Singapore has made Olympic history again – this time, at the Culinary Olympics.

The national culinary team beat 29 other teams to be the only Asian country to win two gold awards in the Cold Display and Hot Cooking categories.

Held in Erfurt, Germany once every four years, the culinary competition is one of the most prestigious in the world. This year, it took place from Oct 21 to 26, and featured 30 national teams.

The Singapore team is led by Swissotel Merchant Court’s executive chef Louis Tay and captain Teo Yeow Siang of catering company Lavish Dine Catering. The team members are chefs Triston Fang of Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora at Resorts World Sentosa, Alan Wong of Lavish Dine Catering, Roy Lim of global food service provider Unilever Food Solutions, and pastry chef Alex Chong of The Regent Singapore.

Chef Tay says: “It has been a very intense period for us as a culinary competition of this level is both emotionally and physically intense.The team has sacrificed a lot of time and sleep.”

This article was first published on October 26, 2016.
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Nearly three-fifths of all animals with a backbone – fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals – have been wiped out since 1970 by human appetites and activity, according to a grim study released Thursday.

On current trends, stocks of global wildlife could plunge two-thirds by 2020, an annual decline of two per cent, conservation group WWF and the Zoological Society of London warned in their joint biennial Living Planet report.

There is no mystery as to why: our own ever-expanding species – which has more than doubled in number since 1960 to 7.4 billion – is simply eating, crowding and poisoning its planetary co-habitants out of existence.

The findings are based on long-term monitoring of some 3,700 vertebrate species spread across more than 14,000 distinct populations around the globe.

Scientists have tracked changes in the size of those populations, not how many species are threatened with extinction.

But the news on that front is not good either: experts now agree that Earth has entered only the sixth “mass extinction event” – when species vanish at least 1,000 faster than usual – in the last half-billion years.

“Wildlife is disappearing within our lifetimes at an unprecedented rate,” said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International.

We should not be deceived into thinking humanity can do without, he added.

Thai officials continues removal of tigers from controversial temple

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AFP, Reuters, The Nation/ANN

“Biodiversity forms the foundation of healthy forests, rivers and oceans. Take away the species, and these ecosystems collapse, along with clean air, water, food and climate services they provide us.”

A dawning awareness – in government, business and society as a whole – that a healthy environment is not a luxury but the “foundation of future human development” is reason for optimism, he suggested in an interview with AFP.

“This is really revolutionary,” he said, pointing to a global pact to rein in climate change going into force next week, and a newly launched set of UN-backed Sustainable Development Goals running through 2030.

“We have succeeded in making a strong business case for climate,” Lambertini said.

“Now we have to make an equally strong business case for conservation of natural systems.” That is likely to be a hard sell.

Global warming has measurable impacts that have already threatened tens of millions of people, and even then it took nearly thirty years to strike a universal deal.

With biodiversity and ecosystems, the negative impacts are “less direct and less tangible on a global scale,” Lambertini said.

The five main drivers of wildlife decline – in order of importance – are habitat loss, overconsumption, pollution, invasive species and disease, according to the report.

Endangered animal and plant species in Singapore

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, NParks, Cai Yixiong, Sisters’ Island Marine Park, Con Foley, Raffles Museum for Biodiversity Research, AVA

On top of that, climate change is poised to become a major threat in the coming decades, with some animals already in decline due to rising temperatures and changing weather patterns.

“This should be a wake-up call to marshal efforts to promote the recovery of these populations,” said Ken Norris, director of science at the Zoological Society of London.

Freshwater environments such as lakes, rivers and wetlands have fared the worst, with an 81 per cent decline in average population size between 1970 and 2012 for 881 species monitored.

Freshwater covers less than one per cent of Earth’s surface, but is home to nearly 10 per cent of all of the planet’s known species.

Peta alleges supplier freezes small animals to death

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Marine and land vertebrates have suffered at about the same rate – with populations dropping 36 and 38 per cent respectively over the same period – but for different reasons.

Factory fishing has emptied the seas of 40 per cent of sea life, and nine out of ten fisheries in the world are either over- or full-fished today.

Pollution and climate change are also wreaking havoc, especially along coastlines.

On land, the big threats are loss of land to agriculture and cities, followed by rampant hunting, mostly for food but also for commerce – much of it in endangered species.

