Singapore's petrochem hub moving to higher gear next year

Measures are being taken to further improve sector's competitiveness
Ronnie Lim Business Times 20 Dec 10;

(SINGAPORE) Singapore's oil and petrochemicals hub will shift to higher gear in 2011, especially with the roll-out of the Jurong Island 'version 2.0' initiative by mid-year.

The joint government/ industry push to further improve the sector's competitiveness comprises strategies such as importing LPG as an alternative feedstock for the petrochemical crackers here, and harnessing cryogenic energy from the LNG terminal for various purposes including power generation.

Increasingly, Singapore is also moving into production of specialty chemicals with the establishment of an emerging new high-purity ethylene oxide (HPEO) 'chemicals corridor'.

Feedstocks from newly-started petrochemicals complexes have also drawn in more players including a slew of synthetic rubber producers. This will help Jurong Island maintain an edge over rival hubs in China and the Middle East which are focused on commoditised petrochemicals, industry observers say.

An upcoming cornerstone investment will be ExxonMobil's US$5 billion second petrochemical complex starting up mid-2011. It will boost Singapore's production of ethylene, an essential building block for downstream chemicals, to a critical 4.1 million tonnes per annum (tpa) from altogether four crackers here.

The world's largest biodiesel plant, Neste Oil's just-started S$1.2 billion Tuas facility, is also expected to ramp up to full production of 800,000 tpa by around the same time.

They will add more muscle to a sector, which earlier this year saw the start-up of Shell's US$3 billion petrochemical complex, which includes a monoethylene glycol unit which is helping Shell launch a new 'chemicals corridor' for HPEO feedstocks needed by downstream soap and detergent makers there.

Just as the new Shell complex (which will supply Raffinate-1 feedstock) also helped draw in Germany's Lanxess to set up a 400 million euros (S$712 million) butyl rubber plant here, butadiene from another new Shell unit could similarly induce Lanxess to site a planned second plant here for Nd-PBR (another hard- wearing synthetic rubber used for tyres).

Two other Japanese synthetic rubber makers, Sumitomo Chemical and Asahi Kasei Chemical, have also just announced that they will be investing in S-SBR synthetic rubber plants on Jurong Island to tap butadiene and styrene feedstocks available there.

This is exactly what Singapore is banking on: that the new petrochemical crackers will provide the 'critical mass' to supply the harder-to-get feedstocks needed by new downstream players producing more specialised petrochemicals.

Not only will the latest Shell and ExxonMobil crackers take Singapore nearer to its long-term target of a capacity of 6 million tpa of ethylene, the Republic must also ensure that it 'fully extracts value from these crackers by also securing specialised, downstream players', one investment official earlier stressed.

There was also recent good news that Jurong Aromatics Corporation's long-delayed US$2.4 billion aromatics complex is firmly back on track, having just sewn up debt financing for the project. Construction of the world-scale project - which will produce 1.5 million tpa of aromatics and 2.5 million tpa of transport fuels - is expected to start shortly, with the facility slated to come on-stream by 2014.

Like the other investments, JAC's project will have spill-over effects. It is the first customer to commit to the Jurong Rock Cavern oil storage which is currently under construction. JAC's 20-year utilities deal with Sembcorp has also spurred the genco to plan a 800-megawatt utilities expansion on Jurong Island.

The JAC facility will also comprise Singapore's first new 'niche' refinery investment in a long while, in the form of a US$400 million condensate splitter which will supply the raw materials needed by the aromatics complex.

Refining in Singapore - comprising ExxonMobil (605,000 barrels per day), Shell (500,000 bpd) and Singapore Refining Company (290,000 bpd) - has stayed stagnant at 1.4 million bpd for quite a while, amid significant new plants in rival centres in China, India and Thailand.

BP's latest 2010 Statistical Review of World Energy showed refining capacity increases of 10.5 per cent in China and 19.5 per cent in India, with Reliance Industries' 1.2 billion bpd Jamnaga complex now the world's biggest. Thailand also added 5.5 per cent of capacity to 1.24 million bpd, bringing it close to Singapore's.

While Singapore would like to see at least another new refinery investment here - to help provide naphtha feedstock for a targetted 6 million tpa of ethylene (petrochemicals) production here - this has so far not been forthcoming. Jurong Island version 2.0 may short-cut this process, if Singapore decides to proceed to build an LPG terminal to import alternative liquefied petroleum gas feedstocks for the petrochemical crackers.

Despite no new refinery building here so far - not surprising, given the current global overcapacity - what is heartening however, is that the refiners here are continuing to invest in upgrading projects.

ExxonMobil - whose US$11 billion refinery and petrochemical facility here is already its largest manufacturing site worldwide - has just committed to build another diesel hydrotreater investment. The project, said to cost another US$500 million, will enable it to produce 'green' diesel for increasingly environment-conscious regional markets.

An industry source says it is anyone's guess what the petrochemicals market will be like when ExxonMobil's new cracker starts up in the middle of next year. He is nevertheless hopeful that continued economic growth in South-east Asia and China will be able to absorb the upcoming new capacity. 'While the market is quite volatile, I'm guardedly optimistic about 2011,' he adds.

Singapore refining margins up to healthy levels
Demand growth for diesel and jet fuel from China, India set to continue: analysts
Ronnie Lim Business Times 20 Dec 10;

SINGAPORE's oil refiners seem to have turned a corner in the last few months, thanks to a demand pick-up for oil products like diesel and jet fuel. And this momentum could continue into early next year, industry sources reckon.

After enduring negative refining margins in the fourth quarter of 2009, and sub-US$1 a barrel margins in the first half of this year, Singapore refining margins have been climbing again to US$2.30-2.40 levels since Q3, BP's latest Refining Global Indicator Margin measure shows.

