Best of our wild blogs: 17 Aug 13

Happy 6th Birthday, ButterflyCircle Blog!
from Butterflies of Singapore

#12 Lower Pierce Reservoir
from My Nature Experiences

Most Enchanting Spot in Singapore?
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Feeding of Pied Fantail nestlings
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Singapore, naturally: peek at upcoming Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

Straits Times 17 Aug 13;

Singapore’s first natural history museum will be ready by next year, and will showcase centuries-old exhibits. The $46 million Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum will house about 500,000 South-east Asian specimens and near-completed fossils of three giant dinosaurs. TAY CHERN HUI and TIEN CHUNG PING offer a sneak peek at the museum



Full pdf on the Straits Times website.

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Expect more bad weather this month

Siau Ming En and Xue Jianyue Today Online 17 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — Squalls off the Indonesian island of Sumatra led to wetter-than-usual weather earlier this month.

The adidas King of the Road run and the 8km race segment of the Kranji Countryside Run were cancelled last Sunday due to bad weather.

According to the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) forecast for the next two weeks, short-duration thundery showers, mainly in the late morning and early afternoon, can be expected on five to six days. Slightly hazy conditions can also be expected during periods of consecutive dry days.

The Meteorological Services said the recorded rainfall of 174.6mm last month was about 10 per cent higher than the long-term mean rainfall for the month of July, which is within “normal variation”. There was “above average” rainfall for the first two weeks of this month.

Organisers of outdoor events this weekend said they had prepared contingency plans in case of rain.

For the Nestle Omega Plus Aticol Love Your Heart Run today, organisers said ponchos will be prepared for participants in the event of light rain or drizzle.

Likewise, for the ComChest Heartstrings Walk 2013, its sheltered carnival will proceed tomorrow regardless of weather conditions, organisers said. But the event’s vertical marathon and 4km walk segments will be postponed if there is lightning or heavy rain, and cancelled if the bad weather persists half an hour past the scheduled time.

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Illegal palm oil developments force monkeys to down tools

Matt McGrath BBC News 16 Aug 13;

Macaque monkeys that have developed the ability to use stone tools to open shellfish are in danger of losing the skill because of human development.

Scientists found that illegal palm oil and rubber plantations in Thailand are disrupting the monkeys' feeding behaviour.

Dogs brought in to protect the farms are repelling the macaques from the shoreline, which inhibits their tool-using activities.

The study is published in Oryx.

The report in the international journal of conservation comes almost a decade after the first scientific description of tool-use among capuchin monkeys in South America. It is a rare skill set.

In addition to chimpanzees in Africa, the Burmese long-tailed macaques are the only primates known to use stone tools.
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If the dogs repel them, the monkeys will use the shore less and less and they will stop using tools as much”

Dr Michael Gumert Nanyang Technological University

Researchers have been monitoring these monkeys on the Laem Son National Park, on the Andaman sea coast of Thailand, since 2007.

On the island of Piak Nam Yai, they found that 88% of around 200 adults use stones to crack open hard-shelled invertebrate prey, including rock oysters, sea snails and crabs.

According to Dr Michael Gumert, from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, who led this latest study, it is the development of the area in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami that is now threatening the macaques' rare ability.

"What's been happening is that over the past six years on the island, we've just seen more palm oil and rubber farms being developed in the forest. I've begun to notice that the groups that are closest to human activities, just aren't having kids anymore," he told BBC News.
Dog days

The research team argues that one critical element is the use of domestic dogs to protect the new farms.

The macaques are forced to constantly keep an eye out for dogs on the coast, and the scientists say they are paying less attention to learning how to use tools.

"The monkeys come down to the big rocky coasts and pick up rocks and crack things like oysters and crabs. But if the dogs repel them, the monkeys use the shore less and less and they will stop using tools as much," explained Dr Gumert.

The scientist say that all across South East Asia, there is a growing problem of macaques becoming acclimatised to living around people and becoming dependant on humans for food. They are worried that these skilled monkeys could now go the same way.

"What we're looking at with these stone-tool-using monkeys is a rare case of truly wild long-tail macaques doing their original wild behaviour, unlike most of the other macaques that have had their behaviour destroyed by human development," said Dr Gumert.

"If we develop right next to them, they will stop going to the coast to feed and go to the local rubbish bin and find food there."

There is no danger that the macaques will die out but, argue the researchers, if the monkeys lose the opportunity and ability to use stone tools then the scientific opportunity to understand why some animals develop such skills will also be lost.

The palm oil and rubber farm developments on Paik Nam Yai are illegal, but efforts to evict the settlers have so far failed.

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Philippines: Fisher folk key to marine conservation–WWF

DJ Yap Philippine Daily Inquirer 17 Aug 13;

MANILA, Philippines—Conserving the country’s precious marine resources begins with showing fisher folk that protecting natural habitats will redound to more money for them, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines).

“Local communities are the delivery systems of conservation,” WWF-Philippines vice chair and chief executive officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said at the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Philippines Forum in Makati City on Wednesday.

He stressed the importance not only of promoting sustainable livelihood for coastline communities but of showing fisher folk that they can earn good profits through sound business practices.

“By delivering bottom-line results that not only provide livelihood but create wealth, we exert a profound influence on sustainably transforming systems and practices,” he said.

“Going beyond science, beyond policy, beyond plans and pilots, our collective goal should be to give our stakeholders and allies a future where they can reap strong, sustainable benefits. In a climate-defined future, this is conservation at work,” Tan said.

For instance, in the town of Araceli in Palawan, decades of overfishing once threatened the trade of live reef fish in the area.

