Mangrove clean-up activity at Sungei Api-Api
from The Green Volunteers
September walks at the Sisters Islands Marine Park
from Sisters' Island Marine Park
Identifying The Terns of Singapore
from Singapore Bird Group
Malayan tiger population plunges to just 250-340 individuals
from Mongabay.com news by Jeremy Hance
Singapore and Malaysia can now get involved in monitoring, preventing and combating fires
Adelia Anjani Putri Jakarta Globe 17 Sep 14;
Jakarta. Indonesian legislators finally ratified on Tuesday a regional treaty on combating haze from forest fires, 12 years after the government first signed the agreement and a day after choking smoke from Sumatra sent the air pollution index in Singapore shooting to unhealthy levels.
Indonesia becomes the last member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to ratify the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which now means that Singapore and Malaysia, the two countries worst affected by the smoke from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, can now get involved in monitoring, preventing and combating fires deemed to pose a haze threat to their populations.
For Indonesia, ratification allows access to Asean’s pool of special funds to fight the problem, technical assistance from other member countries, and manpower and equipment to monitor and put out forest fires.
“This is a historic and huge moment for fighting haze in the region because Indonesia is the only Asean member that has not ratified the agreement,” Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“Indonesia has already carried out operations for the prevention, mitigation of forest fires and haze, and recovery activities, at the national level,” the House of Representatives said in a statement as reported by AFP.
“But, to handle cross-border pollution, Indonesia and other Asean nations recognize that prevention and mitigation need to be done together,” it said.
The agreement was drawn up in the wake of the 1997 haze that was the worst on record, caused by slash-and-burn clearing of forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo Island, to make way for farmland, mostly oil palm plantations.
Nine of 10 Asean countries had ratified the agreement as of June 2013, but Indonesia legislators in Indonesia, the country at the heart of the problem, continued to hold out against ratification for more than a decade, citing a range of excuses.
Legislators branded the problem not that serious, and accused officials in Singapore and Malaysia of trying to interfere in Indonesia’s internal problems. Several House members also claimed that the companies in whose concessions the fires were burning were Singaporean and Malaysian, and insisted, unsuccessfully, that punishment for these companies be included in the treaty if they were to ratify it.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal acknowledged the political quagmire, but hailed the final ratification as a key achievement of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“We’ve been hoping for the convention to be ratified before Yudhoyono’s term ends, and thank God it’s been ratified today,” he said on Tuesday.
“There were problems before, including within the political parties,” he added.
Dino also said that although Indonesia had not ratified the agreement until Tuesday, its policies and actions with regard to tackling the haze problem had for years been taken in line with the spirit of the agreement.
“So the ratification is only the legal declaration of it,” he said.
He added he hoped the ratification would help strengthen Indonesia’s diplomatic relations with Singapore and Malaysia, which were badly strained after haze from Sumatra’s Riau province sent air pollution indices in both those countries to record levels.
“The relationship has always been good so far, but there’s this haze problem. It’s a transboundary problem which requires a transboundary partnership to solve. I think the ratification will be well accepted” by officials in Singapore and Malaysia, Dino said.
Hikmahanto Juwana, a professor of international law at the University of Indonesia, also welcomed the ratification and its attendant promise of outside help for Indonesia in dealing with the haze problem.
“The problem has been ongoing for a long time. Yudhoyono has stepped in to handle the problem, but it’s still there. What we need is a good partnership to deal with the problem,” he said on Tuesday.
Agus Purnomo, Yudhoyono’s adviser for environmental affairs, cautioned that the ratification was not a silver bullet that would solve the haze problem overnight, but that it should spur ongoing efforts to address the situation.
“We’ve always tried to solve and handle the haze, and there are records of it — the actions we took, the planes we sent. These efforts will continue,” he said.
“This agreement will be a legal platform and will open the door for help from other countries. There might have been political reasons behind the delayed ratification, but it’s done now. We hope in the future the partnership will be much stronger and Indonesia will not be blamed.”
Editorial: Ending an Issue That Shouldn’t Have Been
Jakarta Globe 17 Sep 14;
While the nation has recently been engrossed in speculation over the make-up of Presidential-elect Joko Widodo’s cabinet, the low-key ratification on Tuesday of the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution by the House of Representatives is a historic moment.
Indonesia can finally get rid of the monkey on its back, a source of humiliation for the past 12 years.
That was how long the House had refused to ratify the agreement, which Indonesia signed in 2002. With the ratification, Indonesia can now access regional funds, expertise and cooperation to fight the forest fires that generate haze and misery not just within our borders, but as far as Singapore, Malaysia and even southern Thailand.
When forest fires in your own back yard cause serious health problems for other countries’ populations, and you consistently fail to do something about it, it’s only natural that others will accuse you of being irresponsible.
And when you refuse to ratify a regionally accepted treaty that allows other countries to help you, then the problem becomes a humiliation.
The ratification thus marks the release of a burden that Indonesia should never have had to bear over the past 12 years — years that were wasted by narrow-minded nationalism that framed the offer of foreign help as outside meddling.
