Oil and coal mining firms pollute Balikpapan Bay

Nurni Sulaiman, The Jakarta Post 30 Jan 09;

The Balikpapan Bay is one of the city's landmarks, a place where foreign and domestic companies, mostly in the coal and oil sectors, have been carrying out their business for dozens of years.

It is also a place that traditional fishermen and small-scale businesses rely on for their livelihood.

However, the companies have not paid enough attention to the environment and the water quality in the Balikpapan Bay is deteriorating.

The Office of the State Minister of the Environment's Kalimantan Regional Environmental Management Center (PPLH) has noted that oil, gas and coal production had played a significant role in polluting the bay.

"The exceeded level of phenol indicated the presence of pollution caused by oil refineries and the coal oxidation process," B. Widodo, PPLH head, told The Jakarta Post.

Pollutants in the bay area also originated from domestic activities, pesticide use in agriculture, fuel leaks in ships and other activities using organic chemicals.

"Domestic waste has also contributed significantly to the problem," Widodo said.

"These activities have further increased the phenol, or the carbolic acidic level of water, indicating that spatial planning around the Balikpapan Bay should be reviewed immediately.

"The rising level of phenol is attributed to activities at the coal docks, oil refineries, domestic activities and shipping traffic."

The PPLH conducted a water quality analysis in the Balikpapan Bay on Dec. 6 last year and took water samples from a number of observation points, such as at the Semayang Port, the Penajam Port, Baru village and the oil refinery of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina.

According to Widodo, the water quality test referred to the Environmental Ministerial Decree No. 51/2004 on field parameters, comprising the water alkaline level, the turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature.

Based on lab tests, the turbidity and temperature at Pertamina's waste water cooling outlet had exceeded tolerable levels.

Analysis indicated that total suspended density (TSS) and phosphate content at every observation point had surpassed tolerable levels.

The highest concentration of TSS was at the Semayang Port and the highest concentration of phosphate was at Pertamina's waste outlet.

The high water temperature near Pertamina's waste outlet was caused by the high temperature of waste water that flows from their cooling towers into the sea.

"The oil refinery contributed to these environmental problems. Pertamina should improve its environmental management, especially its waste cooling system, which have made it harder for everyone to cope with this environmental damage," Widodo said.

He added that the high levels of TSS and phosphate at every observation point indicated a high level of pollutants, especially those from domestic waste.

He said the level of phosphate was a concern because it could cause algae booming, which has also occurred in the Jakarta Bay and reduced water quality by limiting oxygen content and decimating marine life.

"This is an early warning sign so stakeholders can coordinate with the local administration and other related agencies to prevent environmental damage," Widodo said.

Meanwhile, Balikpapan Pertamina spokesperson Fety said water quality at the oil refinery continued to meet the required standard.

"We always measure the water standard every day and report it to the Balikpapan Environmental Impact Management Agency," she said.

"The water quality still meets the port's standards and there are no leaks at the oil refinery or with the cooling process.

"However, we are grateful to the PPLH for the warning and we will take action immediately."

Fety added that Pertamina used the water standard parameter for the port while PPLH used the standard for marine tourism.

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jan 09

4 Feb (Wed): Get the latest update on Singapore reefs and beyond!
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Resident Black-winged Kite defending its territory
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Blue-tailed Bee-eater landing on a twig
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Seen on STOMP: Dead fish clog Toa Payoh waterway
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog also bird poop and fire and ash dumping and deadly falling leaves and ash dumping again.

How to eat live sotong if you have no hands?
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Sign Of The Times
curbing exotic lionfish on the Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets blog

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Kampong Buangkok: First World urbanites and their contempt for Third World urbanization

Telescopic Philanthropy
Sahil Mahtani City Journal 29 Jan 09;

Not only Seth Mydans, but countless other Singaporeans, have romanticized that stupid village

There are many ways to hate the tiny island nation of Singapore, but faulting it for overdevelopment is perhaps the cruelest. And when the New York Times makes the criticism, the cruelty slides into absurdity: a newspaper in America’s largest city is accusing Singapore of having too many buildings?

