Malaysia: Haze comes back with a vengeance as air quality worsens

Christopher Tan, Embun Majid and Winnie Yeoh The Star 29 Aug 13;

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysians feared haze will return with a vengeance as the air quality in several states worsened, especially in Kedah with the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Bakar Arang, Sungai Petani reaching an unhealthy level of 104 – the highest reading in the country.

The API measurement registered at the Department of Environment (DOE) monitoring station recorded the index at 4pm.

It was initially 94 at 6am before it went up to 99 by 10am.

In the tourism haven of Langkawi, it showed 77 at 6am before increasing to 86 by 10am and shot up to 96 at 4pm.

An increase in API was also noted in Alor Setar where the reading showed 71 (6am) and 77 (10am). The API increased to 87 by 4pm.

In Penang, the API in Seberang Jaya saw an increase from 89 at 6am to 94 by 10am before going up further to an unhealthy level of 103 at 4pm.

Moving south, several areas in Ipoh also recorded moderate air quality.

The API in Sri Manjung was 87 at 4pm while other areas such as SK Jalan Pegoh (82), Kampung Air Putih (75), Jalan Tasek (67) and Tanjung Malim (56) recorded such readings at the same time.

In Port Klang, it neared the unhealthy level when it increased from 77 (6am) to 82 (4pm).

In Malacca, the API in Bukit Rambai recorded 91 at 6am and 95 at 4pm while Bandaraya Melaka recorded 73 (6am) followed by 75 (4pm).

An API reading of between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 (moderate), 101 and 200 (unhealthy), 201 and 300 (very unhealthy), and 301 and above (hazardous).

This latest haze situation is once again blamed on an increase of hotspots in Sumatra, where the smog shifts direction depending on where the wind blows.

Penang Education Department director Datuk Ahmad Tarmizi Kamaruddin said all schools in areas where the API had hit above the 200 mark would be closed immediately.

“If the API hit more than 150, all outdoor activities such as Physical Education must stop,” he said.

Penang Agriculture, Agro-based Industry, Rural Development and Health Committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin advised the public to wear three-ply face masks as it offered better protection.

The state government also plans to distribute masks to the public.

Kedah Health Department director Dr Ismail Abu Taat advised residents there to avoid outdoor activities if the API reading in­­creases.

Haze: Penang, Kedah air quality back at unhealthy levels
Christopher Tan and Winnie Yeoh The Star 28 Aug 13;

GEORGE TOWN: Air quality in northern states in Malaysia - especially in Kedah - has worsened with the Air Pollutant Index (API) reaching unhealthy levels.

In Bakar Arang, Kedah, the Department of Environment (DOE) monitoring station recorded an unhealthy API reading of 104 at 4pm, which had been escalating since early morning.

Likewise, the API in Seberang Jaya 2 had an unhealthy reading of 103 at 4pm.

The API in Langkawi was 77 at 6am before increasing to 86 by 10am, but shot up drastically to 96 at 4pm.

An API of 87 was noted in Alor Setar at 4pm, up from 71 (6am) and 77 (10am).

In Penang, the API in Seberang Jaya 2 increased from 89 (6am) to 94 (10am) before reaching unhealthy levels of 103 (4pm).

In Prai, the API reached 88 at 4pm, while Universiti Sains Malaysia a reading of 96 at 4pm.

In Kangar, Perlis, API reading of 85 was recorded at 4pm, up from 71 (6am) and 79 (10am).
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 (moderate), 101 to 200 (unhealthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy), and 301 and above (hazardous).

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Malaysia: Close watch on poaching at Belum park

Audrey Dermawan and Slyvia Looi New Straits Times 29 Aug 13;

ONGOING CRACKDOWN: Multi-agency enforcement carried out on regular basis

CHECKS on poaching at the Royal Belum State Park is being undertaken through a multi-agency enforcement approach.

State Health, Tourism and Culture Committee chairman Nolee Ashilin Mohamed Radzi (BN-Tualang Sekah) said among the authorities involved are the Perak State Park Corporation (PTNP), Wildlife and National Parks Department, Forestry Department, Anti-Smuggling Unit and police with the support of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

"Enforcement is being carried out, especially during weekends and public holidays, along the East-West Highway based on tip-offs from NGOs.

"Since October 2011, PTNP had created check points at the entrance to the Royal Belum State Park to check and monitor boats that enter the park," she said, adding that the check points are operational 24 hours.

She was replying to Salbiah Mohamed (BN-Temengor), who asked on the steps taken to curb poaching in the park.

Nolee also said that the Wildlife and National Parks Department had patrolled the area 135 times between last year and July of this year.

"During the patrols, the department had successfully destroyed 38 traps and demolished two camps used by poachers in Belum forest," she said, adding that 65 closed-circuit televisions had been installed along the East-West Highway to track poaching activities.

She said that the state government had allocated RM300,000 the Forestry Department to reduce encroachment into the park.

"From September last year, the Hulu Perak district forestry office had taken the initiative to set up a special action unit to have joint operations with other enforcement agencies at the corridor of the Grik - Jeli Highway," she said.

Police had also arrested 34 foreigners and nine locals for encroaching, she added.

"Marine police also check on boats and vehicles that stop at the Pulau Banding public jetty," she said, adding that a total of 1,730 checks had been conducted from last year until July this year.

Earlier, state Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Saarani Mohamad told Datuk Abdul Manaf Hashim (BN-Pengkalan Baru) told the state assembly that the Kampar District Council had implemented recycling of disposed food to be turned into compost.

