Best of our wild blogs: 19 May 18

Big Sisters Island: intertidal walks suspended, some beaches closed
Sisters' Island Marine Park

Small Sisters Island with cone snail!
wild shores of singapore

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Asbestos-containing debris found on Sisters' Islands, latest of the southern islands to be affected

Audrey Tan Straits Times 19 May 18;

SINGAPORE - Debris containing asbestos has washed ashore on the Sisters' Islands Marine Park, the latest of the southern islands to be affected by the potentially toxic mineral.

The mineral has, since April, also been found on nearby Pulau Hantu, St John's Island and Kusu Island - islands popular among day-trippers who visit the southern islands for their nature, scenic views of the Singapore Strait, or to worship at the temple or shrine located on Kusu.

The National Parks Board (NParks), custodian of the marine park, said on its website on Saturday (May 19) that it is temporarily suspending the monthly intertidal guided walk at Sisters' Islands Marine Park. Debris containing asbestos had been found at four isolated areas along the beaches in the lagoons on Big Sister's Island.

Affected beaches have been sealed off, the notice said, adding that removal works are expected to be completed by the end of June.

Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that was once a popular component in construction materials. Due to its links to health problems such as lung cancer, its use in buildings was banned in Singapore in 1989, but many earlier structures still contain the substance.

Structures containing asbestos pose no risk to humans if they are intact. However, when there is damage or disturbance - such as sawing and cutting - fibres may be released into the air and inhaled.

Even though the authorities have said repeatedly that short-term exposure to asbestos is not harmful, the repeated occurrence of the mineral has raised questions on how they came to the southern islands in the first place, and if they could have been dumped illegally by errant contractors.

Investigations are now ongoing to determine the source of the asbestos debris.

But in a joint reply to The Straits Times, the SLA, NParks and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that the collection and disposal of general and industrial waste from offshore islands is regulated by NEA.

“Owners and occupiers of premises on offshore islands manage the collection of their waste from the islands for disposal at the mainland. This includes waste generated by contractors engaged by the owners or occupiers,” said the statement from the agencies.

Asbestos was first found on St John's Island in April, leading the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to seal off more than half the island as a safety precaution.

Subsequently, in early May, SLA said in a media release that asbestos-containing debris had been found on nearby Kusu Island.

It also said then that works were being done to see if the mineral could also be found on Pulau Hantu. As it turned out, it could.

ST understands that notices were put up at the Pulau Hantu jetty last Saturday (May 12) informing visitors that asbestos removal works were ongoing there.

As for the other southern islands - Lazarus Island, Pulau Seringat and Kias Island - no asbestos debris has been found there, SLA said.

Asked about the other offshore islands open to the public, the three agencies said no debris containing asbestos was found on Coney Island, located to the mainland’s north-east . As for Pulau Ubin off the eastern coast of Singapore, the authorities told ST that surveys are ongoing at Pulau Ubin and this is expected to be completed by early next month.

“If asbestos is found on the island, NParks will undertake the necessary removal works and precautionary measures to safeguard public safety,” said the statement.

Mr Stephen Beng, head of the Nature Society’s (Singapore) marine conservation group, said the impact of asbestos on marine life at Sisters’ Islands – the Republic’s one and only marine park – remains to be seen.

He said: “It depends on the volume of asbestos in the water column and seabed. It does, however, constitute to the growing marine debris threat which kills marine animals like our sea turtles.”

He added that the Friends of the Marine Park community – comprising experts, scientists and naturalists – is working on a safety advisory for all involved in marine clean-ups.

Ms Ria Tan, who documents the wildlife found on Singapore’s shores, said she was heartened that the authorities were making an effort to identify and remove the asbestos.

“But it is disconcerting to learn that asbestos has been found on so many offshore islands. I hope the source and pathway of this asbestos can be identified so that this issue can be permanently resolved,” she said.

She added that the authorities could work with the community for more eyes on the ground. “I am ready to help look out for and report asbestos during my regular shore surveys. But I do not now know what to look out for,” Ms Tan said.

‘Asbestos-containing debris’ found at Big Sister’s Island, monthly guided walks suspended
Channel NewsAsia 20 May 18;

SINGAPORE: Monthly guided walks at the Sisters’ Islands will be suspended for May and June, after asbestos-containing debris was found at several areas on Big Sister’s Island.

