Sumatran Wildlife at Risk: Animal Activists

Nurdin Hasan Jakarta Globe 3 Apr 12;

Banda Aceh. The unbridled destruction of Sumatra’s forests over the past 20 years is the main reason for the 44 percent decline in the Sumatran elephant population during that period, wildlife activists said on Monday.

Donny Gunaryadi, the elephant program coordinator at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Indonesia program, said the wild elephant population on the island had dropped from around 5,000 in 1992 to just 2,800 today.

“The high rate of habitat destruction, land use changes and increased threats from poaching and conflicts with humans are all factors in the decline of the population of this protected species,” he said.

Sunarto, the species conservation program coordinator at WWF Indonesia, said it was crucial to conserve the region’s remaining forests in order to ensure the survival of wildlife such as the Sumatran elephant and tiger.

“The opening up of forested areas that are of prime importance to tigers and elephants must be halted immediately,” he said. “It is also high time that land use policies for forested areas began incorporating ecological considerations to prevent human-animal conflicts.”

The activists were speaking at a workshop in Banda Aceh organized by the Indonesian Elephant Conservation Forum (FKGI), in cooperation with the WCS, WWF and Fauna-Flora International.

Participants at the event all agreed on the importance of stemming habitat loss from illegal logging and clear-cutting of forests, which also threatens other species indigenous to Sumatra.

Satellite imagery of the change in forest cover in Sumatra’s lowland areas shows that 8 million hectares were wiped out between 1990 and 2000, Sunarto said.

That, he continued, coupled with the fact that much of the natural habitat of elephants and tigers fell outside of protected areas, meant the risks to the already critically endangered species was only increasing. “That’s why I believe that the protection of the elephant and tiger’s habitat is the most important factor in saving the species,” he stressed.

“There also needs to be more stringent enforcement against the illegal clearing of forests, poaching and selling of wildlife.” In order for any elephant conservation program to prove effective, Sunarto said there needed to be an action plan and strategy supported by all stakeholders, particularly the government.

Also crucial was a push for a “win-win solution” that would boost conservation without impinging on the economic development of forest communities.

Donny said there was an urgent need to get the message across to the Forestry Ministry.

“Our hope is that conservation efforts for the Sumatran elephant will be better coordinated and managed after this workshop,” he said.

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Multinationals vow to boycott Asia Pulp and Paper after outcry over illegal logging

The companies will suspend purchases from Asia Pulp and Paper after evidence emerged of illegal logging in Indonesia
Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk 2 Apr 12;

Several multinational companies have vowed to boycott the huge forestry conglomerate, Asia Pulp and Paper, after a public outcry after evidence emerged of illegal logging by APP in Indonesia, that is damaging the habitat of rare animals such as the Sumatran tiger.

Pressure has been growing on APP, its suppliers and customers, since the Guardian revealed last month evidence of illegal logging that had resulted in the chopping down of large numbers of a protected tree species, known as ramin, which grows in some of the last remaining bastions of the critically endangered tiger in south-east Asia.

A year-long Greenpeace investigation uncovered clear and independently verified evidence to show that ramin trees from the Indonesian rainforest had been chopped down and sent to factories to be pulped and turned into paper. The name ramin refers to a collection of endangered trees, protected under Indonesian law, growing in peat swamps in Indonesia where the small number of remaining Sumatran tigers hunt.

The three large companies – all household names – have now said they will suspend purchases from APP, either permanently or until they can be satisfied that the paper and associated products are being produced sustainably. They are Danone, the food giant whose brands include Cow & Gate, Actimel and Volvic; Xerox, the IT and printing supplies company; and a branch of the Collins publishing group. The Guardian understands that other companies are also considering whether to take similar action on the issue.

Danone said: "In view of the questions raised about APP, and as a precautionary measure, Danone group has decided to suspend all purchases from this supplier wherever possible under law, until the situation has been clarified and confirmed by independent stakeholders. This suspension will apply to all group subsidiaries in all affected countries."

The company, which uses APP for about 1.5% of its cardboard packaging, amounting to about 7,500 metric tonnes, will suspend purchases from APP from June.

Xerox confirmed a longstanding ban on purchasing from APP, after an investigation revealed that at least one of the company's subsidiaries had been using APP as recently as last year. Xerox said: "While at one time APP was a Xerox supplier, our corporate direction has been to cease doing business with APP on a global basis. This direction was put in place years ago and is based on our stringent paper sourcing guidelines. While we have confirmed that no Xerox branded products have been sourced from APP since implementing our ban in 2002, we have uncovered that a Xerox European entity bought and resold APP branded paper as recently as 2011. This was against the company's purchasing protocols. The activity has since ceased, corrective actions have been taken, and we are reinforcing our policy — banning any purchase of paper from APP."

