Malaysia: Enraptured by raptors

New Straits Times 15 Mar 12;

Hundreds of bird-watchers converged on Port Dickson during Raptor Watch Week. Low Mei May joined in to scan the skies

THERE was almost a no-show by raptors at the launch of Raptor Watch in Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson last Saturday. But of the dozen or so spotted, one gave an aerial performance that visitors will not forget.

The white-bellied sea eagle circled over Ilham Resort with a metre-long fish in its talons.

Raptors need thermals to soar hundreds and even thousands of metres up in the sky and glide across the Straits Of Malacca to Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson, where the birds congregate yearly before continuing their journey to north Asia.

On Saturday, the thermals were missing and so were the big birds of prey.

“But there’s no need to worry,” said Malaysian Nature Society president Professor Dr Maketab Mohamed. “This just means there are thousands of raptors in Pulau Rupat, Indonesia, waiting to soar over here.”

One year, Maketab said, more than 10,000 birds soared over the straits to Tanjung Tuan in a single day. “I don’t know how they counted,” he said in awe of the MNS members who have been counting the raptors for the last 13 years.
And he was proven right. Sunday was much hotter, with very few clouds. By noon, more than 2,000 birds were spotted. By evening, 5,300 birds were counted soaring on thermals to reach our skies.

Raptor Watch is a huge event in Port Dickson, drawing tourists from all over the country, and even from abroad. The birds fly here not over one weekend but over a period of about four months, from late January.
The migratory raptors flee the winter in Siberia, China, Korea and Japan towards the end of the year before returning in spring. Raptor Watch Week is also one of Malaysia’s premier eco-tourism events.
Although there was a near no-show by the raptors on Saturday, Raptor Watch week was by no means a washout.

Playing host for the 13th consecutive time, the MNS had lined up many nature-related activities, including talks, to promote eco-tourism. These included Nature Walk, Seashore Walk and Mangrove Walk.
Since February, more than 23,000 raptors had been spotted by counters stationed at the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse. The counters will continue their labour of love until April 1, for a total of 42 days. Last year, 58,000 raptors were spotted over 43 days flying over Port Dickson.

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Indonesia: Rare Sumatran Tiger Sees Surge In Brutal Conflict With Humans

Jakarta Globe 14 Mar 12;

Bengkulu City. The year is off to a bad start for Sumatran tigers, as conservation officials in Bengkulu province are reporting almost as much conflict in just a few months as from all of last year.

“So far in 2012, we have handled two tiger deaths and six tiger-human conflicts,” Amon Zamora, the head of the province’s Natural Resources Conservation Center, said on Tuesday.

Last year in all of Sumatra, two endangered Sumatran tigers were found trapped and four were known to have died from injuries inflicted by human actions.

Bengkulu’s first tiger death this year was of a male, named Rajo by conservation staff, who had been rescued from a snare trap in the Bukit Daun protected forest in Lebong district.

When conservation staff found Rajo on Jan. 8, it seemed he had been left for dead by an unknown attacker who had beaten him with a blunt instrument.

“It looked like they had deliberately tried to kill him,” Amon said. “We found him alive but covered in injuries.”

Despite medical care, Rajo eventually succumbed to his wounds.

The second tiger to die was discovered in Seluma district in February, dismembered and buried in an apparent attempt to hide the crime.

“We do not know the cause of death, but when our team dug the tiger out, we found it in pieces, with bones missing,” Amon said, adding that the forest police were still investigating the killing.

Dara, another female tiger so named after she was discovered snared in a North Bengkulu logging concession in February, will never return to the wild after her rescuers were forced to amputate her ensnared front leg, which was badly gangrenous.

In the most recent conflict, residents of Alas Bangun village in North Bengkulu district have reported unrest because of a tiger that has appeared in the vicinity of their village several times over the past few days.

Amon said his staff members were on their way to help.

“We’ll try to chase it into the forest, but if that proves impossible then we’ll be forced to conduct an ‘evacuation,’ ”he said, referring to an evacuation of the tiger, not the villagers, highlighting the cause of the problem.

Amon said the increasing frequency of such encounters points to a bleak future for the endangered species, of which only about 400 remain in the wild.

Their decline stems primarily from the constant encroachment of human development into their habitat, the conservation officer said.