Earlier this year, Seth Mydans filed a report for the Times about Singapore’s redevelopment of its last village, a “secret Eden . . . hidden in trees among the massed apartment blocks, where a fresh breeze rustles the coconut palms and tropical birds whoop and whistle.” The village was “Singapore’s last rural hamlet, a forgotten straggler in the rush to modernize this high-rise, high-tech city-state,” wrote Mydans. “When it is gone, one of the world’s most extreme national makeovers will be complete.”

The editors titled the piece SINGAPORE PREPARES TO GOBBLE UP ITS LAST VILLAGE, and the accompanying picture showed a distraught woman standing amid unruly foliage, looking into the distance. “To make more space, neighborhoods are razed, landmarks are sacrificed and cemeteries—an inefficient use of land—are cleared away,” Mydans wrote, summing up Singapore’s long history of land reclamation. The reporter clearly considered this government-initiated redevelopment a bad thing, and he described villagers happy with their lot and wary of the vast anonymity of the beckoning city. In keeping with the Edenic vision, he noted that “snakes and lizards scurry through the undergrowth, and tiny fish swim in a tiny stream.”

The fish are a nice touch. As it happens, fish need water, which the flood-ridden, low-lying village, Kampong Buangkok, has in abundance. In fact, the settlement’s Malay name means “to lift a skirt,” in reference to raising one’s sarong to pass through floodwaters. Flash floods, it turns out, have long been a problem there: most recently, a multimillion-dollar drainage project was deemed not cost-effective for the village’s barely three dozen houses. And a tropical flood is not a cheerful affair. A Singapore paper recently told of a 47-year-old Kampong Buangkok resident suffering from kidney failure while struggling to build a brick wall to keep floodwaters out. Natural disasters are a constant presence in the literature on Kampong Buangkok, and before or after romanticizing the place, Mydans could have acknowledged them.

But perhaps doing so would have interfered with the reporter’s pre-industrial view of the village, a kind of garden-variety Rousseauism that willingly trades other people’s poverty for certain idealized notions of naturalness. The truth, as the history of floods indicates, is that life in Eden is often precarious. Disease is common—the Singapore government recently deemed the village’s surrounding area one of several “hotspots” in a recent dengue outbreak—and ambition is often stifled, which may explain why many young people have left in recent years. That’s another fact that Mydans neglected to mention, and it explains why the residents he spoke to wished to stay; all the others had left already. Redevelopment, of course, might solve some of these problems.

Mydans’s piece raises substantive issues that go far beyond Singapore. Pre-industrial romanticism plays a role in every debate about the meaning of progress, from drilling in protected spaces in Alaska to imposing a gas tax. As a general rule, participants in these discussions become more myopic the farther they are from the place under consideration. Alaskans have shown overwhelming support for drilling, for instance, but many Americans have been unwilling to follow suit. Ted Kennedy backs wind farms, so long as they aren’t anywhere near his Cape Cod mansion. Does anyone doubt that a village hamlet at the edge of Manhattan would be happily bulldozed?

Your idea of Eden, it seems, depends on where you stand. Singapore’s neighbors in Southeast Asia view it as an island of normality, with an honest civil service, good medical care, and a bright future. By contrast, First World sophisticates see Singapore as a bossy little republic-behemoth flattening everything in sight, only to produce sterile—no, “soulless”—apartment blocks and polluted air. The same disparagement often greets its doppelgänger Dubai, another emerging nation that’s allowing talent, freedom, and some semblance of normality to thrive. Many in the educated classes greet its rise with condescension and alarm, seeing the upstart emirate as a tacky and congested playground for the plutocracy. We will put aside the question of whether London or New York meets that description equally well, or whether those cities’ residents would have it any other way. The broader issue is the sheer loss of nerve about industrial development among those who have profited most from it.

