Malaysia, Johor: Retention ponds to be maintained to mitigate floods

NELSON BENJAMIN The Star 2 Jun 17;

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) plans to carry out maintenance work in more than 100 retention ponds under its care, to help mitigate flash floods during downpours.

MBJB engineering department director Sulaiman Mohamad Taib said the ponds were usually covered with silt, rubbish and sand, which hampered their effectiveness during heavy rain.

He said Wednesday’s downpour caused flash floods in five areas including Jalan Maldrun, Jalan Rosmerah Utama, Jalan Bakawali in Taman Johor Jaya, Jalan Serampang in Taman Pelangi and Mount Austin.

“Flood waters rose to between 0.5m and 1m. However, it lasted for only 30 minutes but caused damage to vehicles,” he said during a visit to view two retention ponds in Taman Desa Tebrau, yesterday.

He added that MBJB allocated RM15mil annually to improve and maintain drainage within its jurisdiction.

Each retention pond is between 929 sq m to 40,000 sq m.

Meanwhile, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin’s special aide for Chinese community affairs Tan Cher Puk said that Wednesday’s downpour caused huge losses for shops located along Jalan Rosmerah Utama.

“Losses are estimated to be more than RM100,000 in the flash floods that took place between 6.45pm and 7.10pm,” he said, adding that the Pasir Gudang MCA office was also affected with losses of more than RM10,000.

Tan was thankful there were no deaths or injuries as two people were trapped in their cars due to the rising flood waters, and strong currents that tossed vehicles around.

He added that the flood problem in Johor Jaya had been mitigated by building larger culverts under the Pasir Gudang highway in 2012.

“However, these culverts have become clogged with rubbish that need to be cleared,” he said.

Tan added that another reason for the Johor Jaya flash floods was due to problems with the two retention ponds in Taman Desa Tebrau, which were not functioning due to siltation, plants and sand.

“I thank MBJB for its prompt action and I am told it will spend RM50,000 for mitigation works,” said Tan.

Also present was MBJB councillor Tan Tuan Peng and other government officials.

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Paris climate deal: Trump pulls US out of 2015 accord

BBC 2 Jun 17;

President Donald Trump has announced that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

He said moves to negotiate a new "fair" deal that would not disadvantage US businesses and workers would begin.

Mr Trump said during last year's presidential election campaign that he would take the step to help his country's oil and coal industries.

Opponents say withdrawing from the accord is an abdication of US leadership on a key global challenge.

The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping global temperatures rises "well below" 2C (3.6F) and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C. Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.

What did Trump say?

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Mr Trump characterised the Paris agreement as a deal that aimed to hobble, disadvantage and impoverish the US.

He claimed the agreement would cost the US $3tn in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs - while rival economies like China and India were treated more favourably.

"In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord... but begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States," he said.

The speech contained several rhetorical flourishes reminiscent of his campaign speeches.

"We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more - and they won't be," he said.

"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. I promised I would exit or re-negotiate any deal which fails to serve America's interests. Many trade deals will soon be under re-negotiation."

The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington says the move will be welcomed by many Trump supporters, as for them this is less about science - and more about sending a signal to so-called global elites.

Analysts say the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement will make it more difficult for the world to reach the goals that it set for itself in the Paris agreement.

The US contributes about 15% of global emissions of carbon, but it is also a significant source of finance and technology for developing countries in their efforts to fight rising temperatures.

Mr Trump did not give a timescale for US withdrawal, but White House sources had earlier suggested it could take up to four years.

Former US President Barack Obama, who agreed to the Paris deal, immediately criticised the move, accusing the Trump administration of "rejecting the future".

Republican congressional leaders and the US coal industry backed the move, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting Mr Trump "for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration's assault on domestic energy production and jobs".

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision "one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st Century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing".

The leaders of France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement rejecting a renegotiation of the agreement.

"We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies," it said.

Canada was "deeply disappointed" by President Trump's decision, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters.

This was echoed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who expressed her disappointment and told Mr Trump in a phone call that the deal protects the "prosperity and security of future generations".

Leaders of the Nordic nations - Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland - also condemned the move.

A United Nations spokeswoman said it was a "major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security".

Small island nations whose existence is threatened by rising sea levels were critical of the move. The President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, said it was "highly concerning for those of us that live on the frontline of climate change".

