Indonesia: Local politics could exacerbate natural disasters

Sita W. Dewi,The Jakarta Post 9 Aug 12;

A green group has blamed local politics for contributing to the swift environmental degradation that eventually led to more frequent natural disasters.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said that it has recorded an increase in the number of disasters and casualties caused by environmental degradation.

“The cause of this increasing frequency of natural disasters and the numbers of their victims are investment policies which are not environmentally-friendly,” Walhi disaster management division head Mukri Friatna said in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post.

Mukri said that investment policies were designed to benefit local leaders who need cash to contest local elections. “The high cost of politics at the local level has encouraged local leaders to abuse their authority, including issuing pro-business policies,” he said.

The group has recorded dozens of flash floods and landslides across Indonesia this year, 22 of which killed at least 65 people.

Walhi recorded 452 flash floods and landslides in 2011, killing 371 people. In 2010, 428 flash floods and landslides occurred, killing 635 people. Walhi data also shows that 324 people were killed in 447 flash floods and landslides in 2009.

Mukri said that natural disasters, mostly caused by environment degradation as a result of unchecked business expansions, had also caused local administrations to spend more on relief and recovery efforts.

“For example, material losses caused by a flash flood in Padang [West Sumatra] in July reached Rp 46 billion [US$4.87 million]. That excludes economic losses and the costs of reconstruction and rehabilitation, which could reach another Rp 50 billion. Let’s say the amount of the regional budget stands at Rp 150 billion, Rp 100 billion would be used to cover all the costs,” Mukri said.

Mukri said that as natural disasters increase, they will affect the distribution of local budgets, especially on education and health.

The flash flood that hit six districts in Padang late last month, damaged innumerable buildings and displaced hundreds of residents. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has estimated that material losses caused by the flash flood could reach Rp 40.66 billion.

Mukri said that despite the severity of these disasters, the government remains in dark over the real causes.

“The BNPB always blames the disasters on high intensity of rain. They do want to further explain the root of all the problems—which is environmental degradation,”
he said.

Siti Zuhro, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that the new political landscape in the reform era had affected on how the country’s natural resources were exploited.

“After reform, Indonesian politics are more fragmented. We have gone through multiple multi-party systems and imposed regional autonomy since 2001. Since 2005, we have implemented regional direct elections. Those new episodes have a direct correlation to our natural resources’ exploitation,” she said.

Siti pointed out that regional autonomy had given power to local leaders to manage their regions and encouraged local leaders to boost locally-generated revenue (PAD), which led to numerous bylaws, most of which were problematic.

“Regional autonomy has given local leaders the confidence to issue regulations, which are not entirely environmentally friendly,” she said.

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Threatened shark species turning up in US restaurants

(AFP) Google News 9 Aug 12;

WASHINGTON — Threatened shark species are being used to make shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine, in several US cities, according to an unprecedented study based on DNA testing.

Thirty-three different species of sharks turned up in samples collected in 14 cities and analyzed at Stony Brook University's Institute for Ocean Conservation Science in New York.

"US consumers of shark fin soup cannot be certain of what's in their soup," said Demian Chapman, who co-led the DNA testing, in a statement Wednesday. "They could be eating a species that is in serious trouble."

Scalloped hammerhead sharks, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was among the species found on the menus of US restaurants where shark fin soup can sell for as much as $100 per bowl.

Others included smooth hammerheads, school sharks and spiny dogfish, all listed as vulnerable to extinction, as well as a variety of near-threatened species such as bull and copper sharks.

"This is further proof that shark fin soup here in the United States, not just in Asia, is contributing to the global decline in sharks," said Liz Karan, of the Pew Environment Group, a foundation that supported the study.

"Sharks must be protected from overfishing," said Karan, manager of Pew's global shark conservation program, "and any international trade in these vulnerable and endangered species must be tightly regulated."

The study marks the first time that DNA testing has been used to ascertain the different kinds of sharks used to make shark fin soup in the United States on a large nationwide scale.

Samples were collected in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Chicago; Denver, Colorado; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, Florida; San Francisco; Seattle and Washington.

The study, to which the Field Museum in Chicago contributed its DNA expertise, is to figure prominently in a television program on sharks on the Discovery science channel next week.

Up to 73 million sharks are killed around the world every year to supply an Asian-driven demand for shark fin soup, the Singapore branch of the WWF conservation organization says.