Of the 400-odd tigers clinging on to their natural habitat, less than a third are thought to be living in areas set aside for conservation purposes.

The rest live in forests earmarked for timber concessions, plantations or other extractive purposes.

NGO group Forum HarimauKita, the Indonesian Tiger Conservation Forum, blames such conflicts on a lack of understanding and guidelines for tiger conservation among low-level government officials and plantation workers.

Antara, JG

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Global flower trade threatens rare palm

Mark Kinver BBC News 15 Mar 12;

Demand for leaves from an endangered palm, found in Central and South America, is threatening the species' long term survival, a study warns.

Leaves from the xate palm are used by the international flower trade, and are mostly harvested from wild trees.

UK researchers said training locals to cultivate the trees, thus easing the pressure on the wild population, only had a limited success.

The findings have been published in the journal Plos One.

"One of the reasons why florists like this leaf so much is because once you have cut it, it stays green for 30-40 days," explained co-author Sophie Williams, a researcher from Bangor University, Wales.

"There can be about two weeks from the forest to the florist, yet they can still store it for another two or three weeks."

Previous studies had said that the plant, which generally has five leaves, would be damaged if more than two leaves were removed at any one time.

The peak in demand, which is estimated to be worth $4m each year, for the leaves coincides with Mothers' Day and Palm Sunday.

Once harvested, the leaves are transported to Cancun, Mexico, before being exported to destinations including Miami and Amsterdam.

Barriers to growth

Overharvesting is a common threat facing many threatened plant species, and cultivation training is seen as one way to ease the pressure on wild populations.

In 2006, the UK Darwin Initiative Project and the Belize Botanic Garden set up a training programme, with the aim of giving locals the knowledge to grow and harvest the species rather than harvesting wild palms.

Ms Williams and the team, which included a researcher from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, used the study to assess whether the training programme had a beneficial effect.

"People will often state that we need environmental education or training, and people often see it as a panacea to protect species," she told BBC News.

"I agree that we need these things, but we also need to think about the context in which we are doing them.

"The training programme was great... but we need to look at other factors that could prevent the training from having an impact.

"Just increasing knowledge and awareness doesn't always lead to positive action all the time, and that is often because… there are barriers."

These barriers included long-term land tenure. This could act as a deterrent because it takes four years for the palm (Chamaedorea ernesti-agusti; another common name is fishtail palm) to grow before its leaves can be harvested.

If a farmer could not secure tenure of some land for long enough, then it would not be cost-effective to invest in cultivating the crop.

Access to seeds is another potential problem that could dilute the impact of a training programme.

Ms Williams said if there was not a supply of seeds for farmers, then it could encourage seeds to be taken from the wild population.

This practice, studies suggest, can be more damaging to the palms than harvesting leaves.

Ms Williams, a PhD student, said the next stage of her research is to assess whether increased cultivation is an effective conservation tool and eases the pressure on wild plants, or merely increases the supply of the economically important crop.

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Australia weather extremes likely to worsen: report

* Hotter Australia faces more intense rains, droughts
* Warmer seas, rising ocean levels further threats - report
* More chaotic weather a challenge to miners, farmers
David Fogarty Reuters 14 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE, March 14 (Reuters) - Australia, one of the world's top mining and agricultural nations, faces a quickening pace of climate change, according to a snapshot of the nation's weather, forcing farmers to alter cropping strategies and miners to cope with more intense floods.

The government report released on Wednesday confirms the changing trends in rainfall and warmer temperatures across Australia, to which farmers are adapting by growing new crop varieties and adjusting planting times.

Coal and iron ore miners are building bigger holding dams for flood waters, and strenthening road and rail infrastructure, while coastal communities are being told to prepare for rising sea levels.

The report, compiled by the Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), looks at long-term climate trends in Australia. Its release comes after 18 months of record rains in the country's east, triggering floods that ended a devastating drought.

Australia is getting hotter, the pace of sea level rise quickening, the oceans warming and rainfall patterns shifting towards more rain in the summer, the report said.

Each decade has been warmer than the previous decade since the 1950s, it said, with rising greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and agriculture blamed for the changes.

"We're certainly seeing where the rain is falling is changing," Megan Clark, CSIRO's chief executive, told Reuters. "We're seeing more in spring and summer ... a monsoonal signature across Australia's north, and more rainfall in central Australia," she said.