Collins Debden, the diary publisher, said: "In response to customer and market demands, Collins Debden does not procure raw material originating from Asia Pulp & Paper."

APP said it was "committed to ensure that its operations, control systems and chain of custody process is in accordance with Indonesian law. The Ministry of Forestry has issued public statements regarding the investigation process for the Ramin issue, and therefore APP will provide update on the matter once the process is completed."

In a statement in response to the original report, the company said it had rigorous standards in place to prevent any illegal material entering its supply chain, but added: "No system in the world, no matter how rigorous, is 100% failsafe."

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "Having been exposed for destroying the rainforests and using internationally protected ramin wood in Indonesia, APP are now paying the price for their poor environmental policies. The only way APP can stop losing customers is to become a responsible supplier of paper and packaging products."

Chopping down ramin trees is illegal under Indonesian law dating back to 2001, because of their status as an endangered plant species. But Greenpeace alleges that its researchers found ramin logs being prepared to be transported for pulping when it tested logs in lumber yards belonging to the paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper, on nine separate occasions over the course of a year, and sent them to an independent lab to be tested. Out of 59 samples, 46 tested positive as ramin logs.

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Indonesia: Appeal likely in palm oil dispute

Michael Bachelard Sydney Morning Herald 4 Apr 12;

THE courts in Aceh have failed to protect a carbon-rich peat forest and critically endangered orang utans from the actions of a palm oil company which Jakarta acknowledges has acted illegally.

After five months of detailed argument, the three-judge court sitting in Banda Aceh threw the case out on jurisdictional grounds, saying the complainants from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) should first have sought mediation with the company.

The lawyer for the complainants, Kamaruddin, said the judges had used the wrong legislation - the environmental law, not administrative law - to make their determination, and said an appeal was likely.

And Riswan Zein, a representative of environmental group Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari, said if the judges were going to insist on mediation, they should have mentioned it earlier in the case, which started last October.

The case began when Aceh's then governor, Irwandi Yusuf, signed a permit in August last year to allow Indonesian palm oil giant PT Kallista Alam to set up a plantation in the environmentally sensitive Tripa peat swamp, seven hours south of Banda Aceh.

Detailed maps presented to the court showed that the concession was part of the Leuser Ecosystem, which is protected from development under Indonesia's 2008 national planning law.

The area is one of the last redoubts of the endangered Sumatran orang utan.

Sumatra-based landscape protection specialist Graham Usher told The Age that the company had begun actively clearing the swamp by burning, which is also illegal under Indonesian law.

A spokesman for Mr Irwandi, who is running for re-election as governor in Monday's Aceh poll, said he respected what the environmental groups had done in bringing the case.

Without resiling from his decision to issue the permit, he said he would "sit down and talk" with the complainants.

Last year Indonesia's secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry, Hadi Daryanto, told the Jakarta Post that the PT Kallista Alam permit was "clearly a violation because the area in question is a peat forest".

The permit also appears to breach Indonesia's international responsibilities under the REDD+ project, under which Norway has promised to pay the country $US1billion to protect its peat forests as a way of addressing climate change.

Mr Kamaruddin said yesterday the verdict put that payment under threat.

Environmental groups say that, in the last 21 years, about 70 per cent of Tripa's original forest and its orang utan population have been destroyed.

Late last month, another rash of peat forest in the area was burned and drained, prompting a coalition of environment groups to claim that, unless authorities stopped the illegal action, the local population of the Sumatran orang utan "could be extinct in a matter of months, even weeks if a prolonged dry spell were to set in" and fuel the fires.

The orang utan population is estimated at several hundred, of which the environment groups estimate 100 may have died in the fires of recent weeks.

Indonesia Court Refuses to Rule on Important Aceh Peat Swamp Case
Jakarta Globe 4 Apr 12;

Banda Aceh, Indonesia. A court in Aceh in western Indonesia on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought by conservationists challenging further development of peat swamp forests they say will threaten the few remaining orangutans who live there.

Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi, wanted the court to revoke a license granted by the Aceh provincial government to palm oil company Kallista Alam. The license allows the company to convert 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) of the Tripa peat swamp forest into a palm oil plantation.

Three other palm oil companies already operate in the forest. The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program has said that orangutans could disappear from Tripa by the year’s end if palm oil companies keep setting land-clearing fires there.

The Tripa forest — which in the early 1990s was home to around 3,000 Sumatran orangutans — today has just 200. There are 6,600 Sumatran orangutans left in the wild, and the Tripa forest has the densest population in the world.

Walhi filed a lawsuit against the head of the Aceh government, Gov. Irwandi Yusuf, arguing that the license given to Kallista Alam would cause environmental destruction and loss of habitat for the endangered species.

