Best of our wild blogs: 29 Dec 11

2012: International Year of ?
from wild shores of singapore

A New Butterfly Garden at Tampines
from Butterflies of Singapore

Beachy
from The annotated budak

ghost crabs @ tanah merah
from sgbeachbum

Smooth-coated Otter at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
from Bird Ecology Study Group

NSS Kids’ Fun with Dragons and Damsels
from Fun with Nature by Fun with Nature and NSS Kids’ Fun at the Botanic Gardens with Dr Shawn Lum

The year in review for rainforests
from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

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Highlights of Singapore climate issues in 2011

Evelyn Choo Channel NewsAsia 28 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE: More agencies are communicating environment-related messages to the public via social media and engaging in public consultations this year.

In some cases, public consultation has proven to be productive.

For instance, consumers often do not pay attention to labels on electrical appliances, which tell consumers how much energy they would use.

But after a recent public consultation exercise by the National Climate Change Secretariat, a suggestion -- to pitch in terms of dollars and cents so that people will see the real savings and buy the idea -- was made.

This was was among about a thousand ideas floated by participants at the exercise.

It began in September to hear from different segments of society -- including households, industry players, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) -- on climate change.

Some of these ideas look set to shape the National Climate Change Strategy, to be released in the middle of next year.

National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) 3P Network director Yuen Sai Kuan said: "NCCS will be working more closely with various partners and stakeholders in the effort to tackle climate change.

"This will include the likes of NGOs, youth groups, businesses, communities and even other government agencies.

"One particular area that we're working with is with MOE (Ministry of Education), to enhance the school curriculum to incorporate climate change topics."

Besides the change in climate, Singapore faces another looming threat to its environment - flash floods - a result of heavier-than-average rainfall.

Experts said it is too early to tell if climate change is indeed the cause behind more intense showers, but the change in weather patterns has compelled PUB to review its drainage system.

A panel of experts appointed by the government reviewed the country's flood measures.

Under a revised Code of Practice, new drains will be able to hold more water - with capacity increased by up to 50 per cent - depending on the size of the catchment.

Another focus is to improve current infrastructure, which could take three to five years.

Eight out of 10 drainage-widening projects will commence in the first quarter.

PUB chief executive Chew Men Leong said: "We will put in place a drainage master plan that is much more forward-looking, to be able to understand what could well be the kind of scenarios we will face, and then start working from right now, to see how we can expand our drainage capacity, as well as put in other measures - both controlling runoff as well as protecting buildings.

"So there is a system, and we become more robust."

Over the year, PUB also worked to become more open in its communication.

By adding water level sensors and introducing CCTVs in flood-prone areas, information can now be obtained and shared with the public more immediately.

Businesses and property owners welcome this, on top of their own efforts to mitigate flood risks.

Many are in the midst of installing flood barriers at their premises.

- CNA/wk

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Shell expects Bukom refinery to resume full production soon

Channel NewsAsia 28 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE: Shell has said it expects its oil refinery at Pulau Bukom to be in full production by the end of this year, or in three days' time.

Production was halted at the plant in late September following a fire that lasted 32 hours.

In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, Shell's spokesperson said most of the production units at the Bukom refinery have been progressively restarted.

The company has also resumed normal supply to most customers.

However, it said a small number of contracts continue to be affected by the so-called Force Majeure event.

Invoking the Force Majeure clause of a contract excuses a firm from fulfilling its contractual obligations in circumstances beyond its control.

Shell said it continues to be in discussions with the affected customers to address their supply needs.

The Bukom plant is the world's largest Shell refinery in terms of crude distillation capacity, which is about half a million barrels a day.

- CNA/al

Full production at Bukom by year-end
Business Times 29 Dec 11;

SHELL expects its oil refinery at Pulau Bukom to be in full production by the end of this year, Channel NewsAsia yesterday reported.

Production was halted in late September after a raging fire that lasted over 30 hours.

The blaze had caused the oil major to shut down some plants, including three crude distillation units that form the backbone of its 500,000 barrels per day refinery.

Shell's spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia that most of the production units at the Bukom refinery have been restarted.

It has also resumed normal supply to most customers. A small number of contracts continue to be affected by force majeure.

Force majeure is a clause in contracts which frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary circumstance beyond the control of the parties occurs.

The Bukom plant is the world's largest Shell refinery in terms of crude distillation capacity.

Shell said earlier that it expects to book a loss of about US$150 million for the fourth quarter as a result of the fire.

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Malaysia: Flood situation to worsen in four states

New Straits Times 29 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: The recent bout of floods that hit Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak is expected to worsen with major rivers already showing signs of over-flowing.