The mentality of Indonesian politicians has always been that if there’s no personal benefit, why bother? It’s always: Where is the money?
But the ratification shows that common sense has ultimately prevailed.
Forest preservation and biodiversity conservation will benefit, and efforts to hold to account the companies that set forest fires will be strengthened with outside involvement and transparency.
Singapore welcomes Indonesia's ratification of ASEAN haze pact
Channel NewsAsia 16 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Government has welcomed the Indonesian parliament's decision to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. The decision to ratify the pact comes 12 years after it was first signed. It obliges Indonesia to strengthen its policies and enforcement against forest fires and causes of transboundary haze, as well as participate in regional decision-making on the issue.
A statement from Singapore's Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) on Tuesday (Sep 16) said the ratification is "timely", coming against the backdrop of the recent escalation of hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan. It also comes a day after air quality levels in Singapore hit 113, in "unhealthy" range of the Pollutant Standards Index, due to increased hotspot activity in Sumatra.
"Transboundary haze pollution has been plaguing our region for decades. There is an urgent need for effective action at the source, including deterrence, investigation and enforcement against errant companies responsible for the haze," the ministry said in a statement.
Due to a change in wind direction, the PSI readings for Tuesday were in the 'moderate' range.
In a Facebook post, Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan wrote that he was glad that the haze situation in Singapore had improved on Tuesday, and believed that Wednesday "should be in the 'moderate' range as well due to favorable wind direction".
Dr Balakrishnan reiterated Singapore's stand that there is a pressing need for more effective measures on the ground, and wrote that "Singapore looks forward to closer cooperation with the Indonesian government and our ASEAN partners to tackle this recurrent problem".
The National Environment Agency (NEA) reported that the total number of hotspots detected in Sumatra today was seven. The low hotspot count was due to partial satellite coverage and cloud cover. But it noted that widespread smoke haze was observed over southern and central Sumatra.
NEA said Singapore could still experience occasional, slightly hazy conditions in the next fortnight, as periods of consecutive dry days are common over the region during the Southwest Monsoon season.
- CNA/ly/xy/xk
Indonesia finally ratifies 2002 haze pact
Siau Ming En Today Online 17 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE — Twelve years after signing the regional haze pact, Indonesia’s Parliament gave its unanimous approval yesterday to ratify the pact, offering a glimmer of hope that more would be done to ensure fewer haze episodes for Singapore and other neighbouring countries.
In doing so, Indonesia became the last of the 10 countries to ratify the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Signing an international treaty only expresses an intention to comply and a treaty becomes binding only when a country ratifies it.
Experts TODAY spoke to felt the move reflected Indonesia’s readiness to address the issue, but considerable challenges remain. Policies and enforcement efforts could be hindered by the layers of bureaucracy in the Indonesian government and further complicated by conflict between local communities and plantation owners, for instance.
Indonesia’s delay in ratifying the haze pact became a sticking point when Singapore experienced its worst bout of haze in June last year, when Pollutant Standards Index levels skyrocketed to an unprecedented 401.
Various Singaporean ministers have also spoken out against Indonesia’s non-ratification. At a foreign ministers’ meeting in Myanmar in May, Foreign Minister K Shanmugamcalled on Indonesia to ratify the pact, citing concerns that a possible El Nino phenomenon predicted for the year could exacerbate any haze situation.
Last month, Singapore passed laws on transboundary haze pollution that allow entities causing or contributing to unhealthy levels of haze here to be fined up to S$2 million.
Under the ASEAN haze pact, member nations are required to cooperate in developing and implementing measures that prevent, monitor and mitigate transboundary haze pollution. This includes controlling sources of land and forest fires, developing monitoring systems and exchanging information, among other things. They are also to respond promptly to requests for relevant information sought by other countries that are or may be affected by transboundary haze pollution.
Welcoming the Indonesian Parliament’s decision to ratify the pact yesterday, Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources noted the “urgent need” for effective action at the source, including deterrence, investigation and enforcement against errant companies responsible for the haze. Speaking to TODAY, Singapore Institute of International Affairs deputy director and fellow for ASEAN business and sustainability Chua Chin Wei said Indonesia’s layers of bureaucracy as well as the impending change in government made it hard to say if impact from the ratification would be felt.
“As far as we know, the budget for 2015 has already been fixed by the current administration. So even if (it) wants to implement new programmes or new initiatives, it will probably have to wait until 2016 where the new administration has the full ability to divert resources to address these issues,” he said.
National University of Singapore law professor Alan Tan Khee-Jin felt the move signalled Indonesia’s readiness to acknowledge the scale of the problem and the damage caused, but pointed out that agreement emphasises cooperation and there is no provision for compulsory dispute settlement.
“Fundamentally, the agreement cannot resolve the core causes of the fires and haze — these include poor law enforcement, corruption, and weak central control over local players,” he said. He also noted the complex land use issues on the ground. For example, uncertainties lead to local communities being pushed out of their lands by plantation owners, leading to cases of fires being deliberately set in retaliation. Such issues, he said, require long-term resolution.
