Indonesia: Over 60 hectares of mangroves in Batam damaged

Antara 12 May 11;

Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - The dockyard industry and housing development in Batam in 2011 have caused damage to about 60 hectares of mangrove forests, an environment official said.

"There are about 60 hectares of mangroves which were damaged in Tanjung Uncang and Tiban," said head of the Environmental Impact Analysis office of Batam, Dendy Purnomo said here on Thursday.

He said that the mangroves were damaged due to reclamation work by six companies around the mangrove forest in the Tanjung Uncang Industrial Areas.

Besides, the six firms, there were also four dockyard which further worsen the mangrove forest conditions in Batam, he said.
(Uu.A014/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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Bid to save Indonesia's mangrove swamps bogged down

Bruce Gale Straits Times 13 May 11;

DARK and often foul-smelling, Indonesia's mangrove swamps are not getting the attention they deserve. That, at least, was the message at an international conference on forestry in Bali last month.

Conference participant Daniel Murdiyarso, a senior researcher from the Centre for International Forestry Research, had a dramatic message: Unless Indonesia preserves its 3 million ha of mangrove forests - representing around 23 per cent of the world's total - all the country's climate change mitigation programmes would be pointless.

Mangroves consist of trees and shrubs that grow near saline water in coastal areas. Occasionally flooded by tides, they provide a cheap and effective form of protection against storms and tsunamis. The thin roots also provide a habitat for shrimps and spawning grounds for many types of fish. Recent research has added to the perceived importance of these areas by showing that they store much more carbon than most tropical forests. Their preservation has thus become an important goal in the battle to prevent climate change.

Indonesia is the fifth-largest carbon emitter in the world, with deforestation and forest degradation accounting for more than 80 per cent of its emissions. Jakarta has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 using local funds, and by up to 41 per cent by 2050 with foreign financial assistance.

With officials admitting that close to 70 per cent of the country's mangrove forests have already been destroyed, these areas are fading fast. The situation in some parts of the country is clearly worse than others.

Satellite images suggest that about 96 per cent of the mangroves have disappeared in Lampung, for example. In February, the Lampung Integrated Mangrove Forest Preservation Working Group, an organisation tasked with helping the local administration preserve mangrove forests, urged the provincial governor to make it more difficult for individuals or companies to get licences to clear mangroves. Most areas, the organisation said, had been cut down and converted into shrimp and fish ponds or tourist resorts.

Recent years have seen several local initiatives aimed at replanting damaged mangroves. Bali, for example, has become a model for the management of such forests as a result of its success in cultivating and preserving many mangrove species, some of which produce substances with the potential to be developed into medicine.

The Japanese-financed project began in the early 1990s, after vast swathes of mangrove forest on the tiny peninsula in the southern part of Bali had been converted into shrimp ponds.

When the ponds were abandoned, the sea began eroding the coast, sparking concern that the lower part of the island would be cut off.

Today, the 1,346ha forest is managed by 42 workers, half of them technical staff from the Mangrove Management Agency, together with two experts from Japan. A regular maintenance programme is also in place in the hope that the forest will act as the 'lungs' of Denpasar, the provincial capital.

Attempts to replicate this success in other parts of the country, however, have been disappointing. Surabaya, for example, replanted 1.8 million mangrove trees in 2004. However, reports in 2009 suggested that almost all of them had died. Officials accused coastal communities of lacking concern about the preservation of the mangrove ecosystem.

Bangka Belitung, an island group lying off the south-east coast of Sumatra, is currently facing a similar problem. An organisation calling itself Bangka Goes Green has been working in the province with the local mining industry since early last year to replace mangroves destroyed by tin mining activities. The organisation's officials, however, admit that many of the mangrove seedlings they planted have not survived. The organisation blames pests that feed on the barnacles, leaves and stems of the planted mangroves.

However, on a tour of a mangrove reforestation project in North Jakarta in June last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan pointed to a more prosaic reason for the failure of such replanting initiatives.

Both leaders were shocked by the condition of the Angke Kapuk Tourist Park. 'Everything is here, mattresses, pillows and all kinds of rubbish,' noted Mr Zulkifli. 'This is the biggest problem stopping rehabilitation from happening.' The replanting initiative, he concluded, had been beset by shoddy management.

Political will is yet another issue.

Last year, after Indonesia signed a US$1 billion (S$1.23 billion) letter of intent with Norway on climate change, Dr Yudhoyono promised to impose a moratorium on forest clearing. Under the letter of intent, the forest moratorium should have been imposed in January. However, it has since been delayed, reportedly due to intervention by business and political interests.

Indonesian officialdom may well be waking up to the importance of the nation's mangrove swamps. But the belated attempts at preservation and extension continue to lack the necessary determination to ensure success.

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Half of Indonesia's oil palm plantations foreign-owned

Antara 13 May 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Environmental Forum of Indonesia (WALHI) says fifty-percent of the country`s oil palm plantations are owned by foreign parties.

"Fifty percent of oil palm plantations in Indonesia are controlled by Malaysia, Singapore, the US and Belgium," WALHI`s food and water campaign manager M Islah said in a written statement issued here on Friday.

He said Indonesia has the largest oil palm plantations in the world but he thought it had no sovereignty in the sector.

He said the crisis in food sovereignty adds to various policies issued before such as conversion of land for industrial and mining development causing three million hectares of agricultural land to turn into other functions.

