Businesses must foster culture of sustainable, green practices: Heng Swee Keat

Deborah Wong Channel NewsAsia 2 May 18;

SINGAPORE: The business community here has a big part to play in ensuring that Singapore remains sustainable and liveable for future generations, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Wednesday (May 2).

Speaking at the 5th Singapore Sustainability Symposium, organised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Mr Heng pointed out that given land and resource constraints, sustainability is not a matter of choice for Singapore, but a matter of survival.

At the same time, he said Singapore, as ASEAN chair this year, will work with members to renew the region’s commitment to global climate action.

To that end, Mr Heng laid out three ways in which Singapore can contribute to sustainable development: Research and innovation, green financing as well as encouraging a community which fosters green business models.

"Sustainable practices need not necessarily equate to higher overhead costs. Studies have shown that sound sustainability standards lower a company's cost of capital, resulting in better operational performance,” said Mr Heng.

“Increasingly, there are investor and consumer expectations of sustainable business practices. These are positive trends for the environment and economy," he added.

Mr Heng, who is also chairman of the Future Economy Council, said the Government is committed to the cause to develop sustainable practices, citing the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint and the carbon tax which was passed in Parliament in March.

“Our carbon pricing will incentivise emissions reduction for all parts of the economy. Furthermore, as more countries impose tighter limits on carbon emissions, companies that adapt early will be more competitive,” he said.

“Our agencies have worked with partners to research and test-bed sustainable technologies, such as in alternative energy and waste management. The public sector is also working on green initiatives.”

The theme of this year’s symposium focuses on how countries can use incentives to encourage sustainable, eco-friendly practices in the face of climate change.

One such way to do this is to show businesses how they can increase profits and output while cutting their energy costs. Ms Lu Qi, a strategy and research partner at Chinese venture capitalist, Tsing Capital, explained that this measure reels business owners in more effectively than an emphasis on green reports.

Meanwhile, Ms Jeanne Stampe the head of Asia and Finance and Commodities at World Wildlife Fund in Singapore, said business leaders should set science-based targets in their corporate reports to ensure that focus remains on environmental impact rather than processes.

EFFORTS AT HOME

On top of developing innovative urban solutions using technology, NTU hopes to show how different stakeholders can collaborate to create more liveable and green cities.

NTU president Professor Subra Suresh said the university is well-placed to contribute to this endeavour, with ongoing projects to test electric and autonomous vehicles.

One example he cited was the launch of Singapore's first fully electric 22-seat shuttle, which will ply between the NTU campus and the neighbouring CleanTech Park from the second-half of the year.

The shuttle is fast-charging and emissions-free, and aims to be as efficient as tram systems.

On the academic front, NTU has also set up new schools and research institutes such as the new NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity. The institute will study how human behaviour interfaces with technologies and whether scientific advances lead to improvement in the human condition.

Source: CNA/gs

Singapore can promote green financing in the region: Heng
FABIAN KOH The New Paper 3 May 18;

Singapore can promote green financing in the region, given its stable finance regulatory environment, and help create a business culture of sustainable practices through its own experiences in the field, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.

There must be a collective Asean effort towards smart and sustainable development, to which Singapore can contribute, he said at the opening of the three-day Singapore Sustainability Symposium.

"Sustainability innovations, technologies and practices that we develop here must have the relevance and scalability to be applied in different parts of the world," said Mr Heng.

Singapore has substantial resources that it can dedicate to building knowledge and talent, he noted. For example, the National Research Foundation's urban solutions and sustainability domain is focused on supporting ideas that enhance areas such as transport and liveable spaces.

"What can we offer out of our own failures, breakthroughs and lessons that can benefit our neighbouring countries' sustainability efforts?" asked Mr Heng. "We can accelerate the translation of R&D into commercial use and industry adoption."

Mr Heng added that Singapore is well placed to promote green financing efforts in the region, citing the example of the Association of Banks in Singapore, which introduced guidelines for responsible financing in 2015. These guide banks to assess their clients' environmental, social and governance risks as part of credit evaluation processes.

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Mr Heng also said that the business community here can help foster a culture for sustainable practices.

He emphasised the importance of a regional effort to addressing climate change, and said that as Asean chair this year, Singapore would work with the other members on the issue.

Professor Subra Suresh, President of Nanyang Technological University, which organised the symposium, said the next three decades would be "critical" in addressing climate change and avoiding ecological collapse.