This is also reflected by a recent Moody's Investors Services report which indicated that Asian oil refining margins have 'bottomed out' because of growth in demand from emerging economies, including China and India.

'Q4 margins are quite good and are in fact higher than that shown by the generic BP measure,' one refinery official here told BT, adding that this 'strong refining performance may carry on for the next couple of months'.

'Throughput is currently quite high, with Singapore refineries running at 85 per cent to 90 per cent levels,' he said. The three facilities here are run by ExxonMobil (605,000 barrels per day), Shell (500,000 bpd) and Singapore Refining Company (290,000 bpd), the last equally owned by PetroChina and Chevron.

There have been several factors cited for the recent refining turnaround.

One is seasonal. 'Q4, being winter in the northern hemisphere, usually sees strong oil prices as people store heating oils like kerosene and diesel,' the refinery official said, and this has been borne out especially by the current cold snap in Europe.

Another has been the spike in Chinese diesel demand. 'As the Chinese authorities clamp down on power from coal-firing stations under a national move to reduce environmental pollution, factories there have resorted to using diesel-powered portable generators for power,' he said.

These two factors were also cited by oil traders here for the uptick in oil trading activity here since November. Diesel shipments from Singapore to China for instance tripled last month, one trader earlier told BT.

On the refining front, the refinery official added that 'recent demand for jet fuel has also been strong, given the growing trend towards air travel thanks to budget airlines. Mogas (motor gasoline) demand has also been good, due to low inventories in the region. Naphtha cracks are also improving, as the petrochemical industry is also running at high levels.'

Furthermore, despite new refining capacity coming up, such as in China and Thailand, 'there has also been consolidation of capacity elsewhere, like in Japan, the US and Europe, where less efficient refineries are shut down'.

The Moody's report showed that Asia added about 1.6 million bpd of capacity last year, including 800,000 bpd in China and 600,000 bpd in India. Capacity additions in Asia could total 800,000 bpd each year in 2010 and 2011.

'The large portion of global oil demand growth should stem from emerging countries such as China and India,' the report added, especially with China's oil demand forecast to grow by an average 6.35 per cent in 2010-2011.

'It's looking good,' the refinery official here said, adding that this happy situation could continue in the short term, especially as the global economy, especially in Asia, continues to grow.

Read more!

Semporna Expedition Yields Rich Biodiversity

WWF 20 Dec 10;

Kota Kinabalu: The Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition concluded on 18 December 2010. The preliminary results indicate that Semporna may have the world’s highest marine biodiversity. Eighteen scientists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the USA spent three weeks examining the reefs of Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. The biodiversity team documented the species richness for mushroom corals, reef fish, shrimps, gall crabs, ovulid snails, and algae. The reef status team documented the health of the coral reefs.

Mushroom corals are a family of corals of which most species live freely on the sea bed, from the shallow reef flat down to the sandy reef base. The expedition documented 43 species of mushroom corals in Semporna. The previous highest recorded richness of this family was 40 species at several sites in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. “Mushroom corals can be used as a proxy for other coral richness. Where we find high richness of mushroom corals, we usually find extremely high richness of other corals,” says Dr Bert Hoeksema, Head of Department of Marine Zoology, NCB Naturalis.

The roving census of fish counts clearly demonstrates that Semporna is one of the richest areas within the Coral Triangle. Dr Kent Carpenter, Professor at Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University states, “At some of the more diverse reefs, fish species counts rivalled the highest counts that the fish team found in the Philippines and were greater than what they have encountered in Indonesia.” The fish team encountered 844 species of fish in Semporna.

The coral reef status team used a modified ReefCheck methodology to assess the health of the reefs. 12 kilometres of transects were laid in the course of 60 dives. The preliminary results show that the reef status ranged from poor to excellent condition. 5% of the transects had “excellent” live coral cover, 23% had “good”, 36% had “fair”, and another 36% had “poor” live coral cover. Signs of coral bleaching and suspected coral disease were observed at various sites. While Semporna has several sites with good coral cover, nearly all sites showed significant human impacts including fish bombs, discarded fishing gear, and solid waste.

The extremely high levels of coral reef diversity and the relative poor health of the reefs combine to mean that much more effort must be made to manage and conserve the important reefs of Semporna. Not only is it a world class diving destination, it may well be one of the Coral Triangle’s top hotspots for marine biodiversity, and hence, the world’s. Many thousands of local people also rely on these rich reefs for their livelihoods and income.

Watch videos of the expedition team members conducting research and telling about discoveries, as well as stories of local communities in Semporna at:

http://blog.ncbnaturalis.nl/?tag=semporna-marine-ecological-expedition

Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition is made possible in part by funding from Adessium Foundation.

-END-

World's Highest Marine Biodiversity Found In Semporna
Bernama 20 Dec 10;

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- Semporna in the east coast of Sabah may have the highest marine diversity in the world, concluded a team of 18 scientists involved in the just-concluded Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition (SMEE) 2010.

Scientists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States of America(USA) spent three weeks examining the reefs of Semporna, a priority conservation area and documenting the richness for mushroom corals, reef fish, shrimps, gall crabs, ovulid snails and algae.

In a press conference, here today, Dr Bert Hoeksema, Department Head of Marine Zoology in the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis, the main sponsor for the project said they found 43 species of mushroom corals, the highest number since the previous record of 40 in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

"Mushroom corals can be used as a proxy for other coral richness. Where we find high richness of mushroom corals, we usually find extremely high richness of other corals," he said.

