Best of our wild blogs: 4 Feb 14

Impact of Jan 2014 oil spills on Southern Islands
from wild shores of singapore

Sat 15 Feb 2014: 7.00am - The Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk from Habitatnews

Saturday 8 Feb Guided Walk to Hill 4
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Magnificent Kusu Island – an urban reef
from Pulau Hantu

Highlights of Asia for Animals Conference 2014
from Project LUWAK SG

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Portions Of Beaches At Kusu And St John Islands Affected By Oil Spill

NEA advisory undated

1 Members of the public are advised to stay away from portions of beaches on Kusu and St John Islands and to avoid primary contact activities such as swimming, water-skiing and wakeboarding in the waters affected by the oil spillage caused by the collision of two oil tankers of “NYK Themis”, a container ship, and “AZ Fuzhou”, a barge, at East Keppel Fairway some 4km south of Marina South on 30 January.

2 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon no. 1, and 100 metres of the beach at St John Island, north of the jetty, are closed until further notice to facilitate beach clean-up works in the area. Signage has been put up at the affected stretches to advise members of the public to avoid the area.

3 The National Environment Agency (NEA) will continue to monitor the water quality of the affected beaches and will inform the public when the affected beaches are free from oil pollution and are re-opened.

4 For more information and updates on the clean-up operation, visit the NEA website (www.nea.gov.sg), NEA Facebook (www.facebook.com/NEASingapore) or follow us on Twitter (@NEAsg).


Avoid beaches on Kusu and St John's Islands due to oil spill
Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE: The public is advised to stay away from portions of beaches on Kusu and St John's Islands.

The waters there are affected by the oil spill from a recent collision of two oil tankers at East Keppel Fairway, south of Marina South.

As a result, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island and 100 metres of the beach at St John's Island are closed until further notice.

This is to facilitate the cleaning up of the beaches.

NEA said it will continue to monitor the water quality, and will inform the public when the beaches are re-opened.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said there have been significant improvements to Singapore's port waters, except for minor oil patches in the vicinity of the Southern Islands, and a few patches of oil at Pulau Seringat shoreline.

MPA said it will continue to work closely with the NEA and the Sentosa Development Corporation on the clean-up operations.

MPA is monitoring the situation in case there are undetected patches of oil.

Members of the public who spot any oil patches in the waters or coastlines can also contact MPA's 24-hour Marine Safety Control Centre at 6325-2488/9.

Vessel traffic in the Strait of Singapore and port waters remain unaffected. Port operations are also not affected.

- CNA/ac/gn

Oil spill reaches some beaches on Kusu, St John’s islands
Today Online 4 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE — The oil spill that resulted from a collision off Marina South last Thursday has affected portions of the beaches on Kusu Island and St John’s Island, and the National Environment Agency today (Feb 4) advised the public to steer clear of the affected beaches.

The NEA also advised the public to avoid swimming, water-skiing and wakeboarding in the waters affected by the spill.

About 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon No 1, and 100 metres of the beach at St John’s Island, north of the jetty, have closed until further notice to facilitate clean-up works in the area.

Signs has been put up at the affected stretches to advise members of the public to avoid the area.

The NEA said that it will continue to monitor the water quality of the affected beaches and will inform the public when the affected beaches are free from oil pollution and are re-opened.

Updates and the clean-up operation can be found at www.nea.gov.sg or through NEA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NEASingapore) and Twitter account (@NEAsg).

The spill resulted from a collision between the container ship NYK Themis and barge AZ Fuzhou in the East Keppel Fairway about 4km south of Marina South last Thursday, Jan 30. The MPA said that it was informed of the incident at 4.10am on that day.

Oil spill reaches Kusu, St John's isles
MyPaper AsiaOne 5 Feb 14;

These bags at St John's Island yesterday are filled with oil-slicked sand.

SINGAPORE - An oil slick off the coast of Marina South has reached Kusu and St John's islands, affecting large stretches of beaches on both islands.

The National Environment Agency issued a statement yesterday warning the public to stay away from the affected locations.

It also advised the public to avoid "primary contact activities" such as swimming, waterskiing and wakeboarding in the areas.

About 200m of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon No. 1, and 100m of the beach at St John's Island that is north of its jetty are closed for clean-up works.

On Thursday, the container ship NYK Themis and the barge AZ Fuzhou collided at East Keppel Fairway, about 4km south of Marina South.

NYK Themis reported that one of its bunker tanks sustained damage, and bunker fuel was spilled into the sea.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore dispatched four boats to deal with the spill, and several companies were also activated to support its efforts.

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Coney Island to open to public in 2015

Lip Kwok Wai Channel NewsAsia 3 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE: Pulau Serangoon, commonly known as Coney Island, is expected to open to the public next year.