"And from the agricultural point of view, less autumn and winter rain across the south."

The report is only the second joint climate snapshot, with the first released in 2010 before the start of an intense La Nina event that triggered months of flooding, crimping economic growth and causing billions of dollars in insurance losses.

Australia is the world's top coal exporter, a major iron ore producer and fourth largest wheat exporter, sectors at risk from more chaotic weather.

IN HOT WATER

A second, weaker La Nina in 2011 brought more rains. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said the event was coming to an end, but rainfall in parts of Australia could still be above average.

La Nina is a periodic warming of the Western Pacific Ocean. It normally triggers above average rains and cooler weather across northern and eastern Australia and Southeast Asia. The opposite phenomenon, El Nino, usually brings drought and warmer weather.

Clark said 2010-11 stood out for the peak rains and the equally record-breaking sea surface temperatures around northern Australia.

"This consistent rise in our sea surface temperatures has been a bit surprising," sshe said.

"The other thing we're seeing is when the conditions are right for rain, we're getting a lot of rain."

The report shows minimum Australian temperatures at night have warmed by more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1910, with most of this since 1960, and that the rate of very hot daytime temperatures, higher than 40 degress C, has been increasing since 1990.

Sea levels since 1993 around Australia's north and northwest have been rising 7 to 11 millimetres a year, two to three times the global average.

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Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S.

Justin Gillis New York Times 13 Mar 12;

About 3.7 million Americans live within a few feet of high tide and risk being hit by more frequent coastal flooding in coming decades because of the sea level rise caused by global warming, according to new research.

If the pace of the rise accelerates as much as expected, researchers found, coastal flooding at levels that were once exceedingly rare could become an every-few-years occurrence by the middle of this century.

By far the most vulnerable state is Florida, the new analysis found, with roughly half of the nation’s at-risk population living near the coast on the porous, low-lying limestone shelf that constitutes much of that state. But Louisiana, California, New York and New Jersey are also particularly vulnerable, researchers found, and virtually the entire American coastline is at some degree of risk.

“Sea level rise is like an invisible tsunami, building force while we do almost nothing,” said Benjamin H. Strauss, an author, with other scientists, of two new papers outlining the research. “We have a closing window of time to prevent the worst by preparing for higher seas.”

The project on sea level rise led by Dr. Strauss for the nonprofit organization Climate Central appears to be the most elaborate effort in decades to estimate the proportion of the national population at risk from the rising sea. The papers are scheduled for publication on Wednesday by the journal Environmental Research Letters. The work is based on the 2010 census and on improved estimates, compiled by federal agencies, of the land elevation near coastlines and of tidal levels throughout the country.

Climate Central, of Princeton, N.J., was started in 2008 with foundation money to conduct original climate research and also to inform the public about the work of other scientists. For the sea level project, financed entirely by foundations, the group is using the Internet to publish an extensive package of material that goes beyond the scientific papers, specifying risks by community. People can search by ZIP code to get some idea of their own exposure.

While some coastal governments have previously assessed their risk, most have not, and national-level analyses have also been rare. The new package of material may therefore give some communities and some citizens their first solid sense of the threat.

Dr. Strauss said he hoped this would spur fresh efforts to prepare for the ocean’s rise, and help make the public more aware of the risks society is running by pumping greenhouse gases into the air. Scientists say those gases are causing the planet to warm and its land ice to melt into the sea. The sea itself is absorbing most of the extra heat, which causes the water to expand and thus contributes to the rise.

The ocean has been rising slowly and relentlessly since the late 19th century, one of the hallmark indicators that the climate of the earth is changing. The average global rise has been about eight inches since 1880, but the local rise has been higher in some places where the land is also sinking, as in Louisiana and the Chesapeake Bay region.

The rise appears to have accelerated lately, to a rate of about a foot per century, and many scientists expect a further acceleration as the warming of the planet continues. One estimate that communities are starting to use for planning purposes suggests the ocean could rise a foot over the next 40 years, though that calculation is not universally accepted among climate scientists.

The handful of climate researchers who question the scientific consensus about global warming do not deny that the ocean is rising. But they often assert that the rise is a result of natural climate variability, they dispute that the pace is likely to accelerate, and they say that society will be able to adjust to a continuing slow rise.

Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington research group, said that “as a society, we could waste a fair amount of money on preparing for sea level rise if we put our faith in models that have no forecasting ability.”

