ASEAN environment ministers reaffirm Haze Monitoring System

Channel NewsAsia 25 Sep 2013;

SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said his ASEAN counterparts have reaffirmed Singapore's recommendation for an ASEAN Haze Monitoring system to be implemented.

Dr Balakrishnan said this on his Facebook page on Wednesday at the end of the 14th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting of the Environment, and the 9th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (COP-9).

The meetings were held in Surabaya, Indonesia.

According to a statement issued by those at the meeting, the system will include digitised land-use maps and concession maps of haze prone regions. These will be shared on a government-to-government basis.

Dr Balakrishnan said the relevant countries have also agreed to take prompt action to address the issue of haze based on decisions to be made at next month's ASEAN Summit.

Singapore's Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources said the ministers also agreed to set up a Task Force comprising experts on Fire and Haze Assessment and Coordination.

The panel of experts will review the existing alert levels and formulate trigger points.

The ministers also noted that many ASEAN Member States have contributed to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Control Fund, with the aim of realising a pledge of providing an initial seed contribution of US$500,000 for the fund.

Dr Balakrishnan also highlighted that a change in wind direction could potentially bring the haze from Sumatra to Singapore on Wednesday night.

He said his ministry will be monitoring the situation closely.

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 Sep 13

Sun 29 Sept – Nature Ramble
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Chek Jawa (21 September 2013)
from teamseagrass

Early marine trash numbers and effort from four zones
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Raffles Museum Toddycats and friends clear 1.5 tonnes of marine debris for ICCS 2013 from Toddycats!

Owl, snakes and spiders at Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk
from Peiyan.Photography

Butterflies Galore! : Archduke
from Butterflies of Singapore

Insects in the bird garden: 2. Butterflies and Lime Plant
from Bird Ecology Study Group

What is this strange worm-like creature at Pasir Ris Park?
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Water pollution? Yellowish liquid spotted in Loyang industrial estate's drainage from Lazy Lizard's Tales

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Temasek Polytechnic to work with fish farm industry; $46k worth of help for students

Charissa Yong Straits Times 23 Sep 13;

Temasek Polytechnic will be setting up a field laboratory in a fish farm here to research fish health management, as well as develop training courses for farm employees.

The school signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with Lubritrade Ocean, which acquired a fish farm worth about $1 million in June. The two organisations will set up an on-site field laboratory to research the health and nutrition of fish food.

"The natural sea water conditions in cage fish farming would provide excellent test-bed conditions...This would enable us to develop a more realistic solution for addressing the needs and issues faced by local fish farmers," said Dr Lee Chee Wee, the director of Temasek Polytechnic's School of Applied Science.

As part of the partnership, applied science students can get six full-term scholarships and three book prizes, amounting to $45,900 over a period of three years. Temasek Polytechnic will also be identifying suitable training courses for the farm employees to help them to manage farm operations more effectively.

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HDB plans to go big on solar energy

Agency calls largest solar-leasing tender, looking to cover 125 blocks
Grace Chua Straits Times 25 Sep 13;

THE Housing Board is working on its largest single solar-leasing project to date - and is also looking into households being able to buy electricity made from the sun's energy.

Last month, it called its largest solar-leasing tender: for a company to own and operate panels on some 125 blocks in Ang Mo Kio, Sengkang, Serangoon North and Buangkok.

These would produce 5MW of electricity in optimum conditions, or 5 megawatts-peak (MWp), enough to power more than 1,000 four-room HDB flats.

The HDB will offset up to 30 per cent of the start-up costs, and, in turn, buy the electricity for 20 years at a 5 per cent or greater discount off the prevailing market price. This electricity would power lights in corridors and common areas, lifts and water pumps, among other things.

Another tender in May, to generate 2MWp for 40 blocks in Jurong East, includes a possible new option of allowing households to buy the excess electricity generated during the day, again at a discount off the market rate.

"HDB is studying the feasibility of enabling residents to obtain green energy from the vendor directly," a spokesman said. No details are available yet, she added.

