Sand mining threatens ways of life, from Cambodia to Nigeria

A global building boom is driving a high demand for sand, and some of it is getting sourced from sensitive river systems that people rely on for traditional uses like fishing.
VINCE BEISER National Geographic 23 Apr 19;

If you were disturbed by the damage done to Cambodian coastal fisheries by the industrial-scale dredging of sand for sale to Singapore, as shown in the new documentary short “The Lost World,” there’s good news: the practice has largely been shut down in Koh Kong, the area featured in the film. The bad news is that environmentally destructive sand mining continues in other parts of Cambodia, throughout Southeast Asia, and in fact around the world.

Since the mid-’00s, fishers in villages in the mangrove-rich estuaries of Koh Kong province have complained that rampant sand mining was wiping out the crabs and fish that provide their living. Many families have had to send members to work in garment factories in the distant capital of Phnom Penh, or have simply moved away. The dredging also threatened endangered native dolphins, turtles, and otters. Much of the sand was sold to Singapore, which uses titanic quantities of the material for its ongoing effort to bulk up its tiny territory with artificial land. The city-state has “reclaimed” some 140 square kilometers of land from the sea since 1965.

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Malaysia: Civil servants urged to do away with single-use plastics

sarban singh The Star 24 Apr 19;

SEREMBAN: Forget about single-use plastic products. Bring your own food containers and cutlery to work – that’s what the government is strongly encouraging the 1.7 million civil servants to do as it heads towards a zero single-use plastic nation by 2030.

In a directive issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government, all ministries and government agencies have been instructed to hold campaigns to stop the use of such products at their premises and official events.

Among a host of practical ways to achieve the goal, Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar said that using plastic products such as drinking bottles for one time only and then discarding it, must be stopped and replaced with glass ones or jugs.

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Malaysia: Checks show dirty plastic still being smuggled into Malaysian ports

Khairul Azran Hussin New Straits Times 23 Apr 19;

PORT KLANG: The smuggling of contaminated plastic waste into the country is still ongoing, even though the government has banned the import of such materials last year.

The smuggling activities were unearthed following the discovery of 24 cargo containers at West Port, containing contaminated plastic waste which could no longer be recycled.

Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the discovery has exposed elements of abuse of power among certain quarters within the nation’s ports.

“All the 24 containers were declared as having ‘clean’ waste. However, further checks showed that they contained prohibited material. We also received reports of containers bearing contaminated plastic waste in North Port as well as in Penang.

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Indonesia: Police thwart sale of endangered slow lorises "kukang"

Antara 23 Apr 19;

Palembang (ANTARA) - The South Sumatra Provincial Police were successful in thwarting the sale of eight endangered slow lorises, locally termed "kukang", at a traditional market in the provincial capital of Palembang, on Tuesday.

The police also took into custody two suspects, identified by their initials as Sam and Idr, when they were on the verge of selling the endangered animal species, Chief of the South Sumatra Provincial Police's Public Relations Senior Commissioner Supriadi revealed.

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One million species risk extinction due to humans: Draft UN report

Channel NewsAsia 23 Apr 19;

PARIS: Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.

The accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, CO2-absorbing forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves - to name but a few of the dwindling services rendered by Nature - poses no less of a threat than climate change, says the report, set to be unveiled May 6.

Indeed, biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked, according to the 44-page Summary for Policy Makers, which distills a 1,800-page UN assessment of scientific literature on the state of Nature.

Delegates from 130 nations meeting in Paris from Apr 29 will vet the executive summary line-by-line. Wording may change, but figures lifted from the underlying report cannot be altered.

"We need to recognise that climate change and loss of Nature are equally important, not just for the environment, but as development and economic issues as well," Robert Watson, chair of the UN-mandated body that compiled the report, told AFP, without divulging its findings.

"The way we produce our food and energy is undermining the regulating services that we get from Nature," he said, adding that only "transformative change" can stem the damage.