Singapore Environment Council chief executive officer Jose Raymond noted that the ratification will allow more sharing of information between ASEAN members in the areas of policy development and haze mitigation measures, among other fields. It will complement the progress made on the Haze Monitoring System — which uses hot-spot data and satellite images to pinpoint illegal burning activities — that was approved by ASEAN leaders in October last year, he said.
A main stumbling block with the system had been the sharing of concession maps by the Indonesia and Malaysia governments due to legal constraints. Mr Chua said the pact provides for protocols for collaboration. “There could be a slight increase in the inclination to cooperate in terms of submission of the concession maps into the haze monitoring system.”
Indonesia to ratify Asean haze deal as API rises in Malaysia, Singapore
The Star 16 Sep 14;
JAKARTA: Indonesia's parliament on Tuesday voted to ratify a regional agreement on cross-border haze as fires ripped through forests in west of the country, according to the AFP.
Haze conditions were reported mostly in the south of Peninsular Malaysia, mirroring the situation in Sarawak and Sabah.
Areas like Sri Aman in Sarawak recorded an air quality index (API) of 99 at 8am on Tuesday. According to satellite imagery, the hotspot count was a staggering 673 on Borneo island.
Officials in Singapore and Malaysia have responded furiously to Indonesian forest fires, which have intensified and become more frequent in recent years.
Singapore's air pollution rose to unhealthy levels on Monday as Indonesian authorities failed to control fires in Sumatra island's vast tracts of tropical forest.
Parliament's decision has been passed into law.
The agreement obliges Indonesia to strengthen its policies on forest fires and haze, actively participate in regional decision-making on the issue and dedicate more resources to the problem, regionally and domestically.
Indonesia signed the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution 12 years ago and has been under increasing pressure to ratify the document, beginning deliberations in earnest in January.
"Indonesia has already carried out operations for the prevention, mitigation of forest fires and haze, and recovery activities, at the national level," parliament said in a statement.
"But, to handle cross-border pollution, Indonesia and other Asean nations recognise that prevention and mitigation need to be done together," it said.
While Singapore and Malaysia are smothered in haze from Indonesian forests every year, fires in June last year caused the region's worst pollution crisis in a decade, renewing calls for action in Indonesia.
Authorities have said most of the fires are deliberately lit to clear land for commercial plantations, such as paper and palm oil, and have arrested people caught in the act.
S'pore welcomes Jakarta's move to ratify haze pact
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja The Straits Times AsiaOne 19 Sep 14;
Indonesia's Parliament unanimously agreed to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, in a move officials hailed as a new chapter in the country's efforts to take a stronger lead in tackling an annual problem that has irked residents in affected areas and neighbouring countries.
"This is the right step for Indonesia to show that it is serious in addressing the transboundary haze caused by forest and plantation fires," Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya told Parliament yesterday. Ratification, he stressed, would benefit Indonesia the most as it would better protect citizens from the negative effects of forest fires and safeguard the country's natural resources.
All nine parties in the outgoing Parliament yesterday backed a Bill to ratify the agreement, 12 years after Indonesia signed it alongside the other nine ASEAN members - but failed to win approval for it from MPs until recently.
The Bill is expected to be formally signed into law by the President in the coming weeks, and after that an instrument of ratification will be deposited with the ASEAN secretary-general.
The House's reluctance in the past became a sticking point last year, when haze levels reached record highs in Riau as well as Malaysia and Singapore.
MPs had felt certain clauses could infringe the country's sovereignty, leaving Indonesia in the awkward position of being the only ASEAN member to hold out.
But the government has clarified that though the treaty obliged Indonesia to be responsible for responding rapidly to fires and cooperating with its neighbours, sovereignty was not negotiable.
Instead, the pact strengthened Indonesia's existing regulations and policies in dealing with fires.
"These responsibilities do not come with sanctions. Any differences among us (ASEAN members) will be settled amicably through discussions and consultation," Dr Balthasar added yesterday.
"Indonesia can make use of the human resources and equipment available within ASEAN countries," Mr Milton Pakpahan, a Democrat MP who helped to push the Bill through, told Parliament.
Singapore welcomed the Indonesian Parliament's decision to ratify the treaty, the Environment and Water Resources Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
It also said the ratification was timely, given the recent spike in the number of hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"Singapore looks forward to closer cooperation with the Indonesian government and our ASEAN partners to tackle this recurrent problem," the ministry added.
Under the terms of the treaty, countries have to cooperate in taking measures to prevent, monitor and mitigate the haze by controlling the sources of fires, in exchanging information and technology, and in helping one another manage outbreaks.
Indonesia's Environment Ministry said yesterday that it had already begun taking measures in line with the ASEAN agreement.
Indonesia will also be starting cloud-seeding in the coming days to induce rain to douse forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Indonesia Ratifies Asean Haze Agreement
Jakarta Globe 16 Sep 14;
The Marina Bay Sands casino and resort is pictured on a hazy day in Singapore June 18, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su)
Jakarta. The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to ratify a regional agreement on cross-border haze as fires ripped through forests in west of the country, choking neighboring Singapore with hazardous smog.