But a three-judge panel at the Banda Aceh Administrative Court said it had no authority to rule on the case because the parties involved hadn’t tried to solve the case outside of court.

“Walhi’s complaint could not be accepted,” presiding judge Darmawi said. “We suggest the parties resolve the case outside the court first.”

The pronouncement means the parties could attempt mediation, but Walhi’s lawyer, Kamaruddin, said the group will instead appeal to the high court.

Aceh’s government and Kallista Alam welcomed the judges’ decision.

“It gives us confidence that the issuing of the license has been done in accordance with procedure,” said Saifullah, a provincial government official.

Firman Azwan Lubis, a lawyer representing Kallista, said the company’s application for the license was legal and “based on comprehensive studies about environmental impacts.”

Beside the lawsuit, people living around Tripa also have asked police to investigate whether any environmental crimes were committed in connection with the issuing of a license to Kallista.

Associated Press

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Surveillance, penalties needed to halt rhino poaching: conservationists

Yara Bayoumy Reuters 3 Apr 12;

NAIROBI, April 3 | Tue Apr 3, 2012 5:06pm EDT

(Reuters) - Better surveillance and stiffer penalties must be imposed to combat rhino poaching in Africa, which if left unchecked could see the species become extinct in the wild by 2025, regional conservation officials said on Tuesday.

The world's rhino population has declined 90 percent since 1970, conservationists estimate. On the African continent, there are some 20,150 white rhinos that are near threatened and 4,840 black rhinos that are critically endangered.

"We've certainly reached a tipping point in rhino populations. There is no way that our national populations can sustain the level of poaching," Pelham Jones, chairman of the South Africa Private Rhino Owners Association, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conservation summit in Nairobi.

"What I've seen in the past is that many politicians ... have solidly got their heads in the sand ... The attitude of saying that there is no crisis is a statement of denial. There is a crisis," Jones said.

Last year, 448 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone, a 33 percent increase compared to the year before, driven by high demand from Asian countries where the rhino horn is purported to cure cancer. Scientists have widely dismissed the assertion.

South Africa is home to more than 90 percent of Africa's rhino population.

The price of rhinoceros horn has soared to $50,000 per kg, higher than the price of gold, the summit, hosted by the African Wildlife Foundation, said.

STEPPING UP LAW ENFORCEMENT

Julius Kipng'etich, director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, said prevention was key, but if rhino were killed the poachers must be hunted down and investigations carried out.

Kenya has already killed six poachers so far in 2012 hunting for elephant, buffalo and rhinos, compared to an average of six poachers per year over the past three years.

The two-day summit brought together representatives from Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe as well as the United States.

The summit called for more advanced communication technology, vehicles and helicopters to help anti-poaching units as poachers resort to more sophisticated methods to kill rhinos.

In 2009, nearly 70 percent of illegally killed rhinos were shot, but methods such as the use of poison and immobilising drugs are now being used to avoid detection.

The conference also recommended harsher penalties be imposed on the illegal trade coupled with improved detection by using sniffer dogs at airports.

"And then of course ... the consuming countries must be educated because the myths around rhino horn is just ridiculous," Kipng'etich said.

Rhino poaching has surged since 2007, in part as a growing affluent class in countries such as Vietnam and Thailand spend more on rhino horn for traditional medicine.

Rhino horn has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine, where it was ground into a powder and often mixed with hot water to treat a variety of maladies including rheumatism, gout, high fever and even devil possession.

"When you talk about rhino horn, what drives it? It used to be an aphrodisiac. But because Viagra came, that has now been dropped. (Now they say it cures) cancer, you see how the criminals change tune?" Kipng'etich said. (Editing by Richard Lough)

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Heat Stress May Help Coral Reefs Survive Climate Change

ScienceDaily 30 Mar 12;

A team of international scientists working in the central Pacific has discovered that coral which has survived heat stress in the past is more likely to survive it in the future.

The study, published March 30 in the journal PLoS ONE, paves the way towards an important road map on the impacts of ocean warming, and will help scientists identify the habitats and locations where coral reefs are more likely to adapt to climate change.

"We're starting to identify the types of reef environments where corals are more likely to persist in the future," says study co-author Simon Donner, an assistant professor in UBC's Department of Geography and organizer of the field expedition. "The new data is critical for predicting the future for coral reefs, and for planning how society will cope in that future."

When water temperatures get too hot, the tiny algae that provides coral with its colour and major food source is expelled. This phenomenon, called coral bleaching, can lead to the death of corals.

