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wild people: Dr Raju Chek Jawa and Joseph Lai brought Raju and I together. Raju is the kindest, gentlest soul I have ever met. Providing sorely needed expertise on GIS mapping. Dr Raju also generously shares his findings and expertise in public talks and on the internet through his one-of-a-kind website on GIS maps of intertidal zones in Singapore. Despite his strenous work and family commitments, he can be counted upon to come for arduous field trips and to steadily work on providing complete GIS maps of our intertidal areas. The work is hard, involving a great deal of walks on site, and post-processing thereafter. Nevertheless, he is always of good cheer and a great companion on many of our field trips. They wouldn't be the same, in quality of findings and quality of friendship, without his good natured presence. Here is more about Dr Raju in his own words ... How did you first get involved in working for nature in Singapore? First of all I want to thank Mr Joseph Lai who induced my first involvement in Singapore's nature. I met him along with a group of nature lovers and enthusiast's after a NSS evening talk at Ang Mo Kio library during May 2001. He introduced me to Chek Jawa where I was astonished with the rich biodiversity. Almost from that day started studying the biodiversity of Chek Jawa. Till today I have a special passion towards Chek Jawa (almost visiting every month) and extended further to other inter-tidal landforms around Singapore. What do you get out of working for nature? Nature is a part of everyone's life. As a responsible human being we need to conserve nature. It's a self satisfaction; at last we are going to be benefited. What is your approach/personal motto in your work? There is a lack of baseline mapping information on inter-tidal landforms of Singapore. Presently involved in identifying the gaps and establish it for the beneficiary of environmentalist, researchers and decision makers. What are some of your current projects? We are involved in establishing inter-tidal landforms of Singapore as high resolution maps depicting various landforms, habitats and their rich biodiversity for sustainable ecosystem management. We are still in the process of collecting and building the data. Some of our works are showcased in my website on GIS maps of intertidal zones in Singapore. Dr Raju is 37 and and he is currently a Research Fellow, Tropical Marine Science Institute. He volunteers his time and expertise to provide GIS data on volunteer-manned and -funded intertidal research and studies. He can be contacted via the TMSI website on their staff. Posted by raycek Posted on 24/08/04 15:00 Raju, thank you for making available the GPS maps for the various places in Singapore. Keep up the good work Posted by kllow14 Posted on 24/08/04 15:17 We guys are envious of that toy you have. Keep up with the good work doc. Posted by otterman Posted on 31/08/04 09:51 Raju is yet another gem discovered by Joseph over Chek Jawa, right under our noses! I also hope to drag him into the mud one day soon. We need more researchers with a heart, who will get out there and pioneer the re-examination of Singapore's geography and biodiversity. More on how YOU can make a difference too...

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these blog entries were first uploaded on MoBlog Singapore! Celebrate Singapore NDP 04 website©ria tan 2004