Malaysia: ‘Review to stop illegal wildlife trade’

GAN PEI LING The Star 8 Jul 17;

BENTONG: The Transport Ministry will review its transshipment procedures in a bid to curb the illegal wildlife trade, its minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.

“We support Hong Kong’s seizure of illegal elephant ivory because we won’t allow this sort of illegal activity to go through our port,” he said after attending a Hari Raya celebration at Felda Sungai Kemahal.

He was commenting on Hong Kong Custom’s seizure of 7.2 tonnes of tusks, valued at about HK$72mil (RM40mil), in a 12.19m (40ft) container shipped from Malaysia on Tuesday.

Liow said all shipments destined to enter the country were screened thoroughly but only random checks were conducted on transshipments.

“Definitely we’ll look through the procedures again,” he said.

He said the ministry had previously strengthened the transshipment policy to enable authorities to keep better tabs on goods entering its ports.

“I suspect there is manipulation of the (customs) manifest,” he said.

Illegal wildlife trade watchdog Traffic South-East Asia acting regional director Kanitha Krishnasamy said smugglers could be shifting to seaports due to several seizures of trafficked wildlife at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“The onus to end Malaysia’s reputation as an illegal trade hub falls not only on enforcement agencies but also port and airport authorities, logistics providers and the Transport Ministry.

“The fact that these shipments were being identified and searched as a result of risk assessments should show port and airport authorities how serious the situation is for Malaysia,” she said.

Liow said he organises celebrations at every village in his constituency during Hari Raya and this year’s will continue until July 25.


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Malaysia: Bid to smuggle exotic animals foiled, three held

G.C. TAN The Star 8 Jul 17;

KANGAR: An attempt to smuggle 58 bearded dragon lizards and eight Sulcata tortoises into the country was foiled when the exotic animals were rescued by Padang Besar Malaysian Border Security Agency (Aksem) at Kampung Kolam in Padang Besar.

Perlis Aksem commander Deputy Superintendent Syed Basri Syed Ali said a 36-year-old Malaysian from Klang, Selangor, and two Thai nationals were detained during a spot check at 3.30pm on Thursday.

“The Thais, a 24-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman, are both from Bangkok.

“We also seized a white car,” he said.

DSP Syed Basri said they believed the exotic animals were meant for a Klang-based pet shop owner.

“We are investigating how the exotic animals could have passed through the authorities at the check point.

“The seized animals have been handed over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks,” he said.

The case is being investigated under Section 69 of the Wildlife Protection Act 2010 (Act 716).

If found guilty, the suspects face a jail term up to 10 years and a fine not more than RM200,000.


Attempt to smuggle bearded dragons, sulcata tortoises foiled
G.C. TAN The Star 7 Jul 17;

PADANG BESAR: An attempt to smuggle 58 bearded dragons and eight sulcata tortoises worth RM18,100 into the country was foiled during a raid at Kampung Kolam here on Thursday.

Three people — a 36-year-old Malaysian man from Klang, Selangor, a 24-year-old Thai man and a 28-year-old Thai woman, both from Bangkok — were detained by Padang Besar Malaysian Border Security Agency (Aksem) in the 3.30pm raid.

Perlis Aksem commander Deputy Superintendent Syed Basri Syed Ali said the case is being investigated under Section 69 of the Wildlife Protection Act 2010 (Act 716) for hunting or keeping protected wildlife without a special permit.

"If found guilty, the suspects could each be jailed up to 10 years and fined not more than RM200,000," he said on Friday.


Malaysia foils bid to smuggle 'bearded dragons'
The Star 10 Jul 17;

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysia has foiled an attempt to smuggle dozens of bearded dragon lizards and tortoises into the country from neighbouring Thailand to be sold as pets, authorities said Monday.

Two Thais and one Malaysian were arrested as they drove an SUV with the animals hidden inside, according to local border security chief Syed Basri Syed Ali.

Authorities found 58 bearded dragons and eight African spurred tortoises.

Both animals are popular pets in Malaysia but it is illegal to bring them into the country without the correct permits.

If found guilty of breaking wildlife protection laws, the trio -- who were arrested Thursday -- could be jailed for up to 10 years, said Syed Basri.

