Johor floods: Waters recede but Johor stays on alert

New Straits Times 6 Feb 11;

JOHOR BARU: Fewer evacuees in Johor returned home yesterday compared with previous days as the authorities remained wary of the floods taking a turn for the worse.

As of 5pm, there were still 28,099 people at 105 relief centres as compared with 28,970 on Saturday.

State flood operations room spokesman said relief centres still open were in Ledang (19), Segamat (18), Muar (28) and Batu Pahat (38).


The other 230 relief centres in Kluang, here, Kota Tinggi, Pontian and Kulaijaya had been closed as those districts have almost totally recovered from the floods.

"The number of evacuees who returned home since Saturday is just about 800 because we are still on high alert in some areas," the spokesman said.

As of 4pm yesterday, Sungai Muar at Buloh Kasap was still at 9.83m, which was higher than its danger level of 9.14m.


The Bekok dam at Sungai Batu Pahat was also still above its danger mark of 17.5m at 18.73m.

The situation in Pahang had returned to normal, with the remaining 12 flood victims at a relief centre in Rompin allowed to return home yesterday morning.

A spokesman from the Pahang police operations room said the victims, who were at the relief centre at SK Aur Ibam, began returning to their village at Kampung Aur at 9am.


In Malacca, the number of flood victims at two relief centres in Jasin dropped to 330 people yesterday from 407 people the day before.

A spokesman from the state flood operations room said the victims, from 74 families, were from the Sungai Rambai state constituency.

He expected the situation to improve further as the water level at Sungai Kesang was receding.

Meanwhile, Puteri Umno said it intends to play its role to step up a cleanliness programme, particularly in flood-stricken states.

Its head, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, said the programme, in collaboration with the district health office, would increase awareness among flood victims and prevent them from being inflicted with diseases.

The deputy health minister said assistance given to flood victims normally focused on efforts to send them to evacuation centres, as well as other forms of aid.

However, she noted that cleanliness was not given priority.

More flood evacuees expected to go home
The Star 7 Feb 11;

JOHOR BARU: Although it has been a week since major floods hit the state, a total of 28,177 evacuees still remain at 107 relief centres.

A spokesman from the state flood operations room, however, said the number was slowly going down.

“Our relief centres in six districts (Johor Baru, Kluang, Pontian, Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Kulaijaya) have already ended operations and we expect more centres to shut down soon,” he said.

The spokesman added that it was likely that the number of evacuees would drop steadily as the Meteo­rological Department had reported that the weather should improve in the coming week.

“The weather has been good these past few days but we are still receiving flood evacuees, especially in Batu Pahat and Ledang.

“Hopefully by the end of the week, the waters will recede completely and residents can all return home,” he said.

As of 3pm, online records from the operations room showed that there are about 6,808 families still in relief centres.

These families are mainly from Muar with 2,621 families, Batu Pahat (1,973), Ledang (1,801) and Segamat (413).

Number Of Flood Victims In Johor And Melaka Drops
Bernama 7 Feb 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The number of flood victims staying at relief centres in Johor and Melaka is declining as the flood situation in the affected areas has improved.

A total of 27,737 victims from 6,680 families were still taking shelter at relief centres in four districts in Johor as of this morning.

As at 8am, all victims in the districts of Muar, Batu Pahat, Segamat and Ledang were staying at 100 relief centres, according to the official portal of the Johor state government, www.johordt.gov.my.

The Muar district recorded the higher number with 10,574 victims from 2,633 families, followed by Batu Pahat (8,775 victims, 1,944 families), Ledang (6,750 victims, 1,698 families) and Segamat (1,638 victims, 405 families).

Out of the 100 relief centres that were set up, 28 were in Muar, 37 in Batu Pahat, 16 in Segamat and 19 in Ledang.

To date, five people were reported to have drowned due to the flood in Johor.

In MELAKA, the number of flood victims seeking shelter at two relief centres in the district of Jasin was reported to have dropped to 227 compared with 254 yesterday afternoon.

