As Malaysia Bans Sand Exports, Singapore Says It’s Using Less

Anisah Shukry and Philip Heijmans Bloomberg 4 Jul 19;

Singapore said it’s been trying to reduce reliance on sand, as neighboring Malaysia announced a ban on all exports of sea sand since last year on environmental concerns.

The city-state piloted a polder development in outlying Pulau Tekong that uses less sand compared to regular reclamation, a spokesperson for Singapore’s Ministry of National Development said in a statement. The government has also sought to diversify its sources of sand to ensure resilient supply, the spokesperson said.

The ministry was responding to questions after Malaysia’s Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said that the country’s sea sand will be limited for domestic use only. The exports ban won’t affect ties with Singapore as it isn’t related to the city-state’s reclamation efforts, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

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Malaysia, Johor: 'Kim Kim clean-up not done properly'

Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 5 Jul 19;

PASIR GUDANG: A group of Pasir Gudang residents has accused state authorities and agencies of failing to properly manage the disposal of chemical waste from the Sungai Kim Kim incident in March.

This, they said, had led to the air pollution incident in the district last month, which saw the temporary closure of 111 schools after scores of schoolchildren fell ill.

Pasir Putih Residents Environmental Pollution Action Committee deputy chairman Mohd Rafee Abdullah said it had reason to believe the recent incident was a result of poor chemical waste management in Sungai Kim Kim.

“The waste from the river clean-up was collected and disposed of, while the rest was buried under tonnes of soil.

“And now, it has resurfaced in the form of vapours, which polluted the air and affected residents.”

Rafee said the residents had conducted their own investigation by visiting affected areas and speaking to those working in the industrial plants.

He said they had photographic evidence to back their claims.

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Indonesia: Aceh's 20-hectare peatland engulfed by fire amid dry season

Antara 4 Jul 19;

Suka Makmue, Aceh (ANTARA) - Fire scorched 20 hectares of peatland in two villages of Nagan Raya District, Aceh, Thursday afternoon, amid the dry season that has mired fire-extinguishing efforts, Nagan Raya Disaster Mitigation Agency's (BPBD's) Acting Head Hamidi stated.

In a bid to prevent the fire, gutting certain peatland areas in Cot Mue Village in Tadu Raya Sub-district and Kuala Tripa Village in Tripa Makmur Sub-district, from further worsening, BPBD workers had built canal blockings, he revealed.

"We have been able to localize the fire by building canal blockings at several locations, but our endeavor to douse it could not as yet be done completely," Hamidi remarked, adding that the fire-razed areas belong to the local villagers.

In putting out the fire, the BPBD workers collaborated with personnel from the military and police as well as members of the community by installing water pumps at various locations, as fire trucks were unable to reach the disaster zone, he noted.

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Indonesia: Jakarta’s air quality kills its residents – and it’s getting worse

Choked up citizens have had enough and are taking the government to court over Jakarta’s chronic smog, Kate Walton points out.
Kate Walton Channel NewsAsia 5 Jul 19;

JAKARTA: The end of the Ramadan fasting period is marked by a week-long holiday in Indonesia. In Jakarta, this means that almost half the population leave the city to travel back to their hometowns and villages to celebrate Idul Fitri with their families.

Usually, this exodus is marked by a noticeable improvement in Jakarta’s air quality, with clear blue skies appearing as the road traffic all but disappears.

This year, however, on Jun 4, one day before the Idul Fitri holiday, Jakarta had the worst air quality in the world, according to AirVisual, an air quality monitoring app. With an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 210, Indonesia’s capital easily ranked above other notoriously polluted cities, such as Beijing, Dubai and New Delhi.

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Reforestation could cut carbon levels by two-thirds, study says

Issam AHMED, AFP Yahoo News 5 Jul 19;

Washington (AFP) - Good news: we can help halt climate change through a massive campaign of reforestation, according to a new study published Thursday.

Bad news: it would require covering an area the size of the United States in new trees, and even then some scientists are skeptical about the paper's conclusions.

Such an effort could capture two-thirds of manmade carbon emissions and reduce overall levels in the atmosphere to their lowest in almost a century, according to the research that was carried out by ETH Zurich and published in Science.

