New $61m research lab to optimise land usage, create green solutions

Rachel Au-Yong Straits Times 31 Jul 18;

SINGAPORE - A new $61 million research lab will look into ways to optimise land usage, come up with eco-friendly solutions for buildings and improve productivity in the built environment sector.

Launched on Tuesday (July 31) by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), consultancy Surbana Jurong and the National Research Foundation (NRF), the NTU-based lab will start with 11 projects focused on three themes: digitalisation, sustainability and future-proofing the built environment industry.

Successful solutions that the lab comes up with will eventually be shared with companies and governments, especially those in the tropics.

Among them could be chilled ceiling panels suited for the tropics. These can reduce the amount of energy needed to cool a room while removing impurities.

Another project will see better ways to store liquefied natural gas - the main energy source here - in industrial and urban areas so that the space above ground can be freed up for other uses.

The lab is also looking at how to harness the waste products of such energy so they can be used to power other processes too.

The SJ-NTU Corporate Lab, which will be ready early next year, will house 100 professors, research staff, PhD students and engineers, and aims to change the way buildings are designed, built, maintained and decommissioned.

Surbana Jurong group chief executive Wong Heang Fine said the lab is timely, noting the rapid pace of urbanisation and climate change.

Speaking at the lab's launch, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong noted that the lab is the 12th supported by the NRF, but the first for the built environment.

This, he said, is significant, given that global warming, rising sea levels and land constraints exert pressure on Singapore to seek sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions.

To that end, the Building and Construction Authority is developing an accelerator programme for start-ups in the built environment sector.

"The start-up scene is thriving... but there's a lot more interest in areas like fintech, IT and not so much focus on the built environment," Mr Wong said.

The new programme aims to bring new solutions from both local and overseas companies to the market, through activities such as access to investment and the provision of mentorship.

Mr Wong said the Housing Board will also expand its Cool Ideas for Better HDB Living initiative - launched in 2011 to involve the public in enhancing the HDB living environment - to include submissions from companies.

"HDB will provide opportunities for test-bedding and pilot implementation of good and workable solutions," he said.

"This will not only bring good solutions to benefit our HDB residents, but also allow our enterprises to showcase their innovations in our HDB estates, and eventually export these solutions overseas."

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Indonesia: Sea turtle conservation workers arrested for selling eggs in border area

Severianus Endi The Jakarta Post 31 Jul 18;

Two sea turtle conservation workers in Sambas regency, West Kalimantan, have been arrested for allegedly selling turtle eggs.

Police have also questioned a third person who allegedly transported the eggs as a witness.

The protected sea turtles lay eggs near the Indonesia-Malaysia border.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Pontianak office’s head of law enforcement, David Muhammad, said on Tuesday that his team had confiscated 199 eggs from the two suspects.

The suspects were part of a group called Kambau Borneo that monitors the habitat in Paloh district. Every night they monitor the turtles that lay eggs and move the eggs to a breeding facility in Camp Tanjung Api.

They are also responsible for releasing the hatchlings into their natural habitat.

“But they took some of the eggs and sold them,” David said.

The eggs were sold to local villagers for Rp 2,000 (14 US cents) each, however Malaysians pay double the price.

The ministry will charge the suspects under the Natural Resources Conservation Law, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and fines of up Rp 100 million. (evi)

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Indonesia: Fires burn 900 ha of shrubs forest in Lampung

Antara 31 Jul 18;

East Lampung, Lampung (ANTARA News) - An area of 900 hectares of shrubs forests in Way Kambas National Park (TNWK), Lampung, had been gutted by fires from January to July 2018.

"Starting from January until today the fire from 23 hotsports has destroyed 900 hectares of forest of shrubs," the head of TNWK Center in East Lampung, Subakir, said on Tuesday.

Subakir makes sure the wood forest area of Way Kambas was not affected.

Furthermore he remarked that his side is currently intensively anticipating and minimizing the occurrence of forest and land fires (Karhutala) in Way Kambas, as it is feared that the smoke will disrupt before and during the implementation of the 2018 Asian Games.

Efforts have already been made, as his side prevents the fires from spreading to other areas with the assistance of the police, military and community.

Subakir further explained that the actions of the team to patrol the area of the fires during the ongoing efforts taken to put the fire off during the fires and to prevent the burning action by people who are not responsible.

Like the patrol conducted on Monday together with the East Lampung Police Chief Adjunct Comr Taufan Dirgantoro, military rayon command of Way Jepara, Sukadana with his staff in resort Susukan Baru Region I of Way Kanan.

The result, according to him, was not found in forest fires but the patrol team found 35 snares of animals.