A spokesman of the state flood operations room said 197 victims from 41 families were being accommodated at the relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Parit Penghulu while 30 victims from nine families were staying at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Mendapat.

All the victims were residing in the Sungai Rambai state constituency, the spokesman said when contacted here.

Clear weather was reported in the whole state, added the spokesman.

-- BERNAMA

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Malaysia: Mangrove log smugglers forging documents and using false permits

Stuart Michael The Star 7 Feb 11;

WITH the authorities cracking down on mangrove log smugglers, the thieves have changed their modus operandi by forging documents and getting false approval permits.

Over the last 10 days, the Selangor Forestry Department together with the Marine Police and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency have seized two vessels carrying 4,000 mangrove logs worth RM40,000 that were smuggled from Indonesia.

Eight men, including the tekong of the two vessels, were caught in the raid at the barter trade jetty off Port Klang recently.

On both vessels, the mangrove logs were concealed underneath about 600 bags of charcoal.

Selangor Forestry Department assistant director (operations and enforcement) Mohd Yussainy Md Yusop said the irony was that the import approvals came from the Customs Department and the Malaysian Timber Industry Board.

“How can the state prevent the stealing of mangrove logs when such things happen. The smugglers are getting inside help to obtain approved permits to bring timber into Malaysia.

“In the permits, it was stated that the vessels were carrying mangrove logs. Mangrove logs are banned in Malaysia, Indonesia and the authorities should know better than to issue these permits,’’ he said.

Mohd Yussainy added that the two tekong also failed to show any evidence of the logs being felled in Indonesia.

“This indiscriminate approval of permits to import mangroves is affecting conservation efforts in the state.

“The smugglers, a majority of whom are Indonesians, are getting inside help to obtain the permits.

The permits, he claimed, were given without proper investigation into the source of the harvested logs, a majority of which he suspected were felled illegally in Malaysia.

Mohd Yussainy identified four areas — Sungai Rambai and Kuala Linggi in Malacca, Muar and Batu Pahat in Johor — as having mangrove logs shipped from Indonesia or via the Straits of Malacca illegally.

He said these logs were then transported by a vessel to Port Klang with legal permits.

Mohd Yussainy said syndicates were hoodwinking the authorities as they apply for APs for timber but instead were bringing in mangrove logs.

“Unfortunately, the National Forest Act 1984 does not stipulate that agencies which issue import permits to smugglers can be taken to court.

“Smugglers will use the AP as an excuse to bring in logs and this will worsen the situation. This should be prevented,” said Yussainy.

He added that the Selangor Forestry Department had stopped issuing licences allowing the harvesting of mangroves in July last year but that such activities were still rampant in the state.

Between July last year and Jan 15, nine people have been prosecuted for smuggling, while the department has seized over 200,000 logs.

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Fish farming promises abundance for food security

Michael Richardson, for The Straits Times 7 Feb 11;

AMID rising prices of food and concerns over future shortages, fish farming has been a bright spot in the generally challenging outlook for global food production. This is why Singapore and many other Asian countries are so interested in aquaculture.

In the past, most fish were caught in the wild. However in recent decades, a rapidly growing volume and range of fish have been raised in tanks and ponds on land, or in cages and nets in oceans, lakes and rivers, helping to meet the growing demand for protein. Aquaculture is now a US$100 billion (S$127 billion) industry.

Asia has led the way in the production and export of both wild capture and farmed fish, making an increasingly important contribution to the region's food security, while providing expanded employment opportunities and alleviating poverty.

South-east Asia accounts for one-quarter of all fish farmed for human consumption in Asia. Worldwide, fisheries support the livelihoods of about 540 million people, or about 8 per cent of the population.

But the most striking development has been in fish farming. The latest estimate from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is that aquaculture will meet more than half of all food fish consumption by next year.