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk confirmed that he was leaving his role as an adviser to the Trump administration in protest.

"Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," he tweeted.

'Worse than expected'
By BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath

President Trump's statement is a very clear repudiation of the Paris agreement and international efforts to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in poorer countries.

In many ways it is far worse than many had expected. He sees it as a clear job killer, as an economy strangler and a desperately unfair stitch-up by other countries wanting to take economic advantage of the US.

He spoke of being open to re-negotiating the deal or trying to build a new agreement - but the idea of "re-negotiation" is an unlikely scenario.

The scale of his opposition, seeing the deal as "a massive redistribution of US wealth to other countries" is a clear indication that he has fully bought into an economic nationalist and climate denier perspective.

The question of unfairness cropped up again and again, how the world's worst polluters, China and India, had "no meaningful obligations" placed on them by the deal.

The overall tone and content of his speech clearly plays to his base but is also a clear disavowal of multilateralism, especially on climate change, and will definitely push other countries more closely together on this issue.

What was agreed in Paris?

Climate change, or global warming, refers to the damaging effect of gases, or emissions, released from industry and agriculture on the atmosphere.

The Paris accord is meant to limit the global rise in temperature attributed to emissions.

Countries agreed to:

Keep global temperatures "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C

Limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100

Review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge

Enable rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy


Climate: The Paris Agreement at a glance
Mariëtte Le Roux AFP Yahoo News 2 Jun 17;

The 2015 Paris Agreement was the first pact to commit all nations to limiting global warming caused by emissions from burning coal, oil and gas

Paris (AFP) - The 2015 Paris Agreement, which the United States will quit according to President Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday, is the first pact to commit all nations to limiting global warming caused by emissions from burning coal, oil and gas.

Key facts about the pact:

- The climate club -

A total of 196 nations, including the Palestinian authorities, have endorsed the agreement and 147 have officially ratified it.

The accord entered into force in record time on November 4, 2016, when it crossed the threshold of 55 ratifying parties representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

China, the world's number one greenhouse gas polluter and Europe, number three after the US in second place, recommitted to the Paris Agreement Thursday.

The biggest polluter not to have ratified the deal is Russia (number five after India).

- Rules of engagement -

The agreement makes provision for parties to quit, but notice can be given only three years after its entry into force.

Withdrawal would take effect a year after that. But on Thursday, Trump said the US would "cease all implementation" of the accord "as of today."

A country can also withdraw from the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under whose auspices the deal was negotiated. Withdrawal would take effect a year after notification, which can be given at any moment.

- The goal -

Nations agreed to hold global warming to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, and to strive for a lower limit of 1.5 degrees.

Experts say even the two-degree ceiling is a tall order, requiring an immediate and deep reduction in planet-warming emissions from fossil fuels -- an industry with major influence in Washington.

Signatories to the deal will aim for emissions to peak "as soon as possible". The UN's climate science panel recommends a 40-70-percent cut by 2050 from 2010 levels.

Based on voluntary pledges by countries so far, the planet is on track for warming of about three degrees, many scientists say -- a recipe for catastrophic floods, storms, drought and sea-level rise.

- Tracking progress -

In 2018, and every five years thereafter, countries will take stock of the overall impact of their efforts to rein in global warming.

Some nations, including the United States, set emissions-curbing targets for 2025, others for 2030. Both categories must be updated every five years starting 2020.

- Financing -

Rich countries are expected to provide funding to help developing countries make the costly shift to cleaner energy sources and to shore up defences against the impacts of climate change.

They have committed $100 billion (89 billion euros) per year by 2020.

But Trump on Thursday said that the United States, which pledged $3 billion towards the Green Climate Fund of which it delivered $1 billion under Obama, would not implement financial commitments or national emissions-curbing measures pledged under the pact.

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Sri Lanka deploys more troops as flood toll climbs to 180

The military said a lull in torrential monsoon rains allowed it to deploy aircraft, boats and ground troops to evacuate people from flooded areas, deliver essentials and recover bodies.
Channel NewsAsia 30 May 17;

KALUTARA, Sri Lanka: Thousands of Sri Lankan troops battled on Monday (May 29) to get relief supplies to over half a million people displaced by the island's worst flooding for 14 years, which has killed at least 180 people.

