Australia migratory bird levels plunge from Asia development

AFP AsiaOne 14 Jan 15;

SYDNEY - Coastal developments in northeast Asia are threatening the survival of Australian migratory shorebirds, a study has found, with some species experiencing population declines of up to 75 per cent over the last two decades.

Some 36 migratory shorebird species, numbering between three to eight million, fly to Australia each summer from breeding sites in the Russian and Alaskan Arctic.

They stop at tidal flats in China and North and South Korea to refuel during their 20,000-kilometre (12,400-mile) annual journey.

But the destruction of those habitats over the past few decades has seen a marked decline in the population of such birds, including the eastern curlew and the curlew sandpiper, conservation biologist Nick Murray told AFP on Wednesday.

"Each year there have been fewer and fewer shorebirds seen in Australia," Murray, from the University of New South Wales, said of the changes that prompted the study into the Yellow Sea tidal flats, which was published in the journal Austral Ecology this month.

"We use satellite remote sensing to look at the changes in the habitats around the Yellow Sea region - which is northeastern China, North Korea and South Korea - and found that about 65 per cent of those habitats that shorebirds use have been destroyed over the last 50 years." Murray and researchers Richard Fuller, from the University of Queensland, and Ma Zhijun, from China's Fudan University, found the main threat to the tidal flats - wetlands also known as mudflats - was coastal development.

Some of the intertidal habitats have been transformed into industrial and agricultural lands, as well as used for aquaculture, stripping away the birds' feeding grounds, the study found.

Pollution, overfishing and algal blooms in these areas were also contributing factors.

The eastern curlew, the largest shorebird that comes to Australia, is one species that is globally threatened.

It has seen its population levels plunge by up to 70 per cent over the past two decades, Murray said, while the curlew sandpiper has declined by 75 per cent in 20 years, according to the data used in the study.

"The birds will fly for 6,000 kilometres non-stop and use up all their energy trying to make it to that refuelling station," he said.

"When they get there and the habitat's not there anymore and they are unable to refuel, it's very likely that they will just die." While the population declines are a "very large problem", governments in the region are trying to tackle the threats, Murray said.

This includes identifying protected area sites and working with provincial leaders to reduce pollution and aquaculture impacts, he added.

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Study: Sea level rise accelerating more than once thought

SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press Yahoo News 14 Jan 15;

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's oceans are now rising far faster than they did in the past, a new study says.

The study found that for much of the 20th century — until about 1990 — sea level was about 30 percent less than earlier research had figured. But that's not good news, scientists say, because about 25 years ago the seas started rising faster and the acceleration in 1990 turns out to be more dramatic than previously calculated.

The current sea level rise rate — which started in 1990 — is 2.5 times faster than it was from 1900 to 1990, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Scientists say that faster pace of sea level rise is from melting ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica and shrinking glaciers, triggered by man-made global warming.

"We're seeing a significant acceleration in the past few decades," said study lead author Carling Hay, a geophysical researcher at Harvard University. "It's concerning for cities along the U.S. East Coast" where water levels are rising even faster than the world average.

"It's definitely something that can't be ignored," Hay said.

Previous research said that between 1900 and 1990, the seas rose about two-thirds of an inch a decade. The new study recalculates the 1900-1990 rate to less than half an inch a decade.

Old and new research both say that since 1990 seas are rising at about 1.2 inches a decade.

While hundreds of tide gauges around the world have been measuring sea levels since 1900, they have mostly been in Europe and North America with few in the polar regions or the middle of the oceans, Hay said. So past estimates of 20th century sea level rise gave an incomplete picture of the global effect, said study co-author Jerry Mitrovica, a geophysics professor at Harvard.

The new method uses statistical analysis and computer models to better simulate the areas in the gap, Mitrovica said.

Outside scientists praised the new study, but were still cautious about adopting the estimates until more studies could be done.

"The implications are troubling — accelerated ocean warming, ice sheet collapse and sea level rise — all point to more and more sea level rise in the future, perhaps at a faster rate than previously thought," said Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona. "This will make adaptation to climate change more difficult and costly."

Sea level rise quickens more than thought in threat to coasts
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 15 Jan 15;

Sea level rise in the past two decades has accelerated faster than previously thought in a sign of climate change threatening coasts from Florida to Bangladesh, a study said on Wednesday.

The report, reassessing records from more than 600 tidal gauges, found that readings from 1901-90 had over-estimated the rise in sea levels. Based on revised figures for those years, the acceleration since then was greater than so far assumed.

The report said the earlier readings were incomplete or skewed by local factors such as subsidence.

The new analysis "suggests that the acceleration in the past two decades is 25 percent higher than previously thought," Carling Hay, a Canadian scientist at Harvard University and lead author of the study in the journal Nature, told Reuters.

The study said sea level rise, caused by factors including a thaw of glaciers, averaged about 1.2 millimeters (0.05 inch) a year from 1901-90 - less than past estimates - and leapt to 3 mm a year in the past two decades, apparently linked to a quickening thaw of ice.