Kanitha Krishnasamy, acting regional director for wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, told AFP the discovery could help investigators probing pet smuggling.

"This case could potentially uncover connections to the exotic pet trade that appears to be booming in Malaysia," she said.

African spurred tortoises are kept as pets due to their reputation for having a pleasant temperament. The world's third-largest tortoise, they are classified as "vulnerable" by protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Bearded dragons -- which take their name from the scales under their head that resemble a beard -- are popular pets due to their hardy and tame nature.


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Borneo's orangutans in 'alarming' decline: study

AFP Yahoo News 8 Jul 17;

Paris (AFP) - The orangutan population on the island of Borneo has shrunk by a quarter in the last decade, researchers said Friday, urging a rethink of strategies to protect the critically-endangered great ape.

The first-ever analysis of long-term orangutan population trends revealed a worrying decline, they said.

An international team of researchers used a combination of helicopter and ground surveys, interviews with local communities, and modelling techniques to draw a picture of change over the past ten years.

Previous counts have largely relied on estimations based on ground and aerial surveys of orangutan nests. Some suggested that Bornean orangutan numbers were in fact increasing.

The new findings, the team said in a statement, are "a wake-up call for the orangutan conservation community and the Indonesian and Malaysian governments who have committed to saving the species."

Every year, some $30-40 million (26-35 million euros) is spent in the region to halt wildlife decline.

"The study shows that these funds are not effectively spent," said the team.

The biggest threat to orangutans, one of only two great ape species found in Asia today, are habitat loss due to farming and climate change, and their killing for food or in conflict with humans.

Some 2,500 orangutans are killed in Borneo every year, the researchers said.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. The study provides no raw population numbers, but an estimate of individuals per 100 square kilometres (39 square miles) of forest -- down from about 15 in the period 1997-2002 to about 10 in 2009-2015.

- One step from extinction -

"The species (is) estimated to have declined at an alarming rate of 25 percent over the past 10 years," the researchers concluded.

Right now, 10,000 orangutans live in areas earmarked for oil palm production, said study co-author Erik Meijaard of the University of Queensland.

"If these areas are converted to oil palm plantations without changes in current practices, most of these 10,000 individuals will be destroyed and the steep population decline is likely to continue," he said.

"The study's worrying outcomes suggest that we need to fundamentally rethink orangutan conservation strategies."

Orangutans need a solid network of protected forests that are properly managed.

Current efforts focus on rescues and rehabilitation, said Meijaard, "but that only addresses the symptoms and not the underlying problem."

Last year, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature declared the Bornean orangutan as "critically endangered" -- one step away from extinction.

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world, administerd by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.


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Philippine police arrest rare sea turtle poachers

AFP Yahoo News 7 Jul 17;

Philippine police said Friday they had seized 70 dead hawksbill marine turtles, a critically endangered species illegally trafficked for its prized shell, and arrested two suspects.

Hawksbills face an extremely high risk of extinction according to Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature as their shell is used for making jewellery and hair ornaments.

Two local men were arrested Thursday while transporting the dead hawksbills by boat off the coast of Dumaran town on Palawan island, police chief Arnel Bagona told AFP.

"We suspect that these two are dealing with Chinese poachers," Bagona said by telephone.

The marine turtles, who roam the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, are typically found around coastal reefs, estuaries and lagoons.

Philippine conservation law prohibits their collection and trade.

Palawan, an archipelago of more than 1,700 islands in the South China Sea, is famous for its abundant marine life that are targeted by poachers.

Chief Inspector Bagona said poachers usually bought the hawksbills and other rare Palawan-based species from locals.

Hawksbills retailed for at least 3,500 pesos ($69) each in the black market, he added.

He said police asked prosecutors Friday to file charges against the suspects for taking endangered species, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to five million pesos (about $99,000).

The suspects told police they planned to deliver the dead sea turtles to the island of Balabac, about 400 kilometres (249 miles) south of Dumaran, he said.

Bagona said the remote island is infamous as a trading place for wildlife poachers.


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New data shows extreme coastal sea levels more likely

Extreme sea levels are typically caused by high tides, storm surges and waves. Amy Wallace UPI 7 Jul 17;

July 7 (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of Central Florida are using newly available data and advanced modeling techniques to improve predictions of extreme sea levels.

