Indonesia can handle haze on its own: Minister

Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 23 Apr 14;

Though haze caused by land clearing in Sumatra has become a worsening scourge for neighboring countries in recent years, Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya has asserted that Indonesia can handle the problem on its own.

“The haze issue is very serious but Indonesia doesn’t need help from Malaysia and Singapore,” said Balthasar in his keynote speech at the 2014 Sumatra Eco-region Environmental Management Coordinating Meeting in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Monday.

He added that the Indonesian government would never accept equipment assistance from Malaysia and Singapore, though that did not preclude possible environmental collaborations in the future.

Balthasar complained that the two countries had characterized substandard equipment they had previously given to Indonesia as “considerable assistance”, thus making Indonesia look bad.

He went on to say that the Environment Ministry would implement three initiatives to prevent perennial forest and peatland fires plaguing Riau — typically the worst affected province — for the past 17 years.

The first initiative is to develop a hotspot early warning system by involving the local community.

“Right now, the governor [of Riau] receives a report on a fire after a week, when 300 hectares of forest have already been razed,” said Balthasar.

“In the future, the role and the number of personnel will be raised, especially during the dry season. If left unchecked, fires will further spread and many forested areas will be engulfed by fire.”

The second initiative is to change the behavior of local residents who set fire to forests to clear them, usually at the behest of plantation companies.

The third initiative is to strengthen law enforcement. Balthasar said 21 investigators had been dispatched over the past month to probe 46 plantation and forestry companies in Riau believed to be involved in setting haze-causing fires over the past two years.

“As many as 23 companies are being processed further as they were found to have intentionally set fire to the forest,” he said.

“Proving an environmental crime is no easy task, as teamwork among stakeholders is crucial. Besides producing expert witnesses to strengthen evidence, I will also coordinate with the relevant ministries to trace who had issued permits to the companies in question. We will jointly resolve the issue,” he added.

Balthasar declined to give the names of the companies found to have intentionally set fires, but he promised he would bring the cases to court.

“I have formed a team to speed up the legal process and given a six-month deadline,” said Balthasar.

“Some say the fires were due to natural factors, but I’m sure most of them were caused by humans.”

He has asked relevant provincial, regency and municipal administrations to continue coordinating with his ministry regarding fire prevention and fighting.

“May and June will be dry and we must be prepared to anticipate the haze issue so it will no longer become a regional issue.”

Meanwhile, Riau Governor Annas Maamun said his administration had launched a number of programs to anticipate the forest and peatland fires, such as increasing the number of surveillance and firefighting personnel in villages and educating people about the potential disasters during the dry season, which is predicted to take place from May to September this year.

“The past haze in Riau brought negative impacts to people’s lives, especially regarding the local economy, education and health sectors,” he said.

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Philippine Airlines agrees to stop shipping shark fins

Philippine carrier announces 'total stop' after 6.8-tonne shipment found in Hong Kong
South China Morning Post 23 Apr 14;

Philippine Airlines has joined a growing number of carriers refusing to transport shark fins after a report by conservation groups that the airline had brought a 6.8-tonne shipment from Dubai to Hong Kong.

"It's a total stop," spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna told the South China Morning Post yesterday. "We are stopping the shipments on all fronts ... not just to Hong Kong."

The airline said the decision - hailed by a campaigner as a victory for sharks - was made "in support of its commitment to sustainable development".

Conservation group WildLifeRisk and ocean-advocacy group Fins Attached said on April 16 they had found 136 bags, each with 50kg of dried shark fins, "freshly arrived from Dubai" on Philippine Airlines.

"Obviously we're delighted that Philippine Airlines has seen fit to turn its back on the dirty shark fin trade by joining a growing family of airlines that take their corporate social responsibilities seriously," WildLifeRisk director Alex Hofford said last night.

"It's another victory for the sharks and we hope that other regional carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways will quickly follow."

Hofford said his group had called the Philippine flag carrier's attention to its shipments of "illegal, unregulated, and unreported fish, shark and shark products" in a letter in August last year, but had received no reply.

The Hong Kong consignment had been shipped from Dubai agent International Maritime and Aviation to dried seafood trader Global Marine. The company denied the Dubai shipment was illegal.

Villaluna said after the shipment was found that the airline could not comment because its president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang was abroad.

Yesterday it issued a statement saying it "will formalise and strengthen a freight policy it has recently adopted to stop the shipment of shark fin".

