Best of our wild blogs: 6 Jul 19

Seaweedy at Pulau Sekudu
wild shores of singapore

Butterfly of the Month - July 2019
Butterflies of Singapore

Sat 6th July 2019: 11.00am – 12.30pm @ NLB – Public Talk on Mangroves by Prof Joe Lee and Panel Discussion
Otterman speaks

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It takes a community to protect mangroves: Desmond Lee

Marcia Lee Straits Times 6 Jul 19;

As both the biggest threat to and beneficiary of mangroves, the local community needs to be involved in protecting the tropical trees growing in and around intertidal communities.

Anyone can help by volunteering with organisations like the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Restore Ubin Mangroves initiative, a mangrove rehabilitation project led by researchers, community groups and government agencies.

They can get involved in nature walks, biodiversity surveys and mangrove cleanups in the Central Nature Reserve, Pulau Ubin or Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR).

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Crocodile found in Sungei Kadut drain: Concerns from the past and what next

Experts explain how injured reptile may have got here, suggest possible relocation homes
Shabana Begum Straits Times 6 Jul 19;

The crocodile found in a Sungei Kadut drain last month may have been fleeing a territorial fight or was relocating from Malaysia, wildlife experts told The Straits Times.

The 3.4m estuarine crocodile - one of the largest ever spotted in Singapore - was caught and transferred to a crocodile farm on June 21 by the National Parks Board (NParks) and trained contractors.

It was believed to have entered the Sungei Pang Sua drainage area.

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Malaysia: 31 more Pasir Gudang students suffer breathing difficulties, nausea, vomiting

Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 5 Jul 19;

PASIR GUDANG: Another 31 students from 11 schools here experienced breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting during classes yesterday.

State Health, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar said 21 students were sent to the district health clinic and one, whose condition was more serious, was referred to Sultan Ismail Hospital.

“The rest were treated by the medical psychology team on standby at the respective schools.

“There were no new admissions so far,” he said.

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Indonesia makes serious effort to tackle forest fires

Antara 5 Jul 19;

Indonesia is bracing for devastating and frequent forest fires, following the recurrence of bush and forest fires in many regions of the largest archipelagic country in the world. The authorities in Palangka Raya have been striving to halt the recurrence of bush and forest fires in the Central Kalimantan Province's capital city amid the dry season, while the city's health workers are also preparing to help residents affected by smog.

"At the moment, none of the residents is suffering from health problems due to the impact of the smog," Acting Head of the Palangka Raya Health Office, Andjar Hari Purnomo, said here Thursday.

Over these past few days, bush and forest fires have been spotted in certain areas around the city. On July 2, a thin cloud of smog blanketed the city's sky.

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Best of our wild blogs: 5 Jul 19

Delicate coral garden at Chek Jawa
wild shores of singapore

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Temperatures in Singapore could hit 40°C as early as 2045: Scientists

LOW YOUJIN Today Online 4 Jul 19;

SINGAPORE — By 2045, Singaporeans could face some days of the year when temperatures soar as high as a scorching 40°C.

At best, this sweltering scenario could be delayed to as late as 2065 onwards, according to a suite of simulations conducted by a team of scientists at the Centre for Climate Research Singapore, which is part of the Meteorological Service Singapore.

Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, a senior research scientist at the centre, told TODAY on Thursday (July 4) that this is the worst case scenario if the world continues to emit greenhouse gases at a rate that is “business as usual”.

“It (days of 40°C) won’t be a one-off event. There'll be some days starting from as early as 2045. And that's what we saw in the results. Some models are later. And so that's why we tend to give a range (that is) as early as 2045, possibly, or as late as 2065 onwards,’’ he said.

The scientist’s dire warnings come on the back of a recent four-day heatwave across western Europe that killed at least seven people.

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Second phase of construction begins for Tuas mega port

Michelle Teo Channel NewsAsia 4 Jul 19;

SINGAPORE: A caisson, a watertight structure about the height of a 10-storey HDB block, was installed at the site of the upcoming Tuas mega port on Thursday (Jul 4) to mark the start of its second phase of development.