Last year, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated the 1901-90 rate at 1.5 mm a year, meaning less of a leap to the recent rate around 3 mm.

The Harvard-led study said the new findings might affect projections of the future pace of sea level rise, especially those based on historical trends.

John Church, a top IPCC author at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia, told Reuters he did not expect any impact on the IPCC's core sea level projections, which are not based on past trends.

IPCC scenarios, which range from a sea level rise of 28 to 98 cms this century, are based on the processes driving sea level change, for instance how ice in Greenland reacts to rising temperatures or the expansion of water as it warms, he said.

Stefan Rahmstorf, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a world expert in past sea levels, said further analysis was needed to pin down 20th century sea level rise.

The new findings confirm that "sea level is rising and ... the rise has accelerated, with the most recent rates being the highest on record," he told Reuters.

Sea level rise is gnawing away at shores from Miami to Shanghai. In cities such as Jakarta, the rise is aggravated by big local subsidence.

Study at: nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature14093

(Editing by Dominic Evans)

Rate of sea-level rise 'steeper'
BBC News 14 Jan 15;

The rate at which the global oceans have risen in the past two decades is more significant than previously recognised, say US-based scientists.

Their reassessment of tide gauge data from 1900-1990 found that the world's seas went up more slowly than earlier estimates - by about 1.2mm per year.

But this makes the 3mm per year tracked by satellites since 1990 a much bigger trend change as a consequence.

It could mean some projections for future rises having to be revisited.

"Our estimates from 1993 to 2010 agree with [the prior] estimates from modern tide gauges and satellite altimetry, within the bounds of uncertainty. But that means that the acceleration into the last two decades is far worse than previously thought," said Dr Carling Hay from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"This new acceleration is about 25% higher than previous estimates," she told BBC News.

Dr Hay and colleagues report their re-analysis in this week's edition of the journal Nature.

Tide gauges have been in operation in some places for hundreds of years, but pulling their data into a coherent narrative of worldwide sea-level change is fiendishly difficult.

Historically, their deployment has been sparse, predominantly at mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, and only at coastal sites. In other words, the instrument record is extremely patchy.

What is more, the data needs careful handling because it hides all kinds of "contamination".

Scientists must account for effects that mask the true signal - such as tectonic movements that might force the local land upwards - and those that exaggerate it - such as groundwater extraction, which will make the land dip.

Attention needs to be paid also to natural oscillations in ocean behaviour, which can make waters rise and fall on decadal timescales.

Previous efforts to untangle the record concluded that sea levels rose through much of the last century by around 1.6-1.9mm per year.

These figures were included in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the state of the planet.

But these numbers have been somewhat problematic because they are at odds with the calculated contributions to global ocean rise - namely, the volumes of water coming from melting land ice, the expansion of the seas from global warming, and changes in the amount of global water held on the continents. Simply put, the calculated contributions were about 0.5mm per year short of what previous tide-gauge assessments were suggesting they should be.

Dr Hay's and colleagues' study makes another attempt to sort through the instrument record, and they find the 1900-1990 rises to have been overstated.

Their rate for this period is 1.2mm per year, which neatly closes the contributions "budget gap".

Dr Hay said: "What we have done, which is a bit different from past studies, is use physical models and statistical models to try to look for underlying patterns in the messy tide gauge data observations.

"Each of the different contributions actually produces a unique pattern, or fingerprint, of sea-level change. And what we try to do is model these underlying patterns and then use our statistical approach to look for the patterns in the tide gauge observations. That allows us to infer global information from the very limited records."

Modern sea level monitoring station


The modern tide gauge is now a highly sophisticated tool. Coastal instruments have recorded sea level change at some locations for more than 200 years

In the last IPCC report, global mean sea-level rise for 2081−2100 was projected to be between 26cm (at the low end) and 82cm (at the high end), depending on the greenhouse emissions path this century.

If the Hay analysis is reproduced by peer groups, it may prompt the scientific community to revisit these future sea-level projections and some of the other estimates that envisage even larger changes in the decades ahead.

Commenting, Dr Paolo Cipollini at the UK's National Oceanography Centre, said the Nature study was an important new contribution to the field.

Having a good view of historical change, he explained, would allow researchers to test their models of the processes driving sea-level rise by permitting them to do "hindcasts" - to check whether those models could reproduce the past before making confident projections of the future.

"But let's not lose sight of the central message that at the moment we have a very strong consensus on the 3.2mm per year of sea-level rise coming from satellites and modern tide gauges, and that any future projection should be based mainly on our understanding of the processes of sea-level rise, which really we need quantify better for later IPCC reports."

The "gold standard" satellite record of sea-level rise is maintained by the Jason series of spacecraft, which have an unbroken record of measurements stretching back to 1992.

Jason-3, the latest incarnation, launches this year, along with the EU's Sentinel-3 spacecraft, which has been tasked with starting another continuous - and independent - sequence of observations.

Read more!

Gold rush threat to tropical forests

Helen Briggs BBC News 14 Jan 15;

Global demand for gold is putting some of the most remote and pristine tropical forests at risk, scientists warn.