The military said a lull in torrential monsoon rains allowed it to deploy aircraft, boats and ground troops to evacuate people from flooded areas, deliver essentials and recover bodies.

Just over 550,000 people have had to abandon their homes due to the heavy rains, which have brought flooding and landslides to large parts of the island's southwest.

Sri Lanka is regularly hit by flooding at the start of the annual monsoon. But carpenter J. H. Siripala, who lives in one of the areas worst hit, said he had never seen it this bad.

"I have lived in this area for 27 years and we have gone through floods, but never experienced this much water," the 62-year told AFP in Kalutara district on the southwest coast as a navy boat carried him to safety.

"I thought it was my end," he said as he recalled how the water level suddenly rose on Sunday, covering his head, before he was pulled to safety.

Dhanushka Fernando said his house was under eight feet (2.5 metres) of water on Sunday. "We had floods in 2003 but not this much water," the 28-year-old told AFP.

In May 2003, 250 people were killed and 10,000 homes destroyed after a similarly powerful monsoon.

The official death toll rose to 180 on Monday after soldiers dug out the bodies of a woman and a child from under tonnes of mud following a landslide in Ratnapura, the island's gem capital.

The Disaster Management Centre said another 110 people were missing.

Just over 5,500 houses have suffered structural damage or been completely destroyed, according to official figures.

A Mi-17 transport helicopter crash landed Monday while trying to deliver food and other essentials to a marooned village in the southern area of Baddegama. But air force spokesman Gihan Seneviratne said there were no casualties.

INTERNATIONAL AID

Military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne said a let-up in the rains had allowed troops to access cut-off villages.

Sri Lanka has deployed 1,800 soldiers and 1,100 naval personnel to evacuate people and ferry food and other essentials to affected areas.

The paramilitary Civil Defence Force said it was deploying about 2,000 personnel while the police have sent their elite commandos to help.

The government said floodwaters were beginning to recede on Monday but some low-lying areas remained heavily inundated.

All schools in flood-hit areas, including the capital Colombo, will be closed for a week, it said.

As the rains eased in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and parts of India issued warnings over Cyclone Mora, which is expected to make landfall on Tuesday.

Bangladeshi authorities ordered all fishing crews to return to shore and advised people living in the southeastern area of Cox's Bazar to move to higher ground.

Sri Lanka has sought international assistance, with India sending two naval ships laden with supplies over the weekend. A third ship was expected this week, officials said.

The United Nations said it would donate water containers, water purification tablets and tarpaulins while the World Health Organization will support medical teams in affected areas.

Japan had promised portable generators and a team of experts to help with relief work.

Source: AFP/de

Sri Lanka tightens building laws as monsoon rain toll tops 200
Channel NewsAsia 31 May 17;

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka pledged on Wednesday (May 31) to tighten construction laws as the toll from heavy rains rose to 203, saying many landslide victims would have survived had their homes not been built on slopes.

The government will also prosecute anyone violating existing rules by building on landslide-prone slopes, said Disaster Management Minister Anura Yapa.

"If we don't stop this madness, we are going to end up with a bigger disaster very soon," he said, pledging to demolish all illegal structures including 10,000 in the capital alone.

"About 30 to 40 per cent of this disaster is due to illegal constructions," Yapa said. "The local councils should never have allowed homes to be built on (landslide-prone) mountain slopes."

More than 1,500 homes were destroyed and another 7,600 suffered structural damage in landslides triggered by heavy rain on Friday, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC).

As the official death toll rose to 203 with another 96 still missing, Yapa said residents in the worst-hit Ratnapura and Kalutara districts had ignored persistent warnings to evacuate.

"We have a cultural issue where people don't accept that they are at risk," Yapa said. "We are also considering laws to force people to leave when evacuation warnings are issued by the DMC."

The minister said decades of illegal construction had worsened the flooding by blocking drains and eliminating natural rainwater stores, including marshland.

More than 600,000 people remain temporarily homeless after the landslides and floods, the worst to hit the island in 14 years.

As the waters recede, hundreds of volunteers have begun work on cleaning wells to bring fresh water to survivors, officials said.

Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said additional medical teams were also being deployed to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.

Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake said 16 countries had rushed relief supplies and medicine to assist those driven from their homes following Friday's monsoon deluge.

"We also have a lot of enquiries from other countries and organisations wanting to know our immediate needs. We are moved by the spontaneous response," Karunanayake told reporters.

India and Pakistan also deployed medical teams on the ground in some of the worst-hit areas, he said.

The flooding is the worst since May 2003 when 250 people were killed and 10,000 homes destroyed after a similarly powerful monsoon, officials said.

Monsoon rains last year also caused flooding and landslides, killing more than 100 people.

Source: AFP/ec

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Nordic Investment in Indonesia, Singapore Linked to Deforestation: Report

Jakarta Globe 31 May 17;

Jakarta. While Nordic countries are on the forefront of global environmental initiatives, their asset managers have invested more than $2 billion in six Indonesian and Singaporean banks that finance environmentally damaging palm oil companies, says a report released by Rainforest Foundation Norway, AidEnvironment Asia and Fair Finance Guide Sweden on Tuesday (30/05).

According to the report, "Nordic Investments in Banks Financing Indonesian Palm Oil," finds that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) has contributed the largest sum — $1.3 billion.

It is followed by Nordea with $0.3 billion, AP-Fonderna with $163 million, Swedbank with $140 million and Handelsbanken with $66 billion.

"Evidence that Norwegians and Swedes are indirectly supporting an industry that has destroyed huge tracts of rainforest is hard to square with this region’s reputation as a global leader in the fight against deforestation," senior policy adviser Vemund Olsen of Rainforest Foundation Norway said on the organization's official website.

"It's a sobering reminder of the powerful economic forces propelling Indonesia’s palm oil industry and rewarding companies that adopt a scorched earth approach to palm oil production."

Which Banks?

The main recipients of the Nordic investments in Indonesia are Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Mandiri, Bank Nasional Indonesia (BNI), and Bank Central Asia (BCA) – all of which, according to the report, have been backing palm oil companies that do not adopt sustainable practices.

Bank Mandiri, BNI, and BRI are said to be the three largest lenders to the palm oil sector, while BCA is "likely" the fourth.

Bank Mandiri has been linked to companies such as Darmex Agro/Duta Palma and Sawit Sumbermas Sarana, both of which have been charged with clearing forests. The latter even operates on forest land without a permit.

BNI has financed Best Group and Korindo, which have poor fire prevention and mitigation systems. The former has been involved in violation of workers' rights, while the latter is suspected of intentional forest burning.

BRI has given loans to Tunas Baru Lampung and Sampoerna Agro, both of which have been draining peatlands and are involved in land disputes with local communities.

The report also links BCA to HPI Agro and Indo Agri/Salim responsible for peat drainage.

The palm oil industry accounts for approximately 8 percent of the banks' total lending — approximately half of all lending for the industry.

Since early 2014, outstanding agriculture sector loans of the four banks have increased by 70 percent, and at the end of 2016, the loans for palm oil sector reached about $12.5 billion.

The Singaporean banks accepting Nordic investments are the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) and DBS Bank. Neither of them has disclosed details of their involvement in Indonesian palm oil sector, but their activities on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) indicate that it exists.

By the end of 2016, OCBC had outstanding loans of Rp 12 trillion ($901.24 million) in the agriculture and mining sector, while DBS's outstanding loans to agriculture and fisheries stood at Rp 8 trillion.

According to AidEnvironment, among the banks behind the 16 palm oil companies listed on IDX, outstanding loans with OCBC and DBS respectively were the 6th and 8th largest.

OCBC has been giving loans to Tunas Baru Lampung and Sampoerna Agro, while DBS to Sampoerna Agro and Indo Agri/Salim.

"These [Indonesian and Singaporean] banks are a major part of the palm oil problem because they are funding destructive and unethical palm oil ventures while their narrow financial interests, which favor rapacious producers over more responsible companies, undermine efforts to make the industry more sustainable," Olsen said.

Solving the Problem

Fair Finance Guide Sweden project manager Jakob König called on the Nordic banks and pension funds to withdraw investments from banks that support environmentally damaging palm oil businesses.

"We cannot be a credible leader in the fight to preserve the world’s rapidly dwindling rainforests when so much Nordic money is so closely tied to rainforest destruction," he said, as quoted by Rainforest Foundation Norway.

