Best of our wild blogs: 14 Nov 12

Blooming seagrasses of Pulau Semakau
from wild shores of singapore

nesting grey headed fish eagle II @ neo tiew - Nov2012
from sgbeachbum

Community Herb Garden @ NTU
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

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PUB cleans up Pang Sua canal foam, monitors water quality

Kimberly Spykerman Channel NewsAsia 13 Nov 12;


The foam drifted to the canal after a warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said about 40 barrels of detergent-based concentrate were damaged during the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal. (Photo: Thomas Lau)

SINGAPORE: Clean-up work is ongoing at Pang Sua Canal in Choa Chu Kang after the canal and the nearby park areas were hit by foam.

The foam made its way here after the warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the warehouse stored about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate, each holding about 200 litres of the detergent.

About 40 barrels were damaged, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal.

The SCDF said the product is bio-degradable and soluble in water.

As a precautionary measure, PUB has stopped pumping water from Sungei Pang Sua until the foam is completely cleared.

PUB assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

It is monitoring the water quality.

Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency, Mr Alex Yam, assured residents that the foam is non-toxic and is bio-degradable.

He advised residents to be careful along the roads beside the canal as the light foam can drift onto the footpaths and roads.

He said the canal sluice prevented the foam from entering the Pang Sua River, which is at the northern tip of Yew Tee.

The clean-up follows a fire at about 8.50pm on Monday at a single-storey warehouse, about the size of a football field.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the warehouse was stacked with wood, metal and food products - as high as six metres - causing the place to be smoke-logged and making it difficult for firefighters to get to the affected areas.

At the height of the fire, the SCDF used seven water jets to contain the fire.

The fire was brought under control within two hours.

One firefighter was sent to the National University Hospital for heat exhaustion.

The SCDF is investigating the cause of the blaze.

- CNA/xq/fa

Foam at Pang Sua Canal mostly cleaned up
Kimberly Spykerman Channel NewsAsia 13 Nov 12;


A photo provided by a member of the public showing clumps of white foam in a canal and at a park in Choa Chu Kang. (Photo: Thomas Lau)

SINGAPORE: The huge clouds of foam that engulfed the Pang Sua Canal at Choa Chu Kang on Tuesday morning have been mostly cleaned up, said national water agency PUB.

At about 5pm, PUB said in a Facebook update that the foam, which is non-toxic and is bio-degradable, has been mostly cleared up.

The clean-up work started in the morning after the canal and the nearby park areas were hit by foam.

The foam made its way to the canal after the warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the warehouse stored about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate, each holding about 200 litres of the detergent.

About 40 barrels were damaged, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal.

PUB said its officers are still clearing up the remaining foam and it is monitoring the water quality closely.

As a precautionary measure, PUB has stopped pumping water from Sungei Pang Sua until the foam is completely cleared.

PUB assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

- CNA/fa

'Clouds' land in Choa Chu Kang
Straits Times 14 Nov 12;

-- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Residents in Choa Chu Kang woke up yesterday morning to the surreal sight of giant fluffy clouds drifting around their estate. They were carried there by gusts of wind from a buildup of detergent foam in a nearby canal.

A warehouse fire on Monday night had damaged 40 barrels of detergent, which flowed into the canal.

Fiery start, foamy end
Warehouse blaze damaged large barrels of detergent, says SCDF
Janice Tai Straits Times 14 Nov 12;

Foam being blown around the Pang Sua Canal (above) by the wind stopped park connector users in their tracks. -- PHOTOS: KEVIN LIM

CHRISTMAS seemed to have come early for some Choa Chu Kang residents yesterday.

Early-morning park users were greeted by snowy swirls of white foam which stretched for more than 2km along Pang Sua Canal from the junction of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Bukit Panjang Road all the way to Stagmont Ring Road.

"It looked like it was snowing. This is the first time in my life I have seen this in the heartland," said park user William Yap, 57.

He was walking along the Pang Sua Park Connector with his wife at about 7am yesterday when he saw the surreal sight.

Initial speculation was that the foam was the fire retardant used by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which fought a big warehouse fire on Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

But the SCDF and national water agency PUB later clarified that the foam was likely to have been caused by run-off from barrels of detergent in the warehouse.

