Singapore Could Face Legal Action Over Sand Importation

BEN PAVIOUR Cambodia Daily 5 Jan 17;

Environmental NGO Mother Nature has hired a Singaporean law firm to investigate alleged irregularities in the country’s importation of Cambodian sand, the organization’s founder said on Wednesday.

The firm is “looking into the relevant laws that might have been broken there, in relation to the social and ecological destruction the mining has caused, or in relation to the government importing Cambodian sand which is tainted by issues of corruption, smuggling, tax-evasion, etc.,” Mother Nature founder Alex Gonzalez-Davidson said on Wednesday in a Facebook message.

He identified the potential targets as the statutory boards that fall under the purview of several government ministries involved in the import of Cambodian sand.

“Our goal is…that the mining and export of coastal sand from Cambodia is eventually regarded as too toxic by the Singapore government and that they are forced to stop getting involved,” he said.

Authorities from Singapore’s JTC Corporation, which oversees the state’s sand-heavy reclamation projects, and the National Development Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The government, in past statements, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Eugene Thuraisingam acknowledged that his eponymous firm, which specializes in criminal and commercial law, was looking into the case, but declined to elaborate.

The government has provided divergent numbers for its exports to Singapore from 2007 to last year, all of which are radically lower than the 73.6 million tons of imported sand counted by the island and reported to the U.N. Commodity Trade Statistics Database, known as Comtrade.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy recorded 16.2 million tons of sand exports during the period, while statistics from the Finance Ministry’s general department of customs and excise show roughly 2.7 million tons leaving for the city-state, which is more than 1,000 km from Cambodia by sea.

Indian customs data obtained by Mother Nature show a similar gap, registering 108,000 tons of Cambodian sand imports compared to none recorded by Cambodia’s Finance Ministry.

A 2014 report from the U.N. Environment Program said the global sand business “is having a major impact on rivers, deltas and coastal and marine ecosystems,” although the trade “remains largely unknown by the general public.”

The report singled out Singapore as the world’s largest importer and noted that it used sand to extend its territory, which has grown by 20 percent, or 130 square km, over the past 40 years.

As Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam successively banned dredging or sand exports to Singapore, Comtrade records show that Cambodia has picked up the slack and become the country’s top supplier, even as those same records show that just 4 percent of the island’s imported sand was officially measured as it left supplying countries over the past decade.

The city-state’s government is piloting a new reclamation technique using dikes to get around its reliance on sand, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong told reporters in November.

“Even reclamation has its limits, because sand is not always easy to come by,” he said.


Cambodian Sand Could Build a Foundation for Legal Action in Singapore
Radio Free Asia 5 Jan 17;

An environmental non-governmental agency is searching for legal grounds for a lawsuit that could uncover the truth about what happened to millions of dollars in sand that disappeared from Cambodia over the past decade.

Mother Nature Cambodia founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson told RFA’s Khmer Service on Thursday that a Singaporean law firm, Eugene Thuraisingam, had agreed to collect information on Singaporean sand purchases for a possible lawsuit against the city-state.

Gonzalez-Davidson told RFA that they were looking at a pair of legal tracks that they could follow if they decide to sue.

“The first is to file a lawsuit in relation to sand dredging in Koh Kong province that has caused serious impacts on the livelihood of local residents,” he said. “On the second, we know that the sand has been exported illegally from Cambodia without paying tax, so it involved in high-profile corruption cases.”

U.N. data shows that Cambodia exported $752 million in sand to Singapore over the past eight years, but Phnom Penh only reported that about $5 million worth of sand was exported to the island nation that is the world’s top destination for the building material.

Driven by the growing demand for sand, either for concrete for construction, or in Singapore’s case for expanding its territory, the demand for sand has been outstripping the supply.

According to information in the World Atlas, the United States is the biggest exporter of sand, with Cambodia coming in at number seven. The Observatory of Economic Complexity reports that 97 percent of Cambodia’s sand goes to Singapore.

Cambodia’s position as a top sand exporter sits at odds with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s policies.

Sand bans

In 2013 Hun Sen imposed a ban on dredging along the Mekong and Ton Le Sap, and in 2015 the Cambodian government put a hold on new applications for licenses to conduct sand-dredging operations in the country's rivers and lakes in order to study the environmental and social impact, but it is unclear if those moves had any effect, as sand mining appears to be continuing.

In a 2016 report, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) found the Cambodian government had continued to supply licenses to sand miners despite the bans.

In April the government decided to auction four two-year sand dredging licenses along the Mekong River, under the auspices of “restoring navigation of the waterway.”

Four other licenses were granted for designated “green zone” areas, where “there is no risk of riverbank collapse” while nearly 70 new sand dredging licenses were issued without holding public auctions or requiring the companies to make publicly available environmental impact assessment results.

In all, CCHR found there were 84 companies holding licenses to dredge sand as of May 2016, despite the government’s bans.

The discrepancy between the government’s words and actions troubles Gonzalez-Davidson.

“I don’t believe, at all, that the government or relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Commerce or Ministry of Mines and Energy have a genuine will to seek a solution,” he said. “They just pretend by acting as if in a theater in order to cheat Cambodian citizens so that they can continue their activities of exporting sand overseas.”