In a notice on its website on Saturday (May 19), the National Parks Board (NParks) said “asbestos-containing debris” was found at “four isolated areas along the beaches at the lagoons on Big Sister’s Island".

NParks added that as a safety precaution, the affected beaches have been cordoned off for asbestos removal work.

“We aim to complete these works by end June 2018. In the meantime, the monthly guided walks at the Sisters’ Islands will be suspended for May and June 2018,” said NParks.

Part of St John’s Island has also been closed until the end of the year due to asbestos found in the campsite area.

“As investigations and works to remove the asbestos are ongoing, the St John's Island trail and the Marine Park Outreach and Education Centre and St John’s Island Trail will be closed until further notice,” NParks added.

Earlier this month, pieces of debris containing asbestos were also discovered around the lagoon and beach areas on Kusu Island.

Source: CNA/zl(hm)

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Packaging-free stores sprout in Singapore, but will consumers give them the green light?

Tang See Kit Channel NewsAsia 19 May 18;

SINGAPORE: Earlier this month, Ms June Eng made plans to visit a new grocery store with her family but for this shopping trip, she had to be prepared.

With three reusable containers in her bag, the recycling enthusiast headed to UnPackt – a social enterprise located in Jalan Kuras that sells daily necessities without packaging.

Despite having to bring her own carrier, the 42-year-old, who became a vegetarian four years ago to reduce her carbon footprint, described it as an experience that she had been “looking forward to”.

“I always wanted to do this but never had the chance,” she said, while passing a container to her child to get a snack. “This is a good initiative that’s long overdue.”

With an aim of reducing unnecessary waste, plastic bags or any form of plastic packaging are a no-no at UnPackt.

Instead of the usual pre-packed items that one is used to seeing at supermarkets, dried food, oils and cleaning supplies are stocked in self-service dispensers that line up the shelves. Customers are free to fill up their carriers with the amount they want and prices are determined by weight.

The grocery store, which opened its doors just two weeks ago, is not alone in touting this packaging-free concept.

At The Social Space, a multi-concept lifestyle store along Kreta Ayer Street, the refillery section is decked out with at least ten dispensers, each ranging from 15 to 20 litres. Items on sale include shampoo, eco-friendly dishwashing and laundry liquids.

Pop-up store The Green Collective is also encouraging shoppers to bring more than just their own bags. Among the 15 eco-friendly brands gathered under one roof at OneKM Mall, two of them sell food items and Castile liquid soap without packaging.

All three shops require consumers to bring their own containers and bottles, or purchase one in-store. At UnPackt, there is also the option of using a donated one for free.

“ENCOURAGING START”

These zero-waste businesses come as packaging continues to make a big contribution to Singapore's annual trash mountain.

Figures from the National Environment Agency (NEA) showed that 1.7 million tonnes of waste was generated domestically in 2016. Of this, one-third was packaging waste, such as single-use plastic bags and takeaway food containers, that could fill up more than 1,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

With their stores offering plastic-free shopping options, the eco-conscious entrepreneurs are hoping to get Singaporeans started on reducing waste in their daily lives.

UnPackt’s co-founder Florence Tay said the response thus far has been “quite good”, with the grocery store seeing a couple of regulars within two weeks of opening.

“We managed to encourage some of the residents nearby to embark on purchasing without packaging,” said the former marketing manager at the Singapore Heart Foundation. “On their first time here, they had to use one of our recycled containers but subsequently, they started bringing their own.”

“This is definitely faster than I expected,” said Ms Tay.

At The Social Space, its founders Daniel Yeow and Cheryl Ou have also had an “encouraging start” with consumers who may not have been committed environmentalists.

“There was one aunty who happened to walk by, decided to come into our store and started asking many questions like why we’re doing this and how the refillery concept works,” said Ms Ou. “She really had no clue as it was her first time seeing something like this.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting her to come back but she did and with her own containers. These are the unexpected customers who make us really happy.”

WIDENING THE REACH

Still, the entrepreneurs are aware that not all consumers have given them the green light, especially in Singapore where the use of single-use plastic, such as straws and food packaging, are entrenched in the country’s consumption habits.