With sea temperatures in the tropics forecast to rise by 1-3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the researchers say coral reefs may be better able to withstand the expected rise in temperature in locations where heat stress is naturally more common. This will benefit the millions of people worldwide who rely on coral reefs for sustenance and livelihoods, they say.

"Until recently, it was widely assumed that coral would bleach and die off worldwide as the oceans warm due to climate change," says lead author Jessica Carilli, a post-doctoral fellow in Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's (ANSTO) Institute for Environmental Research. "This would have very serious consequences, as loss of live coral -- already observed in parts of the world -- directly reduces fish habitats and the shoreline protection reefs provide from storms."

Caralli and Donner conducted the study in May 2010 in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, near the equator. Kiribati's climate is useful for testing theories about past climate experience because its corals are pounded by El Niño-driven heat waves, while corals on the islands farther from the equator are less affected.

The researchers analyzed coral skeletal growth rates and tissue fat stores to compare how corals from different regions responded to two recent coral bleaching events in 2004 and 2009.

Donner has conducted field research in Kiribati since 2005 and will return this year to conduct follow-up research with the local government. He says the findings suggest that Marine Protected Areas -- conservation areas designed to protect marine life from stressors like fishing -- may be more effective in areas with naturally variable water temperatures.

The research delivers mixed news for Australia's Great Barrier Reef, because the reef stretches over such massive distances; some areas have stable temperatures and some do not. The findings support previous laboratory and observational studies from other regions, suggesting they can be widely applied.

Planning is now underway for potential future studies of coral in areas of the world that have not experienced significant historical changes in water temperatures.

"Even through the warming of our oceans is already occurring, these findings give hope that coral that has previously withstood anomalously warm water events may do so again," says Carilli. "While more research is needed, this appears to be good news for the future of coral reefs in a warming climate."

Journal Reference:

Jessica Carilli, Simon D. Donner, Aaron C. Hartmann. Historical Temperature Variability Affects Coral Response to Heat Stress. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (3): e34418 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034418

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Melting Arctic May Redraw Global Geopolitical Map

Peter Apps PlanetArk 3 Apr 12;

This year's frenzy of oil and gas exploration in newly accessible Arctic waters could be the harbinger of even starker changes to come.

If, as many scientists predict, currently inaccessible sea lanes across the top of the world become navigable in the coming decades, they could redraw global trading routes -- and perhaps geopolitics -- forever.

This summer will see more human activity in the Arctic than ever before, with oil giant Shell engaged in major exploration and an expected further rise in fishing, tourism and regional shipping. But that, experts warn, brings with it a rising risk of environmental disaster not to mention criminal activity from illegal fishing to smuggling and terrorism.

"By bringing more human activity into the Arctic you bring both the good and the bad," Lt Gen Walter Semianiw, head of Canada Command and one of Ottawa's most senior military officers responsible for the Arctic, told an event at Washington DC think tank the Centre For Strategic and International Studies last week. "You will see the change whether you wish to or not."

With indigenous populations, researchers and military forces reporting the ice receding faster than many had expected, some estimates suggest the polar ice cap might disappear completely during the summer season as soon as 2040, perhaps much earlier.

That could slash the journey time from Europe to Chinese and Japanese ports by well over a week, possibly taking traffic from the southern Suez Canal route. But with many of those key sea routes passing through already disputed waters believed to contain much of the world's untapped energy reserves, some already fear a rising risk of confrontation.

There are fledging signs of growing cooperation -- the first ever meeting of Arctic defense chiefs in Canada later this month, joint tabletop exercises on polar search and rescue operations organized through the Arctic Council. But growing unease is also clear.

Norway and Canada, for example, have spent recent years quietly re-equipping its military and moving troops and other forces to new or enlarged bases further north.

Having largely withdrawn most of its forces from the region in the aftermath of the Cold War, officials and experts say the United States is now only just rediscovering its significance.

But for now, Washington has no concrete plans to build even a single new icebreaker -- in part because experts estimate the pricetag for a single ship could be as high as $1 billion.

For the first time, some officers worry the United States is losing its foothold as new rivals such as China prepare to muscle in.

"We are in many ways an Arctic nation without an Arctic strategy," United States Coast Guard Vice Adml Brian M Salerno told the same Washington DC event.

"ARCTIC BATTALIONS"

The United States has yet to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which most countries use as the basis for discussing thorny Arctic territorial issues.

Arctic experts point to at least nine separate disputes within the region, from disagreements between the United States and Canada over parts of the Northwest passage to fishing conflicts that also drag in China, Russia, South Korea, Japan and others.

Russia in particular is seen to be keen to assert its presence in a region in which it has long been the dominant power.

It operates almost all of the world's 34 or so icebreakers -- albeit many of them ageing Cold War-era vessels, some powered by nuclear reactors that Western experts say could be a major danger in their own right.

