Poisoning drives vulture decline in Masai Mara, Kenya

Victoria Gill BBC News 17 Dec 10;

Vulture populations in one of Africa's most important wildlife reserves have declined by 60%, say scientists.

The researchers suggest that the decline of vultures in Kenya's Masai Mara is being driven by poisoning.

The US-based Peregrine Fund says farmers occasionally lace the bodies of dead cattle or goats with a toxic pesticide called furadan.

This appears to be aimed at carnivores that kill the livestock, but one carcass can poison up to 150 vultures.

Munir Virani, who is director of the Peregrine Fund's Africa programmes, has called for use of furadan to be banned in the region "to preserve these keystone members of the scavenging community".

"People may think of vultures as ugly and disgusting, but the birds are essential for the ecosystem," he says.

Their taste for carrion actually makes them the landscape's clean-up team - ensuring the region is not littered with bodies, helping contain the spread of disease and recycling nutrients.

The results of this latest survey of vultures are published in the journal Biological Conservation.

The terrible consequences of a vulture population crash have already been demonstrated during a case that became known as the Asian vulture crisis.

Populations of Gyps vultures in particular, in South Asia, crashed by more than 95% over just a few years in the 1990s, primarily because farmers treated their cattle with the pain-killing drug diclofenac.

The pain-killer, it turned out, was lethal to the vultures, which fed on the dead cattle.

As well as driving three species of vulture to the brink of extinction, the crisis provided a huge amount of food for wild dogs, which moved in to take the place of the birds.

This had the devastating side-effect of increasing the spread of rabies. And Dr Virani is concerned that a similar situation could happen in Kenya.

The solution in Africa though, could be much more straightforward than in South Asia.

By boosting the public image of vultures in the country, the Peregrine Fund hopes to stop people from carrying out these "revenge poisoning attacks".

Between 2003 and 2005, Dr Virani and his colleagues drove across the expansive Kenyan landscapes, counting vultures.

He and his colleagues then compared the results of these surveys with the results of surveys carried out in the 1980s. The comparison revealed a 60% decline in vultures.

Corinne Kendall's work has taken this survey a step further.

Ms Kendal is a researcher from Princeton University in the US, who has also been working with the Peregrine Fund - tracking and monitoring the birds to investigate the extent of the poisoning.

"We attached the GPS trackers like little backpacks," she tells BBC News. "There's a piece that sits on their chest and two loops around each wing."

"But we had four out of 16 vultures killed in the first year and three of those were confirmed cases of poisoning.

"From a sample of 16, it's difficult to know how representative that is, but it's extremely worrying."

The transmitters also revealed that most of the poisoning happened outside of the reserve, which is a protected area.

"If they stayed in the Mara Serengeti they would hardly ever get poisoned," says Ms Kendall.

"But, based on the transmitters, it appears that the vultures that use the Masai Mara have very large home ranges - from 30,000 to 80,000 square kilometres, depending on the species."

And the birds can travel over 250km in a single day.

This means that poisoning in and around the Masai Mara could have an effect on the vulture populations, not just in other parts of Kenya, but in other countries in Africa.

Ms Kendall explains to BBC News that in the Mara ecosystem, the birds consume 70% of all available meat.

"If we lose vultures, there's no other animal that will be able to consume the volume," she says.

The reserve is a vast dining table for the birds, especially during the annual wildebeest migration, when 1.5 million of the animals march across the plains in search of grass.

"So without vultures, during the wildebeest migration you would have carcasses lying everywhere and you would see lots of disease spread," said Ms Kendall.

Under threat

In the last three months alone, Dr Virani says he has discovered six cases where vultures have been poisoned.

The Peregrine Fund has now recommend that three vulture species - the African white-backed, Ruppell's, and hooded vultures - be relisted as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, an internationally recognised compilation of threatened species.

"If we lost the vultures," says Dr Murani, "tourists would have to travel around the reserve with face masks on, because the stench from rotting wildebeest carcasses would be unbearable."

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Philippines: New pitcher plant species to be named after slain botanist

Redempto Anda Inquirer Southern Luzon 17 Dec 10;

Filed Under: Natural Sciences, Philippines - Regions

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—Scientists have discovered a new species of pitcher plant in central Palawan and are naming it after noted Filipino botanist Leonardo Co who was killed last November 10 in what the Philippine military claimed as crossfire between government security forces and an insurgent group.