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Best of our wild blogs: 23 Apr 19

Shore exploration for kids with Young Nautilus (to Jun 2019)
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Electric vehicle owners can pay to use BlueSG chargers from today

Christopher Tan Straits Times 23 Apr 19;

SINGAPORE - Electric car-sharing operator BlueSG will release 99 charging points across 25 locations for public use at 3pm on Tuesday (April 23).

The move comes about 18 months after the company started operations here. The number of chargers open to all electric vehicle (EV) owners constitutes 13 per cent of BlueSG's network of 755 chargers at 191 stations.

The company had previously committed to opening up 20 per cent of its projected network of 2,000 chargers by 2020.

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Brunei: Firefighters battle to keep Belait peatland fires under control

James Kon Borneo Bulletin 23 Apr 19;

THE current hot and dry weather in the country is causing peatland forest fires to break out in the Belait District.

It is believed that the fires are caused as a result of a natural occurrence – underground fires – as well as human negligence in the form of indiscriminate open burning.

The Fire and Rescue Department’s (FRD) Operation ‘B’ Branch is currently battling a huge peatland fire which has destroyed an estimated 50 hectares of peatland forest, according to a statement from the Fire and Rescue Department.

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WWF-Malaysia: Ensure environmental sustainability of realigned ECRL

New Straits Times 23 Apr 19;

KUALA LUMPUR: WWF-Malaysia hopes that the renegotiated and realigned East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project will continue to retain tunnels, elevated tracks and wildlife crossings.

Such a move would go towards the prevention of forest fragmentation, said its conservation director, Dr. Henry Chan.

He said based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), carried out in 2017 for the project and information from past dialogues with Malaysian Rail Link Sdn Bhd and consultants, it was understood that apart from the original main tunnel, a total of 44 tunnels as well as 27 wildlife crossings will be needed.

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Malaysia: Water rationing in Klang Valley to prevent water cuts during fasting month, Hari Raya

The Star 22 Apr 19;

BANGI (Bernama): Water rationing is being carried out in the Klang Valley on Wednesday (April 24) to prevent water shortages from arising during the fasting month and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, says Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

The Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister said the ministry had also given an undertaking that the water supply would be restored within 48 hours.

The improvement and repairs to the water pipes had long been planned by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) and the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), he added.

"The improvement work is a huge task and it takes a long time, so that is why we have asked for a 48-hour time frame," he told reporters after presenting the ministry's 2018 Excellent Service Awards here Monday (April 22).

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Malaysia: Brace for jellyfish attack in May

arnold loh The Star 23 Apr 19;

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia is heading for a potentially serious jellyfish bloom next month thanks to the heat and humidity of this year’s inter-monsoon period.

Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs) director Prof Datuk Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai says the bloom is expected to occur in many parts of the Straits of Malacca, especially near coastal urban centres such as Penang.

On top of making swimming at sea a nightmare, Dr Tan said the congregation of thousands of jellyfish would kill fish stock penned in floating aquaculture cages, clog fishermen’s nets and sting them when they retrieve their nets, and block water intake pipes at coastal power plants.

“Jellyfish blooms are still not fully understood but we do know they may be triggered by warming sea temperatures,” she said.

She predicts that next month would see a repeat of the phenomenon, adding that Sabah’s coastal waters were showing signs of an invasion.

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China plastic waste ban throws global recycling into chaos

Sam Reeves, AFP Yahoo News 23 Apr 19;

Jenjarom (Malaysia) (AFP) - From grubby packaging engulfing small Southeast Asian communities to waste piling up in plants from the US to Australia, China's ban on accepting the world's used plastic has plunged global recycling into turmoil.

For many years, China received the bulk of scrap plastic from around the world, processing much of it into a higher quality material that could be used by manufacturers.

But at the start of 2018, it closed its doors to almost all foreign plastic waste, as well as many other recyclables, in a push to protect the local environment and air quality, leaving developed nations struggling to find places to send their waste.

"It was like an earthquake," Arnaud Brunet, director general of Brussels-based industry group The Bureau of International Recycling, told AFP.

"China was the biggest market for recyclables. It created a major shock in the global market."

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