Best of our wild blogs: 26 Aug 18

Sailors of Singapore
Butterflies of Singapore

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (24 Aug 2018)
Beetles@SG BLOG

Goodbye Kampong Java Park
Remember Singapore

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Malaysia: Three orangutans captured and relocated after invading orchard in Kinabatangan

natasha joibi The Star 25 Aug 18;

KINABATANGAN: Three male orangutans were safely relocated to a new home after the villagers of Kampung Sri Ganda found the great apes in their midst eating fruits in the orchards on Aug 16.

Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) public relations officer Siti Nur'Ain Ampuan Acheh said a team of rangers were deployed to evaluate the situation after the department was contacted by the villagers.

"A translocation operation was initiated on Tuesday (Aug 21).

"The operation involved SWD rangers and veterinary officer Dr Nabila Sarkawi. They managed to capture three male orangutans aged seven, 15 and 25 respectively.

The orangutans were released into the Kulamba Wildlife Reserve on Saturday (Aug 25).


Three male orangutans released into the wild
Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 25 Aug 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department has safely translocated three male orangutans to a new home after being rescued from a fruit orchard at a village in Kinabatangan, last week.

The department's public relations officer Siti Nur’ain Ampuan Acheh, in a statement, said the orangutans aged 7, 15, and 25 respectively were released into the Kulamba Wildlife Reserve today.

The orangutans were first spotted by villagers from Kampung Sri Ganda on Aug 16.

“They were said to be eating fruits in their (villagers) planted orchards.

“The Department deployed a team of rangers to evaluate the situation and captured the orangutans. A translocation operation was initiated on Aug 21,” said Siti.

She added the operation involved the department’s wildlife rangers and veterinary officer, Dr Nabilla Sarkawi.

She said medical examination was conducted on all three orangutans and they were recorded healthy and fit before being released into the wild.

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Malaysia: Open burning not done in decades, says Sime Darby

The Star 26 Aug 18;

PETALING JAYA: One of Malaysia’s biggest plantation companies reaffirms its zero-burning policy in its operations across Indonesia as haze from hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan blows into the country.

Sime Darby Plantation (SDP), which has operations in nine provinces in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi and with a total oil palm-planted area of more than 202,000ha, said it did not practise burning to clear land at all.

“Our oil palm estates are mainly located in south, west and central Kalimantan; Riau and south Sumatra.

“Hotspots in our operations are being monitored constantly with the use of a satellite system.

SDP was responding to queries on its commitment to zero-burning policy at its estates in Indonesia, where local authorities in the past blamed Malaysian companies for the open burning.

SDP said it had also extended its zero-burning policy to its neighbours and helped them monitor and put out fires in areas within a 5km radius of its estates’ boundaries.

“As part of this commitment, all our estates maintain their own firefighting teams who are fully equipped.

“Our operations also engage the neighbouring local communities to help them set up their own fire-prevention initiative, otherwise known as Masyarakat Peduli Api.

“We also establish co-operation with other companies within the vicinity of our operations to monitor hotspots,” it said.

It added that its Sustainable Community-based Fire Prevention Programme was implemented in partnership with local universities to educate local communities in fire-prone villages surrounding its operations.

“To date, it has covered 19 villages or about 40,000ha comprising areas surrounding our operations in Sumatra and south Kalimantan,” it said.

It maintained that SDP did not practise burning to clear land and had not done so for more than three decades.

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Indonesia: Court Finds President Jokowi Guilty in 2015 Kalimantan Forest Fire

Tempo 25 Aug 18;

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Palangkaraya High Court found that President Joko `Jokowi` Widodo guilty for negligence in the 2015 forest fire case that ended up causing a larger issue from the smoke it produced.

Director of West Kalimantan`s non-profit Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Anton P. Widjaya said that the pieces of evidence in the field corroborates to the verdict.

Anton explained that up to August 14, there were 790 hot spots in the region with 201 of them in corporate areas. “Based on the hot spots on August 14, 2018, that were overlaid with West Kalimantan’s concession distribution map, there were 201 hot spots from the 790 spots in the concession,” he said on Friday, August 24.