Perhaps just as importantly, its navy continues to view the Arctic as its backyard, vital not just for natural resources essential to maintaining Moscow's economic clout but also the hiding ground for its ballistic missile-carrying nuclear submarine fleet.

But its greatest advantages may be simply demographic.

"They have cities in the Arctic, we only have villages," says Melissa Bert, U.S. Coast Guard captain and currently a military fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "We simply need more of a presence there."

Western military strategists have long worried that -- if economic woes or unrest at home prompted Russia towards a more bellicose foreign policy -- it could escalate regional tensions.

Norway and Russia in particular have long had awkward relations over the Svalbard islands, broadly internationally agreed to be Norwegian but with a growing population of Russian emigres.

This year, Oslo announced it was creating a specialist "Arctic battalion", explicitly linked to a similar move by Russia's military just across their shared border.

CONFRONTATION OR COOPERATION?

Some of the most awkward choices, however, will be faced by the Arctic's least powerful states.

NATO member Iceland raised eyebrows after its 2008 financial implosion when it approached Russia for a bailout, prompting suggestions it might be willing to offer use of a former US airbase and port facilities to Moscow.

Ultimately, it turned instead to the International Monetary Fund and European Union. But similar questions were raised again last year after a Chinese businessman offered to buy a large area of rural Iceland for what he said was a leisure project and golf course.

While he always denied any links to the Chinese government, the sale was ultimately blocked by Icelandic officials citing security concerns.

Greenland, one of Europe's largest countries but with one of its smallest populations -- less than 57,000 people -- could face particular challenges.

As its territory opens up more for exploration and mineral extraction, it could find its population swelling rapidly, driven by an influx from Asian investor-countries, notably China.

Nevertheless, some experts believe that if handled properly, the opening of the Arctic could benefit many if not all countries in the northern hemisphere.

"I see the Arctic as ultimately more of a venue for cooperation than confrontation," says Christian le Miere, senior fellow for maritime affairs at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies. "China, Northern Europe, Russia will all benefit in particular from the new sea routes. The only real losers will be countries much further south that cannot take advantage."

For U.S. Coast Guard captain Bert, having spent much of her career in the north, the greatest real enemies remain the vast distances, harsh climate and lack of resources.

Even with the icecaps gone for some of the year, icebergs will still drift through shipping lanes and harsh storms and poor maps provide ever present danger.

"I don't worry about a war in the Arctic," she says. "But I do worry that we're not prepared to deal with a major disaster there. No one is, but as more people go there, it becomes much more likely."

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Best of our wild blogs: 3 Apr 12

Drilling near St. John's reefs Apr-May 2012
from wild shores of singapore

Marine fire fighting and rescue: SCDF takes over from MPA
from wild shores of singapore

三月华语导游Madarin guide walk@SBWR,March(XXVIII)
from PurpleMangrove

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Singapore: Thunderstorms cause traffic snarls

More downpours expected over next fortnight, warns weatherman
Grace Chua Straits Times 3 Apr 12;

VIOLENT pre-dawn thunderstorms known as Sumatra squalls rattled Singapore in the early hours of yesterday and Saturday.

They led to reports of flash floods, fallen trees and disrupted traffic, from Tampines to the town area.

Sumatra squalls are eastward-moving lines of thunderstorms that whip up strong gusty winds and heavy rain, said the Meteorological Service (Singapore). They can develop at any time of the year and happen regularly between April and October.

Singapore can expect a couple more over the next fortnight, as well as afternoon showers with thunder.

Toh Tuck Road had the heaviest rainfall yesterday, with 95.2mm falling by 10am. On Saturday, Tuas had the highest total rainfall by 6am, with 97.4mm.

Three flash floods were reported yesterday. At the Marina South underpass, a drain grating was blocked by debris. Tampines Street 81 was the scene of a localised flood due to intense rain, while water at Bishan Street 21 collected in a depression in the road.

All three areas remained passable to traffic, said water agency PUB.

Traffic on two major roads was disrupted by fallen trees early yesterday, said the Land Transport Authority.

One hold-up happened on the Central Expressway near the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 entrance between 7.22am and 7.40am, while the other was on Braddell Road from 7.27am to 7.57am.

A goods vehicle also lost control on a slippery stretch at Lornie Road.

It toppled and blocked two lanes towards Thomson Road at about 4.20am, but no one was injured.

On Saturday, a fallen tree caused disruption at Jalan Anak Bukit towards the city from 12.41pm to 2.39pm, a spokesman for the authority added.

Seven other roadside trees were uprooted during intense rain over the weekend, said the National Parks Board.

They were at Bedok, Bras Basah, MacPherson and West Coast. All were cleared within an hour of being reported.

