World’s governments are failing on protected areas for nature

IUCN 3 Feb 15;

A new study has found that while governments are making progress in expanding Protected Area networks, these are failing to provide adequate coverage for nature.

In 2010, the world’s governments committed to conserving 17% of land and 10% of sea by 2020, particularly those places of particular importance for nature. With five years to go to achieve this target, new research by 40 authors from 26 institutions led by IUCN member BirdLife International shows that the current Protected Areas system is still failing to cover all key sites, species and ecosystems.

“We carried out the most comprehensive analysis to date of how well Protected Areas cover nature. We analysed nearly 12,000 important sites, over 1,000 terrestrial and marine ecological regions and over 25,000 species of animals and plants, including the first assessment for marine species,” said Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s Head of Science and lead author of the paper. “The analysis also revealed that only one-fifth of key sites for nature are completely covered by protected areas, with one-third lacking any protection.”

Furthermore, less than half of mammals, amphibians, mangroves and various marine groups have a sufficient proportion of their distributions covered by the current Protected Area network to be adequately conserved. Threatened species in these groups, plus birds and corals, are even less well covered. Achieving adequate coverage of nature to meet globally adopted targets would require twice the area of land as found in the current global Protected Area network.

“Challengingly, the largest increases in land needing to be set aside for conservation are located in poorer countries of the world, which makes considerations of the benefits from conservation especially relevant,” said co-author Dr Neil Burgess, Head of Science at the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

“Achieving this level of growth in protected lands and seas will require greater recognition and increased establishment of indigenous and community-conserved areas, private reserves, land trusts, and sustainably managed areas that provide conservation outcomes,” said Dr Thomas Brooks, Head of Science and Knowledge at IUCN.

“This study should be a wake-up call to governments and other conservationists across the world. Meeting the target will require accelerated recognition and designation of effective conservation areas that are much better targeted towards important sites for nature,” said Dr Stuart Butchart.

The paper, Shortfalls and Solutions for Meeting National and Global Conservation Area Targets, was published in the journal Conservation Letters and is freely available here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12158/abstract

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India looks set to harvest bumper wheat crop in 2015

Mayank Bhardwaj Reuters Yahoo News 3 Feb 15;

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India looks likely to harvest a bumper wheat crop this year, its eighth in a row to exceed demand, possibly encouraging the government to allow exports from overflowing grain bins.

A slow start to the planting season and a less than expected rise in the price at which the government will buy new-season wheat from farmers had raised some apprehension about a drop in output.

But as the weather turned favourable, planting gradually picked up the usual pace.

"Every single trend suggests that we are heading for a harvest as big as last year," Indu Sharma, chief of the state-run Directorate of Wheat Research, told Reuters.

But Sharma and her colleagues are keeping an eye out for any sudden rise in temperatures in February and March, as dry weather could damage the crop.

The crop has to now been unscathed apart from some minor fungus which was "highly localised", Sharma said.

Indian farmers grow only one wheat crop a year. Planting starts in October, with harvests from April. Wheat acreage hovers between 29 million and 31 million hectares.

The area planted with wheat is 3 percent lower than the previous year, according to provisional data from the farm ministry which updates its numbers as it gathers more information.

The reduction in area was "marginal and well within the range", said Farm Commissioner J.S. Sandhu, who oversees crop planting.

"The last few spells of rains, intermittent fog followed by sunshine and no large-scale pest infestation indicate a big crop size, at least as big as the 2014 harvest," Sandhu said.

In 2014, India, the world’s biggest wheat producer after China, harvested a record 95.91 million tonnes, bumping up stocks to three times the target.

To make room for the new harvest, the government could allow exports.

But trade experts say India has narrowly missed an opportunity to export wheat as global prices have again nosed down and rival European supplies have become cheaper.

Benchmark prices in Chicago (WH5) on Monday hit a four-month low of $4.92-1/4 a bushel.

"The price dynamics changed swiftly and India failed to take a quick call on exports. Now French wheat is available at $210-$215, (free on board) against Indian wheat which is priced at $275 a tonne," said Tajinder Narang, a New Delhi-based trade analyst who advises many big global traders.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Birth control access key means of reaching climate goals: experts

Laurie Goering PlanetArk 4 Feb 15;

In Pakistan, where just a third of married women use contraception, half of all pregnancies - 4.2 million each year - are unintended, according to the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau.

