Paying a price for cheap food

john lui, Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

FOOD, INC. (PG)
94 minutes/opens tomorrow/

The story: This documentary reveals how cheap food may have come at too high a price to human health, happiness and the environment.

All those who wish to hang on to whatever is left of their innocence of how food is produced, stay away from this documentary.

Modern agricultural practices are portrayed here as a hollow joke played on consumers. Logos of merry milkmaids and smiling cows on food packages beguile buyers into thinking that such things still exist when the truth is closer to The Matrix's meat battery cells than to Anne Of Green Gables's rolling pastures.

For example, that red thing that we think is a tomato? It may look like a tomato, but put it in one's mouth and it is clear that it is something merely genetically engineered to look good and last longer on the shelf, not taste good.

The film confirms almost every nagging suspicion most people have had about dirt-cheap fast-food hamburgers and fried chicken: Some day, the piper must be paid.

Almost everywhere that the cameras want to go is off-limits, thanks to the security policies of the major agricultural companies that run rural America. At one location, a chicken pen that raises fryers, where a disgruntled employee-farmer lets the cameras in, the scene sticks in the mind: a floor thick with birds, bred with breasts so big their scrawny legs cannot support their lopsided weight, causing them to sway and fall like drunken sailors.

It is one of a few scenes of visceral impact in the movie, which otherwise comprises less-than-riveting diagrams and figures along with footage of environmental damage, obese people and sad small-town farmers in torn overalls.

Film-maker Robert Kenner, who has made other documentaries on blues music and famous World War II battles, imbues Food, Inc. with a gentle, folksy feel, as if it were a very long insurance advertisement.

But make no mistake, this is a one-sided polemic based in part on the works of authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation).

It puts the blame on greedy corporations and their stooges in government and largely gives a free pass to the cheapskate consumer and to the efficiency-fixated, time-starved culture that allowed the problem to arise in the first place.

It makes some very valid points about how cheap food is hurting animals and ruining our health and the planet, but the film does act a little like a candy coating for a truth that may be even harder to swallow than a tomato that tastes of nothing.

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The Wi-Fi road less travelled

Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

THAM YUEN-C trawls the island for some unusual and lesser-known places where you can surf for free on Wireless@SG

AT THE hawker centre in Tampines Street 11, visitors can tuck into a plate of chicken rice for $1.80 - and surf the Net for free.

The town centre with 225 stalls and shops is one of a growing number of places in the heartland where people can expect to use the free Wireless@SG service, a government initiative meant to get people here surfing the Internet.

"So it is $1.80 for chicken rice with free Wi-Fi. That is added value for their customers," quipped Ken Chua, chief executive officer of iCell, one of the three private Wi-Fi service providers here which are extending the free service at the usual cafes, fast food joints and libraries to more quirky surf turfs.

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the blood bank and even the toilets at East Coast Park are some of the out-of-town hotspots.

New surf turf

The push is part of a step-up to get Singapore wirelessly connected.

In June this year, the Government announced that it was pumping in another $9 million to give the Wireless@SG service a boost: It will be extended for another four years and surfing speeds will also be bumped up from 512kbps to 1Mbps by September.

The combination of Government assistance, increasing demand for wireless surfing in the heartland and new revenue sources for small businesses which want to give their customers something extra have led to the Wi-Fi push into surburbia.

The new hotspots will join the network of 7,500 locations - more than half of them in the Orchard Road shopping belt and in the Central Business District - already up since Wireless@SG first rolled out in 2006.

The service is a joint venture between the Government and three Wi-Fi service providers which comprise QMax, SingTel and iCell.

The cost of the network is shared among all parties. In 2006, the Government pledged $100 million for the project.

To date, 1.3 million people have signed up for the free service. On average, 35 per cent of people who use Wireless@SG spend more than 3.6 hours a week online.

New revenue source

Both QMax and iCell have said they will increase coverage in town centres and suburban shopping malls.

iCell, for instance, has blanketed hawker centres in Marine Parade, Bedok and Haig Road (near the Paya Lebar MRT station).

A SingTel spokesman also said it would provide the service in areas where there is demand, including the heartland.

As the reach spreads, businesses are also cottoning on to providing value-added services.

At the Tampines Street 11 hawker centre, for example, the wireless network also supports cashless payment terminals which the shops and hawker stalls are using to allow people to pay with ez-link cards.

This means that the three Wi-Fi providers can derive revenue from the network, which goes towards subsidising the service for consumers who get it for free.

"We balance the free service with the paid service for businesses so it is more sustainable," said Ken. "In the end, we want more people to join in the fun."

Six quirky places to surf
Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

1. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Where: Neo Tiew Crescent

Not all areas of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve are covered by the free Wi-Fi network. However, there is a little hut - Main Hide 1A - where you can get Wireless@SG signals.

Located right at the entrance to the reserve, after the welcome area, the shady hut is where you can sit on high benches and surf while gazing into the mudflats frequented by migratory shorebirds.

Some of the species you can spy include the White-throated Kingfisher, the Pacific Swallow and the Little Egret.