The report authors demand that the Southeast Asian banks adopt the No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) financing policy, aimed at ending deforestation, protecting peatlands, ensuring consent from communities for any land use and no human rights violations.

To address the problem, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia and Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) have come up with a project titled "First Movers on Sustainable Banking," aimed at improving the environmental and social governance of Indonesian banks, and encouraging them to play a bigger role through their risk management frameworks, WWF said in a statement released on Wednesday.

WWF Indonesia and OJK have also developed a practical guide for responsible financing in the palm oil sector.

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Woman fined S$6,900 for keeping exotic wildlife

Channel NewsAsia 31 May 17;

SINGAPORE: A 32-year-old woman was fined S$6,900 on Wednesday (May 31) for keeping exotic wildlife, including an endangered veiled chameleon.

Tai Qi Hui's home was raided by officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) last July, and they found a total of 17 illegal wildlife specimens, comprising 14 exotic lizards, a snake, an ornate horned frog and an endangered veiled chameleon.

AVA officers had acted on a tip-off, after receiving information that the woman was allegedly selling illegal wildlife online.

Keeping wild animals such as exotic amphibians, snakes and lizards is not allowed in Singapore.

“Wild animals are not suitable pets as some may transmit zoonotic diseases to humans and can be a public safety risk if mishandled, or if they escape into our dense urban environment,” AVA said. “In addition, wild animals that are non-native to Singapore may also be a threat to our bio-diversity if released into the environment.”

It added that demand for such animals would also fuel the illegal wildlife trade.

Tai was fined S$1,500 for one charge of possessing an endangered species and S$600 for each of the nine charges of keeping wild animals. Seven other charges of keeping wild animals were also taken into consideration, said AVA.

The animals are currently in the care of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

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Indonesia: Lombok villagers beat poverty with tortilla chips and mangroves

Thin Lei Win Reuters 31 May 17;

LOMBOK, Indonesia, May 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - J ust over three years ago, Herniati had never heard of tortilla chips, let alone tasted them. Now she loves them - making the crispy snacks has turned her from a housewife reliant on her husband's unstable income into the main breadwinner.

The family of four used to live on less than $8 a day, mostly from selling fish her husband caught. Herniati, who goes by one name, said their income had quadrupled since she began working, thanks to a project to improve local livelihoods.

"My income is now higher than my husband's. He's happy and proud of me," said the 35-year-old, giggling. "With the money, I first pay school fees for my children. Then we buy electronic devices."

Lombok, a beautiful, rugged island in eastern Indonesia, has long been overshadowed by its neighbour Bali. Located in West Nusa Tenggara, one of Indonesia's poorest provinces, Lombok is less developed, arid and prone to drought.

A sudden boom in its tourism industry has raised hopes poverty can be reduced, but some locals instead fear a jump in inequality.

Coastal villages are particularly vulnerable, experts say, because they have limited access to markets, the natural resources they rely on become degraded over time, and they depend on a single source of income, usually fishing.

Climate change impacts such as sea-level rise and more intense droughts and storms, combined with coastal erosion, could exacerbate these problems.

In Herniati's fishing village of Lembar Selatan in West Lombok, under an hour's drive from some of the island's most popular beaches, many families live below the national poverty line of around $27 per month.

But the villagers say their prospects have improved thanks to the Coastal Community Development Project (CCDP), run by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

Funded by the Spanish, U.S. and Indonesian governments, it covers nine provinces in eastern Indonesia, a region that has historically suffered from low levels of development.

The CCDP supports rehabilitation of natural resources such as reefs and mangroves, provides fishing equipment to men, and trains fishermen's wives to become entrepreneurs, linking them with companies to sell their products. The villagers contribute manpower and re-invest profits into their communities.

SAVING FOR THE FIRST TIME

"You can see there are many new buildings. It means they now have extra money," said Sapta Putra Ginting, national CCDP coordinator with the marine affairs ministry, pointing at brick houses with fresh coats of paint.

"Previously, when the husbands could not work, they had to borrow money at 100-percent interest rates. That's how our fishing communities stayed deep in poverty," he added.

About a third of the village benefits from the project, serving as a model for others who want to diversify their incomes through environmental protection and market access, Ginting said.