Sarawak recorded the highest number of victims with 2,657 people at 15 relief centres.

According to the National Security Council's website yesterday, the relief centre in Samarahan topped the list with 1,407 victims, followed by Selanggau (558), Kuching (500), Sri Aman (102) and Asajaya (84).

The website of the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) said Sungai Batang Sadong in Serian, Sarawak, had triggered a "warning" alert at 8.57m at 5pm yesterday, warning residents of impending floods.

With continuous heavy rain in the past four days causing massive floods in Sarawak, the authorities said it might get worse with high tides at major waterways.

In Sabah, the districts of Tenom, Kemabong, Tambunan, Beaufort and Keningau were in danger of being inundated as the six rivers in these areas reached alert level.

In Johor, the situation improved with more victims in Segamat, Mersing and Batu Pahat allowed to go home, leaving only 715 people at 11 relief centres yesterday.

However, DID warned those staying near Sungai Muar and Sungai Simpang Kiri Batu Pahat to be cautious as the water levels were close to reaching the alert level.

In Pahang, the situation in Rompin improved with only 15 evacuees remaining at the relief centre in Kampung Gadak.

As for National Service trainees who were affected by floods in their areas, the National Service Training Department said they were allowed to report late.

Its director-general, Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, said the trainees would have to get confirmation letters from their respective village heads or any of the relief centres and flood operations rooms.

Thousands still hit by floods
The Star 29 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: The floods that hit Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak are still affecting thousands.

Sarawak recorded the highest number of flood victims with a state flood operations room spokesman reporting that 3,999 people were sheltering at 20 relief centres yesterday.

He said Samarahan had the highest number of evacuees at 3,123 people from 743 families, followed by Kuching (168 families/648 people), Sibu (30/128) and Sri Aman (32/100).

He said the authorities were only allowing evacuees to return to their homes on a case-by-case basis as the situation could deteriorate.

The floods in low-lying areas in Sarawak have been attributed to the incessant heavy rain over the last four days coupled with high tide at major waterways.

In Johor, the situation improved slightly with 1,075 victims still housed at shelters yesterday morning compared to 1,177 the previous night.

The National Security Council’s portal said they were in 17 relief centres – eight in Segamat, six in Mersing and three in Batu Pahat.

In Pahang, the situation improved in flood-hit Rompin with only 67 victims from 17 families still at shelters compared to 567 people on Tuesday night.

A spokesman at the state police headquarters’ flood operations room in Kuantan said only two relief centres remained open in the district with the Teluk Gading public hall housing 52 victims while the rest were in the Kampung Gadak public hall.

“They cannot go home yet because their villages along the mouth of Sungai Pahang are at risk of the high tide phenomenon,” he said.

The spokesman added that among the affected villages were Kampung Mentara, Kampung Sarang Tiong and Kampung Gadak.

In Sabah, more flood victims in Kampung Gum Gum in Sandakan had been allowed to return to their homes and only 57 people remained in shelters compared to 351 evacuees on Tuesday night.

It was also reported that floodwaters had now spilled into Kampung Pinampadan in the sub-district of Paitan but no evacuation had been ordered yet.

The residents of Kampung Tangkarason, Tanjung Nipis, Maidan, Lingkabau and Simpangan in the area had also been placed on alert to be evacuated should the situation worsen. — Bernama

Malaysia: Floods Yet To Abate Significantly
Bernama 28 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- The floods that hit the states of Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak have yet to abate to an overall satisfactory level as of 11am Wednesday.

Sarawak still recorded the highest number of flood victims with a State flood operations room spokesman reporting that 3,999 people remained sheltered at 20 relief centres.

He said Samarahan had the highest number of evacuees at 3123 people from 743 families followed by Kuching (168 families/648 people), Sibu (30/128) and Sri Aman (32/100).

He told Bernama that there were indications that the water levels of the rivers responsible for the floods would drop but the authorities were only allowing evacuees to return to their homes on a case by case basis as it was feared king tides in the evening could cause the situation to deteriorate again.

The floods in low-lying areas in Sarawak have been attributed to the incessant heavy rain the last four days coupled with king tides at its major waterways.

In JOHOR, the situation improved slightly with 1,075 victims still housed at shelters this morning as compared to 1,177 last night.

The National Security Council's portal said they were sheltered at 17 relief centres, eight in Segamat, six in Mersing and three in Batu Pahat.

The Drainage and Irrigation Department's website also reported that the water levels of Sungai Muar at Bukit Kepong, Muar and Sungai Muar in Buloh Kasap, Segamat were recorded at 3.23 metres and 9.49 metres respectively at 10am today, both above the danger mark.

