Chinese Demand Revives Ivory Trade

Alexandra Wexler Asian Wall Street Journal 19 Sep 11;

HONG KONG—A long-dormant threat to Africa's elephant population is back with a vengeance, thanks to rising demand for ivory from newly affluent Chinese consumers.

Reflecting this demand, ivory prices in China have soared to as high as US$7,000 a kilogram in 2011 from US$157 a kilo in 2008, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nongovernmental organization based in London. Estimates from other researchers and NGOs put ivory prices in China as low as US$300 to US$750 a kilo, which nevertheless reflects at least a 100% increase in price over three years.

Official data on the extent of the ivory trade are difficult to come by, as much of the trade is illegal. From 2009 to June 2011, mainland China and Hong Kong seized more than 6,500 kilograms of illegal ivory in four large shipments, according to a report released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or Cites.

"China has overtaken Japan as the world's largest consumer market for illegal ivory products," the Cites report said.

Malaysian authorities this month confiscated nearly 700 African elephant tusks destined for China from Tanzania, the third seizure of illegal ivory since July, officials and wildlife activists said, according to the Associated Press. A week earlier, Hong Kong authorities had seized $1.6 million in African ivory from a container that arrived by sea from Malaysia.

In China, sales have been driven by ivory's appeal as a traditional symbol of wealth and status. "Lately, we've had a lot of mainland Chinese customers," said Alice Chan, sales manager at Exquisite Crafts, an antique shop in Hong Kong filled with figurines carved from both elephant and mammoth ivory, including two enormous carved tusks on display in the shop window. "They're rich now."

Mammoth ivory is legal to import and export from Hong Kong, but Ms. Chan says that the Chinese typically want elephant ivory, which is considered of higher quality. Cites says almost all of the current demand for elephant ivory comes from the Chinese market, including Hong Kong and Macau. The Geneva-based Cites is an international agreement among 175 governments, including the U.S. and China, that aims to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants doesn't threaten their survival.

Outlets that legally sell elephant ivory from old stocks in China are supposed to be licensed and monitored by the government, with certificates accompanying all legal ivory. Taking ivory out of China or importing it into most other countries, including the U.S., is illegal.

"More than 90% of wildlife seizures made by the Chinese Customs in recent years have involved elephant tusks and ivory carvings," said Wan Ziming, a Chinese government employee and director of Cites Enforcement Coordination for China.

Since the late 1970s, Africa's elephant population has fallen by more than half, from about 1.2 million to between 472,000 and 690,000 today, according to the 2007 African Elephant Status Report, which is sponsored by a network of multiple governments, NGOs, and volunteers.

In 1989, Cites banned the international ivory trade to try to curb the rapid decline in Africa's elephant population. For years, experts considered that ban, to which China is one of the 175 signatories, a success in reducing the poaching of elephants, as the number of illegally killed elephants fell drastically and the total population became stable, albeit at a much lower volume than before the rampant poaching of the 1970s and 80s. But newfound interest in ivory from China is reversing those gains, researchers and NGOs say.

"Looks like now that we've had almost 20 years of cease-fire, people have become complacent, and we need renewed interest," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder and chief executive officer of Save the Elephants, an independent research organization based in Kenya.

Elephant killings in the first sixth months of this year in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya and surrounding areas are already double the level of any year in the past decade, he said. Mr. Douglas-Hamilton and his team of researchers count by hand the dead bodies of slain elephants in the areas they study, though he declined to comment on exact numbers.

"All hell's breaking loose," said Cynthia Moss, a researcher who has studied elephants and their conservation in Kenya's Amboseli National Park for 30 years. "Up north, we lost 23 elephant in the last two weeks."

"China has a huge middle class now," Ms. Moss said. "People in China never bought ivory before, because they couldn't afford it—they carved it, but it all went out to Europe. Now it's being bought in China by the Chinese, and that's a disaster."

Abetting the traffic in illicit ivory is a surge of Chinese investment in Africa, a source of key mineral and other resources. South Africa's Standard Bank forecasts that investment from China in Africa could hit $50 billion by 2015, up 70% from 2009.