It said it would circulate a policy for "immediate implementation and strict compliance across the organisation", adding: "PAL takes the issue of protection and conservation of endangered marine life seriously."

At least five airlines have followed Cathay Pacific's lead in restricting or banning shark fin shipments over the last two years. Korean, Asiana, Qantas and Air New Zealand enforce a blanket ban; Fiji-based Air Pacific allows fins from sustainable sources.

PAL hailed for ban on shark fin cargo
DJ Yap Philippine Daily Inquirer 25 Apr 14;

MANILA, Philippines—Environmentalist groups on Thursday commended Philippine Airlines (PAL) for responding positively to an online petition against the transport of shark fins, joining a number of other Asia-Pacific carriers in taking a stand for marine conservation.

In a statement, Greenpeace said online pressure had prompted the flag carrier “to publicly announce its commitment to sustainable development” approximately 12 hours after a petition on the change.org website against shark fin transport was launched by the Save Sharks Network Philippines.

The group cited a PAL press release posted on the airline’s website and Facebook page on April 23 saying it would “formalize and strengthen a freight policy it has recently adopted to stop the shipment of shark fin in support of its overall commitment to sustainable development.”

The PAL statement also mentioned circulating “a policy for immediate implementation and strict compliance across the organization,” Greenpeace noted.

Victory for sharks

“The announcement of PAL is also a victory for all sharks species who are brutally murdered for their fins,” said Anna Oposa, cofounder of Save Philippine Seas and founder of the Shark Shelter Project in Malapascua Island.

“PAL, being Asia’s first airline and our flag carrier, will be taking a bold step and leading in marine conservation by ceasing the transportation of shark fins,” she added.

Oposa said the PAL’s move would send a powerful message to the government and other airlines about how the private sector could significantly contribute in sustainability efforts.

Public awareness, combined with concerted social media efforts, was instrumental to this development, according to Greenpeace.

Prized

Shark fins are prized in certain markets like China and its territories, where they are used in soups and traditional cures. But animal welfare groups strongly oppose the trade, which usually involves taking only the fins and leaving the rest of the shark in the ocean to die.

Conservationists say that a booming demand for such fins has put pressure on the world’s shark populations, prompting calls for measures to restrict their trade.

In March, representatives from the network met with members of PAL Cargo to discuss shark fin transport, since the airline had no existing policies to address the issue, the group said.

In that meeting, PAL said it would begin to move internally to have rules in place even as it claimed to have no data of transporting shark fins and related products because its cargo operations were outsourced, Greenpeace said.

Protection of marine life

“PAL values the issue on protection and conservation of endangered marine life seriously, recognizing that the company’s long-term interest is and should be consistent with sustainable and responsible business practices,” a PAL statement said.

Air New Zealand as well as South Korea’s two largest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, separately announced last year that they would ban shark fins from their cargo flights, a year after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also stopped shipping them.

Fiji Airways announced last year it would no longer carry “shark fins and shark-related products sourced from unsustainable and unverified sources,” and would only carry fins from species not threatened with extinction. With a report from AFP

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Study Offers Hope For Survival Of Island Nations As Sea Levels Rise

Bernama 23 Apr 14;

WELLINGTON, April 23 (Bernama) -- Some of the world's smallest nations might survive rising sea levels brought about by climate change but in different forms as their atoll islands grow and change, according to a New Zealand research.

Pacific island atolls might in fact be getting larger or remaining stable in their size as new gravel and sand is carried by waves from their coral reefs to shore, said Professor Paul Kench, head of the University of Auckland's School of Environment which is conducting the study.

Tiny island nations, such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, had been thought to be among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels but the study has shown very few islands shrinking in size, Kench told Xinhua news agency on Wednesday.

Researchers were building a dataset of changes over the past 50 years to 1,000 islands in the Pacific, and now had more than 500 examples.

Most of them, like Tuvalu, had either remained stable or grown, while some had been moving on their reef surfaces.

"We can't as yet determine whether some island groups are more susceptible or sensitive to change than others. However, this is something we believe we should be able to identify as the larger dataset develops," said Kench.

Some of the islands could hold relatively large populations, such as the more densely populated islands including South Tarawa on Kiribati, where at least 20,000 people lived, and Fongafale, Tuvalu, which was home to about 5,000 people.

"However, these are the urban capitals. There are many islands with small communities of 100 to 800 people. There are still many more islands with no one currently living on them," said the professor.

The least populated and least developed islands were likely to be more robust against rising sea levels than the bigger population centres.