Officials in Singapore and Malaysia have responded furiously to Indonesian forest fires, which have intensified and become more frequent in recent years.
Singapore’s air pollution rose to unhealthy levels on Monday as the Indonesian government failed to control fires in Sumatra island’s vast tracts of tropical forest.
The parliament’s decision has been passed into law.
The agreement obliges the government to strengthen its policies on forest fires and haze, actively participate in regional decision-making on the issue and dedicate more resources to the problem, regionally and domestically.
Indonesia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution 12 years ago and has been under increasing pressure to ratify the document, beginning deliberations in earnest in January.
“Indonesia has already carried out operations for the prevention, mitigation of forest fires and haze, and recovery activities, at the national level,” the House said in a statement.
“But, to handle cross-border pollution, Indonesia and other ASEAN nations recognize that prevention and mitigation need to be done together,” it said.
While Singapore and Malaysia are smothered in haze from Indonesian forests every year, fires in June last year caused the region’s worst pollution crisis in a decade, renewing calls for action in the archipelago.
Authorities have said most of the fires are deliberately lit to clear land for commercial plantations, such as paper and palm oil, and have arrested people caught in the act.
The June 2013 haze crisis sparked a diplomatic row with Indonesia claiming Malaysian and Singaporean companies with plantations on Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo were among those starting the fires.
Singapore last month passed a bill that gives the government powers to fine companies that cause or contribute to haze up to Sg$2 million ($1.6 million), regardless of whether they have an office in Singapore.
Agence France-Presse
Feng Zengkun, Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja My Paper AsiaOne 16 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE - That burnt smell, the foggy blanket in the air - your senses have not deceived you: The haze is back in Singapore.
Singapore's National Environment Agency Pollution Standards Index (PSI) readings crossed into the unhealthy range in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The three-hour PSI was 102 at 1am and continued to rise through the night.
By 6am, the PSI hit 113, but fell slightly to 111 at 7am.
The reading tailed off after that and was 66 at 7pm, in the moderate range.
People with chronic lung and heart disease are advised to avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion.
Just last month, Singapore passed a law to punish polluters who cause the haze.
Firms will be fined for each day that they contribute to "unhealthy" haze. Unhealthy haze is defined in the new law as air quality having a PSI value of 101 or greater for 24 hours or more.
Polluting companies may be fined up to $100,000 a day, up to a maximum of $2 million.
The Indonesian authorities are also making plans for cloud-seeding operations to extinguish forest and plantation fires in South Sumatra and Riau that have raged for days and shrouded Singapore in the haze.
Erwin Mulyono - a scientist with Indonesia's Applied Technology Agency, which helps to strategise cloud-seeding operations - told The Straits Times: "We are communicating with BNPB (the National Disaster Mitigation Agency) now and will start arrangements to do cloud seeding. BNPB will make the call."
He added: "We have personnel ready in Pekanbaru and in Palembang right now. The aircraft (for the cloud-seeding operation) were in the Halim Air Force base (in Jakarta) yesterday and should soon be deployed there."
Haze over southern and central Sumatra in the past few days was mostly due to forest and plantation fires in South Sumatra.
The wind has been blowing in a north-easterly direction over Riau, as is typical for this time of the year, sending the haze in the direction of Singapore and the Malaysian peninsula.
Hourly air-quality readings in Malaysia yesterday morning have been either healthy or moderate so far.
Unfazed by the haze: Singapore F1 organisers say there's a contingency plan
Channel NewsAsia 16 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE: A day after the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit the "unhealthy" range, the organisers of the 2014 Formula 1 (F1) Singapore Airlines Grand Prix said the possibility of haze has been factored into its contingency plan.
In response to a Channel NewsAsia query on Tuesday (Sep 16), a Singapore GP spokesperson said: "The possibility of haze is just one of the many potential issues that are covered in the overall 2014 F1 Singapore Airlines Grand Prix Contingency Plan. The plan was formulated and refined with stakeholders, government bodies and the F1 community.
"In the event that the haze causes visibility, public health or operational issues, Singapore GP will work closely with the relevant agencies before making any collective decisions regarding the event."
The three-hour PSI reading crossed the "unhealthy" threshold briefly when it hit 113 at 6am on Monday. As of 1pm on Tuesday, the 24-hour PSI reading ranged between 64 and 72 while the three-hour PSI stood at 69. Readings between 51 and 100 indicate "moderate" air quality.
Singapore to see slight haze over next 2 weeks
Tan Shi Wei Today Online 17 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE — Slightly hazy conditions could hit Singapore sporadically over the next two weeks due to prevailing wind conditions and periods of consecutive dry days that are usually seen during the current South-west Monsoon season.
Winds are expected to continue to blow from the south-southeast or the south-west — where Sumatra lies — the regular fortnightly weather outlook the National Environment Agency (NEA) posted on its website yesterday showed.
In its daily haze advisory, the NEA said seven hot spots were detected in Sumatra yesterday, down from the 80 spotted on Monday when the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) crept into the low end of the unhealthy range.
Nevertheless, widespread smoke haze was observed over the southern and central areas of Sumatra, it noted.