The pitcher plant species, believed by its discoverers to be the only one of its kind in the world, is distinguished by its unusual dark strains and enlarged traps, said the newest post on the scientists' website Redfern Natural History Productions.

It was collected by scientists Greg Bourke, Mark Jaunzem, Jehson Cervancia and Stewart McPherson last November 10 in an area of the Victoria-Anipahan Range in the central region of Palawan island where other new species of the carnivorous plant have been discovered.

"This magnificent new plant is closely related to N. mira/N. deaniana/N. gantungensis, but has distinctive pitcher morphology, and uniquely among Palawan Nepenthes that it can produce pitchers that are extremely dark, almost black,” the biologists said on the website.

They added that the black strains were not typical overall but made the plant very interesting.

“The pitcher structure is also distinctive, and the traps get up to at least 25 centimeters or so tall," they said.

Co, who had extensively studied and documented the biodiversity of Palawan, had earlier discovered a suspected new species of orchid distinguished by its golden lip petals in the high elevations of Mt. Mantalingahan south of the Anipahan range.

Co was killed along with two co-workers, Julio Borromeo and Sofronio Cortez, last November 15 in Leyte while doing field work during what the military claimed was an encounter between government and rebel groups.

Co was killed around the same time the Palawan scientific expedition was being held.

"It seems a sad irony that this black pitcher plant was found so soon after he died. Permits are currently being sought to name this beautiful plant in his honor," said the scientists.

The discovery of the black colored pitcher plant came on the heels of the discovery in 2007 in the same site by another group of scientists, including Mc Pherson, of one of the largest pitcher plants in the world--the Nepenthes attenboroughii.

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Indonesian Polluters May Lose Access to Loans

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 17 Dec 10;

Jakarta, Indonesia. The Environment Ministry and the central bank on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding making it mandatory for banks to deny loans to companies that violated pollution standards.

Under the agreement, lenders would have to consult the ministry’s list of companies taking part in the Corporate Environmental Performance Ratings, or Proper, to check the applicants’ rating.

If a company is listed as black, or failing to comply with environmental protection standards, it will be denied financing.

“We want to make use of the list not only for the companies but also for banks so that they won’t give any loans [to companies] that have been damaging the environment,” Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said on Friday.

“We don’t want banks to take any risks because companies rated black have a high chance of being shut down. If they’ve already borrowed money [from the banks] and then close down, what will happen to the money?”

The color-coded Proper ratings award a gold to companies that show the highest compliance with environmental regulations and demonstrate a proactive sense of responsibility toward their surrounding communities.

This is followed by blue and green marks, while toward the bottom of the list, a red rating indicates a lack of compliance with environmental regulations, and black is reserved for companies that knowingly and deliberately pollute the environment.

Darmin Nasution, governor of Bank Indonesia, said both the central bank and the ministry expected to issue a regulation to enforce the agreement soon.

“We want to have concrete action to follow up on this MoU, maybe even forming a working group [from both institutions] that will try to draft operating methods and eventually formulate it into regulations,” he said.

“In other words, we hope this becomes [standard practice] at banks.”

Darmin also said he planned to increase the part played by the banking sector in environmental preservation.

“What we expect is that banks will play an active role,” he said.

“One way to do this is by downgrading a bank’s rating if a company they’ve given a loan to is found to have violated environmental regulations.

“It doesn’t mean that banks will automatically collapse, but it will affect their rating as banks. This is an appropriate measure to get banks to be more involved in environmental issues.”

Muliaman Hadad, a deputy Bank Indonesia governor, said an existing BI regulation calling on banks to consider a loan applicant’s environmental credentials, would need to be re-evaluated.

“We already have the regulation in place, but with this MoU, we’ll need to evaluate how we enforce banking commitment over environmental issues, especially in terms of educating the bankers,” he said.

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China to step up efforts to control Mother Nature

Yahoo News 16 Dec 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – China plans to step up a weather-manipulation programme that has stirred debate about tinkering with Mother Nature, state media said on Friday.

