Best of our wild blogs: 22 Dec 14

Banded Skimmer ovipositing
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Stripe-nosed Halfbeak (Zenarchopterus buffonis) @ Sungei Buloh
from Monday Morgue

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Malaysia: Experts to assess Forest City

SIM BAK HENG New Straits Times 22 Dec 14;

JOHOR BARU: THE Department of Environment is set to pass its verdict on the detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) report on the controversial Forest City project by this week.

Whether project developer Country Garden Pacific View Sdn Bhd will be permitted to continue with the project which was suspended since June 16 pending the compilation and approval of the report, will largely depend on the verdict.

It was learnt that a panel of experts from various departments, together with academicians serving as specialists in their fields, will discuss the project before coming to a verdict.

The project’s estimated gross development value is RM600 billion.

The project, an ambitious endeavour involving four reclaimed islands, generated controversy because of the massive reclamation work involved, environmental issues and concerns raised by Singapore.

The DEIA report had to be carried out following a diplomatic note from Singapore, which had asked for more details on the project and its impact on the Straits of Johor, as the project is near the Malaysia-Singapore boundary and involves coastal reclamation.

A copy of the DEIA report, made available to the New Straits Times, had revealed that the installation of a “silt curtain” around the
reclamation area was one of the measures proposed to mitigate sediment dispersion (into neighbouring waters, deemed as the
basis behind the diplomatic note).

However, despite the slew of mitigation measures to cushion the environmental impact, experts noted that more damage could be expected.

For instance, the elongated strip of shallow water, 200m in width and 11.9km in length, between one of the four Forest City islands and the Tanjung Kupang coastline will be dredged and deepened to prevent sedimentation.

“Based on the hydrographic survey, most of the dredging will be done in areas with shallow water of less than 2m during low tide,” said the report.

Dr Nik & Associates Sdn Bhd, the company that prepared the DEIA report, had proposed the use of a cutter suction dredger with hopper barges for the dredging, and the dredged materials, comprising mainly a mixture of sand, shale and clay, is set to be disposed of at Tanjung Balau in southeast Johor near Desaru, about 80 nautical miles away.

The dredged materials are expected to amount to 7.5 million cubic metres.

Because of the enormous amount of dredged material, its environmental impact is not immediately known after it is dumped in Tanjang Balau.

An EIA expert, who declined to be named, noted that the dredging would most likely “disturb or destroy” the flora and fauna on the seabed.

The report further revealed that the environmentally sensitive seagrass beds at Merambong and Tanjung Adang Shoals, which are the most important in Peninsular Malaysia, are expected to be heavily impacted by the project as both seagrass beds are in the project site.

“The close proximity and very little buffer between the beds and the project site will render mitigation measures to be less effective,” stressed the report.

The DEIA also highlighted the need to remove a temporary access road, which spans 1.5km, connecting the partially reclaimed island and the mainland.

This is to avoid further impact on the seagrass bed of Merambong Shoal, as well as to allow for better flow within the western Straits of Johor.

Forest City is a cluster of four reclaimed islands, the biggest measuring 1,005ha, while the smallest is 58ha.

It comprises four islands instead of a single one following a hydrology study which saw the need to have more water channels to allow for water flow in the Johor Straits.

The islands need 166 million cubic metres of fill material, essentially sand sourced from Ramunia Shoal off Telok Ramunia, for reclamation.

Reclamation for the biggest island alone needs about 115 million cubic metres of fill material.

The fill material will be carried by barges to the Forest City site through the southern part of Singapore.

Malaysia to decide on fate of Forest City project by this week: Report
Channel NewsAsia 22 Dec 14;

JOHOR BAHRU: Malaysia’s Department of Environment will decide on the fate of the Forest City development project by this week, reported the New Straits Times on Monday (Dec 22).

The project, a development featuring residential and commercial lots on four reclaimed islands, had generated controversy due to the large amount of reclamation work required and environmental issues.

Experts had noted that the development could “disturb or destroy” flora and fauna on the seabed, despite mitigation measures to cushion the environmental impact, reported the newspaper.