"Until the end of last year, 260 homes from four villages in Kampar had participated in the programme."

On another matter, the state recorded a 0.12 per cent or 283 pupils dropping out of primary school as of June 30 this year, while another 233,970 were in attendance.

State Education Committee chairman Dr Muhammad Amin Zakaria (BN-Batu Kurau) said several measures been taken to encourage these dropouts to "return" to school.

"Among them is the Jom Ke Sekolah programme. Besides that, there will also be house-to-house visits by teachers to the affected students to find out the reasons for dropping out," he said when replying to a question by Mohd Zawawi Abu Hassan (Pas-Gunung Semanggol).

Amin said another reason for them dropping out could be due to poverty.

Meanwhile, an opposition assemblyman urged the state government to look into the root cause as to why Indians formed the bulk of those involved in criminal activities.

Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Kepayang) said according to statistics from Bukit Aman, 71 per cent of arrested gangsters were Indians. He also expressed his worry over the recent spate of crimes in the country.

Nga, who is also Taiping MP, claimed that the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and Emergency Ordinance (EO) had nothing to do with the increase in crime cases.

"There is no proof to substantiate that. That excuse is being given to justify a new law to withhold suspects without trial."

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Malaysia: Totally protect the sambar deer, or lose it forever

WWF 27 Aug 13;

27 August 2013, Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) is calling for urgent and decisive action to save the sambar deer, a critical food source for wild tigers and a species that is already missing from several protected forests in the country.

The sambar deer, locally known as rusa, is facing extinction in Peninsular Malaysia due to poaching for its meat and for sport. Despite a six-year moratorium on hunting sambar deer that was put into place in 2009, scientists have found no evidence of population recovery to date.

The sambar deer has not been captured in camera trap studies in selected forests in Kelantan and Pahang, and are seen less frequently in areas studied in Johor by MYCAT partner organisations.

Rather than waiting until the moratorium runs out in 2014, MYCAT calls for an immediate change of the sambar deer’s legal status - from hunted species to totally protected species - under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.

Total protection means absolutely no hunting or trade. Under the Act, penalties for hunting or keeping totally protected wildlife can reach RM300,000 (approx. USD91,075) and/or 10 years jail.

“The sambar deer needs both on-the-ground and legal protection now. The former has proved difficult given the meagre resources at hand, but the latter can be done today by the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment. It a serious situation and we hope he will give the sambar deer full legal protection,” says MYCAT General Manager, Dr. Kae Kawanishi.

This call is prompted by research in northern Taman Negara National Park, Pahang where MYCAT found that beyond the western border of the Park, the sambar deer is nearly extinct due to poaching. Even inside the Park, it has remained a rarity since the 1990s. Meanwhile, tiger population in the same area has plummeted over the past decade. In southern Pahang, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)-Malaysia Programme has also not recorded any sambar deer on camera traps.

In Kelantan, WWF-Malaysia did not record any evidence of the sambar deer in scientific studies conducted in 2004, 2005 and 2012. PERHILITAN’s records show that the sambar deer was legally hunted in the same area in the early 80s, but it is now likely locally extinct in the Gunung Basor and Gunung Stong Utara Forest Reserves in Kelantan.
However, in Johor, where there has been a strictly-enforced hunting ban since 2008, the sambar deer have often been camera-trapped but less frequently than wild boar and bearded pigs.

“The data is clear. Strict field enforcement linked with a sympathetic policy of protection is crucial if the sambar deer is to survive,” says WCS-Malaysia Programme’s feline biologist, Liang Song Horng.

The survival of the sambar deer is also pivotal to realising the country’s goal of saving the Malayan tiger, our experts warn. A recent WWF-Malaysia study in Belum-Temengor found that where there are more sambar deer, there are more tigers.

“The sambar deer is the largest preferred tiger prey species. It provides the tiger with the greatest energy for the effort spent hunting it,” says WWF-Malaysia’s tiger biologist Dr. Mark Rayan.

“So, the two species are inextricably linked. If sambar deer numbers go down, tiger numbers will too and the evidence is already pointing in that direction,” he adds.

MYCAT urges this action in the hopes of making enforcement simpler for authorities and ensuring continued protection for the sambar deer, which has seen its wild population decimated by persistent illegal hunting for the wild meat market.

“Poaching has already driven the wild banteng and Javan rhino to extinction in Peninsular Malaysia, with the Malayan tiger and many other species not far behind. The time to avert this crisis is now,” says TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s Acting Regional Director, Dr. Chris Shepherd.

Rusa needed to save the tiger
Isabelle Lai The Star 8 Sep 13;

PETALING JAYA: A scientific study has discovered a direct link between sambar deer and tiger populations, leading to calls to declare the sambar deer a totally protected species or risk its extinction in peninsular Malaysia.

“Where there are more sambar deer, there are more tigers. It is very clear that the number of tigers was threefold higher in Royal Belum State Park where there is a significantly higher sambar population,” said WWF-Malaysia tiger biologist Dr Mark Rayan Darmaraj.

He added this link between the two species was one of the significant findings of his four-year-long PhD study done at the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex.

The sambar deer was the tiger’s largest preferred prey, he said.

Darmaraj explained that sambar deer, locally known as rusa, were more likely to populate areas which were far away from human populations and settlements, pointing out that there was restricted access to Royal Belum compared to the Temengor Forest Reserve.

