Malaysia: Habitat of endangered Malayan tigers vanishing

The Star 23 Oct 18;

PETALING JAYA: The Hulu Sempam area which has been cleared for durian plantation is vital to the survival of the Malayan tiger, which is now considered critically endangered.

The area, said WWF’s Siti Zuraidah Abidin, had also been identified as an Expected Tiger Habitat under the National Tiger Action Plan for Malaysia 2008-2020 and its surrounding forests a confirmed tiger habitat.

“Land clearing at Hulu Sempam can cause the wider forests to be fragmented, which in turn can affect the wildlife movement,” she said.

In June 2015, the Malayan tiger was moved from the “Endangered” to “Critically Endangered” category in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

However, with just two years to go before the plan’s end date, the number of tigers in the wild is believed to have dwindled to about 300.

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Malaysia: Sabah state govt mulls planting food for wild elephants

The Star 23 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The state government is thinking of planting food for elephants in certain protected areas to prevent them from encroaching into plantations.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the move could help to reduce human-elephant conflict and prevent the extinction of the species in Sabah.

“Given the loss of habitat, the remaining 2,000-odd elephants need a home so that they don’t encroach into oil palm plantations and risk getting snared, maimed or killed,” she said in a statement.

Liew, who is also Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said the pygmy elephants are currently concentrated in three areas – Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (MER), Tabin MER and Central Sabah MER in the Danum area.

“The aim is to create a sustainable food chain within the three MERs, a new corridor of life for the elephants and avert crop damage in the oil palm plantations and smallholdings,” she said.

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Malaysia: No information about elephant killings despite RM120,000 reward

Olivia Miwil New Straits Times 22 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: No one has come forward to furnish details on the killing of elephants in Sabah although RM120,000 reward was offered.

Sabah Wildlife Department offered the lucrative incentive in August following the death of more than 20 elephants in the state.

The department director Augustine Tuuga said the public either truly had no idea about the killings or were afraid to come forward to assist in investigations.

To date, the department had reported 27 elephant deaths either due to fighting, disease, injuries related to snare traps, poisoning or gunshots.

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UK: Plastic recycling industry's problems costing councils up to £500,000 a year

Chinese ban on waste imports is significantly affecting UK councils’ ability to collect and recycle plastic
Sandra Laville The Guardian 20 Oct 18;

Major problems in the plastic recycling industry are costing local councils in England up to £500,000 extra a year, as they struggle to deal with the continuing fallout from import bans imposed by countries who are no longer able to take the UK’s waste.

A survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed nearly half of councils who responded (52) say China’s ban is having a significant impact on their ability to collect and recycle plastic, due to rising costs. Fourteen councils across the country say their recycling costs have increased by an average of half a million pounds a year, in part because of rising processing charges per tonne.

“It’s clear that the ban by China on imported waste, which could soon be implemented by other countries, could have a marked impact on councils’ ability to recycle,” said Martin Tett, environment spokesman for the LGA. “It is essential that the government provide support to help councils offset the loss of income they face as a result of the ban. Councils want manufacturers to play their part to reduce the amount of material entering the environment which can’t be recycled.”

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Best of our wild blogs: 21- 22 Oct 18

Our Crazy Rich Shores: Pulau Satumu and Pulau Biola
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Wild Berembang overload!
wild shores of singapore

Lancers of Singapore
Butterflies of Singapore

Night Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (19 Oct 2018)
Beetles@SG BLOG

Kampongs Lost and Found
Wan's Ubin Journal

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Work begins to restore Rail Corridor’s native flora

Gwyneth Teo Channel NewsAsia 20 Oct 18;

SINGAPORE: For decades, magnolia singapurensis, a flower native to and named after Singapore, had not been seen in the country.

Until National Parks Board (NParks) officials discovered the flower again at a swamp in Nee Soon a few years ago.