There were about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate - about 200 litres each - stored there. About 40 barrels were damaged in the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse.

The detergent is bio-degradable and soluble in water.

The SCDF said that only a small amount of foam was used for less than half an hour to put out the fire, so it is unlikely that the amount of foam generated yesterday morning was the result of its fire-fighting efforts.

Strong winds blew the foam from the canal along Woodlands Road onto footpaths and roads. Some pedestrians, worried that the substance may be toxic, were seen dodging the foam.

PUB led the efforts to clean up the foam, with contractors using vacuum tankers to clear the area. It was the first time in recent years that the agency had carried out a foam clean-up in the nation's waterways.

As a precaution, PUB stopped pumping water from Pang Sua Canal that would otherwise be treated for consumption until most of the foam was cleared at around 5pm.

PUB said its officers also monitored the water quality in the canal closely.

It assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

Pang Sua Canal runs from Bukit Panjang to Stagmont Ring Road and Choa Chu Kang North, and drains into Kranji Reservoir.

Pang Sua Fishing Deck was also temporarily closed.

Mr Alex Yam, an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, said his grassroots leaders went to the affected area in the morning to advise residents to be careful on the roads onto which the foam had drifted.

A canal sluice prevented the foam from entering Sungei Pang Sua, which is at the northern tip of Yew Tee, he added.

Madam Lee Wei Yin, a resident of Yew Mei Green Condominium on Choa Chu Kang North 6, said flecks of the foam were blown to a height of 15 storeys.

"I live on the 15th floor and there were bits of it on my windows. The security guard told me that waves of the foam started expanding and rising when it was heated up by the morning sun," said the real estate agent, 51.

Madam Lee called the police at 11am yesterday, concerned that traffic might have been disrupted by vehicles stopping temporarily at a nearby bus stop, as drivers'views were obstructed bythefoam on the road.

Others were more amused than alarmed. Within hours of the photos of the huge clouds of foam being posted online, creative netizens began parodying the images.

One portrayal showed Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang and his three disciples - Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - from the Chinese literary classic Journey To The West standing amid clouds of the foam in Choa Chu Kang.

The SCDF is investigating the cause of the blaze.

Kranji Reservoir's water quality okay
It is not affected by recent foam incident, PUB says
Chia Yan Min Straits Times 15 Nov 12;

LABORATORY tests conducted by national water agency PUB have shown that the water quality in Kranji Reservoir has not been affected by the foam incident in Pang Sua Canal.

Two days ago, white foam was seen floating in the canal which drains into the reservoir.

The foam which cropped up along the canal from the junction of Upper Bukit Timah and Bukit Panjang roads to Stagmont Ring Road was a result of a fire at a warehouse along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

The foam was caused by run-off from barrels of detergent-based concentrate in the warehouse.

About 70 barrels - each of about 200 litres in capacity - were stored there. About 40 barrels were damaged in the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse.

In a Facebook post yesterday, PUB said it had done tests on water samples and results show the "water quality... is within the normal range".

"PUB would like to assure the public this incident does not affect the water quality in Kranji Reservoir."

The detergent detected in the water by PUB's tests was alkyl polyglucoside surfactant, made from plant-based oils. It "will be readily biodegraded into harmless compounds within a few days".

The agency said raw water in all reservoirs is treated to meet World Health Organisation drinking-water quality guidelines.

Tests are also regularly conducted on water from various sources before it is supplied to the public, as part of PUB's routine monitoring. Parameters tested for include the pH level of the water as well as the amount of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and nitrates it contains.

A resident of Hazel Park Terrace near Upper Bukit Timah Road, who wanted to be known only as Madam Chan, said she had some concerns about the safety of the drinking water.

Said the 61-year-old retiree: "When I took a look at the canal yesterday morning, there wasn't that much foam. My husband did say that he was worried about the drinking water since the canal drains into the reservoir, but since we have not noticed anything different about how our water tastes, we have just continued as normal."

When The Straits Times visited the warehouse yesterday, a Mr Yong, who said he was the landlord, said it was "all black inside" and there was "nothing to see".