"Patrols continue to be conducted with the police and the military assisted by the public to anticipate forest fires," he added. *** 4 ***

Reporting by Agus Wira Sukarta
Editing by Eliswan, Otniel

(T.SYS/B/E002/B/O001) 31-07-2018 08:32:38
Editor: Fardah Assegaf

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Thailand: Dead dugong found off Phang Nga

The Thaiger The Nation 31 Jul 18;

A 250-kilogram dugong, found dead off Phang Nga over the weekend, has been brought to Phuket for further examination.

Officials from the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) were notified on Sunday that the body of the dugong had been found by local fishermen in Phang Nga.

The dugong, which was brought back to Phuket for a full autopsy, was a mature male measuring 2.46 metres long and weighing 250 kilograms.

Its body had already started to decompose.

However, it is believed that the dugong died quite suddenly, as food was still found in its digestive system.

A large bruise, measuring 25 centimetres, was found on its skin.

The dugong’s DNA is yet to be tested.

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Myanmar: Nearly 120,000 displaced in floods

AFP Yahoo News 31 Jul 18;

Yangon (AFP) - Nearly 120,000 people have been displaced after floods submerged a vast swathe of southeastern Myanmar, killing 11 people and sending panicked residents fleeing for dry ground with children perched on their shoulders and few belongings in tow.

An official told AFP Tuesday over 118,000 people have taken refuge in 285 camps so far, as the toll climbed to 11 dead -- including three solders -- with more deaths feared.

Swirling, muddy waters reached thatched-roofed homes and wiped out farmland in four provinces as officials scrambled to set up rescue centres amid continued torrential rains on Tuesday.

Rescuers in boats tried to pluck people from floodwaters in Hpa-an in Karen state while other residents tried to escape by any means possible, balancing on makeshift rafts or wading out carrying children and plastic bags of goods.

"There could be a few more casualties but we are still collecting the information," Social Welfare Ministry Director Phyu Lei Lei Tun said.

"Water is going down in some places. But we do not know how long the disaster will last."

Meanwhile five others were confirmed killed in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Kawthaung township in Myanmar's southern tip.

Evacuation orders are still in place for many flood-stricken areas with a number of rivers exceeding danger levels by several feet and 36 dams and reservoirs overflowing, state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

The Mekong region has been battered by particularly heavy monsoon rains this year, causing devastating floods that have forced thousands to flee and wiped out homes and farmland.

Heavy rains caused a massive dam in southern Laos to collapse last week, wiping out entire villages and killing at least 11 -- though earlier official tolls initially put the number as high as 27.

Floodwaters from that catastrophe seeped into Cambodia and forced thousands from their homes.

Rescuers are still searching for survivors in southern Laos more than a week after the dam collapse, with Thai, South Korean and Chinese specialists joining efforts to find scores still missing.

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Sweden's wildfires abating, foreign firefighters leave

AFP Yahoo News 31 Jul 18;

Stockholm (AFP) - Wildfires that have been raging across Sweden are abating, Swedish authorities said Tuesday, as French, Italian and German firefighters who came to assist gradually leave the country.

Two Canadair firefighting aircraft, dispatched from France to Sweden in mid-July, departed on Tuesday, days after planes from Italy and Portugal returned home.

Swedish emergency services SOS Alarm said meanwhile there were 10 fires all under control on Tuesday, half the number registered last week and far below the 45 to 70 fires reported earlier in July.

There has been practically no rainfall in Sweden since the beginning of May, aside from a few millimetres in mid-June and some brief rainstorms at the weekend that brought some relief.

The drought and high temperatures -- Sweden registered the hottest month of July in two centuries, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) -- led to wildfires across the country from mid-July, from the south up to the Arctic Circle.

No casualties have been reported.

The Nordic country, where summer temperatures are usually closer to 23 Celsius, is under-equipped to deal with this kind of natural catastrophe and asked for help from Italy, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland and France.

"The two French aircraft are leaving Sweden today," a spokesman for the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), Gunno Ivansson, told AFP.

Some 60 French firefighters concluded their mission on Tuesday, and were to return to France on Thursday.

"The Danish and Polish troops are the last ones and are scheduled to leave Sweden on August 4 and 6, but this might change if the situation changes," another MSB spokesman, Anders Thoren, said.

According to Swedish officials, "approximately 20,000 hectares" of forests have burned up.

Meanwhile, the Swedish government on Monday announced 1.2 billion kronor (117 million euros, $137 million) in aid to help farmers hit hard by the drought.

The aid is intended to help farmers buy feed for their livestock given a shortage of grass and hay.

