Malaysia: Johor govt plans to build desalination plant

Low Sock Ken Sun Daily 8 Sep 16;

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government, through a joint venture with the private sector, plans to develop a desalination plant near Forest City as an alternative water resource, said state Public Works, Rural and Regional Development committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad.

It will be the largest desalination plant in the nation if implemented, he said in reply to a question from Hamimah Mansor (BN-Penawar) at the state legislative assembly in Kota Iskandar here today.

He said the state needed to explore more water resources like rainwater harvesting and ground water to alleviate the water crisis that has affected the state for the last few years.

The Johor Water Regulating Body has suggested that four tube wells be built in Mersing and Kota Tinggi districts next year to ease the water crisis, he added.

Earlier, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin told the assembly that water resources projects will be the main focus of next year's budget.

"We have completed the Johor water resources study 2010 to 2060, but the implementation also depends on the approval from the Federal government," he said, and urged the people to adopt the right attitude when using water.

Meanwhile, Bernama quoted Khaled as saying that Johor continues to record commendable economic growth and is among the highest compared with other states in the country amid the challenging regional and global economy in recent years.

He said the state recorded an average gross domestic (GDP) growth of 6.1% for the 2011-2014 period, 0.7% higher than the 5.4% achieved at the national level.

From 2010 to 2015, Johor was far ahead of other states such as Selangor and Penang when it brought in investments in the manufacturing sector of close to RM86.3 billion, he said.

"Since 2013, Johor has taken the top spot with the highest investment in the manufacturing sector. Cumulatively, including the services sector, investments in Iskandar Malaysia alone hit RM208 billion, out of which 51% have been realised," he said.

Water master plan for Johor
ZAZALI MUSA and KATHLEEN ANN KILI The Star 9 Sep 16;

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The state government has outlined a master plan on water management to ensure that Johor will have a sufficient water supply in the long term.

Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said a study on water resources for Johor from 2010 until 2060 had been completed and its recommendations would be implemented next year.

The master plan would address issues on water-related problems, including finding new sources of water and overcoming supply disruptions, he told Dr Boo Cheng Hau (DAP-Skudai), who wanted to know the measures taken by the state government to address water pro­blems, including efforts to overcome supply disruption in the Mersing and Kota Tinggi districts.

State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said Johor would explore new water resource possibilities to ensure sustainable water supply.

Among the options include explo­ring groundwater reserves and large scale rainwater harvesting, he said replying to a question from Hami­mah Mansor (BN-Penawar).

Hasni said the Johor Water Regulatory Body (Bakaj) had early last month visited Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures in Japan to study the groundwater and desalination models there.

He said the 780,000 residents of Kumamoto city were supplied with groundwater, adding that the state authorities as well as experts from Japan would conduct an in-depth study on possibility of groundwater as a new water source for Johor.

Hasni said there was a need to explore alternative water sources in view of an increase in demand resulting from new developments and river pollution.

“We also urge the industry to be more innovative in managing their usage by investing in recycling technology,” he said.

He said Bakaj proposed the construction of four tube wells next year costing RM2mil in Mersing and Kota Tinggi, which constantly face water crisis.

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Indonesia: Leuser ecosystem must be included in Aceh spatial plan -- Expert

Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono The Jakarta Post 8 Sep 16;

Leuser ecosystem, a UNESCO world heritage site that covers thousands of hectares of protected forest in Aceh and North Sumatra, must be included in the Aceh spatial plan regulation (Qanun RTRWA), former environment minister Emil Salim has stated.

The esteemed professor at the University of Indonesia made the statement in his capacity as an expert witness in legal proceedings pertaining to the Aceh government’s decision to exclude the Leuser ecosystem from the 2013 Qanun on spatial planning.

“The Leuser Ecosystem is one of our national strategic areas and is regulated under national law. Therefore, it must be included in the qanun”, Emil said on Tuesday at the Central Jakarta District Court. Acehnese—grouped under GeRAM—sued the home minister, Aceh governor, and Aceh’s council speaker.