Apart from going online to find out more about our feathered friends, park visitors can also post pictures of the birds on their favourite photo sites. There are lots of little bugs and critters though, so do slather on insect repellent.

Another area where you can receive Wireless@SG signals is the Aerie Tower. A 20-minute track from the entrance, the 18m tall tower gives a panoramic view of the nature reserve with views of Johor Bahru.

A word of warning: Outdoor hotspots are more prone to failures because bad weather can disrupt the supply of power needed by the wireless routers. So you might not want to make that trek to the tower with a mission to surf. Rather, just enjoy the view.

2. Marina Barrage

Where: Marina Way

Most people go to the Marina Barrage for the view or the food, or both.

Well, head to the ground-floor restaurant to sip and surf while taking in the sea view or the city skyline under open blue skies.

Located at the Marina Channel, where the Singapore and Kallang rivers meet, the barrage separates sea water from fresh water and also acts as a dam to control water levels in the area to prevent flooding.

3. Library of Botany & Horticulture

Where: Botanic Gardens, Botany Centre

Look through the glass walls into the landscaped gardens of the Botanic Gardens while you surf the Net at the Library of Botany & Horticulture.

Nestled in the Botany Centre in the southern part of the Gardens, the area is tucked away from joggers and the bustle in the park. It is peaceful and quiet.

The building is the high-technology centre of the gardens and we are not just talking Wireless@SG, the free public Wi-Fi service. The Botany Centre also houses the research laboratories where botanists micropropogate orchids with plant tissue culture to grow a large number of plants quickly.

Apart from literature on local flora and fauna, budding gardeners can also check out plant and dried fruit specimens.

4. Bloodbank@HSA

Where: The Health Sciences Authority at Outram Road

Give blood without giving up time on Facebook. At the Bloodbank@HSA, you can surf the Net for free and do good at the same time.

The waiting room, donation suites and refreshment area of the bank are all covered by Wireless@SG. So you can save time by checking on those work e-mail messages or kill time by watching YouTube video clips while waiting for your turn to donate blood.

In order to meet the transfusion needs of hospitals here, the blood bank, with its partner, the Singapore Red Cross, has to ramp up the number of regular blood donors from 1 per cent to 2 by next year. That would mean getting in 300 to 400 donors a day for the 250 to 300 units of blood needed by the hospitals here each day.

The good thing is that there is no shortage of seats here, so you will not have to hover around waiting for people to leave such as in crowded foodcourts.

5. Registry of Marriages

Where: Fort Canning

It might seem counter-productive to provide Wireless@SG at the Registry of Marriages. After all, most people are there to tie the knot or to witness the big event and party later, so they should have no time for the Net.

However, there is nothing wrong with throwing some tech into the nuptial festivities: Couples can share the joy with family and friends who are not present via a webcam, update their Facebook pages right away and post photos of their solemnisation ceremony online.

Other scenarios: A jittery groom could make a desperate dash for football websites if he thinks such activities will be curtailed soon after marriage. Or, the bride, on a hunch, could go online to check if a potential spouse might already be hitched.

6. East Coast Park beach

Where: Near Ski 360 cable ski park

If you are sick of fighting for a seat at coffee joints or libraries just so you can surf for free, the beach offers lots of open spaces where you can get onto Wireless@SG.

The best spots, though, are those near the toilets because the wall is where the wireless routers are mounted on. The reason is that the toilets are the only structures in the vicinity that provide round-the-clock power supply, something which the routers need.

That means you can also surf the Net on your Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phone while answering the call of nature.

Of course, surfing on the beach presents its own problems such as the glare from the sun and the lack of a power source for the laptop. Make sure you pack an extra battery and an anti-glare screen protector or an umbrella.

Wi-Fi at Sungei Buloh but none in Punggol New Town
Straits Times Forum 30 Jul 09;

I REFER to the article in Wednesday's Digital Life "Wi-Fi with the birds".

While I applaud the Government's actions to increase Singapore's free Wi-Fi coverage by extending it to toilets in East Coast Park, various hawker centres and even Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Punggol New Town which has been touted "a waterfront town of the 21st century" is devoid of any Wi-Fi coverage.

As a resident of Punggol, I am disappointed that our feathered friends have priority when it comes to free Wi-Fi.

Linus Tay

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1,000ha shrimp farm at Setiu, Kuala Terengganu

Aug 3 deadline for objections on the proposed shrimp project
The Star 29 Jul 09;

KUALA TERENGGANU: Environmentalists have until Aug 3 to raise their objections to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the proposed 1,000ha shrimp farming project in Setiu.

The EIA report on the Integrated Shrimp Aquaculture Park (iSHARP) in Penarik, near Setiu, was posted on the Department of Environment website (http://gis.doe.gov.my) yesterday.

Though the report was supportive of the project provided some measures were put in place to protect the environment, one tour operator based here has expressed his concern that the Setiu wetlands may be damaged.