Some 1,680 sq km of rainforest in South America was lost to gold mining from 2001 to 2013, a study shows.

University of Puerto Rico researchers say gold mining has become a major threat to ancient rainforests in countries such as Peru and Suriname.

Consumers can help by buying only fair-trade gold, say environmentalists.

The research, published in Environmental Research Letters, studied tropical forests across South America below 1,000m, covering Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Satellite images show forest clearance for gold mining accelerated after the international financial crisis of 2007.

It was concentrated in four main areas - the Guianan forests; the Southwest Amazon in Peru; the Tapajos-Xingu forest in Brazil; and Magdalena Valley-Uraba in Colombia.

Overall, the amount of forest lost was less than 1% but much of it was located in or near conservation areas.

"Although the loss of forest due to mining is smaller in extent compared to deforestation caused by other land uses, such as agriculture or grazing areas, deforestation due to mining is occurring in some of the most biologically diverse regions in the tropics," said lead researcher Nora Álvarez-Berríos.

Global gold production has increased from around 2,445 tonnes in 2000 to around 2,770 tonnes in 2013, while prices have soared.

This has made it profitable to mine in areas such as the soil beneath tropical forests.

The removal of vegetation and development of roads and railways can have long-term impacts, say the scientists.

Gold mining can also create pollutants such as mercury, which can enter rivers and the atmosphere.

Consumer power
Dr Susanne Schmitt of WWF called for better mining laws and awareness and training to reduce the impact of gold mining on forests and to improve local people's livelihoods.

Consumers could also help when purchasing gold, she added.

"By insisting on fair trade gold when purchasing jewellery of other gold products consumers have real power in ensuring that this unfair and environmentally damaging practice ends, to be replaced with a longer term industry providing jobs and security to communities without destroying their environment."

Read more!

A Warming World Could End Your Sandwich Habit

Kristine Wong Takepart.com Yahoo News 15 Jan 15;

As the world warms, its wheat fields are withering.

That’s according to the latest research, which has found that one of the world’s most gobbled grains would decrease by 6 percent for every degree Celsius in temperature increase.

To put that in perspective, about 42 million tons of wheat would vanish if global temperatures increased just 1 degree Celsius. This isn’t a problem we’ll be facing years down the road. Warmer temperatures have already cut down yields in the majority of wheat-growing regions, according to researchers.

“This has significant implications for global food security,” said Senthold Asseng, a professor at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences, who led the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Here’s the problem: By 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects global temperatures will rise by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius. And by 2050, the world population is predicted to hit 9.6 billion—an increase of 38 percent. That means more people and less food.

“Global food production, with wheat accounting for 20 percent of calories consumed globally, needs to grow 60 percent by 2050,” Asseng said. “That’s a huge agricultural challenge complicated by temperature increases due to climate change.”

Looking at 30 wheat varieties grown in a range of temperatures, researchers found that higher temperatures decreased yields.

Asseng explains: "Increasing temperatures reduces the time from sowing to maturity, which reduces the time a crop can photosynthesize, resulting in less growth and lower yields."

Sticking those findings in a new computer simulation model showed that this dynamic is already in play worldwide.

“When applying the multi-model ensemble globally, we found that warming is already slowing yield gains, despite observed yield increases in the past, at a majority of wheat-growing locations across the globe,” Asseng said.

Low-latitude areas are the most vulnerable since temperatures are already higher in these regions, he added.

The results aren’t surprising. Last year, researchers predicted that in Europe—the world’s largest producer of wheat—adverse weather related to climate change would be more likely to increase over the next 45 years and threaten production.

In 2012, researchers at the University of Gothenburg found that higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere decreased the amount of protein in wheat. Why? The increased amount of CO2 stunted the plants’ ability to absorb nitrogen during growth.

So what can be done to stop the slowdowns—or, in other words, adapt wheat production to climate change?

“New heat-tolerant wheat cultivars and crop management are needed to counteract the projected yield decline due to increasing temperature,” Asseng said.

At Kansas State University and at Texas A&M University, efforts are already underway to improve wheat’s heat tolerance. And at Purdue University, researchers are developing corn that can be grown in the warmer climates of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

These types of global collaborations are exactly what’s needed to gain a better understanding of climate change’s impacts on agriculture, Asseng said.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 14 Jan 15

The Clock is Ticking on Singapore’s Last Village
from Remember Singapore

Unusual behavior of long-tailed parakeets
from Life's Indulgences

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Alleged illegal fish poaching at Sungei Buloh "under investigation": NParks

Nadia Jansen Hassan Channel NewsAsia 13 Jan 15;

SINGAPORE: The number of illegal fishing cases across Singapore almost tripled in the last three years, from 96 in 2012, to 271 in 2014. There were 182 cases in 2013.

The National Parks Board (NParks) gave these figures after the latest case of alleged illegal fishing took place at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on Sunday (Jan 11).

Photos taken by a member of nature conservation group Nature Trekker have been circulating online. He claims two groups of poachers used a net and a makeshift boat made of styrofoam to carry out the alleged activities.