"As China expands its presence in Africa in the form of investments and infrastructure development in remote areas, and also areas with significant elephant populations, the incentive or temptation increases for the Chinese worker to look for ivory," said James Isiche, East African director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

The Kenyan government burned approximately five tons of seized elephant ivory on July 20, in a move meant to illustrate how serious it is about stopping the illegal trade in ivory and the poaching of their elephants.

Chinese appetite for ivory was whetted in 2008 when Cites approved a one-off sale of ivory stocks that were old or had been collected from already-dead elephants. Four southern African nations sold about 108 tons of ivory to Japan and China, flooding the market for the first time in almost 10 years.

Now, China's ivory consumer base appears to be expanding, says Wang Juan, an official in the Beijing office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"Traditionally, we think it's always wealthy people who are the main buyers for ivory products," Ms. Wang said. "But actually, there are many young people buying ivory, too."

Some Chinese media, she added, often promote the collectible value of ivory, further stimulating demand.

Two companies in Beijing that offer custom ivory carving services both declined to comment.

Over the past 15 years, around 20 smugglers responsible for illegal commercial import of ivory have received the maximum penalty for wildlife smugglers in China, which is life imprisonment, according to Mr. Wan. Most offenders who illegally take small amounts of ivory into China are fined, and the ivory simply confiscated, according to Mr. Wan.

And for every seizure that gets prosecuted, 20 or 30 others don't, said David Higgins, manager of Interpol's environmental crime program.

"I think the public gets confused when they see a seizure of five tons of ivory," he said. "Half the time, if not more, we never have an offender. Customs agencies just do the seizures, and there are no follow-up investigations."

A lack of proper communications between national police bodies and national wildlife or environmental enforcement agencies is one reason why prosecutions are rare, Mr. Higgins said. In addition, wildlife crime is rarely a high priority for prosecutors.

According to a study released last month by Elephant Family, a charity, the Aspinall Foundation and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, a survey of ivory for sale in Guangzhou, China, counted 6,437 elephant ivory objects on display for retail sale, of which 3,947 were being sold without ID cards, and therefore illegally.

"Decreasing demand means educating hundreds of millions of Chinese," Mr. Isiche of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said. "We did a survey and found that 70% of Chinese consumers did not know that elephants were killed for ivory. Some people thought elephants lose tusks the way people lose teeth."

In response, Mr. Isiche last month launched a "Green Tour Africa" campaign with the Kenyan Embassy in China to ensure that Chinese citizens receiving a visa to visit or work in Kenya would be educated about the ivory trade.

—Sue Feng in Beijing contributed to this article.

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More than 30 million climate migrants in Asia in 2010, report finds

Numbers of people displaced by environmental and weather-related disasters likely to increase, Asian Development Bank warns
Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk 19 Sep 11;

More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems.

Tens of millions more people are likely to be similarly displaced in the future by the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, floods, droughts and reduced agricultural productivity. Such people are likely to migrate in regions across Asia, and governments must start to prepare for the problems this will create, the Asian Development Bank warned.

The costs will be high – about $40bn is the likely price for adapting and putting in place protective measures, from sea walls to re-growing mangrove swamps that have been cut down, and that can help to protect against the impacts of storm surges.

But the problem is already taking effect, though at a much lower scale than is likely in the future. "While large-scale climate-induced migration is a gradual phenomenon, communities in Asia and the Pacific are already experiencing the consequences of changing environmental conditions including eroding shorelines, desertification and more frequent severe storms and flooding," the bank said at a workshop last week. This could lead to a widespread crisis across the region in coming years, if preparations are not made to deal with the current and probable future consequences.

Robert Dobias, climate change project chief at the Asian Development Bank, said that at present climate change is still a relatively small cause of migration, as economic causes loom largest and as environmental disasters happen independently of global warming. However, the problem is likely to increase in future years, with potentially severe consequences, including conflict as people are forced to move long distances.

Areas most at risk are low-lying islands such as the Maldives, whose environment minister, Mohamed Aslam, said the populations of entire islands in the archipelago had been forced to move. But coastal cities in developed regions could also face the threat of higher seas and storm surges, while regions that already suffer severe floods such as Bangladesh will have their risks intensified.

The Asian Development Bank warned that governments must start to make preparations now, to be ready for the multiplying threats, and because more extreme weather has already started to take effect, though changes so far have not been dramatic in their impact. "The number of extreme weather events is increasing and Asia and the Pacific is the region at the epicentre of weather disasters," the group said.