At 387 hectares, this phase is the largest of the total four to be reclaimed. When fully operational, it will feature 21 deep-water berths, offering a capacity of 21 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo annually.

The completed Tuas mega port will be able to handle up to 65 million TEUs a year.

A total of 227 of the caissons will eventually be transported offshore and sunk into the water to form part of the wharf structure, which will span 8.6km.

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As Malaysia Bans Sand Exports, Singapore Says It’s Using Less

Anisah Shukry and Philip Heijmans Bloomberg 4 Jul 19;

Singapore said it’s been trying to reduce reliance on sand, as neighboring Malaysia announced a ban on all exports of sea sand since last year on environmental concerns.

The city-state piloted a polder development in outlying Pulau Tekong that uses less sand compared to regular reclamation, a spokesperson for Singapore’s Ministry of National Development said in a statement. The government has also sought to diversify its sources of sand to ensure resilient supply, the spokesperson said.

The ministry was responding to questions after Malaysia’s Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said that the country’s sea sand will be limited for domestic use only. The exports ban won’t affect ties with Singapore as it isn’t related to the city-state’s reclamation efforts, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

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Malaysia, Johor: 'Kim Kim clean-up not done properly'

Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 5 Jul 19;

PASIR GUDANG: A group of Pasir Gudang residents has accused state authorities and agencies of failing to properly manage the disposal of chemical waste from the Sungai Kim Kim incident in March.

This, they said, had led to the air pollution incident in the district last month, which saw the temporary closure of 111 schools after scores of schoolchildren fell ill.

Pasir Putih Residents Environmental Pollution Action Committee deputy chairman Mohd Rafee Abdullah said it had reason to believe the recent incident was a result of poor chemical waste management in Sungai Kim Kim.

“The waste from the river clean-up was collected and disposed of, while the rest was buried under tonnes of soil.

“And now, it has resurfaced in the form of vapours, which polluted the air and affected residents.”

Rafee said the residents had conducted their own investigation by visiting affected areas and speaking to those working in the industrial plants.

He said they had photographic evidence to back their claims.

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Indonesia: Aceh's 20-hectare peatland engulfed by fire amid dry season

Antara 4 Jul 19;

Suka Makmue, Aceh (ANTARA) - Fire scorched 20 hectares of peatland in two villages of Nagan Raya District, Aceh, Thursday afternoon, amid the dry season that has mired fire-extinguishing efforts, Nagan Raya Disaster Mitigation Agency's (BPBD's) Acting Head Hamidi stated.

In a bid to prevent the fire, gutting certain peatland areas in Cot Mue Village in Tadu Raya Sub-district and Kuala Tripa Village in Tripa Makmur Sub-district, from further worsening, BPBD workers had built canal blockings, he revealed.

"We have been able to localize the fire by building canal blockings at several locations, but our endeavor to douse it could not as yet be done completely," Hamidi remarked, adding that the fire-razed areas belong to the local villagers.

In putting out the fire, the BPBD workers collaborated with personnel from the military and police as well as members of the community by installing water pumps at various locations, as fire trucks were unable to reach the disaster zone, he noted.

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Indonesia: Jakarta’s air quality kills its residents – and it’s getting worse

Choked up citizens have had enough and are taking the government to court over Jakarta’s chronic smog, Kate Walton points out.
Kate Walton Channel NewsAsia 5 Jul 19;

JAKARTA: The end of the Ramadan fasting period is marked by a week-long holiday in Indonesia. In Jakarta, this means that almost half the population leave the city to travel back to their hometowns and villages to celebrate Idul Fitri with their families.

Usually, this exodus is marked by a noticeable improvement in Jakarta’s air quality, with clear blue skies appearing as the road traffic all but disappears.

This year, however, on Jun 4, one day before the Idul Fitri holiday, Jakarta had the worst air quality in the world, according to AirVisual, an air quality monitoring app. With an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 210, Indonesia’s capital easily ranked above other notoriously polluted cities, such as Beijing, Dubai and New Delhi.

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