Best of our wild blogs: 4 Feb 14

Impact of Jan 2014 oil spills on Southern Islands
from wild shores of singapore

Sat 15 Feb 2014: 7.00am - The Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk from Habitatnews

Saturday 8 Feb Guided Walk to Hill 4
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Magnificent Kusu Island – an urban reef
from Pulau Hantu

Highlights of Asia for Animals Conference 2014
from Project LUWAK SG

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Portions Of Beaches At Kusu And St John Islands Affected By Oil Spill

NEA advisory undated

1 Members of the public are advised to stay away from portions of beaches on Kusu and St John Islands and to avoid primary contact activities such as swimming, water-skiing and wakeboarding in the waters affected by the oil spillage caused by the collision of two oil tankers of “NYK Themis”, a container ship, and “AZ Fuzhou”, a barge, at East Keppel Fairway some 4km south of Marina South on 30 January.

2 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon no. 1, and 100 metres of the beach at St John Island, north of the jetty, are closed until further notice to facilitate beach clean-up works in the area. Signage has been put up at the affected stretches to advise members of the public to avoid the area.

3 The National Environment Agency (NEA) will continue to monitor the water quality of the affected beaches and will inform the public when the affected beaches are free from oil pollution and are re-opened.

4 For more information and updates on the clean-up operation, visit the NEA website (www.nea.gov.sg), NEA Facebook (www.facebook.com/NEASingapore) or follow us on Twitter (@NEAsg).


Avoid beaches on Kusu and St John's Islands due to oil spill
Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE: The public is advised to stay away from portions of beaches on Kusu and St John's Islands.

The waters there are affected by the oil spill from a recent collision of two oil tankers at East Keppel Fairway, south of Marina South.

As a result, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island and 100 metres of the beach at St John's Island are closed until further notice.

This is to facilitate the cleaning up of the beaches.

NEA said it will continue to monitor the water quality, and will inform the public when the beaches are re-opened.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said there have been significant improvements to Singapore's port waters, except for minor oil patches in the vicinity of the Southern Islands, and a few patches of oil at Pulau Seringat shoreline.

MPA said it will continue to work closely with the NEA and the Sentosa Development Corporation on the clean-up operations.

MPA is monitoring the situation in case there are undetected patches of oil.

Members of the public who spot any oil patches in the waters or coastlines can also contact MPA's 24-hour Marine Safety Control Centre at 6325-2488/9.

Vessel traffic in the Strait of Singapore and port waters remain unaffected. Port operations are also not affected.

- CNA/ac/gn

Oil spill reaches some beaches on Kusu, St John’s islands
Today Online 4 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE — The oil spill that resulted from a collision off Marina South last Thursday has affected portions of the beaches on Kusu Island and St John’s Island, and the National Environment Agency today (Feb 4) advised the public to steer clear of the affected beaches.

The NEA also advised the public to avoid swimming, water-skiing and wakeboarding in the waters affected by the spill.

About 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon No 1, and 100 metres of the beach at St John’s Island, north of the jetty, have closed until further notice to facilitate clean-up works in the area.

Signs has been put up at the affected stretches to advise members of the public to avoid the area.

The NEA said that it will continue to monitor the water quality of the affected beaches and will inform the public when the affected beaches are free from oil pollution and are re-opened.

Updates and the clean-up operation can be found at www.nea.gov.sg or through NEA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NEASingapore) and Twitter account (@NEAsg).

The spill resulted from a collision between the container ship NYK Themis and barge AZ Fuzhou in the East Keppel Fairway about 4km south of Marina South last Thursday, Jan 30. The MPA said that it was informed of the incident at 4.10am on that day.

Oil spill reaches Kusu, St John's isles
MyPaper AsiaOne 5 Feb 14;

These bags at St John's Island yesterday are filled with oil-slicked sand.

SINGAPORE - An oil slick off the coast of Marina South has reached Kusu and St John's islands, affecting large stretches of beaches on both islands.

The National Environment Agency issued a statement yesterday warning the public to stay away from the affected locations.

It also advised the public to avoid "primary contact activities" such as swimming, waterskiing and wakeboarding in the areas.