He believed that Malaysia could double its tiger population by 2020 in some areas but stressed that tiger prey populations, such as the sambar deer, had to be increased as well.

Experts estimate there are around 500 tigers left in the peninsula, but Darmaraj’s study indicates that there could be just 300 to 400.

The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) warned the sambar deer’s survival was “pivotal” to realising the goal of saving the Malayan tiger.

It urged that the species be totally protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.

“Total protection means absolutely no hunting or trade. Under the Act, penalties for hunting or keeping totally protected wildlife can be 10 years in jail, a RM300,000 fine, or both,” said MYCAT general manager Dr Kae Kawanishi.

Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic South-East Asia acting regional director Dr Chris Shepherd said the authorities must stop the poaching before the sambar deer and other species become extinct.

The sambar deer is facing extinction in the peninsula due to poaching for its meat and sport, and is already missing from several protected forests in the country.

There has been a six-year moratorium on hunting the sambar deer since 2009 but scientists have found no evidence of population recovery.

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Eighty sea turtles wash up dead on the coast of Guatemala

Eighty dead sea turtles have been recorded since the first week of July on the country's southeastern beaches
Lacey Avery for Mongabay theguardian.com 28 Aug 13;

An assortment of marine animals and birds reside along the black volcanic sand beaches of Guatemala's Pacific coast, but lately both residents and visitors on the southeast beaches of the country have observed a tragic event – the stranding of dead sea turtles.

Eighty dead sea turtles have been recorded since the first week of July on the beaches of La Barrona, Las Lisas, Chapeton and Hawaii according to a statement released by the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association (ARCAS), a Guatemalan non-profit organization formed by citizens in 1989.

"The entire coast has historically been a significant nesting area for olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles," Colum Muccio, ARCAS administrative director, told mongabay.com. While not known to nest in Guatemala, east pacific green turtles forage in estuaries and mangrove waterways along the Pacific coast.

Tucked between Mexico and El Salvador, the 250 kilometers of coast is divided by 14 river mouths and peppered with beautiful mangrove wetlands and lagoons. In 1993, ARCAS initiated conservation activities in the Hawaii area with hopes of counteracting threats to leatherback and olive ridley sea turtle populations. The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, while the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as Vulnerable.

"We manage two of the 24 hatcheries on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and carry out research and advocacy for sea turtle conservation," Muccio said.

According to the statement, nearby residents are worried because sea turtles are a valuable resource. Not only do the sea turtles draw tourists to the coast, but, despite their endangered status, the eggs are also a source of income.

"Sea turtle conservation efforts in Guatemala rely on the use of hatcheries, which are managed as part of a quasi-legal egg harvest," Muccio said. "Villagers are permitted to collect eggs that are deposited on Guatemalan beaches on the condition that 20 percent of each clutch is donated to a nearby hatchery."

The system was initiated in the mid 1980s to promote the sustainable use of sea turtle eggs, Muccio continued. The operating hatcheries along the Pacific coastline function at various levels based on financial resources of the administering organization.

Muccio states many hatcheries are underfunded, short-staffed and operating with limited scientific knowledge. Several hatcheries do not carry out beach monitoring or research activities, contributing to the deficit in accurate nesting and stranding data.

"Many projects are lacking in the key elements necessary for the present community-based conservation system to function successfully," Muccio said.

In addition to egg harvesting, one of the main threats to sea turtles on the Pacific coast of Guatemala is fisheries by-catch. The statement notes that the appearance of dead turtles on the beach coincides with the presence of shrimp trawlers in waters off these beaches.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that when shrimp trawlers appear in the ocean that we begin having stranded turtles," Muccio said.

Although Guatemalan trawlers are required to use turtle excluder devices (TEDs), Muccio said that enforcement is difficult and fines are very light.

"We are currently working on instituting a ban on bottom trawling," said Muccio. "This has recently been done in Belize, Costa Rica and Ecuador and El Salvador doesn't allow them closer than 3 miles from shore."

Leading marine turtle conservationists and researchers presented a petition to the government of Guatemala expressing their concern. According to the statement, the petition requests that the government take action to counter the mortality of sea turtles, including the monitoring of shrimp trawlers to establish the impact on marine turtle populations.

"Sea turtles are also very much part of the identity of the local culture and local communities often take pride in their hatcheries and their contributions to save the sea turtle," Muccio said.

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FAO: Save food campaign Asia-Pacific kicked off

Initiative aims to reduce post-harvest and consumer food waste
FAO 27 Aug 13;

Bangkok, Thailand, 27 Aug 2013 - Denouncing the huge amount of food that goes to waste, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Hiroyuki Konuma, announced a new initiative aimed at stopping post-harvest food losses and market-to-consumer food waste.

"The Save Food Asia-Pacific Campaign seeks to raise awareness about the high levels of food losses - particularly post-harvest losses - and the growing problem of food waste in the region," Konuma said.

"FAO estimates that if the food wasted or lost globally could be reduced by just one quarter, this would be sufficient to feed the 870 million people suffering from chronic hunger in the world," said Konuma.

The announcement came as Konuma opened the two-day High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Food Losses and Food Waste in Asia and the Pacific Region in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Technology and other partners.

More than 130 participants from 20 countries attended the Consultation, including four Agriculture Ministers. The Consultation will study ways to reduce food loss and waste and is expected to issue a communiqué outlining actions that can save food from farm to table.