Readings for the 24-hour PSI fluctuated yesterday, but remained in the moderate range.
The western part of the island continued to log higher PSI levels than the rest of Singapore, peaking at 94 at around 1am.
The NEA cited a change in wind direction to be the reason for the lower PSI readings yesterday, compared with Monday.
The overall air quality for today is expected to be in the moderate range, with prevailing winds blowing from the south-east and expected showers in the afternoon. “Given the air quality forecast for the next 24 hours, everyone can continue with normal activities,” said the NEA. TAN SHI WEI
Today Online 17 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE — DHL Express has come on board to join local telco StarHub and electronic waste (e-waste) recycler TES-AMM’s recycling programme.
The partnership will more than triple the number of e-waste bin locations from the current 30 to 100 by the end of this year.
Renamed REcycling Nation’s Electronic Waste (RENEW), the programme aims to broaden its reach across the island to enable the public to be better able to safely dispose of their unwanted electronic items and equipment, such as mobile phones, cable modems and laptops, at no cost.
At the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding yesterday, representatives from the three organisations said more needs to be done to raise public awareness of the repercussions of improper e-waste disposal, as toxic substances in such products can lead to serious pollution and health problems.
“I don’t think that, we, as a community, really understand what happens to e-waste,” said Mr Scott Mac Meekin, chief operating officer of TES-AMM. “I have this cellphone that I use all day long, but the minute I deem it to be unusable, it’s thermal nuclear waste — the most toxic thing in the world.”
Speaking at the event, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in spite of the harm e-waste causes to the environment, it is actually a viable resource for urban mining.
“If you stop to think about it, it is crazy to mine gold, silver and precious metals and then to dump it, instead of extracting, purifying and reusing it. This is basically a business idea whose time perhaps has not yet come, but it will come eventually.”
Singapore produces about 60,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. The National Environment Agency told TODAY that on average, less than 5 per cent of that is improperly disposed and this is due to other avenues, such as e-waste take-back programmes and collection centres, which assist in recycling the waste.
Previously known as the StarHub E-Waste Recycling Programme, the initiative, which was launched during Earth Hour in 2012 with only five e-waste bins for a start, collected nearly 2,700kg in its first year alone. A subsequent expansion to 30 bin locations saw the collections rise in volume, and over 5,600kg of e-waste have been collected so far this year.
Ms Tanujja Dadlani, a student from Temasek Polytechnic whom TODAY spoke to, was excited about the expansion of the e-waste programme.
Citing the rag-and-bone man as the only avenue for her to recycle electronic products, the 19-year-old makes an effort to recycle whenever she can.
“Loads of people I know collect their electronics for the (rag-and-bone man), because they do not know what to do with it,” said Ms Tanujja. “The fact that there will be at least 100 bins all over the island would make recycling of the electronic (products) much easier as I can now do it myself instead of dumping or selling it.”
Boost for recycling e-waste with more bins
Feng Zengkun My Paper AsiaOne 17 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE - People who want to recycle their mobile phones, laptops, lithium-ion batteries, set-top boxes and other electronic waste will have more places to do so by the end of the year.
A new partnership between three firms is expected to lead to over 100 bins islandwide to collect the waste for free.
Hundreds of bins are planned in the next two to three years, and they are expected to be in malls, major office and government buildings, community clubs and schools.
The three firms, which are StarHub, DHL Express and home-grown electronic waste recycling firm TES-AMM, signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to expand Singapore's first e-waste recycling programme.
Started in March 2012 by StarHub and TES-AMM, the programme now includes bins in 30 locations, including schools, condominiums and malls.
Almost 2,700kg of waste was collected from April to December 2012. After more bins were installed, the figure rose to more than 6,500kg last year. More than 5,600kg has been collected so far this year.
The recycled waste, however, is still a minuscule fraction of the 60,000 tonnes of electronic waste discarded each year here, about half of which is from households and the rest from industry.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan, the guest of honour at the ceremony yesterday, noted that incinerating electronic waste pollutes the environment and squanders the reusable materials.
"I urge all Singaporeans to think before we throw away, especially our electronic waste. It is actually too precious a resource to be sent for incineration," he said.
More bins for recycling that old cellphone or laptop
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 19 Sep 14;
SINGAPORE - Getting a new mobile phone and already have a cupboard-full of old ones?
People who want to recycle their mobile phones, laptops, lithium-ion batteries, set-top boxes and other electronic waste will have more places to do so by the end of the year.
A new partnership between three firms here is expected to lead to over 100 bins islandwide to collect the waste for free.
Hundreds of bins are planned in the next two to three years, and they are expected to be in malls, major office and government buildings, community clubs and schools.
The three firms - StarHub, DHL Express and home-grown electronic waste recycling firm TES-AMM - signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to expand Singapore's first e-waste recycling programme.
Started in March 2012 by StarHub and TES-AMM, the programme now has bins in 30 locations, including schools, condominiums and malls.
Almost 2,700kg of waste was collected from April to December 2012.
After more bins were installed, the figure rose to more than 6,500kg for last year. More than 5,600kg has been collected so far this year.