Alex Lee, who operates Ping Anchorage Travel and Tours, said the wetlands are known for migratory birds, honey bees, gelam trees and critically endangered river terrapins (Batagur baska) and painted terrapin (callagur borneoensis) are found in Sg Caluk while green turtles (Chalonia mydas) and the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivaceae) nest in Kg Kuala Setiu Baharu, close to the project site.

He said: “There is potential for eco-tourism in the area which is getting popular. Locals have also replanted the area with mangrove and nipah trees.

“I am worried that the shrimp farm may impact the wetlands negatively and affect eco-tourism and the environment.”The report said “the development of iSHARP would be a significant boost to the shrimp production capacity of Malaysia and augur well for the Government’s objective to increase aquaculture production to supplement declining marine capture fisheries.

“The iSHARP project is a High Impact Project identified in the second stimulus package announced by the Government to boost the economy of Penarik in Setiu that has been identified as an Aquaculture Industrial Zone by the Department of Fisheries.”

State Industrial, Commerce and Environment Committee chairman Toh Chin Yaw said the state government would implement mitigation measures to protect the environment when the project, located 4.5km from the wetlands, takes off later this year.

Toh said the state government will monitor to ensure the Environmental Management Plan, Wildlife Management Plan and Emergency Response Plan are im- plemented before any work at the site can start.

Officers from the state Department of Environment will oversee the development.

“We are concerned as the proposed site is environmentally sensitive,” he said yesterday.

Toh said the state government will safeguard the environment especially along Sg Caluk and its tributaries, which are habitats for river terrapin and waterways for nesting turtles.

Meanwhile, Kampung Fikris Village Development and Security head Adnan Mohamad said iSHARP would transform a degraded Gelam forest in Setiu into a productive shrimp production that will create 1,500 jobs for locals.

Kampung Fikri is one of the villages fringing the project site. The others are Rhu Sepuluh, Kampung Bukit Caluk, Kampung Penarik, Kampung Baru Penarik, Kampung Mangkuk, Kampung Nyatoh, Kampung Permaisuri and Kampung Banggol.

Adnan said villagers, predominately fishermen, would have the opportunity to be employed as local residents will get priority for 70% of the jobs from the project.

Adnan said there were some villagers who opposed the project without realising the positive economic boost of the farm.

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The road ahead for Seoul's green crusaders

Goh Sui Noi, Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

KOREANS like to think that they are natural environmentalists. They put forth the following argument to prove their point:

Chinese gardens are full of miniature mountains, forests and rivers, revealing the Chinese desire to conquer nature. The Japanese have walled-in, meticulously tended gardens, showing their tendency to domesticate nature and bring it into their abodes. The Koreans build houses with low roofs and low perimeter walls the better to view the landscape without, showing their wish to enjoy nature as it is.

All the same, South Korea's leading green activist Choi Yul, 60, came to be an environmentalist via a circuitous route. He started out in the 1970s as a student activist agitating for democratic reforms. He was jailed in 1975 - the year he graduated with a degree in agrochemistry - by the Park Chung Hee government.

Disallowed political reading material, he requested that civic groups send him books on the environment from overseas. After six years in prison reading 250 books on global environmental issues, he emerged as an environmental activist.

'I realised that South Korea's rapid industrialisation process would soon lead the country towards an ecological disaster,' he told the Unesco Courier, a publication of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

South Korea had embarked on an industrialisation programme in the 1960s, and by the 1980s was plagued by pollution problems. It is telling that the first environmental body Mr Choi set up - in 1982 - was the Korea Anti-Pollution Organisation, the country's first environmental non-governmental organisation.

The 1970s and 1980s were decades when people did not express themselves in South Korea, he told The Straits Times, not even when they were threatened by pollution or when development encroached on the land of farmers.

'I was under watch. When invited to give a lecture at a university, I was prevented from leaving my home (to give the talk),' he recounted.

He was also not allowed to travel overseas to attend international environmental conferences. The only broadcasting station that would invite him to give talks on the environment was the Christian Broadcasting System.

The oppression stopped only in 1987, when the pro-democracy movement forced reforms and South Korea had direct presidential elections. Still, in 1985, Mr Choi managed to draw attention to the pollution problem in Onsan town with a population of 10,000 where metals factories were contaminating the water with heavy metals such as copper, zinc and cadmium. Eventually, the government moved 8,800 households out of the area.

Mr Choi went on to found the Korean Federation of Environmental Movement, an umbrella body for environmental groups, in 1993.

He has since started another organisation, the Korea Green Foundation, to train professionals in the environmental movement and to raise awareness of climate change through education. The foundation also fosters regional cooperation and is planting trees in China and digging wells in Mongolia and Cambodia. Mr Choi's causes have changed through the years, from anti-pollution to food safety to anti-nuclear waste dumping to restoration of ecosystems and now to climate change.

Other environmental groups have sprung up in South Korea, such as the Citizen Movement for Environmental Justice which focuses on promoting children's environmental rights and stemming environmental degradation from large-scale construction projects initiated by the government. The Green Korea United, another umbrella organisation for smaller green groups, has worked with other groups to influence legislation.