Currently, solar panels installed on HDB rooftops in Punggol by leasing company Sunseap generate enough to fully power common area services - such as lifts and lights - in the day; the extra electricity is sold to the grid.

Energy Studies Institute research associate Shiva Susarla said leasing companies would make more profit if they could sell the power to households.

"And if the tariff being paid by the households for solar energy is slightly lower than what they are already paying to SP Services, it is good for them, isn't it?" he added.

The project is large for Singapore, though much larger solar "farms" exist in Thailand, India and elsewhere, said Mr Susarla.

Both the Ang Mo Kio and Jurong East projects are scheduled to start next year and be completed in 2015, the HDB said.

The housing agency's $31 million, five-year scheme to test solar energy in 30 precincts around the island has been able to take advantage of the plummeting prices of solar panels. These have come down in the last few years from more than $5.17 per watt installed to about $2.10 today.

Other large projects include a 1.2MWp array atop the distribution centre of supermarket giant Sheng Siong, and a 1MWp one on the Ulu Pandan Newater plant.

Last month, the HDB also called a solar leasing tender for panels that use newer copper indium gallium selenide thin-film technology, which is more energy- and cost-efficient than conventional solar cells, to be put on blocks in Sengkang West, Chua Chu Kang and Yishun.

Already, the existing solar panels in Punggol mean common services in those blocks run almost completely on solar energy in the daytime, and the panels generate enough in the day to offset what lifts, lights and pumps use at night, the HDB said.

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Malaysia: Tawau Hills Park trees to be replaced by geothermal plant

Ruben Sario The Star 25 Sep 13;

KOTA KINABALU: Logging has been allowed at 150ha of the pristine Tawau Hills Park, which is about the size of Penang island, to make way for the nation’s first geothermal power plant.

Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said the clearing and extraction of 1,639 logs was for the project site located in Sabah’s east coast.

They were also meant for the drilling of seven thermal wells in the area, he added.

He said that the logs were also extracted for the construction of roads and laying of pipes involving an area of some 40km.

However, he said that the logs had been sold at a loss as the extraction cost was RM475 per cubic metre while they were sold for just RM420 per cubic metre.

“Timber prices are at a historical low since 2002,” Mannan said in responding to Sabah DAP’s claims of illegal logging operations at the geothermal power plant project site.

Mannan said that the state had received some RM340,000 in royalties from the timber extracted from the area.

Claims that logging at the park area was illegal and for profit were thus baseless and causing unnecessary public alarm, he said.

He said that Tawau forestry officers had carried out a thorough investigation on claims of illegal logging at the 27,972ha park, that serves as the main water catchment area for Tawau and nearby Semporna.

“The only source of logs from the Tawau Hills Park was the site which had been cleared for the RM500mil geothermal plant project,” he was quoted as saying in a local daily.

The 30mW geothermal plant is being built by Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd, which signed a 21-year power supply deal with Sabah Electrictity Sdn Bhd last year.

Tawau Hills Park was established in 1979 and has seven major rivers flowing through it.

The highest points in the conservation area are the 1,319m Gunung Magdelena and the 1,201m Gunung Lucia.

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Best of our wild blogs: 24 Sep 13

Salvaging Efforts at Pulau Hantu: Follow Up
from Pulau Hantu

From the West to the East, from mangroves to seagrasses
from Nature rambles

Special fiddler crab at Tanah Merah
from wild shores of singapore

Tendercles
from The annotated budak

Pin-striped Tit-babblers in a public bath house
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Floods inundate a quarter of Thailand's provinces, warnings issued

Amy Sawitta Lefevre Reuters 23 Sep 13;

(Reuters) - More than 600,000 Thais have been affected by flooding since July and more than a quarter of Thailand's provinces have been inundated, prompting officials to issue landslide warnings and begin evacuation measures on Monday.

Devastating floods in 2011 killed more than 800 people and caused massive disruption to industry, cutting economic growth that year to just 0.1 percent.