However, the recycled waste is still a minuscule fraction of the 60,000 tonnes of electronic waste discarded here each year, about half of which is from households and the rest, from industry.
Under the new partnership, StarHub will arrange for the bins to be installed. DHL will manage the collection of the waste and its delivery to TES-AMM, which will recycle the electronics.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan, the guest of honour at the ceremony yesterday, noted that incinerating electronic waste pollutes the environment and squanders the reusable materials. "I urge all Singaporeans to think before we throw away, especially our electronic waste. It is actually too precious a resource to be sent for incineration," he said.
- See more at: http://digital.asiaone.com/digital/news/more-bins-recycling-old-cellphone-or-laptop#sthash.AJRu9Xga.dpuf
yu ji The Star 16 Sep 14;
KUCHING: Sarawakians woke up to hazy conditions on Malaysia Day, with areas like Sri Aman recording an air quality index (API) of 99 at 8am on Tuesday.
That was the worst air quality reading nationwide at the time. Of the 10 API readings in Sarawak, four recorded above 51, which is in the “moderate” range.
In Sarikei, the API was 99, Kuching (80), Samarahan (75) and Bintulu (64). No API reading was posted for Sibu on the Environment Department’s website.
The visibility for the state capital was recorded at about 2km. The best air quality reading recorded in the state was in Limbang at 33.
Over in Peninsular Malaysia, haze conditions were reported mostly in the south, mirroring the situation in Sarawak and Sabah.
According to satellite imagery, the hotspot count was a staggering 673 on Borneo island.
According to the latest monthly weather bulletin published for June, most areas received 20% below the average rainfall across Sarawak.
Sibu and Miri Divisions received less than 100mm of rainfall, a reduction of more than 60% from average.
“Malaysia in generally still experiencing phase of Southwest Monsoon, which is characterised by surface winds that blow regularly from the west, and also relatively drier condition than the other seasons,” said the bulletin from the Malaysian Meteorological Department.
“This situation will result in most areas across the country to have more days without rain compare to rainy day, and in turn will lead to drier weather conditions,” it added.
Looking ahead, the weather forecast for Sarawak is isolated thunderstorms for the next few days, and wetter conditions towards the end of the week.
T. N. ALAGESH New Straits Times 17 Sep 14;
TEMERLOH: FANCY feeding and splashing with elephants, staring into the eyes of the magnificent Malayan tigers in their natural habitat or getting up-close with the shy deers?
This experience will soon be a reality as the Pahang government has pledged its commitment in transforming the small and quiet town of Lanchang, near here, into a worldclass conservation centre.
The existing Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre and Deerland Park, along with the soon-to-be completed Tiger Valley Project at the Krau Forest Reserve, will be instrumental in turning the area into a premier eco-tourism corridor.
State Tourism and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin said the three main centres (Kuala Gandah, Deerland and Tiger Valley) held the key to the government’s aspirations to have its own comprehensive conservation centre.
He said the elephant conservation centre, which carried out translocation programmes, was the only one of its kind in Malaysia and had been involved in relocating some 700 wild pachyderms throughout the country.
“Besides learning more about the process to locate, subdue and trans-locate the wild mammals, visitors to the centre can also feed, bath and take pictures with the elephants. Our objective is to promote public awareness of the elephants’ plight and educate the people on the importance of environmental preservation.
“Since 1999, the government had allocated RM35 million to develop the elephant conservation centre, and it has undergone a major refurbishment, with several new attractions, including an elephant procession, to woo more visitors.”
Sharkar said the privately-owned Deerland Park in Bukit Rengit, here, housed different types of deers, including those from Indonesia, local protected Sambar and mouse-deers, and various species of birds, including the Golden Pheasant.
He said the Tiger Valley, to be developed under the 11th Malaysia Plan in a 80ha area, would house rescued tigers from the wild.
“It will adopt an open zoo concept, which allows nature lovers to watch the tigers roaming in their natural habitat from a viewing tower and specially-built walkways. Works to complete the 6m-high perimeter fencing are being carried out,” Sharkar said, adding that the aim of the centre, scheduled to be fully completed in 2020, was to protect the tigers from extinction.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel, during his visit to Lanchang last month, said the ministry would work with experts in related fields, including those from the United States and India, to meet the international standards set by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for wildlife conservation.
Hamish Fitzsimmons ABC 7 News 17 Sep 14;
Sydney was named as one of the places which would be hardest hit by rising sea levels.ABC Sydney was named as one of the places which would be hardest hit by rising sea levels.
Future sea level rises could put more than $200 billion of Australian infrastructure at risk, a report by the Climate Council has found.
The report, Counting the Costs: Climate Change and Coastal Flooding, showed sea levels were likely to rise by between 40 centimetres and one metre over the next century.
The Climate Council succeeded the Australian Climate Commission, which was axed after the Federal Government took office last year.
The report's lead author, Professor Will Steffen, warned national income would suffer huge losses if action was not taken to protect against rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
"You're looking at anywhere from three tenths of a per cent of loss of GDP per year, all the way up to 9 per cent loss of GDP per year," Professor Steffen said.
