I'm in the midst of final preparations for my trip to Japan as part of the DENSO Youth for Earth Action Global Programme. To refresh your memories, here's what happened during the Local Programme earlier in July.
I'm excited about this trip, but I'm also a little miffed that I'm missing out on the rest of the Northern Expedition of the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey. Ria has been providing lots of updates, and with me being out of action, she and Pei Yan (a newcomer to Twitter herself) have stepped up to tweet about some of the goings-on at Expedition, as well as the interesting discoveries made. I hope I'll be able to keep up with what's going on back on Pulau Ubin. Do follow the Mega Marine Survey of Singapore blog and Facebook page for more news and information. I still haven't finished my posts about my involvement last week as a volunteer, adding to an ever-growing list of posts I've been meaning to write but haven't found the time and energy to complete.
Besides the Expedition, there are a couple of other events I would have wanted to attend, if not for the fact that I won't be in the country:
24th October: Biological Approaches to Coastal Enhancement and Restoration
The first would be a seminar on Singapore coastal enhancement and restoration opportunities, and new approaches to ecologically-friendly designing. This seminar is jointly organised by the National Parks Board, EcoShape, Singapore-Delft Water Alliance and NUSDeltares.
31st October: Elephant Ivory: To ban or not to ban
The second event would be a roadshow and seminar by Project Wild and NUS PEACE, focusing on the trade in elephant ivory and how it contributes to the continued unnecessary slaughter of elephants.
As much as I'm thrilled to visit new places and gain new perspectives on environmental management as it is practised in other places, I'm hoping that I'll learn lots of things that can be applied back here. The main focus of this programme is to develop an Action Plan, a project that I can carry out over the course of a year, and needless to say, my Action Plan is going to be focusing on biodiversity. I don't really have much time to share and discuss more, but it will involve education and raising awareness about a much-maligned group of animals that often strikes fear and terror into the hearts of people, with the aim of reducing human-wildlife conflict, especially since these animals are actually widespread and common, even in urban areas.
That's about all for now. I've been hearing a lot about the beauty of Japanese forests and woodlands in the autumn. Here's my chance to see them for myself.