Environmental groups also campaign tirelessly to encourage people to observe the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

The work of the NGOs has borne fruit in the form of legislation to make it mandatory for retail outlets to charge for plastic bags. Koreans also have to pay for garbage disposal by volume, which encourages them to separate and recycle waste. More importantly, the NGOs have helped to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment and to have sustained development.

So there are individuals like Mr Ahn Young Hwan, 53, who restores old Korean houses both for their cultural value and their eco-friendly features such as utilising mainly natural building materials, minimal furniture and natural ventilation. The former computer engineer turns these hanok, as they are known in Korean, into guesthouses and restaurants.

When there was a major oil spill in 2007 in Taean on the west coast of the country, more than one million Korean volunteers helped in the clean-up.

The NGOs, though, have not stopped the government from developing nuclear power, and there are now 20 such plants in South Korea. Nuclear power is seen by some as an interim energy source bridging fossil fuels and renewable energy. But environmental groups are opposed to nuclear power because it generates dangerous nuclear waste, even though it does not emit greenhouse gases.

The groups have also failed to stop the Saemangeum project, the biggest land reclamation project in the world that started in 1991. It involved building a 33km sea dyke across an estuarine tidal flat to reclaim 44,000 hectares of land for farming to ensure the country's food security.

Environmentalists oppose the project because it will destroy an important habitat for migratory birds. As many as 400,000 shorebirds, including some endangered species, are dependent on it as a feeding ground.

The irony is that food production is no longer a major issue, for the country's grain output has outstripped demand. Land use of the reclaimed area has been changed to include an industrial area, recreational parks and a renewable energy zone. The dyke was completed in 2006 and land reclamation has started.

Had the environmentalists been able to convince the policymakers, would the wetlands of Saemangeum have been saved?

Said South Korea's Prime Minister Han Seung Soo: 'The environmentalists go too far ahead of us and we are sandwiched between the industrialists and the environmentalists.'

But Nanyang Technological University lecturer Chang Young Ho, who studies the economics of global warming and climate change, believes there is a possibility of bridging the gap if only environmentalists would think out of the box.

'Environmentalists emphasise the pricelessness of nature but can't convince the economists,' he noted. What they need, he said, is to understand the language of the economists and to use this language in order to persuade decision- makers and the public alike.

Perhaps environmentalists of South Korea and elsewhere need to rethink how they can convince the 'developmentalists' that environment protection and development can go together.

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Micro hydro power best rural option in Sabah

Daily Express 28 Jul 09;

Penampang: Micro hydro power systems which are now supplying round-the-clock electricity to a few remote villages in Sabah may be the answer to lighting up the farthest reaches of the State.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said he had mooted the idea to the Government as the only alternative for villages in rural areas.

"It is because you can't connect every village to the power grid. I'm very happy there are NGOs interested in this. Otherwise, it is something the Government has to do."

Dompok, who is also Penampang MP, said this after launching a 10kw micro hydro powere system for residents of Buayan, a remote community tucked deep in the foothills of the Crocker Range, Monday.

He was responding to Malaysian Environmental NGOs (Mengo) Coordinator (Community-Based Natural Resource Management), Adelaine Tan, who said besides being a renewable energy system it would contribute to the watershed conservation programme in this area.

"This micro hydro system should be emulated in other remote parts of Sabah and Malaysia and our government should seriously consider financial support for this system under the 10th Malaysian Plan," she said.

The micro hydro power system is an integrated system that incorporates renewable energy and watershed conservation as well as rice mill and irrigation system for socio economic development.

At Buayan, villagers who used to depend on fuel-powered generator now get to enjoy uninterrupted power, thanks to the RM450,000 facility which has been up and running since last month.

This will certainly bode well for the farming community of about 30 families, comprising more than 300 people, as they look to improve their lot in the village which is about six hours walk from Donggongon town.

The facility was put up through a gotong-royong effort by the community with organisational and technical support from Partners of Community Organisations or Pacos, local organisation Tonibung and Jaringan Orang asal SeMalaysia (JOAS).

A delighted Dompok had nothing but praise for those involved in the project. "I think it (effort) is very laudable (and) very encouraging to see the working relationship between the people, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government.

"This is a very do-able project with everyone throwing their weight behind it," he said to reporters who were taken by helicopter to the village.

"Hopefully the residents would continue with the cooperation among themselves and probably the NGOs to ensure this (effort) is continued.

"I think this is working and it is a good thing that the community is getting together to organise themselves, with the help of NGOs and the Government."

Initiated in 2006 following preliminary survey works at the Tomboining River, the system design and full proposal was completed in March 2007 with collaboration from Era Wira Sdn Bhd, a local company promoting alternative technology, and Indonesian-based company specialising in micro-hydro technology, Heksa Hydro.

Through the proposal, a total grant amounting ton RM250, 000 was secured from Danida (Danish International Development Agency) through JOAS, and UNDP Global Environment Facility's (GEF) Small Grant Programme through Tonibung.

The MP and Assistant Finance Minister-cum-Moyog Assemblyman Donald Mojuntin also contributed RM100,000 to the project through various allocations.