The Khmer-speaking Gonzalez-Davidson was deported from Cambodia back to his native Spain in 2015, after he had long campaigned against the planned Chhay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. The 108-megawatt dam is backed by ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) lawmaker Lao Meng Khin and his wife, who have evicted thousands of families from land around the country.

Sand is big business

The world’s sand mining industry is estimated to be a $70 billion a year industry with illegal trade in the material worth even more, according to a 2016 report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

A 2015 report in Wired detailed the emergence of so-called “sand mafias” that use bribery, intimidation and killings to control the illegal sand trade.

Thanks in a large part to the world’s sand, Singapore is 22 percent larger than it was in the 1950s, according to the Sydney Herald report. The newspaper said the island is pushing ahead with plans to import titanic amounts of sand to artificially expand its territory by 6,200 hectares by 2030.

Singapore is getting larger, but the sand mining that aids its growth often wreaks havoc on rivers, deltas, and marine ecosystems in Cambodia and elsewhere.

Gonzalez-Davidson said they were also looking at filing a similar lawsuit in India. According to a 2013 report in the Cambodia Daily some $1.5 million worth of Cambodian sand turned up in India.

Meng Saktheara, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines and Energy, told RFA that Cambodia doesn’t export sand to India, and he criticized Mother Nature for exploring a legal action.

“This is not a good solution, as it creates complicated issue,” Meng Saktheara told RFA.

“I request civil society organizations, if possible, to undertake comprehensive studies so as to help the government [in dealing with this issue]. Say, if the findings related to 30 countries, please point out which countries in order that the government asks the customs of those countries to reveal which companies are really involved in this issue.”

Gonzalez-Davidson, disagreed, saying the ministry should carry out their own studies.

“I encourage relevant ministries to carry out [the studies] themselves. And if any ministry does not have the capacity to do it, perhaps the issue can be pushed to other units such as the Anti-Corruption Unit,” he said.

Reported by Chandara Yang for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.


Environmental Group Prepares Lawsuit Over Alleged Sand Export Graft
Men Kimseng VOA Khmer 10 Jan 17;

Documents obtained by local environmental campaign group Mother Nature reportedly show that Cambodia exported more than 100,000 tons of sand to India between 2013 and 2015, a period when the country recorded no exports to the sub-continent.

The development came on the heels of a Mother Nature analysis of U.N. trade figures it said showed Cambodia had under-reported its sand exports to Singapore by some 70 million tons between 2007 and 2015.

The group is now preparing a lawsuit based on its findings.

“The documents we have in hand show that the source of the sand is from Cambodia,” Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, a founder off Mother Nature, told VOA Khmer. “We bought documents from Singapore and it doesn’t show any Cambodian sand being re-exported in 2014 and 2015.”

The Spanish environmentalist, who has been banned from entering Cambodia since 2015, said he is working with a law firm in Singapore to possibly file a complaint against companies and government institutions there for importing sand extracted illegally from Cambodia.

“For now there are two possibilities,” he said. “The first one is to file a complaint against companies or government institutions that are involved in importing sand from Cambodia illegally.

“The second one is to file a complaint because this sand dredging has caused severe environmental impacts on Cambodia, especially Koh Kong residents have been impacted severely on their livelihoods.”

Government spokesman Dith Tina told a parliamentary committee after the allegations were raised that the drastic differences in the figures were due to the different reporting requirements of the two states.

“We don’t know what recording system Singapore was using and if you asked us to say whether Singapore or the UN is wrong, we don’t provide such judgment,” he said. “It should be noted that each system is designed to serve its own purpose and with different principles.”

Eugene Thuraisingam LLP said on its Facebook page on Tuesday that it has been instructed by Mother Nature Cambodia to provide advice in relation to the alleged illegal sand-dredging activities in Koh Kong.

“The dredging activities which have been taking place since 2008, have led to severe environmental destruction and the loss of livelihoods of local communities,” wrote the law firm.

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Malaysia: Decision to rehabilitate Johor forests by not issuing new logging permits has been a boon for wildlife

ZAZALI MUSA The Star 5 Jan 17;

JOHOR BARU: The state government decision to not issue any new logging permits over the past decade has helped revitalise forests in Johor.

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Johor chairman Vincent Chow said the rehabilitation of forests is vital as they act as a highway for the movement of wildlife.

He rebutted allegations by certain individuals representing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) based outside the state on alleged deforestation and illegal logging activities in Johor.

“Check your facts first before making wild allegations that logging activities are rampant in Johor as there are no new logging areas awarded to concessionaires,” said Chow.

He added the ongoing activities only took place at logging concessionaires awarded years earlier to companies.

Chow said Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar had also decreed that no new logging areas would be opened in the state.

“The Johor royal family are animal lovers and they want a balanced approach between progress and development in the state,” he added.

Chow said the main issue in Johor is not illegal logging or deforestation but illegal poaching including within the Endau-Rompin National Park area.

He said the poachers are usually foreigners and on several occasions, MNS members had stumbled upon makeshift tents left by them in the forest.

“Johor forests are categorised as high diversity as all mammals can be found in the area except orang utan,” said Chow.