Local fisherman H. Nurudin said he has a personal savings account for the first time, in which he has tucked away 7 million rupiah ($525.50).

A group of fishermen supported by the project has saved 18 million rupiah, he said, using the money to repair boats and organise local events.

Sahdan, another villager in Lembar Selatan, has also seen his fortunes change for the better.

The 67-year-old has been a fisherman for as long as he can remember. For the past few years, however, he has been busy managing the village's 64-hectare (158-acre) mangrove conservation area.

Once a place with fast-deteriorating mangrove trees, it is now a popular attraction after new trees were planted with CCDP money. Shops, cafes and a housing project have sprung up nearby.

A walkway has been built among the mangroves, and revenues from entry fees, boat hire and hosting weddings are so good that Sahdan now fishes only occasionally, though catches are higher.

"Before the mangroves were planted we used to get 2 kg (4.4 lb) of fish a day. Now we get 5 or 6 kilos," he said, standing in a wooden gazebo as youths paddled kayaks in the water below. Scores of people visit every weekend, he added.

The mangrove park is doing so well Sahdan worries it could become a victim of its own success. Land prices in the area have soared from 2 million to 10 million rupiah per hectare, he said.

VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS

The CCDP ends in December, but local authorities and villagers plan to continue its work. National coordinator Ginting said one strategy is to work with big companies like Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina, which has shown interest.

Another is to incorporate CCDP activities into village planning and budgeting, said Sarah Hessel, IFAD programme officer for Asia-Pacific. Under the 2014 Village Law, the national government aims to disburse up to $8.6 billion annually - over $100,000 for every village - for infrastructure and economic development until 2019, she added.

For Herniati and other fishermen's wives, there is no question of stopping what they are doing. They remember enduring years of stress over money and the safety of their husbands.

"The women worry every single day while the husbands are out fishing," said Herniati. "We worry the boats will sink in bad weather, that they cannot get fish when there are big waves."

The women now make tortilla chips and crackers, adding Lombok's special ingredient - seaweed - to the recipe, as well as more traditional Indonesian fare such as shrimp paste.

The products are then packaged and sent to Gerung, the capital of West Lombok Regency, where they are sold by a local business specialising in snacks and drinks including seaweed coffee.

"Before, I just waited for my husband to come back and sell fresh fish at the market," said Herniati outside the one-storey building where the women work, built recently with their profits. "Now we can sell value-added products. This has helped increase our family income."

($1 = 13,320.0000 rupiah) (Reporting by Thin Lei Win, editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

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Survival of coral reefs requires radical rethink of what conservation means, say scientists

Reef conservation must not be an attempt to restore reefs of the past, but to identify the parts essential to their continued existence, and protect those.
Michael Slezak The Guardian 31 May 17;

The survival of coral reefs requires a radical rethink of what conservation means, as well as embracing some of the changes they are undergoing, according to a paper by leading coral reef scientists.

“Helping coral reefs to safely navigate the Anthropocene is a profound challenge for multiscale governance,” the scientists say in a paper published today in the journal Nature.

They argue reef conservation must no longer be seen as an attempt to restore reefs of the past, or conserve their existing values, but rather to identify the parts of reefs that are essential to their continued existence, and protect those.

The paper comes amid increased urgency from conservationists and reef managers around the world, sparked by the worst global bleaching event in recorded history. It caused mass die-offs in every major coral reef region of the world. On the Great Barrier Reef alone, it is estimated that about half the coral was killed in 2016 and 2017.

In the paper, the scientists argue saving the world’s reefs requires the acceptance that the reefs of the future will look very different to those of today, and humans may need to help them adapt – perhaps by intervening to increase the proportion of coral species that are tolerant to rising temperatures.

“In the coming centuries, reefs will run the gauntlet of climate change, and rising temperatures will transform them into new configurations, unlike anything observed previously by humans,” the paper says.

But the overall message was one of hope, said lead author of the paper Terry Hughes from James Cook University in Australia.

“There’s no shortage of people saying reefs will be dead by 2030 or whatever,” Hughes said. “They are going to be different systems with a different mix of species but if we throw the kitchen sink at it and especially deal with climate change then we will have functioning reefs that will sustain and repair themselves and be of some use to people,” he said.

