Singapore Creates First Official LOHAS Region in Asia

LOHAS Asia is pleased to announce that it is formally linking up with the Kranji Countryside Association to designate the entire Kranji Countryside a “LOHAS Region”, to promote healthy & sustainable living practices in Asia.

LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability”, a consumer-lead movement originated in the USA in the late 1990’s. LOHAS Asia has been formed to provide a platform for businesses and consumers alike in Asia who wish to promote LOHAS as the way forward for living in Asia today.

Adam Horler, President of LOHAS Asia, remarking on this announcement said:

“LOHAS promotes consciously for the individual and corporate customer. We can buy products and services that pay no regard to the environment or we can seek out products and companies that consider their environmental impact in all they do to bring products to market.

Individual consumers are the most powerful economic force in the world, far more powerful than corporations or even governments. If we choose to support Earth-friendly companies, we can save the planet, far faster than passively waiting for legislation to force companies to change. For instance, if we choose to buy organic and locally-produced foods for health reasons, we are also supporting sustainable agriculture and buying produce that has not had to be transported miles to get to our plates.

The Kranji Countryside Association does great work in Singapore already promoting local, healthy and environmentally-sensitive production of food for the local market. We hope that by naming the area a LOHAS Region we will be able to attract even more awareness and support to this jewel that exists in Singapore.

We shall be establishing our Asian HQ in Kranji, and hope to create a LOHAS Centre to showcase the region’s products and a better way of living for all Singaporeans, giving them the chance to become Lohasian consumers and save the planet, one purchase at a time.”

Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim, President of the Kranji Countryside Association, commented:

“The Kranji Countryside Association is ecstatic with this link-up with LOHAS as it is the most appropriate platform to further strengthen our vision. We are encouraging people to be aware of nature in the quest for human progress. There is an urgent need to be aware that the impact of the carelessness of our behavior can destroy our very existence on this earth.

As such all of us farmers are 100% behind LOHAS Asia and look forward to the great changes we can make together.”

Key Issues for a Successful Copenhagen Climate Change Summit: The Role of Emerging Countries in Asia

September 2, 2009
10:30 am	to	12:00 pm

Speaker: Dr Bindu N Lohani, Vice President (Finance and Administration), Asian Development Bank

Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

The international community is facing one of the biggest challenges to human development in recorded history – the challenge of climate change. And nowhere in the world will communities and economies be impacted as heavily as in the Asia and the Pacific. Burgeoning coastal and urban populations, poor environmental management, and heavy dependency on subsistence agriculture compound existing development challenges in a region where more than 900 million people in the region still live on less than $1.25 a day. Asia is vulnerable. For example, the economy-wide cost of climate change for Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and VietNam could reach 6.7% of GDP per year by 2100. For meeting the climate change targets by 2050, both developing and developed countries should be involved.

Dr Bindu Lohani will outline recent developments that increase our understanding of climate change drivers and impacts, globally and on Asia. There have been several ongoing debates around the subject of climate
change. In this context, Dr Lohani will discuss the four key issues which need to be included in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, in particular, the role of emerging countries in Asia, to have a meaningful post-Kyoto Protocol framework for climate change.

For details and registration, visit the ISEAS website.

Source: ISEAS

Climate Change in Singapore

August 4, 2009
3:00 pm	to	5:00 pm

Speaker: Dr Elspeth Thomson, Senior Fellow, Energy Studies Institute (ESI)

Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

According to the fourth assessment report (AR4) of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the effects of climate change have already been observed. Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse impacts expected on the environment, human health, food security, economic activity, natural resources and physical infrastructure. Scientific findings indicate that precautionary and prompt action is necessary.

Singapore is almost totally reliant on cross-border trade for raw material and food stuffs. W e are also directly affected by the environmental and ecological challenges facing our neighbours. Our small land area and close proximity to neighbouring ASEAN countries makes our economy even more vulnerable to the extremes of climate change and serve to remind us that our environment is tied to the environmental changes of our Southeast Asian neighbours.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) w ith the support of the Government of the United Kingdom recently released a Regional Review of the Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia. Dr Thomson will present highlights from the Singapore contribution to this report.

For more details on the seminar, visit the ISEAS website.

Source: ISEAS

Saving Gaia is Back

The third season of the Saving Gaia documentary series will be shown on ChannelNewsAsia starting every Mon from June 1 at 8:31pm (Singapore time) with repeats on Mon 11:31pm, Tues 1:32pm and Wed 5:32pm.

This season’s focus is on Asia’s simple green solutions. Episode 1 is on:

Would you study in a school made out of paper? Or would you use paper made from elephant dung? Sometimes the answer lies in the unexpected, or the simplest of ideas.

The Saving Gaia website is not updated so there’s not much details about the new series nor any new provocative advertisement.

Gallup Polls on Public Awareness of Global Warming

Gallup conducted polls in 127 countries in 2007 and 2008 to understand the level of public awareness on global warming. The results show that about 38% of the world’s population have never heard about global warming or did not have an opinion. There are 2 key findings:

Public awareness of global warming tends to be higher in highly developed countries and lower in less developed countries.

Their responses reveal that public knowledge of the concept of global warming is not the same thing as the public belief that global warming is a result of human activities.