The establishment of the Leuser ecosystem, he explained, dates back to 1920 when Acehnese leaders rejected the Dutch colonial government’s plan to convert the forest and open up mining and plantation companies.

“The Leuser ecosystem is one of the world’s 25-most important and unique ecosystems,” said Emil.

Nurul Ikhsan, coordinator of GeRAM, said the defendants had violated national law by passing the qanun without including the ecosystem. “What the plaintiffs want is not any material gain, what we demand is only that the defendants include the Leuser ecosystem in the Aceh spatial plan.” (ags)

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Indonesia: Primates from UK released into the wild in Bandung

Arya Dipa The Jakarta Post 8 Sep 16;

The Aspinall Foundation has released two primates repatriated from Howlett Wild Animal Park in Kent, the UK, into the Patenggang Lake conservation area in Bandung regency, West Java.

The surili (Prescobytis comate) are a brother and sister pair named Lala and Lili.

Lala and Lili are the fourth batch of surili from Aspinall’s Back to the Wild program. Surili are endemic to West Java.

“This is the first time we released surili at Patenggang,” the Java Endemic Primates Rehabilitation Center’s animal caretaking head, Sigit Ibrahim, said on Wednesday.

The center has worked with the Forestry and Environment Ministry since 2010 to support the release of primates into the wild. The primates are usually repatriated from wild animal parks or are confiscated pets.

Sigit said surili needed nine months of preparation before being released into the wild. During the preparation time, the animals are taught to identify predators, and their bonds with humans are gradually severed.

The Aspinall Foundation has rehabilitated at least 100 primates endemic to Java. Of the total, 74 have been released into the wild, including eight surili.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) includes surili on its endangered animals list. It estimated there were no more than 2,500 surili remaining in 1999. (evi)

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Indonesia: Govt Neglects People's Right to Health in Dealing With Wildfires

Alin Almanar Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 16;

Jakarta. The government has been negligent in the way it managed public health risks associated with forest burning, because it mainly focused on extinguishing the fires, a human rights watchdog said.

According to government data, the annually recurring problem of land and forest fires afflicted more than half a million people with health problems in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan last year. At least 23 have died as a result.

Members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) observed the situation last year and concluded that the government had violated citizens' right to health.

There has been no thorough examination by the government of the definite impact of haze on human health, which is needed for recovery efforts, Komnas HAM commissioner Siti Noor Laila said.

"For instance, there has been no comprehensive explanation on what diseases haze-affected people could expect to develop in the future," Siti said during a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday (08/09). "Medical staff should have been conducting ongoing research."

The number of people suffering from respiratory infections as a result of wildfires in Riau province has continually increased over the past three years, according to data Komnas HAM obtained from local nongovernment organizations.

More than 43,000 people were diagnosed with respiratory disease last year, compared to around 27,000 in 2014 and nearly 20,000 the year before.

"Millions of people are at risk of developing serious diseases if preventive efforts by the government remain minimal," Komnas HAM commissioner Sandrayati Moniaga said. "Some have already died and there should be no more casualties."

Described by observes as the worst on record, last year's wildfires also destroyed vegetation on millions of hectares of land and resulted in financial losses worth billions of dollars.

Komnas Ham to Evaluate Effectiveness of Law Enforcement in Forest Fire Cases
Alin Almanar Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 16;

Jakarta. The National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, will evaluate the effectiveness of law enforcement in Indonesian forest fire cases over the past decade, amid public controversy over premature termination of investigations into some cases, the human rights watchdog said on Thursday (08/09).

Citing lack of evidence, the Riau Police terminated their investigations into 15 out of 18 plantation companies that are reportedly responsible for the 2015 forest and peatland fires. Three companies were brought before the court.

"It is clear that companies should be held responsible if fires occur within their concession areas," Komnas HAM commissioner, Siti Noor Laila, said.

"Whether the land is burned intentionally or unintentionally, the companies should abide by the regulation," she said referring to the 2015 presidential instruction on the improvement of management of forests and peatland.