Since sharks are slow-growing and mature at a late age, they are particularly vulnerable to the danger of extinction, with potentially serious knock-on effects for lower rungs of the oceanic food chain.

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US drought, food prices fan fears of new crisis

Catherine Hornby and Karl Plume PlanetArk 10 Aug 12;

Global alarm over a potential repeat of the 2008 food crisis escalated on Thursday after data showed food prices had jumped 6 percent last month and importers were snapping up a shriveled US grain crop, helping drive corn prices to a new record.

The day before a critical government report on the state of the US corn and soybean crops, which have been decimated by the worst drought in over five decades, the United Nation's food agency warned against the kind of export bans, tariffs and buying binges that worsened the price surge four years ago.

"There is potential for a situation to develop like we had back in 2007/08," the Food and Agriculture Organisation's senior economist and grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian told Reuters.

"There is an expectation that this time around we will not pursue bad policies and intervene in the market by restrictions, and if that doesn't happen we will not see such a serious situation as 2007/08. But if those policies get repeated, anything is possible."

So far, most governments have refrained from trade intervention. Russia's deputy prime minister said this week he saw no grounds to ban wheat exports, as the country did in 2010, but he did not rule out protective export tariffs after the end of the 2012 calendar year.

Abundant rice supplies, sluggish economic growth and relatively lower oil prices may also help temper the rally in prices, Abbassian added.
But signs of unusually large early buying and extra stockpiling are emerging. US corn export sales over the past week jumped to the second-highest in 10 months, if the sales figure includes a near-record one-time purchase by private importers in Mexico, the world's No. 2 importer.

A mix of high oil prices, growing use of biofuels, bad weather, soaring grain futures markets and restrictive export policies pushed up prices of food in 2007/08, sparking violent protests in countries including Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti.

Unlike that demand-driven spike, however, the current rally in grains has been fuelled largely by a dire drought covering the US Midwest. After slashing its corn crop estimate by 12 percent last month, the US Department of Agriculture is expected to report a further 15 percent decline in a report on Friday, providing the most authoritative view yet of the weather damage to the world's biggest grower.
Benchmark Chicago corn prices for December delivery, already up more than 60 percent since mid-June, reached a new record of nearly $8.30 per bushel. Soybeans jumped 3 percent.

BANK CURBS APPETITE FOR FOOD
The price surge is also reviving a debate over the role of financial speculators in commodity markets. Big banks and institutional investors were often blamed for inflating prices back in 2008, although academic and government studies have offered conflicting views over the cause.

Commerzbank said it had joined two of its German peers in restricting food-related investments by stripping agricultural products from its ComStage ETF CB Commodity EW Index TR, a small $145 million commodity index fund.

The bank declined to say why it had made the change, but lobby groups and traders said the motive seemed clear.

"Climbing prices are creating reputational risk for banks," said Alexis Dawance, former manager of the agriculturals-focused Global Agricap Fund.

"The big grain traders probably have much more impact in food and commodity trading, but this is part of the bigger picture, with all the fat cat bashing that has been taking place. ... If food prices continue to rise you will see this happening more and more."
Whether the major global grain merchants emerge winners or losers from the latest spike is an open question.
The largest among them, Cargill, reported the lowest quarterly earnings in over two decades for the period ended May 31, prior to the US drought, and conceded that it had been flummoxed by markets that it had long mastered.

"Cargill's global market analysis of supply and demand, and our trading expertise are long-standing strengths," CEO Greg Page said. "Even so, we did not trade as well in this year's markets, which were driven as much by the economic and political environment as by the fundamentals."

INDEX HIGHER THAN 2008
The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 213 points in July, up 6 percent from 201 points in June, the FAO said in its monthly update.

The rise, which followed three months of declines, was driven mainly by a surge in grain and sugar prices, while meat and dairy prices were little changed, the FAO said.

Although below a peak of 238 points in February 2011, when high food prices helped drive the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the index is still higher now than during the food price crisis in 2007/08.

Higher food prices mean higher import bills for the poorest countries, which do not produce enough food domestically, and a strong dollar would deepen that impact.

"The very strong appreciation of the dollar, and the surge in prices, is basically a double blow which is going to be quite stressful for some of the more fragile countries," Abbassian said.