A total of 844 species of fish, over 90 species of coral shrimp and over 100 species of algae were also found from the study at 62 surrounding sites.

The expedition team also discovered a couple of coral shrimp and gall crab species that were new to science, and a rare mushroom coral species, the lithophyllon ranjithi.

Semporna, which lies within the boundaries of the Coral Triangle, has a rich mix of reef types - fringing reefs, patch reefs, pre-atoll reefs, a barrier reef and oceanic reefs (Sipadan Island) that have not been fully studied. Many species in the extremely diverse habitats remain undiscovered.

The expedition also found that only five percent of the live coral were in excellent preservation while 23 percent had good cover, 36 percent, fair cover and 36 percent in adverse health.

Human impact especially from unsustainable fisheries is posing a direct treat to the corals which is a food, shelter and substrate provider for the species.

"We saw nets, traps, lines, craters in the coral reefs from blasting, unexploded detonators�," related Dr Bert.

He stressed on urgent action for conservation before over-fishing, destructive fishing (fish bombing), pollution, and development destroyed the haven for rich marine life. He also suggested that diving tourism, which the area is famous for, be spread out to other localities.

SMEE was co organised by WWF-Malaysia, NCB Naturalis, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and University of Malaya, in collaboration with Sabah Parks, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Old Dominion University.

-- BERNAMA

Sabah rules in sea life
The Star 21 Dec 10;

KOTA KINABALU: A 17-day study of coral reefs off the Sabah east coast Semporna district has reaffirmed that the area has the world’s highest marine biodiversity.

But the study involving Malaysian and Dutch researchers unearthed some disturbing information – the area is under serious threat with only 5% of coral studied deemed in excellent condition and another 23% in good condition.

The study was jointly organised by WWF-Malaysia, the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Natura­lis, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Malaya.

Expedition co-leader Dr Bert Hoeksema of NCB said the Nov 29 to Dec 18 study found a staggering 43 mushroom coral species in waters off the 50 islands off Sem­porna.

He said the previous recorded richness of this family was 40 species at several sites off Sulawesi, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Dr Hoeksema said the study found 844 fish species and more than 90 coral shrimp species, rivalling the highest counts in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Dr Hoeksema disclosed this yesterday when releasing preliminary results of the expedition.

But he said researchers found that nearly all the areas studied had been impacted by damaging human activities – fish bombing, discarded fishing gear and solid waste.

He said researchers also heard 15 explosions due to fish bombing and found several unexploded fish bombs “that were just a few days old”.

Dr Hoeksema said the researchers found discarded fishing nets on the coral “and these were like death blankets over the reefs”.

WWF Malaysia chairman Datuk Tengku Zainal Adlin Tengku Maha­mood said the expedition had showed the waters off Semporna as “amazingly right in comparison to the other hotspots for marine diversity in the Coral Triangle”.

“We cannot save what we do not love, and we cannot love what we do not know.

“We have now increased our knowledge of the rich reefs in Semporna and we must work harder to save them,” he said.

Videos of the expedition can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/2010SMEE.

Rich coral reef in Semporna
The Star 22 Dec 10;

KOTA KINABALU: The Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition which concluded on Dec 18 indicated the district may have the world’s highest marine bio-diversity.

Eighteen scientists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States spent three weeks examining the reefs here.

The team documented species richness for mushroom corals, reef fishes, shrimps, gall crabs, ovulid snails and algae, while a reef status team recorded the health of coral reefs.

Mushroom corals lived freely on the sea bed, from the shallow reef flat to the sandy reef base. The expedition documented 43 mushroom coral species in Semporna.

Previously, the highest recorded richness of this family was 40 species at several sites in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

One of the researchers Bert Hoeksema said mushroom corals can be used as a proxy for other coral richness.

“Where we find high richness of mushroom corals, we usually find extremely high richness of other corals.”

Another researcher Kent Carpenter said the roving census of fish count showed Semporna was one of the richest areas within the Coral Triangle.

“At some of the more diverse reefs, fish species counts rivalled the highest count the fish team found in the Philippines and were greater than what they had encountered in Indonesia,” he said.

During this expedition, the fish team encountered 844 fish species.

The coral reef status team used a modified ‘Reef Check’ methodology to assess its health.

Some 12km of transects were laid in the course of 60 dives.

Preliminary results showed the reef status ranged from poor to excellent condition.

About 5% of the transects had ‘excellent’ live coral cover, 23% had ‘good’, 36% had ‘fair’, and another 36% had ‘poor’ live coral cover.

Signs of coral bleaching and suspected coral disease were observed at various sites.

While Semporna has several sites with good coral cover, nearly all sites showed significant human impact including fish bombs, discarded fishing gear and solid waste.

The extremely high levels of coral reef diversity and the relative poor health of the reefs combined meant more efforts must be made to manage and conserve the important reefs of Semporna.

Not only it is a world class diving destination, it may well be one of the Coral Triangle’s top hotspots for marine bio-diversity.

Thousands of residents around the district also relied on the rich coral reef for their livelihood and income.

Videos of the expedition team members can be accessed online at blog.ncbnaturalis.nl

Read more!

My mother was burnt alive - orang utan orphans

Amy Chew The Star 19 Dec 10;

The orang utan is our closest ‘relative’ yet we have taken more than our fair share of the land, destroying their habitat, driving them to certain death. Two foundations are racing against time to lease forest land to shelter them. They need our help.

THIS cuddly, adorable baby orang-utan is an orphan in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan. Thousands of them are also found in Sumatra island and Malaysia’s state of Sabah and Sarawak.

Under what circumstances his mother died, his carers at the Nyaru Menteng Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre do not know.