Under the instruction, regional administrations are ordered to instruct plantation companies to have the requisite facilities to prevent land and forest fires, as poor compliance was the major cause of rampant forest fires, with some companies lacking even the most basic equipment to manage forest fires.

Despite facing protests from environmental activists, police have defended their move to terminate investigations saying that the fires occurred on disputed land. Therefore, those who should be held responsible remains unclear, since blame cannot be attributed.

"We will evaluate law enforcement in cases of wildfires, including the termination of their investigations. Law enforcement in such cases tends to be discriminatory," another Komnas HAM commissioner, Sandrayati Moniaga, said.

Land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan were an annual recurring problem in the country over the past decade.

Described by observers as the worst on record, the wildfires last year destroyed vegetation on millions of hectares of land, afflicted more than half a million people with health problems and resulted in billions of dollars in economic losses.

Meanwhile, activists from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) have launched their own investigations into the cases and filed new police reports against the 15 companies. Walhi has found that three of the 15 companies have also been implicated in cases of illegal logging, but the police have terminated their investigations in 2008.

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Pushing a parasite from land to sea through coastal development

Increases in coastal development and precipitation pave the way for pathogens
University of California - Davis Science Daily 6 Sep 16;

Higher levels of rainfall and coastal development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean, according to a study. The work advances earlier work by tracking the parasite T. gondii to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to sea.

Coastal waters near heavy human development are more likely to receive land-based "pathogen pollution," which can include viruses, bacteria and parasites, according to a recent study from the University of California, Davis.

The study said higher levels of rainfall and development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean.

The study, published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, adds to years of work by a consortium of researchers led by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The scientists were called upon to help decipher the mystery in the late 1990s when a parasite hosted by cats, Toxoplasma gondii, caused deaths in sea otters along the coast of California.

Wild and domestic cats are the only known hosts of T. gondii. The parasite can shed its infective egglike structures, called oocysts, in their feces. In soil, freshwater and seawater, these hardy oocysts can survive for over a year in some cases, infecting animals and people.

The latest study advances earlier work by tracking the parasite to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to sea.

"This isn't just about Toxoplasma," said lead author Elizabeth VanWormer, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis at the time of the study. "Humans, pets, stray animals, livestock and wildlife can all shed pathogens that can be carried from land to sea in runoff after rainstorms. The way we develop our urban and rural coastlines -- adding people, domestic animals, and hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt -- can increase the flow of these pathogens into estuaries and oceans."

Development and Climate Change Affect Runoff

From 1910 to 2010, California's human population, the majority of which resides in coastal counties, expanded from 2.4 million to more than 37 million, with close to 50 million people expected by 2050. The growing human population reshaped large areas of the California coast, converting natural habitat to residential, industrial and agricultural uses.

Natural environments like forests, grasslands and wetlands can help filter out pathogens like T. gondii before they reach the sea. However, a paved or tilled landscape promotes the flow of contaminated runoff into waterways, storm drains and, ultimately, the ocean.

Using census and land-use records, the authors estimated that development between 1990 and 2010 increased oocyst delivery from coastal watersheds to the ocean by 44 percent.

Climate change may also exacerbate the journey of pathogens to the ocean. Changes in rainfall or in the intensity of storm events can alter the level of contaminated runoff. Oocyst runoff rose by 79 percent between years of low and high precipitation. When increases in development and climate variability are combined, oocyst runoff more than doubles.

Reducing Coastal Pathogen Pollution

"Human-driven changes can increase pathogen runoff, but we also have the power to reduce coastal pathogen pollution through actions like conserving wetlands and riparian areas along waterways, reducing paved surfaces in our developed lands, and reducing the amount of poop left in the environment from pets and free-roaming domestic animals," VanWormer said.