“The aunty who lifted our spirits is not an anomaly, but neither is she the majority,” said Ms Ou, noting that most of the patrons at the refillery section continue to be zero-waste advocates.

Echoing that, Mr Mayur Singh, a co-founder of The Green Collective, said Singaporeans are generally aware of environmental issues, though there remains a “missing gap” between awareness and action.

“We all wanted to talk to more local consumers, which is why we are so happy to have the opportunity of a retail store in the heartlands. Just focusing on the expatriate community or those who are already eco-warriors won’t work,” said Mr Singh, who also runs social enterprise Coopita.

Pricing is a strategy that the businesses are banking on to appeal to more consumers.

Given the absence of individual packaging, the economics of bulk-purchasing allows UnPackt and The Social Space to price their products at 5 to 10 per cent cheaper, respectively.

“We are already saving because we are buying in bulk,” said Mr Yeow. “When deciding how much of that savings we should transfer to our customers, we decided that it needs to be significant enough for people to go ‘Alright, I can give this a try!’”

Retail analyst Samuel Tan from Temasek Polytechnic's School of Business noted that while more Singaporeans are paying attention to sustainable living, it is still a “long journey” when it comes to educating and cultivating a change in the buying behaviours of consumers.

“Drawing from the experience of a leading environmentally-friendly retailer, it took years for Body Shop to be well accepted by shoppers for the brand’s belief and philosophy,” said Mr Tan, who suggested independent players like UnPackt to step up on their social media presence or consider tie-ups with bigger retailers.

Ms Jen Teo, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, reckoned that with green consumerism on the rise, eco-friendly stores are a “step in the right direction” and will likely do well in the long run.

But before that, more needs to be done to drum up awareness about Singapore’s environmental issues.

“Singaporeans will need to learn to reduce waste and recycle more if it is to reach the goal of becoming a Zero Waste Nation by 2030. The key lies in understanding what we should use less of, and what we can and should eliminate in our daily living,” said Ms Tan.

To spur more Singaporeans to take the first step towards reducing waste, The Green Collective has been holding weekly events, ranging from talks centred around various environmental issues to workshops on soap-making and upcycling of furniture.

Co-founder Danielle Champagne said: “The idea is not just to sell, but to make this into a one-stop shop to bring together people with similar mindset while exposing the wider population to a greener lifestyle.”

“We want to show that going green doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive,” she told Channel NewsAsia. “It is all about small, simple steps every day that make a difference."

Source: CNA/sk

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2018 won't see repeat of 2015 haze crisis: Indonesian Minister

Audrey Tan and Luke Anthony Tan Straits Times 18 May 18;

SINGAPORE - Singapore looks set to see a third straight year with no haze, due in part to Indonesia's sustained efforts at curbing fires and preventing their spread.

Indonesia's Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Friday (May 18) that the 2015 haze crisis would not repeat itself this year.

"In the last few years, including this year, we did not have the haze that happened in 2015," he said, adding that forestry and peatland management plans have already been implemented.

Dr Bambang was speaking at the fifth Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore hotel. The event was organised by think-tank Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Dr Bambang's statement echoes similar promises made by other Indonesian officials last year and in 2016.

Governor of South Sumatra Alex Noerdin said during last year's edition of the same event that there would be no haze from his province last year.

And in 2016, Mr Nazir Foead, head of Indonesia's Peatland Restoration Agency, said there was a "zero chance" that a haze of 2015's magnitude would blanket the region.

The haze in Singapore is largely caused by winds blowing smoke from forest fires in Indonesia towards the Republic.

Many of Indonesia's pulpwood and oil palm plantations are located on carbon-rich peatlands. When these areas are drained of water for planting, the risk of fire increases.

In 2015, Indonesia's dry season coincided with the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is linked to warmer and drier weather in this part of the world.

The bad weather exacerbated the forest fires typical of the country's agro-forestry landscape, and caused the region to suffer the worst haze crisis on record. It sent air pollution levels skyrocketing, caused deaths and grounded planes.

