India is currently thought to have around 29,000 wild elephants, especially in the biodiverse Western Ghats region, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It’s also the country home to more than half of the global population.

Although poaching, trafficking and trading of elephants and ivory in India is prohibited according to 1972’s Wildlife Protection Act, poaching has remained a constant threat.

Today, around 20-25 elephants are lost to poaching each year.

On this episode of Climate Connections, Emmy-award winning Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta, who’s the director of Poacher - shares more about his dramatisation of the largest ever elephant poaching case in India.

The eight-episode series was based on the real-life events of Operation Shikar, a sprawling investigation that took place between 2015 and 2017 into elephant poaching in the southern state of Kerala, which led to 72 arrests across India, including elephant poachers, government officials, carvers and high-end ivory art dealers.

Also on this episode, Rohit Singh, Director of Wildlife Enforcement and Zero Poaching, WWF-Singapore , who has first-hand experience coordinating law enforcement activities in India, weighs in on the challenges behind wildlife crime law enforcement.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: WWF-Singapore / Richie MehtaDrama sound effect credits: Richie Mehta / Amazon Prime
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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The world is in an era of dire warnings from many scientists and increasing natural disasters, record-breaking temperatures and rising tides. Time is running out to solve the climate crisis, and catastrophe looms.

By now, you're probably used to seeing such headlines. But how can that doom-induced uncertainty be spiralled into meaningful change?

On this episode of Climate Connections, Hannah Jones, CEO, The Earthshot Prize shares her insights on why these messages must be used wisely and how a spark of optimism goes a long way in this fight against climate change. As they continue to support the scale-up of innovations with a potential to repair our planet, she also delves into what she and The Earthshot Prize has been up to as they prepare to hold this year's award ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: The Earthshot Prize
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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One insect species you probably never knew you needed - dung beetles!

Dung beetles are found worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica. They live in habitats ranging from desert to forest and are classified into three basic groups: rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers. Those words describe how these beetles use the dung they find.

They may seem like unlikely environmental heroes, but these little creatures might just be a weapon in the battle against global warming and other biodiversity issues.

On this episode of Climate Connections, Eleanor Slade, Associate Professor, Asian School of the Environment, NTU, and Zann Teo, PHD Student from NTU, who is currently putting together a species checklist for dung beetles in Singapore, which are understudied to date, especially in the tropics - explain why dung beetles are so important to our wider ecosystem and what they are doing to chart a better future for these beetles.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: Marx Yim, Tropical Ecology and Entomology Lab / NTU
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors, Kamaboko Sachiko, Noru

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Lions are the apex predators of the African savanna, or what ecologists call - a keystone species.

They play the critical role of managing large herbivore populations of impalas, zebras, buffalos, and even elephants and giraffes. In a balanced ecosystem, the number of herbivores needs to be kept in check because if you have too many herbivores, vegetation will be overgrazed and habitats will inevitably degrade.

As an umbrella species, lions also help maintain a healthy and resilient herbivore population and regulate disease transmissions because they typically hunt and kill those that may be afflicted with parasites, disease or are feeble from a hereditary defect.

Without lions, disease spread is more likely across species, and vast savanna grassland ecosystems would disintegrate into dysfunctional, barren landscapes impacting all other species, including humans.

However, African lion populations are declining - due in large part to habitat loss due to development and human-wildlife conflict. With humans now living closer to predators like lions, having mitigation measures to reduce that conflict is growing in importance as these predators also pose a threat to the local communities and their livestock.

On this episode of Climate Connections, Dr Jess Isden, Coexistence Coordinator, WildCRU - who is working very closely with the local communities through the Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme - shares her insights on how effective human-lion conflict mitigation strategies in Botswana, Africa, can contribute to sustainable development.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: Yeo Kai Ting
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors, Hayashi Yu, Makooto

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Farmers in India are contending with the impact of climate change every day as their crops are often subject to weather conditions, which are evolving as climate change becomes more deeply entrenched.

Every year, about 30% of agricultural produce is wasted before it leaves the farms. And did you know this food waste contributes to greenhouse gases?

On this episode of Climate Connections, Nidhi Pant, Co-Founder of S4S Technologies, who has seen how deeply intertwined challenges of food waste, rural poverty and gender inequality are, shares the journey she embarked on together with five other university friends, to help smallholder female farmers preserve and market surplus produce.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar

Photo credits: The Earthshot Prize

Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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At the COP28 Summit, for the first time since nations began meeting some three decades ago, nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.

With all eyes on the new deal - that is not legally binding and can’t, on its own, force any country to act - “transition finance” is shaping up to be one of this year’s most important topics in the climate space but how just is this transition?

On this episode of Climate Connections, Sharan Burrow, Former General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation and Global Board of Director, World Resources Institute shares her insights on why a just transition is so important and why people must be at the center of this green transition.

Sharan recently spoke at the 2024 Ecosperity Week spearheaded by Temasek.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar

Photo credits: The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action

Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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Did you know that in just Singapore alone, an average person can eat nearly 390 eggs in a year?

Every stage of egg production contributes to greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. Scientists from the University of Oviedo in Spain found that the carbon footprint of eggs is similar to that of other basic foods of animal origin, like milk.

So, is there a way to be more environmentally friendly with our eggs?

On this episode of Climate Connections, Vinita Choolani, Founder and CEO of Float Foods lets us in on why she embarked on that journey to create a plant-based egg that can hopefully substitute our love affair with chicken eggs, and where the business is at right now.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Voiced by: Audrey Siek

Photo credits: Float Foods

Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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Climate change is caused by the rise in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Such gases include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are long-lived compounds that can remain in the atmosphere for several years.

But you might be wondering if climate change in turn impacts the quality of the air we breathe.

On this episode of Climate Connections, NTU Professor Stephan Schuster, Research Director of the Meta-o’mics & Microbiomes cluster at the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering reviews the connection between air pollution and climate change, as well as the tell-tale signs that scientists look out for when measuring air quality.

Professor Schuster also reveals some potential solutions that actually already exist in Singapore!

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar

Photo credits: NTU

Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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