At the same time, the rising population in Pakistan - and elsewhere around the world - is creating more climate-changing emissions and putting more people in the path of extreme weather, food and water shortages, and other climate change pressures.

That suggests that giving more women who want it access to birth control to limit their family size - in both rich and poor countries - could be a hugely effective way to curb climate change and to build greater resilience to its impacts, according to population and climate change researchers and policy experts.

"We're not talking about population control. We're talking about giving people the choice to limit their family size and all the good things that go on from that" such as better health and education, said Baroness Jennny Tonge, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, during an event at the UK Parliament Monday on linking population and climate issues.

Bringing together two politically contentious concerns - climate change and managing population growth - in an effort to build effective policy has been far from easy.

"They're both sensitive and it's difficult to make headway on either, much less both together," admitted Jason Bremner, a demographer and associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau.

Still, an international coalition of experts on climate change, family planning and development aid are now pushing for universal access to family planning to be recognized as a part of "climate-compatible development" and included in new U.N.-backed Sustainable Development Goals set to be agreed in September.

Some countries, such as Ethiopia, already have included family planning among the activities they want to undertake on climate change, using international climate finance, according to an analysis by the London-based Population and Sustainability Network.

"They themselves identified population as a factor making it more difficult for them to adapt. We in the north are worried about, 'Is it fair to make this connection?' when people in the south are already making it," said Karen Newman, coordinator of the network.

Population growth has an impact on climate-related pressures as diverse as land availability, access to water, deforestation and migration, which often occurs "to coastal areas where vulnerability to climate change is very high", said Newman, a sexual and reproductive health and rights expert.

Family planning could potentially find a funding source in the Green Climate Fund, which was established as part of U.N.-led climate talks and which will later this year and early next begin its first distributions of about $10 billion in funds donated to help poor countries adapt to climate change impacts or adopt a lower-emission development path.

Money is key because "we can make all the policies in the world but if there isn't financing for both (climate change and birth control), neither are going to get any better", Bremner said.

But he admitted he had "not a lot" of confidence family planning projects would be supported by the climate fund, which faces a huge range of demands on its resources.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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Best of our wild blogs: 3 Feb 15

Wed 11 Feb 2015 @ NUS LT34 – Debby Ng speaks about Himalayan Mutt Project!
from Toddycats!

Ever Wondered What Snail Embryos Looked Like?
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Gasp! The Grey Heron!
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Sneaky Squirrel
from My Nature Experiences

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URA to decentralise business activities and commercial centres outside CBD

Wong Siew Ying Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE: In an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Chief Planner and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Lim Eng Hwee said URA intends to intensify efforts to decentralise business activities and commercial centres outside the city.

Decentralisation is a way to achieve a more sustainable growth by distributing commercial activities to various parts of the island, such as Tampines, Jurong and Paya Lebar – as well as an upcoming one stretching from Woodlands to Punggol, called the North Coast Innovation Corridor.

Q: What is URA's key strategy for the next decade?

A: Broadly and conceptually, we have always talked about decentralising activities, but we think there is opportunity for us to really intensify, to work across all the agencies to make it happen – and in the process create something that is quite unique.

Take Jurong as an example. Before we launched the development, the masterplan in 2008, people's impression of Jurong is: It is near an industrial area; it is not attractive; there is only one shopping mall. With Jurong East today, once you have coordinated effort across agencies, partnerships with the private sector to try to integrate things together, it can take a very refreshing look.

Tampines Regional Centre has achieved a certain critical mass, it right now has a couple of hundred thousand square metres of office space; it has three significant malls. So in terms of serving the residents' needs it is adequate for now, but Tampines is still being developed. We see the Tampines regional centre and Changi Business Park – which is right next to the new SUTD University – as a twin hub that anchors major business and commercial activities.

The location of these two twin centres, in particular the Business Park, is right next to Changi Airport. In time, the next 10 years or so, Changi Airport will be expanded and there will be a lot more activities happening in Changi. The whole of Singapore’s East will be a very significant hub.