He further expressed that the images from NASA MODIS Collection 6 (C6) aligns 80-100 percent to the West Kalimantan’s investment distribution map. This is the reason why Walhi urges the Forestry and Environment Ministry Siti Nurbaya Bakar to clarify the statement issued by Ruandha Agung Sugardiman, Director General of climate change control, who stated that the forest fires were caused by civilians in the area.

The statement by Ruandha, said Anton, reflects the lack of commitment from the government institution in upholding the law in environmental-related cases. Anton deemed the government’s statement is not backed by data, heavily subjective, and gives the impression that the government is protecting corporations that intentionally burn its concession land areas.

“The effect of one hundred farmers that burn their limited crop field areas and one corporation that burns thousands of hectares of land is not the same,” said Anton who acknowledged the fact that there are civilians who manage their field by conducting small-scale forest fires.

“The legal responsibility is in corporations and bureaucracy as owners of concessions, but why are the people that get the blame. The country should not protect environmental criminals in Indonesia,” Anton said.

Walhi further asks President Jokowi to make sure that the environment ministry would keep its commitment to take legal steps against corporations that are proven to be guilty in order to recover natural resource management in Indonesia.

AHMAD FAIZ


Court receives Jokowi's cassation petition against forest fire guilty verdict
Marguerite Afra Sapiie The Jakarta Post 28 Aug 18;

The Supreme Court has received a cassation appeal filed by the government against a Palangkaraya High Court ruling that found President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo liable in the disastrous forest fires in Central Kalimantan.

Court spokesman Abdullah said the Supreme Court's administrative division was still checking the completeness of the appeal dossier, after which it would be handed over to the clerks’ division to be given a registration number.

"We cannot be sure when [the case will be processed] but it will not be too long, possibly within one month at the maximum," Abdullah said on Tuesday adding that the government would get no privilege from the court in handling the case.

Palangkaraya High Court ruled on Aug. 22 upholding the Palangkaraya District Court's ruling issued in March last year, which sided with environmental activists from Central Kalimantan who filed a citizen’s lawsuit against the government on the 2015 fires that caused the nation’s worst-ever haze crisis.

The activists filed the lawsuit against the President and his Cabinet ministers, including the environment, agriculture and health ministers as well as the Central Kalimantan governor and Central Kalimantan Regional Representative Council (DPRD).

In the ruling, the District Court ordered Jokowi to issue a regulation to support the implementation of the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law to prevent and control forest fires with the involvement of members of the public.

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 Aug 18

Highlights of Love MacRitchie Walk with NUS Toddycats! – Aug 2018
Love our MacRitchie Forest

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Malaysia: 137 hotspots detected in Kalimantan, S'wak braces for worsening haze

MUHD AMIRUL FAIZ AHMAD New Straits Times 24 Aug 18;

KUCHING: Sarawak is bracing for worsening haze following the discovery of 137 hotspots in Kalimantan, Indonesia, yesterday, caused by open burning, compared with 13 hotspots recorded on Aug 20.

The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said the 124 new hotspots were detected in the West, Middle and Southern of Kalimantan within a four-day period.

Although the Air Pollution Index (API) in 12 main areas in the state had yet to reach the unhealthy reading, the risk of cross-border haze would persist should the number of hotspots remained.

There was about 100 hotspots detected in West Kalimantan alone, posing risk to a cross-border haze especially in Kuching and its surrounding.

Checks revealed that API in nine main areas in the state recorded a moderate reading as of noon.

API in Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman, Sarikei, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu, Miri and ILP Miri recorded readings between 51 and 74.

Meanwhile Limbang, Samalaju, and Kapit, recorded healthy readings of between 31 and 41.

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Indonesia: Calls grow for Jokowi to protect Tapanuli orangutan

Evi Mariani and Apriadi Gunawan The Jakarta Post 24 Aug 18;

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya paid a visit to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the palace on Oct. 31 last year bearing good news. A group of scientists had confirmed the finding of a new orangutan species called Tapanuli orangutan, she reported to the President.

