Best of our wild blogs: 22 Feb 18

11 Mar (Sun): Dive Pulau Hantu with the Hantu Bloggers
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Students' petition to use sustainable oil draws 8,000 signatures

Wang Yanhua The New Paper 22 Feb 18;

When Gauri Shuklavisited Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2016, she saw first-hand how forests were being slash and burned to make way for oil palm plantations.

The Singapore permanent resident, who was 13 years old then, was devastated to see forests burning and piles of logs being removed by cranes.

It made her realise how much the environment was abused.

That's why Gauri, now 15, and Regina Vanda, 20, launched an online petition last year to get food companies to use environmentally-friendly oil.

Not only did it garner more than 8,000 signatures within four months, two companies - Old Chang Kee and Polar Puffs & Cakes - even responded to their petition to say they used sustainable oil.

Gauri and Regina met last year through a non-governmental organisation, People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze).

They approached more than 20 local food companies to ask if they were using Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-certified oil, which is palm oil from sustainable sources. The pair told The New Paper most did not respond.

RSPO was established in 2004 to promote the use of sustainable oil palm products.

With PM.Haze's help, they identified Old Chang Kee and Polar Puffs & Cakes as possibly not using RSPO-certified cooking oil.

So, in October, the girls started an online petition asking the two companies to use RSPO-certified oil.

Gauri, a student at United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), said: "Their curry puffs are popular in Singapore and this was a ground-up approach to engage the company."

Regina, a year-one student at Yale NUS College, added: "We chose to approach local companies because we believed it is possible to get them to start using sustainable ingredients."

When the petition started, Old Chang Kee's marketing communications manager, Ms Ng Bee Lin, said the company was looking into sourcing oil that was RSPO-certified.

On Feb 2, the girls were surprised to receive an e-mail from Old Chang Kee, which said:"Our RSPO-accredited oil supplier has inserted the RSPO certification on our cooking oil tins."

Polar Puffs & Cakes also released a statement on its website in October saying it used healthy oil. Its spokesman said vegetable oil accounted for less than 0.6 per cent of its ingredients because its products are baked with butter and not fried with oil.

The statement added: "We also wish to assure our customers that our vegetable oils currently used are from sustainable sources."

TNP wrote to both companies on the kinds of oil they used and whether they used RSPO-certified oil. Both declined to comment.

This isn't the first time that Gauri has tried to make a difference through sustainable oils.

In 2015, she managed to get her school canteen to change to sustainably-sourced oil.

UWCSEA told TNP that its kitchens switched to using canola oil for all on-site cooking. Sodexo, the school's food provider, made the change at all its sites in Singapore in November 2016.

Mr Nathan Hunt, UWCSEA director of sustainability, said: "Guari's work is especially commendable as it is an example of a sustained commitment by a student to campaign for a solution by leading other students over a number of years."

Regina said: "Sometimes, we need to rock the boat to get the change we want.

"A petition may not be the most pleasant approach but it was necessary to show people there is capacity for advocacy in Singapore."

Gauri added: "You don't have to wait until you're older to make a change. You just need to have the right mindset."

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Four Indonesian provinces, including Riau, declare disaster alerts for forest fires

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 21 Feb 18;

JAKARTA - Four Indonesian provinces - including one that sits at Singapore's doorstep - are officially on disaster alert after a rising number of hot spots were detected within their boundaries.

Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared disaster alert status, said Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the country's disaster management agency (BNPB), in a press statement on Wednesday (Feb 21). All four provinces are located around the equator, with Riau being closest to Singapore.

The disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds, Dr Sutopo said.

"The number of hot spots has continued to increase. In the past week, the most number of hot spots was found in West Kalimantan province. Pontianak is blanketed by haze," Dr Sutopo said.

In the past 24 hours through 7am on Wednesday, there was a total of 78 hot spots across Indonesia, according to the Terra and Aqua satellites, based on a confidence level of between 30 per cent and 79 per cent.

West Kalimantan province recorded the highest number at 23 hot spots, followed by West Java at 14, Central Kalimantan with 12, Riau at nine, Riau Islands and Papua each with four, Central Java three, West Papua, East Java and Maluku each with two, and Banka-Belitung Islands, North Maluku and South Sumatra each with one.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to some time in March. The rainy season then sets in at these provinces in March and lasts till May before another, more intense dry season from June to September.

"Forest and plantation fires usually pick up in the second (June-September) dry season there," Dr Sutopo said.

The authorities are stepping up their efforts to manage forest and plantation fires. There will be more land and air operations, regular patrols and tighter law enforcement, Dr Sutopo said. Public campaigns against slash-and-burn tactics and on public health are also being ramped up, he added.