Most traditional wild fisheries are being overexploited, or harvested at the maximum yield at which their stocks can be sustained. So fish farming is seen as a key way to increase supply in a world hungry for protein.

The growing supply of affordable fish in Asia has contributed to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, and thus to economic growth.

Global production of food fish from aquaculture, including fin fishes, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals, reached nearly 53 million tonnes in 2008, according to the FAO's annual report on the state of world fisheries, published last week. In 1950, production was less than one million tonnes a year.

As demand grew and technology improved, aquacultural output rose at an average annual rate of 8.3 per cent between 1970 and 2008, while the world population increased much more slowly, at just 1.6 per cent a year.

Aquacultural production has been growing at three times the rate of world meat production since 1950.

In China, the world's largest fish farmer, just over 80 per cent of fish consumed by humans in 2008 was from aquaculture, up from 24 per cent in 1970. Asia as a whole accounts for nearly 90 per cent of global production from fish farming and over three-quarters of its value.

Of the 15 leading producers, 11 are Asian economies. The top six are all in Asia. While China is by far the biggest, it is followed by India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The expansion of fish farming in Asia has been impressive. But will it continue?

The Global Aquaculture Alliance, a trade association, says that output must double in the next 10 years to keep pace with demand, particularly from a growing middle class in Asia and other parts of the developing world.

Ideally, as fish farming expands, it should provide breathing space for wild fisheries to recover.

Said Mr Alfred Schumm, a fisheries specialist with conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature: 'In a world likely to face a future of increasing food prices and decreasing food security, it is becoming more and more apparent that running down one fishery after another is a disaster in the making.'

The FAO report found that the proportion of marine fish stocks estimated to be underexploited or moderately exploited declined from 40 per cent in the mid-1970s to 15 per cent in 2008, whereas the ratio of overexploited, depleted or recovering stocks increased from 10 per cent in 1974 to 32 per cent in 2008.

The proportion of fully exploited stocks has remained relatively stable, at about 50 per cent of the total since the 1970s.

Said senior FAO fisheries expert Richard Grainger, one of the report's editors: 'That there has been no improvement in the status of stocks is a matter of great concern. The percentage of overexploitation needs to go down, although at least we seem to be reaching a plateau.'

Aquaculture is not as separate from wild fishing as it may seem. This is because wild fish are widely used to make the fish meal and fish-oil components for feeding farmed fish.

The availability and high cost of feed is one of the constraints of future aquacultural expansion. Pollution and environmental degradation are some problems.

So, too, is the shortage of land, fresh water and suitable baby wild fish to build stocks of farmed fish.

Meanwhile, in South-east Asia, the trend in fish farming is to go offshore, because most countries in the region have extensive coastlines. As a result, mariculture, the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products, has become the fastest-growing part of the business.

The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies.

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Higher food prices here to stay: analysts

Paul Handley Yahoo News 6 Feb 11;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – From McDonald's burgers in the United States to sugar in Bolivia and chilis in Indonesia, food prices across the globe are soaring.

But consumers and governments should brace themselves for even higher prices, experts warn, as demand in populous emerging economies will put pressure on supplies for years to come.

A "perfect storm" of bad weather, rapid growth in emerging economies -- with people eating more higher-value, resource-intense food -- and low interest rates has sent prices for a broad range of farm and non-farm commodities climbing often at double-digit rates: from wheat to corn, cotton to rubber, and oil to boot.

And while it resembles the sharp spike in food and oil prices of 2007-2008, analysts say the current trend is less speculative in nature and not likely to end with a price collapse, as it did two years ago.

"Things were quite different in 2008... You had price spikes, it was a couple of food grains," said Chris Delgado, an agriculture specialist at the World Bank.

"What is going on now is more broadbased... It's not led by grains."

And it's widespread, and feeding into political worries, not just in the Middle East.

In Indonesia, where even the price of chilis has soared, the government suspended import duties on key food items after inflation hit an annual rate of seven percent in January.