He added there were Malayan tigers, elephants, Sumatran rhinoceros and seladang (wild buffaloes) roaming the Endau-Rompin National Park.

Chow however, urged the state government to determine the number of wild animals in Johors He added they should rope in scientists, environmentalists and NGOs to obtain a clearer picture on the number of wild animals in the state.

“Financial resources are the main issue faced by NGOs and we hope the state government and private companies will assist us,” Chow added.

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Indonesia: BMKG Predicts More Fire Hotspots in 2017 Despite "Neutral" Weather Conditions

Alin Almanar Jakarta Globe 5 Jan 16;

Jakarta. Indonesia may experience more fire hotspots this year than last year despite predicted "neutral" weather conditions, its state weather agency said.

Indonesia experienced its worst land and forest fires on record in 2015 amid a strong El Niño weather pattern, whereas wildfires in 2016 were less severe due to the La Niña.

Meanwhile, weather conditions in 2017 are expected to stay "neutral," the head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Andi Eka Sakya told the press in Jakarta on Thursday (05/01).

"El Niño was dominant in 2015 before La Niña took over in 2016," Andi said.

"Weather conditions in 2017 should remain neutral. There will be more hotspots than in 2016 but fewer than in 2015."

Wildfires destroyed millions of hectares of forest land in 2015, posing serious health risks for more than half a million people and resulting in billions of dollars of economic losses.

Land and forest fires happen every year on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, which were blanketed in a choking haze in 2015.

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Climate change will lead to annual coral bleaching, UN-supported study predicts

UN Media Release 5 Jan 17;

5 January 2017 – If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nearly all of the world's coral reefs will suffer severe bleaching – the gravest threat to one of the Earth's most important ecosystems – on annual basis, the United Nations environment agency today reported.

The finding is part of a study funded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners, which reviewed new climate change projections to predict which corals will be affected first and at what rate. The report is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports .

Researchers found that the reefs in Taiwan and the Turks and Caicos archipelago will be among the first to experience annual bleaching, followed by reefs off the coast of Bahrain, in Chile and in French Polynesia.

Calling the predictions “a treasure trove” for environmentalists, the head of the UN agency, Erik Solheim said the projects allow conservationists and governments to prioritize the protection reef protection.

“The projections show us where we still have time to act before it's too late,” Mr. Solheim said.

On average, the reefs will start to undergo annual bleaching starting in 2014, according to the study. Without the required minimum of five years to regenerate, the annual occurrences will have a deadly effect on the corals and disrupt the ecosystems which they support.

However, if Governments act on emission reduction pledges made in the Paris Agreement, which calls on countries to combat climate change and limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, the corals would have another 11 years to adapt to the warming seas.

Between 2014 and 2016, the world witnessed the longest global bleaching event recorded. Among the casualties was the Great Barrier Reef, with 90 per cent of it bleached and 20 per cent of the reef's coral killed.


Future of coral reefs under climate change predicted
High-resolution predictions of annual coral bleaching can help prioritize reefs for conservation
University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science ScienceDaily 5 Jan 17;

New climate model projections of the world's coral reefs reveal which reefs will be hit first by annual coral bleaching, an event that poses the gravest threat to one of the Earth's most important ecosystems.

The year when coral bleaching becomes an annual phenomenon can vary more than three decades within a single country, as seen here in the central Philippines (under a business-as-usual emissions scenario). Locations projected to face annual bleaching relatively late have more time to acclimatize to warming oceans and are conservation priorities.
Credit: Great barrier reef photo by Paul Marshall Map by van Hooidonk & Maynard
New climate model projections of the world's coral reefs reveal which reefs will be hit first by annual coral bleaching, an event that poses the gravest threat to one of the Earth's most important ecosystems.

These high-resolution projections, based on global climate models, predict when and where annual coral bleaching will occur. The projections show that reefs in Taiwan and around the Turks and Caicos archipelago will be among the world's first to experience annual bleaching. Other reefs, like those off the coast of Bahrain, in Chile and in French Polynesia, will be hit decades later, according to research recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

"These predictions are a treasure trove for those who are fighting to protect one of the world's most magnificent and important ecosystems from the ravages of climate change," said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. "They allow conservationists and governments to prioritize the protection of reefs that may still have time to acclimatize to our warming seas. The projections show us where we still have time to act before it's too late."

If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then severe bleaching will occur every year on 99 per cent of the world's reefs within the century, according to the study.

The Paris Agreement's aspirational target of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees provides a safer, but not an entirely safe space for coral reefs. Even if emission reductions exceed pledges made by countries to date under the Paris Agreement more than three quarters of the world's coral reefs will bleach every year before 2070.

It takes at least 5 years for a reef to recover from a single bleaching event. "Bleaching that takes place every year will invariably cause major changes in the ecological function of coral reef ecosystems," said study leader Dr. van Hooidonk of NOAA and the University of Miami. "Further, annual bleaching will greatly reduce the capacity of coral reefs to provide goods and services, such as fisheries and coastal protection, to human communities."

The need to act is clear. Between 2014 and 2016, the world witnessed the longest global bleaching event ever recorded, which killed coral on an unprecedented scale. In 2016, bleaching hit 90 per cent of coral on the Great Barrier Reef and killed more than 20 per cent of the reef's coral.