The weather outlook appears grim. While mature US summer crops are now mostly immune to worsening drought conditions, crucial harvests in places like India and Australia could be endangered by El Nino, which typically curbs rainfall.

The US government forecaster warned on Thursday that El Nino now appeared almost certain to set in within the next two months, although it would likely be weak to moderate strength. El Nino is a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific and brings shearing winds that hamper storm formation in the Atlantic and produce heavy rains in the eastern Pacific.

In the span of just a few months, what was to have been a year of plenty, helping replenish depleted global stockpiles, has instead become cause for alarm.

"What is quite certain is that it is not going to be a season where prices fall below the previous year, which is what we had anticipated," said Abbassian. "It is going to be another season of very high prices."

(Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt and Veronica Brown in London; Writing byJonathan Leff; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jackie Frank)

FAO Food Price Index up 6 percent
Grains and sugar drive increase
FAO 10 Aug 12;

The Index, which measures the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 213 points, up 12 points from June. That was still well below the peak of 238 points reached in February 2011, however.

The Index's sharp rebound was mostly driven by a surge in grain and sugar prices. International prices of meat and dairy products were little changed.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 260 points in July, up 17 percent, or 38 points, from June. That was 14 points below its all-time high of 274 points in April 2008.

Drought damage

The severe deterioration of maize crop prospects in the United States following extensive drought damage pushed up maize prices by almost 23 percent in July.

International wheat quotations also surged 19 percent amid worsened production prospects in the Russian Federation and expectations of firm demand for wheat as feed because of tight maize supplies.

However international rice prices remained mostly unchanged in July, with the FAO overall Rice Price index stable at 238, barely one point above June.

July also saw a sharp increase in the FAO Sugar Price Index, which leaped 12 percent, or 34 points, from June to a new level of 324 points. The upturn, ending a steady fall since March, was triggered by untimely rains in Brazil, the world's largest sugar exporter, which hampered sugarcane harvesting. Concerns over India's delayed monsoon and poor rains in Australia also contributed.

Meat prices down

In contrast the FAO Meat Price Index averaged 168 points in July, down 1.7 percent, or 3 points from June and the third consecutive monthly fall. Market weakness characterized the four major meat sectors, in particular pigmeat, which saw prices fall by 3.6 percent.

Dairy prices averaged 173 points in July, unchanged from June, after five straight months of decline.

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Best of our wild blogs: 9 Aug 12

ACRES: Rescuing toddycats in need
from Life of a common palm civet in Singapore

Celebrating National Day in Lim Chu Kang mangroves!
from Nature rambles

Sharing Singapore with visiting scientists
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Sun Chong Hong: A fascination with birdsound
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Clipping the wings of wildlife smugglers

Feng Zengkun Straits Times 9 Aug 12;

MILLIONS of passengers wend in and out of Singapore each year, but some apparently carry fake travel documents.

These "interlopers" came to light last month when the Republic made world headlines as the key laundering point for tens of thousands of illegally-caught birds from the Solomon Islands.

A special report by Traffic, an international wildlife trade monitoring group, found that these were likely wild birds with export documents claiming they were bred in captivity. This concealed the damage to the birds' natural populations.

Singapore was the largest holding cage for the illicit trade, taking in 49,500 birds, or 72 per cent of the islands' exports, between 2000 and 2010.

The report and the headlines were embarrassing for the Republic, but more crucially, they exposed a gap in our fence against illegal wildlife traders.

In the past, other smuggled animals may have been strapped to human bodies, hidden in suitcases or even stuffed in underwear, but the Solomon Islands birds were legal imports.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), trusting the export documents, had issued permits for the birds to be imported. It later allowed some of the birds to be re-exported to other places such as Taiwan, turning Singapore into a transhipment hub for this fly-by-night trade.

When asked, the AVA said it was the responsibility of the exporting country's authorities to check the source of the creatures before issuing export permits.

But Singapore could do more to protect its reputation, and it should not ignore warning signs.

In 2004, the Malaysian authorities grew suspicious of the large numbers of protected birds and reptiles being shipped from the Solomon Islands to Johor. It investigated, froze the trade and alerted Traffic.

Singapore, which took in three times more birds than Malaysia in the past decade, did not follow suit.