Zheng Guoguang, director of the China Meteorological Administration, said chronic water shortages in parts of the country will worsen in the decades ahead and "thus we need to control the weather," Xinhua news agency reported.

China last year began to set aside a special budget for weather-control activities, and spending grew 19 percent in the first 10 months of this year to 114 million dollars, the report said.

Such activities will be expanded to combat extreme weather such as droughts, "explore airborne water resources, improve the ecological environment," and secure stable water supplies for cities, industry and agriculture, Xinhua said, citing the administration's plans.

China has increasingly relied on weather-changing methods in recent years, both for political reasons and to address frequent droughts.

It fired chemical-laden "rain dispersal rockets" over Beijing to wring moisture out of threatening clouds and clear the capital's smoggy skies for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in August 2008.

It did the same ahead of the October 2009 60th National Day celebrations in the capital, which were headlined by a nationally televised military parade touting the country's rise.

Cloud-seeding typically involves firing substances such as silver iodide, salts and dry ice into the sky, which bring on the formation of larger raindrops.

But the technique has sparked controversy.

Beijing residents griped about flight delays, traffic snarls, cancelled classes and other inconveniences of a surprise heavy snowstorm in November 2009 that was artificially induced and was the city's earliest snowfall in 20 years.

Some experts also have said more research must be done into the potential effects of repeated use of such methods.

Chinese authorities divulge few details about weather-control efforts and repeated AFP requests for access to the programme have been refused.

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Bangkok One Of Nine Asian Cities To Be Flooded Within A Decade

The Director of a leading Thai research institute has warned that if preventive steps are not taken, large areas of Bangkok’s inner city and suburbs will be submerged within 10 years affecting nearly 700,000 people and causing an estimated damage of 150 biliion baht.
Pattaya Daily News 16 Dec 10;

Bangkok 16th December 2010 (PDN) : According to Mr. Seri Suparatit of the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Bangkok will be one of 9 cities in Asia to be affected by severe flooding. In an interview conducted on 16th December, he said the combination of several factors will cause water levels to rise, submerging large areas of the inner city and suburbs within a decade.

Certain areas of the city including Klongteoy-Donmeung, Thonburi, Lat Phrao and Bang Khun Thian are particularly vulnerable and could incur an economic loss of 150 billion baht.

The Environmental Park had received funding from the World Bank to carry out a detailed risk assessment, following a case study by the Economic Advisory Council of the European Union, World Bank, World Vision Foundation and the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change (IPCC) which found that 9 Asian cities would be susceptible to severe flooding in the near future. The nine cities are Guangdong, Shanghai, Dhaka, Calcuttar, Mumbai, Rangoon, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok.

The factors that pose a threat to Bangkok are a 5% increase in rainfall, land subsidence of 4 mm per year, a rise in sea level of 1.3 cm per year, an increased inflow of water from the North, and a failure of urban planning which has resulted in a 50% decrease in water absorbing wetlands and green areas in the city over the last 30 years.

Some 680,000 of the city’s population will be affected, together with 1.16 million buildings, 900,000 of these being residential. One-third of them will be in the area of Bang Khun Thian, Bang Bon, Bang Kae and Samutprakarn. Also, about 89,000 buildings in Donmeung area will be affected.

When asked by reporters if a way has been found to avoid the flooding, Mr. Seri said the World Bank had already received the results of the research and submitted a report to the former Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayothin, but no action had been taken.

The research suggested that the following measures should be taken : 1. Search for and put aside areas of land in Northern Bangkok for so-called “Monkey Cheeks”, or water retention areas. 2. Expand the drainage canals. 3. Build a five-metre-high barrier along 80km of the coast to protect the capital (a measure already implemented by Vietnam).
Mr. Seri said that as yet he had seen no serious plan to prepare people to cope with the severe impact of the situation. “Without any prevention plan, we may have to use our ground floors for keeping boats”, he said.

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California approves first broad US climate plan

Yahoo News 17 Dec 10;

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – California has approved the most sweeping US plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, acting on its own against climate change as proposed nationwide plans flounder in Washington.

The largest US state, which would be the world's eighth largest economy if a country, will from 2012 start a "cap-and-trade" system under which industry will be required to cut emissions but can trade credits on a new market.

Outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has differed sharply with much of his Republican Party on the environment, saw the decision by a state panel late Thursday as part of his legacy.

"I campaigned in 2003 about that -- I want to show California that we can protect both the economy and the environment," the actor-turned-politician told the California Air Resources Board which voted 9-1 for the plan at a meeting in the state capital Sacramento.

"This is not just about global climate change," said Schwarzenegger, acknowledging that some people were skeptical about scientists' view that temperature are rising.

"Since 2006 or so green jobs have been created 10 times faster than in any other sector, so it's also an economic plus," he said.

The European Union now has the world's only wide-scale cap-and-trade plan, which plays a pivotal role in the bloc's commitments to reduce the emissions blamed for climate change.

Ten states on the US East Coast have also run a cap-and-trade system that started last year, but the initiative -- the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -- is limited to the power sector.

The US House of Representatives in 2009 approved plans for the first nationwide cap-and-trade system, with President Barack Obama's Democratic Party arguing that it would spur a new green economy and fight climate change.

The proposal died in the Senate, with Republicans leading charges that it would hurt an already weak economy. Prospects for approval have all but vanished after the Republicans swept congressional elections last month.

But voters in Democratic-leaning California soundly defeated a referendum, supported by oil interests, that would have frozen the state's actions on climate change.

Louis Blumberg, director of climate change for The Nature Conservancy environmental group's California branch, said that the state offered "a model" for others.

"At a time of critical need for decisive action to address climate change, California's tremendous leadership is creating renewed momentum at the federal and international levels," Blumberg said.

Initially, California will technically not restrict emissions but instead freely allocate "allowances" to businesses covering their carbon output. The state will gradually reduce allowances, forcing firms to go green.

Companies can also earn credit by supporting environmental projects in forests or farms, including through preservation of woods in Mexico's Chiapas state and Brazil's Acre state.

The provision has divided environmental activists, some of whom voiced anger that companies could reduce their own requirements to curb pollution by supporting timber firms that cut down forests but then plant new trees.

"We cannot and should not try to clear-cut our way out of climate change," said an action appeal from the Sierra Club California.

California aims to reduce carbon emissions by 25 percent, bringing them even with 1990 levels by 2020. The goal is less ambitious than that of the European Union, which has committed to reductions of 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

California approves extensive carbon-trading scheme
BBC News 17 Dec 10;

California has approved an extensive carbon-trading plan aimed at cutting greenhouse emissions.

State regulators passed a "cap-and-trade" framework to let companies buy and sell permits, giving them an incentive to emit fewer gases.

The aim is to create the second-largest market in the field, after Europe's.

State officials hope the scheme will be copied across the US, but opponents warn it may harm California's growth and lead to higher electricity prices.

California's Air Resources Board approved the new rules late on Thursday. They are part of a landmark state climate bill passed by the legislature in 2006, which set 1 January 2011 as the deadline for enacting a cap-and-trade system.

The scheme means that from 2012 California will allocate licences to pollute and create a market where they can be traded.

A company that emits fewer greenhouse gases than its permits allow, could sell the extra capacity to a dirtier firm.

By making over-polluting more expensive, the scheme aims to provide incentives to develop greener technology.

Over time the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions - the cap - is to be reduced. California wants to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Costs

Although all firms will eventually need to buy greenhouse gas allowances, most of the permits will be given away in the first three-year period.

But many businesses fear they will suffer in an economy that is struggling to emerge from recession, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says.

Dorothy Rothrock of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association told Reuters news agency: "There are definitely going to be some costs incurred right up front for these companies."

Outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - who supports environmental causes - argues that growth in emerging green technologies will offset the costs of cap-and-trade.

"Since 2006 or so green jobs have been created 10 times faster than in any other sector," he said.

California - the world's eighth largest economy - already has strict climate-related regulations, including renewable energy mandates for utilities, and tough fuel-efficiency standards for cars.

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Best of our wild blogs: 17 Dec 10

This festive season, help the animals!
from wild shores of singapore

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Malaysia: Semenggoh Wildlife Centre orang utan population boom an unhealthy trend overcrowding

Rintos Mail The Star 17 Dec 10;

CONTINUED reduction in the interbirth interval (IBI) of semi-wild orang utans at Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, about 19km from Kuching may have an adverse effect on the well-being of the primates and the habitat in the area.