The new study shows that, on average, the world's reefs will start suffering annual bleaching in 2043. About 5 per cent of them will be hit a decade or more earlier, while about 11 per cent will suffer annual bleaching a decade or more later than this date.

If emission reductions exceed pledges made by countries to date under the Paris Agreement, coral reefs would have another 11 years, on average, to adapt to warming seas before they are hit by annual bleaching. If such emissions reductions become reality, many high and low latitude reefs in Australia, the south Pacific, India, Coral Triangle and the Florida Reef Tract will have at least 25 more years before annual bleaching occurs, buying time for conservation efforts. However, reefs near the equator will experience annual bleaching much sooner, even if emissions reductions pledges become reality.

"It is imperative that we take these predictions seriously and that, at the very minimum, we meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. Doing so will buy time for coral reefs and allow us to plan for the future and adapt to the present," said Mr. Solheim.

Predicting when and where annual bleaching occurs will help policymakers and conservationists decide which reefs to prioritize. "Reefs that will suffer annual bleaching later -- known as climate "refugia" -- are top priorities because they have more time to respond positively to efforts that seek to reduce bleaching vulnerability," said Dr. van Hooidonk. Such efforts include reducing land-based pollution, halting overfishing and preventing damage from tourism.

Coral reefs, which are already under threat from overfishing and tourism, are especially vulnerable to climate change because they are easily affected by warm water. When sea temperatures rise, the algae that give coral its bright colours leave their host, causing it to look white, hence the term 'coral bleaching'. The loss of algae, which provide coral with much of its energy, make corals vulnerable to starvation and disease.

Known as the world's underwater cities, coral reefs provide hundreds of millions of people with food, income and coastal protection. They are home to at least one quarter of all marine life and they generate an estimated $375 billion per year from fisheries, tourism and coastal protection.

"We are going to need to be much more innovative and proactive if we want to see coral reefs thrive into the next century," said World Wildlife Fund (WWF) lead marine scientist and study co-author Dr. Gabby Ahmadia. "Conventional conservation is not going to cut it against the impacts of climate change. We need to embrace the new climate reality to guide efforts to save our oceans."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Ruben van Hooidonk, Jeffrey Maynard, Jerker Tamelander, Jamison Gove, Gabby Ahmadia, Laurie Raymundo, Gareth Williams, Scott F. Heron, Serge Planes. Local-scale projections of coral reef futures and implications of the Paris Agreement. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 39666 DOI: 10.1038/srep39666

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Record-breaking extreme weather in Australia in 2016 devastates ecosystems

Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement cites unprecedented bushfires in regions that don’t usually burn and worst coral bleaching on record
Michael Slezak The Guardian 5 Jan 17;

Australia’s weather was extreme in 2016, driven by humankind’s burning of fossil fuels as well as a strong El Niño, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement.

That extreme weather led to devastated ecosystems both on land and in the sea, with unprecedented bushfires in regions that don’t usually burn, the worst coral bleaching on record, and has been attributed as the cause of damage to vast tracts of crucial kelp forests, oyster farms and salmon stocks across southern Australia.

The statement, released on Thursday, said the country as a whole had its fourth-warmest year on record, but locally, Sydney and Darwin broke records for both their hottest maximum temperatures and hottest minimum temperatures.

Hobart had its warmest night on record in 2016 and both Hobart and Brisbane had records for their hottest annual mean temperature fall as well. The hot and dry start to the year sparked bushfires in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

The fires that swept through the Tasmanian world heritage forests were described as the worst crisis those forests faced in decades. The usually damp alpine forests there had been dried out by earlier dry weather and then a huge number of lightning strikes – which are expected to become more common as temperatures rise – burned through forests, killing trees that were hundreds of years old.

While land burned, the sea around Australia broiled. The bureau’s statement said despite the surface temperature of the seas around Australia being consistently high in recent years, 2016 reached a new record temperature, being 0.73C above the 1961-90 average.

Off the coast of Queensland, those record temperatures led to the worst coral bleaching on record, where an estimated 22% of the coral on the entire 2,300km length of the Great Barrier Reef was lost.

In the northern, most remote and most pristine part of the reef, coral was devastated by the unusually warm water, which scientists say will become the norm in fewer than 20 years.

The bureau’s statement also notes that ocean temperatures were at record highs around Tasmania in 2016. The freakishly hot waters there have been attributed as the cause of damage to oyster, salmon and abalone industries, as well as increased stress to kelp forests, already devastated by warmer waters in recent years.

The record hot waters in Tasmania were caused by a strengthened east Australian current, which drags warm waters from the tropics, along the coast of Australia. “This was associated with the longest and most intense marine heatwave on record for the south-east Australian region,” thestatement said.

It added: “The pattern of above average temperatures over land and in the oceans reflects the background warming trend. The Australian climate in 2016 was influenced by a combination of natural drivers and anthropogenic climate change.”

The hot temperatures around the country were followed up by unusually wet conditions for much of Australia too.