Q: Long-term and forward-looking planning has been entrenched in the land use development process in Singapore. How has this enabled Singapore to be more nimble in seizing opportunities?

A: I would say it is a very strategic advantage to Singapore. We were talking to some of the financial institutions and even sharing, doing exchanges with other cities. You realise that for other cities, when it is time for them to seize opportunities and obtain investments to expand, they were hindered by the availability of land. It is not just land – many cities are much bigger than Singapore, so it is not difficult to find land – but having land in a right location, at a right time that allows you to expand your business investment. To us that gives us an opportunity.

Planning is neverending so these are the type of questions we ask ourselves. Among the agencies we sit down together and brainstorm – whether there are new ideas, whether we can leverage on some of these opportunities.

We know in the longer term, the port will be consolidated in Tuas for example, so there must be a lot of opportunities for us not only to take away the freight traffic now in Keppel, Pasir Panjang, where there's haulage in that area. When you consolidate, you take away that traffic and when you have so many trucks moving around serving the port, surely the logistics industry can find some way to extract maximum efficiency. It can create a logistics hub; it can create things which companies can share the services.

Likewise, the same concept can apply to Changi, when we start to grow aviation not just for passengers, but also the cargo, the aviation industry. Whether it is maintenance, repair and operations or logistics companies, when they start to congregate around the airport, again there will be opportunities for us to do something.

In planning what we can do is discuss with agencies, including economic agencies, to look at what some of these opportunities are, and make sure there is land safeguarded for these new ideas to take place.

Q: Were there any "planning mistakes" and what has been done to rectify them?

A: I am not sure if this is a mistake. Often you make certain decisions in the context of the situation at that point in time. One particular area is perhaps in the area of conservation. For obvious reasons, in the 60s and 70s, we were faced with huge challenges - unemployment, the acute housing shortage, and the city centre was so crowded.

The focus was not on whether heritage buildings should be conserved. So you see a lot of massive, comprehensive redevelopment, where so many old buildings were removed. Looking back in hindsight of course, we say some of these unique buildings ought to be kept.

Starting from the 80s, the planners and the decision makers at that point in time started to think about whether we should start to retain these heritage buildings which are important anchors for future generations. The buildings will provide a link for them to identify with their past. So the conservation journey really started in the 80s.

Having kept these buildings is not enough. Having retained them, I think we should now think about how can we help people to understand more of the history behind these buildings. We have to encourage people to start talking about the buildings, and share their personal stories so that the younger generation, when they look at the building, they understand the history behind them. I would not think that the decision made then to demolish the buildings as mistakes – it is really contextual.

In part two of the interview the URA Chief Planner discusses prospects of building underground and what the URA is doing differentiate Singapore from other cities.

- CNA/dl

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Malaysia: Improvements Needed for Future EIA - WWF-Malaysia

WWF Malaysia 2 Feb 15;

29 Jan 2015, Kota Kinabalu: WWF-Malaysia is urging the government to adopt best practices to improve the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system to better protect the environment. Noting the recent disagreements between three parties concerned with regards to the shrimp aquaculture development in Pitas, WWF-Malaysia believes that the cause of the disagreement goes beyond misunderstanding and miscommunication of the EIA review process.

Citing the two Stop-Work Orders previously issued to the Pitas project contractors, WWF-Malaysia acknowledges the good work that the Environment Protection Department (EPD) had already put in to ensure environmental safeguards.

However, WWF-Malaysia noted that there are several improvements that could be undertaken for a better EIA system.

At present, EIA consultants are all chosen and paid-for by the developer. As the saying goes, “He who pays the Piper calls the Tune”. This represents poor governance and may give rise to conflicts of interest. Findings and recommendations of EIA reports may look independent. But in effect many are geared to serve the paymaster’s interest.

“One solution is for EPD to be the ‘paymaster’ or at least to be seen as one. To implement this, the developer should channel the fee for the EIA to EPD and the department should pay the EIA consultant only upon recommendations of the EIA review panel. This would not entirely solve the problem since ultimately the EIA would still be paid by the developer but it would considerable reduce the issue of conflict of interest,” said Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director / CEO of WWF-Malaysia.