The economic historian Joseph Schumpeter made this point back in the 1940s, warning of a fundamental contradiction in many thinkers’ opposition to capitalism. Because economic rationalism destroyed most of the underpinnings of civil society—village, clan, craft guild—and did not replace them with any similar organic enterprise, more and more people would eventually yearn for a kind of moral authority that capitalism could not provide, Schumpeter predicted. With little direct responsibility for practical affairs, intellectuals would be especially prone to this tendency; they could support vague moral or cultural ideas with few of the tradeoffs that ordinary people face. As a result, the bourgeoisie would underwrite its own gravediggers, subsidizing an intellectual class hostile to itself. Capitalism’s long-run benefits were very much worth fighting for, Schumpeter argued: for those outside the system, they provided a path in, and for everyone else, a constant improvement in living standards through innovation. But capitalism’s negative consequences—constant volatility and income disparity, to name two—would remain stark, and intelligent people would often fail to grasp its redeeming values. Defending capitalism, even in the best of times, would always be an uphill battle.

There’s much truth to this. After all, not only Seth Mydans, but countless other Singaporeans, have romanticized that stupid village. They’re welcome to enjoy the pre-industrial world—provided they choose to live in it. Many such places still exist in neighboring Malaysia, and rents, I hear, are cheap.

Sahil Mahtani is a reporter-researcher at the New Republic.

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Mystery over dead fish in canal

Straits Times 30 Jan 09;

DOZENS of dead fish were found in a canal off Balestier Road yesterday, though officials are not sure what killed them.
They were removed from the canal by two workers from Veolia Environmental Services who regularly clean the waterway, which cuts through the Central Expressway and ends at Marina Reservoir. The men said the number of dead fish has been rising over the past five days.

One passer-by was so shocked by the scene yesterday that she called The Straits Times. 'There were so many dead fish, I was afraid it was because of pollution. I have children who play around the area,' said Ms Chia Kum Ling, 39, who lives at the nearby Jalan Dusun estate.

A statement by national water agency PUB yesterday said investigations have revealed that the fish were mainly tilapia, and that water samples from the canal show water quality is normal. It said it would continue to monitor the situation.

Members of the public can call PUB's 24-hour call centre on 1800-284-6600 to provide feedback.

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No easy solution for strays in Singapore: AVA replies

A combination of measures are used to manageanimal population here

Today Online 30 Jan 09;

Letter from Goh Shih Yong
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications for Chief Executive Officer,
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority

We refer to the article “The outspoken doc” (Jan 20).

Stray animal population control is a complex issue and there are no easy solutions.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is fully committed to ensuring animal health and welfare and has adopted a balanced approach in the management of strays.

For dogs, all must be licensed for the purpose of rabies control. Rabies is a disease fatal to man. It is endemic in this region. AVA culls stray dogs to manage the risk of rabies transmission should the disease be introduced into Singapore.

As all dogs, whether sterilised or not, are susceptible to rabies, sterilised strays should be properly homed and licensed, and not be returned to the environment.

For cats, AVA encourages sterilisation as a way to help prevent the proliferation of strays.

This alone, however, is not enough. It is a fact that stray cats, including sterilised ones, create numerous disamenities to the public, ranging from nuisance to hygiene concerns, even physical threat.

It is thus inevitable that culling has to be carried out as an additional measure to keep the stray population in check.

AVA and the Town Councils (TC) are open to working together with the community and the caregivers in looking at keeping the stray cat population manageable.

In any precinct, caregivers wanting to start a sterilisation programme for stray cats should approach and work with the TC, as the TC is in a better position to understand the concerns of the majority of its residents.

We believe, above all, that public education on responsible pet ownership is key to reducing the problem of strays.

To this end, AVA actively promotes and organises campaigns on responsible pet ownership. We are confident that with perseverance, there will be an improvement to the stray animals problem in the longer term.

We thank Dr Tan Chek Wee for his passion and commitment in helping in the management of stray cats in the community.

We are equally appreciative of the same effort put in by many other caregivers in their own communities.

While the AVA and TC will continue to work together with the community and the caregivers, we must also balance the interest of all sectors in the community, including those who are adversely affected by stray cats.