The bureau said Adelaide had its second-wettest year on record and its wettest since 1992. Sydney, Canberra and Hobart had above average rainfall. But the pattern wasn’t uniform, as Perth and Melbourne were close to average and Darwin and Brisbane were significantly drier than average in 2016.

“Widespread, drought-breaking rains led to flooding in multiple states,” said Neil Plummer from the Bureau of Meteorology. “Even northern Australia saw widespread rainfall, during what is usually the dry season, greening regions that had been in drought for several years.”

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Best of our wild blogs: 5 Jan 17

Oil spill near Pulau Ubin, 4 Jan 2017
wild shores of singapore

Birdwatching in Ubin - Black Hornbill ( Jan 2, 2017)
Rojak Librarian

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Oil spill affects fish farms near Pulau Ubin

Two vessels collide, causing 300 tonnes of oil spillage; one farm reports losing between 100kg and 200kg of fish
Carolyn Khew Straits Times 5 Jan 17;

An oil spill that occurred off Pasir Gudang Port in Johor on Tuesday night has affected three coastal fish farms near Pulau Ubin and left nature enthusiasts concerned about the potential impact on wildlife in the area.

A spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) told The Straits Times yesterday that one farm had reported losing between 100kg and 200kg of fish.

"We have issued oil-absorbent pads and canvases to 11 farmers closest to the oil spill site to help protect their fish stock," said the spokesman.

On Tuesday night, a Singapore- registered container vessel, the Wan Hai 301, collided with the APL Denver, a Gibraltar-registered container vessel, off the Johor port.

Traces of oil in water off Pulau Ubin after container vessels collide near Johor

The incident occurred close to midnight and left 300 tonnes of oil spillage as a result of damage to one of the APL Denver's bunker tanks.

Oil patches were also found along the western coastlines of Pulau Ubin (OBS Jetty) and Nenas Channel, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

"The two oil patches are mainly contained and no new sightings of oil have been reported," added the MPA yesterday.

Coastal fish farmers in the East Johor Strait were alerted, said the AVA spokesman. Farmers were advised to stop feeding their fish and to use canvas skirting to prevent oil from contaminating fish stocks.

Yesterday, remnants of oil could still be seen in the waters off Pulau Ubin. Fish farmers told The Straits Times it had got into their fish nets.

One of the farmers, who wanted to be known only as Mr Ho, said he was worried that the fish would be affected as he had fed them earlier in the day. To eat, the fish would have gone up to the surface, which was contaminated by oil.

"Let's just hope the fish won't die. We have been harmed by the red tide in the last few years, and now we have an oil spill," said the 55-year-old, referring to the algae blooms that had plagued the area.

As a precautionary measure, fish samples have been collected from the farms for food safety tests.

There are about 60 farms located in the East Johor Strait, most of which provide fish for Singaporeans' consumption.

Dr Huang Danwei from the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences said oil spills can be devastating for marine life, not just in how widely they spread, but also in the amount of time they take to be cleaned up.

"On the water, oil floats and can coat anything that moves through it. Sea otters and seabirds, for example, are large animals that are most affected because their fur and feathers lose their functions upon contact with oil," said Dr Huang.

He added that the Asian small- clawed otter, which is rare in Singapore, is known to live in the mangroves of Pulau Ubin.

The National Parks Board said yesterday that the spillage had been contained off the northern and western parts of Pulau Ubin.

As the tide was expected to move eastwards yesterday night, oil-absorbent booms were set up to protect the mangroves and mudflats along the north-eastern coast of Pulau Ubin, including the Chek Jawa Wetlands. Booms to contain the oil spill have also been set up to protect the mangroves at Coney Island Park and Pasir Ris Park.

Since 2012, there have been six Singapore-registered vessels involved in collisions that caused casualties or oil spills, including the latest incident.

The MPA and its contractors deployed nine vessels to respond to the oil patches at OBS Jetty and Nenas Channel. The cause of the collision is under investigation.

Singapore's last major oil spill happened in May 2010, when a collision caused 2,500 tonnes of crude oil to be leaked into the Singapore Strait.

According to the New Straits Times, the incident on Tuesday reportedly occurred when the vessel, Wan Hai, suffered a power failure, causing it to become uncontrollable before it hit the APL Denver.


Slick floating towards Singapore after cargo vessel crashes into stationary ship
YEE XIANG YUN and MOHD FARHAAN SHAH The Star 5 Jan 17;

JOHOR BARU: Some 300 tonnes of fuel oil could have spilt into the Johor Straits following a collision between two container ships at the Johor Port in Pasir Gudang.

No one was injured in the incident, but a large oil slick is heading towards Singapore, carried by the current after the collision at about 11pm on Tuesday.

More than 370 fishermen in the area are worried that the spill will affect their livelihood.

Port authorities were tight-lipped over the incident and declined to provide details on clean-up efforts.

A boat ferrying journalists to the affected area was detained by the authorities.

A power outage reportedly caused a Singapore-registered cargo vessel, which was coming in to dock, to crash into a stationary container ship.

Johor Health and Environment committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the captain of Wan Hai 301 had reported a power outage and blackout on board just before the incident.

The impact caused a bunker tank on the Gibraltar-registered APL Denver to rupture and spill its contents.

