Best of our wild blogs: 9 Jul 12

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [25 Jun - 8 Jul 2012]
from Green Business Times

Nature's Niche clearance sale: 30% off
from wild shores of singapore

Octopus Adventures at the Great Reef - Terumbu Raya
from Peiyan.Photography and wild shores of singapore

preening eagle @ berlayar creek - July 2012
from sgbeachbum

White-crested Laughingthrush having a very long laugh
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Domestic Dog
from Monday Morgue

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Save our green lung, say Pasir Ris residents

Ongoing petition to preserve woodland with numerous endangered bird species
Neo Chai Chin Today Online 9 Jul 12;

SINGAPORE - Some residents of Pasir Ris Heights have started a petition to save a densely forested patch of land in their backyard, which is home to several endangered bird species.

The woodland in question is about the size of two football fields and flanked by Pasir Ris Drive 3, Elias Road and Pasir Ris Heights. Plots of land on either side of it have been sold to property developers Elitist Development and Capital Development in recent months.

It is slated for development and "subject to detailed planning" under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 2008 Masterplan, but the residents hope to preserve the forested area and engage the authorities in a discussion before concrete plans for it are announced.

Mdm Cherry Fong, 54, who has lived in Pasir Ris Heights for 13 years, said: "Many birdwatchers come here and it's a nesting place for some birds like the (black-naped) oriole."

Mdm Fong is one of six residents - who call themselves the Pasir Ris Greenbelt Committee - leading the petition.

Last year, at the behest of her children to "do something to protect the forest", the housewife made a scrapbook of wildlife spotted in the area and presented it to their Member of Parliament (MP), Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, at his Meet-the-People Session.

The committee will approach the 320 households behind Pasir Ris Beach Park and some blocks of flats along Pasir Ris Drive 3 with the petition in the next fortnight, she said.

According to Mr Rajendran Nair, Vice-Chairman of the Pasir Ris Beach Park Neighbourhood Committee, there are plans for an international school to be built on the woodland, although this is not confirmed.

Acknowledging the ongoing petition, Mr Nair said the members of the Pasir Ris West Citizens' Consultative Committee and Mr Teo would meet with residents to "explain developments to take place in the area".

Out of nine Pasir Ris Heights residents TODAY spoke to, six said they were in favour of preserving the woodland.

Some of them cited views expressed last month by property analysts that the north-eastern part of Singapore is at risk of housing oversupply, and said it would be hard to recreate a wildlife habitat that has taken decades to generate.

"We moved here because of this," said pre-school teacher Shashee Devi, 40, gesturing at the trees and a white-bellied sea eagle's nest from the second floor of her home.

Teacher Yap M S, 54, a resident of 25 years added: "We understand there's a need for development, but (the authorities) need to do a more thorough study."

But Mr Hong Koh Hing, 56, a resident of 16 years, noted that "it also depends on what the land would be used for".

A survey by the Nature Society done last month - at the invitation of Mdm Fong - recorded 33 species of birds in the area, including the endangered Changeable Hawk Eagle and critically endangered Oriental Pied Hornbill.

The Nature Society also noted that the survey was not exhaustive: "More surveys and during the migratory season will definitely yield more species records."

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Malaysia: Seven vessels detained in Kota Tinggi

Desiree Tresa Gasper The Star 9 Jul 12;

JOHOR BARU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Southern Region officers had detained seven vessels for anchoring at prohibited waters off the coast of Pengerang in Kota Tinggi here.

Its Chief First Admiral Adon Shalan said enforcement officers also arrested 82 crewmen during the special operation on July 3.

“The operation was conducted between 12pm and 2.30pm.

“Altogether, we detained one tug boat and six container vessels which were found to have been anchoring illegally in the area,” he said.

Adon added that the 82 crewmen were 54 Indonesians, 14 from Myanmar, 12 from Thailand and two from China.

“All the vessels are being investigated for failing to adhere to regulations and for obstructing other vessels that ply along the stretch.

“Their irresponsible behaviour could have caused accidents and possibly water pollution due to oil spills,” he said.

Adon said three of the vessels were registered in Singapore, one in Paraguay, one from Kiribati.

The captain of the last vessel however, had failed to produce any registration document.

“The case will be investigated under Section 491B(1) of the Merchants Ordinance Act 1952,” he said.

He added that MMEA officials were always conducting operations along the waters of Johor to ensure that residents were safe.

“We also want to ensure that illegal activities do not take place in the area to encourage positive development and economic growth especially for residents living in the coastal area,” he said.