"At some densely populated sites pollution may have reduced reef health and sediment production is diminished. The best mitigation measure that communities could engage in would be to maintain reef health," Kench said.

"It is possible that some islands may eventually have to be abandoned. However, this should not mean all islands in a nation will disappear.

"There are some large and uninhabited islands in most small nations that could be used to establish new settlements in the future. This infers that there may need to be some migration within a country," the professor said.

Vegetation could colonise newly accreted land very quickly, but the Pacific had many examples of people living on islands with a lack of vegetation.

However, urgent research is needed into whether water resources would change and communities would still be able to grow food crops such as taro.

More research is also needed into ocean acidification, another side-effect of climate change, and the impact this would have on the ability of reefs to generate fresh sand and gravel to build islands.

"It is possible that it might compromise the ability to generate fresh sand and gravel supplies from surrounding reefs," said Kench.

"However, others suggest that weaker skeletons of corals and other organisms might lead to a pulse of new sediment available for island building. There simply hasn't been sufficient research undertaken to resolve this question," he added.

--BERNAMA

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Best of our wild blogs: 23 Apr 14

Western Johor Straits - dirtiest Singapore? @ 18Apr2014
from sgbeachbum

ST Forum letter: Benefits of having wildlife in our midst
from Through the Eyes of the Leopard Cat

Paint along with Pui San on 27 April 2014
from Art in Wetlands

Cyrene Reef (19 April, 2014)
from teamseagrass

Job opportunities: Executive Secretary (ICZN) & Senior Manager/Manager (Operations and Visitor Services) from LKCNHM News

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Why Singapore needs Project Jewel (and more malls)

Guan Chong Today Online 23 Apr 14;

Announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in August last year, Project Jewel at Changi Airport will become another iconic international attraction when it opens in 2018. It will cement Singapore’s position as a top tourist destination and also better serve domestic consumers.

Project Jewel will also join other recent retail developments in Singapore, namely Westgate and Jem in Jurong East and Bedok Mall. With the iconic Orchard Road area and the many heartland malls already in existence, it begs the question: Does Singapore need so many malls? The answer is yes.

IMPORTANCE OF RETAIL SECTOR

Tourism is an important part of Singapore’s economy, representing 4 per cent of its gross domestic product and supporting about 160,000 jobs. Singapore Tourism Board data show that, from 2002 to 2012, the tourism industry has witnessed a strong annual growth rate of 10 per cent in tourism receipts and 6.6 per cent annual growth in visitor arrivals. The rapid growth in international visitor arrivals has been fuelled by the completion of a number of tourist-oriented developments, such as Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, as well as the growth in popularity of internationally renowned events, examples of which are the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix and the Singapore Arts Festival.

It is estimated that tourists’ retail spending in Singapore for 2012 reached S$7.4 billion, accounting for around 17.6 per cent of total retail sales, property consulting firm Urbis said. Furthermore, international visitor arrivals are expected to continue to grow over the next few years, translating into an increase in the proportion of tourists’ spending in total retail sales over time, reaching 19 per cent in 2016. The high proportion of total retail sales contributed by international tourists highlights the importance of tourism to the overall retail market here.

Domestically, the Republic has recorded strong economic growth since 2000, with an average annual real GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent over the 2001 to 2012 period. Driven by the growth in household disposable income and a developed market with sophisticated consumers, Singapore’s retail industry has been transformed over the last decade, with department stores and hypermarkets appearing in all parts of the island.

For Singaporeans, although housing, utilities and transport still account for the largest proportion of household expenditure, there is a significant amount being spent on lifestyle goods and services. The Business Monitor International’s 2014 Singapore Retail Report showed household expenditure on recreation and culture is projected to hit US$17.5 billion (S$22 billion). Spending in hotels and restaurants is expected to reach US$11.1 billion and will continue to grow by an average of 10.3 per cent a year between this year and 2018, hitting the US$16.4 billion mark by 2018.

As incomes continue to rise, household spending is expected to grow over the next five years across all areas of the retail sector, including product categories such as clothing and footwear, household goods, food, drink and tobacco, and personal care.

GROWING CONSUMER DEMAND

The rapidly growing needs of international tourists and local consumers in the lifestyle sector have imposed growing pressure on the capacity of the retail sector. For example, Orchard Road used to be the place where one could shop and hang out leisurely, but it is getting increasingly crowded for anyone to truly enjoy.

