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ECO-SCHOOLS VOICESEDITOR’S NOTEDear Eco-Champions,

As we enter the last term of the school year, it is time to take stock of your Eco-Schools work for the year. Have you achieved your targets for the year, or do you need to make some adjustments to your action plan so you can achieve those targets? Perhaps this issue of the newsletter can give you some ideas.

The following are some of the highlights of this issue:

We recap the Eco-Schools Ceremony held on July 22, where we gave out some awards and launched the EcoCampus Programme. Read all about it on page 2.

Four specially selected students got a chance to join us on a learning trip to the UK to learn from the Eco-Schools there and to fi nd out more about WWF’s conservation work. Find out about their experiences on pages 3 and 4.

© DARRELL NEO / WWF-SINGAPORE © WWF-SINGAPORE

Representatives from award-winning schools and newly-enrolled schools with our partners

Singapore students with Ripple Primary students, a Green Flag school in England

wwf.sg/for_schools 1

Many of you know the importance of our forests, but do you know why we should save it, and how to go about doing so? We zoom in on the rangers working in the forests and the challenges they face. We also feature Baim, a young orang-utan that used to live in the forests of Borneo. Find out what happened to him on page 6.

By now, you would have carried out some of the activities in your school’s action plan. This issue’s Green Flag Tip gives you more ideas on how to ‘Inform and Involve’ your community and schoolmates. Head over to page 7 to learn more.

As you continue to push on towards the last lap of your projects this year, remember to pen down your refl ections. They will come in handy to help you plan even better projects next year. All the best!

Ms. Rabi’ah Ghazali and Ms. Valerie SeetEducation UnitWWF-Singapore

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OVERSEAS LEARNING TRIP TO ENGLAND

WHAT’S BUZZING?

Inside the Living Planet Centre

A bird box in Ripple Primary School

Heather Farm, a wetland centre that used to be a mushroom factory

We ask the four students who were selected to go on a learning trip to England in June about their most memorable experience, how they would bring their learnings back to school, and some words they would like to say to future trippers.

We visited WWF-UK’s Living Planet Centre, a sustainable and eco-friendly offi ce. One of the features in the offi ce is that instead of using air conditioners, they use a ventilation system that draws in air to be naturally cooled underground before being channeled into the building.

Most of the schools we visited have bird boxes, and much research is done before hanging them up. In order to attract the right kind of birds, the bird boxes must be placed at the appropriate position and height. I will suggest this idea to my teachers as there are a lot of birds visiting my school.

Heather Farm gives me a sense of peacefulness, which lets me appreciate the environment and wildlife around me. This kind of feeling can never be experienced in a fast-paced city like London or Singapore!

I observed that most of the schools have gardens that are taken care of by students. This gives the students a sense of ownership, which in turn nurtures their passion for environment. Recently, our school’s Secondary One students have been given more opportunities to take care of the eco-garden. I’m intending to run a programme whereby every Secondary One class will be given vegetable seeds to grow and take care of for at least a year.

Md. Nazirulmubin Abd. Moomen, Kranji Secondary School

Thin Lat Han, Nan Hua High School

“You get to interact with diff erent people, culture and environment. My learnings not only benefi t me, but also my school! Using the knowledge that I have gained, I can help my school get a Green Flag Award.”

“Be brave and be open: be receptive to new culture and new ideas.”

Skeleton of the Stegosaurus in Natural History Museum

A vermicomposting bin at St Luke’s School

Bins in Hinchley Wood Secondary School to collect old clothes and uniforms

Check out the highlights video on the trip at Eco-Schools Hangout for more information! You can also read about the students’ favourite experiences here: http://bit.ly/1us2Lsy (only accessible to Eco-Schools Hangout account holders)

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It was my fi rst time in a museum, and I was fascinated by the skeleton of the Stegosaurus that I saw as I never knew how big a dinosaur could actually be! It stood about ten times taller than me.

There was a bin I saw at Hinchley Wood Secondary School, where students can donate their old uniforms and clothes to raise funds for the school, as well as donate to the needy. I will explore a similar idea with my school.

The most memorable experience for me was being able to interact and exchange ideas with the teachers and students in the schools we visited. As they shared about the initiatives that they are working on, I became energised and motivated by their enthusiasm. The positive energy is contagious!

We saw a vermicomposting bin, which does not require earthworms to be introduced from outside. Instead, there was a hole at the bottom. Basically, dried leaves would be placed inside as well as any fruit waste like bananas and grapes. The earthworms would crawl up to the bin and start to assist in the process of decomposition. Commonwealth Sec doesn’t have a decomposition bin currently, and it would be very useful especially for the new rainforest we are building in the school.

Chia Jia Poh, Yuhua Secondary School Teo Tze Siang, Commonwealth Secondary School

“This trip gives you creative ideas for your future eco projects in school.”