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Coffee shop vs temple over bees

Hive in Jurong West temple destroyed by NEA after coffee shop owner's complaint
Vivien Chan, The New Paper 30 Jan 09;

A BEE hive has become a stinging issue between a coffee shop owner and officials from a temple next door.

Madam Lim Siew Choo, 60, claims that swarm of bees have been flying into her coffee shop and that four people, including herself, have been stung.

But officials from the Jin Fu Gong Temple were reluctant to destroy the hive, which is at the top of one its external pillars. They said they do not believe in killing indiscriminately because the bees are harmless.

Madam Lim eventually contacted the National Environment Agency (NEA). Officers from the agency investigated the matter and found a bee hive within the temple's compound.

An NEA spokesman said that NEA officers advised the temple authorities to engage a pest control operator to destroy the bee hive. The temple authorities complied, and the bee hive was destroyed on 19 Jan.

Madam Lim said that about three weeks ago, hundreds of bees would fly into her Jurong West St 91 coffee shop, throughout the day.

She said: 'The bees terrorised my customers by buzzing around them. Some even landed on their cups or drink cans. It would get worse around lunchtime, when there are more drink cans on the tables.'

Two weeks ago, she decided that enough was enough when four people, including herself, got stung.

She said: 'I was waving off some bees that were irritating my customers when I got stung. I was not the only one who was attacked. The bees attacked small children too.'

According to Madam Lim, a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy were stung.

Luckily, no one fell sick from the sting. All four who were stung self-medicated and suffered nothing more than a swelling.

The fourth person who was stung was a coffee shop helper.

Madam Lim said that two years ago, a similar incident occurred, and she had called the NEA. It traced the bees to a bee hive to the Taoist temple next door.

She said that the temple complied when told to remove the hive then.

However, she added that after this incident, relations between her and the temple officials began to sour.

She claimed that a few months later, when she tried to enter the temple to offer incense, she was chased away. This was disputed by the temple officials.

That was why she refrained from pointing fingers at the temple this time. She said she decided to check her own coffee shop first.

Checked the roof

On 9 Jan, her husband climbed onto the roof of their coffee shop but did not find any hive there.

Then, that night, one of Madam Lim's workers saw the bees flying back into the temple. The worker told Madam Lim and she informed the NEA.

Her actions upset temple officials.

One of them, Mr Goh, in his late 60s, said that he had never quarrelled with Madam Lim.

'We didn't even have the chance to discuss or disagree because she went straight to NEA,' he said.

He said that there was no need to destroy the hive because the bees do not attack unless they were provoked.

Clearly upset when asked how he felt about the bees, he said: 'We believe that we should not harm anything that has life. These bees have been here for many years. Some of the devotees even said that the bees bring luck.'

However, he said that if the authorities insisted that the bee hive had to be removed, he would not oppose it.

An NEA spokesman said that the responsibility to remove bee hives lies with the owner or stakeholder of the premises or structures where the beehives are found.

If the owner refuses to remove the hive, the Director-General of Public Health may, in writing, require the owner or occupier of the premises to destroy the bees at his own expense. The owner could face a fine not exceeding $5,000 should he fail to comply.

When The New Paper visited the coffee shop last Friday morning, there were no bees buzzing about, though some customers said that they had seen the bees on their previous visits.

When we visited the temple, there was a different and smaller bee hive, about the size of a child's fist, outside the temple's compound.

That same evening, NEA activated its own pest control operator-contractor to destroy the second hive.

A customer at the coffee shop, who declined to be named, said that he saw the bees on a previous occasion but did not feel very threatened because he sat a distance away.

He added: 'If they attack, then the hive should be removed.'

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NEA monitoring recent dengue spike

Jessica Jaganathan, Straits Times 30 Jan 09;

SINGAPORE is keeping a close watch on dengue fever, with the number of deaths from the disease in neighbouring Malaysia doubling this month compared with the same period last year.

According to Malaysian news reports, dengue cases spiralled to 4,221 with 12 deaths in the first 23 days of this month, compared with 2,103 cases, including five deaths, during the corresponding period last year.

In Singapore, the number of dengue cases increased in the first three weeks over the same period last year.