In Bolivia, sugar is being rationed despite a 64 percent price hike.

In the United States, much higher meat prices are forcing restaurants from fancy steak houses to McDonald's to hike their prices, even though the pocketbooks of consumers remain tight.

On Thursday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said food prices have reached their highest level since it began measuring them in 1990, and pointed to the political problems that can spark.

"Not only is there a risk, but there have already been riots in some parts of the world because of rising prices," FOA chief Jacques Diouf said.

There is little relief in sight, say experts.

"I think commodity prices are going to be trending higher," said Gerard Lyons, chief economist for Standard Chartered Bank.

"What's interesting is that even commodities that aren't heavily traded are rising in price. ... That suggests this is fundamental, not speculators," he told AFP.

The 2008 commodity spike was only a handful of food grains plus oil, and driven in large part by political decisions amounting to hoarding and heavy trader speculation.

This year the problem is more fundamental: prices are being driven by growing demand from huge emerging economies like China, India, Russia and Brazil that is unlikely to slacken until prices get much higher, say analysts.

The World Bank's Delgado said that supply shocks are exacerbating the price hikes: weather and policy moves that have cut grain supplies from Russia, Argentina and Australia, among others.

But the trend is rooted in the fundamentals of soaring demand, say economists.

"More and more people are moving up the scale of income, so they tend to have higher value food," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

Lyons said there is not much relief on the horizon because of the time it takes farmers to expand acreage and production.

"It takes a long time, two to three years, for new supply to come on stream," Lyons said.

"I think commodity prices are going to be trending higher."

Commodity traders are saying the same thing.

Last week Morgan Stanley commodities specialist Hussein Allidina said key items like corn, soybeans and wheat still face strong upward price pressure -- with corn possibly going up another 20 percent from the current level of $6.60 a bushel before demand weakens.

"We see record tightness across the agriculture complex and believe that higher prices will be necessary to ration demand and incentivize acreage," he said in a report.

Behravesh said he thinks the problem is mainly a short-term one, more like 2008, and have limited economic impact overall.

But policy-wise, he said governments don't have many tools to bring down the cost of food and other commodities, especially if they are import-dependent.

Aside from pushing up interest rates to slow growth, said Behravesh, "There's not much central bankers can do about food prices."

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Asia faces climate-induced migration 'crisis'

Martin Abbugao Yahoo News 5 Feb 11;

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Asia must prepare for millions of people to flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as weather patterns become more extreme, the Asian Development Bank warns.

A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP over the weekend and confirmed by bank officials cautioned that failure to make preparations now for vast movements of people could lead to "humanitarian crises" in the coming decades.

Governments are currently focused on mitigating climate change blamed for the weather changes, but the report said they should start laying down policies and mechanisms to deal with the projected population shifts.

"What is clear is that Asia and the Pacific will be amongst the global regions most affected by the impacts of climate change," said the report entitled "Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific".

"Such impacts include significant temperature increases, changing rainfall patterns, greater monsoon variability, sea-level rise, floods and more intense tropical cyclones," it said.

The report, expected to be released in the next few weeks, comes as flooding overwhelms parts of Asia-Pacific, most recently in Australia, where a powerful cyclone worsened the impact of weeks of record inundations.

"Asia and the Pacific is particularly vulnerable because of its high degree of exposure to environmental risks and high population density. As a result, it could experience population displacements of unprecedented scale in the next decades," said the report, primarily targeted at regional policymakers.

Research carried out for the United Nations showed that 2010 was one of the worst years on record worldwide for natural disasters.

Asians accounted for 89 percent of the 207 million people affected by disasters globally last year, according to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).

Summer floods and landslides in China caused an estimated $18 billion dollars in damage, while floods in Pakistan cost $9.5 billion dollars, CRED's annual study showed. Not to mention the catastrophic human cost.

"Governments are not prepared and that is why ADB is conducting this project," said Bart Edes, director of the Manila-based lending institution's poverty reduction, gender and social development division.