The study, published July 7 in Nature Communications, suggests extreme sea levels will occur more frequently than previously predicted in the west coast regions of the United States and in large portions of Australia and Europe.

Extreme sea levels are caused by a combination of high tides, storm surges and waves.

"Storm surges globally lead to considerable loss of life and billions of dollars of damages each year, and yet we still have a limited understanding of the likelihood and associated uncertainties of these extreme events both today and in the future," said Thomas Wahl, an assistant engineering professor in the University of Central Florida, said in a press release.

Rising sea levels combined with extreme weather events mean more damage can be done even with a less intense storm, such as a Category 1 hurricane.

The study found that because of rising sea levels, extreme events are predicted to happen every decade, or year, by 2050 compared to the previous average of once every hundred years.

Researchers used a sample of 20 different methods for predicting extreme sea levels to focus on the measures of uncertainty that go along with any prediction.

"Based on our results we can see, for the first time globally, what role uncertainties in extreme sea level predictions play," said Ivan Haigh, an associate professor at the University of Southampton in England. "It helps identify hotspots where we can focus on in more detail, performing localized studies to reduce the uncertainties and improve our confidence in the results."

According to researchers, including extreme sea levels in coastal impact studies is vital to helping vulnerable parts of the world to protect themselves by adapting through new or upgraded infrastructure.


New data, advanced modeling techniques suggest extreme coastal sea levels more likely to occur
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA EurekAlert 7 Jul 17;

Improving projections for how much ocean levels may change in the future and what that means for coastal communities has vexed researchers studying sea level rise for years, but a new international study that incorporates extreme events may have just given researchers and coastal planners what they need.

The study, published today in Nature Communications uses newly available data and advanced models to improve global predictions when it comes to extreme sea levels. The results suggest that extreme sea levels will likely occur more frequently than previously predicted, particularly in the west coast regions of the U.S. and in large parts of Europe and Australia.

"Storm surges globally lead to considerable loss of life and billions of dollars of damages each year, and yet we still have a limited understanding of the likelihood and associated uncertainties of these extreme events both today and in the future," said Thomas Wahl, an assistant engineering professor in the University of Central Florida who led the study. He is also a member of UCF's Sustainable Coastal Systems Cluster.

The study was conducted to make data about extreme events a part of the ongoing research and planning required to help communities prepare now for conditions that may be dramatically different in the not-too-distant future.

Extreme sea levels are typically caused by a combination of high tides, storm surges, and in many cases waves, Wahl said.

When an extreme event collides with continually rising seas, it takes a less intense storm, such as a Category I hurricane, to inflict as much coastal damage as a Category II or III storm would have had when the seas were lower.

Because of the rising sea levels, which research has confirmed has occurred steadily during the past century and is expected to accelerate in the future, extreme events that are now expected to happen, on average, only once every hundred years, could occur every decade or even every year, in many places by 2050, the study said.

Using a representative sample of 20 different methods for predicting extreme sea levels the researchers focused intensely on the measures of uncertainty that accompany any prediction, but that are particularly vexing in the analysis of extremes.

Interspersing sea level rise with the latest predictions of extreme sea level events, the research team was able to illustrate the dramatic effect one has on the other and pinpoint regions of the world that are especially threatened.

"In order to understand coastal impacts under current and future climate and socio-economic conditions, we do not only need robust projections of mean sea level rise but also a profound knowledge of present-day and future extreme sea levels, because these events drive the impacts," Wahl said.

The researcher team agreed that including extreme sea levels into coastal impact studies is imperative in helping vulnerable parts of the world effectively protect themselves by adapting through new or upgraded infrastructure such as dikes, pumping systems, barriers, or other tools like new building codes or flood zoning that prevents new infrastructure from being built in high-risk areas.

"Based on our results we can see, for the first time globally, what role uncertainties in extreme sea level predictions play," said study co-author and associate professor Ivan Haigh of the University of Southampton, UK. "It helps identify hotspots where we can focus on in more detail, performing localized studies to reduce the uncertainties and improve our confidence in the results."


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