Dr Chris Shepherd, Traffic's South-east Asia deputy director who helped write the Solomon Islands report, told The Straits Times that more smugglers were turning to false documents to fool the importing authorities precisely because the paperwork was often taken at face value.

Animal activists have said for years that Singapore is likely a key stop in the smuggling of wild animals. Traders are drawn to the Republic's efficient trading infrastructure and accessibility to the rest of the region.

They also bank on Singapore's good standing in the world, which means other countries may not check exports that come with our seal of approval.

In the past decade, the number of animal seizures here peaked at 59 cases in 2004, but activists say these represent only a fraction of the wildlife trade. Some animals are intercepted overseas, others slip through enforcement nets.

In 2010, a shipment of 523 African Grey parrots was stopped at an airport in Congo en route to Singapore. The permits were forged.

Conservation groups estimate the global, unlawful trade to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Many cases involve hundreds or thousands of animals, suggesting the work of syndicates.

The AVA has done much over the years to ferret out the criminals. It works with other enforcement agencies such as the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and the Police Coast Guard to monitor Singapore's borders.

It conducts regular workshops and training sessions for checkpoint officers, including teaching them to identify animal species so they will not be hoodwinked by smugglers.

In 1986, Singapore signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which restricts the trade of vulnerable animals. It is also part of the Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network.

AVA permits are required for the import of Cites-listed species. Cites export permits from the source country are also needed before an import permit can be obtained.

Under Singapore's Endangered Species (Import & Export) Act, anyone who imports, exports, re-exports or possesses Cites species without a valid permit can be fined up to $500,000 and/or jailed up to two years.

But the Solomon Islands report and trends suggest the first line of defence against the rising breed of in-plain-sight smugglers cannot be at the checkpoints.

In the Solomon Islands case, Traffic investigators not only researched the country's breeding facilities, but also looked at the species of the exported birds.

It found that some species such as the yellow-bibbed lory take years to reach breeding age and produce few offspring. Some also retail at fairly low prices.

"In such cases, it is not likely that breeders will go through the trouble to breed the species, investing time and money in what would be a losing venture," Dr Shepherd told The Straits Times.

Another safeguard is to know which animal species are native to the countries that export them to Singapore. If the countries export large quantities of non-native animals, that should be considered a red flag.

Much of this data has been compiled by international wildlife groups. Singapore should get the information, plug gaps specific to our wildlife trade with other countries, and create a database that would help unlock the true state of trade here.

If there is any doubt about a country's wildlife exports, a pre- emptive move to stop the trade and alert the regional or international authorities might be useful.

Another link in the fight is, of course, reducing demand. Greater consumer awareness helps curb demand for illicit and protected animals.

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Malaysia: Ban on wild bird trapping lifted

Free to keep birds
Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah New Straits Times 8 Aug 12;

BAN LIFTED: Quota still in place for certain species

KOTA BARU: WILD bird fans in Kelantan can keep up to 100 murai batu (white-rumped shama) and 50 kelicap kunyit (oriental white eye) without applying for a permit.

State Wildlife director Rahmat Topani said the new regulation followed the lifting of a temporary ban on catching the two birds and other species by the government.

"As our country is now free from bird flu diseases, the government has decided to cancel the ban on catching wild birds while imposing a quota to keep certain birds.

"The regulation is relaxed for murai batu and kelicap kunyit in Kelantan as there are a big number of enthusiasts for the two bird species.

"From now on, the public can hunt and catch the two birds but if they have more than 100 and 50, respectively, for murai batu and kelicap kunyit, they will have to apply for a licence for each species."

Rahmat said the licences to keep 100 or more murai batu, scientifically known as Copsychus malabaricus, and 50 or more kelicap kunyit (Zosterops palpebrosa), were valid for a year.

He said the limitation was to ensure the two species could be controlled from becoming extinct through excessive hunting.

He said members of the public who were interested in hunting for other protected birds such as burung tiong (hill myna) and serindit (blue-crowned hanging-parrot) must still apply for a licence.

Rahmat said applications for the licence could be made at his department's office at Wisma Persekutuan from Aug 15, and the deadline to do so was Sept 3.

On Aug 1, the Wildlife and National Parks Department lifted the temporary ban on catching wild birds with immediate effect.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry in a statement had said the temporary ban had been in force since Feb 18, 2004.