Four people have been killed in this year's flooding. More rainfall is expected later this week.

"Due to a heavier-than-usual monsoon season, 21 provinces are now experiencing flooding. We have issued a warning about landslides and have told boats in the Gulf of Thailand to be vigilant," Chatchai Promlert, chief of Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, told Reuters.

Parts of Ayutthaya province north of the capital, Bangkok, have been deluged by up to a metre of water, he said. Ayutthaya town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where several ancient temples were badly damaged in the 2011 floods.

Many huge industrial estates in Ayutthaya and other provinces on a plain north of Bangkok were inundated in 2011.

At least 10 provinces in Thailand's central plains, the main rice-growing region, have been affected by the floods but the extent of any damage is not yet known.

The flooding has hit in harvest season and output is likely to be affected, but there has been no official comment yet.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, a deputy prime minister, said he was confident there would not be a repeat of the 2011 floods, which at one stage threatened to engulf Bangkok.

"Water levels in our dams are low enough to handle any extra rainfall," Plodprasop said.

Municipal authorities have ordered sandbags stacked around shops and homes and extra water pumps have been installed in many areas.

In Prachin Buri province, 135 km (85 miles) east of Bangkok, more than 700 inmates from a prison were evacuated on Sunday and transferred to other facilities nearby after their cells were flooded.

The national disaster department said it was offering assistance to residents in flood-affected areas, including the provision of life-jackets and boats. Those living in low-lying areas have been advised to move to higher ground.

(Additional reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat and Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)

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Best of our wild blogs: 23 Sep 13

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [16 - 22 Sep 2013]
from Green Business Times

Green Volunteers' activities
from The Green Volunteers

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore – status, data and photos up on the web! from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Pulau Hantu check up
from wild shores of singapore

Our anniversary walk at Chek Jawa
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Monitor Lizard in Yishun – A case study of STOMP’s wildlife articles from Diary of a Boy wandering through Our Little Urban Eden

Olive-backed Sunbird
from Monday Morgue

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Climate change affects Singapore flood risk

Melissa Chong Channel NewsAsia 22 Sep 13;

SINGAPORE: The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is slated to release the first part of its latest report on climate change on September 27.

Governments around the world will be watching to see what hundreds of climate scientists have to say about the potential impacts for their regions.

As for Singapore, its top concern is likely to be how climate change could affect our flood risk.

The United Nations report is published every five to six years, and highlights the latest findings in the rise of temperatures, sea levels and extreme events like floods.

Results in 2007 were comparable to findings by Singapore's National Climate Change Secretariat. By 2100, sea levels around Singapore could rise by up to 0.65 metres while temperatures could increase by up to 4.2 degrees Celsius.

Singapore's inter-agency Resilience Working Group (RWG), which is tasked to oversee the government's efforts to fight climate change, said the ministries will review their plans based on the latest data.

And of the future challenges they expect is more frequent floods.

Across Singapore, rainfall has been on the rise.

The National Environment Agency said the number of days with intense rainfall has crept up, increasing by 1.5 days per decade.

In 1980, average rainfall was 96 millimetres (mm). In 2012, it rose to 117mm.

Given the complexity of weather systems, the RWG said Singapore cannot fully avert flood risks.

However, much can be done to help Singaporeans to cope with the challenges and mitigate the risk to lives and properties.

In 2010, PUB identified 22 canals that required upgrading as the old design could no longer cope with more intense storms.

"We have increased the design requirements for our drains. We're now designing our drains for more intense rainfall so we need to look at capacity, whether it's able to cope with the more intense rainfall," said Ridzuan Ismail, chief engineer (Drainage Planning) at PUB.

Since works began, sections of the Bukit Timah canal and the Kallang River have been upgraded, providing an increase in capacity of between 15 to 50 per cent.

Other locations such as the Rochor Canal and the Geylang River are also undergoing upgrading work.

The construction has to be done in sections because electricity cables and gas pipes are running underground and these cannot be disrupted. As construction works are going on, they have to ensure that water continues to be carried from the catchment areas toward the Marina Reservoir.