About 200m of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon No. 1, and 100m of the beach at St John's Island that is north of its jetty are closed for clean-up works.

On Thursday, the container ship NYK Themis and the barge AZ Fuzhou collided at East Keppel Fairway, about 4km south of Marina South.

NYK Themis reported that one of its bunker tanks sustained damage, and bunker fuel was spilled into the sea.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore dispatched four boats to deal with the spill, and several companies were also activated to support its efforts.

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Coney Island to open to public in 2015

Lip Kwok Wai Channel NewsAsia 3 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE: Pulau Serangoon, commonly known as Coney Island, is expected to open to the public next year.

Located off the northeastern coast of Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said under the Master Plan, a part of Coney Island is zoned for residential, sport and recreational use.

As the land is not immediately required for development, a part of Coney Island will be kept as an interim park for the time being.

The rest of the island is zoned for park use.

Tender documents stated that Coney Island will have infrastructure such as a bird watching station, walkways and solar street lights.

But one analyst said there is no need for residential units within such a small island.

Nicholas Mak, research head at SLP International, said: "It destroys the peace and the quiet that is on the island.

"If you wanted to keep a part of it as a nature reserve, for recreation, water sports, why do you need to introduce additional housing units there? It is not as if we are short of residential land within the main island of Singapore."

- CNA/gn

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Ash from Indonesia's Mount Sinabung eruption may affect Malaysia's southern states

Razak Ahmad The Star 4 Feb 14;

PETALING JAYA: Ash from north Sumatra's Mount Sinabung, which erupted again Monday, may reach the southern parts of Peninsular Malaysia, and this could affect visibility and flight operations, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.

The volcano, located 271km from Pangkor Island, Perak, first erupted over the weekend, killing 15 people.

The department, in a statement, said north-westerly winds forecast until Thursday "may cause ash from the volcano to move towards southern Peninsular Malaysia, which can affect flight operations and reduce visibility."

The department's National Earthquake and Tsunami Centre is closely monitoring developments and will be issuing updates, the statement said.

Indonesia volcano kills at least 11, fears over more eruptions
Chris Nusatya PlanetArk 3 Feb 14;

Indonesia volcano kills at least 11, fears over more eruptions Photo: S Aditya
CORRECTING BYLINE AND UPDATING CAPTION A villager runs as Mount Sinabung erupt at Sigarang-Garang village in Karo district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, February 1, 2014. Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on t
Photo: S Aditya

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on the western island of Sumatra on Saturday, the first time it is known to have claimed any lives, a senior government official said.

The volcano has become increasingly active in recent months, regularly spewing columns of ash several kilometers into the air. The government has evacuated tens of thousands of residents near the area.

"Eleven people were killed because of the eruption this morning and the number could increase. No evacuations could be made at this stage because of the potential for more eruptions," Andi Arief, a presidential staff member, told Reuters.

Sinabung is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world's fourth-most populous country, which stands along the "Ring of Fire" volcanic belt around the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Indonesia's most deadly volcanic eruption in recent years was of Mount Merapi, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. It erupted in late 2010, killing more than 350 people.

(Corrects to insert dropped word "fourth" in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Chris Nusatya; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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Billions needed to fund deforestation prevention plan: report

Reuters Yahoo News 3 Feb 14;

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Donor nations, rainforest-rich countries and multilateral institutions will have to spend tens of billions of dollars in the next few years to ensure that nations undergoing deforestation will have incentives to halt the practice, a report released on Monday said.

Without the money to buy forest-based emissions reductions, the mechanism known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) will be largely undermined, restricting incentives to keep trees standing, it said.

Deforestation is a major producer of heat-trapping gases in the world, accounting for around 15 percent of global emissions.

Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria are among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide from deforestation.

REDD is the main program to combat forest destruction. It is being evaluated at the United Nations convention on climate change and will be part of the next global deal on climate, due to be signed next year.

But since that agreement take effect only in 2020, demand for forest-based emissions reductions would for a while be limited to companies looking to neutralize their emissions and a few carbon funds.

Compliance markets, such as the EU's Emissions Trading System, do not accept forest-based offsets.