A total of 509 people were infected, compared with 341 during the same period last year.

Last week, however, 126 people were infected, down from 144 cases in the previous seven days.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it was monitoring whether the spike in cases in the first three weeks was due to short-term fluctuations, which are to be expected.

It added that while a surge in the number of cases in the region may have an impact on Singapore, 'there is at present no evidence to show that the recent rise in dengue cases in Malaysia could lead to a corresponding increase in cases in Singapore'.

An NEA spokesman said that Singapore's key strategy to prevent dengue outbreaks is still to keep the mosquito population low to reduce their chances of transmitting the disease.

'The weather in Singapore is conducive to Aedes mosquito breeding all year round. Therefore, it is important that we do not let our guard down,' she said.

Dengue cases usually follow a six to seven year cyclical trend, with each year surpassing the one before. Singapore is in the third year of a cycle that began in 2007.

Overall, while the rest of the region saw an upswing in cases last year, Singapore bucked the trend, recording 7,032 cases, compared with 8,826 in 2007, according to the NEA.

It said its integrated dengue control programme that combines laboratory work and surveillance with aggressive vector control worked to contain the disease last year and will continue to do so this year.

But with Singapore's proximity to dengue-endemic countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, a regional approach to eradicating dengue is important, said the head of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School's emerging infectious diseases research programme, Professor Duane Gubler.

He said: 'Yes, you can eliminate mosquitoes, but that is a major job. The best way is to use a regional approach.'

Last year, Singapore joined 21 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to draw up an eight-year battle plan to combat the disease.

Search on for antibody to fight all strains
Straits Times 30 Jan 09;

A SINGAPORE scientist plans to use her US$1.5 million (S$2.2 million) research grant to study how antibodies produced by the body stop the dengue virus from entering cells.

Dr Lok Shee Mei, 35, from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, received the grant from the National Research Foundation earlier this month. The grant is to be used over three years.

People infected with one of the four strains of the virus can fall sick again if exposed to a different strain.

Dr Lok is hoping to be the first person to develop an antibody that can fight all four strains.

Viruses can get into cells by latching on to specific structures on the cell surface and unlocking them.

Dr Lok has found a particular antibody that changes the locks so that the virus cannot bind to the cell any more.

She is researching whether this can be developed into a 'humanised' form to be injected into someone with dengue to help destroy the virus. Overseas studies have been done on tissue culture, but not on animals, as they do not fall sick with dengue.

Dr Lok expects the research to take up to five years.

She also plans to extend this research to chikungunya with fellow local scientists.

JESSICA JAGANATHAN

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Bird discovery shows China's ecological potential

Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Jan 09;

BANGKOK, Thailand – A new species of the fist-sized, babbler bird has been found in network of underground caves in southwestern China, raising the prospect the country could become a hot spot for other new discoveries, a conservation group said Thursday.
Ornithologists Zhou Fang and Jiang Aiwu first spotted the dark bird, which has with white specks on its chest, in 2005 and have since confirmed its identity as an undescribed species. They named it the Nonggang babbler, or Stachyris nonggangensis, for the area of China in which they discovered it.

A formal description was published last year in The Auk, which is the quarterly journal of the Virginia-based American Ornithologists' Union.

"This is exciting evidence that there could be many more interesting discoveries awaiting ornithologists in China," said Birdlife International's Nigel Collar, which announced the discovery.

The new species resembles a wren-babbler of the genus Napothera in that it prefers running to flying, and seems to spend most of its time on the ground foraging for insects between rocks and under fallen leaves, Zhou said. About 100 Nonggang babblers have been identified so far in the Nonggang Natural Reserve in southwestern China.

A similar habitat exists straddling the border of northern Vietnam and southeast Yunnan, China, and it is possible the species may also be found there, Zhou said.

"I'm very pleased to be able to make some contribution to the ornithology research by discovering Stachyris nonggangensis," Zhou said in a statement. "The discovery shows that there are still some birds that haven't been (identified) yet in China, such a vast territory that is rich in biodiversity."