This can be partially explained by the constraints on retail floor space per capita in Singapore. Urbis said retail floor space per capita was approximately 10.7sqf in 2012 and is expected to grow marginally to 11.0sqf by next year. This provision is relatively lower than other developed Asian economies such as South Korea (14.4sqf in 2010) and Japan (16.6sqf in 2009) and Western developed countries such as Australia (23.7sqf in 2012) and the United States (50.5sqf in 2010).

Yet, with recent new developments such as Westgate in Jurong East, Singapore is slowly catching up with Hong Kong (11.3sqf in 2012) and mainland China (12.9sqf in 2012) in retail space to satisfy consumers’ increasing demand.

With resilient domestic demand and strong growth in the number of international tourists, the outlook for the Singapore retail sector is relatively positive. The completion of Project Jewel will better serve local and international consumers in the lifestyle sector. Located close to the Changi residential heartlands, Project Jewel is very well connected by the public transport system and Singaporeans who are willing to travel a little bit more will benefit greatly from it. Connected seamlessly to 275 cities worldwide, this new world-class destination will also capture the heart of international travellers.

That said, for Project Jewel to effectively satisfy the rapidly growing needs of consumers, its retail concepts need to be carefully chosen to appeal to specific consumer segments.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr Guan Chong is a marketing lecturer at SIM University.

More malls add up to a zero-sum game
Donald Koh Today Online 25 Apr 14;

The perspective on “Why S’pore needs Project Jewel (and more malls)” (April 23) should be re-examined. Tourism and consumerism do generate money for Singapore, and if we were a corporation, then more malls would indeed mean more growth.

However, we are a nation and although many treat this country like Singapore Inc, such a numbers game would have a negative impact on us.

Firstly, we are facing a labour crunch in the retail and food and beverage sectors. With Singaporeans becoming more educated and affluent, many have shunned this line of work, known for its long hours and low pay.

Businesses have relied on foreigners to fill the gap, but it is widening and will continue to widen if the writer’s suggestion is adopted rapidly. Retail and F&B sectors are still labour-intensive industries where automation cannot easily be applied.

Businesses would be fighting even more for precious headcount, leading to inflated wages. The ones to suffer would be sole proprietors and small businesses.

Multinational corporations and big competitors would have the funds and synergy to pay well and offer better benefits, but small businesses would face a more daunting task in trying to recruit or retain employees.

Levies would continue to rise as the Government tries to contain the over-reliance on foreign workers. This would contribute to higher labour costs, which are then passed on to consumers. In time, it would be an upward trend.

Secondly, with a land area of 716 sq km, Singapore’s land use must be planned carefully. We are not China nor Australia, but a little red dot.

A country with such limited space must consider residential needs, essential services such as hospitals and schools, as well as open spaces such as parks and nature trails, which contribute intrinsically to citizens’ well-being. I would exchange some malls for public hospitals.

Also, we are losing our identity as a nation due to rapid development. Who would we be if we trade our heritage sites, old neighbourhoods and memories for homogeneous malls with the same brands and F&B outlets?

There is also the issue of rising rentals, which would force small businesses to relocate, or worse, close for good. I agree that Singapore should continue to grow, but more is at stake than only chasing numbers.

More malls, restaurants and shops would mean bringing in more people and more spending, but resulting also in higher rentals, labour and food costs, as well as a lower quality of life and decreasing sense of identity, adding up to a zero-sum game.

Read more!

More companies going green in Singapore

Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 22 Apr 14;

SINGAPORE: More local companies and organisations are seeking ways to integrate green features into their work spaces, according to environmental groups.

They say it is a result of greater awareness of the long-term cost benefits that come with going green.

The Westin Singapore, located in the heart of Singapore's financial centre, launched its Green Rooms in conjunction with Earth Day.

Fifty-six of 305 hotel rooms are equipped with an energy meter, found on the room's television screen, to monitor a guest's individual energy consumption.

The rooms are located on the 38th and 39th floors of the hotel.

"We have a meter bar on our main screen of the television, or IPTV, that clearly indicates to the guest the average energy consumption during their stay, which has a green, an orange and a red (indicator),” said Sushil Sharma, manager of The Westin Singapore.

“Hopefully those bars remain at the green which leads us to then contributing a dollar to UNICEF and which also indicates that the guest has reduced energy consumption by 20 per cent compared to an average guest in our hotel."

Reducing energy consumption could be as simple as turning off the lights when not needed and setting the air conditioning to 24 degrees Celsius.

It took the hotel three months of backend testing before it rolled out the programme.