Ayub said teams from the Department of Environment and Johor Port immediately started clean-up work and were trying to contain the oil slick, adding that an investigation into the collision had started.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (southern region) First Admiral Adon Shalan said the APL Denver bunker tank has a capacity of 300 tonnes, “but we are not sure how much has spilled out”.

“A lot has floated to the waters near Pulau Ubin, off Singapore.”

Johor South Fishermen’s Asso­ciation chairman Azli Mohd Aziz said he was worried about the livelihood of the fishermen at the six villages.

“They are hesitant to go out to sea now because the oil can damage our nets and other gear.

“We are afraid that a change in the tides will shift the oil slick back into our waters,” he said.








Fish farms reeling from impact of oil spill off Johor
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 5 Jan 17;

SINGAPORE: At a fish farm north of Pulau Ubin, workers panicked on Wednesday (Jan 4) when they saw what was meant to be their Chinese New Year harvest turn belly-up in the water.

The farm, owned by Gills N Claws, told Channel NewsAsia it lost about 1,000 fish, after a nearby vessel collision the day before saw about 300 tonnes of oil spill into the sea. Gills N Claws said the oil seeped into its nets containing fish such as red snappers, pearl groupers and the silver pomfret.

"Our workers scrambled to put up canvasses outside the floating platforms provided by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA)," said Gills N Claws' head of operations, Winston Siv Raj. "But 70 per cent of the fish meant to be sold in time for Chinese New Year have died."

The farm also breeds crabs and lobsters. These too were found coated in engine oil, as were the green mussels grown as food for the lobsters. Farm manager Steven Wong lifted ropes on which the mussels were growing, only to find them caked with oily sludge.

When Channel NewsAsia arrived at the farm, staff from AVA and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) were on the scene, with AVA officials packing a red snapper and some mussels for tests at their laboratory.

Mr Raj said estimates the damage could run up to S$700,000, as the company also needs to change all its fish nets and floats, as well as supporting anchor points and connecting ropes that were ruined by the oil..

"This does not include the fish and lobsters that survived. The figures could change drastically if the AVA finds that the lobsters and fish taken for lab tests are unfit for consumption," he said.

Other fish farms are still trying to assess their losses. At a farm owned by 2 Jays, the surface of the water surrounded by netting was coated with a thick layer of black oil and the air smelled of diesel.

Workers were throwing large cloth pads into the water in bid to soak up the oil, but beyond that, they were unable to do much.

Its operations manager Timothy Ng said his workers could not check their fish stocks without lifting the nets. However if they did, they would risk killing more fish, as the surviving fish could choke on the oil floating on top if they came near the surface, he said. To prevent fish from suffocating in this fashion, workers were also instructed not to feed them.

The co-owner of Farm 85 Aquaculture, Andrew Sim, meantime, was at a loss for words, gazing out at his oil-coated fish pens. “I don’t know what to do … It's too much already."

SALE OF FISH AT 3 FARMS SUSPENDED

AVA had said on Wednesday that two farms saw fish deaths due to the oil spill and that up to 200kg of fish had died.

On Thursday, it said more farms were found to have tainted nets and structures, compared to the day before due to tidal movement. It has issued oil absorbent pads and canvas to 22 farmers closest to the oil spill site to help protect their fish stock.

Aside from the two farms however, "most of the farms in the same area did not report fish mortality,” said Dr Leong Hon Keong, group director of AVA’s Technology and Industry Development Group."There is minimal impact to supply. Nevertheless, AVA will continue to monitor the situation and assist the fish farmers, including assisting in clean-up efforts."

As a precautionary measure, AVA has collected fish samples for food safety tests and will continue to do so, it said. The authority also issued orders to three farms to suspend sales of fish until food safety evaluations are complete.

A total of 17 vessels and more than 220 personnel have been mobilised for a massive clean-up in the wake of the oil spill, MPA said. Changi Beach was also partially closed on Wednesday as a safety precaution.

Additional reporting by Vanessa Lim.

- CNA/mo


Johor oil spill clean-up in high gear as fishermen rue losses
BERNAMA New Straits Times 5 Jan 17;

JOHOR BARU: Fishermen at six villages near the Pasir Gudang Port might suffer losses amounting to RM130,000 due to an oil spill following the collision of two container vessels on Tuesday.

Southern Johor Fishermen Association chairman Azli Mohd Aziz said the 137 fishermen are from Kampung Pasir Gudang Baru, Kampung Pasir Putih, Kampung Kuala Masai, Kampung Asli Kuala Masai, Kampung Asli Pasir Putih and Kampung Asli Teluk Kabung.

"When I visited the area, work to clean the oil spills was in progress... but there were still traces of oil on the sea surface which could have adverse effects on fishing equipment.

"So, I'm not sure whether they (fishermen) can go out to sea or not," he told reporters after checking a 10-kilometre stretch affected by the oil spill here yesterday.

Azli said the association is now waiting for a full report from its affected members before any action, including demanding compensation, is taken.

Meanwhile, a Johor Environment Department spokesperson said the cleaning up operation using vacuum suction of the oil spill has begun.

"This operation is carried out carefully... if it's done in a hurry, it may break up the oil patches and (for that,) we cannot clean it up thoroughly. We also cannot tell how much longer the operation will take," said the spokesperson when contacted by Bernama here.