Singapore had also asked for more details on the project and its impact on the Straits of Johor, as Forest City is located near the Malaysia-Singapore boundary and the project requires coastal reclamation.

Forest City has been suspended since Jun 16 pending the compilation and approval of the report on its environmental impact. The project’s estimated gross development value is RM600 billion (S$228 billion), reported the New Straits Times.

- CNA/xq

Controversial Forest City project to know fate this week
Today Online 22 Dec 14;

KUALA LUMPUR — The developer of the controversial Forest City project in Johor will know the fate of its RM600 billion (S$226 billion) development by this week pending the decision of the Department of Environment (DEA) on the detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) report.

The New Straits Times reported that a panel of experts from various departments and academics who served as specialists in their respective fields, would discuss the impact of the project before making a decision.

Developed by Country Garden View Sdn Bhd, the biggest land reclamation project in the southern state had been suspended since June 16 following controversy over its massive reclamation works, environmental issues as well as concerns raised by nearby residents and neighbouring Singapore.

The Forest City project will see four man-made islands built in the waters in Tanjung Kupang between south-west Johor and north-west Singapore. It was reported that the islands would feature both residential and commercial lots.

The New Straits Times reported that following a diplomatic note from the republic, the DEIA was carried because the project was located near the Malaysia-Singapore borders and involved coastal reclamation.

The English daily said it was able to get hold of a copy of the DEIA report and revealed that installation of a “silt curtain” around the reclamation area was one of the measures proposed to mitigate sediment dispersion into neighbouring waters.

“However, despite the slew of mitigation measures to cushion the environmental impact, experts noted that more damage could be expected,” said the New Straits Times.

For example, the newspaper said the elongated strip of shallow water measuring 200m in width and 11.9km in length, between one of the four Forest City islands and the Tanjung Kupang coastline would be dredged and deepened to prevent sedimentation.

“Based on the hydrographic survey, most of the dredging will be done in areas with shallow water of less than 2m during low tide,” it said quoting the DEIA report.

It said Dr Nik & Associates Sdn Bhd, the company that prepared the DEIA report, had proposed the use of a cutter suction dredger with hopper barges for the dredging, and that the dredged materials, comprising mainly a mixture of sand, shale and clay, would be disposed of at Tanjung Balau in southeast Johor near Desaru, about 80 nautical miles (148km) away.

The dredged materials are expected to amount to 7.5 million cubic metres. The paper said because of the enormous amount of dredged material, the environmental impact could not be immediately known.

An EIA expert who declined to be named told the New Straits Times that the dredging would most likely “disturb or destroy” the flora and fauna on the seabed.

This tallied with the DEIA report, which noted that environmentally sensitive seagrass beds at Merambong and Tanjung Adang Shoals, considered very important in Peninsular Malaysia, are expected to be heavily impacted by the project as both seagrass beds are in the project site.

“The close proximity and very little buffer between the beds and the project site will render mitigation measures less effective,” the daily quoted the report as saying.

It also said the DEIA highlighted the need to remove a temporary 1.5km access road which connects the partially reclaimed island and the mainland to avoid further impact on the seagrass bed and allow better flow within the western Straits of Johor.

The project had initially been approved by the Johor Department of Environment in January but work at the project’s site was halted in June after the developer was instructed to submit a DEIA.

The project is being done off the coast of the Tanjung Kupang area where communities of fishermen and villagers make a living from sea produce and agriculture.

Fishermen and fish farm operators have said that mass fish deaths in the area had been caused by the land reclamation works. The developer has denied the reports. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

Mitigation measures pointless, says NGO
New Straits Times 22 Dec 14;

JOHOR BARU: A Johor-based environmental organisation has raised questions over the mitigation measures proposed in the detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) report on the Forest City project, claiming that it would do little to save the surrounding area’s flora and fauna.

Non-governmental organisation Green Earth Society Johor, which aimed to promote education and create environmental awareness, said the report failed to address
the issue of how to rejuvenate
the fish population, saying it had been chased off their breeding ground.

Its chairman, P. Sivakumar, said the organisation had received reports from local fishermen of an 80 per cent drop in their catch.