PUB said this project is already 60 per cent completed.

The upgraded canal, which will be about two metres wider and 1.7 metres deeper, forms a new U-shape and can hold more water.

The next canal targeted for upgrading works is the Stamford Canal, where a new diversion canal and detention tank will be constructed.

The plan is to eventually upgrade all 22 canals but works are still in the early stages and PUB is hesitant to pin down a completion date.

PUB has also implemented strategies to ensure the public is prepared for floods, using SMS alerts on heavy rains, live CCTV images of flood-prone areas, and updates through social media.

A new regulation was also set in June 2013. Developers must build structures like rain gardens to slow down the flow of storm water into the public drainage system for developments that are more than 0.2 hectares in land size.

The government has stepped up efforts, especially after central Singapore was inundated by floods two weeks ago.

It remains to be seen if Singapore's resilience can keep up as climate change continues to affect the country.

- CNA/fa

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The new lizard in town

Caribbean native, the brown anole, spotted at Gardens by the Bay
Grace Chua Straits Times 23 Sep 13;

A brown anole sunning itself at Gardens by the Bay. The lizards could have arrived on shipments of plants for the garden. -- PHOTO: CHAN KWOK WAI

A NEW foreign talent has settled at Marina Bay: a small brown lizard called a brown anole from the Caribbean.

The pencil-length reptiles are likely to have arrived on shipments of plants for Gardens by the Bay, said researchers who first observed these lizards sunning themselves and courting potential mates there last October.

But will brown anoles cause trouble for native species? The National Parks Board (NParks) is monitoring them to see what their impact on other creatures and plants might be.

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research scientific officer Tammy Lim, 25, was at Gardens by the Bay last October waiting for colleagues for an outing when she saw a brown anole and snapped a photo of it, before seeing others nearby.

She had never seen one before so she showed the photo to a colleague, lecturer Tan Heok Hui.

"Uh oh," he said. "We might have a new introduced species."

The brown anole is a native of Caribbean islands including Cuba and the Bahamas. It likes warm, open grassy areas and the lower parts of trees and shrubs. It is active during the day and usually dines on insects and even other lizards.

In a short write-up in the museum's journal Nature in Singapore, Dr Tan and colleague Kelvin Lim suggested that they could have come here on plants from their native habitat or other places they have settled in, including Florida or Taiwan.

In Florida, brown anoles prey on the hatchlings of native green anoles and in Taiwan, they have altered betel-palm plantation ecology by preying on ants there.

The scientists say the brown anoles will probably prefer open scrubland to the forests of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve here, keeping them out of the way of native forest lizards and skinks.

"The anoles provide interesting diurnal (daytime) activity to the gardens, and can probably be tolerated," they wrote. The population could probably be restricted to Marina Bay by erecting barriers and making sure lizards do not hitch a ride out of the gardens on plant debris.

NParks said it is keeping tabs on the brown anoles at Marina Bay. "The National Parks Board is aware of the presence of the brown anole, Norops sagrei, in Gardens by the Bay," said National Biodiversity Centre director Lena Chan.

National University of Singapore biodiversity researcher David Bickford and his students are conducting a study on whether brown anoles will affect native species. This should be finished in nine months' time.

"This scientific study will enable us to have a better understanding of the species and take appropriate measures, if necessary," Dr Chan added.

Another lizard that has settled down here since the 1980s is the changeable lizard, a native of southwest Asia which appears to be competing with native green-crested lizards for territory.

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The haze: What governments must do — and what they can’t

The haze: What governments must do — and what they can’t
Simon Tay and Chua Chin Wei Today Online 23 Sep 13;

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Environment Ministers meet this week in Jakarta to discuss the haze, there are reasons to doubt governments will address key issues decisively.

Cynics point out that the number of hot spots has again been growing in Sumatra. While some errant companies have been named, not a single one has been prosecuted.