The bank is working on a report that will set out in detail the likely problems and propose a range of potential policy changes to help to deal with them. The report will be published next spring, though preliminary research is being disclosed at a series of regional conferences in the intervening months.

The probable solutions are likely to include measures to improve vital infrastructure, such as energy provision, transport systems and communication networks, in order to make such infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change.

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What happens if the population forecasts are wrong?

The assumption that global population will peak around 9-10bn may be overly optimistic — and if it is, population will continue to rise, placing enormous strains on the environment
Carl Haub for Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk 19 Sep 11;

In a mere half-century, the number of people on the planet has soared from 3 billion to 7 billion, placing us squarely in the midst of the most rapid expansion of world population in our 50,000-year history — and placing ever-growing pressure on the Earth and its resources.

But that is the past. What of the future? Leading demographers, including those at the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau, are projecting that world population will peak at 9.5 billion to 10 billion later this century and then gradually decline as poorer countries develop. But what if those projections are too optimistic? What if population continues to soar, as it has in recent decades, and the world becomes home to 12 billion or even 16 billion people by 2100, as a high-end UN estimate has projected? Such an outcome would clearly have enormous social and environmental implications, including placing enormous stress on the world's food and water resources, spurring further loss of wild lands and biodiversity, and hastening the degradation of the natural systems that support life on Earth.

It is customary in the popular media and in many journal articles to cite a projected population figure as if it were a given, a figure so certain that it could virtually be used for long-range planning purposes. But we must carefully examine the assumptions behind such projections. And forecasts that population is going to level off or decline this century have been based on the assumption that the developing world will necessarily follow the path of the industrialized world. That is far from a sure bet.

Eyeing the future, conservationists have clung to the notion that population will peak and then start to decline later this century. Renowned evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson has propounded what he terms the bottleneck theory: that maximum pressure on the natural world will occur this century as human population peaks, after which a declining human population will supposedly ease that pressure. The goal of conservation is therefore to help as much of nature as possible squeeze through this population bottleneck. But what if there is no bottleneck, but rather a long tunnel where the human species continues to multiply?

Population projections most often use a pattern of demographic change called the demographic transition. This model is based on the way in which high birth and death rates changed over the centuries in Europe, declining to the low birth and death rates of today. Thus, projections assume that the European experience will be replicated in developing countries. These projections take for granted three key things about fertility in developing countries. First, that it will continue to decline where it has begun to decline, and will begin to decline where it has not. Second, that the decline will be smooth and uninterrupted. And, finally, that it will decline to two children or less per woman.

These are levels now found in Europe and North America. But will such low levels find favor in the Nigerias, Pakistans, and Zambias of this world? The desire for more than two children — often many more than two — will remain an obstacle and will challenge assumptions that world population will level off or decline.

In quite a few developing countries, birth rates are declining significantly. But in others they are not. In Jordan, for example, the fertility rate still hovers around 4 children per woman. Indonesia was a country that was widely acknowledged for its innovative and steadfastly pursued family planning program in the 1980s, when its total fertility rate fell to 3 children per woman. It has been hovering for some time around 2.5. In a recent survey, about 30 percent of women with 2 living children said that they wanted another child. That figure was 35 percent for their husbands.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the region that now causes the most worry. It remains in a virtual pre-industrial condition, demographically speaking, with high fertility and rather high mortality. The UN projects that fertility will decline from a high level of 6 children per woman around 1990 and reach about 3 children per woman by 2050. Many sub-Saharan African countries have seen some decline, and today the average fertility rate is 5.2 children per woman. Should the UN's assumptions prove correct, sub-Saharan Africa's population would still rise from 880 million today to 2 billion in 2050.

Countries such as Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, and Rwanda have identified rapid population growth as a problem and committed sufficient resources to address it. Yet their fertility rates remain at 4.6 to 4.7 children per woman, and a future halt in fertility decline in those countries would surprise no one. But most future population projections assume a continuing decline.