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Save our reefs, scientists urge

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Science Alert 9 Jul 12;

With coral reefs around the world in rapid decline, it is imperative we make every effort to save the rest, say the world’s most top marine researchers, who are gathered this week in Australia for the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium.

In an unprecedented move, more than 2000 of the world’s top marine researchers released today in Cairns, Australia, their Consensus Statement on Climate Change and Coral Reefs.

It calls for a worldwide effort to overcome growing threats to coral ecosystems and to the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on them.

In particular it urges measures to head off the escalating damage caused by rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, overfishing and pollution from the land. See: http://www.coralcoe.org.au/icrs2012/Consensus_Statement.htm

Professor Terry Hughes, Convener of the Symposium and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies says “When it comes to coral reefs, prevention is better than cure. If we look after the Great Barrier Reef better than we do now, it will continue to support a vibrant tourism industry into the future” he said.

“Unfortunately, in Queensland, the rush to get as much fossil fuel out of the ground as quickly as possible before the transition to alternative sources of energy occurs, has pushed environmental concerns far into the background.

“Australia needs to improve governance of the Great Barrier Reef, particularly coastal development and runoff, to avoid it being inscribed by UNESCO on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

“While there has been much progress in establishing marine reserves around the coastline of Australia, marine parks do not prevent pollution from the land, or lessen the impact of shipping and port developments, or reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses,” he says.

“There is a window of opportunity for the world to act on climate change – but it is closing rapidly,” he said.

Meantime, there are plenty of positive local actions that can also be taken, such as:

Rebuild fish stocks to restore key ecosystem functions
Reduce runoff and pollutants from the land
Reduce destruction of mangrove, seagrass and coral reef habitats
Protect key ecosystems by establishing marine protected areas
Rebuild populations of megafauna such as dugongs and turtles
Promote reef tourism and sustainable fishing rather than destructive industries
Use aquaculture, without increasing pollution and runoff, to reduce pressure on wild stocks.

Scientists urge action for coral reef protection
BBC News 9 Jul 12;

File photo: Corals and mangroves in Indonesia A report has deemed that the Coral Triangle is at risk

Scientists at a forum in Australia to discuss the future of coral reefs have called for immediate global action to save the world's reefs from decline.

Meeting at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, scientists said pollution and climate change pose "major threats".

At least 85% of reefs in the Coral Triangle are also at risk, according to a recently released report.

The symposium, attended by thousands, happens once every four years.

At least 2,600 scientists endorsed a petition calling for international efforts to preserve the world's coral reefs.

They are calling on governments "to take action for the preservation of coral reefs for the benefit of present and future generations".

According to the petition, "land-based sources of pollution, sedimentation, overfishing and climate change are the major threats" to coral reefs.

"There is a window of opportunity for the world to act on climate change - but it is closing rapidly," said Prof Terry Hughes, symposium convener, in a statement.

Experts have said that even the most protected reefs, like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, have seen rapid decline over the years.

A report released by environmental think tank the World Resources Institute with the USAID-funded Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP) also said that "threats to coral reefs in the Coral Triangle are much higher than the global average".

The triangle covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, The Solomon Islands and East Timor.

"More than 85% of reefs within the Coral Triangle Region are currently threatened by local stressors [such as overfishing, pollution, and coastal development], which is substantially higher than the global average of 60%," the report says.

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85% of 'Coral Triangle' reefs at risk

As destructive fishing declines, pollution and other threats to PHL coral reefs rise
Yasmin D. Arquiza GMA News 8 Jul 12;

CAIRNS, Australia – In the last ten years, blast fishing and other destructive practices have gone down by half in the Philippines, good news for the country’s degraded coral reefs, according to a new report released Saturday.

The bad news, however, is that sedimentation due to human activities has surpassed it as a major threat to marine resources, posing a serious problem for fishers who comprise the poorest segment of the population, the report said.

Worse, the percentage of coral reefs deemed to be in “poor” condition rose from 33 per cent in the 1980s to 40 per cent in the most recent estimates, said Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

Coral reefs that are in ‘excellent’ condition was also further reduced to one per cent, reported Lim, from the already dismal statistics of five per cent in the 1980s.

“Sorry, I’m going to cry,” quipped Lim, who made the presentation for the Philippines at the launching of the State of the Coral Triangle Report in Cairns, Australia.

The Philippines is one of the six members of the Coral Triangle Initiative, or CTI, a multi-country project that aims to conserve resources in what is considered the richest and most ecologically diverse marine region in the world.

Other members of the group are Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.

In contrast to the Philippines, Indonesia reported that more than one-fourth of its coral reefs are in good condition while five per cent are in excellent condition. The much larger archipelagic country also has a lower 30 per cent of coral reefs in poor condition compared to the Philippines.