Moreover, when the ministers last met in July in Kuala Lumpur, the Indonesian government declined to release concession maps that ascertain just who holds the lands that are on fire. Malaysia — second only to Indonesia in palm oil production — took a similar position.

More should be expected, given this year’s severe haze, with the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) spiking above 400 in Singapore and many parts of Malaysia. If not, given projections that palm oil plantations will continue to expand, the failure of governments will result in worse haze in the future.

While the issues are complex and multi-dimensional, governments can and should set the direction so that local communities, non-government organisations and local and global industry players can play their part. To tackle the haze, governments must set the parameters of a multi-sector, multi-pronged strategy.

WHAT INDUSTRY IS DOING

Already, even without government regulation, some industry players are looking for solutions. This was what key players from the palm oil industry claimed, at a panel discussion during the ASEAN and Asia Forum organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) earlier this month.

In the first public discussion on the haze since the 400 PSI episode in June, the panel disclosed that they are under pressure from consumers to ensure that their products are environmentally sustainable. Unilever has taken steps to buy only certified palm oil, despite higher costs. Olam said it is able to trace and certify different commodities, and help local farmers understand the benefits of sustainable means of production. Standard Chartered Bank now screens its corporate borrowers on environmental parameters, such as credit and reputational risk.

Major palm oil producer Wilmar said it is putting in extra measures to respond quickly to fires that break out on its land holdings and outside its gates in adjoining areas. The company is also considering releasing its concession maps, but said it will not do this unless other major producers step forward similarly.

Other players are moving, too. During the SIIA’s recent visit to Jakarta, we learned that Greenpeace Indonesia — one of the strongest advocates of sustainable palm oil — is working with major producer Golden Agri to raise industry-wide standards on sustainability.

The environmental group tracks sustainability efforts by agricultural players such as palm oil and paper and pulp companies, and aims to enhance public awareness and use consumer pressure to improve corporate behaviour.

Greenpeace has criticised the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) — which positions itself as the standard setter for the sector — for being ineffective. Its report released early this month in Europe claims that some 39 per cent of the Sumatran fires in June originated on lands held by RSPO members, despite its zero-burn policy.

There are parallel efforts to develop sustainability standards for Indonesian producers and, separately, those in Malaysia.

These national initiatives can help reach out to the millions of small-scale, local palm oil producers who have not joined or are unable to join the RSPO.

However, there are concerns that if different standards and certificates proliferate, confusion will arise and slow down the certification process.

POLITICAL WILL IS NEEDED

Top on the ministers’ agenda this week should be to convince Indonesia to ratify the transboundary haze agreement since it remains the last ASEAN country yet to ratify the agreement.

Ratifying the agreement will be a strong demonstration of political will and commitment by Indonesia’s government at the highest level to enhance local enforcement against those responsible for forest fires. As Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono understands and has said, there are millions in the country’s provinces who suffer the problem first hand.

To show progress, the Indonesian government must work with the palm oil industry. A key step would be to ratchet up RSPO standards for large-scale palm oil producers, and bring smaller producers on board.

Consumers will then be able to make more informed choices, by buying products that use only certified sustainable palm oil.

RELEASE THE MAPS

For this to happen, however, both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments must release the land concession maps. These maps will show who is responsible for the hot spots — especially with the haze monitoring and satellite information that is already easily available.

Companies can then be held accountable when they fail to deal with fires, or else provide evidence that, while the fires occurred on their land, they were not of their doing.

Conversely, concession maps are critical for the traceability of palm oil to be reliable. Only then can consumer choice reward companies who are doing the right thing.

The recurrence of the haze has shone a spotlight on the need to balance economic growth with sustainability as Asia develops. A lot needs to be done in order to find that balance. But a first and key step can and should be taken by the ministers.

It would also be best timed to do so before the ASEAN Summit next month, when the leaders’ agenda is already overflowing with issues such as ASEAN integration and relationships with the major powers.

The haze is an issue that deserves attention, both as an immediate response to the situation this year, as well as a demonstration of ASEAN moving towards an economic community by 2015.