But what is certain she met with a cruel and violent end – hacked to pieces, burnt or shot to death – like so many others before her.

As forest land is cleared by legal and illegal logging, palm oil and other agricultural plantations, thousands of orang utans are losing their habitat and source of food.

Hungry and desperate for food, they sometimes wander into palm oil plantations and eat the shoots of young plants where plantation workers will kill them in the most inhumane way.

“Palm oil workers, often offered a bounty, will take out these orang utan by any means possible,” says Michelle Desilets, founder of the Orang Utan Land Trust (OLT).

“Our rescue teams have found orang utan beaten unconcious and buried alive, butchered with machetes, beaten to death with iron bars and wooden planks,” she says.

“There have been times when the workers douse the orang utan with petrol and then throw a lighted match, burning them alive,” Desilet adds.

Every year, an estimated 2,000-3,000 orang utan perish from the loss of their habitat, causing them to die of starvation or suffer cruel deaths.

Orang utan also die when forests fires break out, either set alight by the dry season, or deliberate burning by errant plantations or traditional farmers.

The orang utan, which means people of the forest, is our closest relative. It has a DNA which is almost 98% of that of a human being.

Only two percent separate us from these highly-intelligent creatures who have the capacity to feel the same emotions as a human being – pain, joy or sorrow.

The female orang utan are amongst the most protective mammals in the animal kingdom, who will give up their lives to protect their young.

When poachers hunt for baby orang utan to be sold off at a princely sum to animal traffickers, they always have to kill the mother who will defend her young to her last breath.

It is estimated that only 45,000-55,000 orang utan are left in the wild. Of that, 11,000 are in Sabah and another 4,000 in Sarawak.

More than a century ago, some scientists estimate there could have been as many as a million of these creatures.

OLT and Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) are working together to secure land in Kalimantan to save the orang utans from extinction.

OLT, a registered charity in England and Wales, supports sustainable solutions for the long-term survival of the orang utan in the wild by securing safe forests for their continued existence.

“If we can secure forests BEFORE it is cleared, then fewer orang utans will face this fate ... so that orang utans do not face a lifetime in a cage in a rescue centre,” said Desilets.

BOS is an non-profit organisation with the vision to establish a Bornean orang utan conservation in its natural habitat. It’s financial reports are audited annually by reputable auditors.

BOS, with the support of OLT, is raising money to lease 300,000ha of tropical forest land spread across the vast expanse of Kalimantan to save the orang utan from certain death.

The 60-year-lease for the 300,000ha from the Indonesian government costs 45 billion rupiah (RM15.9 million).

“To date, BOS Foundation has raised 13 billion rupiah (RM4.56 million) to pay for the licence fee in East Kalimantan for an area of 86,450 hectares,” said BOS chairman Togu Manurung.

BOS still needs to raise the remaining sum of money to pay for licence fees for the remaining 213,550 hectares of land as well as to fund the costs of transporting the orang utan to leased forest land.

With 25ha of rainforest being destroyed every minute, time is running out.

Instead of another nice dress or shirt, why not give someone a meaningful Christmas gift by donating to give the orang utan a chance to live?

In doing so, we restore our own humanity, worthy to be called human.

To donate, go to www.forests4orangutans.org or www.orangutan.or.id.

Read more!

Endangered Lorises in Jakarta Market Highlight Need for Better Enforcement

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 19 Dec 10;

Jakarta. Wildlife activists announced on Friday they had found 18 highly endangered Sunda slow lorises being sold openly in Jakarta, just a day after government officials and conservationists held a seminar on the threats facing the primate.

Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said its staff had found the animals being displayed in cages in front of Jatinegara Market in East Jakarta on Dec. 10.

It also said one cage was seen holding six lorises, forest-dwelling primates who are hunted for their large eyes.

The find came after a Dec. 9 seminar organized by International Animal Rescue Indonesia, which identified the illegal trade in the animal as the main reason for the species’ decline in the wild and for the high rate of premature death in captivity.

Chris R. Shepherd, deputy regional director of Traffic Southeast Asia, said the problem was the lack of law enforcement against the practice.

“These animals exemplify the threats slow lorises and other protected species face in Indonesia — trade is carried out openly and dealers do not fear reprimand or penalties,” he said.

“Dealers are well aware of the illegality of their trade in these species. Only with successful prosecution and sustained efforts by authorities to close down this trade will the situation change. Anything less is meaningless.”

Karmele Llano Sanchez, the IAR’s veterinary director, agreed, saying “It is obvious that people do not take the Indonesian laws seriously.”

“Only a small percentage of traded lorises are rescued and even those can rarely be returned to the wild as traders remove their teeth prior to selling the animals,” she said.

Shepherd said another challenge was that only one of the three subspecies — the Javan slow loris — was protected under Indonesian law.

The Javan slow loris has been listed among the world’s 25 most endangered primates since 2008.

The country is also home to two other subspecies, the Malay and Borneo slow lorises.

Trade in all three is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which Indonesia has acceded to but not ratified.

Traffic staff also found other rare animals being traded at the market, including the crested serpent-eagle, crested hawk-eagle, black-winged kite and leopard cat.

All are fully protected under Indonesian laws and cannot be legally traded.

Ahmad Saeroji, acting head of the Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said he would look in to the matter of animals being illegally traded in markets once be had formally taken up his new post.

“Once I start working, I’ll put these markets in order, just like in Surabaya,” said Ahmad, formerly with the East Java BKSDA.

Under the 1990 Law on the Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems, anyone caught trading in protected species can face up to five years in prison and fines of up to Rp 100 million ($11,000).

Read more!