But since then, Indonesia has taken significant steps to reduce the occurrence of fires, said Dr Nirarta Samadhi, country director of research organisation World Resources Institute Indonesia.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of Friday's event, Dr Samadhi pointed to three ways that the Indonesian government has demonstrated its commitment to dealing with the haze issue.

The first was the formation in 2016 of the Peatland Restoration Agency, which was tasked with carrying out programmes to restore Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands.

To this end, new regulations were rolled out, such as a land swop scheme that aims to get companies off deep peatlands and move to mineral soils instead, said Dr Samadhi.

The Indonesian government also conducted mapping exercises using Lidar technology to provide data on water levels. If water table levels are too low, peatlands could become more flammable.

Dr Samadhi said that these government initiatives have contributed to the clear skies in the region in the past three years.

But other factors not within direct control, such as weather, played a role too. "Recently, we have also had the advantage of having wetter weather," Dr Samadhi said.

Sub-national elections in Indonesia could also have contributed to the haze-free skies, as local politicians would have greater incentive to prevent fires, Dr Samadhi said.

Given the role that unpredictable factors play in contributing to the haze, he added, it is hard to predict if South-east Asia could achieve its target of being haze-free by 2020.

The target was set by Asean environment ministers following the 2015 crisis.

Dr Samadhi said: "The Indonesian government has an action plan and regulations to curb fires. If that is followed, there would not be haze. But there are other factors that cannot be controlled... So if you ask me if we will have haze in 2020, I would not have the answer."


Singapore set for third straight haze-free year
Indonesian minister says there won't be a repeat of 2015 crisis in 2018, thanks to steps taken
Audrey Tan and Luke Anthony Tan Straits Times 19 May 18;

Singapore looks set to see a third straight year with no haze, due in part to Indonesia's sustained efforts at curbing fires and preventing their spread.

Indonesia's Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Brodjonegoro said yesterday that the 2015 haze crisis would not repeat itself this year.

"In the last few years, including this year, we did not have the haze that happened in 2015," he said, adding that forestry and peatland management plans have already been implemented. Dr Bambang was speaking at the fifth Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore hotel. The event was organised by think-tank Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

His statement echoes similar promises made by other Indonesian officials last year and in 2016.

The haze in Singapore is largely caused by winds blowing smoke from forest fires in Indonesia. Many of Indonesia's pulpwood and oil palm plantations are located on carbon-rich peatlands. When these areas are drained of water for planting, the risk of fire increases.

In 2015, Indonesia's dry season coincided with the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is linked to warmer and drier weather in this part of the world.

The bad weather exacerbated the forest fires typical of the country's agro-forestry landscape, and caused the region to suffer the worst haze crisis on record.

BANKS CAN PLAY A PART

We hope local and regional banks can develop clear policies on not financing companies linked to unsustainable practices... They should also develop clear timelines to help their clients to improve their practices, by adhering to standards set out in eco-certification schemes.

MS ZHANG WEN, executive director of People's Movement to Stop Haze, on what financial instutitions can do to help Asean achieve its goal of being haze-free by 2020.

Since then, Indonesia has taken significant steps to reduce the occurrence of fires, said Dr Nirarta Samadhi, country director of research organisation World Resources Institute Indonesia.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of yesterday's event, Dr Samadhi pointed to three ways that the Indonesian government has demonstrated its commitment to dealing with the haze issue.

The first was the formation in 2016 of the Peatland Restoration Agency, which was tasked with carrying out programmes to restore Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands.

To this end, new regulations were rolled out, such as a land swop scheme aiming to get companies off deep peatlands and to move to mineral soils instead, said Dr Samadhi.

The Indonesian government also conducted mapping exercises using Lidar technology to provide data on water levels. If water table levels are too low, peatlands could become more flammable.

Dr Samadhi said these government initiatives have contributed to the clear skies in the region in the past three years.

But other factors not within direct control, such as the weather, played a role too. "Recently, we have also had the advantage of having wetter weather," Dr Samadhi said.

Sub-national elections in Indonesia could also have contributed to the haze-free skies, as local politicians would have greater incentive to prevent fires, Dr Samadhi said.

Given the role that unpredictable factors play in contributing to the haze, he added, it is hard to predict if South-east Asia could achieve its target of being haze-free by 2020. The target was set by Asean environment ministers after the 2015 crisis.