Xi Zhinong, the founder of conservation group Wild China, said he was "very glad, excited and surprised" when he learned about a new bird being found.

Xi said finds like Zhou's and Jiang's are likely to become even more common in China as laymen join professionals in the search for new species.

"In recent years, more and more bird lovers and photographers are participating in the research of wild birds," Xi said. "Without a doubt, the participation of those nonprofessionals has pushed forward the research of wildlife in China."

But Zhou warned the country's rapid development and worsening pollution could threaten many biologically rich areas like the karst — a network of limestone sinkholes marked by underground streams and caverns — before further discoveries are made.

"The fragility of the karst ecosystem and its destruction by people pose great threats to the bird's existence," he said. "Research and conservation of the birds in this habitat is very urgent."

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17 new reptile and amphibian species discovered in Tanzania

In pictures: Tanzania's toad haul
BBC News 29 Jan 09
This toad from the Nectophrynoides genus is one of 15 amphibian species in Tanzania that have been described for the first time. They were found during research led by UK conservation charity Frontiers.

17 new reptile and amphibian species discovered in Tanzania
mongabay.com 4 Jan 09

17 previously unknown species of reptiles and amphibians have been discovered in the rainforests of eastern Tanzania, report Italian and Tanzanian scientists.

Conducting surveys of the ‘virtually unexplored’ forests of the South Nguru Mountains between 2004 and 2006, Michele Menegon of the Natural Science Museum of Trento in Italy and colleagues recorded 92 species of ‘herps’, of which 17 had never before been documented. The new species — which include chameleons, tree frogs, and snakes, among others — are believed to be endemic to the region.

“These results, documenting the high species richness and the outstanding number of putative endemics of the forests, strongly highlight the biological importance of the South Nguru Mountains and place them among the most important sites for the conservation of herpetofauna in Africa,” wrote Menegon and Nike Doggart, a co-author of a report published in the journal Acta Herpetologica

The discoveries highlight the region’s rich biodiversity, but Menegon and Doggart, together with Nisha Owen of the Frontier Tanzania Forest Research Program in Dar es Salaam, warn that the ecosystem is already under threat from fire, logging, fuelwood collection, and clearing for agriculture including cardamom cultivation. Nevertheless the authors are encouraged by the efforts of a Tanzanian NGO, the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG), to work with local stakeholders to improve conservation planning in the region.

“Villagers and government have identified a series of actions required to address the issue of forest loss,” the authors write. “This includes a combination of direct forest management activities such as developing and implementing forest management plans and boundary demarcation; and activities aimed at reducing local people’s dependence on unsustainable activities such as the current methods of cultivating cardamom.

"The program represents an opportunity to reverse the current trend of forest loss and degradation. To succeed the program will need sustained commitment from the Government of Tanzania, civil society organizations, the local communities and development partners to conserve the unique biodiversity of this area," they conclude.

CITATION: Michele Menegon, Nike Doggart, Nisha Owen. The Nguru mountains of Tanzania, an outstanding hotspot of herpetofaunal diversity. Acta Herpetologica 3(2): 107-127, 2008

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Indonesian NGO backs villagers in fight against palm oil

Cecilia Castilla Yahoo News 29 Jan 09;

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AFP) – Deep in the forests of Indonesian Borneo, a small environmental group is using education and common sense to arm villagers against the devastating onslaught of palm plantations.

Yayasan Orangutan Indonesia (Yayorin) was founded in 1991 with the goal of saving Indonesia's endangered orangutans and other wildlife as well as the forests that those species need to survive.

Since then the spread of palm oil plantations into forests and peatlands on Sumatra and Borneo islands have helped make Indonesia the world's third-highest greenhouse gas emitter, thanks partly to the craze for "eco-friendly" biofuels.

They have also wiped out habitats of threatened species like orangutans and Bornean clouded leopards.

But the plantations are also hurting people whose traditional communities depend on the forests and the biodiversity they contain, and that is where Yayorin director and founder Togu Simorangkir sees hope for change.