The announcement, however, drew criticism from animal rights activists who said international organisations had shown that Malaysia was a top poaching ground in the illegal bird trade.

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Indonesia: Plantation Permits Approved for 300,00 Forest Hectares So Far in 2012

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 7 Aug 12;

The Forestry Ministry has so far this year issued permits to convert more than 300,000 hectares of forest into plantations, an official said on Tuesday.

Tri Joko Mulyono, the ministry’s director for forest area zoning, said permits were issued for 342,709 hectares so far this year, compared to a total of 4.9 million hectares in 2009, 8,613 hectares in 2010 and 366,259 hectares in 2011.

“It [Permit issuance] decreased drastically in 2010, almost stopping due to the moratorium on the conversion of forest areas, but then it rose again the year after that,” he said.

Even under the moratorium, he said, there were exceptions to allow conversion for plantations related to vital and strategic projects, including for geothermal energy, oil and gas, electricity, rice or sugarcane.

Conversion could also be approved for ecosystem restoration, he said.

“The forestry minister has already allocated 300,000 hectares for food areas and 300,000 hectares for sugarcane this year.” he said, adding that the permits were issued in the form of a Forest Area Release Letter.

“The forestry minister has already issued a letter so regional heads can allocate this land for food crops and sugar cane, but many [companies] still prefer to use it for palm oil,” he said.

Tri said that after the letter of release was issued, the land fell under the jurisdiction of the National Land Agency (BPN), and in the event of a land conflict, the ministry would not longer be involved.

“Once the forest area is released, its management becomes the responsibility of the land institution,” he said, referring to the BPN.

He said only convertible production forests (HPK), which total some 20 million hectares, could be converted into plantations, and companies were also required to get another permit from the ministry to use it.

“Forest areas also can’t be released unless they’re swapped with other forest areas. They should have a replacement,” he said, without elaborating on the replacement forests.

BeritaSatu, JG

Permits for Conversion of Forest to Plantations on Track to Top Past 2 Years
Fidelis E. Satriastanti & Arientha Primanita Jakarta Globe 9 Aug 12;

The Forestry Ministry has so far this year issued permits to convert more than 300,000 hectares of forest into plantations, an official said on Tuesday.

Tri Joko Mulyono, the ministry’s director for forest area zoning, said permits were issued for 342,709 hectares so far this year, compared to a total of 4.9 million hectares in 2009, 8,613 hectares in 2010 and 366,259 hectares in 2011.

“The area of concessions granted decreased drastically in 2010, almost stopping due to the moratorium on the conversion of forest areas, but then it rose again the year after that,” he said.

Even under the moratorium, Tri said, there were exceptions to allow conversion of forested land for strategic purposes, including for developing geothermal energy, oil and gas exploration, electricity generation and cultivating rice and sugarcane. Conversion can also be approved for ecosystem restoration, he said.

“The forestry minister [Zulkifli Hasan] has already allocated 300,000 hectares for food areas and 300,000 hectares for sugarcane this year,” he said. “The minister has already issued a letter so regional heads can allocate this land for food crops and sugar cane, but many [companies] still prefer to use it for palm oil.”

Tri said that once the letter of release was issued by the minister, the land fell under the jurisdiction of the National Land Agency (BPN), and in the event of a dispute, the ministry would not be involved.

“Once the forest area is released, its management becomes the responsibility of the land institution,” he said, referring to the BPN.

He said only convertible production forests (HPK), which total 20 million hectares, could be converted into plantations, and companies were also required to get another permit from the ministry to use it.

“Forest areas also can’t be released unless they’re swapped with other forest areas. They should have a replacement,” Tri said, without elaborating on the replacement forests.

The increase in the amount of forest land converted for plantations comes as the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pushes for greater efforts to attain food self-sufficiency.

“Indonesia should become increasingly self-sufficient in food,” the president said at a meeting with Agriculture Ministry officials on Monday. “Not only in rice, but also corn, sugar, meat and even soybeans.”

He acknowledged that changes to the environment proved a growing challenge for food production. “It will be our challenge because of climate change and the long drought. There have been warnings from international institutions that global food prices could rise,” he said.

He asked all government institutions to be ready to confront the challenges and to step up food resilience.

Yudhoyono also called for more land availability, pointing to a recent BPN study that indicated that as many as 7.2 million hectares of land across the country had been abandoned by concession holders and were therefore going to waste.