March was a damp month. Its total rainfall ranged from more than 300mm around Kranji and Punggol, to 174-200mm around Bishan and Tuas - above the long-term monthly average of 185.7mm.

April is likely to be wet as well, with average to above-average rainfall expected.

The north-east winds of the monsoon season have been replaced by the light and variable winds of the inter-monsoon transitional period.

For the next fortnight, Singapore is expected to have mostly short, thundery showers in the afternoon on five to six days.

Widespread Sumatra squalls are likely on one to two days.

It could also be a warm month. During the inter-monsoon period, light winds, cloudless skies and more direct solar heating spell hot afternoons.

April also has the highest mean daily maximum temperature in the long term, at 31.7 deg C.

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Malaysia: Preventing flash floods - beyond widening canals

Tan Cheng Li The Star 3 Apr 12;

Rainwater that rushes into drains and rivers can cause flooding downstream. So why not hold back the water for gradual release, later?

FOR as long as many of us can remember, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has always been on a building spree to mitigate floods – drains are constantly widened and rivers straightened so that rainwater that gushes off roof tops and land can be quickly whisked away into streams.

Federal expenditure for flood mitigation keeps ballooning, and yet, many urban centres continue to be inundated during downpours. The thing is, drainage engineering works just cannot keep up with the ever-growing volume of stormwater runoffs that results from intensive land development.

The combination of localised heavy rains, and inadequate drainage and water storage systems to cater for rapid urbanisation is a recipe for flash floods.

“The occurrence of floods is increasing due to land use changes and progress. Whatever we do on land will affect the hydrology of an area. The transformation from pervious surfaces to artificial non-pervious surfaces will increase the runoff rates and volume,” says Abu Mutalib Mat Hassan, deputy director at the flood management division at DID.

A DID study has shown that all it takes for flooding to become a problem is for 40% of an area to be cleared. The amount of runoff will double and flow twice as fast. With a yearly rainfall of 2,000mm to 3,000mm – going up to 6,000mm a day and even 100 to 200mm in one to two hours during extreme events – the amount of stormwater that speeds off concrete-paved areas can certainly tax our drainage systems.

Speaking at the Asia Water Resource Expo and Forum in Kuala Lumpur last week, Abu Mutalib asserts that structural measures – such as poldering and pumps, flood mitigation dams, retention ponds, diversion drainage and river bund channel improvements – alone are inadequate in preventing floods. He says non-structural measures are also needed, and this includes measures such as emergency response and flood preparedness, as well as land use and development policies. “We need to manage the water cycle as a whole, and give space for the river. This will need the co-operation of planning authorities.”

Managing runoffs

Traditionally, we manage stormwater by quickly diverting runoffs from drains into rivers in what is known as the “rapid conveyance” approach – sometimes so rapidly that rivers cannot cope with the sudden deluge, leading to downstream flooding. Trash and silt which choke drains and rivers worsen the floods, as the flows are impeded.

If the current way of draining stormwater persists, drains and rivers will forever need widening to cater for swollen flows, and often, not fast enough. Abu Mutalib says expenses for flood mitigation has skyrocketed, from RM330mil in the First Malaysia Plan (1966-1970) to RM7.6bil by the Ninth Plan (2006-2010).

Realising the limitations of the rapid conveyance approach, in 2001 DID introduced a new approach in its Urban Stormwater Management Manual (Manual Saliran Mesra Alam Malaysia, or MSMA), one that centres around controlling the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff.

The “control at source” concept essentially delays the time it takes for stormwater to reach streams – a complete turnaround from the rapid conveyance approach. Stormwater is captured first and then gradually released, so there will be no sudden, excessive water flowing to downstream areas. The new method requires all development to meet “zero peak contribution.” This means runoffs from the site must be similar to or less than levels before land-clearing took place.

The approach essentially makes developers responsible for limiting stormwater discharges each time they transform a vegetated site into a concrete jungle. If, before, developers merely built drains big enough to channel stormwater away from their project area, now they have to contain the stormwater instead. This can be achieved by mimicking nature, that is, simulating the natural hydrological cycle by combining infiltration, storage, delayed flow and runoff treatment techniques.

There are two ways to curb excessive stormwater runoff from newly developed site: store it for gradual release later, or allow it to infiltrate the soil.

Storage or detention options include ponds, lakes, wetlands, underground tanks or pipes, and flat roofs that harvest rainwater. Car parks, driveways and other paved surfaces can also be “ponded” to retain water temporarily.

Infiltration and retention techniques to be considered are gravel trenches, soakaway pits, submerged pervious drains, permeable pavements, car parks and sidewalks, and swales. Swales may just look like grass-covered depressions in the ground but underneath are containers that temporarily trap stormwater.