Experts say a few inches of sea level rise can translate to a large incursion by the ocean onto shallow coastlines. Sea level rise has already cost governments and private landowners billions of dollars as they have pumped sand onto eroding beaches and repaired the damage from storm surges.

Insurance companies got out of the business of writing flood insurance decades ago, so much of the risk from sea level rise is expected to fall on the financially troubled National Flood Insurance Program, set up by Congress, or on state insurance pools. Federal taxpayers also heavily subsidize coastal development when the government pays to rebuild infrastructure destroyed in storm surges and picks up much of the bill for private losses not covered by insurance.

For decades, coastal scientists have argued that these policies are foolhardy, and that the nation must begin planning an orderly retreat from large portions of its coasts, but few politicians have been willing to embrace that message or to warn the public of the rising risks.

Organizations like Mr. Ebell’s, even as they express skepticism about climate science, have sided with the coastal researchers on one issue. They argue that Congress should stop subsidizing coastal development, regarding it as a waste of taxpayers’ money regardless of what the ocean might do in the future.

“If people want to build an expensive beach house on the Florida or Carolina coast, they should take their own risk and pay for their own insurance,” Mr. Ebell said.

The new research calculates the size of the population living within one meter, or 3.3 feet, of the mean high tide level, as estimated in a new tidal data set from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the lower 48 states, that zone contains 3.7 million people today, the papers estimate, a figure exceeding 1 percent of the nation’s population.

Under current coastal policies, the population and the value of property at risk in that zone are expected to continue rising.

The land below the 3.3-foot line is expected to be permanently inundated someday, possibly as early as 2100, except in places where extensive fortifications are built to hold back the sea. One of the new papers calculates that long before inundation occurs, life will become more difficult in the low-lying zone because the rising sea will make big storm surges more likely.

Only in a handful of places have modest steps been taken to prepare. New York City is one: Pumps at some sewage stations have been raised to higher elevations, and the city government has undertaken extensive planning. But the city — including substantial sections of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island — remains vulnerable, as do large parts of Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.

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Over 110 Heads Of State, Government Attending UN Rio+20 Conference

Bernama 15 Mar 12;

UNITED NATIONS, March 15 (Bernama) -- More than 110 heads of state and government have said they will participate in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as the Rio+20, in Brazil in June, a UN spokesman said yesterday.

"The (UN) secretary-general has personally appealed to all heads of state and government to attend and to make this conference a success," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing Wednesday, Xinhua news agecny reported.

The conference, returning 20 years after the landmark 1992 Earth Summit, will take place in Rio de Janeiro from June 20 to 22 where world leaders, along with thousands of participants from the private sector and non-governmental groups, are expected to come together to shape ways to reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

"The level of attendance is amongst the highest seen for this kind of event," Nesirky said. "The number is already higher than the Johannesburg conference."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to brief the UN General Assembly on Friday morning on the report, entitled " Resilient people, resilient planet: a future worth choosing," by the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, said the spokesman.

The initial round of negotiations on the proposed outcome document for Rio+20 began here on Jan. 25 in order to pave the way for a successful conference of world leaders in June on sustainable development.

This informal round is the first of four more negotiating sessions in March, April, May and June in the lead-up to the Rio+20 conference in Brazil.

Rio+20 Secretary-General Sha Zukang, who is also UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, said at the opening of the three-day consultations:

"When world leaders gather in Rio in five months, we need to present them with an ambitious and yet practical outcome that equals the magnitude of today's challenges,"

"We need a robust outcome from Rio+20, with reinvigorated political commitments by all countries. We need strong decisions ... strong in commitments and strong in actions," she added.

-- BERNAMA

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Best of our wild blogs: 14 Mar 12

Tears at Chek Jawa in 2001
from Nature rambles

29 Mar (Thu): Green Drinks talk on "Secret Shores of Singapore"
from wild shores of singapore

Giant clams at Beting Bemban Besar
from wild shores of singapore

Butterflies @ NTU Herb Garden (方草园)
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Four Little Egrets - Fishing along canal
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Family day in Bukit Brown
from Rojak Librarian

Sign up for a Gastropodic good time!
from Raffles Museum News

New articles on Nature in Singapore website
from Raffles Museum News

ACRES Flag Day – Donate to support wildlife rescue!
from My Wild Life with Nature

Climate change could increase fires, logging, and hunting in rainforests
from Mongabay.com news by Jeremy Hance

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Climate change authority responds to WWF's 'largest carbon footprint' charge

Today Online 14 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE - The National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) has responded to environmental group World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) findings that the Republic has the largest carbon footprint per capita in the Asia-Pacific.