Often fertility rates might decline from a higher level and then "stall" for a time, not continuing their downward trajectories to the two-child family, resulting in a higher-than-projected population. In sub-Saharan Africa, this has happened in Nigeria, where the fertility rate has stalled at about 5.7, and in Ghana, where the fertility rate is 4.1 and apparently resuming a slow decline. Very recent surveys have shown that fertility decline in Senegal has likely stalled at 5.0 children and has risen somewhat to 4.1 in Zimbabwe. Clearly, not all countries will see a continuous decline in fertility rates, and some have barely begun to drop, meaning that projected population sizes will turn out to be too low.

Fertility rates are lowest among educated, urban women who account for much of the initial decrease. What will it take to reach large, often inaccessible rural populations, whose desire to limit family size is frequently quite limited and whose "ideal" number of children is quite high? Challenges include: the logistical task of providing reproductive health services to women; informing them of their ability to limit their number of children and to space births over at least two years; low levels of literacy; the value husbands place on large families; and securing funding for family planning programs.

India provides another cautionary tale. The country is often hailed as an emerging economic power, yet 930 million people — three-quarters of India's population — live on less than $2 per day. Some advanced Indian states, such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have excellent family planning programs and fertility rates of 1.8 children per woman, which will lead to declining populations in those states. But some of India's poorest and most populous states — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh — have total fertility rates ranging from 3.3 to 3.9. The Indian example illustrates an important trend: that the challenge of soaring populations will increasingly be concentrated in the poorest countries, and in the poorest regions of nations such as India.

The real possibility of fertility decline stopping before the two-children level is reached requires demographers, policy makers, and environmentalists to seriously consider that population growth in the coming century will come in at the high end of demographic projections. The UN's middle-of-the-road assumption for sub-Saharan Africa — that fertility rates will drop to 3.0 and population reach 2 billion by 2050 — seem unrealistically low to me. More likely is the UN's high-end projection that sub-Saharan Africa's population will climb to 2.2 billion by 2050 and then continue to 4.8 billion by 2100. The dire consequences of such an increase are difficult to ponder. If sub-Saharan Africa is having trouble feeding and providing water to 880 million people today, what will the region be like in 90 years if the population increases five-fold — particularly if, as projected, temperatures rise by 2 to 3 degrees C, worsening droughts?

Many factors may arise to cause fertility rates to drop in countries where the decline has lagged. A rising age at marriage, perhaps resulting from increased education of females and from their increased autonomy; rising expectations among parents that their children can have a better life; decreasing availability of land, forcing migration to cities to seek some source of income; real commitment from governments to provide family planning services and the funds to do so. The list goes on.

But we must facts. The assumption that all developing countries will see their birth rates decline to the low levels now prevalent in Europe is very far from certain. We can also expect the large majority of population growth to be in countries and areas with the highest poverty and lowest levels of education. Today, the challenge to improve living conditions is often not being met, even as the numbers in need continue to grow.

As populations continue to rise rapidly in these areas, the ability to supply clean water for drinking and sustainable water for agriculture, to provide the most basic health services, and to avoid deforestation and profound environmental consequences, lies in the balance.

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Sep 11

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [12 Sep - 18 Sep 2011]
from Green Business Times

Your otter sightings wanted!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Wild facts updates for Sep: crabs, anemones, seaweeds
from wild shores of singapore

110918 Sunset Way morning
from Singapore Nature

Yellow Bittern from Monday Morgue

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Water quality at Pasir Ris beach improves

Channel NewsAsia 18 Sep 11;

SINGAPORE: The water quality at Pasir Ris beach has improved.

Last year's assessment by NEA showed that its water quality was deemed "fair" compared to other beaches which were rated good or very good.

But after testing the water samples for a one-year period, the agency said its quality has achieved a good rating.

Even so, NEA has advised the public against swimming at Pasir Ris beach as the water samples should be tested over a 3-year-period.

A key criteria of this grading is that not more than five per cent of the samples tested over a three-year period have enterrococcus counts greater than 200 per 100 ml.

The guidelines are based on levels of a bacteria called enterococcus, which is found in the faeces of humans and warm-blooded animals.

The improvement was attributed to PUB's efforts to phase out 33 sewage treatment plants in the Halus, Tampines, Changi and Selerang areas.

Another six of these plants located in the Changi Coast area will be phased out by the end of this year.