As Incomes Rise, So Does Animal Trade

Bettina Wassener The New York Times 19 Dec 10;

HONG KONG — Four suitcases full of ivory, intercepted by customs at Suvarnabhumi International Airport near Bangkok. Rare tortoises, openly for sale at a fair in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. More than 2,000 frozen pangolins — scaly anteaters — seized from a fishing vessel off China.

Oh, and a 2-month-old tiger cub, alive but sedated, found inside a suitcase, also at the Bangkok airport. If you think all of this sounds like old news — didn’t we see this in the 1970s and ’80s? — think again.

Every one of these incidents, documented by Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, took place within the past few months. They provide just a glimpse of the massive trade in endangered animals — and their bones, skins and other organs — that is taking place across Asia.

And they illustrate that half a century’s worth of efforts by governments, international organizations and conservationists have failed to stem wildlife trade and the extinction of numerous animals and plants.

Yes, conservation projects have helped preserve individual species, but over all the trade in rare creatures has grown, not shrunk — thanks largely to rising demand from an increasingly affluent Asia.

“I’ve been doing this job for close to 20 years,” said Chris R. Shepherd, who helps oversee Traffic’s Southeast Asia operations, “and I can say it’s never been anywhere near as bad as it is now.”

In the 1970s, when international conservation efforts began to take off, the issue was one of largely niche demand from wealthy consumers in the West. Now, however, the picture has changed radically.

Rapid growth across developing Asia over the past decade or two has caused wealth to increase quickly across much of the region. Credit Suisse, in a recent study, estimated that parts of Asia, including China, India and Indonesia, have seen the average wealth per adult soar between 100 percent and 400 percent since 2000.

Along with many of its neighbors, China is now a giant consumer of items like machinery, cars, washing powder, clothes and — yes — python-skin handbags and tiger penises, bear bile and other ingredients for traditional medicines or meals that once belonged to the aristocracy.

“Over the past 20 years, the nature of the demand has changed, thanks to a rising middle class in Asia,” said Colman O’Criodain, a wildlife trade policy analyst in Switzerland for the environmental group W.W.F. International.

James Compton, senior program director for Asia at Traffic, said from Beijing, “Whether it’s high-end luxury stores or the man on the street corner selling dried sea horses — you can see animals and animal parts being sold quite openly. Wildlife trade is now quite pervasive in Asia.”

The problem, experts say, is often not a lack of top-level political will. Many Asian countries, like those elsewhere, ban the trade of rare plants and animals. Rather, the problem is enforcement on the ground and growing demand from populations that are often simply not fully aware of just how endangered the creatures they are consuming are.

Wildlife species with high commercial value have declined drastically, and many are now rare, endangered or even locally extinct, Traffic wrote in a report about Southeast Asia in late 2008.

Figures are hard to come by, as only select species can be closely monitored. But here are a couple of examples to illustrate the scale of some the population declines:

•Some species of sharks are thought to have declined 90 percent. Considered a status symbol in Chinese culture, the soup made from pricey shark fins is now within the reach of many, many more people than it once was.

• There are now thought to be as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild globally, down from 100,000 a century ago. Despite their acute rarity and international bans on tiger trade, officials throughout most of the tiger range countries, which span Russia and much of Asia, are intercepting the claws, skins or bones of about 100 tigers every year, a report published by Traffic last month found.

On the upside, attitudes are starting to change. Shark’s fin soup, for example, is becoming a decidedly uncool meal to serve in Hong Kong, the main hub for trade in the fins.

And in mainland China, where there was barely any coverage of animal welfare and related topics a decade ago, the media are now engaged, said Jill Robinson, founder of the Animals Asia Foundation, which campaigns for animal welfare and the conservation of endangered animals.

The sale of bear bile — often harvested from animals kept in tiny cages, and used in traditional medicine to cure ailments as varied as headaches and hemorrhoids — is legal in China, and demand is booming. But many doctors are starting to turn away from its use, not least because of a growing realization that bile from bears farmed in such conditions is often diseased, Ms. Robinson said.

Unfortunately, these efforts, commendable though they are, make only a small dent. Unlike in the West, where generations of children have grown up with nature programs, populations in Asia are not yet sensitized to issues like conservation, said Mr. O’Criodain of the W.W.F.

And while some countries have pretty advanced projects for preserving terrestrial species, “most consider the resources of the high seas — including overfished species of fish — as up for grabs,” he added.

Often, said Mr. Compton of Traffic, it is actually the rarity of the animal that makes it attractive to consumers, driving up its price.

For example, in Vietnam, where it is illegal to sell bear bile, a milliliter, or one-fifth of a teaspoon, of fresh, liquid bear bile can fetch as much as $30 on the black market, Animals Asia said.

Such prices mean fines and other penalties are an insufficient deterrent to often impoverished local populations.

“Wildlife crime is becoming more and more organized and sophisticated, and enforcement capacities are not managing to keep up,” said Mr. Shepherd of Traffic.

“The political will is changing; we’re seeing a lot of high-level commitments. But we need to see that translate into action on the ground. Otherwise, it will just be business as usual.”

For some species, even the welcome change in awareness may already simply be too little, too late.

Read more!

Malaysia: Saving turtles with reef balls

Rintos Mail The Star 20 Dec 10;

REEF balls have proven their effectiveness in protecting turtles in Sarawak.

Sarawak Forestry Corporation Kuching regional office project coordinator (conservation and protection) Christopher Kri said in the early 1990s, between 70 and 100 turtle deaths were reported every year.

However, he said the number had reduced significantly since 2006, of which only 15 cases were reported.

