Geography

She also highlighted interesting facts such how the chicken rice vendors came to them for help when live chicken imports from Malaysia was banned in 2003 due to the avian flu outbreak. Consumption decreased rapidly then as compared to the outbreak in 2006. The AVA had improved the situation by banning by zones in a country rather than the whole country e.g chicken was supplied from Johor when there was an outbreak in Perak.


Being a country dependent on imports, food security often pose a problem. Emerging economies with increasing affluence might export less as their people become more affluent.


There is also a challenge in declining global food supply with declinging agricultural productivity, competition for essential resoueces such as water, arable land, labour and investment as well as diversion of food crops for biofuel production.


Of course other food security challenges include climatic change, outbreaks, natural disasters, political uncertainties, restrictive trade etc.




Key strategies which Singapore deployed:
1. diversification of food sources
2. stockpiking of essential food stocks
3. enhancing local production through small local farming
$10 million food fund introduced in 2009 - R&D in farming techniques e.g. fish breeding, vertical farming, seed banking
4. Promotion of food substitudes e.g. frozen meat


It really makes us ponder about the food we are eating today. There is quite a good documentary on CNA tomorrow (10th April 2011) at 7pm - a preview of the show below:









No wonder one of the speakers, Dr George Jacobs, became a vegetarian. It seems that more people are becoming vegetarian not because of religion but rather due to health, environment and kindness (towards animals) concerns. It is a fact that much food has gone into feeding animals rather than hungry people - I suppose that's why there is a movement to be vegetarian once a week - www.facebook.com/veggiethursdaysg


Many also debated on the cruelty of factory farming - for my students I am sure you remember the clip I showed you from http://www.themeatrix.com/
There is also another clip from food inc showing a chicken farm:





The last speaker, Dr Pow Choon Piew, talk about the Hungry cities.
click here to see the no. of hungry people in the world
http://www.worldbank.org/foodcrisis/
imagine a billion people still hungry in the world

Illegal Logging in Kalimantan


Saving our forest- The lungs of our planet

A very good video clip on how to use window movie maker from Youtube. Pay attention to how you can insert the pictures, music and the titles. You can enhance your video clip with transition effect. Just remember to publish your video by saving it as a movie file as shown in the last part of the video.



A Geography Project Task was given out to the students this year - to submit a 5 min video clip based on the river journey from the source to the mouth. The students also need to submit a short writeup with the synopsis (the content of your video) as well as credits given to your group members and the list of reference for the video.

One example of a video clip can be found @ this link -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZLAw_lgZ4 which is a similar project done by a group of students.

For sounds of river or waterfall - you might want to download from http://www.jetcityorange.com/SoundFiles/nature-sounds.html Just right click on the icon next to the track and select 'save target as'. Some of you might want to mix the sound with another piece of music which you have - the trick is after you have publish and save the video clip, import it and then add in the new audio track - you can right click on the audio timeline to adjust the volume.

Another tip - some of you might want to insert the explanation on the pictures using powerpont. You can then save as window metafiles (instead of powerpoint presentation) which are actually picture files created in a folder. You can then import these pictures into the movie maker.
As the file size is big - students were advised to make use of http://www.sendspace.com/ - just browse and upload the file and enter the email address of the recipient e.g. lily_lee68@yahoo.com.sg. I can then retrieve the file from sendspace with the link sent. A reminder - DO NOT sent the project file (mmv) send only the movie file (wmv). The project file should be kept by you in case you need to make amendments. If you send us the project file we would not be able to see the video as the pictures and music are actually stored in your computer. We will only be assessing the end product which is movie file (wmv) which you have created.

Notes on map reading:
http://comhumgeog.blogspot.com/search/label/Map%20Reading
Find out how to get to Bedok Reservoir using http://gothere.sg/maps
Take this world quiz on continents and oceans: http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/worldquiz.html
Try out this simple excercise/game on topographical map:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/landscapes/highlands_islands/mapskills/index_intro.shtml#focus
Play this game to learn more about map symbols and legend:
http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/toolsforadventure/games/adventure.html

Find out more about topographical maps: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0307/es0307page01.cfm

Great news - the UN scientists announced that the ozone layer depletion has stopped.

Ozone provides a natural protective filter against harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun, which can cause sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer as well as damage vegetation.