- CNA/fa

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JTC to study novel multi-tier oil storage idea

Study is expected to be completed by January 2012
Ronnie Lim Business Times 19 Sep 11;

(SINGAPORE) The first move was to go underground. And coming up shortly - above water. Then, it's going to be literally up in the air.

That seems to be the progressive direction for future oil and petrochemical storage projects in Singapore - given the shortage of land on Jurong Island to build any more above-ground tank farms.

Leaving no stone unturned, Jurong Town Corporation is now going to study the feasibility of having multi-tier storage tanks for oil and petrochemical products - which is a novel idea, apparently not yet in commercial use anywhere.

This comes as construction is well underway on the $890 million phase one of the underground Jurong Rock Cavern, where the first five caverns will provide 1.47 million cubic metres of storage when ready in the first half of 2013.

JTC is also expected to call construction tenders this year-end for the first floating oil storage off Pulau Sebarok, once the consultants' studies are completed on the project. The first such very large floating structure (VLFS), comprising two rectangular floating modules, is expected to offer minimum storage of 300,000 cu m, or equal to that of a very large crude carrier.

The Corporation, which has just called a tender for the study on multi-tier oil storage, said that the project is 'in line with our land optimisation and intensification efforts, and seeks to explore innovative ways to store petroleum and petrochemical products.'

A JTC spokesman added: 'The focus of this project would be to study the feasibility of stacking liquid tanks up with the aim of achieving at least 20 per cent land savings, as compared with conventional tank layout of equivalent storage capacity. We expect to complete the study by January 2012.'

Reacting to the latest JTC oil storage plan, industry players said that it was certainly revolutionary. But the bottom-line, they stress, will be its cost.

Most industry officials - whether from plant engineering and oil terminal facilities here - reckon that such a project will likely be expensive.

'The idea has been bandied about, but has not been done before,' one source said.

'Typically, the steel used to construct oil storage tanks is thicker at the bottom than at the top, so you can't just stack another tank atop the first. You'll probably need a frame (to hold the tank above),' the source added. 'So in the end, whether the idea is viable or not will depend on cost.'

Another industry source reckons that the idea may be possible with smaller storage tanks of a few hundred cubic metres capacity, such as those for petrochemicals or lubricants, with the tanks standing on a structure, much like in a tingkat or tiffin carrier.

Apart from storage by the oil majors here such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Singapore Refining Company, several independent operators including Vopak, Hin Leong-PetroChina's Universal Terminal, Emirates National Oil Company's Horizon Terminal and Chemoil's Helios Terminal also offer oil traders storage space. The latest player - and according to industry observers, possibly the last allowed on Jurong Island - is Stolt Nielsen with its chemicals storage.

But with the continuing influx of traders to Singapore's oil and petrochemicals hub, Jurong Island is still short of storage capacity, and this is reflected in the number of Singapore-based international oil traders who have resorted to using tank farms in neighbouring Johor.

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Malaysia: Maintaining Coastal Forests As A Barrier To Tsunami

Wan Shahara Ahmad Ghazali Bernama 19 Sep 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- The 2004 Tsunami that originated in the Indian Ocean as a result of a massive earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra and sent huge waves crashing against the shores of 18 countries, changed the existing perception on environmental calamity.

In the wake of this catastrophe, accusations were made at the authorities for failing to prevent the loss of lives and severe damage to properties. Blames were also given for neglecting the coastal ecosystem that could have acted as a protective barrier against the giant killer waves.

However, people had forgotten the land reclamation work being carried out in the name of development. This had gone completely unchecked until the day when the world was shaken by the devastating results of the greatest Tsunami ever recorded on earth.

Last March 11, another Tsunami on an equally catastrophic scale occurred in Japan. It destroyed half of the country's north-east coast.

More than 15,000 people died while 8,000 went missing in the aftermath of the Tsunami. Worse still, 300 hospitals were damaged in the calamity, including 11 which were totally devastated.

The most frightening impact of the disaster was the nuclear crisis which attained catastrophic proportions, leading to meltdown of three nuclear reactors. Huge amount of radiation, up by at least 1,000 times the normal level, was leaked into the environment, affecting food and water sources.

Following the incident, the European Energy Commission declared that the impact of the Tsunami was similar to an apocalypse.