"That upper scenario is higher than the growth rate of GDP per year, so you're looking basically at staggering economic costs if we don't get this under control."
The Victorian coast, the south-east corner of Queensland and Sydney would be the hardest hit by rising sea levels, the report found.
With more than 75 per cent of Australians living near the coast, Professor Steffen said large swathes of infrastructure were at risk.
"Much of our road, rail, port facilities, airports and so on are on the coast," he said.
"If you look at a 1.1 metre sea level rise - which is the high-end scenario for 2100 but that's what we're tracking towards - you're looking at more than $200 billion worth of infrastructure that's at risk."
Professor Steffen said so-called once-in-a-lifetime natural events could become regular occurrences.
"If you look at some of our most vulnerable areas, and the Sydney region is one of those, you would say toward the end of this century that a one-in-100-year flood is going to be happening every few days," he said.
"That's an impossible situation to cope with."
Professor Steffen said infrastructure projects, like the new runway planned for Brisbane's airport, needed to factor in future sea rises.
"The people who are investing actually went to the best scientists here in Australia, experts of sea level rises, and took the best science into account and decided they were going to build that third runway higher than previously planned," he said.
If sea level rises were ignored, by 2050 the report predicted the global the impact of coastal flooding would cost $US1 trillion per year - the same size as the Australian economy.
Climate change impacting insurance premiums
The Climate Council warned sea level rises would put pressure on home insurance premiums, as rising sea levels fed coastal erosion.
Australian Local Government Association president Felicity-Ann Lewis said erosion was already causing problems for home owners.
"The insurance industry is very interested in this because some of the insurance premiums are becoming such that people can't afford to take out insurance on their properties," Dr Lewis said.
"This is a very big issue."
Dr Lewis said a lack of coordination across all levels of government was impeding action.
"It's a very mixed bag; there is no consistent view or approach for local government to try to deal with this," she said.
"Each state and territory association is trying to deal with different guidelines; there is no consensus around that, so for us it's a very big challenge."
Rising sea levels a 'sleeping giant' that could cost $226bn, report says
Analysis by the Climate Council finds Australia is likely to experience rises of 0.4m to 1m, putting infrastructure at risk
Oliver Milman theguardian.com 16 Sep 14;
Rising sea levels are a “sleeping giant” issue that will put at risk coastal infrastructure worth up to $226bn, a new report has found.
Analysis by the Climate Council found Australia was likely to experience a sea level rise of 0.4m to 1m by the end of the century, with a “high end” scenario of 1.1m possible if the world warmed by about 4C compared with pre-industrial temperatures.
In this worst-case scenario, $226bn in property, including houses, schools, hospitals and ports, would be exposed to flooding and erosion, making much of it unviable.
The report says Sydney is “particularly vulnerable” to sea level rises, as flooding that now comes once every 100 years could occur every month.
South-east Queensland would suffer $2bn in damages from just a 0.2m sea level rise, while about 80% of Victoria’s coastline is vulnerable to higher sea levels.
Rising sea levels are caused by the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps as the planet warms. Thermal expansion, when the ocean expands due to warming, also contributes to a higher sea level. The global sea level is currently rising by an average of 3.2mm a year.
The Climate Council’s report warns that these seemingly small increases matter because they severely exacerbate extreme weather events, making coastal areas more vulnerable to storm surges and flooding. Just a 10cm sea level rise trebles the risk of coastal flooding.
Along with flooding, more than half of Australia’s coastline, about 31,000km, is vulnerable to recession, where the ocean eats away and degrades the coastline.
The advancing seas will cause problems for the tourism industry, the report predicts, with the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu national parks put at risk. Sandy beaches such as those on the Gold Coast, in Tasmania and Perth could all suffer erosion.
Professor Will Steffen, a co-author of the report, said Australia’s sea level would depend on a number of factors.
“There are a range of projected sea level rises and 1.1m is on the highest end,” he told Guardian Australia. “There is concern about the west Antarctic ice sheet, which may not remain stable throughout the century, while Greenland is losing mass too.
“Put simply, if you’re an investor in infrastructure you’d expect to be around at the end of the century, get planning for a 1m sea level rise. There are quite a few cities where there will be a thousand-fold increase in one-in-a-century floods, which makes things unviable because you’ll be mopping up every month.”
Steffen said radical cuts in carbon emissions, along with a more integrated plan to secure coastal buildings, were required to deal with the looming problem.
“There is some good planning going on – for example the people building the new runway at Brisbane airport listened to the science and realised they are on low-lying land that’s prone to flooding,” he said. “They moved it up higher to minimise the risk.
“But a lot of councils are carrying the can and it’s hard for them when they don’t have supportive state and national governments.
“It appears we don’t have that support in Australia. If you look at the countries successful in getting emissions down, countries like the UK and Germany, they don’t have time for climate sceptics, they get on with the job of preparing their countries for climate change.
“It’s disappointing to see Australia moving backwards rather than joining that kind of movement.”
