Climate Connections: Monkey Business - How Singapore's "Jane Goodall" is pushing for langur conservation in SEA through the first genus action plan

Despite being highly threatened, only a few langur populations have been studied in detail, owing to their elusive nature, arboreality and the challenging terrains where they inhabit. As a result, conservation of these species has been challenging. Over 85 per cent of Asian langurs are threatened …

Climate Connections: Turning trash to cash - How one business is recycling spent catalytic converters into precious metals

Platinum group metals (PGM) - a group of precious metals - such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, are traditionally recovered through underground and open pit mining within a linear economy, where the ore is mined, transformed into products and then disposed of as waste at the end of their lives.…

Climate Connections: Sunsetting the carbon era - How can the world "Speed & Scale" on climate goals?

To keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C  - as called for in the Paris Agreement - emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. But as the days pass, the world is staring at a growing emissions gap.  Back in 2021, Speed & Scale - a global initiative aimed at pushing…

Climate Connections: Geology of the deep - Singapore at risk with 466 submarine volcanoes lurking at its doorstep

Singapore could be at risk of a tsunami, if an undersea volcano in its neighbouring region erupts. Globally, tens of thousands of submerged volcanoes lurk beneath the ocean's surface, often going unnoticed and are vastly understudied.  With the help of published data sets and sea-floor topography…

Climate Connections: Lost At Sea - DNA study of critically endangered hawksbill turtles to reveal their "lost years"

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…

Climate Connections: Separating The Green From Greenwash - Nature Positive Transitions Must Build On Mitigation Hierarchy Applications

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 Framew…

Climate Connections: An egg farm that gets cracking - one of many local producers working to strengthen Singapore's food future

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 produc…

Climate Connections: Are lava flows an increasing threat to communities?

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 millio…

Climate Connections: An environmentalist's eureka moment & how she sowed the seeds of Singapore's Plant-A-Tree programme

“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 t…

Climate Connections: Propelling Action Through Polar Expeditions. ClimateForce Founder Barney Swan On Walking In The Footsteps Of His Father, Polar Explorer Robert Swan.

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, experienc…