The micro hydro site was completed in 2008 through cooperation between the local community and volunteers from Raleigh International.

Pacos Trust President, Dr Felix Tongkul said the Kg Buayan residents were itching to get a micro hydro system ever since their neighbours in Kg Terian, about three hours walk from the village, obtained theirs about four years ago.

Among the problems they faced were funding and getting the villagers to support the project which was not too difficult to do.

"The important thing was whether the community really wanted it and they did (and) they were also supported by nearby villages," he said, calling for continued assistance from NGOs and the government in implementing more community-based projects.

This micro hydro power system is the fifth of its kind supported by Pacos since 2001, with the previous ones implemented at Long Lawen in Belaga, Kg Terian, Kg Bantul in Pensiangan and Bario Asal in Bario.

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Sinar Mas Blamed For Riau Haze

Fidelis E. Satriastanti, The Jakarta Globe 29 Jul 09;

As the haze from burning forests and plantations continues to choke Riau, nongovernmental organizations are pointing the finger at the Sinar Mas Group and urging it to take immediate action to deal with the disaster, an environmentalist said on Tuesday.

“[Sinar Mas] and its associated companies should take their legal responsibility as license holders seriously and prevent such fires on their concessions, regardless who caused the fires,” said Susanto Kurniawan of Jikalahari.

An analysis carried out by a local coalition of NGOs called Eyes on the Forest shows that 4,782 fire hotspots occurred in Riau in the first six months of 2009 and that nearly one-quarter of those fires were found within concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp and Paper Company, including within a conservation reserve set up by the group.

The Sinar Mas and the pulp and paper company received a conservation achievement award for designating the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu forest as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. However, data shows that of the fires originating in Sinar Mas connected concessions, many of them are actually in the original GSK forest block.

Biosphere reserves are conservation areas created to protect the biological and cultural diversity of a region while promoting sustainable economic development.

“Whether through fires, draining peatlands or forest clearance in its wood-sourcing concessions, Sinar Mas Group companies are the single biggest contributors to the destruction of natural forest and peat soil in the ecosystem where the Biosphere Reserve was established,” said Nursamsu of WWF-Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Hariansyah Usman of Walhi Riau, said the forests were often cleared without proper licensing and sometimes inside provincial protection areas.

“We call on the government to reopen the findings of the recently terminated illegal logging investigation. We also call on the government to take legal action against companies that start fires,” said Hariansyah, adding that 13 cases of illegal logging by pulp and paper companies were dropped by police in 2008.

Meanwhile, Nurul Huda, a spokesman for Sinar Mas Group, said the claims made by the NGOs were not true and needed to be proven.

“It’s absurd, we did suspect a few hotspots in our areas, however, after we checked them for real, they turned out to be nothing,” he said adding that if there were hotspots, the company’s fire fighters would have taken the necessary steps to put them out.

Concerning the conservation areas, he said that the company would never cut down trees or carry out burning in those areas because they were part of the company’s conservation efforts.

Burning by Asia Pulp & Paper contributes to haze in Indonesia, Malaysia
mongabay.com 28 Jul 09;

One quarter of fire hotspots recorded in the Indonesia province of Riau on the island of Sumatra in 2009 have occurred in concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), according to new analysis by Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of environmental groups. The fires are contributing to the "haze" that is affecting air quality and causing health problems in Malaysia.

The analysis of NASA satellite imagery by Eyes on the Forest reveals that APP continues to clear forest in the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu, a block of which was recently declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

“Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group and their associated companies should take seriously their legal responsibility as license holders to prevent such fires in their concessions, regardless of whether the fires are caused by themselves or others,” said Susanto Kurniawan of Jikalahari. “We also call on APP/SMG to stop building new roads through or next to natural forest, digging peat drainage canals and clearing any more natural peatland forest. All of that facilitates fires.”

“Whether through fires, draining or forest clearance in its wood-sourcing concessions, APP/SMG is the single biggest contributor to the destruction of natural forest and peat soil in the original ecosystem where the Biosphere Reserve was established. Between 1996 and 2007, APP had pulped 177,000 hectares – 65 percent of all natural forest lost in the ecosystem,” added Nursamsu of WWF-Indonesia.

“These forests were cleared sometimes without proper licenses and sometimes even inside provincial protection areas,” said Hariansyah Usman of Walhi Riau. “In addition, they also sometimes violated Presidential Decree Number 32 Year 1990, which prohibits clearance of natural forest on peat soil deeper than 3 meters. APP/SMG still continues this kind of legally questionable forest clearance elsewhere in Sumatra. We call on the government to reopen the findings of the recently terminated illegal logging investigation properly, instead of closing the case. We also call on the government to take legal action against companies which set fires.”

Eyes on the Forest notes that only 35 percent of the 700,000-hectare UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is natural forest—the rest is dominated by biologically-impoverished acacia plantations.