NParks confirmed that "officers were alerted to an illegal fishing incident" in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on Sunday. It says "the persons involved were questioned at the scene", while "the net used was also confiscated."

NParks says it is unable to provide further information, as investigations are ongoing. It has also stepped up enforcement efforts.

Said Ms Sharon Chan, Deputy Director, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, NParks: "We carry out activities to follow up on tips we have. And if they're being caught in the act, we'll follow up with a fine. And the fine for any of the offences, including removing any plants and animals from the reserve, is a maximum of S$2,000."

“Our Nature Reserves cover a large area totalling 4,000 hectares, and one of our challenges in managing them is when people conduct illegal activities such as illegal fishing and poaching in the Reserves. We conduct regular enforcement patrols against such activities, including at night, together with a group of specialised volunteers known as Nature Wardens," she added.

"“For Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) in particular, preventive measures are taken to address potential cases of illegal fishing. When our officers on patrol spot people outside the Reserve boundary attempting to enter the Reserve to set up nets, we work together with the police to advise them not to continue with their activities,” said Ms Chan. "Through such preventive measures, instances of illegal fishing at SBWR are low."

- CNA/ct/xy

Illegal fishing cases on the rise in Singapore’s parks, reserves

A group of individuals allegedly fishing illegally at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. PHOTO: NATURE TREKKER

XUE JIANYUE Today Online 13 Jan 15;

SINGAPORE — Cases of illegal fishing in Singapore’s parks and reserves appear to be on the rise, with the number of notices issued by the National Parks Board (NParks) for such cases tripling from 96 in 2012 to 271 last year.

Such offences make up the bulk of the poaching cases here. There were only two instances of poaching not involving fish last year and 10 in 2012.

The agency, which oversees four nature reserves and more than 300 parks, attributed the increase in the number of illegal fishing and poaching cases to increased enforcement.

The figures were provided in response to media queries over the latest case of alleged illegal fishing at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve last Sunday.

Mr Ben Lee, founder of nature group Nature Trekker, said he saw a group of individuals on a raft in the reservoir, pulling in a large net to check for fish. He immediately alerted the park authorities.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve deputy director Sharon Chan said officers were deployed to the reserve and the individuals involved were questioned at the scene with the help of the police.

“The net used was also confiscated. As investigations are currently ongoing, we are unable to provide further information on the incident. We would like to remind members of the public that fishing is not permitted in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Signs are prominently displayed to inform the public of this,” she said.

She added that the instances of illegal fishing at the reserve are few and far between due to the preventive measures put in place there.

“When our officers on patrol spot people outside the reserve boundary attempting to enter the reserve to set up nets, we work together with the police to advise them not to continue with their activities,” she said.

There were two cases of illegal fishing last year at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, none in 2013 and one in 2012. The agency did not reveal the locations of other cases.

Ms Chan said the nature reserves cover 4,000ha and illegal poaching is one of the problems faced in managing them. NParks conducts regular enforcement patrols with the help of a group of volunteers called Nature Wardens.

The volunteers play an advisory role and are trained on how to approach and interact with those who conduct illegal activities.

Those who are caught are issued notices of offences. After investigations, a person may be warned or fined. Under the Parks and Trees Act, a person found guilty of removing an animal or plant from a national park or nature reserve without permission can be fined up to S$50,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both.

Mr Lee feels the authorities should act more quickly to nab poachers when a case is reported.

Illegal fishing is rampant in Singapore’s reservoirs and nature reserves, he said, although most of the cases he observed involved hook-and-line fishing. This method, while “wrong”, causes less damage to the environment, compared with the method of using nets.

“This (poacher at Sungei Buloh) throws a net and once he hauls it in, so many fish will be stuck there. He’s taking so many fish lives away,” said Mr Lee.

The loss of fish will, in turn, affect the supply of food for birds, as well as rare species, such as the saltwater crocodile and oriental smooth-coated otters, he added.

“This will affect the food chain of the overall biodiversity there,” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JOY FANG

Illegal poaching cases on the rise in Singapore, NParks figures show
FENG ZENGKUN Straits Times 13 Jan 15;

SINGAPORE - Cases of illegal poaching in Singapore's parks and nature reserves appear to be on the rise, with the National Parks Board (NParks) handing out 273 notices of offences for it in 2014, up from just 106 notices in 2012.

Almost all of the notices given out in the past three years were due to illegal fishing. The poaching of other animals and plants made up just 21 out of the 570 cases in total.

NParks provided these figures on Tuesday in response to queries. It is now investigating a case of illegal fishing within the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on Sunday, which was reported by a member of the public.

It said that the people involved were questioned at the scene, and the net that they used was also confiscated. It was unable to provide more information as the investigations are ongoing.

The agency said that it conducts regular enforcement patrols against poaching, including at night, with the help of a group of trained volunteers. "When our officers on patrol spot people outside of the reserve boundary attempting to enter the reserve to set up nets, we work together with the police to advise them not to continue their activities," it said.