It was the same situation at four other rivers, with the level of Sungai Bekok at the Bekok Dam, Batu Pahat at 17.24 metres, Sungai Senggarang at Senggarang, Batu Pahat (3.25 metres), Sungai Simpang Kiri at Seri Medan, Batu Pahat (2.05 metres) and Sungai Muar at Kampung Awat, Segamat (19.37 metres).

In PAHANG, the situation was better in flood-hit Rompin with only 67 victims from 17 familes still at shelters this morning as compared to 567 people last night.

A spokesman at the Pahang police headquarters flood operations room in Kuantan said only two relief centres remained open in the district with the Teluk Gading public hall housing 52 victims while the Kampung Gadak public hall the rest.

"They cannot go home as yet because their villages along the mouth of Sungai Pahang are at risk of the high tide phenomenon," he said, adding that among the affected villages were Kampung Mentara, Kampung Sarang Tiong and Kampung Gadak.

In SANDAKAN, more flood victims in Kampung Gum-Gum have been allowed to return to their homes and only 57 people remained in shelters this morning compared to 351 evacuees last night.

It was also reported that floodwaters had now also spilled into Kampung Pinampadan in the sub-district of Paitan but no evacuation had taken place as yet.

The residents of Kampung Tangkarason, Tanjung Nipis, Maidan, Lingkabau and Simpangan in the area have also been placed on alert to be evacuated should the situation worsen.

Meanwhile, Km2.7 Jalan Off SPSP 1 Beluran still remained closed to light traffic and the public is advised to use Km6.3 Jalan Off SPSI as an alternative.

-- BERNAMA

Slight Improvement In Overall Flood Situation
Bernama 27 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 (Bernama) -- There was a slight improvement in the overall situation in flood-hit states in the country as at 11am Tuesday.

Of the flood-hit states, Johor still continued to record the highest number of victims.

According to the National Security Council's website, 1,214 victims still remained sheltered at relief centres in the three districts hit by floods in the state as compared to 1,236 last night.

The victims are sheltered at 18 relief centres, eight in Segamat, seven in Mersing and three in Batu Pahat.

The portal said the access road to Kampung Orang Asli Peta in the Endau National Park still remained cut off due to flooding and that the village was only accessible by boat and aircraft.

Meanwhile, in ROMPIN, Pahang, the number of flood victims sheltered at relief centres in the district dropped slightly, to 619 people this morning as compared to 625 last night.

A spokesman at the Pahang police headquarters flood operations room said 137 of them were being sheltered at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sarang Tiong, 430 at SK Pianggu and 52 at Dewan Teluk Gading .

He added that all other districts in Pahang were free of floods and that no casualties were reported.

In SABAH, a spokesman at the Sandakan Municipal Council's flood operations room said the situation in Kampung Gum-Gum in Sandakan had improved with only 194 flood victims from 73 families still sheltered at the Dewan Sri Gum-Gum relief centre this morning as compared to 351 last night.

In BELURAN, the water level at several of the main rivers in the district is reported to have reached their danger marks.

Beluran assistant district officer Roger Appolonius said residents at risk had been alerted to be prepared for evacuation.

Meanwhile, Km1.5 of Jalan SPSP 1 in the district still remains closed to all traffic after that part of the road became submerged last night.

-- BERNAMA

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Search on for Sumatran rhinoceroses

Footprints, dung the only proof of their existence
Roy See Wei Zhi New Straits Times 29 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: THE number of Sumatran rhinoceroses in the peninsula has dwindled to a level where one rhino might never meet another of its kind in its entire lifetime.

Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) conservation division senior assistant director Mohd Samsudin Mohd Suri said it had been more than 15 years since a Sumatran rhinoceros had been seen in the wild.

"The best evidence we have that this creature still exists are footprints and dung left by them."

Since then, he added, no other fresh evidence had been found, despite a year-long expedition conducted in the northeastern parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

"We have a 20-man team, consisting of rangers, researchers and wildlife conservationists, who have been tasked to locate the rhinos since the start of the year."

He said this species of rhinoceros would twist the branches off the foliage they fed on, producing a "signature" mark. This helped the rangers track them down.

"The team surveyed the entire forested area in Terengganu and the southern regions of the Belum-Temengor forest complex. However, the results were disappointing."

Samsudin said he hoped the efforts to locate the Sumatran rhinoceroses would yield some results before the expedition ends in June.

"Our main task now is to collect new hard evidence and eventually locate them.

"They will be moved to secured areas where there would be a higher chance they would breed and also be protected."