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Too much rice

Tan Hui Yee Straits Times 14 Nov 12;
Thailand's rice pledging scheme leads to stockpile of 14 million tonnes
Exports dive due to artificial high price
US worries that stocks will be dumped on world market

BANGKOK - Thailand's rice pledging scheme, which is worrying international producers, is expected to come under scrutiny today at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting.

The United States will ask the Thai government what it is doing to prevent its rice stocks from being dumped on the world market at prices below cost. Reuters news agency reports that the USA Rice Federation alleges the scheme acts as an export subsidy, which is not allowed by the WTO.

The American challenge raises the heat on the government of Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, which has come under fire ever since it started buying rice from farmers at a premium of more than 50 per cent over market prices in October last year to make good on her election promise.

Since then, it has amassed 14 million tonnes of rice stocks, causing exports of the grain to dive 46 per cent in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year. Traders have been unable to sell such expensive rice on the world market. This has threatened to unseat Thailand as the world's top rice exporter,

Still, the Thai government has vowed it will remain the top rice exporter this year and next, to deep scepticism. Thailand exports 10.67 million tonnes of rice last year.

Rice harvests worldwide have been plentiful for three to four years, said Food and Agricultural Organisation expert Ramesh Sharma. This gives Thailand little wiggle room to manipulate rice prices on the world market.

While academics say the government is unlikely to unleash its massive rice stocks cheaply on the world market, The Nation newspaper has reported that Thai traders claim it is already selling rice to selected parties at prices below the acquisition cost.

These leaks, if true, have failed to ease the logjam in the rice industry. Overflowing rice warehouses have led the government to even consider using a cargo building at Don Muang Airport to store rice.

Rice exporter Vichai Sriprasert warns the scheme could end up hurting the people it is meant to benefit. "The farmer is going to suffer huge consequences next season, when he produces the rice but there is nowhere to store it," he said.

Already, some rice millers are feeling the pinch. These companies typically process the rice from farmers before sending it to exporters but the overflowing government warehouses have forced them to slow production.

Kasetchokchai Karnkaset rice mill in the outlying Nong Jok district of Bangkok, for example, is milling only half the amount of rice it normally does because of the space shortage.

Its managing director Choksatid Benjarattanapron said: "Our trucks can be stuck at the warehouse for weeks waiting to unload the milled rice."

The bigger problem is the impact of the rice pledging scheme on Thailand's economy. While the fall in rice sales would merely dent Thailand's exports, its impact on public debt is sizeable.

Economist Nipon Poapongsakorn from the Thailand Development Research Institute estimates the government loses at least 120 billion baht (S$4.7 billion) a year under the scheme.

He said: "This is bringing the Thai economy to a stage where it becomes more vulnerable to future shocks."

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Indonesia: Animal rights group puts bounty on elephant killers

AFP Yahoo News 13 Nov 12;


Image taken on November 10 and provided by the WWF shows the carcass of an endangered Sumatran elephant outside Tesso Nilo National Park in Indonesia. PETA has offered a $1,000 reward for information "leading to the arrest and conviction" of the killers

Animal rights group PETA offered a $1,000 reward Tuesday for information on the killing of three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants near palm oil plantations in Indonesia.

The carcasses of three female elephants, including a year-old calf, were found rotting at the weekend in the jungle on Sumatra island outside the Tesso Nilo National Park, which is surrounded by palm oil plantations.

Park chief Kupin Simbolon said Monday the elephants had likely been poisoned in revenge after plantation workers' huts were destroyed in a recent stampede.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered the reward for information "leading to the arrest and conviction" of the killers.

"These cowardly killers need to be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," PETA Asia vice president Jason Baker said in a statement.

"If poisoned, these elephants endured a slow and agonising death."


Image provided by the WWF shows a man looking at the carcass of an endangered Sumatran elephant outside Tesso Nilo National Park. The three elephant carcasses were found rotting at the weekend in the jungle outside the park, which is surrounded by palm oil plantations

At least 17 elephants have died this year at the park and surrounding districts, mostly from suspected poisoning, Simbolon said, adding that his team was working with police to hunt down the perpetrators in the latest case.