Less than a year later, the global scientists who researched the endangered species sent two letters to the Presidential Palace. The first letter in July said there was a Chinese-funded hydropower project in the orangutan habitat that “could be the death knell for the Tapanuli orangutan, by flooding a key expanse of its habitat and, even more crucially, by slicing up its remaining forest home with new roads, power lines, tunnels and other built facilities”.

The scientists believe only 800 Tapanuli orangutans remain in their habitat, the Batang Toru ecosystem in South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra. The apes, with frizzier hair than their Bornean and Sumatran counterparts, have been threatened by poaching and illegal logging. The planned dam, they believe, will make the species’ chance of survival slimmer. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included the species on its red list, calling it “critically endangered”.

The second letter, dated Aug. 16, reiterated the scientists’ request, saying that they had collected scientific evidence that had led them to believe the project “should not have been approved initially by the North Sumatra provincial government”.

'Green' dam

The company responsible for the project, PT North Sumatera Hydro Energy (NSHE), refuted the scientists’ claims, saying that the hydropower plant, designed to produce 510 megawatts of electricity, was an environmentally friendly project, which would not flood much of the Batang Toru ecosystem.

The NSHE said the hydropower plant, which used "run-of-river technology" and had Chinese state-owned company Sinohydro as the contractor and operator, would only flood 67.7 hectares of area in Batang Toru, which is not a protected forest but an area penggunaan lain (nonforest estate). The company also argued that it had completed all the necessary documents required by the North Sumatra administration.

The company, which is financially backed by a consortium of Chinese and international banks, told The Jakarta Post that it had taken measures to protect the orangutans and that it was also interested in protecting the forest because its project depended on the abundance of water in the Batang Toru River. “We will join any effort in the future that aims to better the orangutan habitat,” Agus Djoko Ismanto, a senior adviser to the NSHE, said recently. “We are not planning to inundate 9,600 hectares,” Agus said.

'When roads appear, apes disappear'

The scientists, however, are not convinced.

One of them, Bill Laurance, director of the Center for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University, said in-depth scientific analysis of the conservation status and threats to the Tapanuli orangutan had found that when new roads appeared, apes disappeared.

The NSHE confirmed that besides the 67.7-ha that will be flooded with water; about 600-ha will be used to build roads, tunnels and other infrastructure.

In the letter addressed to the President in July, 25 scientists from all over the world, including Jatna Supriatna from the University of Indonesia, said that instead of approving the dam project, the government should have had initiated forest restoration efforts in Batang Toru. "Roads are a particularly insidious threat because they open the ape’s habitat to poachers, illegal loggers, miners and land encroachers. Recent scientific analysis shows that the Tapanuli orangutan survives only where roads are almost entirely absent," the letter said.

Over 1.3 million supporters

Environmentalists and others all over the world have voiced their support for the scientists. A global campaign to save the species began early this month and had gained more than 1.31 million supporters.

"As citizens from across the world, we urge you to save the last 800 Tapanuli orangutans from extinction by canceling the Batang Toru hydropower dam project. The fate of this entire species rests in your hands, "the petition on avaaz.org said.

Protests from national environmentalists have also escalated into a lawsuit. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the regional administration’s decision to issue permits for the power plant.

One of the organization’s lawyers, Golfrid Siregar, said the permit issuance was problematic on account of the lack of discussion and participation from locals.

Separately, the director of Walhi’s North Sumatra office, Dana Prima Tarigan, said the power plant could also cause an ecological disaster, as it would be located near an earthquake-prone area in the province.

In response to the growing calls, the Environment and Forestry Ministry had held a coordination meeting with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and the company to discuss possible solutions.

“After the meeting, we established a joint team comprising personnel from both ministries, the company, regional administration and the Indonesian Orangutan Forum [Forina], which is task with looking for alternatives to be applied in the area,” the ministry’s natural resources and ecosystems director general, Wiratno, told the Post last week.