According to Konuma, "The world produces more or less sufficient food to meet the demand of its current population of 7 billion. However, 12.5 percent of the global population, or 868 million people, equivalent to one in eight people, go hungry every day. In 2012, the Asia-Pacific region was home to 536 million hungry people, or 62 percent of the world's undernourished."

The Asia-Pacific region benefitted from rapid economic growth in the first decade of the 21st century. But, successful economic growth did not alleviate hunger and poverty, because the benefits of economic growth were unevenly distributed, resulting in a widening income gap in many countries in the region.

According to statistics from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 653 million people across the region, lived below the national poverty line in 2010.

Inefficient food systems

Yukol Limlamthong, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, speaking at the Consultation's opening session, said: "Within the context of Asia and the Pacific Region, more effort is needed to raise global awareness of the critical issue of food losses and particularly post-harvest losses as well as food waste, which is a is increasing nowadays."

Limlamthoung added: "The Government of Thailand is deeply committed to working with FAO and with other partners and stakeholders in the region to promote the security of the region and also of the world."

Indian geneticist M. S. Swaminathan, who played a leading role in India's Green Revolution, said in his keynote address on reducing post-harvest losses for food security: "Food waste is also a waste of natural resources like land and water. To a great extent, food losses and waste are symbolic of the inefficiencies of food systems" and this explains "why food losses and waste are becoming so central to discussions on both food security and sustainable development."

Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Interim President and Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, said in his remarks: "The issue of food loss and waste is important to our agenda at AIT." It is cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary and is being scientifically targeted by several fields of study at AIT including the recently opened Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (ACISAI).

The Save Food Campaign Asia-Pacific will be an on-going advocacy initiative that will appeal to consumers to have more respect for food and to stop wasting this precious commodity.

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Global warming slowdown linked to cooler Pacific waters

Matt McGrath BBC News 28 Aug 13;

Scientists say the slow down in global warming since 1998 can be explained by a natural cooling in part of the Pacific ocean.

Although they cover just 8% of the Earth, these colder waters counteracted some of the effect of increased carbon dioxide say the researchers.

But temperatures will rise again when the Pacific swings back to a warmer state, they argue.

The research is published in the journal Nature.

Climate sceptics and some scientists have argued that since 1998, there has been no significant global warming despite ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide being emitted.

For supporters of the idea that man made emissions are driving up temperatures, the pause has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

Scientists have tried to explain it using a number of different theories but so far there is no general agreement on the cause.

"For people on the street it is very confusing as to which story is closer to the truth," lead author, Prof Shang-Ping Xie from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography told BBC News.

"We felt a similar contradiction and that's why we started doing these modelling studies."
Cooling the carbon

Prof Xie said there were two possible reasons why the continuing flow of CO2 has not driven the mercury higher.

The first is that water vapour, soot and other aerosols in the atmosphere have reflected sunlight back into space and thereby had a cooling effect on the Earth.

The second is natural variability in the climate, especially the impact of cooling waters in the tropical Pacific ocean.

Although it only covers 8.2% of the planet, the region is sometimes called the engine room of the world's climate system and atmospheric circulation.

Researchers already know that a naturally occurring cycle in this area, called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, has a major impact on global climate.

But Prof Xie and colleagues were interested in a different cycle called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation that lasts for a much longer period of time.

To test his theory, Prof Xie and his colleagues developed a dynamic climate model that measured the greenhouse effect on temperatures but also included records of sea surface temperatures in this region of the eastern Pacific.

"Previous efforts using climate models take radiative forcing as the only input, externally, and they produce a temperature record close to observations except for the past 15 years," said Prof Xie.

"Only when we input equatorial Pacific ocean temperatures into our model, were we able to reproduce the flattening of the temperature record."
Swing continues

This model also explains some of the other contradictions seen since temperatures flat lined.

There have been major heat waves in Europe in 2003, Russia in 2010 and in the US in 2012.

Arctic sea ice also dropped to its lowest recorded level in 2012. All these are indications that the climate is continuing to warm, but the global average temperature has remained below the figure for 1998.

"The solution to this contradiction is that temperature has behaved differently between winter and summer seasons," said Prof Xie.

"The influence of the equatorial Pacific ocean is strongest in winter but weakest during the summer, so CO2 can keep working on the temperature and sea ice in the Arctic over the summer."

The last time the Pacific was in a relatively cold state was in the 30 year period from the 1940s to 1970s said Prof Xie and that coincides with the last hiatus in climate warming.

But the researchers warn that the impact of this multi-decadal cool trend will come to an end and will be replaced by a warming one. Global temperatures will rise once again.

"We're pretty confident that the swing up will come some time in the future, but the current science can't predict when that will be," said Prof Xie.

Other scientists have welcomed the study saying it offers a coherent explanation of the slowdown.

"The new simulation accurately reproduces the timing and pattern of changes that have occurred over the last four decades with remarkable skill, " said Dr Alex Sen Gupta from the University of New South Wales.

"This clearly shows that the recent slowdown is a consequence of a natural oscillation."

Other researchers believe the new work supports the idea that the heat in the atmosphere has gone into the oceans.

"This new study adds further evidence that the recent slowdown in the rate of global warming at the Earth's surface is explained by natural fluctuations in the ocean and is therefore likely to be a temporary respite from warming in response to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases," said Dr Richard Allan from the University of Reading.

Dr Will Hobbs from Australia's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies agrees.