“It is hard to understand the basis of harming the ecology, only to come up with mitigation measures later.

“A clear example is the seagrass in the area, which is being destroyed despite the fact that the success rate of seagrass replanting is as low as 10 per cent.”

He said the destruction of seagrass would have a knock-on effect, as it was the breeding ground of marine creatures, such as dugong and seahorses, which were unique to the Johor waterway.

Sivakumar questioned the amount of compensation to fishermen, saying it was unlikely that the money could sustain them for long.

He claimed that some fishermen, especially those from the Orang Asli community, might have lost their livelihood as many were not skilled to secure jobs.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Nature Society said the project developer should have undertaken the DEIA before going ahead with the reclamation.

Its president, Henry Goh, said it was crucial that those behind the project took into consideration the feelings of locals, as it was an integral part of corporate social responsibility.

“I am concerned about the wanton destruction of the flora and fauna along the waterway as a result of the reclamation.”

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Fish, vegetables in short supply amid Malaysia wet season

Janice Lim Channel NewsAsia 21 Dec 14;

SINGAPORE: The monsoon season in Malaysia has led to a shortage of fish and vegetables, and the repercussions are being felt in Singapore.

Vendors in local markets said that the shortage of fish from Malaysia has led to an increase in prices - from an average of S$4 per kilogramme to S$7 per kilogramme.

Fish seller Leung Teng Foo said: "The supply has decreased by 30 per cent in the past few days. Fewer fishermen are heading out to fish due to strong winds and heavy rain. So there are fewer fish."

The vendors believe that the Malaysian government is worried that it might not be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and is cutting down on fish exports.

Vegetables are also affected. Said vegetables seller Annie Woo: "Heavy rains would cause vegetables to rot. We don't sell rotten vegetables in Singapore. Nobody wants to buy them." To meet the shortage, vegetable sellers are selling more produce from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

However, vegetables from Malaysia seem to have greater appeal among consumers. "Vegetables from Malaysia are cheaper," said a consumer. "I am used to eating vegetables from Malaysia. So I tend to buy vegetables from Malaysia," said another.

But the impact of the shortage has been softened by a drop in demand, due to the holiday season when many Singaporeans travel overseas. This has helped to dampen the rise in food prices.

- CNA/ir

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Malaysia: High tide phenomenon and wetter weather expected over next few days

NURBAITI HAMDAN The Star 22 Dec 13;

PETALING JAYA: The floods which have ravaged the east coast and displaced tens of thousands of people are set to worsen with wetter weather predicted over the next few days.

The Meteorological Department expects the high tide phenomenon due to the new moon and perigee to exacerbate the situation.

A perigee is when the moon is positioned closest to the earth, resulting in stronger gravitational force than normal, generating higher tides.

The department has for now issued a yellow stage alert for rainfall over Kelantan (Tumpat, Pasir Mas, Kota Baru, Bachok, Pasir Puteh, Machang, Tanah Merah, Jeli and Kuala Krai), Terengganu (all districts), Pahang (Kuantan, Pekan, Rompin and Jerantut) and Johor (Mersing, Kota Tinggi, Kluang and Segamat).

The yellow stage advisory is the lowest of the three-tier warnings.

It is issued for intermittent moderate rain expected over the next 24 to 48 hours.

When the rainfall changes from intermittent to continuous, the yellow stage advisory would be changed to orange and then to red if heavy rain is incessant.

The department’s spokesperson Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said heavy rainfall was usually expected in places such as southern Terengganu, eastern Pahang and eastern Johor during the end of the year.

“We are expecting rain in these places to persist until Christmas,” he said yesterday.

The department has also issued a warning over strong winds and rough seas in the coastal areas of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah until Wednesday.

Strong northeasterly winds with speeds of up to 60kph have been forecast along with rough seas (category three) with waves as high as 5.5m.

Rises in sea levels are also expected at coastal areas of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and east Johor.

The department has warned that the strong winds and rough seas were dangerous to all coastal and shipping activities and posed danger to workers on oil platforms.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported a slight drop in the number of flood victims at evacuation centres in Kelantan and Terengganu as of yesterday evening.