Other features include environmentally friendly limousines which are powered with used cooking oil from the hotel's kitchens. The hotel has a conversion machine to convert the used oil to biodiesel.

A study by the Singapore Environment Council last year found that Singapore uses an average of three billion plastic bags every year. While that is a lot, there is some good news with supermarkets coming on board the conservation process.

For example, some NTUC FairPrice stores have special checkout counters that do not provide plastic bags for your purchases.

FairPrice also gives out rebates when shoppers bring their own bags.

As a result of such initiatives, FairPrice recently announced that customers used a record 8.2 million fewer plastic bags in 2013 -- a 12 per cent decrease compared to 2012.

FairPrice says it is also on track to install eco-friendly features such as LED lighting and energy-saving refrigeration systems in all its stores by 2016.

According to some environmental experts, more companies are going green.

The Singapore Environment Council says it conducted 79 audits for workplaces as part of its Eco-Office certification last year, up from 62 in 2012.

The audits look at whether spaces have water and energy-saving features, among others.

The Building and Construction Authority says the number of office spaces certified with the Green Mark for Office Interiors has increased from four in 2009 to more than 80 last year.

- CNA/ec

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Failed race track project site not cleared a year on

Christopher Tan The Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Apr 14;

It has been almost a year since the final curtain fell on plans to build a permanent race track here, but the 41ha plot of land off Changi Coastal Road where the high-octane project sputtered and died still bears signs of its dramatic failure.

Dozens of steel and concrete piles still stand on the ground where the Changi Motorsports Hub was supposed to have been sited.

SG Changi, the Japanese-Singapore consortium that won the tender to develop the hub but later went broke, was tasked with removing them. But it looks like the piles are staying put.

In a joint response to queries from The Straits Times, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) said it was not feasible to remove the structures completely.

"SLA and SG Changi's professional engineers have assessed that a complete extraction of the installed piles is not feasible as it will weaken the soil layers and affect the stability of the adjacent sea walls," they said.

Instead, there are plans now to cut the piles "2m below ground level". Work has already started, they added.

While the sports council estimated last June that the removal of the piles and reinstatement of the land to its original form would take about a year, that prospect looks bleak now.

A check by The Straits Times last week found that dozens of piles were still standing, with no signs of cutting activity.

Sources estimate that it will take another year before the land can be restored.

Besides the piles, tonnes of soil that was dumped there from another construction site will have to removed, one source said.

Even when everything is cleared, industry watchers said the plot may not be as attractive to developers as before, because buried sections of the piles will restrict development plans.

But the SSC and SLA said detailed information of where the structures are will be recorded and provided to potential developers, so that they can "plan to incorporate or avoid the piles in future development".

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Malaysia: Little change in Sungai Selangor dam water level despite rain

The Star 23 Apr 14;

PETALING JAYA: Yes, it has been raining. But no, it has not helped raise the water level at the Sungai Selangor dam – the largest in the state and the main supplier in the Klang Valley.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department said unsuitable atmospheric conditions were partly the reason water levels at dams had not increased much despite cloud seeding.

Its atmospheric science and cloud-seeding division director Azhar Ishak said the department would continue to conduct cloud seeding in water catchment areas until the dams were at safe levels.

Explaining some of the problems the department faced, Azhar said: “We identify the areas for cloud seeding based on our observations but sometimes, by the time we get to these water catchment areas, the atmospheric conditions have changed and may not be suitable.

“When this happens, we go to the areas nearby and conduct the exercise. There has been rain in the water catchment areas, including Sungai Selangor. However, the amount of rainfall there is still insufficient.”

Sungai Selangor supplies water to 60% of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

However, the dam has been below 40% for the past few months. The water level is deemed critical if it dips below 30%.

According to the Selangor Water Management Authority website, water level at Sungai Selangor stood at 38.9% as of 8am yesterday.

Azhar admitted the present technology for cloud seeding was “old”.

He said the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia, would carry out research to improve it.

The ministry approved a two-year grant worth RM870,000 last week for the purpose.

As for the Thai “Royal Rainmaking Technology” which the Selangor government is planning to use to help ease the water crisis in the state, Azhar said: “We heard about the proposal but have not receive any instructions yet. Our responsibility at the moment is to ensure the water level in dams increases so we will continue with cloud seeding.”

Insufficient raw water at the dams
The Star 23 Apr 14;

WE wish to respond to the letter “Water companies should be penalised for current woes” (The Star, Mar 22). The writer claimed that the water quality he received was bad and water companies should be penalised for not managing water resources properly and resulting in the disruption of water supply.