Journal Reference:

Elizabeth VanWormer, Tim E Carpenter, Purnendu Singh, Karen Shapiro, Wesley W. Wallender, Patricia A. Conrad, John L. Largier, Marco P. Maneta, Jonna A. K. Mazet. Coastal development and precipitation drive pathogen flow from land to sea: evidence from a Toxoplasma gondii and felid host system. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 29252 DOI: 10.1038/srep29252

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Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth's wilderness in 25 years – study

Experts warn there may be no unspoilt places left within a century as report shows an area twice the size of Alaska has been lost since 1993
Adam Vaughan The Guardian 8 Sep 16;

Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s remaining wilderness in the last 25 years and there may be none left within a century if trends continue, according to an authoritative new study.

Researchers found a vast area the size of two Alaskas – 3.3m square kilometres – had been tarnished by human activities between 1993 and today, which experts said was a “shockingly bad” and “profoundly large number”.

The Amazon accounted for nearly a third of the “catastrophic” loss, showing huge tracts of pristine rainforest are still being disrupted despite the Brazilian government slowing deforestation rates in recent years. A further 14% disappeared in central Africa, home to thousands of species including forest elephants and chimpanzees.

The loss of the world’s last untouched refuges would not just be disastrous for endangered species but for climate change efforts, the authors said, because some of the forests store enormous amounts of carbon.

“Without any policies to protect these areas, they are falling victim to widespread development. We probably have one to two decades to turn this around,” said lead author Dr James Watson, of the University of Queensland and Wildlife Conservation Society.

The analysis defined wilderness as places that are “ecologically largely intact” and “mostly free of human disturbance”, though some have indigenous people living within them. The team counted areas as no longer wilderness if they scored on eight measures of humanity’s footprint, including roads, lights at night and agriculture.

The largest chunk of wilderness in the Amazon basin shrank from 1.8m sq km to 1.3m sq km, while the Ucayali moist forests in the west of the Amazon, home to more than 600 bird species and primates including emperor tamarins, was badly affected. The trajectory of loss in the world’s biggest rainforest was “particularly concerning”, the authors warned, given it happened despite deforestation rates slowing.

In Africa, none of the lowland forest in the western Congo basin is now considered globally significant wilderness, the study found. WWF believes the area is possibly home to more gorillas and chimpanzees than other area in the world.

The study said that wilderness was being loss faster than pristine places were being designated as protected areas, at 3.3m sq km versus 2.5m sq km.

Professor William Laurance of James Cook University said: “Environmental policies are failing the world’s vanishing wildernesses. Despite being strongholds for imperilled biodiversity, regulating local climates, and sustaining many indigenous communities, wilderness areas are vanishing before our eye.”

The study said the reason was that such areas are “assumed to be relatively free from threatening processes and therefore are not a priority for conservation efforts”.

The ramifications of remaining wilderness being corrupted were wide-ranging and irreversible for both people and wildlife, Watson said.

“There are four reasons why we need to protect these places. One is biodiversity, the second is carbon, the third is the poorest of the poor are living in them, and the fourth is this is a reference point for nature, of pre-human environments,” he told the Guardian.

The Earth’s remaining wilderness areas are strongholds for many of the land-based mammals on the red list of endangered species, which was updated this week to reveal that four of the world’s six great apes are now critically endangered.

Losing forests in these areas could also affect leaders’ efforts to rein in greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change, the study said, because of the amount of carbon stored in trees and peat.

Rewilding plans by conservationists, similar to efforts to reintroduce wolves, lynx and other species to the UK, could also be harmed by the loss of wilderness, because the world risked losing a true picture of what certain ecosystems looked like.

“Without concerted preservation of existing wilderness areas, there will be a diminished capacity for large-scale ecological restoration,” the authors wrote.

Watson said unique ecosystems were being lost, and there was no turning back. “What is critical about this paper is when you erode these wildernesses, they don’t come back, you can’t restore them. They will come back as something else, but you can’t restore them,” he said.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday, predicted that if current trends continue there could be no globally significantly wild areas left in “less than a century”.