One of the solutions offered by the company, he added, was to build an “orangutan corridor” that would help the animal migrate between the two forest areas in Batang Toru. Should the concept can be applied in the area, it will become the first corridor to be implemented in Indonesia.

“It, however, was still an idea. The team will need to go into the area first before offering possible solutions. We are still waiting for data from the field,” Wiratno said. (amd)

Kharishar Kahfi contributed to this story from Jakarta

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Best of our wild blogs: 24 Aug 18

Fri 24 Aug 2018: 4.30pm – Weiting speaks about Civet ecology and human-civet coexistence @ SR2, NUS DBS
The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

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Grab to roll out fleet of 200 electric vehicles

CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 23 Aug 18;

Grab drivers using the electric vehicles can enjoy preferential charging rates at SP charging stations

SINGAPORE — Grab is the latest transport operator to jump on the electric vehicle bandwagon, announcing on Thursday (Aug 23) that it is rolling out a fleet of 200 new electric vehicles, which will tap utility provider Singapore Power's (SP) fast-charging network.

In a joint news release by Grab and SP Group, the ride-hailing giant said the new fleet will be progressively rolled out in Singapore from early next year. While it did not provide details on the model of the electric vehicle it is bringing in, it said the model has a "sporty style and spacious interior" and has an estimated range of 400km per charge.

Drivers who take up the new model will enjoy preferential electric vehicle charging rates at all SP Group charging stations islandwide and discounted parking at some partner venues.

Specific details will be announced later, when SP Group is expected to set up the first 30 charging points.

SP Group announced in June that it will be installing 500 new charging points across the island by 2020, with the first 30 operational by the end of this year.

Of the 500 charging points, more than 100 will be 50kW-DC (direct current) charging points, which is a fast charge technology that can fully charge an electric vehicle in less than 30 minutes. The rest will run on AC (alternating current), which is a slower charge.

Existing chargers currently run at rates between 7.4kW and 8kW, which can take anywhere between two and eight hours to fully charge an electric vehicle.

SP Group said that the points will be located at shopping malls, residential areas, business parks and industrial sites, among others. In Thursday's release, SP Group added that it plans to install charging points in "close-proximity to coffee-shops and food outlets" to allow drivers to match their charging time with meal and driving breaks.

There are currently 40 electric vehicle charging points owned by SP Group across the island, most of which are located at the firm's depots.

This partnership provides Grab drivers with "greater time and cost savings, maximising daily income", said Grab. As such, they expect drivers using electric vehicles to earn up to 25 per cent more in daily income, compared to those on regular petrol vehicles.

Head of Grab Singapore Lim Kell Jay said: "We have heard from our driver-partners that a faster charge time and longer electric vehicle driving range are important considerations for them when making the switch to electric vehicles. We have taken their feedback on board and have negotiated the best deals to bring them concrete savings and the best vehicle model to cater to their driving needs."

Adding that the company was "proud and happy" to partner with SP, he said that "Grab is in a unique position to help drive a cleaner, greener Singapore by encouraging more of our drivers to adopt electric vehicles".

SP Group's head of strategic development Goh Chee Kiong was confident that the partnership will "accelerate the wider adoption of electric vehicles in Singapore".

He said: "The pervasive fast-charging network will provide Grab's electric vehicle drivers with convenience and speed in charging their vehicles, while helping them to achieve energy and cost savings."

Besides Grab, the other transport operators who have expanded their electric vehicle fleet include ComfortDelGro, which is buying up to 1,200 petrol-electric Hyundai Ioniq Hybrids, which will be delivered by the middle of 2019. The taxi giant also trialled two fully-electric Hyundai cabs in July this year.

HDT Singapore Taxi has also been operating about 100 electric-powered cabs under a two year trial, and had been awarded a full-fledged taxi service operator licence just last month. It has said it will gradually increase its fleet size to at least 800 electric taxis in Singapore within four years.

Other ride-hailing firms in Singapore such as Ryde and Tada declined to comment on whether they had similar plans to add electric vehicles into their fleets.