Indonesia is deploying joint forces from BNPB's provincial branches, the armed forces, forestry agency fire fighters, city fire fighters, and civil security officers, among others, Dr Sutopo added.

BNPB has also kept aircraft ready for cloud seeding and helicopters for water bombing.


Four Indonesian provinces on disaster alert as hot spots rise
But likelihood of haze affecting Singapore assessed to be low: NEA
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 22 Feb 18;

Four Indonesian provinces - including one that sits on Singapore's doorstep - are officially on disaster alert after a rising number of hot spots were detected within their boundaries.

Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared a disaster alert status, Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the country's disaster management agency BNPB, said in a statement yesterday. All four provinces are located around the equator, with Riau being the closest to Singapore.

When contacted, Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said the dry weather conditions in Sumatra and Kalimantan are "expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan".

The NEA added: "The likelihood of transboundary haze affecting Singapore is currently assessed to be low."

For Indonesia, the disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds, Dr Sutopo said.

In the 24 hours to 7am yesterday, there were a total of 78 hot spots across the country, according to the Terra and Aqua satellites.

West Kalimantan province recorded the highest number with 23 hot spots, while Central Kalimantan recorded 12, Riau had nine, and South Sumatra had one.

Several other provinces also recorded hot spots, with 14 in West Java, and four each in the Riau Islands and Papua.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to March. The rainy season then sets in for these provinces in March and lasts until May, before another, more intense dry season from June to September.

Indonesia is deploying joint forces from the BNPB's provincial branches, the armed forces, forestry agency fire fighters, city firefighters and civil security officers, among others, said Dr Sutopo.

The BNPB has also kept aircraft ready for cloud seeding and helicopters for water bombing.

The hot spots recorded in Riau province are located in Indragiri Hilir, Bengkalis and Pelalawan, with an area of more than 500ha affected, exposing some residents to choking haze, the Indosiar national television reported, citing Riau disaster management agency head Edwar Sanger.


Singapore unlikely to experience transboundary haze from hot spots detected in 4 Indonesian provinces
Amir Hussain Straits Times 21 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE - The National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday (Feb 21) said the likelihood is low of Singapore being affected by transboundary haze from Indonesia.

This comes as four Indonesian provinces declared disaster alert status, after a rise in the number of hot spots.

NEA said a total of five hot spots were detected in Sumatra and 73 in Kalimantan between last Friday and Tuesday.

"For this week and the next, the prevailing winds over the region are expected to continue to blow from the north-west or north-east," said NEA.

"The dry weather conditions are expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan," it added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia's disaster management agency, said in a press statement that Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared disaster alert status. The provinces are all located around the equator, with Riau being closest to Singapore.

The disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to some time in March. The rainy season then sets in at these provinces in March and lasts till May before another, more intense dry season from June to September.


Singapore 'unlikely' to be affected by haze in next 2 weeks: NEA
Channel NewsAsia 21 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE: Transboundary haze is "unlikely" to affect Singapore in the next two weeks, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday (Feb 21), after four Indonesian provinces declared disaster alerts for forest fires.

"The dry weather conditions are expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan," said NEA on its website.

The agency added that based on satellite images, a total of five hotspots were detected in Sumatra and 73 hotspots in Kalimantan between Feb 16 and Feb 20.

However, for this week and the next, prevailing winds over the region are expected to blow from the northwest or northeast. "The likelihood of transboundary haze affecting Singapore is currently assessed to be low," said NEA.

Source: CNA/am

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Malaysia: No laws stopping hunting of sharks and manta rays in Sabah

stephanie lee The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The killing of sharks and manta rays in Sabah’s diving heaven of Mabul Island is legal, said state Fisheries Department director Dr Ahamed Sade.

He noted that the killings, which had horrified tourists, were not illegal because the sharks are not protected and the rays can be consumed locally.

“In Sabah, there is no law against catching or consuming these marine species,” said Dr Ahamed.

The photos of butchered sharks and rays, including the oceanic manta ray, which has been identified as a banned species, have been widely circulated on social media for the last few days.

“It will only be illegal if the manta rays are exported,” he said.

He added that for sharks, the state government is still working with the federal side to establish which species should be listed as protected.

“The ones killed on the island off Semporna are not endangered,” he said.

Dr Ahamed said of the over 100 species of sharks and about 90 types of manta rays in Malaysia, several types are in dwindling numbers.

“These are the species that we are looking at protecting,” he said, adding that proposals have been sent to the Federal Government for action.

According to the CITES, the sharks and rays under proposal to be protected are the great hammerhead shark, smooth hammerhead shark, winghead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, oceanic manta and reef manta.