We wish to state that Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) is only responsible for the distribution of treated water supplied by the existing water treatment operators to the consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

The four water treatment operators that sell treated water to Syabas are Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd, Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor and Konsortium Air Selangor Bhd.

Thus the quantity of treated water distributed by Syabas is solely dependent on the quantity supplied by these water treatment operators based on their respective concession agreements entered with the Selangor Government.

Currently, the Cheras Mile 11 and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants (WTP) have been frequently forced to close down since Jan 27 this year due to the ammonia content in Sungai Langat frequently breaching the threshold imposed by the Health Ministry (MOH) for safe drinking standard.

This has caused a loss of 56 million litre per day (MLD) treated water supply for several areas in Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang.

At the same time, five WTPs namely Sungai Selangor Phase 1, Sungai Selangor Phase 2, Sungai Selangor Phase 3, Rantau Panjang and Sungai Rasa that are depending on the raw water supply from Sungai Selangor with support from Sungai Selangor dam and two WTPs namely Bukit Nenas and Wangsa Maju that are extracting raw water from Klang Gate dam, are forced to reduce treated water production by 1,030 MLD as the Selangor Government had commenced reduction of raw water release from these dams by similar quantity per day in order to prolong the sustainability of the depleting water storage level in the dams.

The raw water resources are under the responsibility of the Selangor Government. The said responsibility under the legislation clearly states that the Selangor Government is responsible to ensure sufficient and sustainable raw water supply in the river, dams and water catchments with the quality of raw water consistent within the treatable level as stipulated by MOH.

The water supply industry in peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territory of Labuan is governed and regulated by Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655) and enforced by the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), the industry regulator.

The Act is a focused and uniform approach in regulating the water services industry. Policies and decisions pertaining to the industry are also being subjected to the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

With regards to the deteriorating trend of the water storage level in Sungai Selangor and Klang Gates dams, and uncertain ammonia contents in Sungai Langat, the Selangor Government has requested for water rationing in certain areas and this was approved by SPAN.

In this aspect, the water rationing plan was prepared by Syabas on the directive from the Selangor Government. The on-going water rationing is implemented under Stage 1, Stage 3 and Stage 4.

The Stage 1 water rationing in Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang is due to the closure of Cheras 11 Mile and Bukit Tampoi WTP.

The Stage 3 and 4 water rationing involves Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor and parts of Kuala Langat, Hulu Langat and Sepang.

The appearance of brownish water when consumers turn on the tap after the water cuts is caused by sediment in the pipe distribution system. The sediment is taken up with the flow of water at the beginning and will disappear after several minutes.

In terms of water quality, the treated water quality parameters are set based on the National Drinking Water Quality Standards enforced by the MOH, and the treated water distributed to the consumers tap is definitely safe for consumption and complies with standards.

Nevertheless, the quality of water at the consumers’ tap especially on colour and odour is also influenced by the internal piping systems including the water tank of the consumers’ premises.

Consumers are strongly advised to check the internal piping systems regularly to ensure it does not affect the quality of water at the premises.

With regards to not paying the water bill as water supply was interrupted, Syabas would like to stress that the water bill is based on the quantity of water consumed.

In the event of water rationing, the consumers may consume less and thus would pay less for their water.

Syabas would like to urge the consumers to extend their cooperation towards the Government’s water rationing plan by conserving water, using water for critical use only and avoiding excessive usage.

The ongoing water rationing was initiated by the Government to ensure sustainability of the depleting raw water level in Sungai Selangor and Klang Gates dams. Water rationing was carried out to ensure consumers continue to receive water supply for their critical needs.

PRISCILLA ALFRED
Assistant General Manager
Corporate Communication & Public Affairs
Syabas Sdn Bhd

State FMM members seek alternative water supply sources
The Star 23 Apr 14;

PETALING JAYA: Industries in Selangor are stepping up efforts to conserve water and seek alternative sources of supply as the state’s water woes show no signs of abating soon.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ (FMM) Selangor branch chairman Datuk Soh Thian Lai said members were already running water conservation projects and seeking alternative sources.

“One of the fastest and most used methods by members is to instal a system to draw water from the ground.

“A company can be set back by between RM450,000 and RM650,000 to get the system running but it is something that must be done,” he said.

Other methods include harvesting rainwater and enlarging existing reserve tanks to hold water to last at least two days.