“In 2007, only five and in 2008, only 12 turtles were reported dead,” he said when presenting his paper on “Reef Balls for Protecting Turtles in Sarawak” at the 10th Hornbill Workshop organised by Sarawak Foresty Corporation in Miri, which ended last Friday.

He said most of the dead turtles reported were believed to be caught by illegal trawling activities.

He said seeing the need for an alternative method to deter illegal trawling activities permanently, Sarawak had decided to place reef balls in all turtle inter-nesting resting areas.

“To date a total of 2,840 reef balls have been deployed at the selected sites. This has seen a significant drop in turtle death reports per year,” he said.

Kri said the reef balls were deployed at Talang Talang Besar, Talang Talang Kecil, Pulau Satang Besar, Pulau Sempadi and Tanjung Datu National Park.

He said other benefits of reef balls were for protecting traditional fishing areas, creating new habitats for marine life and as a recreational diving site.

He said SFC was looking forward to deploying 100,000 reef balls in all the Totally Protected Areas that are turtle inter-nesting resting areas.

Read more!

Brunei: New Fauna Discoveries In Sg Ingei

Fitri Shahminan Brunei Direct 20 Dec 10;

Bandar Seri Begawan - Preliminary results have shown that at least four endangered wildlife species and suspected new ones were recorded during the first phase of a faunal biodiversity survey in Brunei's Sg Ingei Protection Forest, researchers have confirmed.

In July this year, a multinational team of wildlife researchers, led by Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), camped for two weeks in the forest to uncover more details on the behaviour and movement patterns of numerous species of endangered animals in the country.

A total of 60 "camera traps" have been set up in various locations in Sg Ingei, which will be left operating over the duration of the study.

"The cameras are going on for two years, so we can say to you, that they are (recording) mind-boggling stuff," said the project leader, Dr Joseph Charles, who explained that the camera traps capture still photos upon detection of movement as well as differences in temperature within the body of an animal and the environment.

The senior lecturer at UBD's Biology Department added that the data of the findings are currently being analysed.

When asked if he could confirm new species among the findings, he said: "Yes, because we have never seen them before and nobody has ever reported about it."

"We suspect there is a new bat, frog and there are also other new forms among fish (but) all that to be confirmed, nothing is confirmed. They are all being suspected as new species," said Dr Charles, who added that a complete DNA analysis would nevertheless be required to justify their claims.

Complete details of the results from the first phase of the study are expected to be disclosed to the public some time in March next year, he said.

Sg Ingei project administrator, Dr Ang Bee Biaw commented the team was overwhelmed with the initial findings.

"Put it this way, when we look at the camera trap pictures, we could not sleep, the whole night none of us slept at all," she said.

Dr Ang added that a team comprising of Dr Charles, local researchers who are involved in the study and herself would be carrying out the DNA analysis.

"Normally we would study the morphology, anatomy and then finally the DNA analysis, to confirm if the species is new or just some sort of variation," she said.

The second expedition is scheduled to be carried out around the same time next year, when the team will be joined by selected scientists from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The results from the faunal biodiversity survey, is hoped to be enough to convince local authorities to fully protect the area and its wildlife by upgrading it into a national park.

The two-year faunal biodiversity survey is backed by the Ministry of Primary Resources and sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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Malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants

The Star 20 Dec 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants that will generate 1,000 megawatts each with the first plant ready for operation in 2021. The second plant is expected to be ready a year later.

These are part of an overall long-term plan to balance energy supply.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin said the Government would engage an international consultant to evaluate the location and requirement for such plants to be built.

“Hopefully, by 2013 or 2014, we will able to finish evaluating this. As for calling of tenders, we hope it will be done by 2016,” he said.

Chin said Malaysia was heavily reliant on gas and coal for its electricity supply as it was the Government’s policy to reduce reliance on fossil fuel.

Gas accounted for 64% of the country’s energy generation while the remainder came from coal.

“We must get away from this. (It is) very much an imbalance. Most countries have a good balance. We want hydro to assume a prominent role as it is clean but this can only be achieved in Sabah and Sarawak where there is much potential but not in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.

Furthermore, Chin said other sources of energy such as biomass and wind were too minimal while solar was a good potential but the technology was still very expensive.

Chin also said the Government must have a balanced approach when it came to renewal energy as it would not want tariffs to go up due to higher cost.

Nuclear, he said, had become a more prominent choice in balancing the energy source due to lower maintenance cost and lower tariffs in the long-run.

“For example, in Abu Dhabi, they are building huge solar energy plants but at the same time balancing it up with a nuclear plant. They are not just concentrating on fossil fuel,” he said.

Malaysia began operation of a 1MW Triga research reactor in 1982 and has had an international nuclear safeguards agreement in place since 1972.

Recently, Malaysia also tightened export control laws to thwart the possibility of nuclear technology smuggling. — Bernama

Plans for 2 nuke plants to meet energy demand
New Straits Times 20 Dec 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants that can generate 1,000 megawatts each as part of the overall long-term plan to balance energy supply.

The first plant is projected to be ready for operation in 2021 and the second plant, a year later.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said the government would engage an international consultant to evaluate the location and requirements for such plants.

Meanwhile, awareness and education programmes will be carried out to inform the people on such a need.

"Hopefully, by 2013 or 2014, we will be able to finish evaluating this. As for the calling of tenders, we hope it can be done by 2016."

Chin said Malaysia was heavily reliant on gas and coal for its electricity supply and it was government policy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel.

Gas accounted for 64 per cent of the country's energy generation while the remainder came from coal.

"We must get away from this. It is very much an imbalance. Most countries have a good balance.

"We want hydroelectric power to assume a prominent role as it is clean but this can only be achieved in Sabah and Sarawak, where there is more potential, and not in Peninsular Malaysia."