Ms Zhang Wen, executive director of volunteer group People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze), said that for Asean to reach its 2020 target, financial institutions need to play their part.

"We hope local and regional banks can develop clear policies on not financing companies linked to unsustainable practices, such as slash-and-burn techniques, deforestation, and peat drainage. They should also develop clear timelines to help their clients to improve their practices, by adhering to standards set out in eco-certification schemes," she said.

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Air quality in Jakarta, Palembang good for Asian Games

Suharto Antara 18 May 18;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar has stated the quality of air in Jakarta and Palembang is relatively good to support the 18th Asian Games 2018 scheduled from Aug 18 to Sept 2.

"The quality of air both in Jakarta and Palembang is relatively good and ready to support the Asian Games," she said in a press statement released on Friday.

The quality of air was monitored from the Air Quality Monitoring System (AQMS) installed in the two cities which will co-host the pan-Asian multi sports event, she said.

AQMS is a device which can depict ambient air quality by providing real time information for PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5., meaning that it can monitor particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrograms.

Two units of AQMS consisting of fixed station and portable device installed in Palembang have been operational since January 2017.

In Jakarta, one unit of fixed station has been operational since May 2, 2018, supported by three units of portable AQMS.

Based on the monitoring of air quality with PM 2.5 conducted from January to April 2018, the air quality in Palembang was recorded at 13.9 micrograms/m3 and in Jakarta at 35 micrograms/m3. Meanwhile, the daily quality standard according to Government Regulation No. 41 of 1999 is 65 micrograms/m3 and the World Health Organization (WHO) is 25 mixrograms/m3.

(S012/O001)
Reported by Desi Purnamawati
(S012/KR-BSR/O001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik

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Indonesia committed to green development

Antara 19 May 18;

Minister of National Development Planning / Head of Bappenas Bambang Brodjonegoro (center) spoke with Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli (right) after speaking at 5th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources in Singapore on Friday (18/5/2018). (ANTARA News/Virna P Setyorini)

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and other ASEAN member-states are ready to strengthen their commitment to green development based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

Under the Paris Agreement within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Indonesia has committed unconditionally to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 29 per cent in 2030.

The target could be increased to 41 per cent if the country receives international support.

During the 5th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources on Friday, the National Development Planning Minister, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said that Indonesia continued to set some aggressive targets to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

After establishing a framework for managing forests and peat lands, Indonesia was currently turning its attention to other large carbon producers, such as the transportation and energy sectors.

"Forests and peat have been (managed) pretty good, but energy, especially renewable energy, is still left behind. This is what we want to be accelerated, for example, by bringing in investors and setting a more appropriate pricing scheme," said Brodjonegoro.

The Singapore Minister of Environment and Water Resources, Masagos Zulkifli, said that as the Chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) for 2018, Singapore had set a theme of endurance and innovation, which included tackling climate change as one of its priorities.

Singapore was also aware of its role to establish partnerships within Asean by conducting the Special Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change Control Action in July 2018 and the establishment of the Asean Smart City Network, which would build the capacity of Asean cities to achieve sustainable urban development.

Meanwhile, the Filipino Senator, Loren Legarda, explained that her role as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and Climate Change had helped in her country harmonising a larger policy to align energy, climate, agriculture and food issues with public and private financing.

"The private sector is ready to support by incorporating public-private partnerships to grow the green sector, such as renewable energy," the environmentalist said.

At the same time, she said, large corporations had begun integrating climate change control targets into their business models.

The SIIA`s 5th annual dialogue was attended by 350 industry experts, corporate leaders, and regional decision makers.

Reported by Virna P. Setyorini
Y013/INE
(T.Y013/A/KR-BSR/A/H-YH)
Editor: Heru Purwanto

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Only 1 pct of Japan's biggest coral reef healthy: survey

Phys.org 18 May 18;

Japan's biggest coral reef has not recovered from bleaching due to rising sea temperatures, with only one percent of the reef in a healthy condition, according to a government study.

The overall volume of coral in Sekisei Lagoon in southwestern Japan near Okinawa had already plunged by 80 percent since the late 1980s due to rising water temperatures and damage caused by coral-eating starfish.