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Asia, US plains facing water extraction crisis

AFP Yahoo News 9 Aug 12;

Heavily-populated regions of Asia, the arid Middle East and parts of the US corn belt are dangerously over-exploiting their underground water supplies, according to a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

"The countries that are overusing groundwater most significantly are the United States, India, China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Mexico, and the highest number of people that are impacted by this live in India and China," Canadian hydrologist Tom Gleeson told AFP.

"Over a quarter of the world's population live in these regions where groundwater is being overused," he said in a phone interview.

Many places are rapidly pumping out "fossil" water, or water that was laid down sometimes thousands of years ago and cannot be replaced on a human timescale.

Seeking a yardstick of sustainability, the study creates a measure called the groundwater footprint.

It calculates the area of land sustained by extracted water and compares this to the size of the aquifer beneath.

The global groundwater footprint is a whopping 3.5 times the size of the world's aquifers, the study found.

However, this stress is accounted for by a small number of countries.

For instance, in the South Caspian region of northern Iran, the footprint is 98 times the size of the aquifer; in the Upper Ganges in India and Pakistan, it is 54; while in the US High Plains, the figure is nine.

"Humans are over-exploiting groundwater in many large aquifers that are crucial to agriculture, especially in North America and Asia," said Gleeson.

"Irrigation for agriculture is largely causing the problem but it is already impacting in some regions the ability to use groundwater for irrigation, so it is almost like a self-reinforcing problem."

The study aims at adding a new analytical tool to help policymakers cope with the world's intensifying water problems.

In March, the UN warned in its Fourth World Water Report that water problems in many parts of the world were chronic, and without a crackdown on wastage would worsen as demand for food rises and climate change intensifies.

By 2050, agricultural use of water will rise by nearly 20 percent, on the basis of current farming methods, to meet food demands from a population set to rise from seven billion today more than nine billion.

Gleeson, a specialist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, used a computer model in collaboration with scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and crunched national statistics on water use. The next step will be to use satellite data, which should be a more reliable source, he said.

Water from surface sources -- rivers and lakes -- is well documented, but use of aquifers is poorly understood.

According to the UN report, extraction from aquifers has tripled in the past 50 years and now accounts for nearly half of all drinking water today. But how this use breaks down in finer detail, notably its impact on the watersheds that feed rivers, is less well known.

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Best of our wild blogs: 8 Aug 12

Nature Society (Singapore)’s Position Paper on Wild Pigs in Singapore pdf on the Nature Society (Singapore) website

Birds fishing along Rochor canal
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Random Gallery - Club Silverline
from Butterflies of Singapore

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No outsiders allowed for boar culling: NParks

Animal welfare groups' request to be present turned down
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 8 Aug 12;

THE National Parks Board (NParks) has turned down requests by animal welfare groups to observe the culling of wild boars in the Lower Peirce area.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) told The Straits Times they wanted to be present to ensure the method used is humane.

But NParks said on Monday in response to queries that no outsiders would be allowed to observe the culling for safety reasons.

"The operation will be carried out by a small number of handlers. For safety reasons, and in order not to distract the handlers or animals, we'll not be allowing anyone else into the area," said NParks conservation director Wong Tuan Wah.

He said the agency is still working with Wildlife Reserves Singapore on a method to sedate and euthanise the boars. "The animals will be put down in as humane a manner as possible," he said.

Asked how many boars would be killed and when the culling would take place, an NParks spokesman said there were "no new updates".

The animal has been in the spotlight since The Straits Times reported in June that NParks was considering ways to cull the population at Lower Peirce. The decision triggered numerous letters to The Straits Times Forum Page, both for and against the culling.

NParks has defended the need to do so, citing the danger posed to people and the damage the boars have caused to the Lower Peirce forest.

In June, a wild boar believed to be from the Lower Peirce area wandered into the nearby Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and charged at a security guard and a five-year-old boy.

NParks estimates that there are 80 to 100 wild boars in the Lower Peirce area, based on its observations of two herds.

Scientific studies on boar population densities in other countries such as Malaysia indicate this number is too high for the 1.5 sq km Lower Peirce area, but some have called for NParks to conduct local studies before culling the animal.

SPCA executive director Corinne Fong said NParks should not exclude outsiders from observing the culling.

