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  Straits Times 14 Mar 07
Saving the Earth catches on among Singaporeans
 Tania Tan

THE island of Bali stirs up thoughts of a beach holiday for most people, but for avid scuba diver Ivan Choong, the place is linked to work. His mission: To save the threatened manta ray, the gentle fish that glides through the ocean depths like a flying saucer with wings.

Last year, the 29-year-old spent three weeks in August doing 16 dives off the coast of the Indonesian resort island to chart the number of rays, their nesting sites and their migration patterns. He would have done more dives, except that the weather was not always favourable, and the presence of many other divers also disrupted his underwater studies, he said.

Mr Choong is no marine biologist backed up by research funding. Neither is he a maker of undersea documentaries. He runs his own business as a supplier of books on marine life and scuba diving, and is doing this data collection on the mantas independently.

And because he has not found a sponsor for his cause, he has been paying for his expeditions out of his own pocket. The cost of his trips go beyond airfare and board. Every time he goes to Bali - and he will continue to do so over the next two years - he has to close his one-man-operated business.

His family and friends, who at first thought him crazy for wasting his time and money, have now come around to seeing that this is important to him, he said.

Ask him what drives him, and he will say: 'We've taken so much from the Earth already, we should try to give something back.'

His work has yielded some results: He sent the American Manta Pacific Research Foundation his first set of data last month. The foundation has not responded yet, but he has been heartened by feedback from fellow divers.

Said the tanned young man, who will also be presenting his findings to the Nature Society here next week: 'Very few knew about the existence of mantas in Bali. But this has helped raise some awareness.'

Mr Choong is part of a growing band of private citizens who go beyond hugging trees or just talking about it. They treasure the environment enough to do something about it, to make a difference.

Dr Ho Hua Chew, who chairs the Nature Society's conservation committee, said he has seen a gradual increase in the number of pro-environment activists here over the past few decades.

Dr Ho joined the society in 1971, when it had a little over 500 members. Today, the society and its affiliated groups, such as the Bird Ecology Study Group and Nature Ramblers, have over 2,000 active volunteers.

Many, like Mr Choong, juggle their careers, family and their work for the environment.

Dr Ho, a semi-retired philosophy lecturer in his 50s, said education has played a big part in raising awareness of the need for environmental protection. 'People are beginning to appreciate the urgency of the matter. We can no longer take our environment for granted,' he said.

Climate change and global warming issues have steadily gained higher profile on the local and world stage, with governments spending millions to go green, for example, by cutting carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency.

In Singapore, a number of non-government organisations dedicated to conserving local flora and fauna have sprouted.

The three-year-old Blue Water Volunteers (BWV) is one such group. Its 50 volunteers are more than just beachcombers. They conduct detailed surveys on marine fauna, bring members of the public on reef walks and host exhibits featuring Singapore's exotic - and fast disappearing - marine wildlife.

The group has reached out to nearly 2,000 people through its activities.

Its volunteers undergo a three-month training stint to familiarise themselves with local marine life, said association chairman Zeehan Jaafar. The training, conducted once a week over five weeks, takes place in the evenings. But practical sessions in skills like scuba diving are included in between these classroom sessions.

It adds up to quite a taxing schedule for the volunteers, especially those with full-time jobs, she adds, but 'at least it helps us identify the ones who are really committed to helping the environment'.

Miss Jaafar estimates that about 20 to 30 per cent of the people who join the group's activities drop out along the way. Many cite family and work commitments as reasons for pulling out, she adds.

While those who stay somehow manage to balance their commitments, there are others who have gone even further - by choosing to make the environment their full-time job.

Mr Louis Ng, the executive director of local wildlife conservation group Acres (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) is one such person. At age 21, he gave up a potentially lucrative career as an electrical engineer by switching from an engineering course at Nanyang Technological University to pursue a degree in biology instead.

On getting his masters, he promptly landed a job with Acres - drawing what he called a 'non-profitable' $500 a month. 'My parents were definitely upset,' recalls Mr Ng, now 31.

Money has never been a motivating factor for him, he said. 'I can't imagine sitting behind a desk as a career. This is what I've always wanted to do.'

Acres recently announced plans to set up a wildlife rescue centre here. Construction on the centre has already started. Mr Ng and his wife, who also works with Acres, now live on a monthly income of about $1,800.

Despite the modest household budget, they are content. The bonus is that he has even won over his harshest critics - his parents, who now understand his cause.

He said: 'We work every day knowing that we are making a difference. 'That's priceless.'
links
More about the groups mentioned in the article
Blue Water Volunteers website
Acres website
Nature Society (Singapore)

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