The NCCS issued its response to "provide a better understanding of the facts" and took issue with the WWF citing Singapore as "a society that may be one of the best examples of what we should not do" - a statement which "seriously misrepresents the situation", said the NCCS.

The secretariat cited how the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Asian Green City Index last year had assessed Singapore as Asia's greenest metropolis and said Singapore ranked "well above average" for its policies on energy and carbon emissions.

The EIU study found that Singapore used three megajoules of energy to generate US$1 (S$1.30) of gross domestic product (GDP) - half the Index's average of six megajoules. The Index had examined the environmental performance of 22 Asian cities in eight categories including environmental governance, air quality, energy and carbon dioxide emissions.

The NCCS also noted that the methodology used by the WWF in its upcoming Asia Footprint Report differs from that of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The latter attributes emissions from goods to the country where they are produced, while WWF attributes carbon emissions from the goods to the importing country.

Based on the UNFCCC's method, Singapore ranked below countries such as Brunei, Australia and South Korea in terms of per capita emissions, said the NCCS.

Even so, the NCCS noted "inherent limitations" in the use of per capita indicators to measure carbon emissions. "Carbon emissions per capita as a measure disadvantages countries with small populations," it said.

This is so for Singapore due to its small land area, with no readily available alternative energy sources.

Singapore ranks favourably when it comes to energy intensity, the NCCS also pointed out.

Its carbon-dioxide emissions per dollar or GDP is among "the lowest internationally" - or 123 out of 137 countries, based on data from the International Energy Agency.

"Singapore will strive to be an even more environmentally green city, even given out inherent limitations as an island state," the NCCS said.

Last Monday, the WWF had revealed that Singapore topped the list of carbon emitters per capita in the Asia-Pacific, saying its high GDP per capita fuelled consumption habits and citing the corporate sector and construction industry as a significant contributor.

Exact carbon emission levels of various countries will be revealed when its Asia Footprint Report is out in June.

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Let's talk, SLA tells farmers

It is giving those told to vacate state land a chance to discuss issue
Grace Chua Straits Times 14 Mar 12;

THE group of residents who have been farming on a patch of state land in Clementi Avenue 4 may now get a little breathing room.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which last week issued an eviction notice on the illegal vegetable garden, is now asking these farmers to come forward to discuss the issue.

If they fail to do this by March 20, their vegetable patches, the sheds and other structures there will be cleared.

An SLA spokesman said it has no choice but to do this, because public health and safety issues - from mosquitoes and air pollution from the burning of leaves on the site - have been raised.

So far, three families have identified themselves.

Meanwhile, Ms Sim Ann, the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Member of Parliament overseeing the area, has offered to mediate.

Yesterday, she showed reporters round the 1,800 sq m of vegetable patches, pointing out potential mosquito breeding grounds and imploring the farmers to step forward.

'If they don't do so, it'll be quite hard for us to represent their views,' she said.

The SLA, which has no immediate plans for that tract of state land, also wants to hear from the area's grassroots groups on whether parts of the land can be used in the interim for the enjoyment of the residents.

'If the grassroots organisations require more time to discuss this with residents, the SLA is prepared to consider,' an SLA spokesman said.

The SLA said it oversees 270 community-use sites islandwide, though none of these is used for farms or gardens.

The Clementi case is one of the first high-profile run-ins between a government agency and illegal farmers in almost a decade; the last known case was of a farm in Neo Tiew which was told to go.

The Clementi patchwork of farms, sitting on land almost two football fields in length, is bounded by a portion of the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway line, the Sungei Ulu Pandan canal, Clementi Avenue 4 and Clementi Avenue 6.

A week ago, the SLA posted a letter on sheds and other structures there, asking the users to dismantle them by March 20 or face enforcement action. No invitation to discuss the issue was offered then.

Yesterday, the SLA said that, aside from asking the farmers to come forward by March 20, it would give them 'a reasonable period of time' to dismantle and remove the structures and other items.