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Cities from the sea: the true cost of reclaimed land

Asia is growing. Literally. From Malaysia to Dubai, luxury developments are rising on artificial islands and coastlines. Everybody wins – except the local sea life and the fishermen who depend on it
Wade Shepard The Guardian 2 May 18;

“Before, there were many fish,” says fisherman Mohd-Ishak Bin Abdul Rahman as he pulls a dried up crab from his net. A few years ago he could just walk out into the surf and pick up crustaceans with his bare hands, he tells me. “Now, nothing.”

He blames the palisade of new luxury condominiums that rise on the coastline behind him. Built on 240-acres of land artificially reclaimed from the sea, they are part of the Seri Tanjung Pinang 1 (STP1) project. Started in 2006, it brought a taste of new Asian modernity to what was then a rural area beyond the fringes of George Town, Penang’s only city. It also took away the fish, says Mohd-Ishak.

The 72-year-old is the undisputed chief of Tanjung Tokong, a fishing village of 100 houses built by the community a few decades ago. He is also the leader of a movement of fishermen protesting against development projects they claim are destroying the island’s fisheries, and with them their livelihoods.

Mohd-Ishak says his family has been fishing the area for at least five generations. As we talk, shirtless fishermen watch cautiously from handmade hammocks, half-broken plastic chairs and pieces of junk that washed up on the shore.

The contrast between the village with its shacks built from planks, beams and drift wood and the condos, swimming pools, luxury mall and Irish-themed pub is extreme.

Now the second phase of the STP project is in full swing. Dredgers, barges, bulldozers and diggers operated by a local subsidiary of the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) are busy creating 1,000 more acres of land for luxury development. Slated for completion in 15 years, the STP2 development is expected to have an eventual value of $4.4bn.

Land reclamation is nothing new in Asia – China, Hong Kong and Japan have been at it since the 19th century – but it has recently reached epidemic proportions. Maritime ecosystems are abruptly transformed as natural islands are artificially conjoined with coastlines, natural shorelines are extended and artificial islands are built from scratch.

Cities on China’s coast reclaimed an average of 700 square kilometres of land – that’s about the size of Singapore – from the sea every year from 2006 to 2010 for new houses, industrial zones and ports. The 130 sq km of land that was reclaimed to build the new city of Nanhui was significant enough to reconfigure China’s national map, and the reclaimed land for the Caofeidian economic zone was twice the size of Los Angeles.

Concerned these megaprojects were getting out of control and doing irreparable harm to the environment, Beijing stepped in earlier this year and put an end to land reclamation projects that were not spearheaded by central government.

Meanwhile, many Asian cities are picking up where China left off. Besides the STP projects on Penang, Malaysia has massive reclamation works under way for the 700,000-person Forest City in Johor; the Philippines is reclaiming 1,010 acres from the sea for its New Manila Bay – City of Pearl; Cambodia is building a slew of Chinese-financed properties on reclaimed land; Dubai has turned reclamation into an art form; and Sri Lanka is building a new financial district on the dredged and deposited land of Colombo International Financial City. Around a quarter of modern-day Singapore was open sea when the nation state came into existence in 1955.

Apart from acting as geopolitical flash points – reclamation in the South China Sea is repeatedly bringing the region to the brink of conflict – sourcing the sand is a major problem. Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have already banned the export of sand, with reports of a multibillion dollar black market run by organised crime syndicates. Some of Indonesia’s Riau Islands have mysteriously disappeared – loaded on to barges and shipped to nearby Singapore, reports suggest.

The verdant, hilly island of Penang has been gripped by a development boom since the historic centre of George Town was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 2008. As tourists poured in from all over the world, so too did prospective property buyers looking to take advantage of the Malaysia My Second Home programme, and floods of east Asian real estate speculators.

“Penang has this obsession with wanting to become like Hong Kong and Singapore,” explains Andrew Ng Yew Han, a local film-maker who has documented Penang’s development.

But while 70% of the island is a forested blank slate for development, much of that is too hilly to build on safely – as proven by a recent landslide that wiped out a high-rise construction project and killed 11 workers.

The state government’s crosshairs soon fell upon the other natural feature hemming in their ambitions: the sea. Taking a trick from the playbooks of their model cities, Hong Kong and Singapore, Penang launched several large-scale reclamation initiatives – many strategically placed in prime locations.