Executive park management Nor Emel Fardina Jaddil said reduction in the birth gap would cause overcrowding.

She said when there was overcrowding due to growing population, it would increase competition for home, food and mates.

“Competitions for food, home and mates may lead to a fight, especially among the male.

“There was a fight recently among the males over a female that led to the death of a young orang utan in the park,” she said when presenting her papers on “The Semi-Wild Orang Utans Interbirth Interval Trend in Semenggoh Wildlife Centre” during the 10th Hornbill Conference in Miri yesterday.

Nor Emel said the implication of reduction in birth interval would also lessen the mother’s nursing on the babies, which would have a negative effect on the psychological well-being of the offsprings.

She said besides that, it would also cause degradation of the foraging area, especially to the forest canopy.

Nor Emel said the environment of Semenggoh might play a significant role in reducing the IBI of the semi-wild orang utans in the area.

“In Semenggoh, the orang utans are released in a confined and small home, which makes mating more frequent compared to in the forest.

“Here, the chances of male and female meeting each other and mating are also made more easier through feeding,” she said.

To prevent shorter birth interval, she recommended that the management create more feeding area to reduce meetings and matings.

She also suggested that the management continuously monitor the breeding pattern of the orang utans in the area.

“We must look at this matter seriously to ensure continued survival of the sweethearts of Sarawak,” she said.

Nor Emel added that due to its relatively small size, the reserve was unable naturally to support the growing number of orang utans living there.

There are currently 27 orang utans in Semenggoh.

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GM rice: German giants Bayer, BASF team up

Yahoo News 16 Dec 10;

BERLIN (AFP) – German chemicals giants Bayer and BASF said Thursday they were teaming up to produce genetically modified rice seeds, technology than can boost yields but which is criticised by environmentalists.

The firms said they aim to develop and sell hybrid rice seeds with traits enabling yield advances of 10 percent or more over conventional hybrid seeds. The first products are expected to be launched by 2020.

Rice is the world's largest food crop, with half of the world's 6.8-billion population consuming at least one meal of it every day.

According the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), an additional 8-10 million tonnes of rice needs to be produced each year to feed people and keep prices for the cereal at an affordable level, BASF and Bayer said.

Today, global rice production is about 685 million tonnes.

For many, GM crops, by which scientists create new strains of plants that do not occur naturally by manipulating genes, are the answer to feeding the world's rapidly growing population.

But opponents say that these genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can spread and interbreed with other plants, the consequences of which are unknown.

They also say that their use will increase the control of private companies over agriculture, with 10 corporations already controlling nearly 70 percent of the world seed market, according to pressure group Greenpeace.

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Eviction Fears in Lombok Over Conservatory

Fitri R. Jakarta Globe 16 Dec 10;

West Lombok. Around 700 people from five villages in West Lombok district rallied outside the West Nusa Tenggara governor’s office on Thursday to protest the administration’s plan to turn Sesaot forest into a conservation park.

Rusmayadi, the protest coordinator, said more than 6,000 families from the five villages located inside the 3,672-hectare forest stood to be evicted if the plan was enforced.

“We’ll be forced to leave this forest that we’ve managed and lived off for decades, to make way for animals,” he said.

“Where can we go when we’ve lived there so long?”

He accused the administration and the forestry agency of sidelining the interests of the forest dwellers.

The protest’s leader later held talks with administration spokesman M. Faizal.

In their defense, they cited a 2010 study by the central government that recommended that the forest remain under the stewardship of the villagers.

Sesaot forest has since 1986 been managed under a community forestry license, which allows the families to grow crops and do logging in limited quantities.

The provincial administration first raised the idea of granting the forest conservation status in 1999, but was roundly opposed by residents, who said it would cost them their livelihoods.

In 2009, the administration went ahead with its plan and officially decreed the forest a conservation park, effectively stripping the residents of their right to manage the forest. However, it has not yet enforced the decree.

