Climate Connections

Like other sea turtles, hawksbill turtles are critically endangered due to the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg collection, fishery-related mortality, pollution and coastal development. Currently, hawksbill turtles are protected by international agreements like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Migra...

A new environmental movement is gathering pace: “Nature Positive”. The concept of "Nature Positive" envisages a planet where the current rapid loss of biodiversity is halted and reversed, and nature is restored. Since the term was coined in 2020 amid negotiations for the Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity, world leaders, businesses and civil society have ral...

Can Singapore meet its “30 by 30” food sustainability goal? With the passing of the five-year mark since that goal was set - this question has been cast into the spotlight, following a series of delays, failures or re-configurations of high-tech farms of late. It hasn’t been easy for local producers, with indoor vegetable farm I.F.F.I shutting down, and VertiVegies abandoning plans to build a mega...

Back in historical times, volcanoes played a crucial role in the evolution of the planet and early life, and are constantly reshaping the morphology of Planet Earth.  Today, about 500 active volcanoes presently exist on the Earth’s surface, with some 50 erupting each year, and more than 800 million people living within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of an active volcano. As populations continue to grow...

“It's about sowing the right seeds. Seeds which will sprout, which will take root. And so how do we do that? We can't have change overnight, but we need to create a pipeline of the next generation of inventors, thinkers. Though we’re a little dot in this globe, we have that opportunity to nurture them. Many times, I go back to Lee Kuan Yew. He dreamt big. We’ve enjoyed the bounty, how do we take i...

Imagine experiencing climate change effects first-hand right under the hole in the ozone layer.  That's something that most people would not be able to fathom, but celebrated British polar explorer Robert Swan, the first person to have walked to both the North and South Poles unassisted, experienced just that.   On his very first expedition to the South Pole in the 1980s, the prolonged exposure to...

India is currently thought to have around 29,000 wild elephants, especially in the biodiverse Western Ghats region, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It’s also the country home to more than half of the global population. Although poaching, trafficking and trading of elephants and ivory in India is prohibited according to 1972’s Wildlife Protection Act, poaching has remained a constant th...

The world is in an era of dire warnings from many scientists and increasing natural disasters, record-breaking temperatures and rising tides. Time is running out to solve the climate crisis, and catastrophe looms. By now, you're probably used to seeing such headlines. But how can that doom-induced uncertainty be spiralled into meaningful change?  On this episode of Climate Connections, Hannah Jone...

One insect species you probably never knew you needed - dung beetles!  Dung beetles are found worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica. They live in habitats ranging from desert to forest and are classified into three basic groups: rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers. Those words describe how these beetles use the dung they find. They may seem like unlikely environmental heroes, but these litt...

Lions are the apex predators of the African savanna, or what ecologists call - a keystone species. They play the critical role of managing large herbivore populations of impalas, zebras, buffalos, and even elephants and giraffes. In a balanced ecosystem, the number of herbivores needs to be kept in check because if you have too many herbivores, vegetation will be overgrazed and habitats will inevi...

Farmers in India are contending with the impact of climate change every day as their crops are often subject to weather conditions, which are evolving as climate change becomes more deeply entrenched. Every year, about 30% of agricultural produce is wasted before it leaves the farms. And did you know this food waste contributes to greenhouse gases? On this episode of Climate Connections, Nidhi Pan...

At the COP28 Summit, for the first time since nations began meeting some three decades ago, nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas. With all eyes on the new deal - that is not legally binding and can’t, on its own, force any country to act - “transition finance” is shaping up to be one of...

Did you know that in just Singapore alone, an average person can eat nearly 390 eggs in a year? Every stage of egg production contributes to greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. Scientists from the University of Oviedo in Spain found that the carbon footprint of eggs is similar to that of other basic foods of animal origin, like milk. So, is there a way to be more environmentally friendly...

Climate change is caused by the rise in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Such gases include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are long-lived compounds that can remain in the atmosphere for several years. But you might be wondering if climate change in turn impacts the quality of the air we breathe.  On this episode of Climate Connections, NTU Professor Stephan Schuster, Resea...

Calling out to plant parents, as well as those thinking of getting succulents to spruce up your homes!  Increasingly, many popular ornamental plants are plucked from their natural habitats instead of being grown in nurseries. The consequences of this go beyond our living rooms, impacting entire landscapes and the livelihoods of communities that depend on them. The highest number of native succulen...

Have you been to Phillip Island Nature Parks in Australia?  It’s home to the largest little penguin population - better known as fairy penguins - globally. They’re the smallest penguin species in the world.  But today’s focus is on another seabird - short-tailed shearwaters that use Phillip Island as their breeding grounds! From this week, four-month old fledglings are starting their migration and...

Quite unsurprisingly, demand for batteries is expected to increase 30% each year until 2030. A greater need for batteries to power more electric vehicles means increased demand for metals like lithium, a finite resource whose extraction has raised ecological and human rights issues.  Lithium mining takes a heavy toll - trees are often cut down to make room for mines, chemicals used in the process...

Rice is a key staple in many diets around the world. But did you know that rice production accounts for over 10% of global methane emissions? These emissions in turn contribute to climate change. Bali is an Indonesian island known for its stunning landscapes, famous for its terraced rice fields that cascade down hillsides, creating a picturesque environment. But beyond aesthetics, the Bali rice fi...

Ice-cold, juicy oysters definitely sound like a good idea, as we search for ways to beat the heat in recent weeks! But have you ever wondered what happens to the oyster shells afterwards? On this episode of Climate Connections, we feature two local ecologists - Yukie Yokoyama and Erika Ng from Witteveen+Bos - who are giving discarded oyster shells a new lease of life in Singapore by creating the c...

Plastic consumption has increased exponentially in recent years. When plastics enter the ocean, microorganisms attach to and colonise them, forming an ecological community known as the ‘Plastisphere’. But we don’t really know much about these colonies. What we know, is that plastics can be silent killers of marine life. Plastics also carry other chemical compounds called additives in addition to t...

The Andes stands out for its striking species richness and endemicity that characterise many emblematic Neotropical clades distributed in or around these mountains. It's also a vital region, with its highland forests providing water for millions of people downstream.  However, this rich ecosystem is increasingly threatened by rapid development, mining and climate change. With the glaciers melting...

In the heart of Sumatra lies the Leuser Ecosystem - the last place on Earth where several of the key Sundaland mega-fauna species can still be found together: the tiger, orangutan, elephant, and rhino. But all that are under extreme threat due to unsustainable development.  In the spirit of International Women’s Day, on this episode of Climate Connections - we feature the Chairperson & Co-Foun...

What does sustainability mean to you? Challenges surrounding going green often involve an intricate web of complex problems that are interlinked. On this episode of Climate Connections, 11-year-old Aurvi Jain, Eco Warrior & TEDxSingapore Speaker explains why every single little action counts more than age. She also lets us in on a little secret project that she worked on together with renowned...

Life in oceans has evolved for three times as long as life on land, and it holds clues to four billion years of our evolutionary heritage. But although an estimated 2 million species inhabit our oceans, up to 90% remain undescribed. This longstanding void in the knowledge and observation of marine biodiversity is a growing worry, with potential unrecorded extinctions and declines aggravating the p...

We’re just hours away from ringing in the Chinese New Year, and also the Year of the Dragon. It’s also typically a time when many might consider getting a pet that coincides with the zodiac for the year for good luck - bearded dragons in this case, even though they might be prohibited, depending on where you live. Chinese families will also be feasting on a range of delicacies like abalone and sea...