It is learnt that the spilled oil was identified as Marine Fuel Oil (MFO) 500 CST, which is used in the shipping industry.

Meanwhile, Johor Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Committee chairman Ismail Mohamed said the state government will wait for a full report over the incident before helping affected fishermen.

He said the assessment report will be issued by the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) to determine the exact amount of losses incurred by the fishermen.

Meanwhile, an LKIM spokesperson said the affected fishermen could submit a memorandum containing their names, which would be sent to the relevant parties for insurance claims.

"The amount of losses incurred will be assessed by the parties involved and if there are no problems, the payment will be made directly to the affected fishermen," said the spokesperson.

In the 11.01pm incident, a Singapore-registered vessel, Wan Hai 301, was entering the port at about 11pm when it rammed the bunker tank of an anchored Gibraltar-registered APL Denver vessel.

Wan Hai 301 is believed to have suffered a technical failure before the collision.

It was reported that some oil patches were spotted off the western side of Pulau Ubin in Singapore. - Bernama


Johor Port confirms generator failure caused ships to collide
YEE XIANG YUN The Star 5 Jan 17;

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Port Authority (JPA) confirmed that failure of the generator set on a Singapore-registered vessel caused it to collide into another vessel on Tuesday.

JPA said in a statement that Wan Hai 301 experienced generator failure, causing it to lose control and crash into APL Denver, a Gibraltar-registered ship, that was docked at Johor Port in Pasir Gudang at around 11.05pm.

It also confirmed that some 300 tonnes of marine fuel oil had leaked from APL Denver and the Singapore authorities were alerted to contain the oil slicks that had shifted into Singapore waters.

"In an immediate response, Johor Port Bhd with the help of other agencies and the Pasir Gudang Oil Spill Task Force, contained the oil spill in a way as to prevent patches from spreading to other areas," the statement said.

JPA added that the port was now operating as usual but anchoring schedule at the container terminal might be delayed for a few days due to ongoing cleaning up works.

It was reported that large portions of the fuel had floated to Singapore's Pulau Ubin.

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Living City: At work in a kayak through the mangroves of Pulau Ubin

Basil Edward Teo, The Straits Times AsiaOne 4 Jan 16;

SINGAPORE - Twice a week, kayaking leader Malvin Foo spends three hours on public transport, going from his home in Clementi to his job in Pulau Ubin.

Despite the long travel time, he enjoys every trip to the island.

"To me, going back to Ubin to kayak is like recharging. I don't feel like it's a form of work," said the 32-year-old.

As a kayaking leader for outdoor adventure company Asian Detours, Mr Foo leads an average of 10 participants at a time into the mangroves of Pulau Ubin.

"Once you enter the mangrove on your kayak, the mood and air changes. There's a drop in energy, and you can see it on the faces of my participants," he said.

The basic mangrove kayaking programme takes participants on a 2½-hour journey through mangroves in the western part of Ubin.

Another programme is the longer "bisect kayaking" trip that takes enthusiasts on a four-hour journey cutting through from the north of the island to the south.

Through the guided tours, Mr Foo hopes to raise awareness of the importance of Pulau Ubin's mangroves to Singapore's ecosystem.

"You take a short bumboat ride over, walk for five minutes, grab a kayak and then you start," he said, on the convenience of experiencing the natural beauty of the mangroves.

In this episode of Living City, which explores Singapore's little-known spaces and places, The Straits Times Video visits the mangroves of Pulau Ubin.

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Malaysia: Negri dam levels declining despite heavy rain

SARBAN SINGH The Star 4 Jan 17;

SEREMBAN: Water levels at two major dams here are going down despite heavy showers in many parts of Negri Sembilan.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said both the Sg Terip and Kelinchi dams, which supply water to tens of thousands of consumers in Seremban and other districts had about 70 days of supply left, when it should be more than double.

"For some strange reason, we have not been getting rain in the upstream areas.

"It is my hope that consumers will use water prudently and not be mistaken that the dams are full because of rain in downstream areas," he told reporters after chairing the exco meeting Wednesday.

Mohamad said consumers should not waste water simply because tariffs were low.

"I know that Negri Sembilan has the lowest water tariff in the country for households, but that does not mean one should be wasteful,"

However, he noted that the state's five other dams were full.

Mohamad said he had directed state water concessionaire Syarikat Air Negri Sembilan to find way to fill up the two affected dams.

"We need to do some kind of back pumping and fill up the dams as we will be experiencing the dry season in two to three months.

"The other option is to carry out cloud seeding in the upstream areas and get the dams filled up before it comes," he said.


N. Sembilan faces water crisis as two major dams dry up
BERNAMA New Straits Times 5 Jan 17;

SEREMBAN: Despite the rainy season, there's a looming water crisis in the state as water levels at the Sungai Terip and Sungai Kelinchi dams have dropped.

Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the current water level at the two dams is expected to reach a critical stage in 72 days.

"The water level in dams is supposed to increase during the rainy season - but it's (been) just the opposite. I am a little worried, for during the rainy season, we should have a capacity sustaining for up to 200 days.