“To promote better accountability, EIA consultants should not be responsible for monitoring their own work, but the Government should instead empower EPD with the responsibility to act as the independent monitoring body,” he added.

Mindful that EPD is facing significant resource constraints, WWF-Malaysia calls on the Government to allocate more resources to EPD to enable the department to effectively carry out its EIA-related functions.

“We should urgently seek to achieve a more independent and transparent EIA system and to improve monitoring and enforcement of the relevant laws to minimise disputes for future EIAs,’ said Dato’ Dionysius.

WWF-Malaysia also stressed the value of complying with other guidelines in the EIA review process, such as offer letters by the Land and Survey Department (LSD), where for example, it is a legal requirement that for land classified as a mangrove swamp or forest, a riparian buffer zone of 100 meters measured landwards from the first mangrove vegetation in the water, shall be conserved totally and no drainage channel may be constructed over such zone. “In such matters, the LSD should also be included and actively involved in the EIA approval and monitoring process”, Dato’ Dr. Dionysius said. “The responsibility of monitoring should lie with multi-stakeholders.”

On commenting about the Pitas shrimp farming project, Dato’ Dr Dionysius stressed on the importance of balancing financial benefits to the local community with ensuring sufficient natural coastal protection provided by mangrove forests. “Having witnessed a great number of natural disasters occurring nationwide, such as floods over the past few weeks, we should be more stringent about the possible impacts of large scale projects on the environment. Mangroves also have an ecological function in providing nursery and breeding ground for marine resources such as fish and shrimp that provide for the livelihood of the people in the area,” he said. Another issue of contention is that the position of the shrimp farming project happens to be very close to the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP). Malaysia has a commitment to ensure integrity of TMP under the Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), a 6-nation collaboration. Safeguarding the area from further degradation is therefore of utmost importance.

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Indonesia: Floods hit Dompu, Bima in West Nusa Tenggara

Antara 2 Feb 15;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Floods have submerged thousands of houses in Dompu and Bima districts of West Nusa Tenggara Province.

The regional disaster mitigation offices of Bima and Domu, with the assistance of the military and police personnel, have set up flood emergency command posts and evacuated flood victims to safer places, a spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBN) noted in a statement on Sunday.

In Dompu, some four thousand houses in 10 villages in Dompu and Woja sub-districts were flooded, remarked Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Flash floods, reaching a height of up to four meters, were triggered by the Laju, Silo, Soa, Raba Baka, and Toi rivers overflowing their banks following incessant downpours.

The flood-affected villages in Dompu sub-district were Bada, Potu, and Karijawa, while Simpasai, Kandai II, and Waonduru villages in Woja sub-district were inundated by the floods.

Floodwaters also submerged Dompu Public Hospital, forcing the evacuation of all patients to higher grounds.

In Bima district, Delu and Jala villages in Bolo sub-district and Monggo village in Madapangga sub-district were inundated following incessant heavy rains since Saturday (Jan. 31).

Bima District Head Syafrudin HM Nur had visited the flood victims.

Relief aid in the form of instant food, blankets, and necessities for infants was sent to the flood victims.

Currently, several provinces are experiencing flooding and landslides as the rainy season peaks between January and February.

"As predicted earlier, floods will continue to intensify as we enter January. Rainy season in January has the potential to trigger floods and landslides," Nugroho stated recently.

The National Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has forecast very high-intensity rains to potentially occur in January-February 2015, in Central Javas northern coastal areas, western and southern Banten, Aceh, South Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, Papua and West Papua. (*)

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Drought-hit Pakistan turns to solar water treatment

Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio PlanetArk 3 Feb 15;

Worsening drought has led to over 80 percent of water resources in Pakistan's southern Tharparker district becoming unfit for people to drink, a new study says.

That has led to plans by the Sindh provincial government to invest 5.4 billion Pakistani rupees ($53 million) in installing 750 solar-powered reverse osmosis water purification plants across the sprawling desert district, to help get safe drinking water to the region's over 1.5 million people.

All of the facilities are expected to be set up and working by June this year, the government said.

Residents living near a first plant, inaugurated in January in the Misri Shah area of Mithi, the district headquarters of Tharparker, say it is transforming life in the parched region, where vanishing rain and drying groundwater supplies mean most available water is now saline or too high in fluoride.