Located off the northeastern coast of Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said under the Master Plan, a part of Coney Island is zoned for residential, sport and recreational use.

As the land is not immediately required for development, a part of Coney Island will be kept as an interim park for the time being.

The rest of the island is zoned for park use.

Tender documents stated that Coney Island will have infrastructure such as a bird watching station, walkways and solar street lights.

But one analyst said there is no need for residential units within such a small island.

Nicholas Mak, research head at SLP International, said: "It destroys the peace and the quiet that is on the island.

"If you wanted to keep a part of it as a nature reserve, for recreation, water sports, why do you need to introduce additional housing units there? It is not as if we are short of residential land within the main island of Singapore."

- CNA/gn

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Ash from Indonesia's Mount Sinabung eruption may affect Malaysia's southern states

Razak Ahmad The Star 4 Feb 14;

PETALING JAYA: Ash from north Sumatra's Mount Sinabung, which erupted again Monday, may reach the southern parts of Peninsular Malaysia, and this could affect visibility and flight operations, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.

The volcano, located 271km from Pangkor Island, Perak, first erupted over the weekend, killing 15 people.

The department, in a statement, said north-westerly winds forecast until Thursday "may cause ash from the volcano to move towards southern Peninsular Malaysia, which can affect flight operations and reduce visibility."

The department's National Earthquake and Tsunami Centre is closely monitoring developments and will be issuing updates, the statement said.

Indonesia volcano kills at least 11, fears over more eruptions
Chris Nusatya PlanetArk 3 Feb 14;

Indonesia volcano kills at least 11, fears over more eruptions Photo: S Aditya
CORRECTING BYLINE AND UPDATING CAPTION A villager runs as Mount Sinabung erupt at Sigarang-Garang village in Karo district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, February 1, 2014. Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on t
Photo: S Aditya

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on the western island of Sumatra on Saturday, the first time it is known to have claimed any lives, a senior government official said.

The volcano has become increasingly active in recent months, regularly spewing columns of ash several kilometers into the air. The government has evacuated tens of thousands of residents near the area.

"Eleven people were killed because of the eruption this morning and the number could increase. No evacuations could be made at this stage because of the potential for more eruptions," Andi Arief, a presidential staff member, told Reuters.

Sinabung is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world's fourth-most populous country, which stands along the "Ring of Fire" volcanic belt around the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Indonesia's most deadly volcanic eruption in recent years was of Mount Merapi, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. It erupted in late 2010, killing more than 350 people.

(Corrects to insert dropped word "fourth" in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Chris Nusatya; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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Billions needed to fund deforestation prevention plan: report

Reuters Yahoo News 3 Feb 14;

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Donor nations, rainforest-rich countries and multilateral institutions will have to spend tens of billions of dollars in the next few years to ensure that nations undergoing deforestation will have incentives to halt the practice, a report released on Monday said.

Without the money to buy forest-based emissions reductions, the mechanism known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) will be largely undermined, restricting incentives to keep trees standing, it said.

Deforestation is a major producer of heat-trapping gases in the world, accounting for around 15 percent of global emissions.

Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria are among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide from deforestation.

REDD is the main program to combat forest destruction. It is being evaluated at the United Nations convention on climate change and will be part of the next global deal on climate, due to be signed next year.

But since that agreement take effect only in 2020, demand for forest-based emissions reductions would for a while be limited to companies looking to neutralize their emissions and a few carbon funds.

Compliance markets, such as the EU's Emissions Trading System, do not accept forest-based offsets.

"There is currently no source of demand that will pay for medium to long-term emission reductions from REDD+ in the period between 2015 and 2020," says the report produced by the Global Canopy Programme, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, Fauna & Flora International, and the United Nations Environment Program.

"This problem seriously threatens the successful implementation of REDD+, because without interim demand there will be little or no incentive for forest countries to participate and redirect resources towards REDD+, or for the private sector to invest," it said.

EXCESS SUPPLY

The authors of the study ran some calculations using a European Union proposal for a 50 percent cut in global deforestation by 2020.

Hypothetically, if that target were to be achieved, the market for emissions reductions from avoided deforestation would become heavily oversupplied.

The report estimates, assuming acceptance of the 50 percent target, that supply of forest-based emissions reductions could be up to 39 times greater than demand in the 2015-2020 period.

That would be equivalent to a shortfall of up to 48 billion in transaction volumes, assuming a carbon price of $5 per tonne of CO2.

The report says the intervention would use donor country government capital to purchase REDD emissions reductions.

It would also set a floor price for REDD credits to reduce market uncertainty and help lure the private sector to invest in the mechanism.

It cites initiatives in other sectors that were successful, such as policies to stimulate renewable energy when a price for the energy was guaranteed by a government at a certain level, providing predictability for investment.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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