“Our coral reefs are improving,” said Dirhamsyah, who represented his country’s CTI team.

Indonesia rivals the Philippines in terms of diversity of corals and fishes, with both countries reporting more than 500 species of corals and over 3,000 species of fish.

From Central Philippines to Tubbataha

Overfishing remained the major threat to coral reefs in the Philippines this year, but pollution from various sources is also growing at an alarming rate.

“These include inappropriate land use practices, irresponsible mining practices, deforestation or illegal logging activities, improper waste disposal, etc. There was also considerable growth in coastal development manifested by the increase in coastal populations, built-up areas, and urbanization,” according to the report.

The decline in destructive fishing was attributed to stricter law enforcement, especially in coastal areas that have set up marine protected areas (MPAs), said Lim.

She said recent trends indicate that the center of marine biodiversity in the country has shifted from the central Philippines, where local populations have decimated much of their resources, to the remote Tubbataha Reefs in the center of the Sulu Sea.

“This is because of legal protection and the cooperation of local government units,” said Lim.

Located within the municipality of Cagayancillo in Palawan, the Tubbataha Reefs was declared the country’s first national marine park in 1988 and subsequently proclaimed a World Heritage Site five years later.

Navy and Coast Guard personnel have been protecting the park along with civilian rangers since the mid-1990s, with the assistance of non-government organizations and funds coming from the provincial government and entrance fees. — DVM, GMA News

85 Percent of Reefs in the Coral Triangle Are Threatened, New Report Finds
World Resources Institute 8 Jul 12;

“Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle” maps threats to reefs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste

A new report finds that more than 85 percent of reefs in the Coral Triangle are directly threatened by local human activities, substantially more than the global average of 60 percent. Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle shows that the greatest local threats to reefs in the countries that make up the Coral Triangle —Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste—are overfishing, watershed-based pollution, and coastal development. When these threats are combined with recent coral bleaching, prompted by rising ocean temperatures, the percent of reefs rated as threatened increases to more than 90 percent.

Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle was developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in close collaboration with the USAID Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP), a consortium of WWF, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International that assists the six Coral Triangle governments in implementing their regional and national Coral Triangle Initiative plans of action. The report was released at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia.

“Across the Coral Triangle region, coastal communities depend on coral reefs for food, livelihoods, and protection from waves during storms, but the threats to reefs in this region are incredibly high,” said Lauretta Burke, senior associate at WRI and a lead author of the report. “Reefs are resilient—they can recover from coral bleaching and other impacts—particularly if other threats are low. The benefits reefs provide are at risk, which is why concerted action to mitigate threats to reefs across the Coral Triangle region is so important.”

The Coral Triangle features immense biodiversity–it contains nearly 30 percent of the world’s coral reefs and more than 3,000 species of fish—twice the number found anywhere else in the world. More than 130 million people living in the region rely on reef ecosystems for food, employment, and revenue from tourism.

“The influence of coral reefs on the most important aspects of people’s lives cannot be overstated,” emphasized Katie Reytar, research associate at WRI and a lead author. “The influence extends far beyond the Coral Triangle to people around the world who benefit from the fisheries, tourism, medicines, and numerous other services that reefs provide.”

The report calls attention to the vulnerability of coral reefs in the Coral Triangle and factors leading to degradation and loss. The report shows that:
* On the list of countries most vulnerable to social and economic impacts from the loss of coral reef services such as food, employment, and shoreline protection, five of the six Coral Triangle countries topped the list;
* An assessment of the existing coverage and management effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Coral Triangle found that 16 percent of the region’s coral reefs are inside MPAs, which is substantially lower than the global average of 28 percent;
* Less than one percent of MPAs in the Coral Triangle were found to be fully effective at reducing threats such as overfishing and destructive fishing.

Alan White, a contributing author to this report and senior scientist at The Nature Conservancy and partner in CTSP, noted that “while there is still room for improvement in increasing the effectiveness of MPAs, especially large MPAs that require significant resources to manage, a lot of progress has been made in building up awareness about reef protection at the local level and in providing communities with the tools and resources to manage the reefs that they depend on.”

Considered the center of coral diversity in the world, Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle illustrates the vulnerability of the region’s reefs and highlights strategies to protect them. Among the many recommendations offered in the report for protecting reefs in the Coral Triangle, the most urgent is to reduce local pressures such as overfishing, destructive fishing, and run-off from land.

“Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle is an important contribution for supporting the six Coral Triangle countries in making critical decisions related to protecting their marine resources,” said Maurice Knight, a contributing author and Team Leader for CTSP. “The region-wide perspective on the status of coral reefs as depicted in this report demonstrates the urgency of the situation and the need for immediate action.”

Healthy reefs are more likely to survive the negative effects of climate change, such as coral bleaching caused by higher ocean temperatures or reduced coral growth rates due to increased ocean acidity. Tackling the local threats first will buy reefs time until the global community can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle report will inform the activities of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), a multilateral partnership formed in 2009 by the six countries of the Coral Triangle to promote sustainable fishing, improve MPA management, strengthen climate change adaptation, and protect threatened species in the region.

The new report was adapted from WRI’s landmark 2011 global analysis of threats to coral reefs, Reefs at Risk Revisited, supplemented with more recent and detailed data for the Coral Triangle region.

To download the Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle report visit: http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited-coral-triangle. To watch WRI’s new video “Polyps in Peril!” featuring Celine Cousteau with animation by Jim Toomey visit: www.wri.org/polypsinperil.

85% of 'Coral Triangle' reefs at risk
(AFP) Google News 9 Jul 12;

SYDNEY — More than 85 percent of reefs in Asia's "Coral Triangle" are directly threatened by human activities such as coastal development, pollution, and overfishing, a new report warned on Monday.

Launched at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, it said the threat was substantially more than the global average of 60 percent and urged greater efforts to reduce destructive fishing and run-off from land.

"When these threats are combined with recent coral bleaching, prompted by rising ocean temperatures, the percent of reefs rated as threatened increases to more than 90 percent," the report said.

The Coral Triangle covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, The Solomon Islands, and East Timor and contains nearly 30 percent of the world's reefs and more than 3,000 species of fish.

More than 130 million people living in the region rely on reef ecosystems for food, employment, and revenue from tourism, according to "Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle".

"Across the Coral Triangle region, coastal communities depend on coral reefs for food, livelihoods, and protection from waves during storms, but the threats to reefs in this region are incredibly high," said lead author Lauretta Burke.

"Reefs are resilient -- they can recover from coral bleaching and other impacts -- particularly if other threats are low.

"The benefits reefs provide are at risk, which is why concerted action to mitigate threats to reefs across the Coral Triangle region is so important."

The report by the World Resources Institute, in collaboration with environmental groups WWF, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, will be used by the six countries to develop their management of the reefs.

"(The report) is an important contribution for supporting the six Coral Triangle countries in making critical decisions related to protecting their marine resources," said Maurice Knight, a contributing author.

"The region-wide perspective on the status of coral reefs as depicted in this report demonstrates the urgency of the situation and the need for immediate action."

The International Coral Reef Symposium, held every four years, has attracted more than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries to present the latest advances in coral reef conservation.

Their research and findings are considered fundamental to informing international and national policies and the sustainable use of coral reefs globally.

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New World Heritage Site a Haven for African Wildlife

LiveScience.com Yahoo News 7 Jul 12;

A massive swath of lush forest that straddles the borders of three African nations and is home to crowds of elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees and other wildlife has been declared a World Heritage Site.

The 9,700-square-mile (25,000-square-kilometer) site, known as the Sangha Tri-National Protected Area, or TNS, covers territory in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

The announcement of the designation came during the annual meeting of the United Nations World Heritage Committee, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, this year.

The site is the first to span three countries, and stitches together previously established national parks.

The protected area encompasses one of the most pristine regions of equatorial Africa. The park is home to tropical forests, wetlands and natural clearings — known as "bais" — that draw enormous gatherings of some of the region's most iconic animals.

Elephant crowds of more than 100 strong congregate in the bais, alongside forest buffalo and giant forest hogs.

Some of the bais attract huge groups of gorillas, while others attract flurries of parrots.

The heart of the TNS is an area nearly 3,000 square miles (7,700 square km) across, which follows the course of the Sangha River, a tributary of the far larger Congo River.

Surrounding the core of the park is a vast buffer zone, home to groups of indigenous peoples, and regions where some controlled logging is permitted.

Conservation groups have lauded the designation.

"The TNS is the wild heart of the Congo Basin Rainforest. It contains some of the last great populations of African forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, and other endangered species," James Deutsch, the Wildlife Conservation Society's director of Africa Programs, said in a statement.

"As everywhere in Central Africa, this global treasure is under threat from unsustainable resource extraction, including the illegal ivory trade, and we hope that the TNS's listing will re-energize global efforts to save it," Deutsch said.

The World Heritage Committee announced the establishment of 26 new sites around the globe during their meeting this year.

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