveries made by ang mohs who come in with grants (that
is, when they actually convince the grant committee to stop laughing)?

P.S If you don't know this already, Fortean Times is wonderful:
http://www.forteantimes.com/ Skeptical Inquirer is just too full of
scientific snobbery.

-Jaz

<-- the kid who read Erik Von Daniken before she laid hands on Enid
Blyton. Dad's paranormal collection was one of the 2 shelves I could
reach as a tot - the other was the Nature encyclopedia. Don't say
that hasn't coloured my entire life.
 

----------
From: Alvin Wong
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 19:01:29 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Cryptozoology
 

well, u can go look for the Orang Pendek in Sumatra. I
think Tasek Bera and Chini in M'sia got it's own lake
monsters.

and don worry, the grant committee won't be laughing.
bcos u can get pass the door!

reading Daniken as a kid. that explains a lot ...

-------
From: Lim Liang Jim
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 09:14:53 +0800
Subject: Re: Cryptozoology

I remember when I had this crypto bug 2 or 3 years back (while I was
supposed to be working on skinks!), there was an English lady funded
by Flora and Fauna International who had a project studying the Orang
Pendek in Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra. She appeared quite
a few times in BBC Wildlife saying she spotted the creature thrice.
Tell her to check BBC Wildlife back issues from 1994-1998.

Djoko Iskandar actually thinks the Orang Pendek is extant and may be
a giant terrestrial gibbon.

I lost interest after Darren and Heok Hui returned from Jambi and
when I asked if they saw any Orang Pendek, they answered that all
the orangs they saw there were pendek.
 

----------
From: "beng-the alien stranger"
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 10:19:03 +0800
Subject: cryptozoology links

Coelocanth:
http://www.dinofish.com/

Lost Worlds Exhibition
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/lostw.htm

Strangemag, see on Megalodon etc
http://www.strangemag.com/

Cryptozoology
http://www.pibburns.com/cryptozo.htm

Megalodon
http://members.tripod.com/CMegalodon/index2.html

THE  SHADOWLANDS' PAGES
http://theshadowlands.net/home1.htm

GUST Cryptozoological Search and Research
http://www.bahnhof.se/~wizard/cryptoworld/

International Society of Cryptozoology
http://izoo.org/isc/

Beast of Lochness
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lochness/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you clicked today? Visit http://www.hungersite.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Hook the fish, but watch your baits by MARGARET PERRY
The Straits Times, Monday, 18th December 2000
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,1870,11334,00.html>

"Fishing in 3 central reservoirs may have adverse
ecological impact" by TANG BENG YONG
<http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/NEWS/reservoirfishing/commentsBeng.html>
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Fishing in Central Catchment reservoirs
   - for better or for worse?

The Public Utilities Board (presumably - for newspaper articles say
'the authorities') has opened up three more reservoir parks at Lower
Peirce, MacRitchie and Upper Seletar reservoirs on Monday, 18th
December 2000. This helps improve the usability of parks, apparently
an issue of some concern. So what's the fuss all about?

Unlike earlier fishing grounds, these three sites all reside within
the Central Catchment Area, a stronghold for our native fish fauna.

Irresponsible anglers have already used live bait, started fishing
before the official opening, and strayed off the fishing grounds.
Will NParks and PUB patrols, and self-policing by anglers themselves
be sufficient?

What about the native fish business? According to Peter Ng & Kelvin
Lim of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (Ng & Lim, 1997,
Gardens Bulletin, 49: 245-265), the freshwater fish fauna of
Singapore has suffered an extinction of 43%, and a remaining 35
species of indigenous (naturally occuring or native) freshwater fish
survive. 33 species are known from Nature Reserves, and 21 appear
to be restricted there.

Meanwhile, 52 species of fish have been introduced in our waters,
of which 17 species are present in our Nature Reserves! Substantial
when compared to the native population of 35 species.

But has any of this any relevance to the reservoir sites?
And is NParks aware?

In the same publication, Dr Tan Wee Kiat, the CEO of the National
Parks Board has already stated that 'A Recreational Masterplan
for the Nature Reserves has been formulated taking into account
the distribution of sensitive species.'

I.e. 'they will determine the kinds of activities that can be
allowed in the nature reserves, and where they can be carried
out, so that they are compatible with the plant and animal
life there.' See the preface of the "Biodiversity in the Nature
Reserves of Singapore" (Habitatnews No. 99-33A: Thu, 24th June 1999).

However, indications suggest that the major threat to native fauna
would arise more from holistic changes to habitats rather than
direct competition between species.

The issue has further ramifications and one of our avid local
anglers with a keen interest in natural history has sent out a
quick response to the Straits Times and relevant ministries on
20th December. Read his article in its entirety at the link below:

"Fishing in 3 central reservoirs may have adverse
ecological impact" by TANG BENG YONG
<http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/NEWS/reservoirfishing/commentsBeng.html>

He argues along several points and suggests instead to open up less
ecologically sensitive water bodies as fishing spots, such as Bedok
reservoir, Pandan reservoir, Yishun stormwater collection pond, more
parts of Jurong lake, and Tengeh reservoir. His other suggestion is
to develop multiple uses for existing water courses.

An NParks official has already replied - "Many thanks for the input
and information. Helps in making informed policy decisions."
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