The majority of Earth’s land area has today been resculpted by human hands.

“We have thought of the ecosystems on the planet as infinite, as if we could extract resources forever without any constraint,” Lambertini said.

“Now science is telling us very clearly that this is not true.

Animals at tourist attractions may be suffering

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World Animal Protection

Christmas is about two months away but the reindeer have already arrived on Orchard Road.

Given that the spirit of Deepavali is in full swing in the run-up to the Hindu festival this Saturday, some have questioned whether it was a good idea to put up Christmas decorations so early.

While it is not the first time such decorations are installed early on Orchard Road, retailers there said this year could be the earliest yet.

In a letter to The Straits Times forum page, reader Vimalan Sivasubramaniam said he was surprised to see Christmas decorations up along Tanglin Road, while there were few signs or banners outside Little India to indicate that it is now Deepavali season.

On Facebook, some say the decor for Christmas, traditionally celebrated by Christians, could have waited till at least the end of the month.

Producer Manju Balakrishnan, 37, told The Straits Times she noticed that Christmas has been taking precedence over Deepavali.

“We are not asking for Indian decor to be put up at Orchard Road, but Deepavali is such a big festival, they could have waited till it was over,” she said.

Still, Christmas motifs like stars and reindeer might have gone up on Orchard Road but they have yet to be lit. The Orchard Road Business Association said more information on the light-up of Christmas decorations will be released today.

The Christmas light-up along Orchard Road usually takes place in mid-November and lasts until early January.

Others noted that Christmas is celebrated too by non-Christians who enjoy gift exchanges and the happy atmosphere intertwined with the start of a new year.

But Jessica Jaganathan, 36, an energy journalist who is Indian by race and Christian by religion, said: “Putting up Christmas decorations and playing Christmas songs in October is simply ridiculous, no matter how commercialised the holiday.”

The Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association secretariat, which organises the Deepavali light-up, said it is common for the decorations for the two festivals to overlap. Creating a festive atmosphere for the two celebrations back-to-back allows Singapore to draw more visitors, it added.

jalmsab@sph.com.sg

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Commuters taking the island’s oldest MRT line, the North-South Line, will have to bear with the rush-hour squeeze a little longer. The launch of a new signalling system, originally slated for the year’s end, will be delayed until the first quarter of next year for more exhaustive testing, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday.

The upgrade will allow trains to run at shorter intervals of 100 seconds, instead of 120 seconds now. Running trains more closely together will increase passenger capacity on the North-South Line and reduce crowding.

LTA’s project director for resignalling, Tan Yih Long, said during a media visit to the Woodlands station early yesterday: “As the move to an entirely new signalling system is a complex project, any systemic issues, such as software bugs, could affect commuters across the line.

“Hence, we will conduct more tests to ensure that the system is reliable before we put it into commercial service.”

This is the first overhaul for the signalling system on the 29-year-old North-South Line. The East-West Line, which also started operations in 1987, is also being upgraded, with a 2018 launch date.

The current fixed-block system divides the track into blocks of between 200m and 300m, and can detect where a train is only when it moves into a new section. For safety, trains are always kept at least one block apart from each other.

The new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) relays the exact location and speed of every train to a computer, so they can travel closer together, at distances of between 60m and 70m.

Similar CBTC systems are already in use on the newer North-East and Circle lines.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng said the signalling upgrade will allow newer trains to be introduced.

Though the LTA has ordered 57 new trains to be added to the North-South East-West Line’s fleet of 141, these are all equipped with the new CBTC.

“By right, commuters can experience more frequent services, which translates to higher capacity. It can address the congestion issues during the peak hours,” said Dr Lee.

“Since the project is delayed, it’s going to take a bit longer for us to enjoy the benefits.”

Mr Tan said over 1,300 tests will be performed on the North-South Line’s signalling system, such as ensuring that train doors are accurately aligned with platform screen doors when trains stop at stations.

Bi-directional operations are also being tested, so that if there is a failure on one track, the train can bypass it and go on the other track.

The project to upgrade the signalling systems of the North-South and East-West Lines started in 2012.

At completion, their capacity will be boosted by 20 per cent.

adrianl@sph.com.sg

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