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Best of our wild blogs: 31 Jul 18

Open for registration – Love MacRitchie Walk with NUS Toddycats! on 11 August 2018
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A Stream On Pulau Ubin Was Named After My Late Grandfather!
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Straits Times: Five kampong houses in Pulau Ubin to be restored for community use
Wan's Ubin Journal

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jul 18

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Malaysia: Govt mulls amending Wildlife Conservation Act 2010

Bernama New Straits Times 29 Jul 18;

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is studying to amend the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 by introducing mandatory jail sentences against individuals caught hunting wildlife illegally.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar said his ministry would work with the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to improve the Act to prosecute illegal hunters accordingly.

"By strengthening the act, enforcement could be boosted, we will make the amendments because it is understood that the existing act does not facilitate the enforcement process.

"This amendment may involve the addition of penalties to doubled from the previous, but what I see is that there are those who can pay so we must also include a prison sentence which is seen to be more effective in dealing with this issue," he said.

He said this at a media conference in conjunction with the Global Tiger Day Celebration organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia at the Tuanku Bainun Children's Creative Centre here today.

The Global Tiger Day is celebrated on July 29 each year to foster awareness of the importance of tiger conservation to the world community.

According to Xavier, the ministry would also step up cooperation with authorities such as the police and military to jointly assist non-governmental organisations (NGO) such as WWF in combating illegal wildlife hunting syndicates throughout the country.

He said through operations conducted by Perhilitan had found various species of animals which were injured including tigers, tapirs and elephants due to the wire snares installed by illegal hunters.

From 2014 to June, Perhilitan had destroyed over 2,890 wire snares in 479 operations conducted.

Hence, he hoped that corporate companies would be able to help NGOs finance the projects to destroy the snares in the quest to save wildlife from extinction.

"I understand that WWF in collaboration with Perhilitan have carried out Project Stampede which consists of only 15 people to identify and destroy the trap areas.

"They need 50 more individuals to help them continue this project more widely and I encourage the corporate sector to assist them in successfully implementing this project and to go all out to eradicate illegal poaching," he said. — BERNAMA


Minister: Move to stop poachers and save tigers drastic but needed
vincent tan The Star 30 Jul 18;

KUALA LUMPUR: A shoot-on-sight policy against wildlife poachers is being mulled in a move to protect Malayan tigers.

Water, Land and Natural Re­­sources Minister Dr Xavier Jaya­kumar said he was considering bringing such a policy for Cabinet review.

“It might sound a bit drastic but if you want to save Malayan tigers, we have to take drastic action as well.

“Such a policy, instituted in Ne­­pal and Bhutan, has seen the number of tigers rising,” he said after attending the Global Tiger Day 2018 celebrations organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia yesterday.

Perhilitan director-general Da­­tuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said a large part of the threat to tigers and Malaysian wildlife came from poaching snares.

“Today, we can remove one but one month later, these snares are back at the same place.

“They don’t discriminate and will catch anything, not just tigers,” Abdul Kadir said.

According to its statistics, more than 2,890 snares were destroyed in 479 operations conducted from 2014 up to this year.

During the event, WWF Malaysia also officially announced Project Stampede, a joint effort involving orang asli communities to patrol the Belum-Temenggor Forest Com­plex in Perak to remove poa­cher snares, as well as collect data.

There was also a screening of On the Brink of Extinction, a documentary narrated by six individuals working with WWF Malaysia on tiger conservation.

Dr Mark Rayan Darmaraj, WWF Malaysia’s tiger lead researcher and one of the film’s narrators, said the patrols would serve as “eyes and ears” for enforcement authorities and help to put a stop to poaching.

Currently, he said, the project had a few patrol teams, with an aim to roll out 10 teams by the end of the year.

“The Belum-Temenggor forest, which includes the Royal Belum state park, is one of three tiger priority sites in Peninsular Malaysia but it had seen a 50% drop in tigers’ population there.

“At most, we are buying time, as without specialised and armed tactical teams with enforcement po­­wers to respond and quickly track down these poachers, we will lose the fight,” he said.

Currently, Malaysia is conducting its first-ever National Tiger Survey, expected to be completed by 2020.

Separately, Lasah, a 37-year-old male Asian elephant, has been relocated to the Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre.

Together with him, a Malayan tiger named Zanah, was also moved to the National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Sungkai.

Both animals were handed to Perhilitan to be transferred out because the company – Langkawi Elephant Adventures – was unable to carry on its operations at its premises.

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Indonesia: At least 14 dead after magnitude 6.4 quake hits Lombok island

Channel NewsAsia 29 Jul 18;

JAKARTA: At least 14 people are dead and 162 injured after a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Sunday (Jul 29) struck the popular tourist destination of Lombok in Indonesia, the country's disaster mitigation agency said.

Spokesman for the agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said thousands of homes were damaged and that there have been 124 aftershocks as of 2pm local time.