Many are unaware that stormwater is one of the largest contributors to river pollution. That is because, as it moves across the land, it picks up everything in its path: fertiliser from farms and gardens; abraded tyres and brake lining from roads; soil, dirt and tar from roads; garbage; and atmospheric fallout (pollutants washed down from the air).

The MSMA addresses this by encouraging measures such as erosion and sediment control during earthworks, and installation of gross pollutant traps along drainage channels.

The benefits of both storage and infiltration strategies extend beyond that of controlling runoffs. Ponds built to catch stormwater provide recreation sites and habitat for wetlands flora and fauna. Some developers have used such ponds as landscape features that add value to their projects. Also, harvesting rainwater makes good use of a resource that would otherwise go down the drain. And stormwater, when allowed to seep underground, will recharge underground aquifers.

One example of stormwater detention is the network of water-storing pipes beneath the car park of a hospital in Kudat, Sabah. The system stores 150cu.m of water and has solved the flooding problem at the hospital grounds.

“We usually propose underground storage as there is often a lack of land in cities for ponds. It might be more expensive to build but will be cheaper in the long run,” says Mubin Mohamad, chief executive officer of Hydro Solutions, which had built the system.

His company also markets the Hydrobrake, a device that can be installed along drains or rivers to control the volume and speed of flows, thus reducing the impact of heavy rains on downstream spots.

Ignored rules

Despite it being a decade old, the MSMA drainage guidelines have not exactly been embraced by all. Fears over higher construction costs and maintenance needs (such as desilting ponds or clearing pollution traps) have stymied its full implementation. Some engineers, developers and local authority staff are still not well-versed with the guidelines.

Some development projects have managed to skirt the MSMA requirements due to weak enforcement and inconsistent standards practised by the local authorities, which are involved in vetting drainage plans. Currently, there is no penalty for non-compliance as the guidelines are merely administrative requirements under local authorities.

Mubin points to some ambiguities in the guidelines: for instance, the size of developments that will require flood control devices in order to prevent overflows to the neighbouring land.

Some drainage experts suggest a revision of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 and establishment of bylaws, to give more legal bite to the stormwater management rules. They say retention ponds and constructed wetlands should be gazetted as reserved areas to prevent them from being filled up and built over. Proper drainage masterplans are also sorely needed, to replace the present piecemeal plans.

Taking into consideration the various feedback, the DID has recently revised the drainage rules to make them easier to understand and implement. Hopefully, this spells a better way of draining stormwater. And an end to flash floods, as well as a return to naturally meandering rivers, instead of huge, concrete-lined drains.

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Indonesia: Satellites detect 747 hot spots in Sumatra

Antara 2 Apr 12;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Satellites from the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) have detected 747 hot spots in Sumatera during March, according to the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

A local analyst of BMKG Pekanbaru, Aristya Ardhitama, said the hot spots were detected in eight provinces in Sumatera.

"Most of the hot spots appeared on Wednesday, March 21, when the satellites detected at least 169," he said.

The number of hot spots in Riau reached 60, 32 in Jambi, 25 in South Sumatera, 21 in West Sumatera, 11 in Aceh, 10 in North Sumatera, nine in Bengkulu, and one in Lampung, according to officials.

The next largest number of hot spots were detected on Thursday, March 22, with 114 spots.

"Most of the hot spots are still in Riau Province, reaching 42 spots," he added.

According to Ardhitama, the high frequency of hot spots in most of Sumatra was caused by weather disruptions, such as low pressure areas formed in the Philippines.

He predicted that the number of hot spots might decrease when the rainy season begins in April.

(SYS/KR-BSR/O001)

Editor: Suryanto

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Indonesian Authorities Helpless to Stop Dynamite Fishing

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 2 Apr 12;

Environmental authorities in Bontang, East Kalimantan, have acknowledged that dynamite fishing is responsible for much of the damage to the coral reefs off the city’s coast, but say little can be done to end the practice.

Baharuddin, head of the Bontang Environmental Office, said on Monday that 4,200 of the 6,000 hectares of coral reefs in the area were badly damaged, mostly from dynamite fishing.

“It’s a practice that the fishermen here have been using since the 1990s and one that is still commonly used,” he said.

“Not only is it destroying the reefs, it’s also preventing any new marine life from flourishing here for the next several years. That’s because by destroying the reefs, they’re destroying the habitat for hundreds of other marine species.”

Baharuddin’s statement comes a week after the environmental group Concern for Equator Environment Forum warned that 70 percent of the reefs off Bontang were severely damaged from industrial and domestic waste dumping, the use of explosives by local fishermen, and the mining of the coral as construction material.