Touring the Green Flag Eco-Schools was extremely enriching. The journey continues when we return to Singapore. I am now armed with experiences to help my school achieve the Green Flag!

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TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE FORESTS wwf.sg

THERE IS MORE TO FOREST THAN JUST WOOD AND PAPER.

HOME TO PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE.More than 300 million people worldwide call the forests their home, along with 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.

ESSENTIAL TO LIFEForests provide the world with clean air, food, medicine and fresh water and even support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people.

© Fletcher & Baylis / WWF-Indonesia

BUILD EVERYDAY PRODUCTS

Forests provide timber, palm oil, pulp and paper

for our daily needs.

MITIGATES CLIMATE CHANGE

Forests act as carbon sinks – soaking up carbon dioxide,

preventing global warming and climate change.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

LOVE OUR FORESTS

© M

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© M

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© Mauri Rautkari / WWF-Canon © Rachel Chew / WWF-Canon

Illegal forest clearing for palm oil and paper threatens homes and livelihoods of people and wildlife; and can affect the air quality in Singapore and the region.

Help us push for more protected areas and plant more trees to save our forests and secure clean air for us and generations to come.

Did you know that every two seconds, a forest the size of a football fi eld is being cut down somewhere in the world? Forests not only supply our wood and paper, they also mitigate climate change and overall, are vital to our everyday lives. However, time is running out for them.

Fortunately, some people have committed to put their lives on the line to protect these important sanctuaries. These unsung heroes, most often called rangers, and less commonly forest guards, park wardens, or fi eld enforcement offi cers – work under harsh conditions on the frontlines of conservation to protect the world’s natural and cultural treasures.

© ANTON VORAUER / WWF-CANON

WWF rangers checking camera trap in Mae Wong National Park, Thailand.

See through the eyes of a ranger by playing the Ranger Danger game at http://rangerdanger.wwf.sg and redeem a mystery prize when you fi nish all the missions. Take a screenshot and send it edu@wwf.sg and we will get in touch with you.

Find out more about a ranger’s work: http://goo.gl/5w85T3

The life of a ranger is not an easy one. They work tirelessly to protect some of the world’s most endangered species like tigers, elephants and rhinos—animals that are also among the most widely targeted for poaching and illegal wildlife trade. They face danger from these armed

poachers, and sadly, sometimes the very wildlife they protect.

Rangers are not always fully equipped, trained or appreciated and often put their lives in danger in the face of armed poachers. They usually earn very little and some go for months without receiving their salary or seeing their families.

MITIGATE CLIMATECHANGE

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Meet Baim, a young baby orangutan rescued from the beautiful forested area called the Heart of Borneo. Baim used to live in the Heart of Borneo with his mother, until they got separated one fateful day. On that day, two men who were hunting for frogs heard Baim’s cries and found him all alone without his mother! It is very likely that she was killed by poachers, because a mother orangutan seldom leaves her infant behind willingly. The kind men brought Baim to WWF. Baim was then still crying for his mother, terrifi ed to be without her and surrounded by strangers in a place far from home.

Today, Baim lives at Ketapang Orangutan Centre of International Animal Rescue in Indonesia. He is a happy, healthy and mischevious young ape. At the rescue centre, he is growing up in safety until he is sent back to his real home in the Heart of Borneo one day.

Baim was lucky to have been rescued. Many other orangutans have been removed from their homes due to poaching or lost their homes due to harmful human activities. These activities include clearing forests to build towns and roads, or cutting down trees to make paper and other items made from wood. Forests are also being rapidly cleared to plant oil palm trees.

Besides orangutans, the rainforests of Borneo are also home to many other critically endangered wildlife such as elephants, rhinos and sun bears. They are also home to hundreds of many other species of wild animals. If we do not take steps to protect the forests now, all these species may soon disappear forever from the face of the earth.

BAIM, THE BABY ORANGUTAN

Are there others like Baim?

© LIA SYAFITRI / WWF-INDONESIA

Baim in a cardboard box lined with newspapers, drinking baby formula.

• Save paper. Save paper by avoiding unnecessary printing and choosing double-sided printing when possible.• Choose FSC-certifi ed paper and wood products. FSC-certifi ed paper and wood products are guaranteed to come from sustainable sources. (FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council)• Avoid buying illegal wildlife and their products. Be especially careful when buying pets, traditional medicine and souvenirs, as they have may been illegally obtained from the forests.• Support WWF. Be a WWF Planet Defender and help defend the Heart of Borneo. Go to http://planetdefender.wwf.sg to learn more and help spread the message to your friends!

Did You Know? ‘Orang’ means person in Malay and utan is derived from the Malay word ‘hutan’, which means forest. So orangutan literally means person of the forest!