'HARDLY LESS THAN A MIRACLE'

"It is really hardly less than a miracle for us that we can now drink sweet and clean water, for the first time in my entire life," said 45-year-old Rekha Meghwar of Mithi, as she turns on the water plant's tap to fill her pitcher.

Billed as the 'Asia's largest (by capacity) solar-powered water purification plant', the facility will treat 3 million gallons of water daily, enough to meet the water needs of 300,000 people in Mithi and in 80 adjoining villages, according to officials in the Mithi town municipal office.

Constructed at a cost of 400 million Pakistani rupees or $4 million, the plant is expected to particularly benefit women, who currently often must fetch water from far-away hand-dug wells.

Sunita Bheel, a woman waiting in line for water from the new Mithi plant, said women in the area often walk two kilometers a day to fetch water from a hand-dug well owned by a landlord outside the village.

EFFECT ON MIGRATION

Local people said having water available for themselves, and their livestock, may stem increasing waves of migration from the area.

Anil Kumar, who lives in Morrey-Jee-Waand village, a few miles from Mithi, said 80 percent of people in his village and in seven other villages around it migrated last September to other areas in the region with supplies of dam water in an effort to find potable water for themselves and their livestock, and to seek jobs after crops failed.

"But they are now gradually returning to their villages when they learn about the sweet water (plant)," said the 65-year-old guar farmer, who looks after the property and belongings of neighbors who have migrated.

Today, Kumar rides every other day on his mule, strapped with two empty 30-liter drums, to the filtration plant to bring back water, he said.

Access to useable water is a key problem in drought-hit Tharparkar. Barely 5 percent of the population has access to clean and disease-free potable water, according to a study by Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR).

One reason for this has been worsening fluoride contamination of underground water sources as less water recharges the drying system. The study found that the fluoride level at many locations in Tharparkar is at dangerous levels of over 13 mg/liter compared to the 1 mg/liter considered normal.

Excessive fluoride intake, from sources with more than 1.5 mg/liter of fluoride in the water, can cause problems such as bone deformation, dental problems, and damage to the kidneys and thyroid.

NO RAIN, NO RIVERS

Tharparkar depends heavily on rain-fed ground water, as it has no rivers. It receives an average annual rainfall between 200 and 300 millimeters, 80 percent of it during summer monsoon season, which runs from July to September. The rainfall recharges groundwater that must then last for the other three quarters of the year.

Since 2011, however, average annual rainfall each year has been less than 50 percent of normal, straining further already depleting groundwater resources, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

"Given the current grim state of water woes, establishment of water purification plants is a welcome move," said Abdul Hafeez, the country manager at WaterAid - UK, a global water charity.

But water shortages in the area could be solved even more effectively by tripling the amount of rainwater harvesting going on in the district, he said.

(Editing by Laurie Goering)

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Feb 15

Open for registration – Love MacRitchie Walks 22 Feb & 7 Mar
from Love our MacRitchie Forest

A Guided Walk with Tony & Subaraj at CCNR: Aw, that poor puddy tat! (and other cool birds)
from BES Drongos

sea eagle grabs catfish @ SBWR - Jan2015
from sgbeachbum

Dog-faced Water Snake swallowing a fish
from Bird Ecology Study Group

King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) @ Lim Chu Kang
from Monday Morgue

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Forest City developer to restart work in February, pledges to preserve environment

Today Online 1 Feb 15;

KUALA LUMPUR — Developer Country Garden Pacific View (CGPV) is targeting to restart land reclamation works at its Forest City project in Johor this month after a seven-month halt by the Department of Environment (DOE) following environmental concerns, and has pledged to spend millions to preserve the surrounding seabed, including the sensitive 48.5ha seagrass area.

The RM600 billion mixed-development 1,386ha project involving the building of four man-made islands ran into controversy last year when nearby residents, environmentalists and Singapore raised concerns over the massive works.

The DOE ordered work at the site to be halted last June and the Malaysian-Chinese company was instructed to submit a detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA).

Following the green light from the DOE last month, CGPV executive director Othman Yusof said the southern peak of one of the islands had been scaled down by a third.