The group of scientists, which includes both biologists and social scientists, argue the approach to reef conservation must change in several ways.

As coral reefs change, the authors say scientists and conservationists must focus on aspects of reef ecosystems that are the most important to their continued existence. They say biodiversity is no longer the most important value to protect, since some species are more important to the ecosystem than others.

They also suggest that helping reefs adapt may become an important strategy. “Ecosystem composition change is already occurring naturally, as corals respond and adapt to climate change, and could be promoted further through efforts to actively manipulate ecosystem configurations,” they write.

Besides embracing the fact that reefs will never be the same, they argue research and conservation must shift from the most direct impacts on reefs, and instead identify and target the root causes.

For example, rather than focusing just on the role herbivorous fish play in suppressing seaweed, thereby allowing reefs to recover, conservation efforts should focus on what drives the overfishing of those fish – such as poverty and market demands. “We tend to propose bandaids rather than dealing with the root cause of the issue,” Hughes said.

Underlying the finding that reefs will continue to survive is the assumption that agreements made at Paris to keep global warming to “well below 2C” are successful.

The researchers reviewed published experiments that examined the response of coral to rising temperatures, and found none that looked at the carbon dioxide levels they say reefs are likely to experience over the next century. Instead, those studies universally examined much more extreme scenarios, equivalent to several degrees of global warming.

“Most of the coral reef literature assumes business-as-usual emissions to the end of the century, which would result in global warming of 4, 5 or 6C,” says Hughes. “We will never get there – not because people will become more and more concerned about coral reefs – but because Florida will go under water and that will get people’s attention.”

Similarly, the authors said experiments examining the impacts of acidification looked at exaggerated scenarios, and the researchers said there were some suggestions acidification may not have a large impact on the growth of coral.

The understanding that coral reefs will never be the same is already affecting management practices around the world.

In Australia, the Guardian revealed last week that advisers to the government’s plan to protect the Great Barrier Reef have said it must stop trying to “improve” and restore the natural heritage values, and instead should aim to “maintain the ecological function” of the reef, while accepting its overall health would inevitably decline.

Similarly, sources have told the Guardian that discussions are occurring within Unesco, over how to protect natural heritage values, given that climate change means many heritage sites will inevitably be altered.

Not all coral reef biologists are supportive of efforts to manipulate reef ecosystems.

Justin Marshall from the University of Queensland said the new paper made many good points, but that he did not think attempts to pick and choose parts of reefs to save would be successful. “We’re consistently crap at playing God – or playing Darwin,” Marshall said, adding that ecosystems were too complex to predict the outcomes of particular interventions.

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Best of our wild blogs: 31 May 17

Signs of dugong at Changi
wild shores of singapore

Hello from the otterside!
BES Drongos

Singapore Raptor Report – March 2017
Singapore Bird Group

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Finding oil palm alternative could be key to haze issue

JOSE MONTESCLAROS Today Online 31 May 17;

The majority of forest fires in South-east Asia occurs in states that produce oil palm, according to Global Forest Watch. Forests are cleared to make way for oil palm plantations. To save on clearing costs, farmers resort to burning.

While frameworks to stop haze are being established at the regional level as well as in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, the challenge remains to get on board the actors who currently benefit from drained peatlands — the farmers, companies and investors profiting from oil palm.

Could a long-term solution to preventing forest fires in the region lie in promoting alternative commodities that can grow in wet peatlands?

The sine qua non, or the condition without which fires cannot start and spread, is the presence of dry peatlands.

Peatlands are naturally wet swamps of decomposed matter. They are nutrient-rich, but extremely flammable when dry. Yet, farmers are driven to drain these swamps, because oil palm can grow only in dry soil.

The initiative of restoring peatlands to their naturally wet state has been emphasised by Indonesia.

However, unless the practice of draining peatlands is addressed, haze will continue to be a challenge.

At root is the choice of oil palm as the dominant crop for growing. This happens for two key reasons.

First, oil palm is highly profitable and offers higher wages than other crops. The World Agroforestry Centre reports that oil palm in Indonesia yields profits of up to 44 million to 295 million rupiah (S$4,600 to S$30,000) per hectare per annum, and oil palm wages are two to seven times greater than average agricultural wages in the country.