He said: "Over the period that the authors analysed, observations showed a continued trapping of heat in the Earth's climate system, despite the temporary slowdown in surface warming, and an important question that the paper does not address is where this energy has gone.

"Almost certainly it is in the deep ocean."

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Aug 13

Oak trees in Macritchie
from lekowala!

Kids Enjoy Our Living Forest at MacRitchie
from Cicada Tree Eco-Place

Amazing reef at Pulau Semakau's northern shore
from Peiyan.Photography

Toadles
from The annotated budak

Butterflies Galore! : Sumatran Gem
from Butterflies of Singapore

The Majestic Dead Leaf Mantis
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Tanimbar Corella and Pong Pong (Cerbera odollam)
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Singapore's marine life in Pacific marine invert ID cards
from wild shores of singapore

Sharing our shores with CHIJ Katong Convent
from wild shores of singapore

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Has 'global city' vision reached its end date?

Donald Low For The Straits Times 28 Aug 13;

THE Prime Minister's National Day Rally address on Aug 18 and Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's speech at the Academy of Medicine last week point to a government that might be ambling towards a new social compact. While the changes announced so far do not represent a radical departure from current approaches, there was enough of a change in the tone of their messages to suggest that further, more substantive, reforms are due.

In a more diverse, politically contested Singapore, there should not be a presumption that a consensus on the new social compact can be easily forged. The process of building the new compact will, inevitably, be a contested and negotiated one.

Nonetheless, it is useful to consider what principles might inform this process. In this regard, a number of findings in recent decades in the hard and social sciences - economics, psychology, neuroscience, biology and even physics - have profound implications for our understanding of what makes for thriving and resilient societies.

The limits of being a global city

SINCE our first foreign minister S. Rajaratnam gave articulation to it, the idea of Singapore as a global city has animated the People's Action Party's (PAP) vision for the country. The "global city" idea has clearly been a success. In a span of under 50 years, the PAP government has come close to achieving a vision articulated by its founders which at the time of conception seemed unimaginable. But the vision now faces inherent limits and internal contradictions.

The limits of the global city idea became particularly salient in recent years as the population surged on the back of very liberal immigration and foreign worker policies; inequality rose from levels that were already higher than in other developed countries; and overcrowding began to undermine trust in government.

Citizens began expressing greater unease about competition from foreigners and the wage stagnation caused by cheap foreign labour.

The reaction of many Singaporeans to the Population White Paper - which in many ways represents a continuation of the global city vision - should give the government reason to reflect on the real possibility that the global city idea has reached the limits of its attractiveness.

To be sure, Singapore as a small, open economy can never turn its back on the world. But the appeal of the global city vision as a narrative to induce pride and a sense of belonging no longer resonates with Singaporeans, and should probably be retired as a vision for the country.

A just city, not (just) a global city

SO WHAT should we look to as an alternative narrative to the global city idea? The "just city" perspective suggested by Harvard University's Professor Susan Fainstein provides a useful starting point; she defines a just city as having three essential attributes: equity, diversity and democracy.

Rather than viewing the city only or primarily through the lens of economic competitiveness, Prof Fainstein's framework encourages us to analyse it through the lens of urban and social justice.

Global cities such as New York and London do well on the diversity and democracy dimensions, but they are also much less equal than other rich cities. Others such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam do well on equity and democracy, but struggle to absorb and integrate their immigrants.

How does Singapore fare as a just city?

The state's activism in urban redevelopment and in providing good public housing has helped to foster a sense of community. In the first 40 years of nationhood, we also forged an egalitarian ethos that frowned on conspicuous displays of wealth. But recent changes and policies have made the city a lot more unequal, and visibly so, in the last decade.

The city has become more cosmopolitan, but this diversity has been of quite a superficial kind - with well-heeled foreigners ensconced in private estates and foreign workers hidden away on their worksites and in dormitories.

On democracy, it would be a stretch to say that the residents of Singapore feel they have significantly more voice and enjoy more democratic rights today than they did a decade ago.

Embracing the idea of a just city would suggest far-reaching reforms in a wide range of public policies and institutions. For instance, taking seriously the diversity and equity objectives would entail an overhaul of current policies on the large contingent of migrant workers. For a start, it would mean paying them the same wages as Singaporean workers doing the same job.

To ensure that the measures to ensure fairer treatment of our guest workers are widely accepted, they have to be complemented by at least two other sets of policy reforms. The first is to tighten immigration and foreign worker policies. This would sharpen incentives for employers to increase productivity and raise wages.

The second is to develop a stronger social security system that gives less-educated, less- skilled Singaporeans not just adequate social protection (especially in education, health care and retirement funding), but also strong incentives to work.

A just-city perspective would require the state to prioritise citizen and social well-being. Despite the fact that the Pledge places "happiness" before "prosperity", the government has tended to prioritise economic growth over other measures of well-being.

In an earlier context when the citizen population was young, when wages across-the-board were rising, and when economic growth benefited virtually all segments of society, this emphasis on economic growth was sensible.

But in an era of an ageing population, a maturing economy, stagnant wages for less-skilled segments of the workforce, and growth which no longer lifts all boats, a stubborn insistence on the primacy of growth is neither desirable nor sustainable.

Prioritising well-being requires the state to develop new metrics to measure society's health.

Growth of income per capita is a highly imperfect proxy of individual and social well-being at best. The higher a country's per capita income, the more perverse the consequences of an unthinking fetish for growth.