"There is currently no source of demand that will pay for medium to long-term emission reductions from REDD+ in the period between 2015 and 2020," says the report produced by the Global Canopy Programme, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, Fauna & Flora International, and the United Nations Environment Program.

"This problem seriously threatens the successful implementation of REDD+, because without interim demand there will be little or no incentive for forest countries to participate and redirect resources towards REDD+, or for the private sector to invest," it said.

EXCESS SUPPLY

The authors of the study ran some calculations using a European Union proposal for a 50 percent cut in global deforestation by 2020.

Hypothetically, if that target were to be achieved, the market for emissions reductions from avoided deforestation would become heavily oversupplied.

The report estimates, assuming acceptance of the 50 percent target, that supply of forest-based emissions reductions could be up to 39 times greater than demand in the 2015-2020 period.

That would be equivalent to a shortfall of up to 48 billion in transaction volumes, assuming a carbon price of $5 per tonne of CO2.

The report says the intervention would use donor country government capital to purchase REDD emissions reductions.

It would also set a floor price for REDD credits to reduce market uncertainty and help lure the private sector to invest in the mechanism.

It cites initiatives in other sectors that were successful, such as policies to stimulate renewable energy when a price for the energy was guaranteed by a government at a certain level, providing predictability for investment.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Best of our wild blogs: 3 Feb 14

Northern Beauty of Semakau
from Peiyan.Photography

Oil spill reaches Semakau Landfill
from Peiyan.Photography

Kusu Reef: A reef with the lion city view under lots of stress
from Peiyan.Photography

Not-so-solo at Tanah Merah sandy shore
from wonderful creation

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus chrysippus) eclosions
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Pink-necked Green Pigeon
from Monday Morgue

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LTA receives Cross Island Line working group's report

Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE: Nature groups have submitted their ecological study of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

LTA will use the study as a reference for consultants conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Cross Island MRT Line. The EIA will help LTA decide if the MRT line should pass through the nature reserve or skirt around it.

Spanning almost the entire length of Singapore, the 50-kilometre Cross Island Line was announced in January, 2013 and is slated for completion in 2030.

The nature groups, which spent about three months collating available literature and research from the past 20 years on Singapore's largest nature reserve, are calling for the protection of the forest area and are concerned about the possibility of the Line being built through it.

The study was done by seven environmentalists, some of whom are members of the Nature Society (Singapore), the Singapore Environment Council, and Cicada Tree Eco-Place.

The result is a 120-page document describing the extent of biodiversity in the reserve located in the central part of Singapore. The document has recorded about 400 species of trees, 200 species of birds, 400 species of insects and 150 species of mammals and amphibians.

The groups want to provide a realistic assessment of the impact of any physical works in the forests.

They say the study will save the environmental consultants working on the EIA a lot of ground work.

"As soon as they come in they will have an appreciation immediately of what's there,” said Tony O’Dempsey of the Nature Society (Singapore). “They are off to a flying start with this document.”

“I think the agency has done a fairly good job of putting together the tender document, and the requirements that are in there, and we can expect some very high quality EIA consultants to tender for this project."

An expert familiar with EIA matters says the consultants will need to have diverse expertise.

"In addition to the technical aspects of engineering, the team should include at least some members who have environmental expertise -- particularly in botany, the soil sciences, how it affects the plants, vegetation, the trees etc., to review the report,” said Prof Leung Chun Fai from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the National University Of Singapore.

With the study in hand, nature groups hope to convince the consultants and authorities to preserve the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

"The nature reserve is like the green heart in the red dot, and every time there is a project around the edge and through the nature reserve, it takes a small bite out of the apple,” said O’Dempsey. “And if you take lots of small bites you are going to consume the whole apple after a while."

The LTA said the nature groups' study together with the earlier position paper by the Nature Society (Singapore) will be incorporated into the EIA tender.

They will also serve as useful resources for the EIA consultant in studying how the various alignment options could affect the nature reserve. LTA is expected to call the EIA tender by next month.

The assessment is expected to be completed in 2016, and this will be followed by an 18-month engineering feasibility study on the possible routes.