This is partly credited to the efforts by many countries in the signing of the Montreal treaty in 1987 to reduce the use of CFCs, substances used in refrigerators, aerosol sprays and some packing foams which has caused the destruction of the ozone layer.

However, the ozone-friendly substances that have replaced CFCs in plastics or as refrigerants, which are hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are also powerful greenhouse gases. HFCs alone are regarded as 14,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) and HFC emissions are growing by eight percent a year, according to UN agencies. This will pose a challenge in dealing with the global climate change problem.

Adapted from http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5go2RnKHmYcJjFtzH-vKYV2gs_yJA

Read this cartoon on underground water found in Changi, Singapore.
http://chewonitcomics.blogspot.com/2010/01/underground-water-found.html
Does this mean additional source of water for Singapore?

Read this from http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_578475.htm-

The UN food agency reported that the number of undernourished people around the world has declined by nearly 10 per cent in 2010 and that this is the first time a drop in famine has been recorded since 1995.

In a hunger report by the Food and Agricuture Organisation (FAO)- there is a fall of 9.6% of people undernourished - 925 million people are undernourished in 2010 compared with 1.023 billion in 2009.

However the FAO insisted that 'the number of undernourished people in the world remains unacceptably high'.

The decline, the first in 15 years, 'is largely attributable to a more favourable economic environment in 2010 - particularly in developing countries - and the fall in both international and domestic food prices since 2008'.

However, 'the fact that nearly a billion people remain hungry, even after the recent food and financial crises have largely passed, indicates a deeper structural problem'.

The UN agency urged governments to 'encourage increased investment in agriculture, expand safety nets and social assistance programmes, and enhance income-generating activities for the rural and urban poor.' Analysis of hunger during financial crisis and recovery also brought to the fore 'the insufficient resilience to economic shocks of many poor countries and households, the FAO warned. -- AFP

After looking at this article, I would like you to reflect on the following:
1. What does the term "undernourished" mean?
2. What are the factors which affect the accessibility of food?
3. What are the ways in which we can encourage food production and accessibility?

Objective:
1. To study coastal management strategies with reference to Singapore and UK.
2. To make use of ICT in producing a powerpoint.

Task:
To produce a powerpoint evaluating the strategies adopted in coastal management with reference to examples in Singapore and UK.

Before you begin your project, you need to bear the following points in mind.

1 What were the problems encountered by the people living in coastal areas?

2 What strategies were adopted to overcome the problems?

3 How effective are the coastal management strategies?

4 What are the future plans for the areas?

Select a name for your project.

The end-product of your project is a power point presentation comprising 15-20 slides. There will be a presentation session for you to showcase your work.
The deadline for submission is 23 March 2009.

You must plan carefully and allocate duties for each member of your group.

Fill in the forms given to you for this project.

All evidence of collection of information or data or pictures must be properly filed.

You must list the websites or internet resources you use.

Wildlife researchers discovered around 120 new species on Borneo, including a lungless frog, the world's longest insect and a slug that fires "love darts" at its mate.

The tropical rainforest borders Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei on Borneo and in 2007, the three governments has designated the 220,000-square-kilometre area as the "Heart of Borneo" in a bid to conserve the rainforest.

On average three new species a month and about 123 over the last three years, with at least 600 new species found in the last 15 years – these discoveries showed the wealth of biodiversity on Borneo island and may one day help cure illnesses like cancer and AIDS and contribute to our daily lives.

The "Heart of Borneo" region is home to 10 species of primate, more than 350 birds, 150 reptiles and amphibians and about 10,000 plants that are not found anywhere else in the world. Among them was a seven-centimetre (three-inch) flat-headed frog, known as "Barbourula kalimantanensis" which breathes entirely through its skin instead of lungs. The discoveries also included "Phobaeticus chani", the world's longest stick insect, with a body 36 centimetres long as well as a long-tailed slug that uses "love darts" made of calcium carbonate to pierce and inject a hormone into a mate to increase the chances of reproduction.

Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's two largest exporters of palm oil, account for 85 percent of global production. Palm oil has been used extensively across the globe for biofuel, processed food and toiletries. This has been one of the reasons for deforestation and threatened the survival of near-extinct species – e.g. the pygmy elephant, orangutan, the Sumatran rhinoceros and clouded leopard. Thus there is a need for a balance so that we have a foundation of conservation and sustainable development in order to protect this unique site for future generations.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100422/tap-malaysia-brunei-wildlife-environment-0193655.html?printer=1