Grab to introduce 200 electric vehicles from next year under SP Group partnership
Zhaki Abdullah Straits Times 23 Aug 18;

SINGAPORE - Ride-hailing firm Grab will bring in 200 new electric vehicles from next year, as part of a partnership with energy utilities provider SP Group.

Grab announced on Thursday (Aug 23) that the new vehicles - which will hit the roads progressively from early next year - will be available through its rental arm GrabRentals.

Under the partnership, Grab's private-hire car drivers will enjoy preferential rates at SP Group's electric vehicle charging stations and discounted parking for drivers using the charging stations.

The energy utilities provider announced plans in June to introduce a network of 500 fast-charging stations by 2020, with the first 30 to be set up by the end of this year.

These will be placed at areas such as housing estates, shopping malls, industrial sites and business parks.

The Singapore-based ride-hailing firm said it would work with SP Group to study usage patterns of its electric vehicles to improve the accessibility and utilisation of charging stations.

Grab said more details regarding the cost of charging, as well as the electric vehicle models to be used, will be made known by the end of this year.

The firm noted however that the model will have a range of 400km per charge, which allows for a full day of driving on 40 minutes of charging.

Mr Goh Chee Kiong, SP Group's strategic development head, said the partnership with Grab will help "accelerate the wider adoption of EVs (electric vehicles) in Singapore and support the nation's efforts to reduce our carbon footprint".

"With SP joining our consortium of EV partners, Grab is in a unique position to help drive a cleaner, greener Singapore by encouraging more of our drivers to adopt EVs," said Grab Singapore head Lim Kell Jay.

While fully electric cars are already available through Grab, their numbers are not known.

Green vehicles have taken off recently, with the number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars at 647 as of last month (July), up from 137 two years ago.

In February, electricity retailer Red Dot Power announced a partnership with Finnish charging technology firm PlugIT to install at least 50 charging stations by the end of next year.

Electric car-sharing operator BlueSG aims to build 2,000 charging points by 2020, and make 400 of them available to the public.

Taxi giant ComfortDelGro introduced two fully electric Hyundai Ioniq cabs to its fleet last month as part of a one-year trial, while HDT Singapore Taxi will expand its fully electric fleet from 100 currently to 800 by July 2022.

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Tarantulas, geckos and a hedgehog seized from man's home by AVA

Timothy Goh Straits Times 23 Aug 18;

SINGAPORE - More than two dozen animals were found inside a man's house during an investigation by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Last Wednesday (Aug 15), an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer stationed in the Parcel Post Section of SingPost Centre detected anomalies in the scanned image of a postal article.

According to a Facebook post by the ICA, when further checks were conducted, the authorities discovered 23 tarantulas kept inside tubes.

The case was then referred to AVA for further investigation.

Afterwards, 20 tarantulas, a jumping spider, three leopard geckos, a fat-tailed gecko and a hedgehog were found in the home of the man, a 23-year-old Singaporean.

All the animals were seized and placed in the care of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

In a statement on Thursday (Aug 23), the ICA said: "The keeping and/or trading of wildlife such as tarantulas is an offence in Singapore under the Wild Animals and Birds Act."

Investigations are ongoing.

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Malaysia: Go all out against illegal foreign fishing boats, says Sabah minister

stephanie lee The Star 23 Aug 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The state government wants the relevant authorities to go all out and catch illegal foreign fishing vessels operating in Sabah waters, and even legal boats using unlicensed methods.

State Agriculture and Food Industries minister Junz Wong said he had received numerous complaints from local fishing communities that they were seeing more fishing vessels from Vietnam operating in Kuala Penyu (some 100km south-west of Kota Kinabalu).

He said even licensed foreign vessels were believed to be using (more destructive) fishing methods apart from those stated in their documents.

“We need the marine and other relevant enforcement authorities to look into these claims and go all out to nab offenders and guard our shoreline which measures over 1, 359km,” he said in a statement here Thursday (Aug 23).