This was after more than 20 simulation models were run to come up with the best reclamation shape and sizes to ensure minimal impact on the surroundings.

As the development in Tanjung Kupang between southwestern Johor and northwest of Singapore is located near the shipping Port of Tanjung Pelepas, it also took into account the port limit which encompassed the anchorage area for ships, as well as the port’s future expansion plans.

“The current land form is the final proposal selected by DOE. Islands one, three and four remained unchanged. For island two, the southern peak has been reduced by 30 per cent,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He said the company was unaware of the presence of seagrass when it was first awarded the land by the Johor government and immediately took steps to stop reclamation works once it realised the impact on the sensitive seabed.

“We are committed to preserving the seagrass, hence our work will be synergised with the existing ecosystem.”

This was done by installing a 2km double-silt curtain to contain plume and minimise any pollution, which cost the company more than RM10 million (S$3.73 million).

It has also set up a RM300,000 online monitoring system to monitor water quality in real time and water samples are obtained daily as long as the reclamation works are ongoing with the data transmitted to the DOE offices in Johor Baru and Putrajaya.

Additionally, CGPV submitted the Environmental Management Plan on Jan 25 to the DOE with in-depth details of its reclamation work.

Routine third-party audits will also be conducted to ensure all the requirements are implemented.

Moreover, no dredging works will be conducted until 2033.

“We can only resume work once we get the clearance and we hope to be able to do so after the Chinese New Year celebrations,” he said of the festivities that start on Feb 19.

To date, the company has spent more than RM3.5 million on mitigation measures to preserve the surrounding environment, including placing a single silt curtain around the seagrass.

In the works are replanting of mangroves ringing the four islands and installation of underwater cameras on the seagrass for the public to enjoy the sea animals, including seahorses.

“We are engaging with local NGOs and if they say what we are doing is not enough, we will seek their opinions to ensure how we can do more to protect the surroundings.

“Let us know and we will consider their advice,” he said, adding that they were engaging seagrass experts to help them as well.

The seven-month stop work has cost the company not only monetary wise but operationally, too, something Mr Othman was philosophical about.

“Although the size has been minimised, we are OK with it, we will comply.”

Contrary to claims, he said waters around the development had no fishing activities because of its shallow waters of only between 2m and 3m deep.

Moreover, the area is part of the gazetted port limit where fishing is prohibited.

“It’s all wild allegations. We don’t see any disturbances to the livelihood of anybody here. If people say they are affected, we want to know in what aspect and if it’s true, we will find a way to overcome it.”

He said since income from the surrounding community came from aquaculture and agriculture activities, the company planned to provide training schools for locals to explore viable options in different sectors, such as the services sector.

“Once the islands are constructed, we will need no fewer than 200,000 semi-skilled workers and this opportunity can be offered to the locals first.”

Additionally, once there is any increase in activity in the area, this will be translated into more human traffic which will expose the locals to more economic opportunities.

Despite the setback, CGPV aimed to start marketing before the year-end after it goes back to the drawing board to redesign its master plan.

But at its core, the principle of creating a liveable world-class forested city aimed at the international market remains.

“We are here for the long term and we will comply with whatever decisions set by the government,” said Mr Othman.

The New Straits Times reported last year that following a diplomatic note from the republic, the DEIA was carried out because the project was located near the Malaysia-Singapore borders and it involved coastal reclamation.

The project had initially been approved by the Johor Department of Environment in January but work at the project’s site was halted in June after the developer was instructed to submit a DEIA.

Fishermen and fish farm operators have claimed that mass fish deaths in the area had been caused by the land reclamation works, which was denied by CGPV. MALAYSIAN INSIDER

Reclamation for Forest City 'to resume after Chinese New Year'
Reme AhmadMarissa Lee The Straits Times AsiaOne 1 Feb 15;

DANGA BAY, Malaysia - Reclamation works for the controversial Forest City residential project in the Johor Strait will resume after Chinese New Year, with plans for the sale of the luxury units to begin by the year end.

Work on the ambitious development had stopped last June after Singapore asked Malaysia to study the possible environmental impact it could have on both Singapore and the Johor Strait.