However, the mapping exercise found that there is still 30m sq km of wilderness globally, 23% of the world’s land area. Strongholds include the boreal forests of northern Canada, Australia’s deserts and western woodlands, some lowland forests in Asia and parts of central Africa.

“They are the jewels in the crown. We have obligation to protect them in same way as we do species,” said Watson.

Stopping or slowing the loss of wilderness will require governments to put in place national strategies that recognise their value, the authors said. One Brazilian programme that supported the creation of protected areas to save carbon and help indigenous people was singled out as the type of project that could help address the decline.

But the authors admitted that: “[such] positive examples are too few, and we argue that immediate action to protect the world’s remaining wilderness areas on a large scale is now necessary, including in global policy platforms.”

Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, said: “This paper is a powerful reminder of the key role forests play on climate targets, and should be taken at heart by policymakers. Despite the recent drop in deforestation rates, Brazil is still the tropical country that most loses forests every year.

“Our Paris pledge on deforestation is shamefully weak - we are comformed with ending only illegal deforestation only by 2030 and only in Amazonia - and we don’t even have a plan for achieving that little. Brazil will ratify the Paris agreement next Monday. If the government is serious about meeting the deal’s long-term goal, it should be talking about zero deforestation.”

Mike Barrett, WWF-UK’s director of science and policy, said: “This vast scale of loss in global wilderness is having grave impacts. As we seemingly enter the Anthropocene era, this report further signifies humanity’s immense impact and the effects that is having for wildlife and people alike.”

He pointed to the recent red list update which showed the situation of giant pandas improving, but said: “While flagship species and habitats have an important role in tackling the biodiversity crisis, this alone won’t solve the problem. We need significant changes in how we value our planet as at present we’re taking relentlessly from our oceans, rivers, forests and wilderness.”

The study comes as the world’s top conservationists conclude their meeting in Hawaii this week on dozens of motions for protecting wildlife, including restrictions on the trade in the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked animal, and calls on governments to keep harmful activity such as oil drilling out of protected areas.

Later this month governments are due to attend a major meeting in Johannesburg to discuss the legal trade in endangered species, including the fate of the current international ban on the trade in ivory.

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Zika concerns could test Singapore's efforts to boost birth rate: Expert

Channel NewsAsia 7 Sep 16;

SINGAPORE: Singaporean pre-school teacher Siti is determined to try for a baby even as Zika infections spread across the Southeast Asian nation. She just does all she can to avoid mosquito bites.

"I really love kids and want to have one of my own," the 37-year-old who declined to give her full name said after a procedure at the fertility clinic of KK Women's and Children's Hospital, the largest facility for women's health in Singapore. "I'm not postponing my pregnancy plans but I'm taking all precautions I can."

The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to a spike in microcephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil, which has so far been the hardest hit by an outbreak affecting large parts of Latin America. Babies born with the defect have undersized heads and brains. In adults, the virus - which can also be sexually transmitted - has been linked to a rare neurological syndrome called Guillain-Barre.

Economists say concerns about the birth defect could dent the Singapore Government's efforts to boost the number of babies born to its citizens. The city-state, a major financial hub, has one of the world's lowest birth rates and a rapidly aging society, while more than a third of its 5.5 million population are foreigners.

"It could lead to some delay in people who are going to get pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant," said Michael Wan, an economist at Credit Suisse. "But it's a bit too early to tell."

The low birth rate, and a drive to wean the economy off foreign labor, prompted the government last year to start giving out as much as S$10,000 in cash to Singaporeans who have a baby.

Singapore health authorities have urged pregnant women or those trying to conceive to avoid mosquito bites and take precautions since the first case of locally transmitted Zika was detected on Aug 27. Since then, more than 280 people have become infected, of which two were pregnant.

In their guidelines, they highlight the risks for pregnant women that are associated with Zika. They do not urge women who are otherwise healthy, and whose partners also show no symptoms of infection, to postpone pregnancy.