Now only 1.4 percent of the lagoon, which stretches over 67.89 square kilometres, is in a healthy condition, the environment ministry said, after it was hit by mass bleaching in 1998, 2001, 2007 and most recently 2016.

"If coral reefs don't recover, it means a loss of rich fauna for a variety of creatures and would have grave impact on the ecosystem in the region," ministry official Chihiro Kondo told AFP on Friday.

For the first time since 2008, the ministry analysed satellite photos and information from some 1,000 monitoring sites for the Sekisei Lagoon and two other reefs around the Ishigaki and Iriomote islets in Okinawa.

The ratio of healthy corals stood at 14.6 percent in 1991 but dropped to 0.8 percent in the 2008 survey, Kondo said.

Two other neighbouring lagoons had similar results with the ratio of healthy areas around one percent.

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.

Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonise them.

"But the latest study shows that corals haven't recovered much since 2008, presumably partly because of the 2016 bleach," Kondo said.

One of the worst mass bleaching episodes on record took place in 1998 when the El Nino phenomenon was exceptionally strong, affecting reefs in 60 tropical countries.

Coral reefs are also under pressure from ocean acidification linked to CO2 emissions, scientists warn.

Corals make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to more than 25 percent of marine life.

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Leaked report warns Cambodia's biggest dam could 'literally kill' Mekong river

Government-commissioned report says proposed site at Sambor reach is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlife
Tom Fawthrop The Guardian 16 May 18;

A Chinese-backed plan to build Cambodia’s biggest dam could “literally kill” the Mekong river, according to a confidential assessment seen by the Guardian which says that the proposed site at Sambor is the “worst possible place” for hydropower.

The report, which was commissioned by the government in Phnom Penh, has been kept secret since it was submitted last year, prompting concerns that ministers are inclined to push ahead regardless of the dire impact it predicts on river dolphins and one of the world’s largest migrations of freshwater fish.

The proposed hydropower plant would require an 18km-wide barrier across the river at Sambor, Kratie province. This quiet rural district is best known as a place for watching Irrawaddy dolphins, whose critically low numbers have just shown their first increase in 20 years.

To examine the environmental impact of the dam and the 82km-long reservoir that would form behind it, the Cambodian government commissioned the National Heritage Institute, a US-based research and consultancy firm, to undertake a three-year study in 2014.

But it has refused to make public the results of the Sambor Hydropower Dam Alternatives Assessment, despite numerous appeals from civil society organisations. A copy has now been leaked to the Guardian.

In its key findings the report notes: “The impact on fisheries would be devastating as it would block fish migration from the Tonle Sap (Cambodia’s Great Lake), a vital tributary to the Mekong and the spawning grounds upstream.”

The Mekong is the world’s most productive inland fisher y, sustaining the food security of 60 million people. The Mekong River Commission puts the value of wild-capture fish at $11b n, shared between the four member states of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

The stakes are very high for a country where 80% of Cambodians count on fish as their main source of protein.

It is also a potential game-changer for other species in the Mekong’s ecosystem. Marc Goichot, WWF’s water resources specialist, said: “After 15 years WWF and our Cambodian partners are finally winning the battle to conserve Mekong dolphins with 15 new calves born since 2015. A Sambor dam would ruin all those efforts. Together with the plight of the dolphins, fisheries, livelihoods and nutrition of rural communities would all suffer, as well as precipitating the sinking of the Mekong delta in Vietnam.”

The plan for the dam dates back to a memorandum of understanding signed with China Southern Power Grid in 2006. Widespread opposition prompted the Chinese investor to withdrew from the project in 2008.

The country’s chronic energy shortage, high prices and its 50% import dependency prompted the government to revive the Sambor project in 2016, after Laos had already launched two controversial dams upstream - the Xayaburi and the Don Sahong dams.

In the executive summary, the report declares “a dam at this site could literally kill the river, unless sited, designed and operated sustainably. The Sambor reach is the worst possible place to build a major dam.”

Cambodia’s deputy minister of energy, Ith Praing , said: “It is a very sensitive issue and too early to publish any kind of information on Sambor.”

