People & The Community
ENVIRONMENT
Committed to fulfilling our role as a responsible
global citizen, the Haw Par Group has been
contributing in various ways towards environmental
protection and conservation. We support the
United Nations Decade for Biodiversity.
Over the years, we have been supporting efforts
to promote the conservation of the tiger and the
leopard, which are among the most endangered
species on Earth. A number of projects in several
countries including India, Germany, the United
Kingdom and the United States have received
assistance from the Haw Par Group towards
tiger conservation. In Singapore, we have been
sponsoring the Tiger exhibit at the Night Safari
and the Leopard exhibit at the Singapore Zoo since
1995 and 1986 respectively, as our contribution
towards wildlife conservation education.
In the United Kingdom, Tiger Balm partnered Born
Free Foundation to raise funds and awareness of the
plight of the tiger, of which there are only 3,500
left worldwide. The Born Free Foundation takes
action worldwide to rescue and care for vulnerable
animals, and to promote wildlife conservation
through activities that inspire everyone to respect
the wild. Created by Tiger Balm, the ‘Born to Run’
Campaign conducted via mainstream and social
media platforms succeeded in assembling 101
runners dressed as tigers to run in the popular
British 10K London Run in July, sending out
the tiger conservation message in a unique way,
generating publicity for the cause and made a
lasting impression.
In July, Underwater World Singapore (UWS)
welcomed the birth of a healthy pink dolphin calf,
Splish, with a sense of pride. The first successful
birth of a Pink Dolphin at UWS was in 2002,
which was also the world’s first successful and
documented birth of the Pink Dolphin or Indo-
Pacific Humpback Dolphin
(Sousa chinensis)
at
a marine park. Pink dolphins are born grey and
become pink as they age. To promote public
awareness of this unique marine animal, the UWS
Marine Mammal Trainers conducted educational
sessions during the December School Holidays
on how they provided gynaecological care for the
mother dolphin and kept 24-hour vigils watching
over the mother dolphin and the calf after birth,
and how the mother dolphin nurses its calf.
Like many other marine mammals, pink dolphins
in the wild face numerous threats to their survival
such as pollution, loss of feeding habitats due
to coastal development, collisions with boats
and getting entangled and drowning in fishing
lines and nets. The Pink Dolphin is listed in the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) Appendix 1 and is classified
as ‘Endangered’ in the Red List of Threatened
Animals of Singapore. As one of the few facilities
in the world that is home to this rare species of
dolphin, UWS has been supporting research on
pink dolphins and hosted visits from institutions
such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
August this year.
Entering the 11th year of participation in the
Corporate and School Partnership Programme (CASP)
organised by the National Environment Agency of
Singapore, UWS continued its collaboration with
Keming Primary School as part of the UWS Blue
Mission – Inspire, Educate, Conserve. Benefitting
from the partnership, Keming Primary School
achieved the Gold Award for Green Schools in
2013. In April this year, UWS and Keming Primary
School were invited by the Singapore’s Ministry
of Education (MOE) to share their experience on
the successful partnership at the Annual MOE
Excel Festival - a platform for celebrating exciting,
innovative practices in education.
In 2014, we continued to pledge our support for
‘Earth Hour 2014 – Be a Superhero for the Planet’.
At UWS, façade lights were switched off during
the Earth Hour and the conservation message
– “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” was incorporated
in the signage and the commentary for all the
daily shows and feeding sessions, encouraging
visitors to take action against climate change
and environmental destruction. Marine Biologists
at the UWS Curatorial Department also offered
insights on environmental issues in their ‘Do
One Thing for the Environment’ column in the
newsletters for staff, encouraging all to do their
part for Mother Earth.
Haw Par, as a responsible global citizen, has been contributing towards
environmental protection and conservation
Community
Environment
Left & above:
Haw Par – a sponsor of the Malayan Tiger Exibit at the
Night Safari of Singapore and the Leopard Exhibit at
the Singapore Zoo since 1995 and 1986 respectively
Right:
The Pink Dolphin calf, Splish, born at Underwater World
Singapore in July 2014
Haw Par Corporation Limited
28
annual report 2014
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