"Use insect repellent. Practice safe sex for the duration of your pregnancy if your partner has been exposed to Zika," reads the advice for pregnant women on the Singapore Government's main online portal. "Note that a positive Zika test may not mean your unborn child is infected or harmed."

SOME EXPATS CONSIDER RELOCATING

Citing a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Singapore's Government portal says Zika infected women have a 1 to 13 percent chance of giving birth to a child with microcephaly.

There is currently no vaccine for Zika, and Singapore has said the virus is likely to be in the country to stay, given the prevalence of the Aedes mosquitoes that carry it in this small, tropical island. Singapore has been battling dengue, another mosquito-borne virus, for decades.

The World Health Organization, which has praised Singapore's handling of the Zika outbreak, recommends people considering pregnancy get counseled about the risks in Zika-affected areas, and are told that their options include delaying pregnancy.

In Singapore, some women are not taking any chances. "Some patients, particularly expatriates, are calling to ask if they should relocate back to their own home country," said obstetrician Kelly Loi of the Health and Fertility Centre for Women.

But Aude Vazart, a French engineer who gave birth in Singapore last week, told Reuters leaving the island to avoid Zika was "too extreme". "There are thousands of diseases I could get, even in France," the 29-year-old said.

- Reuters


Singapore Zika cases hit 283; potential new cluster Elite Terrace
Channel NewsAsia 7 Sep 16;

SINGAPORE: Eight new cases of locally transmitted Zika were confirmed on Wednesday (Sep 7), bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Singapore to 283. Authorities added that there is a potential new cluster in the Elite Terrace area at Siglap, involving a previously reported case and a new case today.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA) added that, of the eight new cases, two are linked to the Aljunied Crescent / Sims Drive / Kallang Way / Paya Lebar Way cluster, and one is linked to the Bishan Street 12 cluster. The other four cases have no known links to any existing cluster.

NEA said that it will continue with vector control operations in the cluster areas at Aljunied Crescent/ Sims Drive/ Paya Lebar Way/ Kallang Way/ Circuit Road/ Geylang East Central/ Geylang East Avenue 1, as well as cluster areas at Bedok North Avenue, Joo Seng Road, and Bishan Street 12. It will also be carrying out vector control operations and outreach efforts at the potential new cluster at Elite Terrace.

It added that as of September 6, a total of 150 breeding habitats have been found and destroyed in the cluster areas, of which 99 are from homes, and 51 from outdoor areas.

From Sep 7, members of the public can get details on current clusters at NEA's website.

- CNA/nc

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Malaysia: Johor government to amend water blueprint

The Star 8 Sep 16;

MUAR: The Johor government will make some changes to the existing Sungai Skudai Water Blueprint 2014-2015 to improve the conservation works on the river.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the blueprint was now being fine-tuned as the government realised that there were some areas that needed improvements in order to ensure the success of the project.

“We are looking for the right methods to make improvements on the existing blueprint and to overcome the problems where our water sources at several rivers cannot be utilised to solve the water crisis in Johor,” he said after officiating the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital (SFSH) Emergency and Trauma Department Triage building here recently.

Also present were SFSH director Dr Salehudden Abd Aziz and SFSH Emergency and Trauma Department chief Dr Norhaya Abdullah.

Ayub added that the responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of rivers should not only be borne by the state government but instead should be shared between the state government and the surrounding communities. – Bernama

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Malaysia key conduit in global illegal ivory trade

TRAFFIC 8 Sep 16;

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 8th September 2016—A new TRAFFIC analysis points to Malaysia as the world's paramount ivory transit country, with its ports serving as a major gateway for the flow of tonnes of illicit ivory between Africa and Asia.

Ivory seizure records from January 2003 to May 2014 linked Malaysia to 66 confiscations worldwide totalling a massive 63 419 kg. Only 19 of the seizures were made in Malaysia. The remaining 47 occurred outside the country, mostly after shipments had passed undetected through Malaysia’s ports.