Under the Parks and Trees Act, anyone who removes an animal or plant from a national park or nature reserve without permission can be fined up to $50,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both, upon conviction.

3 poachers spotted fishing illegally at nature reserve
Choo Mei Fang The New Paper AsiaOne 16 Jan 15;

He's passionate about birds and frequently goes to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to observe them.

But one thing caught Mr Ben Lee's eye last Sunday and there was nothing natural about it.

He saw three people paddling on a raft, made of what appeared to be a large piece of styrofoam, and cast a net into the water.

According to NParks, the number of people caught fishing illegally at parks and nature reserves has almost tripled in the past three years.

At around 2.30pm on Sunday, Mr Lee, 52, the founder of nature conservation and environmental group Nature Trekker, was at the nature reserve with two other volunteers from the group when he spotted the three people - two men and a woman - in the distance.

He used his camera to zoom in on them and saw that they had a paddle and a drift net.

He took several pictures of them before calling the police and telling the nature reserve employees about it.

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Malaysia Floods: Illegal loggers to face music

BEN New Straits Times 13 Jan 15;

SEGAMAT: The government will consult with the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail before taking illegal loggers responsible for the massive floods nationwide to court.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said: “Such measures such as bringing the perpetrators to book, was among one of the best available options in an effort to tackle the issue of illegal logging and land clearing

He was speaking to reporters after visiting the flood relief centre in Kampung Batu Badak here this afternoon.

Also present were Buloh Kasap assemblyman Norshida Ibrahim, Tenang assemblyman Mohd Azahar Ibrahim and Segamat district officer Ahmad Ma'in.

Shahidan, who is also the National Security Council (NSC) chairman, said the federal government took seriously the issue of logging and land clearing.

“Besides that, the government will also continue to go after illegal loggers as it is the locals that will suffer if there is no firm action taken,” he said.

Shahidan said the government will also propose that all state governments stop logging activities for the next 10 years in an effort to prevent flooding.

He said the federal government and the respective state governments should cooperate on this matter.

Third wave will not occur, says Met Dept
The Star 14 Jan 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: A third wave of floods expected to hit the East Coast states will not occur based on analysis of rain episodes by the Malaysian Meteorological Department.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department (Weather and Climate) deputy director-general Alui Bahari said based on a one-week rainfall analysis there had been no episode of heavy monsoon rains which would normally lead to floods.

"Every day we monitored the weather and found only regular rainfall, not heavy monsoon rain. Should there be changes, we will inform two days before the heavy monsoon rain episode begins to appear," he told Bernama Tuesday.

He said heavy monsoon rains that last for two or three days could cause flooding as what had happened recently in several areas in the East Coast, Kedah, Johor and Perak.

Normal heavy rain that continues for two or three hours can sometimes cause flash floods, he said.

Alui said issuing warning on a wave of floods does not come under the purview of the department as the department only issues warnings related to the weather such as heavy rain and strong winds.

National Security Council (MKN) Secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab however, said regardless, the agency would be geared to face the possibility of a third wave of floods in the country.

He said his teams were still busy working at all areas affected by floods to help and deliver all forms of assistance, including effective communication.

"Therefore, we maintain the position of our teams in flood-hit areas as in the first and second phase of the floods," he told Bernama.

Thajudeen said the agency, in collaboration with various government agencies and non-governmental organisations, including volunteer teams were now actively involved in rehabilitation work.

According to him, apart from food aid, medicine, clothing and shelter, flood victims were in dire need of moral support to build their confidence in moving forward. - Bernama

Floods: Increasing trend of leptospirosis, melioidosis: Health Ministry
ELVINA FERNANDEZ New Straits Times 14 Jan 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry revealed that there was an increasing trend of leptospirosis and melioidosis disease in flood affected states.

Its director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a total of 146 suspected cases of leptospirosis have been reported in flood-hit states between Jan 11 and Jan 13, with five cases have been confirmed positive.

"As for meliodisis, on Jan 13, a total of seven cases have been confirmed positive in Pahang'"

"We are taking precautionary measures in facing leptospirosis and melioidosis in the affected states," he said in a statement.

Among the steps taken, he said were to ensure health facilities were able to accommodate the increasing number of patients and that there were sufficient drugs to treat patients.

"All hospitals have been instructed to be on a “prepared mode”, especially the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Ward, to treat and monitor patients if the need arises," he said.

He added that rapid test kits for leptospirosis will be provided at health clinics in addition to those already supplied to hospitals.

"Health Alert Cards for leptospirosis, meliodosis and typhoid will be provided to our health staff and medical NGOs,"

Dr Noor Hisham also pointed out that volunteers who are involved in post flood clearing activities in flood affected areas, were at risk of contracting leptospirosis and melioidosis.

"They are advised to seek immediate health treatment should there be any signs of or symptoms of the water or vector borne disease," he said.

He also urged medical practitioners in public and private health facilities are to be aware of the current situation and the risk of flood related diseases such as leptospirosis and melioidosis.