This ability to home in on high-value sections of cities to reclaim land for new development often produces incredible profits. Research from Ocean University of China professor Liu Hongbin found that land reclamation in China can produce a 10- to 100-fold profit.

“If you are confident that you can sell the properties at a high price, which is likely the case at the fringe of large coastal cities or in popular coastal tourism destinations, reclaiming the land from scratch could potentially be more profitable than building on extremely expensive existing land,” explains Matthias Bauer, an urban designer who has worked on reclamation projects in China.

However, there is a lot more at stake with these projects than the money that is invested in them.

Not only are the fishermen of Tanjung Tokong banned from entering what was once an extremely productive fishing ground but there are now fewer fish in the waters near their village. Mohd-Ishak claims his catches have halved since development began.

Walking with him down the beach, another fisherman calls me over to his small house. His name is Haron Din, and his torso and legs are covered in the traditional tattoos that many fishermen in south-east Asia once wore.

At his feet lie piles of torn up old nets. He pulls out a dried up crab and explains it was dead long before it got tangled in his net. “The mud from the project suffocates them,” he says.

Holding a shiny new white net next to one of the 40 or so damaged ones littering the beach, Din complains that mud from the nearby reclamation area is killing the local marine life and doing irreparable damage to their fishing equipment.

The fishermen must travel further out to sea to find fish, which drastically increases both the cost of petrol and the dangers of the job. Unable to make a living in their sheltered bay, they now have to cross a busy shipping lane and contend with higher waves. There have already been a few deaths, Mohd-Ishak says.

Mageswari Sangaralingam, a research officer for Friends of the Earth Malaysia, says the thousands of sq km of land reclaimed across coastal Asia has meant the annihilation of mangroves, wetlands and reefs – destroying the habitats and breeding grounds for fish, sea turtles, crustaceans, plants and other marine life. In addition, the new cities, transport hubs and industrial zones built on the new land inevitably create added pollution and waste, he says.

“The multimillion-ringgit fisheries sector here on which thousands depend is being traded off for development,” says Sangaralingam. “Fish are being wiped out, and the fishermen will soon be too as they lose fishing grounds.”

“You have this development and yet people are losing their jobs,” adds film-maker Han. “You have reclamation which promised development, but you have fishermen who are losing their livelihoods, looking for second jobs … You build so many buildings here but in the end it doesn’t belong to us, it will be bought up by other people and foreigners.”

I visit Straits Quay – the high-end shopping mall surrounded by luxury condos overlooking the fishing village. On three trips here I’ve never seen anyone actually shopping in its luxury boutiques. The hallways are bare wind tunnels and even the giant atrium that acts as an opulent entranceway to the mall appears desolate, echoing the caws of resident crows and little else. If it wasn’t for a few stragglers slipping in and out to pick up groceries at the small supermarket – and the yacht owners drinking on the patio of the Irish-themed pub – the place could be called a ghost mall.

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Indonesia: Raja Ampat launches environmental education module

Moses Ompusunggu The Jakarta Post 3 May 18;

To commemorate National Education Day, which falls every May 2, Raja Ampat regency in West Papua launched on Wednesday an environmental education module for sixth-grade students at its world-renowned marine tourist area.

The module was developed by Raja Ampat regency's Education and Culture Agency, Tourism Agency and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Agency, as well as The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Indonesia.

The module touches on the relationship between marine tourism and climate change and is the latest document launched for Raja Ampat's students, following the opening of two modules on the same topic for fourth-grade and fifth-grade students in 2016.

"With the presence of this module, I hope students will love and honor more of the blessings from God. We must protect our natural resources for future generations," said Raja Ampat Regent Abdul Faris Umlati in a statement issued by TNC Indonesia on Wednesday.

Raja Ampat is home to 553 coral reef species, equal to 75 percent of the world's coral reef species, and more than 1,000 coral fish species. Apart from its sea resources, Raja Ampat has terrestrial forests that serve as habitats for numerous birds found nowhere else in the world.

"TNC is aware that education is key to building future generations that care for the environment. We hope that one child who cares about the environment at present will contribute to a thousand people in the future," said TNC Indonesia country director Rizal Algamar. (ahw)

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Indonesia: Pertamina sanctioned over Balikpapan oil spill

The Jakarta Post 2 May 18;

The Environment and Forestry Ministry has imposed administrative sanctions on state oil and gas company Pertamina over an oil spill incident that caused pollution and damage to the ecosystem of Balikpapan Bay in East Kalimantan.