Chin said other sources of energy such as biomass and wind were too minimal, while solar had good potential, but the technology was still very expensive.

"For biomass and wind energy, there is nothing to shout about.

"Unless and until solar energy becomes practical enough, this type of energy will just complement what you already have as you can't generate much due to high cost."

Chin also said the government must have a balanced approach when it comes to renewable energy if it did not want tariffs to go up.

"Yes, very good, everyone wants to say that we want to use renewable energy but what about cost?

"Can we force the people to accept high tariffs?

"We have to look at a balanced way and that's why we also can't depend on fossil fuel only."

Chin said nuclear power had become a more prominent choice in balancing the energy source because of lower tariffs and maintenance cost in the long-run.

"For example, in Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates), they are building huge solar energy plants but at the same time, balancing it with a nuclear plant.

"They are not just concentrating on fossil fuel," he said.

Malaysia began operating a 1MW Triga research reactor since 1982 and has an international nuclear safeguard agreement in place since 1972.

Recently, Malaysia also tightened its export control laws to thwart the possibility of nuclear technology being smuggled out. -- Bernama

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Dec 10

The Saga of Singapore's Titan Arum
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Halophila beccarii @ SungeiMandaiBesar 18Dec2010
from sgbeachbum

Butterfly of the Month - December 2010: Painted Jezebel
from Butterflies of Singapore

Otter at Woodlands Park!
from wild shores of singapore and Special plants at Woodlands mangroves

Feeding Black-naped Oriole from a highrise building
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Number of rat enclaves found in Singapore has risen sharply this year

Rats, they're still here
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 19 Dec 10;

Lunch hour in the bustling Central Business District.

The iconic Lau Pa Sat comes alive as hungry foodies swarm around the area to fill their empty stomachs.

But patrons interviewed paint a different picture in recent years of the 24-hour food centre late at night, when they say it was not uncommon to find a furry rodent running along the ground.

Statistics provided by the National Environment Agency (NEA) show that the number of rat enclaves found in Singapore has increased.

No fewer than 1,687 areas were found with rats by the authorities this year, a four-fold jump from the 443 found last year. Rodents typically nest and burrow in the ground, under buildings, and in rubbish and other types of litter.

This year, more building owners were also fined for attracting rodents because of poor maintenance or uncleared rubbish.

NEA issued 1,874 such fines and warnings this year, a three-fold increase from last year. Such fines can go up to $10,000.

Pest control firms said the problem lies with many food establishments here, which cut corners to save costs.

Some operators use the refuse collectors or building contractors they employ to tackle vector problems when they arise, even if they lack the expertise.

But food establishments insist they are making the best of the situation given the pressures to maintain bottom lines.

Singapore's expanding heaps of rubbish, which have grown six-fold since the 1970s, and the 1,000 new food establishments that open here every year, add to the problem, says the NEA.

Pest control firms also pin the blame on more construction activity fuelled by a resurgent economy.

Part of the problem at Lau Pa Sat was that construction projects surrounding it drove rats out of their nests. Given that they hunt in packs, the food centre became a prime target when the rats foraged for food.

Lau Pa Sat's operator, Residential Properties, was not keen on shutting down its food stalls for a day each month to deal with the problem, said Mr G. Surajan, managing director of pest control firm Major's Pest Management which was hired in 2008.

Instead, the operator asked for the job to be done by sections.

In an ideal scenario, pest control contractors say the most effective way is a total shutdown to do a thorough clean-up.

Typically, their work involves eliminating the food sources, breeding and nesting places of rats.

'Treatment has got to be effective and not partial, so I gave up the contract,' the former president of the Singapore Pest Management Association (SPMA) said, adding it was the first time he had taken such a drastic step.

When contacted, a spokesman for Residential Properties did not want to address questions related to Major's Pest Management. But she conceded that closing the building, a tourist landmark, for a day would 'inconvenience customers' greatly.

The rat problem at Lau Pa Sat, she added, has improved since neighbouring construction works ended this year. A contractor was engaged to do clean-ups twice a month in the evenings.

The area still attracted three complaints this year, said NEA, which issued the management a warning and ordered it to intensify rodent control measures and foodstall owners to dispose of rubbish properly.

In the early years, poorly sanitised homes were rat havens. But as society advanced, they gravitated to open fields near large bin centres or mismanaged building sites.

But NEA said the numbers do not tell the whole story.

Mr Tai Ji Choong, operations head of its environmental health department, said since early this year, routine surveys have been conducted in Singapore, after a spate of rat-related incidents made the news.

These include incidents at the Geylang Serai wet market last year and the Somerset Skate Park earlier this year.

'All this while, monitoring had been ad hoc, responding mainly to public complaints or feedback,' he said. Hygiene officers are typically on the lookout for burrows in open fields or cracks on the wall of a building, all tell-tale signs of rodent breeding clusters.

Rats can spread diseases such as typhus and leptospirosis. They can contaminate food with their droppings, urine and fur.

They also tend to be seasonal creatures, with more seen during rainy months as they come out in search of food and shelter.

All this has meant a roaring trade for the more than 250 pest control firms.

Current SPMA president Andrew Chan, whose firm handles five calls to address rodent issues every week, adds that the 'yuck' factor associated with rodents can be costly to businesses such as restaurants, which live or die on their reputation for keeping up hygiene standards.

One problem the authorities grapple with is the spillover of the rodent population from large bin centres in housing estates into other public spaces.

Town councils, which are in charge of these bin centres, say the rat population in their estates is linked to the estate's age, with the older ones generally seeing more rats. In Jurong, for example, about 70 rats were sighted this year, said a town council spokesman.

