Best of our wild blogs: 19 Jun 19



Explosion of giant sea stars at Changi
wild shores of singapore


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Badly injured civet abandoned in cage at Bedok HDB block, later euthanised: Acres

Yahoo News 18 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE — Animal welfare group Acres said on Tuesday (18 June) that it is working with NParks to investigate the case of a severely injured common palm civet found abandoned at the foot of an HDB block in Bedok.

The civet was euthanised following an assessment by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

Acres, or Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, said in a Facebook post that the civet was found near the bin centre of Block 13A Bedok South Road in a cage on Sunday.

In photos attached with the post, the civet could be seen with open wounds on its tail and right shoulder. Food could be also seen in the cage, which was secured by raffia string.


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Weekly dengue cases in Singapore spike to highest in more than 3 years

Channel NewsAsia 18 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE: There were a total of 468 reported dengue cases in the week ending Jun 15, the highest since March 2016, according to data by the National Environment Agency (NEA).

"The number of weekly reported dengue cases have more than quadrupled in the past three months," the agency said on its website.

As of 3pm on Monday (Jun 17), there were 5,261 reported cases, more than the 3,285 cases reported in the whole of 2018 and 2,772 cases in all of 2017.

The number of active dengue clusters has also more than doubled in the past month to 112, as of Monday.

There are 31 high-risk areas with 10 or more cases, including areas in Woodlands, Chai Chee and Geylang.


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Malaysia: Dengue cases on the rise in Sarawak

Goh Pei Pei, Melvin Jon New Straits Times 18 Jun 19;

KUCHING: Sarawak recorded over 700 dengue cases in the first half of this year, with Kampung Ajibah Abol near here being the latest outbreak area.

As the number increases, the state health department has taken the approach that it will no longer compromise with any premises, houses or resident units that found to have Aedes breeding grounds.

Vector Borne Disease Control Unit officer of Sarawak Health Department Kuching Division, Dr Mohd Daniel Salim said RM500 compound will be issued under the Destruction of Disease-Bearing Insects Act (DDBIA) 1975.

The dengue situation in the state, particularly in Kuching, is worrying as it recorded over 200 cases this year, with Kampung Ajibah Abol, identified as the latest outbreak area, he said.


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Malaysia: Conservationists call for mangrove preservation measures along Sabah's coast

kristy inus The Star 18 Jun 19;

KOTA KINABALU: A coalition of conservationists and community-based entities have called for mangrove-preservation measures in future development along Sabah's coast.

Coalition 3H, which is made of nine organisations, recommended that any tourism development and associated roads planned must consider future effects of climate change and preserve the natural coastal defence system that mangrove provides.


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Indonesia: Government to be sued for air pollution over Jakarta

Antara 18 Jun 19;

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) has said that 40 to 50 people, including university students and lecturers, advocates, researchers and businessmen, will file a citizen lawsuit against several government institutions due to air pollution in Jakarta.

"Ninety percent of the preparations have been completed, because it involves many people, including some 40 to 50 would-be plaintiffs," LBH public lawyer Ayu Eza Tiara said here on Tuesday.

The participants in the lawsuit, grouped in a movement called "Inisiatif Bersihkan Udara Koalisi Semesta (Ibu Kota), will file the citizen lawsuit (CLS) to demand the right to enjoy clean air.


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Indonesia: 900 hectares of rice fields flooded in Penajam, E Kalimantan

Antara 18 Jun 19;

Penajam, East Kalimantan (ANTARA) - At least 900 hectares of rice fields were inundated in Babulu Sub-district, Penajam Paser Utara District, East Kalimantan Province.

Of the 900 hectares, 600 hectares were located in Sebakung Village and 300 hectares in Sri Rahrja, Bambang Marjuki, an official of the Penajam Paser Utara agriculture office, said here on Tuesday.

The condition of paddy plants were not very bad, so local farmers still could harvest it, he said.

The paddy would have been spoiled if the rice fields were flooded for too long, and if the farmers did not harvest it immediately, he said.

In the meantime, flooding in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, earlier, had extended to a broader area and affected 9,358 families constituting 30,580 people, rising from 20 thousand people the day before, in North Samarinda, Sungai Pinang, and Samarinda Ulu sub-districts.


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Urbanisation, commercial farms threaten Asia's forests, U.N. warns

Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters Foundation 18 Jun 19;

BANGKOK, June 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sprawling urban areas and expanding plantations are placing greater pressure on forests and resources in Asia-Pacific, hurting rural communities and exacerbating the effects of climate change, the United Nations food agency said on Tuesday.

The region has the world’s lowest per capita forest area of 19% compared to the global average of 32%, even as the total forest area increased by nearly 18 million hectares (44 million acres) between 1990 and 2015, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

While some Asian countries have introduced policies to conserve forests and give more rights to indigenous people, the area of planted forest nearly doubled between 1990 and 2015 at the expense of more critical primary forests, it said.

“We are worried about the lack of forest quality in our region – as primary forests are rich in biodiversity – and once that’s gone it’s gone,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative in Bangkok.

“Unfortunately, conservation of forests in one country often just shifts deforestation to another,” she said.


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Southeast Asia should ban imports of foreign trash: environmentalists

Patpicha Tanakasempipat Reuters 18 Jun 19;

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Environmental groups called on Tuesday for Southeast Asian countries to ban waste imports from developed countries to help tackle a plastic pollution crisis, as regional leaders prepare to meet this week in Bangkok.

FILE PHOTO: Fishermen boats are seen at a beach covered with plastic waste in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
Southeast Asia has seen a staggering spike in imports of plastic and electronic waste from developed countries after the world’s top recycler, China, banned imports, causing millions of tonnes of trash to be diverted to less-regulated countries.

Thailand will from Thursday host four days of meetings for leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss the region’s most pressing issues, including plastic debris in the ocean.

“Greenpeace Southeast Asia demands that ASEAN leaders put this issue on the agenda during their summits this year and make a united declaration to address the region’s plastic waste crisis,” the group said in a statement.

“Declare an immediate ban on all imports of plastic waste,” Greenpeace urged.


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