"Medical practitioners should check the travel history of patients when examining, to see if they have visited flood affected states and carry out the necessary test as well as treatment."

Among the symptoms of leptospirosis are fever, headache, muscle aches, cough, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, inflammation of the eyes and jaundice.

The incubation period of the disease is between two and 21 days.

While the symptoms of melioidosis are fever, headache, joint pain, cough, chest pain, breathing difficulties, abdominal discomfort, confusion and localised infections such as scabies.

The incubation period of the disease is between one and 21 days.

Read more!

Low-energy urbanisation 'can help climate goals'

Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News 13 Jan 15;

A study of 274 cities has helped shed light on energy consumption in urban areas and what can be done to make future urbanisation more efficient.

Globally, cities are best placed to mitigate emissions as urban areas are much more energy intensive than rural areas, say researchers.

Most people now live in urban areas, a trend that is accelerating as the global population continues to grow.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The UN estimates that almost four billion people - 53% of the world's population - currently reside in towns or cities. By the middle of this century, that figure is set to grow to 6.3 billion. In 1950, the urban population was under 750 million people.

Writing in their paper, a team of researchers from Germany and the US observed: "The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report shows that urban areas consume between 67% and 76% of global energy and generate about three quarters of global carbon emissions.

"Additionally, to accommodate growing urbanising populations and economies, urban areas and their built environment are projected to more than triple between 2000 and 2030."

The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, published in 2014, suggested that "the greatest potential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions may lie in rapidly developing cities in industrialising countries".

The team found that the mitigation potential of urban areas on a global scale was "insufficiently understood", making it difficult to quantify what energy savings could be made through more effective planning and development.

"I think one of the central problems is that every city tends to view climate change and energy consumption as their own local problem," suggested co-author Felix Creutzig from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, Berlin.

"On the local level, it has been understood but at a global level it is different."

In their study, the team analysed a dataset from 274 cities from 60 countries, including all of the world's 21 megacities (urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants).

The dataset allowed the researchers to identify different profiles of energy use by cities, which could then shape bespoke climate mitigation policies for urban areas that fitted a particular energy-use profile.

Dr Creutzig told BBC News: "We looked at factors including population density and fuel prices. We found that - especially in those regions that are urbanising quickly: Asia, Africa and the Middle East - if there are higher fuel prices and good urban planning then there could be about a 25% energy saving from the business-as-usual scenario."

He added that urban areas' high energy demands, especially in industrialised nations, were influenced by a range of factors - such as population density, fuel prices, transport infrastructure and technology - and it would require a high concentration of renewable and low carbon generation technologies in order to reduce emissions while meeting the soaring energy demands of global urbanisation.

"It would make it a lot more feasible to achieve (climate) targets if we had the infrastructure that did not require so much energy," Dr Creutzig explained.

"What we are saying is that it would be super-helpful if cities were to develop in an energy efficient way.

"As our study shows, cities are indeed very different from each other but we can identify types of cities that are similar to each other (in terms of energy-use). We will then be able to see the global perspective of urbanisation."

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 13 Jan 15

1 Feb (Sun): Free Guided Walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Cave Nectar Bats visiting flowers of Musa ‘Cavendish’
from Bird Ecology Study Group

The Noble Octopus
from Hantu Blog

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Vanguard Mining supplies Vietnam and Cambodia sand to Singapore

Vanguard Mining Engages Logistics Partner for Shipping of Sand and Construction Aggregates to Singapore
Market Wired 13 Jan 15;

NEW YORK, NY and JAKARTA, INDONESIA--(Marketwired - Jan 12, 2015) - Vanguard Mining Corporation (OTC PINK: VNMC) (NASDAQ: VNMC) today announced that the Company has engaged PT Yudha Bahkti Menggala, an Indonesian logistics company, as an exclusive partner for logistics and sea transportation to handle shipment of construction sand, reclamation sand and other construction aggregates for the Singaporean construction market.

Vanguard Mining has partnered with several sand suppliers in Vietnam and Cambodia to provide construction and reclamation sands to Singapore and is currently working with Mega Kencana Persada (MKP), a company owning a 330-hectare limestone concession in Mandailing Natal, North Sumatra, to supply limestone to the Indonesian domestic and neighboring export markets.

For limestone aggregate, in the first phase MKP plans to produce about 25,000 MT of crushed limestone per month during the first six months and 50,000 MT per month for the next six months, and generate approximately $11,250,000 in revenues and $2,812,500 net income during the first year. Beginning the second year, it can increase production capacity to 1.2 million MT per year for export markets, with projected revenues of $30 million and net income of $7,500,000 per year. The estimated limestone deposits of this concession are about 150 million MT.

While VNMC is in the process of acquiring or cooperating with other producing mines in Vietnam and continuing exploratory work at the PT Cendrawasih gold concession in North Sumatra, the Company will focus on working with MKP to go into production as soon as possible.

Jalani Haniffa, President of VNMC, stated, "We are very pleased to have PT Yudha Bhakti Menggala as our logistics partner as we are moving forward with our sand supply business with Vietnam and Cambodia and getting ready to have our own production at MKP," Jalani added: "We believe it is a win-win strategy and will create substantial benefits for shareholders of both companies."