"It's a shame (NParks) is not opening this up to outsiders. That would give the public more assurance that everything will be done properly and humanely," she said.

Said Acres executive director Louis Ng: "We still don't support the culling but third parties could help audit the operations and make sure future rounds of culling are done better."

But Dr Diong Cheong Hoong, who has researched wild pigs in Borneo, Malaysia and Singapore, said sedation and euthanisation is a well-established culling method.

"Having more people will only agitate the boar in the trap more," he added.

Instead, NParks could share with the groups its culling procedure and the backgrounds of those carrying it out, he said.

NParks has said it may be necessary to cull the boars on a regular basis if the population continues to grow. It has also said it will consider other options such as removing their food source, which includes oil-palm plants, in the Lower Peirce area, though this must be weighed carefully as other animals may rely on the food.

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Scientists call for access to South China Sea

Researchers face hurdles studying marine species in disputed waters
Grace Chua 7 Aug 12;

EVEN if South-east Asia's politicians cannot agree on who owns which islands in the South China Sea, its scientists, at least, are working together.

Last week, some 40 scientists from eight Asean nations, China and Hong Kong, and other international experts, met here for a workshop on the South China Sea's marine life.

The workshop, organised by Singapore's Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research and sponsored by the Singapore Government, was the group's fourth formal meeting.

The first, in 1997, resulted in a multinational expedition in 2002 to the Indonesian Anambas and Natuna islands, during which new species were discovered by the scientists.

Studying the region's marine life is vital for its countries to prepare for the impact of climate change, to conserve coral reefs and to keep its fishing grounds sustainable, said Professor Peter Ng, museum director and chair of the workshop held at the National University of Singapore's Kent Ridge Guild House.

The South China Sea has its own unusual marine biodiversity, he said, as sea-level changes in past Ice Ages meant there were isolated pockets where new species could evolve.

But now the region is threatened by climate change, development, overfishing and pollution.

"Even in non-contested areas, whatever goes wrong can affect us because the seas are connected," he said.

"What we know right now is just scratching the surface."

One obstacle is access, he explained. Islands such as the Spratlys are hotly contested because they affect national boundaries.

Although they are rich in oil and gas deposits, and are good fishing grounds, claimant nations do not allow other countries' scientists in.

Even researchers from neutral countries face a diplomatic minefield, Prof Ng said.

When it comes to asking for permission to research islands whose ownership is in dispute, for example, "whomever we ask, we're in trouble", he said.

Joint expeditions such as the Anambas venture and a series of bilateral ones by Vietnam and the Philippines are one way around the problem, said Vietnamese researcher Vo Si Tuan of the Institute of Oceanography, who added that high-level agreements are necessary for such work.

The bilateral expeditions between 1996 and 2007, for example, stemmed from a meeting between Philippine president Fidel Ramos and Vietnamese president Le Duc Anh in 1994, Dr Vo said.

At the workshop last week, checklists of species records were updated with new research. Ms Youna Lyons, a legal scholar from the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore, proposed a master database, open to all, that mapped the distributions of various species of corals and other animals.

Scientists at the workshop raised the idea of another multilateral expedition, especially to contested islands, or piggybacking on existing bilateral ones.

"The fact that it's been done before with Anambas means it can be done again," Prof Ng said.

"If scientists can cooperate, it may be symbolic - let's put aside our differences and get things done.

"We need to open up these places to more experts going in, not just from Asean but also from around the world."

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Floods bring Philippine capital to standstill

Mynardo Macaraig (AFP) Google News 7 Aug 12;

MANILA — Torrential rains brought the Philippines capital to a standstill Tuesday, forcing at least 20,000 people to flee their homes as floodwaters covered half the sprawling city, authorities said.

Schools, financial markets and most government and private offices were shut as key roadways in Manila -- a metropolis of some 15 million people -- were submerged by waters that in some areas reached neck-deep.

Residents of low-lying slums fled the huge shantytowns lining Manila's rivers and sewers for the safety of schools, gymnasiums and government buildings as the downpour generated by seasonal monsoons struck overnight.

Army trucks hauled stranded residents from their homes, while enterprising children fashioned crude rafts out of scrap wood and banana tree trunks and charged people to ferry them around.

Power was turned off in some parts of the capital as a precautionary measure as the waters seeped into electrical facilities, the city's power distributor said.