“We hope that the biosphere reserve’s natural forest will remain and that the health of the peat ecosystem of the reserve will recover. For that to happen, APP needs to provide real security to the area and conduct responsible hydrological management of the peat. The recent fire hotspot map clearly shows that the company does not. It is time for them to live up to their own PR,” said Jikalahari's Susanto Kurniawan.

APP has been targeted by green groups for its role in the destruction of forests and peatlands in Bukit Tigapuluh in Central Sumatra. APP's activities threaten an important population of critically endangered Sumatran orangutans as well as other at-risk species, including Sumatran tigers. APP plans to clear up to 200,000 hectares of Bukit Tigapuluh.

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Riau Welcomes Cooperation To Fight Forest Fires

Bernama 28 Jul 09;

SERI ISKANDAR, July 28 (Bernama) -- Authorities in the Indonesian province of Riau have welcomed the offer by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to cooperate in efforts to fight the haze due to forest and peat soil fires.

Deputy Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said as part of the cooperation the authorities there had sent several of their environmental officers to undergo courses and training about all aspects related to forest fires.

"We provide the courses so they can educate many farmers in the region to not burn their agricultural waste as well as change their agricultural methods.

"However, this will take time as the farmers are used to their easy methods," Kurup told reporters after officiating the last round of the 19th debate among institutes of higher education at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) here Tuesday.

He said usually many farmers in Riau would burn agricultural waste from opening up new areas or replanting instead of letting it decompose naturally.

Kurup said the ministry would also strive to put up a monitoring and a planned drainage system like in Rokan Hilir, a small district in Riau.

That is to handle the burning in Riau which is an area that has much forest fires and is closest to Peninsular Malaysia, he said.

Earlier reports said the situation in Riau had reached a serious level and strong winds now from the southeast to the northeast may bring the haze to Malaysia and Singapore.

Kurup said besides Riau, several provinces in Indonesia which will be part of the haze fight are Kalimantan Tengah, Aceh and Jambi, adding that the thick haze enveloping Pekanbaru was from Riau.

In the debate competition participated in by 26 institutions of higher education, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) emerged the winner and took the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment trophy, RM8,000 in cash, and certificates.

Universiti Multimedia which emerged runner-up took back RM5,000 and certificates.

UPM also produced the best debator in Amirrudin Abdul Rahman who won the ministry's director-general's trophy and cash of RM300.

-- BERNAMA

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Indonesian and US Army team up against forest fires in Riau

Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 28 Jul 09;

The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the United States Army Pacific Command (US ARPAC) launched a joint-training program on combating forest and peat land fires in Riau province Monday.

The five-day exercise aims to develop standard operating procedures for the annual forest fire season in the province. Satellite data for the first six months of this year showed that Riau contained the highest density of hot spots, or small fires of high risk, in Indonesia, accounting for nearly 5,000. Almost a quarter of these hot spots are burning slowly within oil palm concession areas.

The fires currently burning across Sumatra, particularly in Riau, have added to worsening haze in the region and global climate change, and threaten many species in the forests diverse ecosystems.

TNI training program designer, Lt. Col. Jorry S. Loloay, said the event involved dozens of TNI personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force and 13 members from the US ARPAC.

It will also see 350 representatives from state agencies and estate companies in Riau, as well as military envoys from Thailand and Singapore, acting as observers.

Jorry said the exercise was divided into a two-day workshop and a simulation of forest fire management in Siak Hulu district in Kampar regency. The drill will be attended by US ARPAC military top officer Maj. Gen. Patrick Wilson.

"During the workshop we will compare the techniques mastered by the TNI and US ARPAC in coping with forest fires. We hope to share experiences which could later be combined to acquire the most effective measures to manage forest fires, especially in decision-making and field operation," Jorry told The Jakarta Post in Pekanbaru on Monday.

He said the program was the third of its kind between the TNI and US ASPAC held in the past three years. A similar training program was first held in 2007 in Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java, followed by the tsunami mitigation training program in Padang last year.

"The fact Riau happened to be chosen this year at the same time fires were burning was merely coincidence. The area was selected for training because of its history dealing with difficult forest and peat land fires. Operational funds for the joint effort are covered by both parties," said Jorry.

Bukit Barisan Military Command chief, Maj. Gen. Burhanuddin Amin, said the tests during the fire simulation would include training at command posts and methods of extinguishing fires.

"The simulation focuses on decision-making procedures by involving the relevant government agencies and societal elements," Burhanuddin said at a press conference following the official launch of the program.

"The aim of this exercise is to manage forest fires and their impact, such as haze, that has often drawn complaints from neighboring countries due to the health hazards and flight safety risks posed by the smoke."

Riau Vice Governor, HR Bambang Mit, who also heads the Riau Forest and Peatland Fire Management Center, said he was very grateful for the initiative being run by the TNI and US ARPAC, and hoped the program would provide the Riau authorities with new skills for tackling forest fires.

"Riau is in dire need of standard operating procedures for preventing forest fires," Mambang said.

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Maps reveal secret life of marine turtles in urgent need of protection

WWF 28 Jul 09;

A series of conservation maps produced by WWF reveal for the first time the secret life of endangered turtles in the world’s most diverse marine region – the Coral Triangle.