The number of evacuees in 73 relief centres in seven Kelantan districts dropped from 20,524 to 20,227.

In Tumpat, however, there were 5,320 evacuees in eight relief centres, 50 more than the 5,270 people who had sought shelter earlier.

The water level in Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang exceeded the 9m danger level with a reading of 10.34m.

In Terengganu, 4,780 flood victims were in 53 evacuation centres spread throughout seven districts in the state.

Dungun was the worst hit district, with 2,102 people from 554 families evacuated to 16 relief centres.

Strong winds, rough seas until Wednesday for coastal areas
The Star 21 Dec 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: Several coastal areas in the country have been forecasted to experience strong winds and rough seas for three days from Sunday until Dec 24.

According to a statement from the Malaysian Meteorological Department, strong northeastly winds and rough seas (category three) with a speed of 60kph and waves as high as 5.5m were expected to hit the coastal areas of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, east Johor, Sarawak, Sabah (interior, west coast and Kudat) as well as Labuan.

Also affected were waters of Samui, Tioman, Condore, Bunguran, Reef North, Reef South, Kuching, Layang-Layang, Labuan and Palawan.

The coastal areas of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and east Johor will also experience a rise in sea water levels.

The strong winds and rough seas are dangerous to coastal activities, ships and workers on oil rigs, as well as fishing activities. - Bernama

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Going, going, gone: Malaysia's wildlife loses battle against extinction

JEROME KUGAN The Star 22 Dec 14;

From 'microjewel' snails to the magnificent Tok Belang, the past year marks another sad chapter in the tale of our country’s vanishing biodiversity.

Among the many subplots of humanity’s great symphonic rise to power and domination here on Earth is the pathetic wheeze that represents the depletion of the planet’s biodiversity. While extinction of species is more or less expected in the grand narrative of evolution, there’s something truly disturbing about the natural world’s recent decline.

As revealed in Elizabeth Kolbert’s latest book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, humanity has become the biggest driver of what some scientists are calling the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid. It’s the first time in Earth’s history that a single organism has managed to overwhelm the ecology to such a degree that we’re not just making it hostile to other creatures but also ourselves.

'Microjewels'

This mass extinction was brought close to home when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List – a list that tracks threatened species across the planet – was updated this year. In its evaluation of 76,199 species, which represents only about 4% of 1.8 million species known to science, it's deemed that 2,413 are under threat. Meanwhile, 28 were added to the list of extinct species.

Sadly, a tiny, rare snail named Plectostoma sciaphilum that was endemic to Malaysia was among the 28.

Part of a family of snails that scientists have called “microjewels” for their delicately formed shells and minute size, Plectosoma sciaphilum used to live on the side of Bukit Pancing, a 300m limestone hill in Pahang. The snail apparently found its ecological niche on the hill, living and evolving there in relative isolation for millennia.

Then, between 2003 and 2007, YTL Cement arrived with TNT and excavators and levelled the entire hill. Since the snail can be found nowhere else but on Bukit Pancing – the hill is now a lake – it’s assumed that, like the dodo and the West African black rhino, Plectostoma sciaphilum is gone forever.

The fight is now on to save fellow snail Charopa lafargei, which can be found only on Gunung Kanthan in Perak, currently being quarried by Lafarge. Despite pleas from environmental groups to save the limestone hill – it’s also home to a trapdoor spider, Liphistius kanthan, also found nowhere else – half of it is already gone.

The snails’ plight brings up an important point about our knowledge of species under threat. Most of the time we don’t even know that they’re there. A lot of animals look alike at first glance, but DNA testing reveals them to be distinct species or sub-species unique to a specific area. And they’re also not easy to count.

Tok Belang and Sang Kancil

Ask any Malaysian what the national animal is and most will tell you – correctly – that it’s the Malayan tiger, the smallest of the six remaining sub-species of one of the world’s most beautiful cats and completely endemic to the Malay Peninsula.