But developer Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV) expects that the paperwork will be cleared up by the middle of next month, allowing work to resume.

CGPV executive director Md Othman Yusof told The Straits Times yesterday that the stoppage easily cost the firm "RM200,000 (S$75,000) a day", as contracts had already been signed for the reclamation works. The reclamation works are expected to be completed in 23 years.

Topside development will begin on a first island this year, with plans to set up a showroom there, but the developer has not decided how many units will be built.

Datuk Md Othman said the company has received "verbal approval" from Malaysia's Home Ministry to build an immigration checkpoint that will be joined to the Second Link.

"It is ideal for us to have a seamless border with no checkpoints. With respect to Singapore, we have to have one, but we try to ease off the checkpoint here," he said, referring to the Customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) facility near the Second Link on the Johor side.

"We expect the approval to build a new CIQ (facility) to come soon," he said.

This will be at a site separate from the existing Johor CIQ facility at the Second Link, Mr Md Othman said in the first interview that an official from the Forest City project has given at length to the media.

CGPV, which can build the project with no height limit, is aiming its "six-star" project at wealthy international buyers, such as those who live in the "extreme" projects in Dubai, said Mr Md Othman.

Dubai is home to the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, which contains apartments and hotels, and the Palm Jumeirah, a giant island

in the shape of a palm tree that contains luxury homes.

Forest City owners will most likely use Changi Airport to get to the project, creating demand for the new CIQ facility, said Mr Md Othman. "We realise there are many other developments... not only in Johor, but also in Singapore, so we have to be different. We have to be extreme."

Mr Md Othman noted that the company's failure to submit a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessmentbefore reclamation works for one island started last year was not out of line, as such reports are not required for land reclamations under 50ha.

CGPV, the project's master developer, is 60 per cent owned by China's Country Garden Holdings. Its other shareholders are an investment arm of the Johor government and Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Ismail.

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More summonses for littering issued in 2014: NEA

Kimberly Spykerman Channel NewsAsia 1 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE: 19,000 summonses for littering were issued by the National Environment Agency in 2014, double the number issued in 2013.

Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan unveiled these statistics at the South-West district's ECo-Day Out event on Sunday (Feb 1). He said people must not be afraid to stand up to those who litter, and reminded them to keep the surroundings clean.

"Of course, some of this increase is because we have stepped up enforcement action. Some people have come up to me and said: 'Elections are coming, you'd better not be so strict.' But let me tell you, this is one area - regardless of when the Prime Minister calls elections - we are going to step up enforcement and we are going to continue to do so," said Dr Balakrishnan

During the ECo-Day Out event, it was also that a project to recycle used light bulbs will be expanded. The South-West Community Development Council is aiming to collect 50,000 light bulbs over the next five years. For each one collected, an energy-efficient bulb will be given to a needy family within the district to help them save on electricity bills.

The aim is to benefit 12,500 low-income families over the next five years.

- CNA/ac

Balakrishnan urges stand against littering as summonses double
Today Online 2 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE — The National Environment Agency (NEA) issued 19,000 summonses for littering last year, which was double that of 2013, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday.

While this was partially due to a stepping up of enforcement action, he said people must not be afraid to stand up to those who litter and remind these people to keep the surroundings clean.

“This is one area (where) we are going to step up enforcement and we are going to continue to do so,” said Dr Balakrishnan at the South-West District’s ECo-Day Out.

Littering has been under the spotlight in recent days.

Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed to the trash that was left behind at the Laneway music festival and contrasted it with how Myanmar football fans picked up litter after a match at the Singapore National Stadium, to urge Singaporeans to pick up after themselves.

One day later, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong also commented on the littering issue, saying Tokyo does not face the problem despite not having rubbish bins in public places. Echoing Mr Lee’s message for Singaporeans to be a “clean” rather than “cleaned” city, Mr Goh wrote on his Facebook page: “Without foreign workers, Singapore is likely to become a ‘garbage city’. Cleanliness is a character thing. It shows who you really are.”