Defi nition

Illegal wildlife trade: Wildlife trade is any sale or exchange of wild animal and plant resources. Wildlife trade is labelled as illegal if if involves animal and plant resources that are protected from such activities under national and/or international law. This often applies to endangered animals and plants.

How can you help?

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ECO-SCHOOLS CEREMONY On 22 July 2014, we invited students, teachers and school leaders of our Eco-Schools, as well as programme partners to celebrate the achievements of the Eco-Schools Programme in Singapore! Check out the highlights below.

© DARRELL NEO / WWF-SINGAPORE

© DARRELL NEO / WWF-SINGAPORE

© DARRELL NEO / WWF-SINGAPORE

Ms. Rabi’ah Ghazali, Education Manager, WWF-Singapore, reviewing the progress of the Eco-Schools Programme over the past year

The CEO of ITE, Mr. Bruce Poh, and WWF-Singapore, Ms. Elaine Tan, with the MoU signed at the ceremony

Posters featuring the work of the award-winning schools

What better way to celebrate a successful year of the programme than giving out the Eco-Schools Awards? They are clear testament to the hard work put in by the award-winning schools over the past year. We are confi dent that within the next year of the Eco-Schools Programme, the Green Flag will be proudly fl ying at several of the schools! Have a look at posters featuring the award winning eff orts of the schools here: http://on.fb.me/1oXlEOh

We also offi cially welcomed 5 newly-enrolled schools into the programme, including the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) as the fi rst EcoCampus in Singapore. With ITE College West as the fi rst of three ITE campuses to embark on the programme, we look forward to shaping environmentally responsible students, grooming them to be green leaders who can lead the way towards a sustainable future for Singapore.

“The Eco-Schools Programme is important to Nan Hua High School as it advocates a community approach towards environment education which requires staff and students to work closely with the school’s stakeholders like parents, corporate partners and global community, through innovative and creative ways, activities and programmes to promote a sustainable living environment.” – Mrs Tan Jong Lek, Principal of Nan Hua High School

© DARRELL NEO / WWF-SINGAPORE

Watch the Eco-Schools highlights reel here: http://bit.ly/1AqTGmj and try to spot yourself or your friends in the photos!

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EXTRA POWER PACK

Drop us a lineHave you got any burning questions on Eco-Schools for us? Do you have any feedback or comments on the programme? Leave a post on Eco-Schools Hangout (eco-schools.wwf.sg) so we can address your question and share the answer with everyone else.

SAVE THE DATE

ANNOUNCEMENTSThe second window for the Eco-Schools Grant application is open! WWF-Singapore gives out funding to eco-schools who are working on various eco-themes. If you’ve got a great idea for a project, work with your teachers to put together a proposal and submit it to us for funding. Deadline for us to receive the application is 31st Oct 2014.

Did not get to go on the Overseas Learning Trip? Fret not, we can bring the world to you! Connect with eco-schools in Singapore and other countries at this conference. More details to come soon.

4th - 5th NovemberEco-Schools Conference

GREEN FLAG TIP – INFORM AND INVOLVENow that you’ve done all the planning for your projects, it’s time to get them out there! Tell others about your work and get as many pairs of hands onboard as possible. Here’s how:

Reach out to the masses – Schedule a weekly slot in your school’s assembly to update everyone on what the Green Club has been up to. You want to also reach the parents and wider community, so remember to have a permanent section in the school’s newsletter.

Post your activities on http://eco-schools-projects.org to share them with other eco-schools in the world. You may get inspired with cool ideas from them too!

Pair up with a corporate partner that specialises in the theme that you are working on. They may be able to provide advice and resources on the projects that you are working on, and they can also help reach out to their networks.

Eco-Schools Grant

1986 Panda Symbol WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) “WWF” is a WWF Registered Trademark

WWF-Singapore, 354 Tanglin Road#02-11, Tanglin Block, Tanglin International Centre, Singapore 247672

wwf.sg

BRAIN TEASER

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• ECO-SCHOOLS VOICES - SEPTEMBER 2014

The world’s biodiversity not only enriches the natural environment, they also enrich our language. Animals feature heavily in English proverbs and idioms. Try to guess some of the common ones from the clues below!

(A possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of)

(A proverb that means success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort)

(to suspect that something is wrong)

(to reveal a secret or a surprise by accident)

(to participate in rough play with someone)

(nervousness and agitation)

(someone who is uncomfortable in a particular situation)

(Making a mistake or a false assumption in something you are trying to achieve)

(imitate what other people are doing)

(to create a situation that will cause trouble or be unpleasant)

Answers

1. White elephant2. The early bird catches the worm3. Smell a rat4. Let the cat out of the bag5. Horse around

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

6. ____________________________

7. ____________________________

8. ____________________________

9. ____________________________

10. ____________________________

6. Ants in one’s pants7. A fish out of water8. Barking up the wrong tree9. Monkey see, monkey do10. Open up a can of worms