The survey team looked at 10 alternative locations for a Sambor dam site by deploying the world’s most advanced mitigation technology. The project director, Gregory Thomas, said: “Even the most advanced mitigation measures still pose high risks. There is no evidence that any large dam on a tropical river has ever been successful in the use of the latest fish mitigation technology.”

In place of a new dam, the study recommends integrating floating solar photovoltaic panels into the already operational Lower Sesan 2 dam , and operating the reservoir as a single integrated hybrid facility. Power capacity would be doubled to more than 800MW. This technique of augmenting existing hydropower facilities with solar photovoltaics plants has been widely developed in China and India.

According to the report, “solar energy is the only option with a positive net economic benefit after all costs and benefits are taken into account, and the cost of solar would be cheaper than the best possible mitigated dam”.

Cambodia’s Energy Ministry has so far taken only small steps in the direction of solar energy, and has given a tepid response to the 400MW solar proposal, which suggests it is still batting for a mitigated dam.

Praing said no decision would be taken until after July’s general election. If the dam is approved, the leading candidate to build it is China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Company.

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Water shortages to be key environmental challenge of the century, Nasa warns

Freshwater supplies have already seriously declined in 19 global hotspots – from China to the Caspian Sea – due to overuse, groundbreaking study shows
Fiona Harvey The Guardian 16 May 18;

Water shortages are likely to be the key environmental challenge of this century, scientists from Nasa have warned, as new data has revealed a drying-out of swaths of the globe between the tropics and the high latitudes, with 19 hotspots where water depletion has been dramatic.

Areas in northern and eastern India, the Middle East, California and Australia are among the hotspots where overuse of water resources has caused a serious decline in the availability of freshwater that is already causing problems. Without strong action by governments to preserve water the situation in these areas is likely to worsen.

Some of these hotspots were previously undocumented or poorly understood: a region in north-western China, in Xinjiang province, has suffered dramatic declines despite receiving normal amounts of rainfall, owing to groundwater depletion from industry and irrigation.

The Caspian Sea was also found to be showing strong declines owing to similar forces, which is resulting in a shrinking shoreline. Previously, this change had been attributed to natural variability, but the new report demonstrates it was caused in large part by the diversion and extraction of water from rivers that feed it, for agriculture and industry. This depletion mirrors the well-known fate of the disappearing Aral Sea in the same region: because the Caspian Sea is much bigger it would take millennia to disappear altogether, but its shrinking shoreline and pollution will cause major problems throughout its borderlands.

The comprehensive study, the first of its kind, took data from the Nasa Grace (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission to track trends in freshwater from 2002 to 2016 across the globe.

“What we are witnessing is major hydrologic change. We see for the first time a very distinctive pattern of the wet land areas of the world getting wetter, in the high latitudes and the tropics, and the dry areas in between getting drier,” said James Famiglietti, of the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and co-author of the paper published today in Nature. “Within the dry areas we see multiple hotspots resulting from groundwater depletion.”

Climate scientists, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have predicted such a global trend. The new paper’s authors said it was too soon to confirm whether their observations were definitely the result of global warming, but said their results showed a “clear human fingerprint” on the global water cycle.

The study is unprecedented, as the Grace data allowed the scientists to see in detail the changes in freshwater resources around the world, even where locally amassed data has been scarce or unavailable. By linking the satellite data with local monitoring, they added another crucial dimension.

Marc Stutter, of the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, who was not involved with the study, said: “Such new data add insight into how we manage both obvious surface waters and hidden subsurface water stores [as] the satellite techniques see vital hidden water reserves under our feet, much like an x-ray to see the health of our unseen water reserves.”

He said it provided an early warning that could allow better management of water resources across the world, which was needed.

In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite rainfall being normal throughout the period studied. “The fact that extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts,” the authors said, adding that the much-discussed melting of Himalayan glaciers was of only minor significance in the period studied.

In Iraq and Syria, widespread over-reliance on groundwater has resulted from the construction by Turkey of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, over the last three decades. This has made the area the biggest hotspot identified by the study, outside of sparsely or uninhabited regions such as Antarctica and Greenland, with water resources nearly a third below their normal state.