Companies are also renting tankers to buy supply from Syabas at prices ranging between RM110.35 and RM149.68 per tanker, inclusive of the RM100 quality testing fee for each vehicle.

Soh disagreed with calls for Syabas to stop providing water in tankers for industrial and commercial users during the rationing period,

He said while domestic consumers were the priority, it did not mean companies should be deprived from buying water.

It was previously reported that a food and beverage company based in Shah Alam required alternative supply of about 120 tankers of water a day at a cost of RM150,000.

If the company does not get the supply, it stands to lose about RM15mil a day in costs and sales as production would be stopped.

Soh said if rationing was extended to industrial areas in the state, it should be one day on and one day off, instead of the two days on, two days off system applicable to domestic users.

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Malaysia: Hawksbill turtle carcasses found at Tanjung Purun beach

New Straits Times 22 Apr 14;

LABUAN: The decomposed carcasses of two Hawksbill sea turtles were found washed ashore at the Tanjung Purun beach here yesterday morning.

The 3.5-metre and 1.5-metre turtles were found by an employee of Labuan Marine Museum Department, Suriani Abd Ghani, who immediately alerted the Labuan Fisheries Department (LFD).

LFD Marine Unit Base chief Jamari Abu Bakar told Bernama the last such discovery in the area was in 2010.

"There was a rope at the necks and feet of the turtles, probably from a fishing net. We will investigate the actual cause of death" he said.

Jamari stressed that although such occurrences were rare in Labuan, the authorities viewed the case seriously as it was important to protect the endangered species, which were also a tourist attraction here. -- BERNAMA

Read more: Hawksbill turtle carcasses found at Tanjung Purun beach - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/hawksbill-turtle-carcasses-found-at-tanjung-purun-beach-1.576037#ixzz2zfrVXSZ7

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Japan will conduct Pacific whale hunt in wake of court ruling

Elaine Lies PlanetArk 22 Apr 14;

Japan said on Friday it would conduct a sharply scaled down form of its annual Northwest Pacific whaling campaign this year despite an international court ruling last month against the mainstay of its whaling program in the Antarctic.

The decision to proceed with the hunt was certain to provoke international anger and promptly drew the fire of environmentalists.

Tokyo's decades-old and disputed "scientific whaling" program suffered a blow last month when the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a surprise ruling, ordered a halt to its annual hunts in the Southern Ocean. That prompted Japan to cancel whaling there for 2014-2015.

The Pacific hunt, not as widely known internationally, was not specifically mentioned in the ruling, which did call on Japan to re-examine its overall whaling program. Yet in the 2012-2013 campaign, the Pacific hunt took three times as many whales as the Antarctic hunt, including three sperm whales.

Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the ruling upheld the notion of "the sustainable use of whales as a resource".

"Based on this ... and in line with international law and scientific principles, our nation will carry out research whaling to get the scientific information essential to manage whales as a resource," he said.

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and began what it called scientific whaling in 1987, a year after an international moratorium came into effect.

It has also said it hopes for the eventual resumption of commercial whaling, a view Hayashi said was unchanged.

"We will stick to a basic plan that aims at a resumption of commercial whaling," he told reporters. Japan, he said, had made "substantial accommodations" to the court ruling.

The ministry said quotas for the Pacific hunt would be reduced in consideration of the court ruling. One proposal, still to be finalized by scientists, would cut the number from 380 whales to 210 in activity extending from Japan's coastline out into a broad swathe of the Pacific.

In the 2012-2013 season, the fleet killed 319 whales in the Pacific. The Antarctic hunt took 103 whales out of a quota of more than 1,000, partly due to the sometimes violent attempts by environmental groups, such as Sea Shepherd, to disrupt it.

According to the proposal, no sperm whales will be taken and the quota of minkes will be reduced to 100 from 220.

NEW PLAN, NEW MEASURES AGAINST PROTESTERS

The ministry said it would submit a new plan for Antarctic whaling to the International Whaling Commission in 2015 for the purpose of resuming whaling in that area later in the year.

"We will also consider measures against anti-whaling activists," the ministry said.

Japan says eating whale is a cherished cultural tradition, but costly whale meat now rarely appears on Japanese tables.

Fears of complaints from key allies such as the United States, as well as the cost of maintaining Japan's ageing whaling fleet, prompted some observers to say Tokyo might cancel the Pacific hunt this year.

But a vocal lobby pressed for it to continue, citing economic benefits to the Pacific hunt's home port of Ishinomaki,

devastated by the 2011 tsunami.