As of now, only whale sharks and sawfish are listed as protected in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Dr Ahamed said the Govern­ment is also working with neighbouring countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, to protect marine animals that are facing a population decline.

“Sharks and rays are migratory and we cannot be the only ones wanting to ban or protect these species; it will not mean anything if the sharks or rays are hunted in our neighbouring waters,” he said.

Conservationists have been calling for a ban on catching sharks and rays in Sabah, especially in the gazetted marine parks visited by divers from all over.

‘Killings are absolutely legal’
stephanie lee The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The killing of sharks and manta rays in Sabah’s diving heaven of Mabul Island is legal, said state Fisheries Department director Dr Ahamed Sade.

He noted that the killings, which had horrified tourists, were not illegal because the sharks are not protected and the rays can be consumed locally.

“In Sabah, there is no law against catching or consuming these marine species,” said Dr Ahamed.

The photos of butchered sharks and rays, including the oceanic manta ray, which has been identified as a banned species, have been widely circulated on social media for the last few days.

“It will only be illegal if the manta rays are exported,” he said.

He added that for sharks, the state government is still working with the federal side to establish which species should be listed as protected.

“The ones killed on the island off Semporna are not endangered,” he said.

Dr Ahamed said of the over 100 species of sharks and about 90 types of manta rays in Malaysia, several types are in dwindling numbers.

“These are the species that we are looking at protecting,” he said, adding that proposals have been sent to the Federal Government for action.

According to the CITES, the sharks and rays under proposal to be protected are the great hammerhead shark, smooth hammerhead shark, winghead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, oceanic manta and reef manta.

As of now, only whale sharks and sawfish are listed as protected in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Dr Ahamed said the Govern­ment is also working with neighbouring countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, to protect marine animals that are facing a population decline.

“Sharks and rays are migratory and we cannot be the only ones wanting to ban or protect these species; it will not mean anything if the sharks or rays are hunted in our neighbouring waters,” he said.

Conservationists have been calling for a ban on catching sharks and rays in Sabah, especially in the gazetted marine parks visited by divers from all over.

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Malaysia: Scientists unlock secret of proboscis monkeys

The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: There is a secret to Sabah’s iconic male proboscis monkeys – when they become bigger, so will their body and testicles.

But more importantly, the males with a bigger nose can attract more females.

According to a scientific study, there is a clear link between the nose sizes of the males and the number of females in their harems.

The study was jointly carried out by scientists from the Sabah Wildlife Department, Danau Girang Field Centre, Cardiff University and Kyoto University.

During this study, morphological measurements and behavioural observations in free-ranging proboscis monkeys were carried out in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Dr Ikki said in a statement.

They also recorded the vocalisations of male and female proboscis monkeys at three different zoos – the Yokohama Zoo in Japan, Singapore Zoo and Lok Kawi Zoo in Sabah.

“Based on the collected data, we tested the correlations between body mass, facial characteristics, testicular volume, vocalisations, and the number of harem females in captivity and free-ranging proboscis monkeys,” he said.

“In addition to finding that enlarged male noses serve as advertisements to females in mate selection, we also found that males with larger noses also tended to have larger body mass and testis. This suggests that nose enlargement is a reliable predictor of social dominance and high sperm count,” said Dr Ikki.

The proboscis monkey is endemic to Borneo and is a totally protected species in Sabah.

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World’s most controversial fruit may depend on giant bats for pollination

While we debate whether the durian is the best or worst food on the planet, it turns out this wonderful oddity may require healthy populations of flying fox for survival.
Jeremy Hance The Guardian 19 Feb 18;

Durian. Depending on whom you talk to it’s either the most beloved or the most despised fruit on the planet. It suffers no moderation, no wishy-washiness. It is the king of fruits or the worst thing you’ve ever tasted. Due to its potent odour – delicate and sweet to its advocates and sewage-like to its detractors – durian has been banned from airplanes, subways, and hotels (though punishments appear light if non-existent). But a recent study in Ecology and Evolution finds there may be no durians at all without bats: big, threatened bats. The scientists found that flying foxes – bats in the Pteropus and Acerodon genus and the largest in the world – are likely vital pollinators for the polarising durian.

“We already knew that flying foxes feed on durian flowers, but there was this unsubstantiated belief, even among some researchers, that flying foxes just destroyed the flowers,” said Sheema Abdul Aziz, the lead researcher on the project that was done as part of her PhD at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France. “It doesn’t help that a durian flower only blooms for one night, then falls off the tree naturally, regardless of whether it’s been pollinated or not. When people see all the flowers on the ground in the morning, they think it’s the bats.”