The ministry’s law enforcement director general, Rasio Ridho Sani, said three steps needed to be fulfilled by Pertamina.

“I signed the administrative sanctions for Pertamina last week. As one of the three steps, we asked Pertamina to make improvements to its exploration safety management,” he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Monday. Among the requirements is the submission of data on areas where Pertamina's operations face similar oil spill risks.

The ministry also asked Pertamina to carry out an environmental audit to identify the problems it faced and to determine ways to solve them.

Pertamina must also take responsibility for areas affected by the oil spill. Rasio said the ministry had obtained detailed data on the polluted areas.

“We have ordered Pertamina to rehabilitate locations still contaminated with oil, such as beaches."

In addition to administrative sanctions, Pertamina will have to pay compensation for losses caused by the oil spill. The ministry said, however, that it had yet to determine an exact amount for the losses and environmental damage caused by the incident.

“Regarding the compensation figure in the civil law suit we will file against Pertamina, our team in the field is still conducting calculations,” Rasio said. He said the losses would include damages to the ecosystem, such as to mangrove forests and beaches. (ebf)

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 May 18

11 May (Fri): "Albatross" film screening and talk
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Amazing April at the Marine Park
Sisters' Island Marine Park

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 May 18

12 May (Sat): Lazarus Island dive cleanup with Our Singapore Reefs
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

12 May (Sat)- Want to learn how to be a nature guide? Come join the Chek Jawa Familiarisation Tour with the Naked Hermit Crabs!
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

19 May (Sat): Kayak the Kusu-Lazarus Trail with Kayakasia
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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PUB looking to tap on Bedok and Lower Seletar reservoirs next for solar energy

TOH EE MING Today Online 30 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE — In its latest efforts to harness more solar power, the national water agency PUB announced on Monday (April 30) that it has called a tender to conduct engineering studies for the deployment of floating solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in Bedok Reservoir and Lower Seletar Reservoir.

This latest tender came seven months after the agency called for tenders last September for engineering and environmental studies for such systems in Upper Peirce Reservoir and Tengeh Reservoir. In 2016, the agency successfully rolled out the world's largest floating solar test-bed at Tengeh Reservoir.

The proposed floating solar PV system at Lower Seletar Reservoir will span one hectare and potentially generate 1 gigawatt hour of energy annually. For Bedok reservoir, the system will cover about 1.5 hectare and generate about 1.5 gigawatt hour of energy annually.

The floating solar panels will occupy less than 2 per cent of total surface area at the reservoirs, and will be installed away from the current water activities zones.

Taken together, the solar panels are set to shave off PUB's carbon footprint by 1.3 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide annually, or equivalent to taking about 270 cars off the road every year.

The PUB said this latest tender is in line with its vision to "further tap on its installations to generate renewable energy and reduce carbon footprint", as the energy generated by solar panels installed at the reservoir surfaces and at rooftops of buildings can help replace the grid energy currently needed for its operations – which requires energy throughout the "water loop".

TODAY understands the environmental and engineering studies at Tengeh and Upper Peirce Reservoirs are still ongoing.

Power is needed for pumping of raw water from reservoirs to waterworks, production of drinking water at waterworks, treatment of wastewater, and production of NEWater and desalinated water.

Separately, PUB is also installing a 0.5 megawatt peak solar panel system on the roof of Bedok Waterworks by this year.

Collectively, the solar panels at Bedok Reservoir and Bedok Waterworks will supply energy to the pump station, to pump raw water from the reservoir to its attached waterworks for treatment, and to the Waterworks to pump treated water into the water supply network for households.

For the Lower Seletar Reservoir, the solar energy generated will go the the adjacent Seletar Pump Station to pump raw water to Lower Seletar Waterworks for treatment, and for the transfer of raw water between reservoirs for operational purposes.

Even though the floating solar panels at Bedok and Lower Seletar Reservoirs are "small", PUB's chief executive Ng Joo Hee said they are "significant forays into making the water treatment process greener and less dependent on fossil fuels".

"The more renewables PUB can generate and use, the smaller our carbon footprint and the greater our contribution to Singapore's climate change mitigation effort," he added.

Currently, PUB has installed solar panels on the rooftops of Choa Chu Kang Waterworks, WaterHub, and the Marina Barrage. Other locations planned for solar panel deployment include the Changi Water Reclamation Plant and Tuas Desalination Plant, which will be installed by this year.