About VNMC

Founded in 1987, Vanguard Mining Corporation, a Nevada corporation, is building and developing a portfolio of mineral assets in Southeast Asia, including gold, copper, limestone, gypsum, granite and sand. VNMC has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of PT Mega Kencana and an MOU to acquire 51% of the silica sand company in Central Vietnam. http://www.vnmcglobal.com

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Malaysia: Logging Caused Unusual Flooding, Says NGOs

Kamarul Irwan Alias, Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil and Ratcharathan A/L Rawe Shanggar Bernama 13 Jan 15;

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- The East Coast of Malaysia, last year, was struck by the worst flood in its history. It left in its wake a destruction and loss of property and afflicted victims with a host of psychological issues.

Kelantan was the worst affected, with over 100,000 victims relocated to relief centres. Many of them had lost their homes when it was swept away by strong currents.

It is not unusual for the East Coast states to be affected by the Northeast Monsoon, which occurs from November to March, every year.

The months of November, December and January typically records the highest amount of rainfall, causing floods in the lowlands.

However, last year's flood occurred on an unprecedented scale, resulting in destruction akin to that brought by the tsunami. It left many wondering how such a disaster could have happened.

To true cause of the unusual flooding has yet to be determined to this day. The Deputy Prime Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has stated that the government would conduct a post-mortem on the issue once the situation improves.

However, several environmental NGOs have pointed out that the disaster that happened was due to the massive environmental destruction that took place in the state.

CRUCIAL TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT

Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka) is one of the NGOs formed to stop the destruction of natural resources.

Its president Puan Sri Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said the NGO had time and again reminded the state government and the media the importance of protecting the state's forests and natural resources, in order to prevent disasters like floods.

She said each state government was responsible for its own natural resources. It also needed to impress upon the importance of preserving its forests, instead of trading it for short-term gains and benefits.

"Perhaps they (the state government) may gain a RM20 million income from logging activities, but, it will cost them billions of ringgit in recovery costs when floods of this scale occur," she told Bernama, when contacted.

She said if logging activities were to take place, those responsible should incorporate with it ways of ensuring the conservation of the ecosystem in the affected area.

Giving the example of good logging practices, she said in Canada, every tree felled needed to be replaced with the planting of eight to 10 new trees to preserve the ecosystem.

"We should not wait until disaster strikes to implement such measures," she said.

Meanwhile, the president of Sahabat Alam Sekitar Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia),Datuk Abdul Malek Yusof, said widespread and indiscriminate logging created a ripple effect in the long run.

"Logging would usually result in erosion, causing mud to flow down from the highlands during rain, eroding hills and destroying water catchments and causing lowlands to become flooded," he said.

MAY NOT BE A ONE-TIME DISASTER

A huge cause for concern is the logging activities detected in Tasik Chini, Pahang and several areas in Kedah, which could lead to floods of a similar scale.

"Last week I visited Tasik Chini in Pahang and saw for myself the illegal logging taking place which has now resulted in muddy water in the lake," said Abdul Malek.

He said the surrounding area was at in high risk for flooding if the lake became shallower due to mud flowing in from logging activities.

In fact, he said, the hills in the area have become bald as no trees were replanted after logging activities took place.

Abdul Malek said there were also massive logging taking place in areas like Padang Terap in Kedah and along the slopes at the Titiwangsa range.

He said the issue of indiscriminate logging should not be politicised or regarded as something normal because it was a real problem with dire consequences.

"I am urging for political inclinations to be set aside and for the federal and state governments to work together to solve the issue of logging.

"If it is possible, a commission should be set up to overlook logging activities," he suggested.

He however said it was not the only underlying cause for the flood, as poor irrigation and garbage disposal systems could also lead to the disaster.

ROLE OF THE PUBLIC

Meanwhile, the president of the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia, Nithi Nesadurai said public awareness on environmental issues were still very low, leading to a number of environmental abuse.

He said Malaysians needed to understand the importance of natural forests and the effects of logging and illegal land clearing.

"When trees are felled, it causes rain to flow down the soil instead of being absorbed into the earth by trees (and later slowly released into water catchments). This causes rainwater to flow down at a faster rate into the rivers. Rivers will not be able to contain such an amount of water in a short time, and this causes floods.

"Almost everyone is aware of the phenomenon, but no one gives it due attention," he said.

Nithi said there was also a need for the state government to review the destruction of forests for the purpose of urbanisation as the usage of concrete in the soil could also lead to floods.

Meanwhile, Shariffa Sabrina wanted the public to become bolder in protecting nature and the environment by resorting to public protests if there were logging activities in their areas.

-- BERNAMA

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Malaysia Floods: New landfills to dispose post flood rubbish

AUDREY DERMAWAN New Straits Times 12 Jan 15;

KUALA KANGSAR: A whopping 200,000 tonnes of rubbish have been collected from flood affected states nationwide to date.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the figure may double when the post-floods operation wrapped up.