- CNA/rw

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Export ban leaves Singapore short of granite

The Star 2 Feb 14;

A shortage of granite due to an Indonesian export ban has left several construction projects in Singapore in a rocky state.

Contractors said that there had been delays for various projects since the middle of this month.

A Building and Construction Authority spokesman said yesterday that the industry was still importing granite aggregate from “many other regional sources”, though it declined to name them.

She said it was working with importers to ramp up supply from these “diversified” sources.

“If needed, the government will activate the release of the national stockpile to ease the temporary disruption in supply,” she added.

Granite aggregate is hard stones crushed into small pieces, and is different from granite slabs.

Indonesia, South-East Asia’s biggest economy, is a major supplier of granite aggregate to Singapore.

The Indonesian government ban­ned a wide range of minerals from being exported globally on Jan 12. It stopped shipping granite aggregate to Singapore around the same time.

It is understood that the regulations issued by the Indonesian government say that exports of raw or unprocessed granite out of Indonesia are not allowed.

Only granite that has been shaped, cut or processed can be exported.

It is understood that there is no specific ban on shipping granite to Singapore.

Since Jan 10, no granite aggregate shipments have been allowed to be shipped from Indonesian jetties, said the Singapore Contractors Asso­ciation last Friday.

“Many projects, both private and public, are affected by the disruption of supply,” said association president Ho Nyok Yong.

Contractors said that the shortage was reminiscent of Indonesia’s overnight ban on sand exports in February 2007, which sparked a “sand crisis”.

Indonesia also later that month detained a number of barges that were carrying granite to Singapore on suspicion of smuggling sand. This disrupted granite supplies although it was not banned at that time.

Contractors said Malaysia and Vietnam also supplied granite.

They noted that the supply disruption has made the biggest dent in projects that had just started or were midway through construction.

“We would have liked to speed up,” said Kenneth Siew, general manager of Expand Construction, which is building Housing Board projects in Sembawang and Punggol.

Construction at the Sembawang project is now progressing at a third of the original pace or even slower. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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Indonesia: Forest fires hit Riau’s regencies bordering with Malaysia

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 3 Feb 14;

A lack of rainfall has caused difficulties in controlling fires that have already destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest and land in several areas of Riau province — with Meranti Islands and Bengkalis regencies, which border Malaysia, reaching alarming conditions.

“Firefighters experienced difficulties extinguishing the flames as the area is dried peatland,” Meranti Islands regency’s Forestry Agency head M. Murod said on Sunday.

Fires have been burning since last week in the regency, and have spread to Rangsang Island and Tebingtinggi Island, destroying about 200 hectares of land belonging to residents. The flames also reached the concession area of forestry firm PT Sumatera Riang Lestari (SRL) and sago plantation PT National Sago Prima (NSP).

Hundreds of firefighters from the companies have so far not managed to control the blaze, Murod said.

He admitted he could not give the exact size of the companies’ land concessions that were razed by the fire. “The blaze is getting bigger and bigger inside the plantations. It’s difficult to identify. I have just received a report on losses suffered by residents,” he added.

He revealed the fire on Rangsang Island was being handled by a team of firefighters from PT SRL, assisted by local people, while his forestry agency and a team from PT NSP were focused on stopping the fire on Tebingtinggi Island.

“The firefighters are now working hard to control the fire. It’s even more difficult as it’s hot and windy now; small flames could become bigger fires,” he said.

Murod hoped the central government could soon help to extinguish the fire by setting up weather modifications, or making artificial rain, to avoid haze affecting neighboring countries, which could then trigger protests.

Meanwhile, at least 200 hectares of peat land have been destroyed by fire in Bantan and Bukit Batu districts, Bengkalis.

“The fire is continuing to spread to areas that can be reached by land transportation. Rain has not fallen in these areas for the past week. The fire is really difficult to control,” Bengkalis Disaster and Firefighter Agency head Mohammad Jalal said.

Jalal admitted that his agency lacked enough firefighters. “The spots are spreading, so we cannot focus on just one location.”

“We asked residents and non-governmental organizations to volunteer to help us stop the fires. It’s difficult because the operation to extinguish the fires should be conducted around the clock,” he said.