The issue will only grow in complexity as Singapore's population continues to grow, said NEA's Mr Tai.

The agency is working on a 'rat attack' campaign with the town councils over the next few months by trying to reduce the number of rat burrows in each HDB precinct using traps and poison and by disposing of waste properly.

These have had some success in driving away the rodents in the past, but it has not taken long for them to return.

Pest control contractors say the issue will require everyone to be on board: from the man in the street, who needs to refrain from littering, to more vigilant building owners and town councils that will pay more attention to cleanliness of the area.

There can be no shortcuts, said Mr Surajan. 'When you choose to take the cheapest way out, you get what you pay for.'

Curb rodent population
Straits Times 2 Jan 11;

I was shocked and worried to read that the number of rat enclaves in Singapore has increased by four-fold within just one year ('Rats, they're still here'; Dec 19).

What surprises me is that the National Environment Agency (NEA) has identified some food outlets,

disposal facilities in buildings and construction sites around the island, as the main root causes.

This points to the fact that the affected food outlets and building owners or managers have forgotten, or overlooked, the fundamentals of good hygienic practices, while those excavating at construction sites have not taken sufficient measures to effectively counter the expected release of rats from underground burrows.

I hope the NEA will not only increase checks and impose more stringent penalties, but also highlight to those responsible that it is pointless for Singapore to be crowned the fastest growing economy in the region if we are also given the dubious reputation of being the city with the fastest growing rodent population.

Khoo Kah Liang

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Cypriots kill record 1.4 million migratory birds

Yahoo News 17 Dec 10;

NICOSIA (AFP) – A record 1.4 million migratory birds were killed over the key autumn season to feed an illicit Cypriot taste for the delicacy, a conservationist group said on Friday.

A survey by Birdlife Cyprus carried out between September and October showed more than one million birds were indiscriminately killed after being trapped with mist nets and limesticks.

"The picture emerging from autumn 2010 is one of a bird-trapping disaster on a scale unseen since Birdlife's monitoring work began almost 10 years ago," it said in a statement.

"A 75-percent increase in mist net use and an 89-percent increase in limestick setting compared to autumn 2009 are simply unacceptable," it added.

Autumn trapping levels have been on a general upward trend for four years while mist netting levels are at a nine-year high, according to the group.

Such methods are used to catch blackcaps and song thrushes, much sought after delicacies that fetch five euros (6.65 dollars) each at Cypriot restaurants, making the illegal trade lucrative.

Birdlife said the figures showed a "serious failure" on the part of both Cypriot authorities and British Sovereign Base Areas where illegal trappings are rife.

"As EU member states, both have obligations under the EU Birds Directive to protect birds, and migrant birds in particular," the group said.

It added a clampdown on restaurants was needed to prevent Cyprus revisiting the 1990s when up to 10 million birds were killed.

A huge crackdown on trappers and restaurants was enforced before Cyprus joined the European Union in May 2004, but now conservationists say the government lacks the political will to eradicate the trade.

"Trappers are making hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) by selling blackcaps and other birds to be served up as illegal, expensive ambelopoulia (blackcap) delicacies.

"Cyprus has now lost serious ground in the battle against bird-trapping, an illegal and indiscriminate practice that threatens many bird species of conservation concern."

Birdlife has also called for tougher sentencing available to the courts to be enforced while pinpointing a need to change attitudes towards killing and eating migratory birds.

During the winter, millions of birds take refuge in Cyprus from colder northern climates.

An estimated 60 species that are listed as threatened or in need of protection are snared in illegal Cypriot traps.

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Sweden permits new wolf hunt despite criticism

Yahoo News 17 Dec 10;

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Swedish authorities announced on Friday hunters will be allowed to cull 20 wolves next year, despite harsh criticism of this year's hunt, the first in nearly half a century.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency said that between January 15 and February 15 licensed hunters will be permitted to shoot 20 wolves, down from the quota of 27 animals this year.

The Swedish parliament decided last year to limit the wolf population to 210 animals, spread out in 20 packs, with 20 new pups per year, for a period of five years by issuing hunting permits in regions where wolves have recently reproduced.

That number still stands.

It was important to keep the quota low "to not strain the population more than necessary to reach the parliament's target," agency chief Maria Aagren said in a statement.

This year's hunt, when all 27 wolves were killed in just the first four days of the season, was the first since 1964.

The hunt was blasted by ecologists as rushed, cruel and lacking coordination, as some 12,000 hunters had been granted permits to kill the 27 animals.

Environmental group WWF also strongly criticised Friday's decision, insisting it "lacks a scientific basis," and maintaining that the hunt was "random" and risked killing off "a large number of genetically valuable animals."

"It is surprising that the wolf hunt will be permitted," Tom Arnbom, head of WWF's predator division, wrote in a statement, insisting the hunt would do little to improve the problems posed by inbreeding within the Swedish wolf population.

"Today the government has decided in favour of a widespread hunt, but without providing any suggestions of how the wolf population should be strengthened genetically," he said.

Monica Eriksson of the environmental protection agency however insisted to AFP there was nothing random about the hunt.

She pointed out that in areas known to have "immigrant" wolves or their offspring, and thus with new genes, "no hunting permits have been given."

The Green Party also lashed out at Friday's decision, pointing out that the European Commission had not yet concluded a probe into the legality of the hunt.

"Now the commission might pull Sweden before the EU court at the end of January at the same time as a new group of wolves is being killed in the Swedish forests," Green member of parliament Aasa Romson said in a statement.

Eriksson meanwhile said there was no indication when the commission would reach its decision, adding that until it does, "the hunt will go ahead."

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