Here’s a selection of the countries in Asia and their responses: Read more

Asia Environmental News: 11 Nov 08

• China pays high environmental and social price for reliance on coal (Guardian) – The True Cost of Coal, a new report published by Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and The Energy Foundation, says that the social and environmental impacts of using coal cost China an additional 1.7 trillion yuan.
• New deal to rescue Borneo orangutans in Malaysia (Yahoo) – The Malaysian-based LEAP Conservancy group is planning to buy 222 acres of tropical jungle land on Borneo island from palm oil operators, and turn it into a forest sanctuary to protect Borneo’s orangutans, pygmy elephants and other endangered wildlife.
• Thailand commissions nuclear power plant study (Today) – The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is conducting a feasibility study for Thailand’s first nuclear power plant.
• Marina Barrage: First city reservoir opens (Straits Times via Wildsingapore) – Singapore opens its new Marina Barrage to create the 15th reservoir, and to increase water supply and control flooding.
• Singapore could draw more green energy projects (Business Times via Wildsingapore) – Singapore is looking to attract more mega investments to develop new alternative energy ideas and technologies.

Asia Environmental News: 24 Oct 08

• Japan launches voluntary CO2 market (Reuters) – Japan recently launched a voluntary carbon market based on companies setting voluntary emission cuts.
• Hong Kong night light pollution under the spotlight (Reuters) – Environmentalists are critical of the unnecessary and wasteful practice of keeping neon signs and buildings brightly lit all night.
• New book on how Singapore achieved environmental and water sustainability (Straits Times via Wildsingapore) – A new book, Clean, Green And Blue, published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies gives a detailed look at how Singapore achieved environmental and water sustainability in 40 years.
• China report warns of greenhouse gas leap (Reuters) – Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other state institutes have concluded that China’s greenhouse gas emission could double or more in two decades.
• Recycling food waste into biogas in Singapore (Business Times via Wildsingapore) - IUT Global Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based company that operates a bio-methanisation plant to convert food waste into biogas and compost.
• Beijing offers cash to curb capital’s pollution (Reuters) – The Beijing government will give companies who stop highly polluting production up to 2.3 million yuan, to stimulate the replacement of high-pollution industries and clear the capital’s poor air.

Asia Environmental News: 15 Oct 08

• Pollution may hit Himalayan monsoon clouds (Reuters) – A new report by scientists in France and Italy found that higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect cloud formation in the Himalayas, disrupting monsoons and thawing glaciers.
• From water-scarce island to hydrohub (Business Times via Wildsingapore) - Singapore has evolved from a water-scarce nation into a global hydrohub of solutions and technologies for the water industry.
• China plans string of dams in south Tibet (The Guardian) – China is planning to build new dams in southern Tibet to boost its electricity supply, although previous proposals are controversial because of their impact on the environment, local people and communities.
• Singapore’s BCA Green Mark debuts in Malaysia, set to go beyond (Business Times via Wildsingapore) – Some green building developers from countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China are adopting the Green Mark scheme developed by the Building and Construction Authority.
• China’s poor Anhui gears up for nuclear plant (Reuters) - China’s poor eastern Anhui province is hoping to build a 4 GW nuclear plant to supply 30 billion kwh of power annually to the southern part of Anhui, Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta.

Asia Environmental News: 14 Oct 08

• China residents mobilize against chemical project (Reuters) - Residents of Taizhou are mobilizing to protest against a proposed paraxylene plant, for fear of threats to their health and the environment.
• India’s humble rickshaw goes solar (ENN) – The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research has developed a solar-powered cycle-rickshaw to reduce India’s traffic woes, air pollution and fossil fuel dependence.
• Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests (International Herald Tribune) – All 10 provincial governors of Sumatra agreed to a forest conservation plan to prevent the cutting down or burning of trees.
• China also suffers from indoor air pollution (Los Angeles Times) – A new study by Harvard’s School of Public Health warns that 83 million Chinese will die of lung cancer and respiratory ailments over the next 25 years unless cigarette smoking and indoor fuel-burning are reduced.
• Weak flood defences ‘risking lives’ (BBC News) – Recent floods in Nepal, India and Bangladesh showed that flood defences may not withstand climate change-induced floods.

Asia Environmental News

• China biggest carbon polluter, world levels at record: scientists (Yahoo! News UK) – A recent report by the Global Carbon Project confirms that China has overtaken the United States to become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide and that India is heading for third place. The report also showed that the present concentration of carbon dioxide at 383 ppm is the highest over the last 650,000 years, and developing countries now account for 53% of total carbon emissions.
• Vietnam: Heeding Climate Change Warnings (ENN) – A report by World Vision warned that Vietnam may become one of the nations worst hit by climate change, with sea level rise affecting 5% of the land area, 11% of the population and 7% of agriculture.
• Japan To Subsidize Solar Panels For Your House (TreeHugger) – Japan is introducing a subsidy of about 200,000 yen to households that buy a solar power system, which is about 10% of the cost of a standard solar power system. Japan has set a target of increasing solar power generation by 10 times from current levels by 2020 and 40 times by 2030.

Next Page »