The world will continue to see the phenomena of Tsunamis, yet we remain unprepared for it. Although there is no defence against this catastrophe, there are ways to mitigate its impacts.

COASTAL FOREST, THE BEST BARRIER

Deputy Secretary-General (Natural Resources) in Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, Datuk Aziyah Mohamed agreed that coastal forests are the best barriers against the impact of Tsunamis.

She said the R&D to boost the quantity and quality of coastal forests will turn these forests into a formidable barrier against Tsunami.

The forests, be it mangrove swamps or the conifers along the coast, reduce the impact of waves and winds that cause erosion.

The mangrove trees can trap sediments and this naturally builds up the sand embankments. The mangrove swamps are also the habitat of many of the marine life, and as such the destruction of these jungles severely affects the ecosystem.

This also has a critical impact on the nation's food resources.

"We should be thankful to have such unique features that are beneficial to the mankind," Aziyah said.

SPECIAL ATTENTION TOWARDS CONSERVATION

Special attention is being given by the ministry towards the conservation efforts on coastal forests, particularly the mangrove forest, by initiating a Programme To Plant Mangrove and Other Suitable Trees along the nation's coast.

The national programme was launched on April 14, 2005, in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami.

"In the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP), RM8 million from the RM40 million allocated for this programme, had been set aside for R&D activities, while under the 10MP, RM200,000 has been allocated for the programme," Aziyah noted.

In the 9MP, the national project managed to plant 5.87 million mangrove trees and other species of trees on 2,260 hectares of land nationwide.

Faced with various challenges such as vandalism, pollution and an uncertain weather, as well as strong waves that destroy the tree saplings, it has been quite difficult to guage the success of the programme.

Based on observations at 393 locations, 171 locations were reported to be successful in achieving 80 per cent tree growth, while 73 other spots achieved a growth percentage of 51-79.

R&D INPUT CRUCIAL FOR CULTIVATION

Although the programme has seen a good performance on the whole, other locations could only achieve less than half the growth.

"This proves that input from R&D is crucial to help us achieve better tree growth performance," Aziyah said, adding that the planting programme posed a risk in the marshy areas and, hence, a better planting technique was required to improve the success rate.

She remarked that the programme was the result of a close cooperation between the ministry's Technical Planning and Implementation Committee (JTPP), steered by the Forestry Department, and the Committee on Research and Development (JTRD), which is chaired by FRIM.

JTRD, which comprises of researchers from FRIM, Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), undertakes studies on the best methods to revive the coastal forests' negative impact of erosion, apart from the composition, interest and commercialisation aspects of mangrove forest.

RESEARCH OUTCOME

About 40 R&D research studies have been successfully carried out by the JTRD since 2005. The outcome of these were tabled at the National Seminar on R&D Projects On Coastal Mangroves in Malaysia: R&D Direction and Implementation, held at FRIM recently.

Among the research findings are the Comp-Mat and Comp-Pillow techniques for the cultivation of mangrove trees, those on stabilisation of eroded coast as well as the planting of mangrove and conifers along the Malaysian coast, apart from its issues and solutions.

Aziyah admitted that the work on conserving the coast was intricate and difficult and for this reason the ministry required a better system to pave the way for its scientists and researchers to make more meaningful contributions to the world.

DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION GROWTH

In its efforts to conserve and rehabilitate the nation's coastal forests, the government has also been facing increasing demands as a result of development and population growth. As such, more coastal land is making way for housing, agriculture and farming projects among others.

"In the past two decades, some 18 per cent of the mangrove forest along the coast had to make way for development projects to meet the population and economic growth," she said.

However, the nation is still on the track of successfully implementing sustainable development through environment conservation without compromising the economy, she noted.

This is the first in the series of two articles on research of coastal forests.

-- BERNAMA

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Dolphins in Malaysia: A sign our seas are full of life

The New Straits Times 19 Sep 11;

AT least 27 species of marine mammals, including dolphins, whales, porpoises and dugongs have been spotted in Malaysian waters over the years.

Marine biologist Dr Louisa Ponnampalam said the mammals were present all-year round, but because of a lack of awareness, not many people know this.