"There are still areas which are flooded and we have yet to begin the clean-up operations.

"Once that is done, we can expect the amount of rubbish to reach until 400,000 tonnes," he told reporters after visiting Arena Square, one of the areas affected by the recent floods.

Abdul Rahman said the ministry was also facing great challenges to dispose the rubbish as some of the landfills were also damaged in the floods.

"We have built three landfills in Temerloh, Pahang.

"If other states feel there is a need to build such a landfill, they can do so," he added.

Flood waste up to 200,000 tonnes
The Star 13 Jan 15;

KUALA KANGSAR: Trash and debris collected from the floods that ravaged parts of the country have reached a staggering 200,000 tonnes.

And authorities are not quite finished yet as there are places still submerged under water.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan estimated that the final count might climb up to between 300,000 and 400,000 tonnes.

“This is going to be particularly challenging for the ministry and local authorities because many landfills have been rendered unusable by floodwaters.

“We will have to look into the opening of temporary landfills to accommodate this much waste just as we did recently in Temerloh,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Based on an early estimation, Abdul Rahman said total repair and cleaning costs for public infrastructure and common areas would come up to around RM100mil.

“Seeing the extent of the damage in flood-ravaged areas, I would not be surprised if the cost would perhaps even reach RM200mil and this is excluding private homes,” he added.

Since Kuala Kangsar, the royal town, was expected to host the coronation of Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah in a few months, Abdul Rahman said it would prioritise the infrastructure involved in the ceremony for remedial works.

Relief centres to have solar panels and rainwater systems
The Star 13 Jan 15;

JOHOR BARU: Flood evacuation centres will be equipped with solar power panels and rainwater harvesting systems, said Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said the centres would have constant supply of power and water when people take refuge there during major floods.

“The recent major floods in the east coast states has taught us to look at alternative ways of supplying power and water to victims at relief centres.

“There is no time frame for us to implement these measures, but we will ensure that this proposal will be carried out,” he said after launching the operation of a solar power panel system at Masjid Jamek Bandar Baru Uda here yesterday.

Mahdzir said that in the event of major floods, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) would usually cut off power supply at its sub-stations for safety measures.

“Water supply pumps will stop functioning at treatment plants, and this disrupts the water supply at the evacuation centres,” he said, adding that the solar panels and rainwater harvesting system installed at flood evacuation centres would help to provide the needed water and power for the people.

During the major floods in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, floods victims were cut off from the outside world as they could not contact their family members on their mobile phones as there was no power supply to charge them.

Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) said it will send a mobile testing laboratory to Kelantan to help ensure clean water supply and prevent disease outbreaks.

UTM’s Institute of Environment, Water Resources Management deputy director Prof Dr Mohd Razman Salim, claimed that most of Kelantan’s wells were currently polluted by waste water.

He said the mobile laboratory would head for Kuala Krai and Gua Musang this week.

“These two Kelantan districts were among the worst hit,” he said.

The laboratory can measure levels of metal and organic elements in water, as well as foreign particles and bacterial content.

“The mobile lab could provide results within two to three hours, compared to having to send the samples back to the university’s laboratory,” Mohd Razman said in a press conference on Sunday.

Getting villagers to help themselves during floods
The Star 13 Jan 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Communities from nine flood-prone villages in three states will soon be trained to become disaster-resilient under a Red Crescent Society (MRCS) programme.

MRCS’s Dr S. Selva Jothi said the society would introduce “Adoption of Village” programme to ensure that if these villages were to suffer disasters again, people there would be able to help themselves.

“The programme is to adopt the village (to the floods) and train them to be safe and resilient,” the MRCS national organisational development committee chairman said yesterday.

This, he said, meant that such villages would be able to deal with health and water safety risks, and also have early disaster warning systems.


Villages would also adopt a “culture of coping with crisis”, taking hygiene sanitation into account and making sure that local economies were resilient in such events.

He said of the nine villages to be chosen, four were in Kelantan, three were in Terengganu and two were in Pahang.

One Kelantan village, Kampung Pasir Tumbok, has thus far been earmarked for this programme, he said, adding that it was currently going through a second phase of assessments.

Another eight, he said, were in the pipeline with some villages being assessed.

He expected that this sort of training to take at least a year per village (two years at the most), with a total cost of RM5mil.

Some RM3.2mil, he said, donated from sponsors and others had been collected so far for this purpose.

He added that MRCS would not be in charge of physically rebuilding the village itself, adding that it would either be left to locals or contractors.

Dr Selva said it started with an Orang Asli village in Johor known as Kampung Peta that had been destroyed by floods there in 2006.

He said that MRCS trained people there in disaster preparedness, so much so that they became experts of it, going to even Kedah to help out when floods struck there in 2009.

Over 200,000 people in Malaysia became refugees when floods swept through Malaysia’s East Coast, with some villages completely destroyed by the waters.

In a related matter, MRCS national chairman Tunku Tan Sri Shahriman Tunku Sulaiman thanked The Star and Firefly for working with the society to collect flood relief donations.

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