He said poaching was still a serious issue, alongside illegal logging, which had been threatening several species of endangered animals in the region.

Samsudin said despite being territorial, the Sumatran rhinoceroses were shy animals and generally avoided contact with humans.

"They are not aggressive like elephants and usually retreat silently when humans are present. This makes the efforts to locate them even more difficult," he said.

On Dec 18, a healthy female Sumatran rhinoceros, named Puntung, was captured in Sabah during a joint operation by the department and the Borneo Rhino Alliance.

Puntung, aged between 10 and 12 years, was airlifted out of the Tabin Wildlife Reserve on Christmas Day and was moved to Lahad Datu, Sabah, to meet its mate, Kertam.

The Borneo Rhino Alliance, Sime Darby Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and Berlin's Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research have thrown their support behind the project to help the species propagate.

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Vietnam: From rice to shrimps and ginger - adapting to saltwater intrusion

IRIN News 28 Dec 11;

HANOI, 28 December 2011 (IRIN) - Rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion in Vietnam’s fertile Mekong Delta are forcing farmers and development agencies to rethink how livelihoods can be maintained, using methods such as genetic modification, new crop varieties and simple farming fixes.

With support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in March 2011 launched a four-year project to introduce the flood-tolerant SUB1 gene and Saltol, a salt-tolerant gene, to Vietnamese rice varieties.

Transferring the genetic information - a process known as introgression - is expected to take three years. Because the genes are being introduced to rice currently grown in Vietnam, farmers will not need to learn new farming practices.

“We are on track. It’s three years, and in the fourth year, we’ll try to disseminate this new variety,” said Reiner Wassmann, a climate change specialist with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The Mekong Delta is the country’s rice basket, and Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter. With soil and crops already being damaged by saltwater intrusion, farmers and development agencies are troubleshooting ways to cope.

Some rice paddies in Thanh Hoa Province have been converted to shrimp ponds, according to Nguyen Viet Nghi, CARE’s project manager of a community-based mangrove reforestation programme in Thanh Hoa.

“It was done by farmers themselves, and CARE is planning to support them combine mangroves and shrimp development in their ponds,” said Nghi.

It is a trend seen across Vietnam: aquaculture has skyrocketed from 641,900 hectares in 2000 to more than 1 million hectares in 2010, and shrimp farming accounts for the bulk of the growth, nearly doubling over the past decade to 645,000 hectares.

While most aquaculture is in the Mekong Delta, even in Thanh Hoa on the central coast, farming in water grew from 10,600 hectares in 2000 to 13,900 a decade later.

Vietnam is one of the countries expected to suffer most from the impact of climate change, and unpredictable rain, higher temperatures and more saltwater could mean less water for irrigation of crops such as watermelons.

Oxfam piloted a small project to help 10 farmers with hardier varieties of watermelons, and taught them simple methods to save water: Draping plastic sheets on the ground around the plants prevents evaporation, so farmers need less freshwater for the crops. To prevent saltwater contamination, farmers built raised beds half a metre above the salinated drainage ditches.

“We found that out of 10 [farms], nine have huge profits because production is very good,” said Provash Chandra Mondal, humanitarian programme coordinator for Oxfam in Vietnam. Oxfam is now replicating the watermelon project on other small farms, and experimenting with ginger cultivation.

The only solution…

Longer droughts and rising sea levels have begun to salinate farmland, and the only solution is to adapt, according to Oxfam.

“It’s like a slow poisoning, and now it’s increasing, moving up the rivers,” Mondal said. “It has a long-term impact, and there’s no solution. Nobody can stop the saline water, but we just have to adapt.”

During the 2010 drought, saltwater from the South China Sea contaminated communities 60km inland compared with 30km in years past.

If sea levels rise by one metre - the low end of climate scientists’ projections of a one- to two-metre rise by 2100 - an estimated 1.7 million hectares would be inundated, or 5.3 percent of Vietnam’s land area. Most of this threatened land (82 percent) is in the Mekong Delta, where millions of people would be displaced.

By 2030, rising sea levels could cause rice productivity to drop by 9 percent, according to the UN Development Programme.

“We expect a lot of changes in the hydrology in all parts of the Mekong Delta,” said Wassmann, adding that the highly productive delta is vulnerable to tiny changes in the weather.

“If you come to the Mekong Delta, you’ll see every square metre of land is used... It is very intensively used, and it is very much dependent on a relatively stable set of parameters. If we change this system there, all of this success from the fine-tuning becomes useless... If this kind of source of rice for the world market is going down, then it will have major repercussions for the rice market as a whole.”

at/ds/cb

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