In 2016, the Republic invested over S$30 million in alternative energy tests. Besides the test-bed at Tengeh Reservoir, a micro-grid system — which consolidates power generated from multiple renewable energy sources — was also tested at Semakau Island.


PUB to produce solar power at Bedok, Lower Seletar reservoirs for operations
Channel NewsAsia 30 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE: PUB announced on Monday (Apr 30) that it has called a tender to conduct engineering studies for the deployment of floating solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Bedok Reservoir and Lower Seletar Reservoir.

In the press release, the national water agency said there was potential to replace some of the grid energy used for the reservoirs' water loop operations with solar energy.

Such operations include the pumping of raw water from reservoirs to waterworks, production of drinking water at waterworks, treatment of wastewater and production of NEWater and desalinated water.

PUB explained that solar power will be generated by panels installed on the roof spaces of existing installations and on the surfaces of the reservoirs.

"PUB’s tender for engineering studies will look into the detailed designs for a 1 MWp (megawatt peak) floating solar PV system at Lower Seletar Reservoir and a 1.5MWp floating solar PV system at Bedok Reservoir."

Each solar system will occupy 1ha and 1.5ha respectively and will take up less than 2 per cent of total surface area at the reservoirs, said PUB.

The floating panels will also be installed away from current water activities.

PUB added that a 0.5 MWp PV system will be installed on the roof of Bedok Waterworks by this year.

Both systems are estimated to reduce PUB's carbon footprint by about 1.3 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide annually - equivalent to taking around 270 cars off the road every year.

With the additional PV system on Bedok Waterwork's roof, the total carbon footprint will be reduced by at least 1.5 kt of carbon dioxide yearly, said PUB. (Graphic: PUB)

With the additional PV system on Bedok Waterwork's roof, the total carbon footprint will be reduced by at least 1.5 kt of carbon dioxide yearly, said PUB.

PUB's chief executive Ng Joo Hee said that even though the solar PV systems were small, they were "significant forays into making the water treatment process greener and less dependent on fossil fuels".

Source: CNA/ad

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Indonesia: With warning drums and river clean-ups, women head off disasters

Michael Taylor Reuters 30 Apr 18;

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Whenever heavy rains come at night in her neighborhood in the ancient Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, schoolteacher Muryani remembers the worst floods she experienced, almost 35 years ago.

Sleeping with her mother and two young siblings in a bamboo hut to guard a farmer’s goats from thieves, Muryani feared for their lives as flash floods burst through the door.

“Suddenly the water was so high ... it came very fast,” she said. “I was so worried about my mother, who was already quite old. I was afraid we would drown.”

Muryani, 44, who goes by one name only, still lives in the same area, now a small settlement of about 300 residents called Pedak Baru which sits by a river close to Mount Merapi volcano.

As floods have become more frequent over the last five years, Muryani and 25 other local women have teamed up with the YAKKUM Emergency Unit, a project that runs activities to help women protect their communities from disasters in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Located along the Pacific Rim of Fire, Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands, and faces many natural threats, including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

The effects of climate change, such as worsening floods and drought, present further risks.

The Indonesian government spends an estimated $300 million-$500 million annually on building back after disasters, according to World Bank resilience officials.

While the Southeast Asian nation has reduced poverty over the last 20 years, many hover just above the poverty line and can easily be pushed back under it by a disaster.

But women can play a crucial role in minimizing the risks for their families and neighbors, experts say.

For Muryani and her family, regular floods have often destroyed their possessions and furniture - which she cannot afford to replace - and forced her two children to miss school.

But the disaster training she has received is helping.

“It gives us an awareness for what to do when flooding happens and how to prepare,” she said.

POLICY CHANGE

Indonesia has experienced an average of 290 significant natural disasters annually over the past 30 years, according to the World Bank officials.

They include the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 167,000 Indonesians. After that shock, Jakarta reformed its institutions, laws and policies to better manage disaster risk.

The government introduced a disaster management bill in 2007 that shifted the emphasis from merely responding to disasters toward trying to stop them happening and curbing their impact.

The new approach led to the strengthening of Indonesia’s disaster management agency, with representatives and branches put in place across districts.

The disaster agency now encourages civil society groups like YAKKUM to involve women more in efforts to build resilience.

Despite the huge progress made in recent years, more work is needed, and a larger number of government departments should include disaster risk reduction in their projects, especially at the local level, said Arghya Sinha Roy of the ADB in Manila.