Citizens and corporations can play a major part in addressing the issue, but governments have to do what they can and should.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Simon Tay is Chairman and Chua Chin Wei a Deputy Director at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. The SIIA convened the ASEAN and Asia Forum on Sept 12 with a panel of palm oil industry players and related corporations, and is conferring with Indonesian and other non-government organisations on a future dialogue on the issue.

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Malaysia: Saving the clouded leopard

Ruben Sario The Star 23 Sep 13;

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife researchers are now in a better position to draw up conservation plans following the capture of one of Sabah’s most elusive wildlife animals, the Sunda clouded leopard.

The 25kg male animal was trapped in the lower Kinabatangan region in Sabah’s east coast and released after being fitted with a satellite tracking collar in a collaborative project between the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and research non-governmental organisations WildCRU and the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC).

SWD director Datuk Laurentius Ambu said information collected from the male leopard, including its movements over the next six months, would enable researchers to come up with effective measures in protecting the species.

“One of the major outputs of this long-term research programme will be the production of a state action plan for the leopard,” he said.

SWD assistant director Dr Sen Nathan said a better understanding of the clouded leopard ecology and its habitats would enable conservationists to understand its behaviour and how habitat loss and fragmentation have impacted Sabah’s biggest wild cat.

“We also hope that with more accurate data collected on its home range via satellite collars, we will be able to provide better management of the animal in modified landscapes,” he added.

WildCRU researcher Andrew Hearn said the male Sunda clouded leopard was caught in a trap set along the Sungai Kinabatangan on Sept 15.

“Rarely seen, Sunda clouded leopards are amongst the most elusive and secretive of the world’s wild cats, and remain one of the least understood,” he said.

He said researchers managed to capture a female clouded leopard several days later but the 9kg animal was too small and old to be collared.

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goosens said the research programme is funded mainly by a RM1.46mil donation from Sime Darby Foundation with additional funding and support from the Atlanta Zoo, the Houston Zoo, the Recanati-Kaplan Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, the Point Defiance Zoo and the Rufford Foundation.

Leopardtracking goes hi-tech
Kristy Inus New Straits Times 23 Sep 13;

CONSERVATION EFFORTS: Clouded leopard collared with satellite tracking device

KINABATANGAN: THE first satellite collaring of a wild Sunda clouded leopard was achieved recently near the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC).

The initiative, which saw a 25kg male Sunda clouded leopard trapped before being fitted with the collar on Sept 15, was part of a project focusing on research and conservation of leopards and other carnivores in Sabah.

The project, which was conducted by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and DGFC, was funded by Sime Darby Foundation, while additional funding and support for the conservation efforts were provided by the Atlanta Zoo, the Houston Zoo, the Recanati-kaplan Foundation, Robertson Foundation, the Point Defiance Zoo and Rufford Foundation.

WildCRU spokesman Andrew Hearn said Sunda clouded leopards were elusive and secretive wild cats, and as such, remained one of the least understood.

"I have studied these beautiful animals for seven years, yet have seen them only a handful of times. I've been unable to entice one into our traps, until now.

"The leopard was fitted with a satellite collar to provide us with information on its movements in Kinabatangan.

"The device should send a location every 20 minutes for four to six months.

"This will enable us to better determine its home range and how it moves through the fragmented landscape of the Sabah jungle."

Hearn added that a few days later the team caught another female, weighing only 9kg, which was too small and too old to collar.

However, the team said that they have been documenting her movements in the Kinabatangan area since 2010 by using camera traps seeded across the jungle.

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said the research was carried out based on a RM1.46million donation from the Sime Darby Foundation as part of their 'Big 9' Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

SWD Director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said the results of the research programme on the Sunda clouded leopard would assist in the formation of a State Action Plan for the species.

"By better understanding the clouded leopard's ecology and habitat, we will be able to understand their behaviour and how habitat loss and fragmentation have impacted it," said SWD assistant director Dr Sen Nathan.

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