Sightings, she said, had been made in the waters surrounding Peninsular Malaysia such as the Straits of Malacca, Straits of Johor and South China Sea, as well as off Sabah and Sarawak in the Sulu and Sulawesi seas.

In fact, although the recent dolphin sightings in Kuala Sepetang have created a buzz, fishermen there say the marine mammals have been around for at least 30 years.

Speaking to the New Straits Times, Louisa said the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, where the dolphins were usually spotted, was well kept, and therefore, provided a suitable habitat for such creatures.

"Since dolphins will follow wherever their prey go, such as fish and squid, there must be an abundance of food there," said the post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Universiti Malaya.

The NST recently accompanied Louisa and fellow marine biologist Fairul Izmal Jamal Hisne to Perak to observe the dolphins.

Despite the heavy rain that day, they managed to catch a glimpse of the dolphins and confirmed that they were Indo-Pacific humpbacks.

The two recorded preliminary data such as water depth, water salinity, number of dolphins sighted, the dolphins' behaviour and human activity in the area.

Up to five dolphins were seen, most of which appeared to be young adults. One calf was spotted among the pod.

Louisa said more studies should be done on the dolphins in Matang as they lived in a pristine environment and much could be learned from observing them.

When asked about the dolphins' potential for promoting ecotourism in Malaysia, Louisa said it was important for sufficient research to be done first, as little was known about them.

"If we wish to promote dolphin-watching as a tourist attraction, we need to make sure that we know enough about the animal, because such activities could be detrimental to them, especially if ecotourism initiatives are not properly managed or regulated, as it could lead to the dolphins migrating elsewhere."

She also said it would be best to use small boats that were easier to manoeuvre, as well as those with quieter engines so as not to aggravate the dolphins and other marine animals.

Louisa added that people should be careful when dealing with these creatures.

"There is the common perception that dolphins are really friendly animals, but in reality, they are among the top predators in the marine food chain.

"Dolphins can be curious and playful creatures, but people need to remember that these are wild animals and should be handled with caution."

Louisa is also part of Langkawi Dolphin Research, an initiative that works with the Fisheries Department and Marine Parks Department to study dolphins and collect more information about them for conservation efforts.

She said it was important to keep tabs on marine animals because they could be used as health indicators of our oceans.

"The absence of marine animals such as dolphins, whales and turtles in an area should ring alarm bells, as it is an indicator that the area can no longer sustain them, which means that humans are in trouble as well."

Louisa said she hoped in the future, conservation efforts in Malaysia would focus not only on the protection of wildlife, but also their natural habitats as well, as the animals' survival would be reliant on the condition of their environment.

There are generally three threats to dolphins' survival -- the degradation or loss of their natural habitat, depletion of food and entanglement in fishing gear -- all of which occur as a result of human activity.

Dolphin species commonly found in Malaysia are Indo-Pacific humpback, Indo-Pacific bottlenose, Irrawaddy, Long-beaked common and Spinner dolphins.

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Malaysia: Turtle hatchery in Labuan soon

Daily Express 18 Sep 11;

Labuan: Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (Sabah) has committed RM53,000 for turtle conservation which would see the setting up of a turtle hatchery at Pulau Kuraman, one of three islands gazetted as a marine park.

Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said while conservation programmes were important to help increase the turtle population, equally important were efforts to remove the many man-made challenges turtles faced for survival.

"The introduction of turtle excluder device on fishing nets is certainly good and provides turtles caught in the net a getaway opportunity.

But there is still more to be done like stopping consumption of turtle eggs and not to use cyanide for fishing," said Kurup.

He said indiscriminate dumping of plastic was another threat.

He said turtles take about 20 to 30 years to mature and faced many risks.

These reptiles have a unique ability to return to the beach where they were hatched even they had to travel thousands of miles.

According to the World Conversation Union (WCU), turtles are among the most threatened reptiles and faced extinction. There are seven species and two Green turtle and Hawksbill turtle have been recorded to land at Pulau Rusukan Besar to lay eggs.

Till August, this year, 881 green turtles and hawksbill turtles were collected from the nests and transferred to Kurman and 344 were successfully hatched.

But there still remains the question of the survival of the hatched turtles as usually a mere one percent reach maturity due to various challenges these turtles faced.