"There is no international cooperation mechanism established to manage climate-induced migration. Protection and assistance schemes to help manage that flow is opaque, poorly coordinated and scattered," he told AFP.

"Policymakers need to take action now," he stressed, noting that negotiating treaties and efforts to raise funds takes time.

Last year's natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific, including millions of people displaced in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, "give us a flavour of what to expect in the future", said Edes.

"Migration in general is not being properly addressed and the situation is going be made worse," added Edes, referring to the additional impact of climate change on migration patterns, fuelled by economic needs and armed conflicts.

"Now we have another driver of migration."

The draft ADB report said the people forced to leave due to the extreme weather changes "have come to incarnate the human face of climate change" and while many of them will return home, many will be displaced permanently.

Those expected to suffer the most will be the poor as they lack the means to easily pack up and leave for safer havens, the report said.

"The issue of climate-induced migration will grow in magnitude and will take different forms," the report added, urging national governments and the global community to "urgently address this issue in a proactive manner."

"Failure to do so could result in humanitarian crises with great social and economic costs," it warned.

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Could carbon markets become obsolete?

Esther Ng Today Online 7 Feb 11;

SINGAPORE - It should be a happy headache for environmentalists. Yet the possibility of carbon markets becoming obsolete within the next one or two decades - as industralised countries cut their carbon emissions - could have dire consequences, according to three researchers.

Currently, carbon markets provide a rich source of funding for United Nations-backed conservation scheme REDD+. The idea is for industrialised countries to offset their own emissions by buying carbon credits from developing countries, thereby giving communities in the latter group an incentive to protect their forests and preserve endangered species.

More than just preventing deforestation and forest degradation, REDD+ also includes the possibility of offsetting emissions through "sustainable forest management", "conservation" and "increasing forest carbon stocks".

But in a paper recently published in a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, Assistant Professor Edward Webb and PhD student Jacob Phelps from the National University of Singapore and research fellow Koh Lian Pin from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), pointed out that REDD+ was designed to buy time for developed countries to come up with new low-carbon technologies.

However, Mr Vinod Kesava, managing director of carbon consulting firm Climate Resources Exchange, disagreed that carbon markets could become obsolete in two decades.

He said: "Carbon sequestration, renewable energy and energy efficiency in themselves are inherently the foundation of carbon markets, because had there been no action taken to invest in the R&D for such technologies and specific methods to validate and monitor them, more carbon emission would have been produced otherwise."

Environmental group Conservation International (CI) told MediaCorp that it estimates that $12 billion to $35 billion annually is needed to make significant gains in reducing emissions from deforestation.

In response to the researchers' paper, CI reiterated that public funding will need to remain a major source of finance for REDD+. However, it noted that the scheme could turn to alternative sources of financing.

For instance, the scheme could allow the private sector - instead of governments - to offset carbon emissions by financing actions to reduce emissions in developing countries.

Other innovative sources of financing, not just for REDD+, but also for other mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries should also be considered, CI added. For example, taxes on international maritime and aviation transport could provide significant, sustainable and predictable sources of funds. ESTHER NG

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Best of our wild blogs: 6 Feb 11

Our Forests in February!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Life History of the Harlequin
from Butterflies of Singapore

Day 1 of Year of the Rabbit @ BSP
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Kranji mangroves: cool spiders and colourful crabs
from wild shores of singapore

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Wetland planting at Alexandra Canal

Alvina Soh Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 11;

Students from Crescent Girls School and CHIJ Kellock Primary School got together to do some wetland planting at Alexandra Canal

SINGAPORE: The community got together to do some wetland planting at Alexandra Canal on January 7 as part of the Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters Programme.

The initiative is aimed at giving the canal a makeover and be a recreational destination for the public.

Students from Crescent Girls School and CHIJ Kellock Primary School got their hands dirty for a good cause.