"The sheer volume of ivory flowing through Malaysia's ports has flagged it as a country of concern at the global level. Getting tough on the traffickers involved in smuggling ivory into Asia should be a top priority for national enforcement agencies,” said Kanitha Krishnasamy, author and Senior Programme Manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.

The vast majority of the 63 tonnes came from just 26 large-scale seizures. Large shipments and seizures, over 500 kg in weight, point to the potential involvement of organized criminal networks.

The report, Malaysia’s invisible ivory channel: An assessment of ivory seizures involving Malaysia from January 2003-May 2014 (PDF, 3 MB) shows that the Malaysia-linked seizures involved the import, export and re-export of ivory from at least 23 countries and territories around the world.

Particularly, it documents Malaysia’s progression over the years to the current unenviable position as the principal transit point for ivory sourced in Africa and redirected to Asia, especially Viet Nam, Hong Kong and China.

More than 30% of all seizures originated from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda—the three major exit points in Africa for the world’s illegal elephant ivory trade. Seizures also linked Malaysia to Kenya and Uganda in the trafficking of 23 rhino horns between August 2010 and December 2013.

Malaysia has been implicated in further seizures beyond the study period involving at least five tonnes seized in Australia, Kenya, Thailand and Viet Nam after passing through the country. In July 2016, Malaysian authorities seized more than a tonne of ivory originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Just last week, 12 suspects were arrested in connection with the smuggling of 114 pieces of cut ivory and other wildlife parts, that were seized from premises in Malaysia.

While commending this recent seizure, TRAFFIC urges Malaysia to intensify its collaboration and communication with ivory source and consumer countries and recommends authorities enhance their risk indicator and profiling techniques to detect high-risk shipments.

Malaysia is one the eight countries of ‘primary concern’ that had been identified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as being most heavily implicated in the illegal trade in ivory, requiring Malaysia effectively to implement a National ivory Action Plan (NIAP) to address the situation.

“With no open ivory markets, Malaysia’s role is purely one of transit. It can extricate itself from this situation if its National Ivory Action Plan focuses efforts on tracking and dismantling the criminal networks using Malaysia as a transit point,’’ said Krishnasamy.

Efforts by all countries subjected to the NIAP process to tackle this problem, including Malaysia, will come under scrutiny at the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES which takes place from 24th September-5th October 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Malaysia: Perhilitan catches two wild elephants in Jeli

BERNAMA New Straits Times 7 Sep 16;

JELI: The Kelantan Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) managed to catch two out of the six wild elephants that were destroying crops in Kampung Lawar here on Aug 31.

Its director Mohamad Khairi Ahmad said the two female elephants, aged 15 and 30 years and weighing between one to two tons were caught by using the immunisation shots.

“On Aug 31, we have received complaints from villagers claiming to have run into a herd of elephants while picking durians in the garden.

“Kelantan Perhilitan subsequently sent eight personnel to the village to monitor and catch the elephants on the day the incident was reported,” he said when contacted here today.

He said the department would continue to monitor and track the remaining four elephants believed to be still roaming in the village area.

Mohamad Khairi said the two captured elephants were still placed in Kampung Lawar while awaiting permission to transfer these mammals to the Kuala Gandah National Elephants Conservation Centre in Pahang.

Meanwhile villager Abdul Mutalib Abdul Rahman, 69, said he reported the matter to Perhilitan out of fear for his safety after he came aross the herd of elephants in his garden.

“I heard a sound like an explosion about 300 metres from where I stood in the garden and was surprised to see a herd of elephants breaking bamboo groves,” he said. --Bernama

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Indonesia: RAPP accused of peatland conversion

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 7 Sep 16;

A government team from the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) that recently made an impromptu visit to check on alleged peatland conversion by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) was denied entry to the site by security guards.

BRG head Nazir Foead, accompanied by BRG official Haris Gunawan, forest rangers, Forestry and Environment Ministry officials and villagers, said RAPP guards at the plantation in Meranti Islands regency asked to see a permit letter.

“It was an impromptu visit. Of course we did not carry any letter,” he said on Tuesday. “I just wanted to check and talk,” he said.