“Every disaster is not on a nationwide scale - it can be a localized district or village-level disaster,” he added.

WOMEN LEFT BEHIND

Often marrying early, Indonesian women’s traditional role in running the household means they are sometimes forgotten when a community draws up plans to deal with disasters.

This can lead to them being left behind at home during evacuations, or being unaware of safety procedures.

“When you look back at the 2004 tsunami, most of the casualties are women,” said Irina Rafliana, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

And women who survive a major catastrophe are often the ones responsible for getting their families back on their feet in tough circumstances, she added.

In Indonesia, as in many Asian countries, women often take care of the family and its finances, meaning they are best placed to suggest ways of protecting lives, property and incomes, experts said.

When disasters happen, women tend to quickly grasp the importance of saving key documents, for example.

And because women spend more time in their neighborhoods, they can pinpoint high-risk areas and influence their peers.

“If you compare Indonesia with other countries in Southeast Asia, the role of women ... in disaster risk reduction is among the strongest,” said Rafliana.

FLOODS AND VOLCANOES

Pedak Baru faces twin threats of flooding and damage to infrastructure caused by eruptions from nearby Mount Merapi.

The only access to the settlement is via a narrow, potholed road, while many of its two-storey houses are in a state of disrepair due to regular inundations.

Things are changing, however, especially since YAKKUM began working with women in the community three years ago.

Pedak Baru’s women first mapped out their neighborhood to identify the risks, and now regularly collect rubbish from the river, recycling plastic waste for money.

The women are trained in evacuation procedures and first aid, and help fill and place sandbags along the river’s embankment when waters rise.

Despite scant funding, they have made life-buoys from rope and tyres, and early-warning drums from bamboo.

Signposts on walls point out escape routes and an evacuation point positioned on higher ground.

The women also hold regular talks with the local branch of the Indonesian disaster agency, and are campaigning for the permanent reinforcement of their river embankment.

Pedak Baru resident Farida Estiningrum, 39, said the scheme had been useful in helping young people too.

“We have even trained the children on how to save themselves when the flood comes to the houses,” she said. “We are prepared for everything.”

Reporting by Michael Taylor, Editing by Megan Rowling.

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Indonesia: 13 provinces brace for extreme weather

The Jakarta Post 30 Apr 18;

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned residents of 13 provinces over the potential for heavy rainfall in the next seven to 10 days.

BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati said a weather phenomenon called Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) was occurring in the air surrounding the archipelago, bringing extra water vapor to form clouds in the sky of the western and central part of the country.

“Although some parts of Indonesia have entered the dry season, other parts are still in transition from the rainy season to the dry season,” said Dwikorita in Jakarta on Sunday as reported by kompas.com.

She has warned people in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Central Java, Yogyakarta, North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, North Maluku, Maluku, West Papua and Papua to stay alert concerning this forecast.

Besides rainfall, she also warned of lightning and thunder in the next two days in Central Sumatra, east coast of Sumatra, Banten and northern West Java.

Strong winds and tornadoes may also knock down trees and billboards.

She also said tropical cyclone Flamboyan may also cause high tide in the next two to three days.

“We suggest postponing fishing activities until the waves subside,” she said.

She said 4-meter waves would be seen in waters to the south of Java and to the west of Lampung. (gis/swd)

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Damselflies are rapidly evolving in response to global warming

Not all species will have the genetic tools needed to adapt to rapidly changing temperatures and environmental conditions.
Brooks Hays UPI 30 Apr 18;

April 30 (UPI) -- Damselflies are rapidly evolving in response to climate change, new research shows, experimenting with genetic adaptations as temperatures continue to rise.

"Genes that influence heat tolerance, physiology, and even vision are giving them evolutionary options to help them cope with climate change," Rachael Dudaniec, a researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, said in a news release. "Other insects may not be so lucky."

To measure the damselfly's response to climate change, Dudaniec and her colleagues tracked genetic variations among blue-tailed damselfly, or Ischnura elegans, populations in Sweden.

At different points in a species' genome, a population will feature several different gene variants, or allele. Allele frequency describes the distribution of variants among a population. In the latest study, scientists looked at the shift in allele distribution as they surveyed populations from north to south in Sweden.

"We examined the degree of turnover from one variant of a gene to another variant," said Rachael. "For example, how strongly does one variant of a gene change to another variant as you move to higher latitudes."