"We think that above all the problem of deforestation is human," said the 32-year-old biologist in Pangkalan Bun village in the heart of Central Kalimantan province.

"That's why 80 percent of our programme focuses on education. It's not enough just to give the message 'stop cutting down trees'. You have to explain the consequences of deforestation in the short and long term."

Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, which is used in a range of products including soap, cooking oil and biodiesel.

Vast tracts of forest have already disappeared under palm plantations and the government is encouraging more despite its stated commitment to lowering greenhouse gas emissions by preserving the carbon stored in jungles.

In 1990 there were 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of land under palm oil plantation in Indonesia, according to official figures. This year there are 7.6 million hectares.

"We've heard some terrible stories," said Daryatmo, the chief of Tumbang Tura village in Central Kalimantan.

"Our neighbours (who sold their forested land to palm planters) can't grow ratan anymore or harvest rubber. Fishing is impossible because the river is polluted," he said.

"These are our principal sources of income. What kind of legacy are we going to leave our grandchildren?"

Lured by immediate "wealth" in the form of a few thousands dollars in cash, people in forest-dependent communities often are not aware of the consequences of selling out to the palm planters, Simorangkir said.

"Last year a plantation company offered a village two billion rupiah (176,000 dollars) to exploit its land. Every family calculated that that would bring them 30 million (2,640 dollars) each," he said.

"The village authorities sought our advice and we told them the consequences for the environment in the medium term. Despite the bait, they concluded by refusing the project."

The NGO followed up by helping the villagers improve their subsistence-level agriculture techniques, he said.

With projects spread across several villages as well as plantations, companies, schools and government agencies, Simorangkir said he hoped Yayorin could help make a difference in the battle to save Indonesia's forests.

But will such initiatives be enough to save the "man of the forest," the orangutan?

There are currently an estimated 40,000 wild orangutans on Borneo but the United Nations estimates there could be fewer than 1,000 by 2023.

Palm oil companies have been clearing orangutan habitats on Borneo despite signing up to voluntary standards under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a talking shop for industry and environmental groups.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association, in rejecting a moratorium on new plantations proposed by Greenpeace last year, argued that the RSPO standards were enough to protect the species.

But the Centre for Orangutan Protection says orangutans living outside Central Kalimantan's conservation areas could be wiped out within three years. Of the roughly 20,000 individuals in Central Kalimantan province, close to 3,000 die every year, it says.

"Their future is in the north of the Central Kalimantan region, which at the present time is preserved. The belt of palm oil plantations must not extend to the north," said Stephen Brend of Orangutan Foundation International.

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Deadly attacks shed light on Indonesia's human-animal conflicts

Yahoo News 29 Jan 09;

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) – A spate of recent deadly animal attacks in Indonesia has thrown the spotlight on growing conflicts between humans and animals triggered by the rapid dwindling of the country's forests.

In the latest attack, two women were trampled to death by a pair of elephants in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island Tuesday after the elephants entered an illegally cleared field from nearby jungle.

The attack, from which another six villagers narrowly escaped with their lives, came just days after a rubber-tapper was reportedly killed by two rare Sumatran tigers as he urinated outside his hut in Jambi province, also on Sumatra.

The attacks are called human-animal conflicts, and they are a rising problem in Indonesia, an archipelago nation with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests and a swelling population of 234 million people.

As people spread into previously untouched forests, big animals such as tigers, elephants and orangutans are being robbed of the large habitats needed to sustain their populations, Arnold Sitompul, the head of environmental group Elephant Forum, told AFP.

"The main reason (for conflicts) is habitat loss. There is a lot of habitat loss going on in Indonesia for plantations, mining," Sitompul said.

Without their habitats, animals such as elephants turn up on newly settled areas at the forest's edge, devouring and trampling crops and terrorising villagers. The result is often deadly for both humans and animals.

"Elephants can tolerate some disturbances but if you go there and set up settlements it will lead to conflict... Why is that? Because elephants don't like humans and humans are scared of elephants, because they're big," Sitompul said.

Poisonings and shootings of animals in conflict areas are a common occurrence. At least 45 elephants were killed in mass poisonings between 2002 and 2006 in Sumatra's Riau province alone, according to environmental group WWF.