And yet when news came out in September that the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) had drastically dropped in numbers – from an estimated 500 in 2007, to current estimates of between 250 and 340 individuals, down from an estimated 3,000 in the 1950s – hardly anyone seem surprised.

Despite having pride of place on the nation’s coat of arms, featuring prominently in traditional folklore and even lending its symbolic stripes to various national athletes over the years, the Malayan tiger’s fate seems destined to stalk the jungle trail towards its own oblivion – to our apparent indifference, not to mention apathy.

Joining the tiger on the sushi train to extinction paradise is a host of other species. In fact, Malaysia ranks among the top 12 countries in the world with the most number of endangered mammal species on the IUCN Red List, with 71 species about to vanish forever.

To give you a depressing picture of what we’re on the brink of losing, below is only a list of 12 Malaysian mammals whose existence is currently under threat. (EN = endangered; CR = critical)

Borneo pygmy elephant Elephas maximus borneensis EN
Borneo water shrew Chimarrogale phaeura EN
Proboscis monkey Nasalis larvatus EN
Mountain spiny rat Maxomys alticola EN
False serotine bat Hesperoptenus doriae EN
Malayan roundleaf bat Hipposideros nequam CR
Bay cat Catopuma badia EN
Otter civet Cynogale bennettii EN
Dhole Cuon alpinus EN
Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus EN
Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis CR
Banteng Bos javanicus EN

Through it all, it seems rather apt that the lesser mouse deer (Tragulus kanchil), the wisest of the folk tale heroes of Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), has managed to evade the Red List's danger zone. But before you celebrate, it’s only because data regarding its numbers in the wild hasn’t been updated for a few years. The truth is, for the kancil and many species in Malaysia, we just don’t know how safe they really are.

Pangolin soup

While destruction of habitat is the deadliest weapon we’ve deployed in our systematic killing of non-human animals, poaching has also done much to speed up the process. Deriving its name from the Malay word pengguling (“something that rolls up”), the pangolin is now under threat from China’s insatiable appetite for exotic animal products.

The Chinese folk belief that eating pangolins energises a mother’s health after she gives birth has driven up demand for the ant-eating mammal. As a result, all eight species of the pangolin – including the locally found species, the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) – face extinction from systematic poaching.

Still, pangolins are only one of a cast of thousands being sent to the stoves stoking humanity’s appetite for destruction. After years of over-exploitation by sashimi connoisseurs, the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and Chinese pufferfish (Takifugu chinensis) finally join the critically endangered list.

Across the Pacific, the American eel has finally failed to slip through fishermen’s nets – they too are now an endangered species. Coral reefs, sea grass meadows, mangrove swamps – all important marine habitats – are under siege by pollution, invasive species, ocean acidification and global warming. Hardly any habitat is safe from human disturbance.

Australia shocked the world when it requested for the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, to be taken off the list of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. In Malaysia, unscrupulous

Not all is hopeless – new species found in Malaysia!

Bits of hope

While the story of Earth's biodiversity seem headed for a bleak ending, there has been good news from the Malaysian wilderness in 2014. A new species of frog, Hylarana centropeninsularis, was discovered by University of Malaya herpetologist Juliana Senawi. The frog was already known to scientists but was mistaken to belong to a similar-looking species found in Indonesia.

With the help of Chan Kin Onn, a Malaysian doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, the two researchers managed to prove that the local amphibian was a genetically different frog, thus earning its own entry in the big book of life.

To go with the new frog is a new flower. Discovered by Dr Ruth Kiew, Meiogyne kanthanensis can only be found on Gunung Kanthan. It's said to only flower during certain months of the year and when it does, its blooms exude a citrus-like aroma. And that's not all. Two more new species, Gymnostachyum kanthanense and Vatica kanthanensis, were also found on the same hill.

But, as you may have read earlier in this article, Gunung Kanthan is currently being quarried. If we're not careful, these plants will most probably join IUCN's extinct list in 2015. But while there's still time, .

Sources: www.iucnredlist.org, worldwildlife.org, wwf.org.my, malayantiger.net, nature.com, cavingnews.com, mongabay.com, wikipedia.com

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