Its spokesman did not elaborate.

The area has been cultivated by various residents for some 30 years. Most of the 20 or so farmers are not in it for profit, but just for the exercise and the fruits of their labour, which include jackfruit, chilli and sweet potato.

But some residents have complained of smoke from the leaves that are burned regularly on site.

Kindergarten teacher Ng Ang Mui, 48, who lives in Block 305, said her two children have asthma and her mother was having problems breathing.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Ms Sim said public health was her priority: 'Let's just settle the public-health concerns first - and that really concerns everyone, not just the residents nearby but also the people using this piece of land. The rest, we'll have to figure it out along the way.'

Mr Lester Yeong, 35, whose retired father farms a patch on the site, has offered to speak for the farmers. He and others have proposed to the SLA that farming be allowed to carry on until plans are made for the land, and that the farmers pay a nominal fee for a temporary occupancy permit.

His father's vegetable patch is fenced up, but he said he would not mind opening up the garden to public access.

Meanwhile, members of the public have written in to The Straits Times, some opposed to the farming and others backing it for the 'charm' it gives the neighbourhood.

Retiree Lee Ter Kiah, 70, said the 'dirty and unsightly' farms should make way for a park where people can take strolls.

Clementi resident Lin Shuli, a 22-year-old sociology undergraduate who is studying the farmers for a term paper on ageing, said: 'I understand the farmers have occupied the land illegally, but I urge the authorities to consider preserving this community - and even help the elderly to build on their hobby.'

They could, for example, make compost instead of burning vegetable matter, she said, adding: 'These plots of land are what give them a sense of purpose in their silver years.'

Residents told to clear out "farm" on state land
Olivia Siong Channel NewsAsia 13 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE: The authorities are hoping to engage those who have been illegally using a plot of state land at Clementi Avenue 4.

Residents have been farming at the 1,800 square metre site for almost 30 years, but they are now being ordered by the Singapore Land Authority to move out by March 20.

And for residents like Lester Yeong, they are hoping that a compromise can be reached between the authorities and residents.

Mr Yeong and his family have been farming in the area for about two years. They spend about two to three hours daily at the plot and have planted about 20 species of fruits and vegetables there.

Mr Yeong said: "It's like a kampong and it is near where we stay. My kids come here every day after I return from work and they totally enjoy it. It's most unfortunate that a single incident has caused SLA to issue the encroachment notice. Right now, I have made an appeal to MP of Bukit Timah, Sim Ann, that we would very much like to continue with what we have been doing... and we are ready for any form of compromise. With compromise, I believe that it'll be a very valuable community farming area."

However, health issues are a concern.

A resident living in Clementi raised concerns a few weeks ago about leaves being burnt at the plot.

The burning had caused problems for her child who has asthma.

Aside from health concerns, the National Environment Agency is also worried about mosquito breeding.

And MP for the area, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC's Sim Ann, hopes those who have been using the plot will come forward to share their views with her.

Ms Sim said: "If they don't identify themselves, it's going to be very hard for us to represent their views when we engage with agencies such as the Singapore Land Authority and other concerned agencies such as the National Environment Agency. The SLA has also assured us that they will work with the community and stakeholders to come up with an arrangement that is for the greater community interest."

SLA said it will consider whether the plot should be used for some form of interim community use.

- CNA/fa

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Hundred-year-old tree cut down

Letter from Patricia Chee Today Online 14 Mar 12;

It was a black day for many residents in Kheam Hock Road when a newcomer to the neighbourhood recently cut down a 100-year-old tree.

It stood along the road outside the plot of land bought by this newcomer, who built three houses on land where previously there had been one.

The National Parks Board told me that the third house had been designed with the driveway opposite where the tree stood. As a result, the tree "blocked" the entrance to the house and permission was given to cut it down.

I understand that NParks has spent a lot to take photographs and document significant and beautiful trees, to protect them. Do the authorities now have a different philosophy about protecting trees and the environment?

It seems that their obligation to the public is to fund documentation for posterity, as is the case for Bukit Brown Cemetery, rather than saving trees or green lungs, even those with historical value, for ordinary citizens and future generations to enjoy.

Works would have affected tree stability
Letter from Sim Cheng Hai Director (Policy & Planning) National Parks Board
Today Online 17 Mar 12;

WE REFER to Ms Patricia Chee's letter, "Hundred-year-old tree cut down" (March 14).