The other reason is the short lead time in growing oil palm, taking three to four years before bearing fruit (with some gestation time before harvesting). This short lead time reduces the risks to investors who wish to invest in oil palm, in comparison to plants such as sago, which can take 10 to 15 years before harvest.

To prevent farmers and private companies from draining peatlands, it must be economically sustainable to keep them wet.

Alternative commodities need to be leveraged that can be grown in peatlands while meeting three key conditions.

First, they must grow in natural wet peat conditions.

Second, they must compete with oil palm in profitability, to translate into equivalent or higher wages to farmers, and into returns to investors.

Third, they must be able to reduce investor risk by having shorter lead times before harvest.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has already identified commodities that can grow in naturally wet peat conditions.

These include sago, papyrus, wild rice, wetland taro, water celery, water spinach and Chinese water chestnut. Apart from these, there are plants that can grow in moderately drained peatlands, such as rice, bananas, beans, carrots, celery, corn, lettuce, mint, onions, potatoes, parsley, radish, pasture-sod, sugar cane chili, soya bean, tobacco and a few horticultural crops.

The challenge, however, is that there is limited information on which of these commodities meet the second and third conditions — of comparable profitability and time taken before investors start getting net positive returns on their investments. Among the limited studies available, one shows that if sago was chosen as an alternative crop to explore, it takes sago 10 to 15 years before it can start bearing fruit, and that the internal rate of return is up to 8.06 per cent — still low compared with 20 per cent of oil palm.

Alternatively, some crops, such as radish or celery, can be grown in less than a year, but it is not known if there will be sufficient demand for these. Additional preparations may be needed, such as reducing the acidity of the soil, preventing pests and diseases, or increasing the value-add of producers through additional processing.

There is need for more research and institutional support in improving the desirability of producing alternative commodities, in both the demand and supply side. These need to be considered in developing and implementing long-term rehabilitation plans.

Demand-side interventions include research on identifying which among the identified alternative commodities are in demand, who the buyers are, what qualities and traits they desire, and what prices they are sold at.

Buyers may include domestic buyers within Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as importers from higher-income countries abroad. In Japan, for instance, youth are leaving the agricultural sector, creating opportunities for countries such as Indonesia to provide selected crops.

Supply-side interventions require identifying technologies that can allow for meeting buyer requirements, while at the same time being cost effective to producers. Research into how to boost yields in producing the commodities, such as through resistance to submergence/flooding, pests and diseases will be needed.

For instance, if heavy research led to growth in the productivity of cassava production, from just six tonnes/ha to up to 30 tonnes/ha, can this not be done in the case of the crops identified by FAO?

Along with boosting yields, it will also be important to hasten the time before crops can be harvested.

Research at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, for instance, shows that certain planting systems and growing environments can shorten grow-out periods.

Agricultural transformation will have an important part to play in addressing haze, but this requires farmers, businesses, investors, academia and governments to play their part.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jose Montesclaros is Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. This first appeared in RSIS Commentary.

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Malaysia: Sabah leads the way with two more forest reserves

The Star 31 May 17;

KOTA KINABALU: With two additional reserves meeting international standards for well-managed forests, Sabah now leads in certified forest coverage in the South-East Asian region.

The two areas – Trusan Sugut and Ulu Kalumpang-Mt Wulldersdorf – were added by the Sabah Forestry Department recently after being certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Its director Datuk Sam Mannan said with these additions, Sabah now has a total of 746,564.91ha in fully certified forest reserves, with 675,691.68ha under natural forest management and 70,873.23ha in tree plantations.

Trusan Sugut is a Class 1 Forest Reserve covering a total of 8,680ha and is located in Beluran district, he said.

It consists of several unique areas such as lowland mixed dipterocarp forests, freshwater swamps, mangroves and beach forest, providing a haven for rare, threatened and endangered mammals and birds.

The Ulu Kalumpang-Mt Wullers­dorf reserve is in Kunak district and covers an area of 64,953.74 ha.

It is an important water resource for Tawau and Kunak districts, Mannan said, adding that this reserve is mainly lowland dipterocarp forests, last logged in 1986.

He said both reserves successfully met the FSC’s requirements and have now been certified as well-managed forests for a five-year period from May 16 this year until May 15, 2022.

The department is now in the process of getting several other managed forests certified under the FSC within the next three years.

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