"Usually, (at) a critical level, water levels in the two dams would be able to last for more than 150 days, instead of 72 days, as what is happening now," he said after chairing an exco meeting here today. Mohamad said he has directed Syarikat Air Negri Sembilan (SAINS) to think of ways to increase water levels in the dams, including cloud seeding in certain areas.

However, he said the situation at five more dams, namely Talang, Pedas, Gemencheh, Ulu Sepri and Teriang, is not a concern, because water levels there are at the maximum level. - Bernama

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Malaysia: Sabah to gazette forest as protected area for orang utan population

The Star 5 Jan 17;

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Forestry Department is moving to gazette a forest in central Sabah, rich in orang utan population, as a fully protected area.

The move comes in the wake of a sudden change in the ownership of the 101,000ha Forest Management Unit 5 (FMU 5), which also contains 13,000ha of flora and fauna.

Sabah Forests chief conservator Datuk Sam Mannan said the area was being classified as a first-class reserve and would become part of the Trusmadi Forest Reserve.

FMU 5, owned by logging and reforestation company Anika Desiran, was bought over by a local wood products manufacturing company, Priceworth International, for RM260mil in October last year.

Anika Desiran was apparently working with conservationists, including WWF Malaysia, during the past two to three years.

The goal was to create a model example of a conservation economy and the sudden sale of the pro­perty took the conservationists by surprise.

Mannan said the forest region had been logged a few times since the 1980s and that the Forestry Department allowed it to be parcelled out under the FMU programme in 1997 because it did not expect orang utan to inhabit such highland areas.

“I don’t know why the former owner sold it. But it has nothing to do with us,” he said.

He said that a WWF study found orang utan in FMU 5 so the high-conservation area within it would be turned into a first-class reserve.

Once done, the new owner will have to provide a development masterplan which must be approved before any kind of work can take place on the land.

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Malaysia: Customs Dept seizes RM7.2mil worth of ivory at KLIA

NOORSILA ABD MAJID New Straits Times 4 Jan 17;

SEPANG: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has seized 254 units of ivory worth RM7.2mil, believed to have been smuggled in from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Displaying the large seizure at a press conference in the Kompleks Kastam Kargo KLIA, Datuk Hamzah Sundang, the director of KLIA Customs, said the department acted on a tip-off from an informer.

“We processed the information that we’ve received and sent our officers to investigate.

“To our surprise, we discovered the ivory, packed in 17 boxes from DR Congo in the air cargo warehouse of the free-trade zone in KLIA. They were delivered via MAS Cargo,” said Hamzah.

According to him, the cargo was flown in via Turkish Airline and Turkey’s Istanbul Ataturk Airport was the transit point.

The smuggled goods weighing 846.2kg were labelled as “wood samples” on the boxes. They were supposed to be delivered to an unidentified recipient at a home address in Cheras, Selangor.

Hamzah revealed that the smugglers have used forged documents and that the address in Cheras did not exist but Malaysia is definitely their final destination.

The department has pledged a handsome cash reward for those with valuable information on this case.

In Malaysia, the import of ivory requires a special permit from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) Under Section 135 (1) (a) of the Customs Act 1967, and those found guilty of illegally importing ivory into the country can be fined a maximum of 20 times the value of the smuggled items, or face three yearsimprisonment, or both.

As of December 2016, Malaysia has recorded nine cases of smuggled ivory, totalling to RM10.9mil. Hamzah stated that the figures have gone up by RM8.6mil, or three more cases, as compared to 2015.

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Natural disaster damage hits 4-year high: Report

Channel NewsAsia 4 Jan 17;

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Natural disasters including storms and earthquakes caused US$175 billion of damage in 2016, German reinsurance giant Munich Re said Wednesday (Jan 4), the highest level since 2012.

While the year saw a two-thirds increase in the financial impact of catastrophes around the world, casualties from natural disasters were far lower in 2016 than the previous year, at 8,700 deaths compared with 25,400.

Munich Re pointed to two earthquakes on the Japanese island of Kyushu in April and floods in China in June and July as the most devastating natural events, inflicting costs of US$31 billion in Japan and US$20 billion in China.

North America suffered its largest number of disasters since 1980, at 160 events.

October's Hurricane Matthew was the worst in the region, causing 550 deaths in Haiti alone as well as US$10.2 billion of damage.

Meanwhile Canada battled wildfires in May after spring heatwaves and droughts, costing around US$4 billion, while summer brought serious flooding in the southern US to the tune of US$10 billion.

And a series of storms across Europe in late May and early June brought flood damage costing a total of US$6 billion, with flooding hitting Germany especially badly as well as the French capital Paris.

Overall, floods accounted for 34 per cent of losses - an "exceptional" figure compared with the average of 21 per cent in the last 10 years, Munich Re pointed out.

"A look at the weather-related catastrophes of 2016 shows the potential effects of unchecked climate change," said Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Re's Geo Risks Research Unit. But he noted that "individual events themselves can never be attributed directly to climate change."

Around 70 per cent of the losses recorded by Munich Re were uninsured.

In China, 98 per cent of the financial damage inflicted by the summer floods was uninsured, while the figure in the USA was 75 per cent and in Europe 47 per cent.

- AFP/ek

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