Over one third of Indonesia's coral reefs in bad state, study finds

Indonesia has some of the world's finest corals but many are also badly damaged
Phys.org 28 Nov 18;

More than a third of Indonesia's coral reefs are in bad condition, scientists said Tuesday, raising concerns about the future of the archipelago's vast marine ecosystem.

The precarious state of the country's coral reefs was revealed after a survey of 1067 sites across the sprawling country of more than 17,000 islands.

Scientists from Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) found that just 6.5 percent Indonesia's coral reefs were in excellent condition, while 36 percent are in bad condition. Some 34 percent in sufficient condition with the rest classifed as being in good condition.

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Indonesia: Three turtles found dead off Pari island due to litter

Antara 28 Nov 18;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) has confirmed the deaths of three turtles in the waters of Pari Island in the Seribu Islands District apparently due to plastic litter and crude oil spill.

"It is true that three turtles were found dead on Nov 27. Since they had decomposed, they were not moved to land. They were covered in mucus, and plastic litter was found in their mouths and front claws," Chief of Conservation Section of the BKSDA Office in Hajarta Ida Harwati stated on Wednesday.

The exact cause of the turtles` mortality is yet to be ascertained, as no surgery was conducted on them, she noted.

However, she believed they died due to exposure to plastic litter and oil spill.

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Indonesia: Wild animals flee to Karo hamlet from deforested Bukit Barisan

Apriadi Gunawan The Jakarta Post 28 Nov 18;

Residents living near Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra, have seen a rise in the number of orangutans and other wild animals that have entered their villages in the past few months, ever since the mountain started to show a decrease in volcanic activity.

Just recently, residents of Lau Kawar hamlet, about 10 kilometers from the mountain, found a baby orangutan in the Lau Biang River in Kutabuluh district, when they were fishing. The male orangutan, estimated to be 1 year old, was sitting alone on a river stone.

The orangutan was then captured by the residents and taken to a resident’s house in Kutabuluh.

“This is the first time in decades I have seen many orangutans roaming around villages like this,” said local resident Pelin Depari. In addition to the orangutans, he said villagers had also encountered other animals such as deer and wild goats.

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Indonesia: Mangrove forests in Bombana need preservation

Otniel Tamindael Antara 29 Nov 18;

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - The mangrove forests scattered in Bombana District, Southeast Sulawesi Province, need to be preserved as a habitat for fish, shrimp, and crabs, as well as ecotourism areas.

Based on data from the Southeast Sulawesi Maritime and Fisheries Service, mangrove forests, covering an area of 6,053 hectares, are spread across six coastal areas in the district of Bombana.

Mangrove forests in Bombana are located on the small islands of Kabaena, Sagori, Kambing, Canggoreng, Mangata, and Hantu, but most have been looted and damaged by irresponsible local people.

A seafood producer, named Supriyansah Yusuf, stated that the preservation of mangrove forests must be a shared responsibility between the local government and the community.

Similar to coral reefs, mangrove forests are extremely productive ecosystems that provide numerous good services both to the marine environment and the people.

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Global food system is broken, say world’s science academies

Radical overhaul in farming and consumption, with less meat eating, needed to avoid hunger and climate catastrophe
Damian Carrington The Guardian 28 Nov 18;

The global food system is broken, leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight and driving the planet towards climate catastrophe, according to 130 national academies of science and medicine across the world.

Providing a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly diet for all people will require a radical transformation of the system, says the report by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This will depend on better farming methods, wealthy nations consuming less meat and countries valuing food which is nutritious rather than cheap.

The report, which was peer reviewed and took three years to compile, sets out the scale of the problems as well as evidence-driven solutions.

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Nov 18

Berlayar Creek AND Labrador surveys!
wild shores of singapore

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KPE, Geylang flash floods caused by lapses at nearby construction site: PUB

Channel NewsAsia 27 Nov 18;

SINGAPORE: PUB will take action against a construction firm for failing to maintain the drainage on one of its construction sites, leading to flash floods in Geylang on Nov 11, the national water agency said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov 27).

The floods affected Geylang Lorong 23 and the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) slip road to the Pan-Island Expressway (towards Changi).

"Enforcement action" will be taken against construction contractor, Straits Construction Singapore (SCS), for the lack of proper maintenance of the drainage system within their site, PUB added.

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Feeding Singapore’s hunger for sand

Maizura Ismail The ASEAN Post 26 Nov 18;

Sand mining for reclamation of coastal areas is both, a geopolitical and conservation issue for the Southeast Asian region, with many of the more developed countries in the bloc playing culprits. Leading the regional pack for reclaiming land from its coasts is Singapore, with Malaysia close behind. In Singapore, the total land area has literally grown more than 25 percent since the nation first came into being. The island city-state has so far increased its total land area from 578 square kilometres (km²) in 1819 to 719 km² today.

The continuous supply of sand drives Singapore’s growth both, in land area and economy. Where there used to be only water now stands ports and airports, commercial and industrial areas, as well as luxury hotels, casinos and high-rise apartments. Propping up land growth in the world’s largest sand importer is sand sourced from neighbouring countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, both legally and illegally.

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Anak Krakatau volcano erupts 18 times triggering fear of tsunami

Antara 27 Nov 18;

Bandarlampung, Lampung (ANTARA News) - The Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait between Java and southern end of Sumatra erupted 18 times on Monday until Tuesday morning, spewing volcanic material soaring as high as 600 meters.

The frequent eruptions lately of Anak Krakatau caused fear of a repeat of 1883 devastation when Krakatau volcano erupted followed with big tsunami.

The eruption of Mount Krakatau and the tsunami in 1883 was one of the most devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in history.

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Climate-warming El Niño very likely in 2019, says UN agency

Natural cycle has major influence on global weather, bringing droughts and floods
Damian Carrington The Guardian 27 Nov 18;

There is a 75-80% chance of a climate-warming El Niño event by February, according to the latest analysis from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.

The last El Niño event ended in 2016 and helped make that year the hottest ever recorded by adding to the heating caused by humanity’s carbon emissions. The 2019 event is not currently forecast to be as strong as in 2016.

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Global warming outpaces efforts to slow it: UN

Marlowe HOOD, AFP Yahoo News 27 Nov 18;

Paris (AFP) - Humanity is falling further behind in the race against climate change, with the gap between greenhouse gas emissions and levels needed to achieve the Paris climate treaty temperature goals continuing to widen, the UN said Tuesday.

With only a single degree Celsius of warming so far, the world has seen a crescendo of deadly wildfires, heatwaves and hurricanes.

On current trends, temperatures are on track to rise roughly 4C by the century's end, a scenario that would tear at the fabric of civilisation, scientists say.

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Wildlife rescue group sends 51 smuggled star tortoises home to India

Cheryl Lin Channel NewsAsia 26 Nov 18;

SINGAPORE: Fifty-one Indian star tortoises that were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Singapore embarked on a journey back home to India on Monday (Nov 26).

The repatriation exercise was carried out by animal welfare group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), with support from the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), the Indian government and Wildlife SOS in India.

It is ACRES' largest mass repatriation of rescued animals to date.

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