They were busy planting the wetlands along a 1.2 kilometre stretch of the Alexandra Canal - from Tanglin Road to Delta Road.

And it was a memorable experience for them.

"I feel really good because its like I'm giving back to society. I'm playing my part for the rest of the students, the people who live here, and the residents, so it feels very satisfying," said Lim Fang Yi, a student from Crescent Girls School.

Another student, Ayisha Fathima also from Crescent Girls School, said: "I am extremely excited and happy because it's a great opportunity for me to learn my favourite subjects, chemistry, biology and geography outside the classroom."

Various organisations also got into the act to beautify the place.

Mas Shafreen, Manager, 3P Network, PUB, said: "[It is] not just about providing engineering infrastructure, beautiful spaces, but its all about getting the community involved.

"So you're looking at secondary school students interacting with primary school students, interacting with government organisations as well as private sector organisations, so the takeaway is not just for the students."

National water agency PUB said the project is aimed at inculcating a sense of ownership in the Canal.

"After a few months, I'd like to come back here and see the fruits of our hard work," said Nabiha Safudi, a student from Crescent Girls School.

More facilities such as a lookout deck at Tanglin, a shallow water play area and an educational hut are planned for the area.

- CNA/fa

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Keeping pests under control

Midges, cockroaches, rodents, pigeons and crows can be eradicated if they are deprived of food sources
Rachael Boon Straits Times 6 Feb 11;

Tiny green and black flies, known as chironomid midges, are no longer engulfing the open areas and homes of residents in Bedok Reservoir Road, thanks to the combined efforts of Aljunied Town Council, National Parks Board, Public Utilities Board (PUB) and National Environment Agency (NEA).

In separate tests run by PUB and NEA, the population of midge eggs and larvae there has fallen by 95 per cent.

That was the latest infestation to hit Singapore. Through the years, other pests such as cockroaches, rodents, mosquitoes and pigeons have caused Singaporeans much headache.

Account executive K.L. Tan was plagued by pigeons for more than 10 years at her private apartment in Tanglin, until anti- roosting spikes were installed on her window ledge last year.

The 24-year-old says: 'The pigeons liked to rest there and they pooped a lot. I used to have an old window aircon unit and they stuffed twigs into whatever space they could find. It was their nesting area.'

More annoying, and worrying, were their droppings as it was unhygienic.

The pigeons were a nuisance so Ms Tan and her neighbours informed the estate management. It took a while for the spikes to be installed as the management had to find suitable timings for apartment owners to be home for the installation.

The management previously tried to arrange for the shooting of the pigeons but as the apartments were close to the Botanic Gardens, the shooting was called off.

The reasons for different kinds of pest infestations vary but one common cause is the availability of food and nesting opportunities.

A spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) says it is impossible to rid an area completely of pigeons, as they are free-roaming birds and can travel to occupy any free area.

Also, birds and all animals are likely to congregate where food and shelter are abundant and easily accessible.

The AVA says: 'Members of the public facing bird nuisance may apply control measures such as using repellents, eliminating food sources and roosting or nesting opportunities that attract birds to congregate, or engage pest control services to mitigate the nuisance.'

In any case, public feeding of pigeons is prohibited. Anyone caught feeding stray pigeons in public places can be fined up to $500.

Another pesky creature is the Norway rat. This species makes up 90 per cent of the rodents in Singapore, according to a survey done by NEA.

The environment agency found that some of the root causes of infestations include poor refuse management of premises and bin centres, as refuse provides rats with food; improper storage of food; and poor housekeeping practices in shops, markets and food centres.

What happens when the rats are already a problem? An NEA spokesman says: 'Our officers would look for signs of rat activity or harbourage in affected areas. This

includes rat burrows, runways or paths the rats take, droppings and gnaw marks.

'Detected burrows will be treated with rodenticide and sealed after no further activity is detected. Our officers will also try to establish the root cause of the rat activities so that it can be addressed.'