One of the forest rangers asked a security guard to call his superior, but he later told them the boss could not be reached by phone.

“They did not throw us out, there was no physical altercation, but they hampered us all the same. The company was not cooperating, and I suspect something fishy. We could not take pictures, could not check the coordinates,” Nazir said.

Locals said the company had converted about 50 hectares of peatland to plant acacia in the past two months.

Nazir said his office had summoned RAPP and they had met in Jakarta on Aug. 2, with RAPP saying all its activities were legal.

In a written statement, RAPP said it regretted the “lack of coordination among our security guards” that hampered the BRG visit on Sept. 5.

“We will discuss the results of field verification with the BRG this week,” the company stated on Tuesday. (evi)


Plantation neighbors in constantly recurring fear of peatland fires
Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 7 Sep 16;

Yadi, 60, of Sidodadi, Bengkalis regency, Riau, has for the last three years been gripped with worry because every time the dry season starts the vast peatland near his place always catches on fire.

For the last three days, for instance, dozens of hectares of peatland in his village have caught fire, thanks to a reckless oil palm plantation worker who cleared the land by burning it.

“I am worried that my place will also catch on fire, but I have no other choice except surviving here. I don’t know what work to do if I move from here,” said the grandfather of five who hails from North Sumatra and earns a living as a plantation keeper.

He said the area easily caught on fire because the water that kept the peatland wet had been drained by a big canal called the Gotek 010, which passed through the Giam Siak Kecil Nature Preserve and ended in a natural lake.

In 2014, he said, when the canal was dammed by the Riau Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA Riau) the water was abundant and the peatland became humid.

“Yet, the dam has been damaged by illegal loggers because the canal was the only access to transport the illegal logs out of the conservation area and the peatland water has drastically lowered,” Yadi said.

He said if the government dammed the canal or even permanently closed it the people would be happy because the water would not go anywhere and the peatland would be wet and thus would not easily catch on fire.

During his visit to the site, Nazir Foead, the head of the peatland restoration agency (BRG), promised to close the canal and only leave a small part of it as a water source during fires.

Nazir said that if it was impossible to totally close the canal, then numerous dividers would be provided along it to help control the height of the water surface.

Other measures to prevent fires include wetting the peatland with water taken from artesian wells. Nazir said digging an artesian well was relatively cheap, as it only cost some Rp 3 million (US$228) per unit.

He said artesian wells had been proven effective to fight peatland fires in Rimbo Panjang, Kampar regency, in just one-and-a-half hours. “The high expenses for operating firefighting helicopters can be switched to preventive measures,” he said.

He added the BRG had the task to make the burned peatland wet again, thus making it difficult to catch on fire in the future.

When the peatland humidity was already maintained the restoration program would be continued to the re-vegetation stage. At this stage the peatland in the conservation and protected areas would be planted with local vegetation that would easily grow well, live long, be resistant to wetness and not need special care.

For peatland belonging to the people, the owners would be asked to run plantations without burning land. They would also be asked to switch to commodities more suitable for peatland, such as pineapples, coffee, coconuts and sago.

“The government will with help with experts and seedlings. The BRG will run the program together with relevant ministries and regional administrations until 2020,” he said.

He affirmed that all burned and damaged peatland would be restored, including the 875,000 hectares that caught on fire last year across Indonesia.

He said restoration had actually been planned for 2 million hectares of peatland in seven affected provinces in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. “But the BRG will not close its eyes on burned locations outside the targets,” he said.

He added the BRG was currently preparing a regulation on peatland restoration to force all companies to restore damaged peatland in their respective concession areas.

The companies’ obedience to maintaining the depth of the canal water surface at 30 centimeters below the surface of the ground would be monitored using special censors automatically connected real time to the server at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

He said if the peatland was poorly managed and the humidity went down to the dangerous zone, a warning would pop up. “That way the concession owners could be warned to look for water resources to rewet the peatland,” he said.

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