The maps are the first to bring together the different life cycle movements, migration routes, foraging grounds, and nesting sites of green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

The maps were produced with the help of satellite tracking, and allow the identification and targeting of areas in urgent need of protection. They also highlight the inter-connectedness of marine habitats making a strong case for cooperation among Coral Triangle countries for the protection of shared marine resources in the region.

“We now have a better picture and more comprehensive understanding of where marine turtles feed, breed, and nest around the waters of the Coral Triangle,” says Matheus Halim, WWF Coral Triangle Turtle Strategy Leader.

Marine turtles play a crucial role in the delicate web of ocean life by maintaining the health of seagrass beds and coral reefs, which are home to other marine species such as shrimp, lobster, sharks, dugongs and innumerable reef fish.

The maps serve as a guideline for where to establish Marine Protected Areas. “The maps clearly identify which areas in this region need protection”, added Halim. “WWF is calling for the establishment of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that encompass these locations as part of the new six nations Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) and for turtles to be made a priority under The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN).”

Apart from showing life cycle movements, the maps also give valuable information about locations with the high incidence of turtle bycatch in the region, helping to identify where fishing methods require modification.

The Coral Triangle, home to six of the seven known species of marine turtles in the world, stretches across six countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, covering the seas of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste.

Marine turtles are listed on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Species as either ‘Endangered’ or ‘Critically Endangered.’ This means they are among the most threatened animals on the planet and face the real risk of extinction.

The loss of nesting beaches and feeding habitats due to pollution and coastal development, the illegal trade and consumption of turtle eggs, meat, and other derivatives for commercial purposes, and the accidental catch (or ‘bycatch’) of turtles in fishing gears are just some of the many threats facing marine turtles.

Marine habitats in the Coral Triangle important to commercially-valuable fish species are being lost or degraded at an unprecedented rate. The last decade alone has seen a drastic decline in fish stocks due to inadequate fisheries management and widespread overuse of marine and coastal resources.

Establishing a network of MPAs can help alleviate the stress on marine and coastal resources and help build the marine environment’s resilience against other threats such as coral bleaching, caused by climate change.

“MPAs offer a range of benefits for fisheries, people, and the marine environment by providing safe havens for endangered species to thrive and for depleted fish stocks to recover,” says Dr Lida Pet-Soede, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Leader. “MPAs provide services to local communities who depend on the sea and its resources. Protecting these critical marine habitats means protecting the food and livelihood of millions people in the Coral Triangle region and beyond.”

The maps were produced by WWF in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation and other regional partners.

Related links
Sea turtles of the Coral Triangle and Singapore on the wild shores of singapore blog.

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Botanical barcoding will allow scanner to identify plants

Scientists will be able to identify plants with a supermarket-style scanner after developing the first DNA "barcode" for plants.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 28 Jul 09;

A DNA library of 60,000 animal species has already been amassed to help scientists identify animals from small samples.

However "botanical barcoding" has been more challenging because of the hundreds of thousands of plant species.

Now for the first time botanists from all over the world have agreed a standard DNA barcode for plants that will make it possible to develop a library of different codes for thousands of plant species.

This means that in the future scientists will be able to take a supermarket-style hand-held scanner into the field which will identify different plants by their barcodes.

The technique will work on minute amounts of tissue and can be used on fragments of plant material. It could be used to identify illegal trade in endangered species like rare timber, invasive plants, poisonous species and fragmentary material in forensic investigations.

However the main application will be assessment of the diversity of species in the world's biodiversity hot spots where a shortage of specialist skills hampers conservation efforts.

Dr Peter Hollingsworth, Head of Genetics and Conservation at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who has chaired the group of more than 50 scientists from all around the world said eventually some kind of scanner could be developed.

"Identification is important – it is the link between a given plant and the accumulated information available for that species. It is not possible to know if a plant is common or rare, poisonous or edible, being traded legally or illegally etc, unless it can be identified.

"Conservation prioritisation, in particular, can be impeded by a lack of knowledge of what species grow where. But identifications can be difficult: there are a large number of plant species and some look very similar. Juvenile, non-flowering or fragmentary materials are notoriously difficult to identify," he said.

"DNA barcoding is one way round the problem – the principle of the approach is to identify a stretch of DNA which is suitable for telling most species apart and to use this to build a massive and easily accessible database to provide a universal system for identifying the world's biodiversity."

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Orangutans swing for their dinner

Griet Scheldeman, BBC News 28 Jul 09;

The deft way that Sumatran orangutans are able to swing from branches seemingly too weak to take their weight has been described by scientists.

The animals use their hands and feet to move through the canopy in a completely different way from other primates, a team from Birmingham, UK, reports.

Sumatran orangutans have been in rapid decline and risk becoming extinct.

The scientific team said the animals' conservation could be helped by better understanding the habitat they need.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Exceptional locomotion

Bioscientist Susannah Thorpe and colleagues studied wild Sumatran orangutans as they moved through the treetops.