Prioritise well-being, not growth

A JUST-CITY perspective also helps us see that the economy no longer delivers the inclusion and cohesion it did in the past, even if it continues to achieve high growth rates. Inequality also tends to beget inequality, especially if rapid technological change concentrates wealth in the hands of those with capital and skills.

One of the most significant challenges to the idea of Singapore as a land of opportunity and an inclusive society is the relative fall in wages of those at the lower reaches of the labour market, especially when contrasted with the opportunities available to those at the top. It is becoming clear that economic growth no longer creates the inclusive and just society that Singaporeans seek.

The writer is associate dean (executive education and research) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

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New initiative offers youth volunteers a helping hand

Move seen as timely, as good platform to match them to projects is lacking
Janice Tai And Charissa Yong Straits Times 28 Aug 13;

WHEN things get hectic at work or school, voluntary work usually takes a backseat for many young people.

Not for undergraduate Jasmine Yeo, 21.

The National University of Singapore student took a gap semester this month to continue her work at youth leadership organisation Halogen Foundation Singapore.

"My parents were understandably worried about my decision but were later convinced when they saw how I have grown in confidence," said Ms Yeo, who organises events and leadership workshops at Halogen.

Young people who are interested in community work will now get a helping hand with the setting up of the volunteer youth corps.

The youth corps - for those aged 15 to 35 - will receive allowances if they want to take time out from their studies for full-time volunteering. Details on the allowances will be released at a later date.

They will also receive training and mentoring, government funding for projects and networking opportunities.

The initiative, announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally earlier this month, is to spur young Singaporeans to take up community work, and continue to do so beyond their schooling years.

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and the National Youth Council (NYC), which will spearhead the initiative, will start with a few hundred volunteers early next year. It hopes to eventually involve some 6,000 young people.

Those active in the youth sector say the move is timely because a good platform to match volunteers to local community service projects is now lacking.

The NYC now offers funding for the Youth Expedition Project but that is mainly for overseas projects.

A better approach for managing volunteers - which includes matching their interest to the needs of community groups - is important.

Mr Martin Tan, co-founder of Halogen Foundation Singapore, said most young people are involved in "ad hoc" or project-based volunteerism. Their involvement in community work may end when the project is completed, or once they leave school.

Statistics from the NYC from 2010 showed that 72 per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds were involved in at least one community group, compared with only 44 per cent of people aged 25 to 29.

The new initiative can help to create longer and more meaningful attachments at community organisations by training and mentoring young volunteers, said Mr Tan, who received the Singapore Youth Award this year for his work in the youth sector.

He added: "This is so that (young people) are more likely to commit for the long term if they feel they are growing personally and professionally."

Mr Joachim Goh, 28, said the youth corps can help people start projects, even small ones. "Just stepping out for the very first time, after that you'd want to do more," he said.

Despite putting in at least 50 hours a week as a manager at accounting firm KPMG, he managed to squeeze in five trips in the last two years to places like Sri Lanka and Laos to teach English, build houses and set up medical clinics in villages.

Singapore Management University student Yong Shi Yun, 22, also welcomes the move. She set up the first campus arm of Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organisation which helps build houses for the needy abroad.

The new scheme, she said, is a good way to "embed yourself in a community of volunteers (to) learn and receive emotional support from them".

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Indonesia: Flights can't land in haze-shrouded Pekanbaru

Singapore at risk as number of hot spots stays high
Zubaidah Nazeer Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta Straits Times 28 Aug 13;

THICK haze over the provincial capital of Riau has forced almost every single flight to turn back from Pekanbaru airport over the past two days, as the number of hot spots shot up to 488 on Monday.

Visibility has been worsening as the number of hot spots rose to their highest level since June, when the highest haze readings in 16 years were recorded in neighbouring countries.

Schools were closed and people donned masks yesterday as the smell of burning intensified and visibility dropped to less than 500m.

"This morning, the haze was so bad that you can see it in the living room and the burning smell is suffocating," Mr Rusmadya Maharuddin, a Pekanbaru resident and forest campaigner, told The Straits Times by phone yesterday.

The worsening conditions have raised fears of haze shrouding the region again.

In its advisory yesterday, Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said the number of hot spots detected in Sumatra yesterday remained high at 308 and moderate to dense smoke haze was observed to have extended over the Strait of Malacca.

While Singapore may experience hazy conditions, it said that the PSI was expected to be in the "good" band today and the PM2.5 is expected to be slightly elevated.

More worrying is the fact that the return of the haze underlines the lack of progress by Indonesia in stopping the clearing of land by illegal burning. Farmers and big plantation companies continue to defy sanctions and tough talk of clampdowns.

At least one fire was reported closer to Singapore - in Bintan - where farmers were seen burning land to open up areas for harvest, but it did not show up on the NEA's satellite map.

Forest watchers predict hot spots from forest fires could increase until October.

"It is now very hot in Pekanbaru with very little rain. Activities after the (Idul Fitri) break have picked up and that could mean more burnings as this is still the season to clear land," said Mr Rusmadya, a forest campaigner for the Greenpeace group.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has resumed water bombings, cloud-seeding sorties and land operations to snuff out fires.

The spike in hot spots prompted Singapore's Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan to take to Facebook on Monday.

"An exercise in frustration - big increase in hot spots (488) in Sumatra today. We have been spared so far because of wind direction," he wrote.

"We remain at risk. Have to keep up the pressure on Indonesian authorities and companies to do the right thing for the sake of their own citizens and ours."

BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho urged the Forestry, Agriculture and Environment and other agencies to step up monitoring and enforcement.

"Implementing the law is the key to overcoming land and forest burnings," he said.

297 hotspots for forest fires detected in Riau
Antara 27 Aug 13;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Terra and Aqua satellite has detected 297 hotspots for forest fires throughout the Riau Province, according to the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology, and geophysics station (BMKG).

"In Sumatra, the highest number of hotspots is still in Riau, with 297 of them, a significant increase from the 37 hotspots seen the previous day," Tri Puryanti, an analyst with the Pekanbaru BMKG, said here on Tuesday.

The hotspots have created a haze that is currently polluting the air of Riau`s cities and districts.

Pelalawan District alone has more than 100 hotspots, and others were found in the Indragiri Hulu District, Indragiri Hilir, and Kampar, Puryanti noted.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), quoting NOAA 18 Satellite`s data, announced that Riau`s 10 districts and cities have a total of 264 hotspots.

Pelalawan District has 76 hotspots, while Indragiri Hulu has 42; Rokan Hilir, 34; Indragiri Hilir, 29; Kampar, 26; Bengkalis, 20; Siak, 11; Rokan Hulu, 8; and Dumai City, 4.

BNPB pointed out that other provinces on Sumatra Island also have hotspots.

The NOAA 18 satellite has detected 100 hotspots in West Sumatra, while Jambi has 57; South Sumatra, 31; Bengkulu, 15; and North Sumatra, 12.

The haze produced by this collection of hotspots has drastically reduced visibility in Pekanbaru to only 500 meters on Tuesday morning.

Several flight schedules had to be postponed, and flight arrivals were diverted to Medan (North Sumatra) and Batam (Riau Island).

The fastest and cheapest way to clear new land for planting crops is by burning; however, this practice has been banned by the government. (*)

Editor: Heru

Sumatra's haze might affect Malaysia due to wind direction
Antara 27 Aug 13;

Pekanbaru, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - Haze from land-clearance fires in Riau Province, Sumatra Island, might affect Malaysia, with the wind blowing toward the neighboring country, said a weather analyst.

"Based on our analysis, the wind in Riau is blowing from Southeast to Southwest direction at a maximum speed of 30 km per hour. Its direction is towards Malacca Strait," said Warih Budi Lestari, an analyst of the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics station, on Tuesday.

If the wind direction does not change, haze problem might return to Malaysia, like what had happened several months ago, he added.

In June 2013, Malaysia declared a state of emergency in some areas after air pollution from illegal burning of forests and peat lands in Indonesia reached hazardous levels.

The Terra and Aqua satellite has detected 297 hotspots from forest fires throughout Riau Province, according to the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology, and geophysics station (BMKG).

"In Sumatra, the highest number of hotspots is still in Riau, with 297 of them, a significant increase from the 37 hotspots seen the previous day," Tri Puryanti, an analyst with the Pekanbaru BMKG, said here on Tuesday.

The hotspots have created a haze that is currently polluting the air of Riau`s cities and districts.

Pelalawan District alone has more than 100 hotspots, and others were found in the Indragiri Hulu District, Indragiri Hilir, and Kampar, Puryanti noted.

The haze reduced visibility in Pekanbaru to around 500 meters on Tuesday morning. (*)

Editor: Heru

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Malaysia: Silence of the bulbul

Tan Cheng Li The Star 27 Aug 13;

Due to intense poaching, the melodious sounds of one bird no longer ring through the forest.

WITH a rusty orange-coloured crown and black-streaked upper breast, the straw-headed bulbul is a rather pretty bird. But its appeal lies more in its calls, a varied repertoire ranging from melodious songs to rhythmic tunes which have made it a hot favourite among bird-lovers – and also the reason behind its “endangered” status.

The popularity of the bird has led to intense trapping for trade. Once common in lowland scrub and forests, occurring mostly near rivers and open water bodies, the straw-headed bulbul is a rare sight these days. The forest is now silent of its beautiful calls.

Its high sale value and poor legal protection in parts of its range are pushing the prized songbird towards extinction in the wild, according to a report Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus: Legal Protection and Enforcement Action in Malaysia by Traffic South-East Asia, the wildlife trade monitoring body.

As recently as two decades ago, the straw-headed bulbul was common across much of its range but today, it is thought to be extinct in Thailand, and its status in Myanmar and Brunei is not known. In Indonesia, the species was extirpated from Java by the mid-20th century and possibly no longer exists in the wild in Sumatra. In Kalimantan, it is believed to survive only in remote areas.

Remaining populations in Malaysia and Singapore are believed to be in serious decline due to severe poaching for the caged-bird trade, stated the report written by Chris R. Shepherd, Loretta Ann Shepherd and Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Foley.

Trade in the species became controlled and subjected to licensing in 1997 when it was included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, illicit trade continues.

In Peninsular Malaysia, straw-headed bulbuls (known as barau-barau locally) became totally protected only with the enactment of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, which makes it illegal to capture, trade and keep the species. Prior to that, individuals could apply for licences and permits from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to trade and keep this bird.

The 2010 annual report of Perhilitan showed a total of 874 straw-headed bulbuls kept in captivity by licence-holders as permitted by the previous law. Some legal export of the bird was permitted in the past, but involved very few birds. According to trade data, Malaysia exported 15 wild-caught straw-headed bulbuls to Singapore in 2000. The species is protected in Sabah under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, and totally protected in Sarawak, under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998.