It took repeated trips back to the swamp to carefully collect the seeds of the flower, bring them to the nursery to cultivate, and study how best to grow the species elsewhere, said Ms Sharon Chan, director of the Central Nature Reserve at NParks.

There are only four known instances of magnolia singapurensis, which thrives in swampy areas, in the wild.

On Saturday (Oct 20), the native species was replanted elsewhere in Singapore for the first time.

The planting ceremony, led by Second Minister of National Development Desmond Lee and advisers from Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, marked the first phase of NParks' work to reintroduce native flora to the Rail Corridor stretch.

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Indonesia: Central Sulawesi quake, tsunami inflicted US$911 million in losses

Karina M. Tehusijarana The Jakarta Post 22 Oct 18;

The earthquake and ensuing tsunami that devastated Central Sulawesi resulted in at least Rp 13.82 trillion (US$911 million) in economic losses, according to National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) data.

As of Sunday, 2,256 people have been killed, 4,612 injured and 223,751 displaced from their homes as a result of the disasters that hit the regions of Palu, Donggala, Sigi, and Parigi Moutong.

Around 68,451 houses, 327 places of worship, 265 schools, 78 offices and 362 shops were also damaged in the quake.

"We expect the losses and damage caused by the disasters to continue to increase, since the data we are using are temporary in nature," BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement on Sunday.

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Indonesia: China-backed hydro dam threatens world's rarest orangutan

Harry PEARL AFP Yahoo News 21 Oct 18;

The Tapanuli orangutan is a newly discovered species that numbers just 800 individuals (AFP Photo/Nanang SUJANA)
Jakarta (AFP) - A billion-dollar hydroelectric dam development in Indonesia that threatens the habitat of the world's rarest great ape has sparked fresh concerns about the impact of China's globe-spanning infrastructure drive.

The site of the dam in the Batang Toru rainforest on Sumatra island is the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan, a newly discovered species that numbers about 800 individuals in total.

The $1.6 billion project, which is expected to be operational by 2022, will cut through the heart of the critically endangered animal's habitat, which is also home to agile gibbons, siamangs and Sumatran tigers.

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Best of our wild blogs: 20 Oct 18

Our Crazy Rich Shores: Pulau Hantu
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Malaysia: Fungus killing sea turtles within the nest

jo timbuong The Star 20 Oct 18;

KUALA TERENGGANU: The local turtle population is not only threatened by predators and careless human behaviour. Researchers at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu have found a deadly microorganism silently working from inside the nest as well.

In a study spanning about 10 years, a team led by Dr Siti Nordahliawate Mohamed Sidique, senior lecturer of microbiology and plant pathology, found that an aggressive fungus of the Fusarium species has been infecting the eggs, ruining every chance of survival.

“We believe the fungus releases a micro-toxin that attacks the turtle embryo. We’re conducting more research on this,” said Dr Siti.

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Plastic piling up in Japan after China waste ban: survey

AFP Yahoo News 18 Oct 18;

Japan said Thursday it was facing a growing sea of plastic waste with limited capacity to process it after China stopped accepting foreign waste imports.

The environment ministry said about a quarter of major regional and municipal governments surveyed reported seeing accumulating plastic waste, sometimes going beyond sanitary standards.

The costs of processing waste plastic were rising, according to more than 100 local governments and 175 waste processing firms that responded to a ministry survey.

The world's developing nations are also scrambling for ways to process plastic refuse after China stopped accepting it.

Nearly three-quarters of all plastic waste produced globally since 1992 has ended up in China and Hong Kong, according to a study in the journal Science Advances.

But since January, China has closed its borders to most paper and plastic waste in line with a new environmental policy pushed by Beijing.

Before the ban, Japan exported about 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste per year, most of it to China.

The Japanese ministry said it will expand domestic capacity to process plastic waste, while also preventing illegal dumping.

The government also intends to boost efforts to encourage recycling, the survey added.

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Oct 18

Singapore Bird Report – September 2018
Singapore Bird Group

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