“Overharvesting was a problem,” he said.

Fishers were catching five times more than what could be sustained. Spawning grounds for fish were targeted, severely depleting natural brood stock,” Tan said.

But when local government units and stakeholders began to support conservation efforts, the industry recovered, he said. The benefits are beginning to show, Tan said.

He cited the cases of fisher folk Federico and Nida Illut who “finally upgraded their flimsy bahay kubo (nipa hut) to a two-bedroom concrete house—the direct result of rising grouper or lapu-lapu yields.”

Palawan, home to over 40 percent of the country’s reefs and diverse fish species, generates 55 percent of all Philippine seafood, including the highly valued suno or red grouper.

Exported to Hongkong, Singapore, mainland China and other seafood hubs, the colorful fish species contributes over P1 billion to the country’s annual revenues and supports the livelihoods of 100,000 people in Palawan alone.

More than 200 environmentalists and conservationists attended the CTI Philippines Forum at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati City.

The event was organized by the CTI-Philippines National Coordinating Committee, cochaired by the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Agriculture, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The US government, through the efforts of USAID, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, Department of State and other agencies collectively known as the USCTI Support Program, provided technical and financial assistance to six CTI governments, including the Philippines, through the Coral Triangle Support Partnership.

The five-year program is US-government-funded and implemented through Conservation International, the World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy.

Local communities highlight roles in marine conservation
Jonathan L. Mayuga Business Mirror 17 Aug 13;

THERE is hope to successfully protect and conserve the country’s marine biodiversity with the help and support of local communities in order to benefit the people in terms of better fish yield and income, and resiliency against impacts of climate change.

This was demonstrated in Palawan and Batangas provinces, where people in coastal communities played major roles in boosting conservation efforts under the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).

The success stories were shared by project beneficiaries during the CTI Philippines Forum held at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati City on August 14.

Organized by the CTI Philippines National Coordinating Committee (NCC), co-chaired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, the forum was attended by more than 200 representatives from the public and private sectors, including local government leaders and community groups in Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP) sites in Palawan, Tawi-Tawi and the Verde Island Passage in Batangas.

The Philippines is in the apex of the so-called Coral Triangle, which scientists say is a region that is most rich in terms of marine biodiversity.

“Local communities are the delivery systems of conservation. By delivering bottom-line results that not only provide livelihood, but create wealth, we exert a profound influence on sustainably transforming systems and practices. Going beyond science, beyond policy, beyond plans and pilots, our collective goal should be to give our stakeholders and allies a future where they can reap strong, sustainable benefits. In a climate-defined future, this is conservation at work,” World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) Vice Chairman and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said in a press statement.

The five-year CTSP is US government-funded and implemented through Conservation International (CI), the WWF/World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

The partnership promotes community participation in the protection and management of their marine and coastal resources to ensure long-term and sustainable use.

Federico and Nida Illut, fishermen from the municipality of Araceli in Palawan, said their income increased as a result of the increase in yield of grouper fish, commonly known as lapu-lapu.

Palawan, which is home to over 40 percent of the country’s reefs and diverse fish species, generates 55 percent of all Philippine seafood, including the highly valued suno or red grouper.

Exported to Hong Kong, Singapore, China and other seafood hubs, this colorful fish species contributes over P1 billion to the country’s annual revenues and supports the livelihoods of 100,000 people in Palawan alone.

This was attributed to the conservation efforts supported by local government units and the local communities.

The source of income and livelihood in Araceli was once threatened by overfishing.

Fishers were catching five times more than what could be sustained; spawning grounds for fishes were targeted, severely depleting natural brood-stock, Tan said.

In 2011 WWF and its partners commissioned science-based studies to guide Palawan fisheries officers on how to identify, establish and manage Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

A concept pioneered by Filipino scientists in 1974, MPAs are areas of marine habitats which enjoy varying levels of protection—from no-take to limited-use classifications. Over a thousand MPAs are now spread across the archipelago.

Two years after declaring new MPAs and protecting fish spawning areas, fishermen in the area are now benefiting from the establishment of the MPAs.

In Calatagan, Batangas, people are living under constant threat of calamities.

The entire west coast of Calatagan in Batangas is exposed to waves from the South China Sea.

The area is highly vulnerable to storm surges, coastal erosion and flooding—further aggravated by the impacts of climate change. A one-meter rise in sea level will flood about 4,700 hectares of coastal plain.

As an adaptation strategy, coastal villages in Calatagan have ventured into mangrove (bakawan) reforestation and protection—with community members understanding the critical function of these forests as buffers against climate hazards.

An alliance of fishing families in the village of Balibago established a mangrove nursery for 10,000 seedlings in a 10-hectare mangrove conservation area with the aid of the CTSP through CI.

Apart from supplying mangrove seedlings to nearby towns to widen the mangrove belt in Calatagan, the nursery also became an added source of income for families in the area. Residents sell 5,000 mangroves saplings yearly and earn additional income from waste recycling while patrolling or harvesting shellfish.

In the nearby village of Quilitisan, a mangrove island known as Ang Pulo (The Island) was developed as an ecotourism site for camping, birdwatching and picnics on rafts. The site is now fully managed by a community of fishers, farmers and women.

“Through their mangrove rehabilitation efforts, the people of Calatagan are taking action to address the impacts of climate change in their communities while simultaneously reaping the benefits of ecotourism, ultimately securing a bright future of their families,” Conservation International-Philippines Country Executive Director Enrique A. Nuñez Jr. said.

With the success of these initiatives, Calatagan is considered a model site for coastal-resource management and is being replicated in other provinces in the Philippines.

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