"In places like Aceh, conflict between humans and elephants and humans and tigers is increasing," said WWF forest program director Ian Kosasih, who added that there are no solid figures on how many conflicts are happening nationwide.

"In some areas you can't say it's increasing but it's still there ... I'm sure it's not getting better anywhere."

Sumatra island, blanketed in forests until just decades ago, is the hotspot for the clash between humans, elephants and tigers, Kosasih said.

Kalimantan on Indonesia's half of Borneo island is the centre of a more uneven conflict, with the killing of orangutans who stray onto rapidly expanding palm oil plantations and farms.

Local governments and non-governmental organisations are working hard to mitigate the conflicts, but so far have met with mixed success.

In response to the most recent attack in Aceh, the local conservation authority sent a team of 15 people -- and four tame elephants -- to scare the wild elephants back into the jungle.

But such measures, which in the case of elephants also include techniques such as planting barriers of acacia trees and spiky shrubs, are only a stop-gap so long as forest habitats are being destroyed, Aceh conservation agency head Andi Basrul said.

"If we don't all together protect the forest, then it will be difficult to overcome the elephant attacks, because it is their homes that are being interfered with," Basrul said.

"If, for comparison, it were our homes and yards that were being destroyed, of course we'd be angry. It's the same with elephants."

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350,000 deer must be culled in UK each year

An annual cull of 350,000 deer is needed to keep the population under control to prevent the growing number of accidents on the roads and damage to the countryside.
Nick Britten, The Telegraph 29 Jan 09;

The deer population in Britain has risen sharply in recent years and is now between 1.5 and 2 million.

The boom in numbers has lead to an increasing number of motorists being injured in collisions with the animals on the road.

They are also causing damage to the countryside.

Now conserviationists say a cull is the only viable option.

Ashdown Forest, in East Sussex, which has several thousand Fallow Deer, about two dozen Roe Deer, large numbers of Muntjac and a small herd of Sika, has the highest number of deer-vehicle collisions in Britain.

In 2000 rangers attended 100 collisions involving deer compared to 266 in 2008, despite having fewer staff in 2008. The actual number of collisions is believed to be around 500 a year.

Dr Hew Prendergast, Clerk to the Conservators of Ashdown Forest, said: "The damage the deer are doing in the countryside and the numbers of casualties there are on the roads mean that something must be done.

No-one wants to blast deer to kingdom come for the hell of it but its better to have them killed humanely and sensitively than to let them die in agony on the side of a road."

He added: "The logistics of fencing off all the roads are impossible really to consider so a reduction of the population as a whole needs to be done."

Peter Watson, executive director of the Deer Initiative, said to keep the deer population static, 25 per cent needed to be culled every year.

With the deer population in Britain rising to up to two million, that requires around 350,000 deer to be culled.

Mr Watson said: "The impact of DVCs is far too high in relation to the number of deer. Deers have value but in some areas there are too many accidents and the balance is wrong."

Culling is not seen as the only answer but is hugely effective.

A culling programme in Herefordshire in 2005 reduced the number of DVC on the A49 from 50 to zero the following year.

Mr Watson added: "Sometimes it's the only way. There is no doubt that if you significantly reduce the deer population you can influence road traffic accidents."

DVC hotspots include Ashdown Forest, The New Forest, Thetford Forest in Norfolk and Cannock Chase, Staffs.

Trevor Banham, Chief Wildlife Ranger for the Forestry Commission East of England, said at Thetford Forest, which has a deer population of around 14,000, they cull 25 per cent every year to keep numbers down.

Forced to deal around 200 DVCs, he said there was no need for an extra cull.

He added: "We do have accidents but deer are wild animals. You can't fence them in."

Deer by numbers:

100 - types of deer worldwide

310 - the number of degrees a deer can see thanks to eyes on the side of its head

40 - miles per hour, the average speed a deer can run

200 - the number of days a deer is pregnant for

20 - years, the average life expectancy

2 - the average sized litter

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