No details were given about when the fleet would depart. It was originally set to leave on April 22, the day before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Japan for a state visit, but media reports said its departure would be delayed until April 26, the day after Obama leaves.

Environmental group Greenpeace said the decision to proceed with hunt was a disappointment.

"This defiant announcement, mere days before President Obama's visit to Japan, will damage Japan's international standing," said Junichi Sato, at Greenpeace Japan.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Great Barrier Reef safer with success of starfish cull

Crown-of-thorns starfish dying faster with new single-injection method
Oliver Milman theguardian.com 22 Apr 14;

The government has said it is making good progress in culling coral-eating starfish that have been blamed for munching through much of the Great Barrier Reef.

Greg Hunt, the environment minister, said 250,000 crown-of-thorns starfish had been killed by a new culling method over the past 21 months, a four-fold increase on the previous rate of removal.

The new method, developed by James Cook University, involves a single injection into the starfish; previously the multi-armed creatures needed to be injected about 20 times.

The injections, administered by divers, cause an allergic reaction in the starfish, killing it. Warren Entsch, MP for Leichhardt, said divers were now able to cull more than 1,000 crown-of-thorns starfish in a 40-minute dive.

Hunt said the new injection has “immediately improved the efficiency and effectiveness” of reducing crown-of-thorns starfish numbers. In December the government announced an additional $1.1m to combat the problem, which has been used for a new vessel for the starfish-killing divers.

Chemical runoff from agriculture has been blamed for a surge in numbers of the starfish, which are thought to feed on the nutrients from pollution.

Although they are always found on the reef, an explosion in their numbers can cause serious damage because they devour healthy coral.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science estimates the Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the past 30 years; 42% is due to the crown-of-thorns starfish infestation.

Scientists say an outbreak can destroy between 40% and 90% of the corals on the reef.

Injections which kill the starfish are part of the government’s Reef 2050 plan to help improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef, which has come under severe stress from cyclones, coral bleaching and variable water quality.

Critics of the strategy claim that the injections are largely futile because some female crown-of-thorns starfish can produce up to 60m eggs.

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Apple: climate change is real and it's a real problem

Technology company claims 94% of its corporate facilities are now powered by renewable energy
Adam Vaughan theguardian.com 22 Apr 14;

Climate change is real and a real problem for the world, Apple said on Monday, announcing its progress on environment targets ahead of Earth day.

The technology company, publishing a video narrated by CEO Tim Cook on its green initiatives and updated environment web pages, claimed that 94% of its corporate facilities and 100% of its data centres are now powered by renewable energy sources such as solar power.

Lisa Jackson, the former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency and Apple's vice-president for environmental initiative, wrote in a letter: "We feel the responsibility to consider everything we do in order to reduce our impact on the environment. This means using greener materials and constantly inventing new ways to conserve precious resources."

Greenpeace, which has previously been critical of Apple for sourcing energy from fossil fuels, recently praised the company for improving the energy mix powering its data centres, ranking it above other technology giants such as Amazon. Apple's Maiden data centre in North Carolina is powered by a large 20MW solar farm and biogas fuel cells.

Apple said its carbon footprint in 2013 was 33.8m metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2013, or around 5% of the UK's annual CO2 emissions for the same year. Around three-quarters of the emissions come from manufacturing. "We believe climate change is real. And that it's a real problem," the company's website now says.

The company said its new HQ being built in Cupertino, California, will use 30% less energy than an equivalent building, and will be home to around 7,000 trees. It also highlighted a decrease in the material required to make its products – the new iPad Air uses nearly one-third less material, by weight, than the original iPad.

All the company's retail stores will now take back Apple products for recycling, for free; previously customers had to buy a new product to recycle an old one. In the UK and US, an ongoing scheme offering payments for old iPhones, iPads and Macs also continues.

The announcement came ahead of today's 44th anniversary of Earth day, a day of activism born in the US and designed to raise environmental awareness.

Cook recently told climate change sceptics that they should ditch Apple shares if they did not like the company's backing for renewable energy and sustainability, leading Virgin group founder Richard Branson to say he was "enormously impressed" by Cook's stance and his call for climate change deniers to "get out of the way".

Apple has come in for criticism from Friends of the Earth for being slow to admit to using tin in its products sourced from the Indonesian island of Bangka, where mining has caused environmental damage and claimed dozens of lives. Last year, Apple sent a team to investigate conditions on the island and has said it will work to improve them.

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