During the ECo-Day Out event yesterday, it was also announced that a project to recycle used light bulbs will be expanded. The South-West Community Development Council is aiming to collect 50,000 light bulbs over the next five years. For each one collected, an energy-efficient bulb will be given to a needy family within the district to help them save on electricity bills. KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN

Clean city? Singapore not there yet: Vivian
Samantha Boh The Straits Times AsiaOne 2 Feb 15;

This comes after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong referred to trash left behind at a music festival and urged people to pick up their litter, and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong took to Facebook to say that Singapore is likely to become a "garbage city" without foreign workers.

Addressing residents at a community event at Hong Kah North Community Centre yesterday, Dr Balakrishnan said that how clean a place is reflects what people think of themselves, their respect for their neighbours and their concern for the neighbourhood.

"Our homes do not stop at the door but the common corridor. The community club, the street, the garden, the park, all that is our home," he said.

"And if we do not mess up our own homes, then surely our streets, our clubs, our gardens must not be messed up."

He said this philosophy was brought up decades ago, in a 1968 speech by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Yet 50 years on, Singapore has "not yet arrived".

Last year, the National Environment Agency (NEA) issued 19,000 littering tickets, double that of 2013, in part due to stepped-up enforcement efforts. And Dr Balakrishnan said that the NEA is committed to stepping up enforcement further.

Singaporeans "must not be afraid to stand up and remind people to keep our homes, our neighbourhoods, clean and do our part", he added.

Yesterday, he also launched the Recycle-A-Bulb Challenge @South West, a programme which aims to help needy residents save on their electricity bills by giving them energy-efficient light bulbs. One energy-efficient light bulb will be given to a needy family, in exchange for every old or used bulb. The programme aims to collect 50,000 such light bulbs over the next five years, which would amount to $3.7 million savings for 12,500 low-income families.

The project is co-organised by the NEA and supported by grassroots groups, ITE College West and corporate organisations such as Keppel Land Limited, Singapore Post and DBS.

Said the Mayor of South West District Low Yen Ling: "We hope that other than lightening the load of our needy families, this will also help our residents in South West adopt energy-efficient ethics."

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Malaysia: Something 'very wrong' with Sun Bear in viral video, say conservationists

TAN YI LIANG The Star 1 Feb 15;

PETALING JAYA: A Sun Bear, which some have described as an "alien-like creature" in a viral video is very likely suffering from some kind of ailment, say conversationists.

A video of the bear, which has been circulating on social media and messaging apps, depict a hairless creature in an oil palm plantation struggling to get away from the people filming the video.

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre chief executive officer and founder Wong Siew Te said that something was very wrong with the bear.

However, he added they could merely speculate what the animal was suffering from until it was captured for thorough examination and testing.

"The bear may have been poisoned by pesticides or herbicides, he said, explaining that it could have ingested the poison in a myriad of ways.

"They can also wind up sick due to a slow accumulation of toxic chemicals in their bodies. This is a chronic problem," said Wong.

"The other possibility is disease, where mite-like parasites could cause an animal to lose their hair. Alternatively, the third possibility is a yet-to-be-discovered disease," said Wong.

He called on the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the area the video was taken, adding that it was abnormal to see Sun Bears in oil palm estates in daylight.

Malaysian Nature Society Kuching chairman Anthony Sebastian also called on the authorities to find and examine the bear to see what exactly was causing its illness.

Sebastian dispelled comments that the bear was an abnormal animal or an alien as had been speculated online.

"It is clearly a Sun Bear. What confuses people is the lack of fur. It is not some strange alien that has fallen from the sky," said Sebastian.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Animal Welfare Society president Shenaaz Khan called for more funding and effort to be given to the conservation of Malaysia's wildlife, which includes the Bornean Sun Bear.

"More effort, focus and resources should be given to the conservation of our indigenous Malaysian wildlife such as sun bears. Here we have a sun bear that succumbed to illness, and this is just one case that we know of," said Shenaaz.

She added policies must be put in place to address issues faced by these animals to protect and conserve Malaysia's indigenous wildlife.

"You can't expect plantation workers to know how to deal with these animals. Policies have to be in place to protect and conserve our indigenous wildlife.

"The Sarawak Forestry Corporation needs to find and rescue this bear to investigate if it was poisoned or if it was injured. But first, we need to rescue the bear," said Shehnaaz.

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