Forum chairman Laode Udin said last Tuesday that in the wake of the gas and mining boom in Bontang, fishermen began using dynamite to increase their catches, and that the illegal practice was largely ignored by the authorities.

Baharuddin acknowledged that there was little in the way of enforcement against dynamite fishing because of the difficulty in trying to crack down on a practice that was carried out by nearly all fishermen in the area.

“Two fishermen were recently arrested for dynamite fishing, but that won’t discourage them from continuing to do it,” he said.

He added another problem thwarting the authorities was that the chemicals needed to make the explosives was widely available across the city.

“Their awareness of the damage that they’re doing to the environment remains very low,” Baharuddin said. “We’re continuing to campaign against dynamite fishing and trying to encourage the local community to fish in a more environmentally sustainable way.”

Laode agreed that it was difficult to get the fishermen to change their habits, given that other means of fishing did not net them the kind of catches that they could get through dynamite fishing.

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U.S. agency stops seismic tests; worries about dolphins

Cain Burdeau Associated Press Yahoo News 3 Apr 12;

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With sick and dead dolphins turning up along Louisiana's coast, federal regulators are curbing an oil and natural gas exploration company from using seismic equipment that sends out underwater pulses known to disturb marine mammals.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has told Global Geophysical Services Inc. to not conduct deep-penetration seismic surveys until May, when the bottlenose dolphin calving season ends. The agency says the surveys are done with air-guns that the emit sounds that could disrupt mother and calf bonding and mask "important acoustic cues."

The company said it laid off about 30 workers because of the restriction, which it called unnecessary.

But environmental groups suing BOEM over the use of underwater seismic equipment say restrictions should be extended to surveyors across the Gulf of Mexico.

The new limit on exploration highlights the friction over oil drilling in the Gulf since the April 20, 2010 blowout of a BP PLC well that resulted in the death of 11 workers and the nation's largest offshore oil spill in the nation's history.

After the 2010 spill, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity sued to get curbs placed on underwater seismic surveys. The environmental groups argued they harm marine mammals and that the federal government violated animal protection laws after it declared in 2004 that the surveys were safe.

The government is in settlement talks with those environmental groups, according to court documents.

"Imagine dynamite going off in your neighborhood for days, months on end," said Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst at the NRDC. "That's the situation these animals are facing."

Jasny said the restriction placed on Global Geophysical was a good sign, but far from enough.

In its ruling, the federal agency said it was concerned that seismic surveys could affect marine mammals, and even cause them to lose their hearing.

Amy Scholik, a fisheries biologist with NOAA, said it was unknown what kind of effects air-guns have on bottlenose dolphins, but she said there was concern about possible effects on dolphin calves because they are vulnerable to stresses. She added that whales in Alaska have been shown to change migration routes because of seismic surveys.

George Ioup, a physics professor at the University of New Orleans studying the effects of air-guns on marine mammals, said the verdict was out on the effects of air-guns on mammals. He said BOEM seemed to be ruling "on the side of caution."

"Proving there is an effect, I don't know if that has been done," he said. "I don't think the answer is overwhelmingly simple."

The air-guns are towed at low speeds behind a survey ship and emit high-intensity, low-frequency sound waves to find geological layers. Seismic surveying is essential to drillers because they tell them where to drill and not drill.

The government also relies on the seismic data to know where it's safe to drill and to determine how much it should charge for leasing offshore blocks to oil and gas companies.

Marc Lawrence, Global Geophysical's vice president in the Gulf region, said the seismic surveys do not pose a danger to marine mammals.

"We see no hazard to them whatsoever," Lawrence said. As proof, he said dolphins routinely ride along with ships when they are conducting surveys.

He said the restriction covers an area that ranges out to about 20 miles off the Louisiana coast. He called BOEM's restriction unprecedented. His company is searching for overlooked reservoirs in areas along the central Louisiana coast: Grand Isle, Timbalier island, the West Delta and south Pelto.

This is the same area where government scientists say they have found sick and dead dolphins.

From February 2010, NOAA has reported 180 dolphin strandings in the three parishes that surround Barataria Bay — Jefferson, Plaquemines and Lafourche — or about 18 percent of the 1,000 estimated dolphins in the bay.

Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had found 32 dolphins in the bay underweight, anemic and showing signs of liver and lung disease. Nearly half had low levels of stress hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function.

Lori Schwacke, a NOAA scientist, said the dolphins' hormone problems could not definitely be tied to the oil spill but were "consistent with oil exposure."

Over the same period of time, NOAA says 714 dolphins and whales have been found stranded from the Florida Panhandle to the Texas state line, with 95 percent of those mammals found dead. Normally, the region sees 74 reported dolphin deaths a year.

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