Fewer than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remain in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a 50 percent drop in numbers since 1985.

There has been a spate of elephant and orangutan killings this year around forests converted to palm oil plantations in Indonesia, the world's biggest producer of the edible oil.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature updated the Sumatran elephant's status from "endangered" to "critically endangered" in January, largely due to severe habitat loss caused by plantations.

The category is one step short of "extinct in the wild" and two below "extinct".

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Three Indonesian Cities Declared Subsidence ‘Red Zones’

Jakarta Globe 13 Nov 12;

Three of Indonesia’s biggest cities — Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang — have reported alarming land subsidence rates due to large-scale suction of groundwater by industries, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said on Tuesday.

Jakarta reported the worst rate of subsidence, sinking up to 10 centimeters per year, followed by Semarang at between six and seven centimeters annually. Bandung sinks approximately five centimeters per year.

“Jakarta may sink if we let the situation be. The land subsidence also brings threats of infrastructure and building damage,” said Dodid Murdohardono, the head of the ministry’s Groundwater Resources and Environment Geology Center, during a workshop on groundwater information systems in Jakarta.

He said the three cities had been declared “red zones” due to their groundwater and subsidence problems. Some other big cities such as Medan and Surabaya had also reported subsidence, he added, although their rates were not as dramatic as the three red zones.

Dodid said the problem was attributable to various industries’ large-scale use of groundwater, adding that individuals’ domestic use was still within an agreeable limit.

He urged local administrations to restrict industrial use of groundwater by tightening conditions for the issuance of relevant permits.

The central government is drafting a national groundwater information system to map groundwater potentials and conditions across the country, Dodid added.

“I’ve just been informed that [the president] has signed the government regulation [on the system],” he said, according to Indonesian news portal bisnis.com.

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WWF pushes CITES toward bold action to protect threatened species

WWF 13 Nov 12;

Gland, Switzerland - WWF is urging governments to recognize the scale of threat posed by international wildlife crime, and to reaffirm core scientific values in the decision-making process at the 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, next March.

“Numerous international bodies, such as INTERPOL and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, have acknowledged the seriousness of environmental crime, including illicit wildlife trafficking,” says Dr Carlos Drews, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme. “Wildlife poaching and trafficking exacerbates regional conflicts and is frequently associated with other serious crimes, such as murder, corruption and money-laundering.”

“The ongoing elephant poaching crisis in Central Africa and the rising death toll for rhinos in South Africa are indicative of wider legislative and enforcement failings. CITES needs to face up to the scale of the crisis and use the teeth that governments have given it,” Drews said.

With this in mind, WWF is urging CITES to direct its attention to countries that are failing to comply with CITES rules relating to elephants. Similarly on rhinos, WWF is pressing for resolute action against countries that are failing to implement CITES rules.

With regard to proposals to add new species to the list of those whose trade is regulated by CITES, WWF is urging governments to support all proposals relating to sharks and manta rays.

“These species take a long time to reach maturity and produce relatively few young in their lifetime so they are extremely vulnerable to overfishing,” says Dr Colman O Criodain, Wildlife Trade Policy Analyst for WWF.

Hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and porbeagle sharks are in high demand for the Chinese fin market. The meat of porbeagle is also highly prized. Manta rays are sought after for their gill plates, which are used in Chinese medicine.

“CITES failed to act to regulate hammerheads, whitetip and porbeagle at its last CoP three years ago despite near-unanimous expert opinion that these measures were warranted,” O Criodain said. “Our message to governments this time is to stick to the science and do the right thing for these species.”

WWF would also like to see CITES move to regulate trade in Madagascar’s ebony and rosewood species, which have been decimated in recent years by illegal logging.

“Without such regulation, the future for Madagascar’s forests looks bleak,” says O Criodain.

WWF is also urging support for proposals to tighten trade rules for Latin American rosewood species, and for freshwater turtles and tortoises in North America and Asia. It is also supporting other cross-cutting initiatives to improve CITES implementation, including a proposed suite of rules for treatment of CITES-listed species caught on the high seas.

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