Despite the disturbing figures it is hoped that continued conservation programmes and education of the public on the importance of the eco-system, the turtle population would gradually increase and one day become an important eco-tourism product of Labuan with divers able to swim along with turtles.

Kurup said Turtle Conservation was not only to help increase turtle population but also serve as a centre for education and research and increase public awareness and provide a positive impact on the island's image.

President of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd Datuk Abdullah Karim who represented the company to officiate at the event said though the company was involved in the oil business, it paid serious attention on preservation of marine life.

Among others present were Member of Parliament, Datuk Haji Yussof Mahal and senior Petronas Officials, Mohamad Medan Abdullah, Joseph Podtung, Saifuddin Shah Sowkkatali.

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Malaysia: Refinery complex in Terangganu not affecting turtle landings

The Star 19 Sep 11;

KUALA TERENGGANU: The ever-expanding Petronas refinery complex in Kertih, Terangganu is not affecting turtle sanctuaries in the state, said Zulkifly M. Ismail, the oil giant’s general manager for the eastern region.

He said the company and the Malaysian Nature Society carried out a joint study on turtle landings in Terengganu last year and that it showed the complex was not adversely affecting flora and fauna in the area.

”The study also showed turtle are still landing at Ma’Daerah in Kertih where expansion of the complex is taking place,” he told reporters when met an Aidifitri open house hosted by the company, government agencies and media organisations here recently.

He added that the company was also collaborating with various agencies and organisations to ensure environmental conservation around the complex. - Bernama

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Sep 11

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore 2011 data so far
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

1887kgs of trash cleared @ Lim Chu Kang East Coastal CleanUp ~17Sep2011 from sgbeachbum

Butterfly of the Month - September 2011
from Butterflies of Singapore

What Can You Find @ Neo Tew Lane 1?
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Do Bugs Mutate?
from Macro Photography in Singapore

110916 Bukit Brown Cemetery
from Singapore Nature

Chek Jawa September Walk with NHC
from wonderful creation

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4,000 take part in coastal cleanup

Volunteers from 70 organisations fan out across island to pick up rubbish such as plastic bags and food wrappers
Fiona Low Straits Times 18 Sep 11;

More than 4,000 volunteers hit beaches and mangrove areas across the country yesterday in the largest coastal cleanup drive to date.

Nearly 60 areas in Singapore and on offshore islands such as Pulau Ubin and St John's were targeted.

From about 7am, volunteers from 70 organisations including schools, tertiary institutions and corporations collected trash such as plastic bags and food wrappers from the various sites.

The programme, now in its 20th year here, is part of the International Coastal Cleanup movement.

Between 70 and 100 countries participate in the event annually in a bid to clear trash from the coastline and educate the public about marine debris issues.

Trash collected in each country is carefully documented based on a specific data card that charts categories such as plastic bottles, fishing lines and cigarette ends.

'Having an international standard for comparison makes the data meaningful and allows us to see how we measure up internationally,' said Mr N. Sivasothi, coordinator of International Coastal Cleanup Singapore.

Each year, most of the trash collected is plastics and consumer items.

'This points to a local problem. We hope the data helps people reflect on what they are consuming and throwing away and spurs people to take action to protect the environment,' said Mr Sivasothi, a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore.

The data collected will also be presented to the National Environment Agency and National Parks Board.

Preparation for the project takes about seven months, as coordinators have to check out the sites to determine their suitability, identify the level of difficulty, and obtain approval for the cleanup.

The leaders of each volunteer organisation also have to attend workshops to understand issues such as marine life in Singapore and the impact of pollution, and learn how to organise the cleanup and document the data afterwards.

Volunteer Deanna Lye was part of the team that travelled to the Sungei Tampines area to do the cleanup. This is the first time the 18-year-old, who has just returned from her studies in Britain, has taken part in the event.

'I wanted to do something to help instead of just reading about the damage to the environment. It feels good to get my hands dirty and do something for the cause,' she said.

Last year's event saw around 3,500 volunteers collect almost 14,000kg of trash, most of which was due to recreational activity on the shoreline. Beverage bottles, food wrappers and straws featured heavily.

The amount of trash collected this year is being tabulated.

The collated data will be ready today, and the public can visit coastalcleanup.nus.edu.sg for details.

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