In addition to latitude, scientists looked for relationships between allele frequency trends and summertime highs, summertime precipitation and local wind patterns.

As conditions change, the gene variants best suited for the new environs become more common. By analyzing patterns of variation among the damselfly's genome, researchers were able to pinpoint genes allowing the insect to adapt -- genes related to heat tolerance, physiology and visual processing.

"These genes may be helping these insects deal with extreme climates, and how they find food and mates as their distribution shifts into novel northern habitats," said Rachael. "Our research suggests that the blue-tailed damselfly has a wealth of evolutionary strategies available to help it adapt to a changing climate."

Rachael and her colleagues published their findings this week in the journal Molecular Ecology.

Not all species will have the genetic tool needed to adapt to rapidly changing temperatures and environmental conditions.

"Our research highlights the need to further investigate how different species will cope with climate change," said Rachael. "Identifying the species that are going to struggle the most in changing environments will allow us to direct conservation actions more appropriately."

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Rising levels of 'frustration' at UN climate stalemate

Matt McGrath BBC 1 May 18;

Poorer nations are concerned that action on climate change is not fast enough to limit the impacts
Old divisions between rich and poor over money and ambition are again threatening to limit progress in UN climate negotiations.

Discussions between negotiators from nearly 200 countries have resumed in Germany, aiming to flesh out the rules on the Paris climate pact.

But developing countries say they are "frustrated" with the lack of leadership from the developed world.

Commitments to cut carbon are still "woefully inadequate" they said.

2018 marks a critical stage in the global climate negotiations process. By the end of this year, governments will meet in Poland to finalise the so-called "rulebook" of the Paris deal, agreed in the French capital in December 2015.

This is seen as a key test.

The rules will define the ways in which every country reports on their emissions and on their carbon-cutting actions and, importantly, how they will increase these actions in the years ahead.

But while rich and poor countries united in Paris to push through the deal, significant ruptures have re-appeared in wrangles over key technical details.

The developed nations want almost all countries to share the same set of rules on how carbon emissions are measured, reported and verified. This issue, called "transparency" in the negotiations, has run into difficulties with many emerging economies arguing for more "flexibility".

According to some observers, the richer countries believe that some in the talks are trying to turn the clock back to the time when only wealthier countries had any commitments to cut carbon, while developing countries including India and China had no obligations.

"The EU, US, and other developed countries are worried about the slow pace of negotiations on transparency and other elements of the Paris rulebook," said Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"And what they see as the efforts of some developing countries to reintroduce bifurcation into the climate regime - an argument they thought had been settled in Paris."

The developing nations are, in turn, incensed that enthusiasm for the $100bn per year in climate finance support from the rich, due to start in 2020, has started to wane.

"It has been frustrating to hear some developed countries celebrate their climate leadership even as they fall well short of the modest commitments they have made over the years," said Thoriq Ibrahim, environment minister for the Maldives and chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, one of the key groups of poorer nations in the talks.

"If we spent as much time working on this problem as we do congratulating ourselves for caring so deeply about it, we would be closer to an outcome worthy of a celebration.

"As it stands, we haven't mobilised nearly enough resources to tackle this problem and until developed countries match their rhetoric with action our survival will continue to hang in the balance."

Talanoa dialogue

The government of Fiji currently holds the presidency of the UN talks and has been trying to inspire greater efforts to cut greenhouse gases - they've introduced an international conversation called the Talanoa Dialogue to push countries to do more. But a UN summary of written submissions to this process reflects the frustrations.

"The scale and pace of climate action must increase dramatically, and immediately so," it says.

While the furore over the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw his country from the Paris agreement has died down for now, there are likely to be other flashpoints as the talks progress.

One such issue is the question of the influence of fossil fuel companies on the talks. Some campaigners want the UN to firm up the rules to ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

"The fossil fuel industry and its trade association proxies have undermined climate action for decades yet the UN continues to allow these obstructionist to pull a chair up to the table," said Jesse Bragg from Corporate Accountability.

"If we are to avert the worst effects of climate change and truly realize the promise of Paris, parties must first resolve to eject the presence of the very industry at the core of this crisis once and for all."

The talks in Bonn will run until May 10.

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Apr 18

Of Fireflies and Mangroves: Singapore Story
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Stealthy sotong and awesome octopuses of Singapore's seagrass meadows
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Rough Golden Toadfish (Lagocephalus lunaris) @ Pulau Ubin
Monday Morgue

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