However, he ruled out the possibility of a tsunami.

"We estimate the number will keep rising because we are not done collecting data," Nugroho said.

A 30-year old Malaysian woman was among the victims, he said, adding those hurt were hit by debris.

The earthquake struck at 6.47am on Sunday and was only 7km deep, a shallow depth that would have amplified its effect, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake, which was quickly followed by an aftershock of magnitude 5.4 in the same area in eastern Indonesia, was centered in the northern part of the island, 49.5km northeast of the city of Mataram.

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the European quake agency, put the magnitude at 6.5.

No tsunami alert was issued, said Hary Tirto Djatmiko, spokesman for Indonesia's geophysics and meteorology agency.

Lombok lies around 100km east of the resort island of Bali.

East Lombok Regency suffered the worst impact with 10 fatalities and 67 injured. About a thousand homes were also damaged.

North Lombok registered four deaths with about 38 people seriously wounded, and 273 homes damaged. A total of 6,237 families have been affected by the earthquake.

There are also several reports of house damage in West Lombok District, West Sumbawa Regency and Mataram City.

Nugroho posted on Twitter pictures of houses with collapsed roofs and walls.

The Regional Disaster Management Authority and several other agencies have distributed food, mineral water, evacuee tents and food.

The authorities are currently in need of medical personnel, stretchers, health equipment, quick meals as well as necessities for children.

The quake may have also impacted Mount Rinjani national park, a popular trekking destination.

"Rinjani mountain climbing is closed temporarily because there are indication of landslide around the mountain," Nugroho, said in a statement.

Authorities are currently evacuating climbers from Mount Rinjani. According to official data from Mount Rinjani National Park Office, there are 826 climbers, both foreign and domestic tourists.

Local news Metro TV reported that people were still sleeping when the first quake hit and they quickly fled their houses in panic. Most of the people were still waiting outside their houses in fear of aftershocks, Metro TV said.

"We jumped out of our beds to avoid anything falling on our heads," said Jean-Paul Volckaert who was woken by the quake while sleeping in the Puncak Hotel near Senggigi on Lombok island.

"I’ve been walking around but so far there is no damage. We were very surprised as the water in the pools was swaying like a wild sea. There were waves in the pools but only for 20 to 30 seconds," he told Reuters via telephone.

At the holiday island's hotels, tourists raced outside as the quake struck soon after dawn.

In Katamaran Hotel & Resort in Senggigi beach, some 30 guests gathered in the hotel lobby for around half an hour before venturing back to their rooms.

"They calmed down and returned to their room once we explained the earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, everything is back to normal now," receptionist Ni Nyoman Suwarningsih told AFP.

Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismic activity hotspot.

It is frequently hit by quakes, most of them harmless. However, the region remains acutely alert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis.

In 2004, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, in western Indonesia, killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Additional reporting by Chandni Vatvani.

Source: Agencies/ec/mz/zl(ra)

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Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jul 18

Sergeants of Singapore
Butterflies of Singapore

Brood Parasite: Golden-bellied Gerygones hosting a Little Bronze Cuckoo
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It's a Sign!
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Firms recognised for green efforts

Jose Hong Straits Times 27 Jul 18;

Property giant City Developments has long championed sustainability in its business, as has consumer titan Unilever, which set out a vision where growth does not have to come with a larger environmental footprint.

For their efforts, both firms were last night crowned the overall winners of the Sustainable Business Awards, the region's leading sustainability awards. Nearly 70 of Singapore's largest firms entered the contest, organised by event producer Global Initiatives, and nearly half of the winners across all categories were Singaporean.

Two new categories were introduced this year - Best Social Enterprise and Best Public Sector Service - to recognise organisations that are not always acknowledged for sustainability, but which have a big impact on their local communities.

The Best Social Enterprise award went to The Bliss Group, which works with marginalised employees and trains them to work in catering. The Best Public Sector Service award went to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore for mobilising the green reformation of the maritime industry.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony at The Fullerton Hotel, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said that since their inception in 2012, the awards have played an important role in encouraging the positive impact that private companies can have on the environment.

As a positive example, he mentioned Singtel, which set a target of halving its carbon emissions intensity from 2015 to 2030.

Singtel won the best strategy and sustainability management award, and was one of the winners in the climate change category.

Mr Masagos said: "Our winners this year have made significant progress in climate action... The diversity of the companies who participated in the Sustainable Business Awards adds vibrancy to our story of sustainable development."

Ms Fang Eu-Lin, sustainability and climate change leader of PwC Singapore, one of the awards' organisers, said: "The awards... show that many Singapore companies are leading the way in responsible stewardship and sustainability practices."

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