2014 is shaping up to be an exceptionally warm year with May and June also the hottest ever
John Vidal The Guardian 13 Sep 14;
August 2014 was marginally the warmest August worldwide since records began 130 years ago, according to new data from Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Temperatures measured by government meteorological offices using land, sea and satellite data suggest this year’s global high was very close to those of 2011, 2008, 2006 and 2003. Overall, temperatures were 0.70C above the 1951-1990 baseline temperature average.
But Nasa warned against reading too much into a single month’s records. “The key issue for climate are the long-term trends, not individual months”, said Nasa-GISS director Gavin Schmidt.
2014 is shaping up to be one an exceptionally warm year, with March 2014 the third hottest since 1880, and May and June the hottest ever.
Earlier this year it looked certain that an El Niño event would develop in the Pacific ocean following a rise in sea temperatures, which could be expected to result in extreme weather effects around the world by Christmas. However, expectations of a strong El Niño have since faded.
The US west continues to swelter under a prolonged drought while much of the north and eastern US has been noticeably cooler than average for much of 2014. Record temperatures up to 4C above normal have been recorded in west Antarctica, even as the extent of sea ice has reached record levels.
AFP Yahoo News 15 Sep 14;
Global wild tiger population to be counted by 2016 AFP Global wild tiger population to be counted by 2016
Dhaka (AFP) - Thirteen countries with wild tiger populations agreed Tuesday to take part in a global count to establish how many of the critically endangered big cats are left and improve policies to protect them.
Experts say that although the tiger population is thought to have remained stable over the last four years, a lack of accurate numbers is hindering effective policies.
The pledge came at a global conference in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka where more than 140 people have converged for three days to discuss actions to save the tiger.
"We really need science-based data on the number of tigers," said John Seidensticker of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington.
The count is due to be completed within two years and will replace data Seidensticker said was based mostly on "guesstimates".
The world's wild tiger population fell to little over 3,200 in 2010 from 100,000 only a century ago and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed the animal as critically endangered.
Poaching, encroachment on its habitat and the illegal wildlife trade are blamed for the declining numbers.
In 2010 the 13 countries with tiger populations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -- launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.
Officials at Tuesday's conference said populations had risen in major "tiger range" nations such as India, Nepal and Russia.
But poaching continues to be a major problem. Statistics from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, show that at least 1,590 tigers -- an average of two a week -- were seized between January 2000 and April 2014.
"We recognise that poaching is still the number one threat to tigers. It's happening all over the tiger ranges. But we are still not really seeing strong commitment by the governments put in place against poaching," said Mike Baltzer of conservation group WWF.
Seidensticker said some concerns also stemmed from recent findings that "forested habitat within protected areas and tiger conservation landscape have declined over the last 10 years".
Bangladesh has come under fire for setting up a giant coal-fired power plant on the edge of the Sundarbans mangrove forest, home to one of the largest tiger populations.
Experts fear the 1,320-megawatt power plant being built just 14 kilometres (nine miles) from the Sundarbans will pollute the water of the world's largest mangrove forest, jeopardising its delicate biodiversity and threatening the tiger population.
"The impact will be disastrous. It will break up the Sundarbans into isolated parts, affecting tiger breeding," said Y.V. Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India.
Channel NewsAsia 16 Sep 14;
NEW YORK: The world can save both financial and environmental costs by shifting toward a low-carbon economy over the next 15 years, a high-level panel said on Tuesday (Sep 16) ahead of a UN summit.
The commission co-chaired by former Mexican president Felipe Calderon called for greater global action on renewable power, deforestation and clean technologies as part of the fight against climate change. The report said that the next 15 years would be critical, with the global economy undergoing major structural changes and time running out to meet a UN-backed goal of checking global warming at 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The study estimated that the world will see US$90 trillion in new infrastructure investment over the next 15 years, a period that is expected to witness increasingly rapid urbanisation. "We can invest that amount of money in the current high-carbon emission path or we can do that in a different way," Calderon told reporters on a conference call. "So the next 15 years of decisions and the next 15 years of investment will determine the future of the world, among other things, in the climate system," he said.
The report, a year in the making, played down the economic impact of a low-carbon focus. It estimated that greener investment would cost an additional US$270 billion a year but said the expenses could be offset by lower costs elsewhere, such as reduced spending on fuel.
The view that climate action is too expensive "is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the dynamics of today's global economy," the report said. "It is anchored in an implicit assumption that economies are unchanging and efficient, and future growth will largely be a linear continuation of past trends."
The report said that health and deaths caused by air pollution were a major economic impediment, estimating that top carbon emitter China suffered costs equivalent to more than 10 per cent of its gross domestic product.
Governments around the world have faced resistance curbs on carbon emissions, which are blamed for climate change, with opponents citing the economic impact including on jobs in polluting industries such as coal. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called the climate summit for Sep 23 in hopes of building momentum before a conference next year in Paris aimed at sealing a new global treaty on climate change.
The report - also written by British economist Nicholas Stern, the author of a major 2006 study on climate change - called for a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, which are politically sensitive in many countries. The commission also recommended a goal of restoring at least 500 million hectares (two million square miles) of forest and agricultural land by 2030.
- AFP/nd
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