The International Year of Biodiversity (or IYB) was designated by United Nations to celebrate the value of biodiversity on earth, and invites its citizens to take action to raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss.

To celebrate IYB2010 in Singapore, several websites, flickr groups, and numerous activities have been set up and planned:

NParks is initiating a series of activities to raise public awareness of the rich flora and fauna which can be found in Singapore, including a photo competition and exhibition, documentary screening, tree planting opportunities and guided walks.

A Celebrating Singapore’s Biodiversity blog, collating many blog posts from various citizen scientists. This is also reflected on IYB 2010 Singapore in Facebook, and a wide variety of images are also available at Singapore Celebrate IYB 2010 Flickr group.

Underwater World Singapore has also gotten into the act, putting up an exhibit on sharks.

Finally, show your support by including a IYB 2010 logo on your blog or webpage!

Cheers, Jeff

Francis making a short speech before handing the Plan over to Minister Yaacob.

Minister Yaacob and the Blue Plan committee … from left: Farid, Francis, Minister Yaacob, Peter Ng, Beverly Goh, and Sek Chuan.

I am not sure if the finalised Blue Plan can be downloaded, but the draft document can be, here.

Hantu was surveyed by a mixed team of BWV old-timers and newbies. Thanks to everyone’s enthusiasm, we still managed to complete our work in a timely manner. The results of the coral surveys follow:

Cheers, Jeff

Much fun was had by all at the event, although there were a couple of hic-cups along the way.

At the 11th hour, we were informed that our Guest-of-honour, Prof Tommy Koh, was called away, which left Francis (Chariman IYOR 08 Singapore) and Prof Chou (our keynote speaker) to hold the fort. Francis, ever the charmer, managed to hold the attention of the almost 100-strong audience, with his vision of what the IYOR 08 Singapore could achieve – a coral paradise in Singapore by 2018.

Francis at the podium speaking to the packed Function Hall.

Prof Chou’s keynote address was interesting – it was, at once, funny, sobering, and filled with hope for our beloved reefs.

Prof Chou, relating his experience with Singapore reefs, and possibilities for the future.

Sivasothi, considered by many to one of the “founding fathers” of the conservation volunteer movement in Singapore, also gave his perspective on the effectiveness of marine conservation NGOs in getting the conservation message across to the public.

The programme also included a ceremonial handing over of a donation by TMX Pte Ltd, the owner of Asian Dive Expo and Boat Asia to the IYOR 08 Singapore committee. The monies were collected during the last Dive Expo, and amounted to S$5,000, which was to be used for marine conservation events.

The event did not end with the last of the speeches – besides the makan, there was a great deal of interaction between the audience and the conservation groups at the display area.

The next day was just as crowded – especially with the sidewall of the Function Hall open, creating an inviting environment for visitors to the Gardens to attend the talks, the colouring activity of the Naked Hermit Crabs, and ask questions of the volunteers manning the booths. All in all, an estimated 400-500 people had taken part in the event.

The day (finally) ended, with one final round of presentations by each conservation group to the assembled volunteers, some of whom had not had the chance to tour the other displays.

A final whirlwind of activity ensued, as volunteers dismantled the displays and packed away all the (dead) specimens. In less than 30 minutes, what took the better part of Thursday afternoon to setup was taken down and put away … ready for use at the next event, whenever that may be.

More pictures of the event can also be found at:
IYOR 08 Singapore Launch

The documentary that I made last year- “Remember Chek Jawa”, as many of you may have watched, will be officially releasing a DVD (yes…finally ) on 16 Aug 2008, 2pm at Kinokuniya Takashimaya and 22 Aug at Books Actually Bookstore, 730-8pm. The distributor is Objectifs Films. The films first 300 copies will be on sale at Kinokuniya, Books Actually Bookstore and Objectifsfilms. I intend to place it at some diveshops for sale soon. More on that later I have also included some special features of extra unreleased interviews and photos (mostly from Ria Tan).

Part of sales proceeds will go to local marine conservation work by “Blue Water Volunteers”.

Cheers
Eric Y W Lim
http://chekjawa.net
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Congratulations, Eric! Will be there at the Launch tomorrow in support of this event. Hope to see you all there too!

Cheers, Jeff

Date : 9 Aug (Sat)
Time : 10 am onwards
Location : Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (Tanglin Core)
Activities : Adopt a star, special talks, kid’s activities, exhibits …. and more!

Check out the details on the Singapore celebrates our reefs! blog

So I tried to put myself in the shoes of a natural plant/animal in the Southern Islands… like a coral, or a reef crab, or just a simple protist like a dinoflagellate/zooxanthella. You know, looking at things from different perspectives mah… It seems that those people with the ideas are saying that Singapore’s natural environment in the Southern Islands are not good enough to bring in the visitors… WHAT AN INSULT!

The simple coral with its zooxanthellae, and the associated reef crabs apparently bring in more than AU$2 billion a year for Australia. So they think resorts are great… wait till tourists check into the possible luxurious resorts in the islands and find themselves bored to death! No fish to fish, no reefs to dive, no rocky beaches to walk on, etc. – only white artificial sand that I can buy and put at home even… These remaining biodiversity has survived all the #$%# prior developments/reclamation (remember I’m speaking on behalf of the corals and crabs – explains the expletives) with such resilience, just to be unappreciated at the end. WHAT AN INSULT!

Let’s see who get’s the last laugh… Probably not the natural organisms above (but I bet they would if they could). I would, at least from watching tourists who can only eat, sleep and walk along white sandy ARTIFICIAL beaches in the future (possible) Southern Islands.

At least one angle talks about preserving the marine environment around Kusu and adjacent islands… I suppose that is good, though I don’t see how building resorts, spas, golf courses (??) or an artificial rainforest can take place on such a small island without adversely affecting the already stressed out coral reefs there.

Based on this line in the news article- “ This comes after the Singapore Tourism Board revealed it wants to get ideas on how to develop the six islands. They include the Kusu, St John’s and Sisters’ Islands.”, the authorities want your input and ideas! If you care about the marine diversity of the Southern Islands, do take the time to speak up on their behalf.

Email reach@reach.gov.sg or start a post on the REACH website. To contact STB, submit an email through this form- http://app.stb.com.sg/asp/mis/cont.asp