Hartina, head of the provincial forestry agency, said his office would recommend that the conservation status for the forest remain in place, but that the residents be allowed to continue their subsistence farming and logging.

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Poachers Kill Rare Black Rhino In Tanzania: Minister

Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala PlanetArk 17 Dec 10;

Poachers have killed one of five critically endangered east African black rhinos that were relocated to their natural habitat in Tanzania's Serengeti park from South Africa in May.

The rhino was killed just seven months after its arrival in the Serengeti, despite being implanted with an electronic chip and protected by an elite ranger task force specially trained to guard the animals.

Rampant poaching in the Serengeti -- famed for its sweeping planes and Africa's most spectacular wildebeest migration -- in the 1960s and 70s saw the population of black rhinos in Tanzania plummet from over 1,000 to just 70, denting tourist arrivals.

"We received information on Sunday that one of the five rhinos that arrived from South Africa was missing after a special tracking gadget fitted on the animal went inactive," Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday.

"The rhino's carcass was found in the Serengeti National Park on Tuesday, with the horn cut off. This was clearly the work of a group of poachers."

Rhinos are heavily poached for their horns, which are highly sought-after in parts of the Middle and Far East. It is believed in some cultures that powdered rhino horn has powerful medicinal properties, although this has never been proven.

The five rhinos flown to Tanzania are part of a larger group of 32 animals being reintroduced to Tanzania from a 50-strong herd. The rhinos were bred from seven animals that were relocated to South Africa in the early 1960s.

The remaining 27 rhinos are expected to be returned to their native country in stages over the next two years under the Serengeti Rhino Repatriation project.

The rhinos were flown from South Africa to Tanzania in a chartered Hercules C-130 cargo plane.

Conservation experts had hoped extra protection for the rhinos would also help other species in the park.

Organizers said the relocation was part of a new drive by African governments to protect the "big five" mammals -- lions, rhinos, elephants, leopards and buffalo -- that make up one of the continent's main tourist attractions.

"We have commissioned a serious manhunt to trace the whereabouts of the poachers behind this incident. We are using every means at our disposal," said Maige.

"We are also in talks with the Frankfurt Zoological Society to ensure closer monitoring and surveillance of the animals and the build-up of the necessary resources."

Both Tanzania and Kenya have suffered a spike in poaching, particularly of elephants and rhino, in the past few years. Kenya lost at least six rhinos last year, conservationists say.

(Editing by James Macharia and Elizabeth Fullerton)

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IAEA considers Indonesia ready to build nuclear power plant

Antara 16 Dec 10;

Vienna (ANTARA News) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) considers Indonesia as well as Jordan and Vietnam as countries ready to develop nuclear energy for power generation , an Indonesian diplomat said.

"The IAEA`s support is additional political motivation for Indonesia to build a nuclear power plant," Indonesian Ambassador to Austria I Gusti Agung Wesaka said here Wednesday.

Indonesia already meets all the preconditions to build a nuclear power plant except for public acceptance and a political decision, the ambassador said.

"Bangka Belitung won`t be able to make a move without a political decision from the central (government). Meanwhile, Vietnam has started by establishing cooperation to build a nuclear power plant with Russia," he said, referring to the results of an IAEA study titled "Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review 2009" which focused on the preparedness of developing counties to build nuclear power plants.

IAEA Director General Yukia Amano was very enthusiastic in describing Indonesia`s readiness to build a nuclear power plant and hoped to visit Jakarta in the near future.

Bangka Belitung Governor Eko Maulana Ali said his province was ready to support the implementation of a nuclear power project by providing a suitable location for it in the proovince, either in Bangka Selatan or Bangka Barat.

He said Bangka Belitung needed enough electricity to improve its people`s welfare.

"We hope that the government will also build an electricity transmission system connecting Java with Sumatra and Bangka Belitung so that a nuclear power plant in Bangka Belitung could contribute to power supply nationally," he said.

He called on the Bangka Belitung people to support the plan to build a nuclear power plant in the province.

The National Nuclear Power Agency (BATAN) has surveyed 70 locations across the country in its search for suitable nuclear power plant sites. It eventually shortlisted 14 locations, and from this number it had selected the best four which included Ujung Bumi (Jepara), Banten, and Bangka Belitung. (*)

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