They showed that the tree vibrations, which could unsettle the animals' balance, were countered by their ability to move with an irregular rhythm.

The team observed how the apes managed to reach the ripe fruits at the end of narrow unstable branches without falling down, by swinging flexibly.

Unlike other primates, which move through trees at a regular pace with fixed body positions and stretched limbs, the orangutans were seen to travel both upright and horizontally, above and under branches, holding on with both their hands and feet.

And more than 29% of the time, the orangutans held on to more than four branches at once.

A key finding, said the researchers, was the realisation that Sumatran orangutans rely on woody vines, or lianas, which are often depleted in logged forests, for their exceptional style of locomotion.

The scientists believe their work is likely to aid conservation.

"If the destruction of forest land does not slow down, the Sumatran orangutan could be extinct within the next decade," Dr Thorpe said.

"Now that we know more about how they move through the trees and the unique way that they adapt to challenges in their environment, we can better understand their needs. This could help with reintroducing rescued animals to the forests and efforts to conserve their environment."

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Invasive Species Threaten Critical Marine Habitats, Oyster Among Victims

ScienceDaily 17 Jul 09;

A study of oyster reefs in a once-pristine California coastal estuary found them devastated by invasive Atlantic Coast crabs and snails, providing new evidence of the consequences when human activities move species beyond their natural borders.

Led by marine biologist David L. Kimbro, now of The Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory , the study shows that in Tomales Bay , half the population of California's native Olympia oyster has perished because its habitat has fallen victim to the dysfunctional relationship between native species and non-native ones accidentally introduced.

The work of Kimbro, a postdoctoral associate at the FSU lab, and colleagues from the University of California-Davis and its Bodega Marine Laboratory has magnified concerns that predator-prey mismatches between native and exotic species may lead to further losses of critical habitats that support marine biodiversity and ecosystems.

"What David Kimbro's research reveals about California's Olympia oyster raises a specter for Florida as well," said Felicia Coleman, director of the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory.

"First, our state has a remarkably productive native oyster population at risk in the Apalachicola Bay ," she said. "These oysters are sustainably harvested and provide critically important settlement habitat for an amazing array of species, so its loss would be devastating. Second, we know that in Florida's benign climate, exotic species are pretty easily established. One need only follow the trajectories of lionfish, Australian pine, Brazilian pepper and Burmese python for a grim view through the looking glass."

Their study is expected to help guide habitat management and conservation efforts, including plans now being drawn up along the West Coast to restore native oysters.

"We've identified what my California colleagues call 'an important restoration bottleneck,' the attack on oysters by invasive species, which must be dealt with prior to undertaking oyster population enhancement and the rebuilding of remnant reefs," Kimbro said.

In California, said Kimbro, the artificial predator-prey mismatch has allowed high numbers of invasive snails to destroy the biological diversity of Tomales Bay, a coastal estuary about 40 miles northwest of San Francisco, by consuming and eliminating oyster habitat.

As an example, he points to the invasive European green crab from the Atlantic Coast (inadvertently introduced from Europe, so an exotic species even there). Smaller than California's native crab, it is less effective at controlling the snail population because it uses only brute force to kill its prey -- unlike its native counterpart, which is capable both of crushing the snails and using its claws like a can opener to peel open hard-to-crush larger shells.

Ecological consequences are profound when the species most affected by a predator-prey mismatch is a "foundation species" that supports biodiversity by creating extensive habitat, such as California's native Olympia oyster (Ostreola conchaphila), which provides critical nursery habitat for a suite of species including crabs, anemones and fishes.

Although Olympia oyster reefs are normally preyed upon by native predatory snails, said Kimbro, they are somewhat protected by the presence of native rock crabs that both consume native snails and force all others to spend more time hiding from crabs -- rather than eating the oysters.

But when Atlantic snails and crabs invade, the whole dynamic changes.

"You'd think similar-looking invasive and native species could be swapped in a system without adverse effects," he said. "But we have shown that, functionally, this is not the case."

In Tomales Bay, the exotic species occupy its inner reaches, where saline levels are lower. However, native predators cannot tolerate the inner bay's lower salinity, so they can't help to check the invasive snail population proliferating there. The invasive crabs are stuck in the inner bay because the natives hold the middle, with its higher salinity. Once upon a time, native oysters enjoyed a release from predation in the inner bay -- that is, until the invasive species moved in.

"While native predator-prey interactions that benefit oyster reefs are intricate and took a long time to develop, the invasive crab and snail don't have the historical exposure necessary to recreate these important interactions," Kimbro said. "A fellow researcher likened the native crabs and snails to a long-married couple who have learned to coexist, leaving oyster populations intact. But the lack of experience the invasive crabs and snails have with each other has led to the destruction of parts of the oyster population, much as an incompatible couple might destroy an entire family."

Journal reference:

1. Kimbro et al. Invasive species cause large-scale loss of native California oyster habitat by disrupting trophic cascades. Oecologia, 2009; 160 (3): 563 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-009-1322-0

Adapted from materials provided by Florida State University.

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