Despite legal protection in Malaysia, illegal capture and trade continues, with much of the demand coming from neighbouring countries, stated the report. During a spot check by Traffic in 2010, 10 straw-headed bulbuls were found for sale in a shop in Betong, Thailand, close to the Malaysian border, and all were said to have come from Peninsular Malaysia. Sources said the species was frequently sold there. In Singapore, bird dealers and bird enthusiasts claimed that straw-headed bulbuls were occasionally smuggled into the country from the peninsula.

The greatest demand for the species comes from Indonesia, where the birds are frequently sold in bird markets in Medan, Sumatra, and Jakarta, Java. Monthly surveys by Shepherd in 2000 and 2001 found 421 straw-headed bulbuls for sale. Dealers in both cities claimed that some of the birds had been captured in Kalimantan and Sumatra, and as the population declined in Indonesia, from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah. The species remain unprotected in Indonesia. Therefore, unless smugglers are detected at entry points into the country (in violation of CITES), legal action is virtually impossible.

Straw-headed bulbuls are now rarely seen in bird shops in Malaysia as the trade has gone underground, facilitated by bird hobbyist forums, trading websites and social networking sites. As such, the extent and nature of the trade are unknown, according to the report.

In a random survey of five shops in Kuala Lumpur in April 2010, Traffic found no straw-headed bulbuls for sale. The following year, one shop (out of five surveyed) in Ipoh, Perak, offered four birds and last year, three birds were seen in one shop in Ipoh. Perhilitan has seized 42 straw-headed bulbuls between 2006 and 2011, the bulk of which was from Malacca.

“It is highly likely that more were seized but unfortunately, seizures have in the past sometimes not been reported to species level and very little information regarding the status of the cases is available in the public domain,” said the report.

As trapping of the bird for the caged-bird trade pushes the species closer to the brink, the authors called for more monitoring and enforcement.

There should also be an analysis to assess whether the species meets the criteria for a transfer from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I, where trade is banned. Also needed is research to identify collection sites and trade routes as well as a trade forensic study, and full protection for the species in Indonesia.

Also, penalties for offenders should be increased to serve as deterrent. In October 2010, Perhilitan raided a business premise in Kuala Lumpur and found 34 protected and totally protected animals, including two straw-headed bulbuls, palm cockatoos, yellow-crested cockatoos, a leopard cat and giant squirrels. At the time, the new legislation was not yet in force, therefore the two people who were arrested were liable to a fine of not more than RM3,000 or three years’ jail under the Protection of Wild Life Act 1972. However, they were also charged under the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008, where they faced a fine of RM100,000 for each animal (up to RM1mil) or imprisonment for up to seven years. The offenders were eventually fined a total of RM45,600.

The author urged the public to report incidents of trapping, trading and buying of this species to the Wildlife Crime Hotline by sending a text message or calling 019-356 4194, or by e-mail to report@malayantiger.net.

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Indonesia: Indigenous Peoples Vow to Map Customary Forests

Jakarta Globe 27 Aug 13;

An organization representing Indonesia’s indigenous people is determined to map out the country’s customary forests in order to save them from the encroachment of palm oil companies and other development projects.

A recent ruling by the Constitutional Court which acknowledged that indigenous communities — and not the state — have rights over some 40 million hectares of customary forests influenced the decision to chart such lands, the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) said in a statement on Friday.

“We have already mapped seven million hectares of land, but that took us 15 years. We need to take advantage of new mapping tools like GPS and 3D mapping to accelerate the process of charting the more than 30 million hectares we have left to document,” Abdon Nababan, the secretary general of the alliance that represents some 17 million indigenous peoples, said.

Abdon told the Global Conference on Participatory Mapping of Indigenous Territories, which was held in Samosir, North Sumatra, over the weekend, that AMAN is aiming to map out all contested forests by 2020.

Nababan added that the need to map these lands has become more urgent since the Constitutional Court’s decision in May, which determined that a line in the country’s 1999 Forestry Law — which stated that customary forests are state forests — was not constitutional.

To take advantage of the landmark decision, Nababan said it’s crucial for indigenous peoples to put these forests on paper.

“Based on mapping technologies we have used so far and the lack of government support for our mapping efforts, it would take us 30 years to map all indigenous territories,” he said.

“But we don’t have that luxury. We need to learn [about mapping technology] from other indigenous peoples in Asia, Latin America and Africa about how to map more quickly and effectively,” Abdon added.

Kasmita Widodo, the national coordinator of the Participatory Mapping Network (JPKK), an organization that supports indigenous peoples’ mapping efforts, said the government has never mapped customary forests, which often overlap with concessions the government has handed out to palm oil and pulp and paper companies.

“Some 70 percent of forest areas in Indonesia are located in areas with overlapping permits,” he said.

Under its one-map policy, the government hopes to create a single map of all forests in order to clarify overlaps.

“It will be a challenge for the entire country… [but it is necessary] to facilitate a fair decision making process for indigenous peoples and to reduce conflicts,” Widodo said.

At the Global Conference, representatives of indigenous communities from across the globe who have mapped their lands using advanced technology gathered to discuss how to ramp up efforts to protect their forests and lands against development, climate change and other threats.

Indigenous peoples from Nepal, the Philippines, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua and Kenya attended the event to share their maps and experiences.

The conference was organized by AMAN and the Phillipines-based the Indigenous Peoples’ International Center for Policy Research and Education (Tebtebba)

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