“We hope maritime enforcers can move their machinery and vessels towards areas that are encroached into to prevent offenders from continuing their activities,” he said.

Wong said according to fisheries records, Sabah allowed only 51 deep-sea vessels (operated by 11 local companies) to fish.

He said of those 51 vessels, 18 were locally-made while 33 were made in Vietnam, but operated by locals here.

Only 11 of these vessels were allowed to do fish trawling (pukat tunda), while the others could only use nets or lines - seven vessels are to use in seine fishing (pukat jerut) while 33 use longline fishing (rawai), he stressed.

“From 2015, foreign-made vessels such as those from Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, China and Brunei were no longer allowed to operate in Sabah waters but those which have been used before 2015 are still allowed,” he said.

Wong said deep-sea vessels were only allowed to operate in two zones of Sabah – west coast areas and Tawau. Moreover, they could only operate 30 nautical miles from shore.

However, he said he still received complaints from local fishermen claiming that vessels that were supposed to use only longlines were using trawling nets instead to catch fish. (Trawling catches more fish but it can also result in over-fishing and destruction of corals that act as habitat for marine life.)

“I hope the security forces will look into this as well,” he said, adding that local communities should be the eyes and ears of enforcement teams.

Meanwhile, Wong commended the close relations and cooperation between the Sabah Fisheries Department and marine police in their effort to curb illegal activities at sea.

He said the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) had seized five Vietnamese fishing vessels and crews from Sabah waters so far this year.

“Some of them have been charged and sentenced in court for their offences,” he added.

Wong said seized vessels would be destroyed and sunk once court cases were complete.

He said sunk vessels would become artificial reefs and allow for reproduction of marine life.

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Indonesia: Impacts of forest fires kill four in W. Kalimantan

The Jakarta Post 23 Aug 18;

The police have said four people had died in the past month because of forest fires in West Kalimantan.

West Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Haryono said on Wednesday that four people from different regencies had died from different causes as a result of forest fires.

The two victims in Melawi regency named Vito, 7, and Rio, 11, experienced severe burns. Vito died on Aug. 12 near his house while Rio died on Aug. 16 after being transferred to Soedarso Hospital in Pontianak, the capital city of West Kalimantan.

A resident of Sambas regency, Jaidan, 56, also died from smoke inhalation on Aug. 16, while trying to put out a fire in his farm.

The latest reported victim was Ensungga, 69, a resident of Sintang regency. His charred body was found on Monday. A day before, he left the house saying he wanted to put out a fire in his farm.

Didi said the impacts of forest fire were extremely dangerous.

“In terms of health, smoke inhalation can damage children's cerebral nerves and can cause disease,” he said.

Fire also disrupts the distribution of staple foods, he said.

Forest fires in the province are believed to be a result of slash-and-burn practices for land clearance. (sau/swd)


Water-bombing helicopters, artificial rain deployed to fight forest fires in W. Kalimantan
Karina M. Tehusijarana
The Jakarta Post 24 Aug 18;

Government agencies have deployed 10 water-bombing helicopters to extinguish forest and wildfires that have been plaguing West Kalimantan over the last month.

“The joint team continues its struggle to put out the forest and wildfires,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement on Thursday.

Besides the helicopters, the BNPB is also working with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) to create artificial rain by seeding clouds with sodium chloride, Sutopo added.

“It has rained unevenly in the past few days, which has helped reduce the fires,” he said.

As of Thursday, Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) satellites had detected 885 hot spots in the province, more than in any other province. Four people have died as a result of forest fires in the province over the last month.

Sutopo said the fires were exacerbated by the local custom of burning fields before clearing land during the dry season.

“The residents of the Sanggau, Sambas, Ketapang, and Kubu Raya regencies have a tradition called gawai serentak where they prepare for the planting season by burning,” he said. “The regional government has forbidden it but it is still practiced in many places.”

He added that local police would continue patrols to stop such deliberate burning.

The BMKG has also issued a warning that increasingly dry weather could trigger even more fires during the peak of the dry season from August to September. (swd)

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