Mr Thomas Fernandez, chairman and chief executive officer of pest control company PestBusters, says it can take up to six weeks to make a place as large as a shopping centre free of rats.

He says: 'You have to put in control measures and understand the biology of rats. For example, they eat 10 per cent of their body weight and are usually territorial as they want to keep the family together. You cannot just put one rat trap out for a family of 10, you must know how many families there are within a 30m radius.

'After measures are taken and the area appears rat-free, we still have to monitor the area by putting out food to lure any hidden rats. The situation has to be monitored continually.'

Pestbuster Rentokil Initial Singapore, which was recently involved in the spraying of insecticide on the walls of HDB blocks in Bedok Reservoir Road to eliminate the midges, says the public should be aware that pests do return after a while as they are masters in survival. Some species of cockroaches are believed to be millions of years old, after all.

Rentokil technical manager Lim Min Hui says: 'Regular detection and vigilant monitoring is necessary to ensure pest infestation is under control.

'Pest infestation may cause damages and risks if left untreated, such as insecure infrastructure, damaged properties, spreading of diseases, bites and allergies, and potential electrical short circuits which may lead to a fire.'

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Spooked on Pulau Ubin

Joel Cooper Straits Times 6 Feb 11;

I have always prided myself on my refusal to believe in ghosts. Spine-chilling tales of spectres, spirits and bogeymen leave me totally unmoved.

My wife, however, is a different story. She won't watch spooky movies and sometimes even leaves the bedside lamp on to ward off things that go bump in the night.

This has caused some tension - especially as I'm a fan of films like The Exorcist and can't get to sleep unless it is completely dark.

But when we took a three-night break to Pulau Ubin, we found ourselves, for once, on exactly the same page.

It was already quite late when we arrived on the island and its ubiquitous bicycle hire shops were closing. We wanted to explore anyway, so we set off on foot along one of the many deserted roads through the forest.

As the shadows lengthened, the jungle seemed to come alive with unfamiliar and threatening noises. There is something about the twilight hour that can bring out a primal fear in even the hardiest of sceptics. In my native Britain, it is traditionally considered the time when vampires and werewolves emerge from their lairs to stalk the earth.

What we hadn't realised is that in equatorial Singapore, the sun sets far quicker than in our northern homeland, which we left four months ago to work at The Straits Times.

Before we knew it, it was nearly dark and we found ourselves still a long way from the resort where we were staying. Despite my determination to remain sceptical about the supernatural, I was starting to feel more than a little creeped out. Behind every twisted trunk I imagined some malign presence lurking, ready to pounce and devour us.

Without uttering a word, my wife and I began walking quicker and quicker until we were practically running through the forest in the direction of home, our nerves jangling at every little movement in the trees.

Without warning, a shadowy creature burst from the bushes. I let out an effeminate shriek and grabbed hold of my wife's arm for dear life.

The creature turned menacingly to face us. It had sharp-looking teeth and a bristling tail. It was about the size of a dog.

Hang on! It was a dog.

I carried on walking with my tail between my legs, feeling more than a little silly.

After that, I endured non-stop ribbing from my wife. 'Who's the coward now?' she teased.

Thankfully, my colleagues on The Straits Times news desk reassured me that I was far from the first person to get spooked on Pulau Ubin. They regaled me with hair-raising tales, including one about the Hantu Tetek, a voluptuous female ghost who sneaks into men's bedrooms at night and smothers them with her ample charms. To be honest, my wife was a bit more concerned about this one than I was.

Fleeing Ubin by boat won't keep you safe either, I was told. Apparently the ghosts are into island hopping.

Even gaudy Sentosa - where the only place you would expect to feel scared is on a roller coaster - has more than its fair share of spooky stories.

When night falls and the noise and bustle of the amusement parks fade to just a memory, holidaymakers staying in chalets have reported hearing fingernails scratching at the windowpane as if someone, or something, wants to get in.