The National Parks Board processes the development plans of public and private projects when they potentially affect roadside trees. We do our utmost to retain existing trees by requiring the developer to set aside a tree-protection zone to protect the major tree roots from development works.

While the tree referred to by Ms Chee was not likely to have been as old as 100 years, we had explored all ways to retain it. This included working with the architect on alternative design configurations and carrying out tests to assess the presence of major tree roots.

Unfortunately, given the constraints of the site, one major anchoring root would have been affected by the construction. This would have an impact on the stability of the tree. Hence, we could not retain it.

New trees will be planted back. We have contacted Ms Chee and explained our position to her.

We share Ms Chee's love for mature trees and wish to assure her of our commitment to greenery.

We look after about 1.3 million trees located within parks and road verges, and ensure that they receive continual care and attention so that they can grow to maturity.

We also introduced the Heritage Tree Scheme in 2001 to promote the conservation and appreciation of beautiful and majestic mature trees. Under this scheme, members of the public can nominate potential Heritage Trees.

Currently, there are 183 Heritage Trees of various species in Singapore.

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Indonesia: Three elephants deaths being investigated in Riau

Antara 14 Mar 12;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - A joint team is investigating the death of three Sumatran elephants in Pelalawan district in Riau province to determine whether the dead elephants were poisoned or killed by hunters.

"We are still investigating to see if it was the result of deliberate actions," the chief of the Tesso Nilo National Park agency, Hayani Suprahman, told ANTARA here on Saturday.

The case has drawn public attention since the deaths occurred within days of each other. Hayani said initial allegations focused on the elephants possibly being poisoned.

He added that the offices involved in the investigation are the Tesso Nilo National Park, the Tesso Nilo National Park Foundation, the Riau chapter of the Natural Resource Conservation Agency and the police.

"If, indeed, the elephants had been poisoned, we will find the perpetrators," he said.

The three elephants were found dead in Pangakala Gondai village in the Langgam sub-district in Pelalawan.

Last Tuesday a wild Sumatran elephant was found dead in Pangkalan Gondai, not far away from Tesso Nilo National Park. The dead animal was found with a wound in its head.

The following day another elephant was discovered dead about 400 meters from where the first elephant was found.

The third dead animal was found by a WWF team about 50 meters from where the second death occurred. Further, the team only found the skull of the dead animal, according to officials.

It is believed the dead elephants were originally from a group living in Tesso Nilo National Park. The area where the dead elephants were found had earlier been converted into oil palm plantations.

Based upon initial information, the elephants died from being poisoned. Officials speculated that the elephants were possibly looking for water near the river after they realized they had been poisoned.
(F012)

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Outlook for China's marine environment 'not optimistic'

China Daily 13 Mar 12;

BEIJING - The head of China's oceanic authority has said that the outlook for China's maritime environment is "not optimistic", calling for further efforts to build the ocean conservation culture.

Major tasks include upgrading traditional industry, evaluating the maritime environmental carrying capacity, controlling the total amount of pollutants, and improving the monitoring system, said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

Liu added that certain achievements have been made in energy conservation, emissions reduction and pollution control. However, the outlook for the maritime environment is not optimistic in general, as it is still facing major challenges.

Due to the rapid economic expansion and development of maritime resources, labor-intensive industries and industries with high consumption in energy and resources are polluting the country's marine belt, Liu said.

The development of the heavy chemical industry, especially coastal and offshore oil and gas exploitation, brings risks to the maritime environment, as chances for oil and chemical leaks are growing.

In the meantime, the depletion of oxygen in water is another challenge facing the maritime environment, Chen said, adding that a total of 14,000 square km of algae bloom was found from 2005 to 2010.

According to Liu, environmental protection and control, as well as ecological rehabilitation in the Bohai Sea, will be the focus for the SOA's work this year and for some time to come.

The country's semi-closed Bohai Sea suffered heavy pollution last year as an oil leak took place at the Penglai 19-3 oilfield run by ConocoPhillips China, a subsidiary of US energy giant ConocoPhillips.

The oil spill has polluted over 6,200 square km of water in the bay since June, an area about nine times the size of Singapore. The SOA later said that its investigation revealed that operations in the oilfield were in violation of the region's development plan.

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