The study is the first to attempt to quantify how many trees the Earth can support, where to plant them and how much carbon they could store.

"We all knew restoring forests could play a part in tackling climate change, but we had no scientific understanding of what impact this could make," said co-author Thomas Crowther.

"Our study shows clearly that forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today."

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Best of our wild blogs: 4 Jul 19

Beting Bronok slowly fading away
wild shores of singapore

Open for registration – Love MacRitchie Walk with NUS Toddycats! on 14 July 2019 (Sun)
Love our MacRitchie Forest

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In blow to Singapore's expansion, Malaysia bans sea sand exports

Fathin Ungku, Rozanna Latiff Reuters 3 Jul 19;

SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia, Singapore’s biggest source for sea sand, has banned the export of the commodity, according to officials in Kuala Lumpur, a move that traders said could complicate the island-state’s ambitious expansion plans on reclaimed land.

Those plans include the development of the Tuas mega port, slated to be the world’s biggest container terminal. Singapore has increased its land area by a quarter since independence in 1965, mostly by using sand to reclaim coastal areas.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir, who came to power in a shock election last year, imposed a ban on all sea sand exports on October 3, two senior government sources with direct knowledge of the decision told Reuters.

The government sources, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Mahathir was upset that Malaysia’s land was being used to increase the size of its wealthier neighbor. He was also concerned corrupt Malaysian officials were benefiting from the secretive business.

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Singapore must continue to take early action against impact of climate change: Teo Chee Hean

Lester Wong Straits Times 4 Jul 19;

SINGAPORE - As a small, low-lying island state, Singapore will continue to take preventive action against the impact of climate change, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Thursday (July 4).

Mr Teo drew attention in particular to the Republic's efforts in going low-carbon and managing rising sea levels in a speech at the sixth Asian edition of the Shell Powering Progress Together forum.

Singapore raised the minimum level for newly reclaimed land by 1m in 2011, a move that preceded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) most recent report in 2014 by three years.

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Donation bins for reusable bags placed at 8 supermarket outlets

Jeanell Kiew Straits Times 4 Jul 19;

Forgotten reusable bags collecting dust around the home can now be put to good use.

As of yesterday, the public can drop unused reusable bags into a donation bin at eight supermarket outlets - two each from FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Cold Storage and Prime Supermarket.

Local environmental group Zero Waste SG (ZWSG), which is behind the initiative, will then collect the bags and ensure that they are in good condition before redistributing them to shoppers at each of the selected outlets.

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Malaysia: Perhilitan and cops to fight tiger poachers

Nuradzimmah Daim, Hana Naz Harun New Straits Times 4 Jul 19;

KUALA LUMPUR: WITH an estimated population of only 200, the future looks bleak for the Malayan tiger.

If nothing is done, the apex predator, faced with a host of challenges, including poaching and loss of habitat, could be driven to extinction within three years, according to experts.

Efforts are underway to ramp up measures to protect the species.

Spearheaded by the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry, these initiatives include an unprecedented joint action force comprising the police and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) to prevent poaching and sale of protected wildlife.

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Malaysia: 5 wild elephants wreak havoc in village near Tasik Kenyir

Rosli Zakaria New Straits Times 3 Jul 19;

HULU TERENGGANU: A herd of five wild elephants have been destroying banana trees and betel nut palms in Kampung Basung near Tasik Kenyir since last week.

Led by their matriarch, the pachyderms have been encroaching into agricultural plots near the houses at night.

One of villagers, Ismail Mamat, said they were living in fear.

“The elephants have destroyed my banana trees about 10m from my house,” he said.

“This is the first time the animals have encroached into the village.

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Indonesia: Bengkalis BPBD workers, firefighters put out bush and forest fires

Antara 3 Jul 19;

Bengkalis, Riau (ANTARA) - The Bengkalis Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) workers and firefighters successfully doused fires that spread across four hectares of land in Bathin Solapan Sub-district, Bengkalis District, Riau Province.

"Thank God, we have been able to extinguish the bush and forest fires that spread in the villages of Petani and Air Kulim of Bathin Solapan Sub-district," Head of the Bengkalis Mitigation Agency Tajul Mudaris stated here on Wednesday.

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