Jonathan Farr, senior policy analyst at the charity WaterAid, said governments must take note of the findings and increase their role in preserving water resources and providing freshwater to people in a sustainable manner. “This report is a warning and an insight into a future threat. We need to ensure that investment in water keeps pace with industrialisation and farming. Governments need to get to grips with this,” he said, pointing to estimates that between $30bn and $100bn of investment was needed per year to provide freshwater where needed.

Sustainable solutions were available, he said. “We have been solving the problem of getting access to water resources since civilisation began. We know how to do it. We just need to manage it, and that has to be done at a local level.”

Providing access to clean water provides knock-on benefits to health, education, equity and the economy, he added, so investment in water assets yields both economic and social dividends.

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Mysterious rise in banned ozone-destroying chemical shocks scientists

CFCs have been outlawed for years but researchers have detected new production somewhere in east Asia
Damian Carrington The Guardian 16 May 18;

A sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical has been detected by scientists, despite its production being banned around the world.

Unless the culprit is found and stopped, the recovery of the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from damaging UV radiation, could be delayed by a decade. The source of the new emissions has been tracked to east Asia, but finding a more precise location requires further investigation.

CFC chemicals were used in making foams for furniture and buildings, in aerosols and as refrigerants. But they were banned under the global Montreal protocol after the discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in the 1980s. Since 2007, there has been essentially zero reported production of CFC-11, the second most damaging of all CFCs.

The rise in CFC-11 was revealed by Stephen Montzka, at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Colorado, and colleagues who monitor chemicals in the atmosphere. “I have been doing this for 27 years and this is the most surprising thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I was just shocked by it.”

“We are acting as detectives of the atmosphere, trying to understand what is happening and why,” Montzka said. “When things go awry, we raise a flag.”

Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment, said: “If these emissions continue unabated, they have the potential to slow down the recovery of the ozone layer. It’s therefore critical that we identify the precise causes of these emissions and take the necessary action.”

CFCs used in buildings and appliances before the ban came into force still leak into the air today. The rate of leakage was declining steadily until 2013, when an abrupt slowing of the decline was detected at research stations from Greenland to the South Pole.

Scientists then embarked on an investigation, published in the journal Nature, to find out the cause. The detective work began by assessing whether there had been changes in how the atmosphere distributes and destroys CFC-11 that could explain the changed measurements. But this factor was mostly ruled out and in the most recent data – 2017 – it appears to have played no role at all.

Next, the researchers looked at whether the release of CFC from older materials could have doubled, as required to explain the data. “But we don’t know of any folks who are destroying buildings at a much more dramatic rate than they were before,” said Montzka.

Lastly, the team considered whether the new CFC-11 was being produced as a by-product of some other chemical manufacturing process. But they ruled this out too, as the quantities involved are too high, representing a 25% rise in global emissions.

“You are left with, boy, it really looks like somebody is making it new,” said Montzka, who noted that the less damaging replacement for CFC-11 is more expensive to make.

“If the increased emissions were to go away [soon], it’s influence on the recovery date for the ozone layer would be minor,” he said. “If it doesn’t go away, there could be a 10-year delay, and if it continued to increase, the delay would be even longer.” The last option is a possibility, as if the new CFC-11 is being used in foams, then only a small fraction will have made it to the atmosphere so far and more could leak out for many years into the future.

Michaela Hegglin, at the University of Reading, UK, and not part of the research team said researchers had taken rigorous steps to rule out alternative explanations for the rise in CFC-11 when reaching their conclusion that new production must be occurring.

She said: “The study highlights that environmental regulations cannot be taken for granted and must be safe-guarded, and that monitoring is required to ensure compliance.” Prof Piers Forster, at the University of Leeds, UK, said: “This new study is atmospheric detective work at its finest.”

Paul Young, at Lancaster University, UK, said: “The Montreal Protocol has been rightly hailed as our most successful international environmental treaty, so the suggestion that there are possibly continued, unreported emissions of CFCs is certainly troubling and needs further investigation.”

Montzka said the world’s nations are committed to its enforcement. “I have a feeling that we will find out fairly quickly what exactly is going on and that the situation will be remedied,” he said. Even just the publicity about the new CFC-11 production could lead to its shutdown, he said: “Somebody who was maybe doing it purposefully will realise – oh, someone is paying attention – and stop doing it.”

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