It’s not. By setting up camera traps high in durian trees on Tioman Island off the coast of peninsular Malaysia, Aziz and her colleagues exploded the myth that flying fox were damaging the flowers. Instead, the researchers watched the large winged-mammals – in this case the Island flying fox – hang upside down over the flowers and bow down their long snout into them, lapping up the nectar while leaving the flower unruffled.

“The video footage showed without a doubt how delicately flying foxes feed without destroying the flowers, and it also showed how tough and hardy these durian flowers really are,” Aziz said, who is also the founder and president of Rimba, a local NGO devoted to getting hard science out to the government and the public.

Flying foxes may not be the durian’s only pollinator. Aziz said other bats – including smaller ones – have been seen pollinating durians. It is also possible that civets and slow loris are capable of pollinating durian in some parts of Asia. Still, that doesn’t mean all pollinators are equal. Aziz pointed to recent research in Thailand that found some bats are better pollinators than others depending on the plant species.

“This really suggests that the loss of a primary pollinator can potentially affect fruit production, even when there’s another, substitute pollinator that’s still available to do the job,” she said. “This is the sort of thing that I’m hoping to investigate further, if I can get funding to continue my research into durian pollination ecology.”

But like so many species in Southeast Asia, flying fox populations are under assault. According to Aziz, hunting and killing bats as pests are the biggest threats to flying fox species across the region. In some places flying fox are killed to be eaten, in others for traditional medicine.

“I’ve even heard of trigger-happy people with guns using flying foxes for target practice, just for fun,” she said. “This all stems from the fact that people don’t value flying foxes as being important in any way – they’re only viewed positively when they’re dead and can be consumed.”

Of course, deforestation is also threatening bat populations. Southeast Asia has some of the highest deforestation rates in the world with Indonesia recently eclipsing Brazil as the world’s biggest forest destroyer.

Farmers will often kill flying foxes en masse viewing them as a pest, but Aziz says this could undercut the durian industry.

“If growers are killing the bats, this will actually reduce the production of durian fruits. So there’s a real economic implication there … Bat conservation should be a real priority for the commercial durian industry.”

Aziz stresses the situation is complicated as flying fox and other bats are also known to damage some fruit crops, so mitigation efforts need to be developed to protect particular crops from raiding bats – without killing them.

Governments have a major role to play here as well, according to Aziz, who says they need to extend legal protections to bats and their habitats.

“For flying foxes this means protecting rainforests, mangroves, and swamps,” she said. “Mangroves and swamps are the last few refuges sheltering flying foxes from hunting pressure, so their roost sites need to be secured.”

Globally, there are around 70 flying fox species – but six species have gone extinct in recent times: the small and large Samoan flying foxes, the small Mauritian flying fox, the dusky flying fox, the large Palau flying fox, and the Guam flying fox – all bats once found on islands.

Meanwhile, around half of the surviving flying fox species are considered threatened with extinction and many that are not are still imperiled locally.

Bats are not just threatened by hunting and habitat loss, according to Aziz. They are also threatened by a reputation for being nasty, scary animals and associated almost solely with disease. She points out that nearly all the research on flying foxes in peninsular Malaysia has been around bat diseases – not their ecology or importance in maintaining food sources and forests.

“Even conservationists and scientists have largely ignored them here,” she said.

Aziz is changing that. When her study first landed, it produced a remarkable headline in the Malaysian Star: Dwindling flying fox numbers, dying durian industry. News stories were also carried regionally in the Straits Times and the Malay Mail. Aziz, herself, appeared on a local radio programme.

“Flying foxes could be doing all kinds of pollinating jobs that we’re not aware of, just because we haven’t thought to look into it, or because we simply ruled them out without investigating it properly,” she said.

This is why research is so important. But next comes the really hard part: conservation. Conservation means convincing the government and the public that protecting species – and wilderness – matters. And then implementing new laws and measures on the ground.

But durian lovers should take note: your king of fruits depends on the king of bats. Lose one and we’ll lose the other.

Durian haters? Don’t worry: it’s likely more research will shows these bats pollinate far more than durian trees. Just take this example: Aziz believes flying fox are “likely” integral to the survival of the most important ecosystems on the planet: mangroves. Buffeting coastal populations from storms, storing massive amounts of carbon, and housing fish nurseries for innumerable species, mangroves are long-neglected wilderness powerhouses. And it may be that they – like durians – depend on bats.

Like many people – and even many biologists – Aziz says she never thought she would be working with bats. But then she got an HSBC-Earthwatch Fellowship to work with bat expert Tigga Kingston from Texas Tech University.

“Holding a tiny little fluffball with wings, and getting to see it up close and personal, was a life-changing experience for me,” she said. “I knew then that I wanted to study bats and help protect them.”

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