In some areas of the city, people were trapped on the second floor of their houses by the fast-rising waters, said Cora Agulan of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

She said there were many calls for help but in some areas it was too dangerous for rescuers to try to reach those stranded.

"The current is too strong so we have to tie our rubber boats with ropes to keep them from being swept away," she said.

Rosario Brutas, a market vendor in Bacoor, a town south of Manila, said she and her husband woke on Tuesday to discover their home already partly submerged.

"We woke up before dawn to find our bed afloat," the 32-year-old told AFP from a hospital courtyard where her family and their neighbours had taken refuge.

Bad weather from seasonal southwest monsoons has pounded Manila and nearby areas for over a week since Typhoon Saola brushed past the country's north.

Before the latest deluge, the death toll from eight days of sustained rains had reached 53 with more than 268,000 people forced to flee their homes across the country, according to disaster authorities.

No new casualties were reported from the overnight rains.

But Jean Navarez from the state weather service warned that the floods could worsen as the La Mesa dam, Manila's sole reservoir, began letting off water that would swell surrounding rivers.

"If we put it in a percentage, at least 50 percent of Metro Manila is flooded," she told AFP.

"There will be heavy rainfall for the next 24 hours. The floods will increase," she added.

Government weather forecaster Bernie de Leon said that in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, 323 millimetres (13 inches) of rain fell on the capital, compared to average monthly rainfall of 504 millimetres for August.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that while some 20,000 people fled to evacuation centres overnight, many more sought refuge in relatives' homes.

The La Mesa dam overflow and a high tide on Manila Bay conspired to worsen the flooding, it said.

Monsoon rains swamp Philippine capital, markets shut
Reuters 7 Aug 12;

MANILA (Reuters) - Deadly torrential rains submerged much of the Philippine capital and surrounding areas on Tuesday, forcing nearly 270,000 people to flee their homes with more flooding expected in the north of the country as a tropical storm passes through the region, officials said.

Steady rains for the past 10 days, killing more than 50 people, are set to continue until Wednesday, the Philippines weather bureau said, fuelled by tropical storm "Haikui" in the Philippine Sea northeast of Taiwan. The storm is headed for China's Zhejiang province where more than 250,000 people have been evacuated ahead of expected landfall late on Wednesday.

"It's like Waterworld," said Benito Ramos, head of the Philippines national disaster agency, referring to a Hollywood movie about a flooded world.

Schools, financial markets, and public and private offices were ordered shut, including outsourcing firms whose corporate clients are mainly from the United States and Europe.

Disaster officials said over half of Manila was swamped by floods as high as three meters, worsened by a high tide and the release of water from dams in surrounding provinces.

President Benigno Aquino, in an emergency meeting briefly interrupted by a power failure at the main army base in Manila, ordered officials to exert maximum effort to aid residents in flooded areas. Officials have deployed army troops, police and emergency workers with rubber boats and amphibious trucks.

The monsoon rains, which dumped about 300 mm (12 inches) or three times the daily average of 80-100 mm from late Monday to Tuesday, were the heaviest in three years, the weather bureau said.

Typhoon Ketsana, which swamped 80 percent of the capital in 2009, aided a monsoon downpour of more than 450 mm (18 inches) in a 24-hour period.

MAJOR ROADS INUNDATED

Most major roads in Manila were inundated by knee- to waist-deep floodwaters. Some flights were delayed or canceled. Power, water and communications in flooded areas were disrupted.

Some of the affected residents were marooned on the roofs of their houses.

"There are about 5,000 people here," said Ester Ronabio, a public school teacher and volunteer in one of the temporary shelter areas in low-lying Marikina City in the eastern part of Manila. "We can't control the flow of people."

In a sign of the difficult scramble to move people to safety, Aquino appealed to an anti-graft court to release dozens of rubber boats held as evidence in a case against senior police officials for use in evacuation efforts.

Residents of Manila expressed concern the rains were a repeat of Typhoon Ketsana which killed more than 700 people and destroyed $1 billion worth of private and public property.

"The floods are so deep where we live, we don't want a repeat of Typhoon Ketsana a few years ago," Melanio David, a father of four, told Reuters. "We got scared so we evacuated last night."

($1 = 41.8500 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Rosemarie Francisco and Ed Lane)

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