The blaze, which started last week, has already been extinguished once, but flared again due to hot weather and strong winds.

Jalal did not reject a possibility that the fire was caused by burning for land clearing. “We have often warned about avoiding fire in peatland. In the current hot weather and strong winds, the dried peatland could easily burn and it’s difficult to extinguish.”

Meanwhile, a thin haze continued to blanket cities including Pekanbaru and Dumai. In Tembilahan, the southernmost city in the province, visibility in the morning was reportedly 700 meters due to the haze.

The Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the number of hot spots was fluctuating but had reached a maximum of 164. Bengkalis had the highest number of hot spots, followed by Siak and Pelalawan, Indragiri Hilir and Rokan Hilir.

Meanwhile, forest fires also occurred in Kotawaringin Timur regency, Central Kalimantan, due to decreasing rainfall and burning for land clearing.

“Maybe because it has not rained in the last couple of weeks so some residents cleared their land by burning it,” Zainal, a resident, said on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Feb 14

Kusu Island Oiled
from Peiyan.Photography

Oil spill check at Northern Semakau
from wonderful creation

semakau seagrass lagoon @ 01Feb2014
from sgbeachbum

lone otter - scratched @ SBWR 30Jan2014
from sgbeachbum

2 Feb (Sat): World Wetlands Day - Wetlands and Agriculture: Partners for Growth
from wild shores of singapore

Rooftop garden- an update
from My Nature Experiences

Emerald Dove foraging
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Istana launches guided nature tours

Patwant Singh Channel NewsAsia 1 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE: A new Nature Guided Walk was launched at the Istana on Saturday in collaboration with the National Parks Board (NParks).

President Tony Tan Keng Yam was at the launch, held during the Istana Open House in celebration of the Lunar New Year.

22,198 visitors - one of the largest crowd in recent memory - thronged the Istana to enjoy the Lunar New Year activities and performances.

But a new attraction was the hour-long nature walks, led by volunteers of NParks.

The walks, which will also take place at future Open Houses, enable visitors to learn about the rich flora and fauna and biodiversity around the Istana grounds.

President Tony Tan and Mrs Mary Tan joined in the walk.

Dr Tan was pleased with the good response to the nature walks.

"The grounds itself is a sanctuary for wildlife and diversity of plants. It is a little green lung in the heart of the whole city and I think it is marvellous that we have this green space near Orchard Road," said the president.

- CNA/ir

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Indonesia: Up to 93 hotspots detected in Riau

Antara 1 Feb 14;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Terra and Aqua satellite has detected 93 hotspots, or areas of intense heat indicative of forest fires, in the Riau province, Ardhitama of the Pekanbaru Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said here on Saturday.

"The largest number of forest fires has been detected in Bengkalis," he added.

In the Bengkalis district, 52 hotspots were detected in the plantation, forest and farming areas, he elaborated.

The Pelalawan district has 18 hostpots, while Siak has 16. Indragiri Hilir has four hotspots, Duma has three, while Rokan Hilir has one hotspot.

Of the 12 districts in Riau, only one district is forecast to receive rain, notably in the Kuantan Singingi district. The weather is expected to be sunny in the remaining districts.

There is a possibility that the number of hotspots will increase because of a lack of rain.

A number of cities in Riau have been covered by haze caused by the fiery hotspots.

Some of the fires have been set deliberately by irresponsible plantation companies hoping to clear the land for plantations or farming activities. That is against the existing laws in Indonesia.

The fastest and cheapest way to clear new land for planting crops is by burning the land.

Haze arising from land-clearing fires often degrades the air quality, trigger health problems for some people and reduces visibility in affected areas, in particular, parts of Sumatra and the Kalimantan Islands.

Last year, the Indonesian government declared a state of emergency in the Riau province on June 21, after heavy smog blanketed parts of Sumatra island, Singapore and Malaysia.

Several flights were postponed or cancelled and the Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau Island, was shut down temporarily due to the haze on June 20, 2013.

Singapore urged people to remain indoors amid unprecedented levels of air pollution, while Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open-air burning in some areas last year.

***3***

(f001/INE)

EDITED BY INE

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