Climate Connections

Soil is often an overlooked aspect of nature. Now, if you dig deeper, you’d realise that healthy soils serve not just as the backbone of safe and sustainable agriculture, but also helps with carbon sequestration.  In many parts of the world however, poor management and climate change have led to soil degradation and a huge amount of carbon released by the top layer soil over the past 12,000 years. On today’s Climate Connections, Aadith Moorthy, CEO & Founder of Boomitra, and 2023 Earthshot Prize Winner shares how his company is working with farmers to reverse that through technology & soil credits.  Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Audrey Siek Photo credit: Boomitra Carbon Farming in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (Credit: Boomitra) Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors 

Through half a million years of isolation, primates of the Mentawai Islands evolved into five distinct species, totally different from their relatives on the nearest mainland, Sumatra. These endemic species include the pig-tailed snub-nosed langur, Mentawai gibbon, Mentawai langur, Pagai macaque, and Siberut macaque. Except for the last, the other four species are Critically Endangered or Endangered, as red-listed by the IUCN. And with the threat from logging and clearing for oil palm and timber plantations growing, the survival of the forests of Mentawai and these primates is dimming.  On this episode of Climate Connections, Andie Ang, Head, Primate Conservation & Singapore Programmes, Mandai Nature and Professor Rizaldi, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Andalas University share more details on their research into these endangered primates, and how they are developing a conservation plan to save them.  Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar Photo: Adult male Presbytis potenziani (Golden-bellied Mentawai Island Langur or simply 'Mentawai Langur') encountered one morning in degraded primary forest on South Pagai island in 2023.  (Credit: Dr Andie Ang) Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors 

Difference in standards across countries and regions can sometimes make sustainability reporting tricky. So how can such differences be better reconciled?  Simon Schillebeeckx, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Handprint and Ramki Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Temenos APAC share about the challenges involved in collecting, streamlining and ensuring quality of ESG data, and how knowing how to identify impact projects can help companies with their ESG initiatives.  Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Audrey Siek Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors  Photo credit: Handprint

Changes in climate and the effects resulting from climate change control how plants grow, how animals behave, which organisms thrive, and how they interact with the physical environment, especially within forests. Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists who have tracked their movements over decades say that heat stress is one of key factors pushing forests to migrate. But with global warming rising at an unprecedented rate, can forests move fast enough to escape climate change?  On this episode of Climate Connections, Shawn Lum, Senior Lecturer, Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University shares his insights on the resilience levels of plant species in forests and how tropical forests are holding up compared with their counterparts. Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors  Photos: Yeo Kai Ting

Did you know that cows burp and fart just like humans?  Each time a cow burps or passes out gas, a little puff of methane wafts into the atmosphere. In fact, a single cow can produce 70 to 120 kg of methane a year.  On this episode of Climate Connections, we shine a spotlight on 2023 Earthshot Prize Finalist Sam Elsom, Co-Founder and CEO of Sea Forest - a climate startup that has come up with a way to utilise red seaweed to reduce methane emissions from cows and other livestock. Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Audrey Siek Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors  Photo credits: The Earthshot Prize

Hotels or lodging are an essential part of travel, which is seeing a rise once again as the pandemic retreats into the shadows. As you wind down this year-end, perhaps take some time to think about how much carbon footprint you contribute when it comes to where you stay on your travels.   With the voice on climate change growing louder, some hotels have joined the bandwagon to do their part for the environment. In this episode of Climate Connections, Elaine Chan, Director of Marketing Communications & Sustainability at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay Singapore shares more. Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Ryan Huang & Audrey Siek Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors 

A little climate threat lurks in the form of a substance with a sight and smell that we are hardwired to be disgusted with - sewage. Little is known about the real extent of industrial discharge that ends up in our wastewater systems, but researchers have found that untreated sewage discharge brings more harm to the environment and living communities than surrounding land use. But, wastewater management isn’t always affordable or accessible. And to top things off, it consumes more energy than you think.  In this episode of Climate Connections, find out how 2023 Earthshot Prize Finalist, Orianna Bretschger, Co-Founder & CEO of Aquacycl is reinventing the entire wastewater treatment process to make it simpler and friendlier to the planet. Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors  Photo credits: The Earthshot Prize

Air is the basic life support for all living beings on Earth, including humans. But clean air isn't always a given for those living in Poland and India - countries plagued by air pollution caused by various forms of burning - to keep warm during cold winters and to get rid of agricultural waste respectively.  In this episode of Climate Connections, we feature the inside story with: Vidyut Mohan, Co-Founder and CEO, Takachar & 2021 Earthshot Prize Winner - who developed a cheap and portable technology that converts crop residues into sellable bio-products like fuel and fertilisers.  Anna Dworakowska, Co-founder & Director, Polish Smog Alert & 2023 Earthshot Prize Finalist - who is fighting for coal bans across Poland and a shift away from traditional smokers. Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors  Photo credits: The Earthshot Prize

COP28 kicks off in Dubai today (30 Nov 2023).  This year, it will be the first time that humanity formally assesses its progress under the 2015 Paris climate agreement of keeping global warming below 1.5˚C. But have you wondered what goes behind the closed doors of climate negotiations and what churns in the minds of leading negotiators? In this episode of Climate Connections, we feature: Andrew Mercer, Deputy Minister for Energy, Republic of Ghana H.E. Mattias Frumerie, Chief Climate Negotiator, Kingdom of Sweden Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

Time and tide wait for no man! This saying applies aptly to our natural ecosystems as well. Ahead of COP28, scientists are warning that our coastal habitats could disappear in the next 30 years, if global warming and rising sea levels are not curbed within limits set out by the Paris Agreement. On this episode of Climate Connections, Professor Benjamin Horton, Director, Earth Observatory of Singapore, NTU explains how his team is digging deep beneath the oceans to find out how fossilised mangroves right under us can help guide our conservation strategies moving forward.  Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Voiced by: Audrey Siek Music/sound credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors Photo credit: Yeo Kai Ting