Best of our wild blogs: 2 Jul 19

Singapore's corals unlikely to be impacted by rising seas
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

GeoSpace-Sea: Singapore's new National Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure
wild shores of singapore

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Resilience of Singapore corals

NUS News 1 Jul 19

NUS marine scientists found that coral species in Singapore's sedimented and turbid waters are unlikely to be impacted by accelerating sea-level rise

Global sea levels are expected to rise by at least half a metre by the year 2100 due to climate change. The projected rise can affect important environmental factors such as habitat suitability and availability of light, threatening the health and survival of marine ecosystems.

For the corals dwelling in the sedimented, turbid waters around Singapore, rising sea levels can imperil species, as those living among the deepest waters could starve due to insufficient light for them to make food.

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Do away with NDP funpacks to cut waste: Green group

Time for a rethink, it says, even amid efforts to reduce 1.7 million disposable items in bags
Cara Wong Straits Times 2 Jul 19;

Those lucky enough to land tickets for the National Day Parade (NDP) and its rehearsal shows are often just as excited to receive the funpacks, often a plastic tote bag filled with items like bottled water, ponchos and even the maracas, a musical instrument.

But many of the items end up in the bin after the event. And considering 250,000 funpacks were distributed last year, these one-time-use items generated a lot of waste.

In 2014, the organisers said the NDP generated at least 70 tonnes of waste per year. Of this amount, about 30 tonnes were recycled.

Time for a rethink, say local green group Zero Waste SG and Member of Parliament Louis Ng.

For the first time, organisers consulted the non-governmental organisation in planning the logistics for this year's parade.

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Malaysia, Johor: Pasir Gudang pollution - Only three pupils warded

Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 1 Jul 19;

PASIR GUDANG: Three pupils, aged between 10 and 12, have been warded from 273 who had fallen sick following a second wave of pollution detected just hours after school started yesterday.

State Health, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar said to date, only 101 pupils were referred to the Masai and Pasir Gudang health clinics for treatment.

"The rest were given immediate medical aid and allowed to go home after their condition improved.

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Malaysia: Haze is back in certain areas

arnold loh The Star 1 Jul 19;

GEORGE TOWN: The haze is back in several areas in Malaysia.

Penang, Ipoh and the Klang Valley show moderate air pollutant index (API) readings of between 61 and 69, but the gauge in Taiping has slipped into the unhealthy level of 112 as of noon on Monday (July 1).

In Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, people can breathe more easily, with API readings as low as 38, up to the lower 50s.

Since last August, the Department of Environment's API readings have been upgraded to measure particle matters in the air of 2.5 microns or smaller.

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Malaysia: Wildlife rangers trained to protect northern Sarawak's coral reefs

The Star 1 Jul 19;

MIRI: Wildlife rangers are being trained from among local fishermen communities in the coastal villages to play key roles in protecting the fragile coastal and marine life along the Miri-Sibuti coral reefs in northern Sarawak.

Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) and Petronas are jointly collaborating in the training of these honorary rangers.

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Indonesia: Drought paralyses 17 villages in Cilacap, Central Java

Antara 1 Jul 19;

Cilacap, Central Java (ANTARA) - As of June 30, a total of 17 villages in seven sub-districts in Cilacap, Central Java, were reeling under the impact of drought during this year's dry season.

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jul 19

Launch of Private Lives Exposé of Singapore's Coral Reefs!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Singapore Bird Report – May 2019
Singapore Bird Group

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Oil patches cleaned up from East Coast Park beach, water quality remains normal

Goh Yan Han Straits Times 30 Jun 19;

SINGAPORE - Patches of oil were seen on the shoreline at a section of East Coast Park on Saturday (June 29).

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that it received a report at 8.04am that there was a smell of oil off East Coast Park.

It immediately dispatched its patrol craft to the seaward side of the reported area to investigate, as well as began cleaning up the small patch of oil sighted off the park's carpark C.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, an MPA spokesman said that the source of the oil spill is unknown, as there was no report of an oil spill incident prior to Saturday's incident.

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Malaysia, Johor: Breathing difficulties, nausea, vomiting return to Pasir Gudang

Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 30 Jun 19;

PASIR GUDANG: As classes here resumed today, some 130 students from 15 schools experienced breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting, similar to the incident 10 days ago which involved 18 schools in the district, caused by pollution.

Today’s incident also saw three teachers including SK Kopok's headmistress being affected.

A total of 23 pupils from SK Kopok were among the 130 who fell sick just hours after the morning school session began. However, only 30 were sent for further health screenings at the Masai and Pasir Gudang health clinics.

The other students who showed less severe reaction to the pollution /allergy were given first aid and allowed to go home.

Classes continued as usual for the other students, including some 46 special needs students at SK Kopok and other schools in the district.

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Malaysia: Sabah's anti-poaching efforts boosted with RM4mil donation

muguntan vanar The Star 30 Jun 19;

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Forestry Department's special "Protect Team" – aimed at wiping out poachers and traffickers threatening the state's iconic wildlife species – has been given a boost with an RM4mil donation from the Sime Darby Foundation.

This is part of the state's renewed effort to eradicate poaching and wildlife trafficking by having more enforcement on the ground.

The injection will allow an increase in the number of enforcers and jump start the implementation of the three State Action Plans 2019-2028 for the protection of Bornean banteng (wild cattle), Sunda clouded leopard and proboscis monkey, launched late last year by state Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew.

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Indonesia to welcome back endemic snake-necked turtles

The Jakarta Post 30 Jun 19;

The “repatriation” is to be conducted through a reintroduction program run by the Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) and Wildlife Reserve Singapore.

The turtles, which are to be shipped to Indonesia in the next couple of months, have been bred by organizations in a number of countries, including the United States and Austria. Some 26 individuals bred in the US and Austria are now being kept in the Singapore Zoo. However, how many of those are to be sent to their natural habitat in their ancestral home is still under negotiation, Timbul Batubara, the head of the East Nusa Tenggara Resource Conservation Center (BBKSDA), said on Saturday.

The species, called the Roti Island snake-necked turtle, is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list and is categorized as critically endangered. Roti Island is another name for Rote Island.

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