Nobody can deny that the urban jungle makes a great setting for blood-curdling tales of the supernatural. During my four years working for The Sun based in East London, I would sometimes trudge home in the small hours through a grimy street said to be visited by the gory spectre of one of Jack the Ripper's butchered victims.

Yet it is brooding, untamed forests like Pulau Ubin's that truly allow our imaginations to run riot.

Cycling along the island's twisting tree-lined trails brought childhood memories flooding back of exhilarating afternoons spent mountain-biking with my friends near the village where I grew up in Surrey, south-east England. They say that area is stalked by the headless ghost of Sir Thomas More, who was decapitated by King Henry VIII.

Sometimes my friends and I would camp out in a back garden in tents or bivouac shelters built from branches.

Huddled inside our flimsy sleeping bags, we did our best to chill one another to the core with tales of murders, of unexplained accidents and of the restless souls they left behind.

Despite our boyish bravado, as the eerie glow of torchlight transformed our faces into hideous gargoyles these stories seemed to take on a terrifying plausibility.

I never really believed a word of them, of course. Still, I always steered clear of the woods at night. Well you can never be too careful, can you?

The writer, from England, is a Straits Times copy editor. He has lived in Singapore for four months.

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Sea turtle nests on decline along the Andaman Sea

Bangkok Post 6 Feb 11;

The number of sea turtle nests along the Andaman Sea coast had declined this egg-laying season because of a more volatile climate, a marine expert says.

Kongkiet Kittiwattanawong, a researcher at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, said yesterday a survey conducted by the centre found the number of turtle nests on the Andaman coast had decreased from 50 in recent years to only 40 this year.

He said the turtles had probably stopped coming to the nesting grounds due to the effects of global warming.

Their breeding season runs from November until March. The turtles look for a quiet environment with an ideal temperature of about 29 degrees Celsius to lay eggs. However, temperatures in the nesting areas this season have been above and below 29 degrees.

Mr Kongkiet said hundreds of leatherback turtles started laying eggs on Mai Khao beach in Phuket 20 years ago, but this year only one nest was found on the beach.

Thailand is home to four endangered species of sea turtle: the Leatherback, Olive Ridley, Green and Hawksbill.

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Illegal timber sold by British businesses putting world's forests at risk

Reluctance by UK firms to check source of imported wood contributing to devastating deforestation around the world, finds WWF report
Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk 5 Feb 11;

British firms are still selling wood products that come from questionable sources in parts of the world where illegal logging is having a devastating effect, a new study has revealed.

The report found that wood used in kitchen worktops, doors and decking, on sale in the UK, comes from parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Congo Basin where illegal felling is putting animals, plants and people under threat. Numerous species, including the orangutan, are under direct threat of extinction because of the black market trade in timber.

The "What Wood You Choose?" study suggested British businesses aren't checking their sources and in some cases are even misleading the public that the wood they are selling has ethical credentials where none exist.

New EU timber laws are due to come into force next year, but this WWF-funded study shows few retailers are prepared for the legislation which could leave them open to conviction. The study found that in some cases companies had little idea where their wood products originated from and were reluctant to find out.

It also found that some companies' websites were misusing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo, implying that all their products are covered by the certification scheme when in fact only some are. WWF used a combination of formal requests, investigators posing as buyers and made phone calls and visits to sawmills in Indonesia and Malaysia to track timber products.

Colin Butfield, WWF's head of campaigns, said: "This study should act as a wake-up call to companies here in the UK. Consumers are the ones with the power to demand that whatever they're buying, from doors to kitchen worktops, is FSC [certified]. If it doesn't have the FSC logo then it could originate from a place where there have been devastating impacts on species, such as the orangutan, and communities that earn a living from the forest.

"The EU law, coming into force in early 2013, will mean anyone intending to sell timber products into the UK market will have to show where it's come from and that it isn't illegal. The study suggests that UK businesses are a long way from meeting the demands of that new law."

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