"Even right now in Java island average agricultural land ownership has been only 0.25 hectare per family," he said.

WALHI also spotlights three other policies namely Law Number 41 of 2009 on sustainable agricultural land protection and Government Regulation Number 18 of 2010 on plant cultivation system which it has considered providing room for big industries to take over agricultural land.

The organization has also criticized the government`s to invite investors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enter Papua under the food estate scheme.

Agriculture Minister Suswono earlier called for NGO activists stop conducting black campaign that hurts ASEAN palm oil industry especially Indonesia`s.

"A number of demands for Indonesia to improve its system of plantation development and palm oil processing to avoid environmental concerns have already been met. But if black campaigning still continues I think there constraints to enter the European Union markets will remain that will affect the continuation of the country`s palm oil industry," he said after attending the ASEAN Economic Community Council and European Union Commissioner for Trade meeting here on May 6.

He said the ASEAN CPO product has actually been the best prepared to enter into a free trade because of its competitiveness and because the tropical region`s product has exclusive characteristics not found in European countries.

Indonesia`s Crude Palm Oil production until now are still facing barriers to enter some European markets, which are related to environment concerns especially forest destruction in view of climate change.

According to data of the Federation of Indonesia Palm Oil Producers (GAPKI) Indonesia in 2011 is expected to produce up to 22 to 22.5 million tons of CPO with exports projected to reach 16.5 to 19 million tons. (*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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Mining to blame for islands to sink beneath waves

Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran BBC Tamil Service 13 May 11

Two small islands in South Asia's first marine biosphere reserve have sunk into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining, experts say.

The islets were in a group in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka. The Indo-Pacific region is considered to contain some of the world's richest marine biological resources.

The group's 21 islands and islets are protected as part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, covering an area of nearly 560 sq km (216 sq miles).

Fishermen had indiscriminately and illegally mined invaluable coral reefs around the islets of Poomarichan and Villanguchalli for many decades, said S Balaji, chief conservator of forests and wildlife for that region of Tamil Nadu state.

"The absence of any regulations prior to 2002 led to illegal mining of the coral reefs, which came to an end when environmental protection laws were enacted," he told the BBC Tamil Service.

Mr Balaji said rising sea level as a result of global warming was also a factor behind the islands' submergence.

But this was questioned by Simon Holgate from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, UK, who said observations showed that the sea level in the region had been rising slower than the global average.
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Lost islets are indicators, and can even be considered as a warning”

S Balaji GOMBRT

"I think that global sea level rise had little impact on the disappearance of these islands and it must be due to other reasons, possibly the mining of coral reefs," Dr Holgate told BBC News.

Though these islets were only 3-5m (10-15 ft) above sea level, their submergence sounded an alarm bell about the danger many more small islands faced in the long run, according to Mr Balaji, who is also director of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust (GOMBRT).

The Gulf of Mannar was chosen as a biosphere reserve by the Indian government in 1989 because of its biological and ecological uniqueness, and the distinctive socio-economic and cultural profile shaped by its geography.

Most of the 21 islands are uninhabited, and the corals were mined for use as a binding material in the construction industry, as they were rich in calcium carbonate.
Rich biodiversity

The biosphere reserve is a storehouse of about 3,600 species of marine flora and fauna.

Many more wait to be studied, said Deepak Samuel, marine biologist and project associate with the Energy and Environment Unit of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

"The Gulf of Mannar is a unique reserve with ecosystems like coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass," Mr Samuel said.

"It is a nursery for shell and fin fishes, which means the entire breeding and juvenile raising takes places in these three ecosystems."

More than 300,000 fishermen depend on the Gulf of Mannar for their livelihood. It is also the dwelling place for many endemic species, notably the dugong or "sea cow".

Studies have proved that this gulf is home to 117 species of corals belonging to 37 genera, and 13 out of the 14 species of seagrasses in Indian seas.

The area has also been famous for pearl harvesting for over 2,000 years.

According to marine biologists, a quarter of the 2,000-plus fin fish species in Indian waters are in this gulf, making it one of the region's most diverse fish habitats.

The loss of these two islands should be a "wake-up call" for all those in the entire Asia-Pacific region, said Mr Balaji.

Though the lost islets were small, he cautioned that a similar fate may happen to larger islands in the long run as a result of global warming coupled with large scale mining.

Losing the reefs may result in migration of fish populations to other regions, which would result in loss of the gulf's biodiversity, according to Dr Samuel.

"Lost islets are indicators, and can even be considered as a warning," he said.

With the threat of climate change in years to come, factors such as coral mining will have an accelerating effects on the submergence of many island, he warned.

People in the area have gone on record many times as saying that the coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar saved them from destruction when the devastating tsunami struck in December 2004.

Experts also point out the need to keep the remaining 19 islands and islets "pristine" in order to offer them some protection them from processes such as climate change.

The Indian National Oceanographic Institute point out that very few of the islands and islets in the gulf are in good shape.

Collection of coral by students for research over many decades, and heavy industrial pollution caused by onshore industries, have inflicted an irreversible damage to the coral reefs in this unique marine biosphere.

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Global resource consumption to triple by 2050: UN

Yahoo News 13 May 11;

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Global consumption of natural resources could almost triple to 140 billion tons a year by 2050 unless nations take drastic steps, the United Nations warned Thursday.

A UN environment panel said the world cannot sustain the tearaway rate of use of minerals, ores and fossil and plant fuels. It called on governments to "decouple" economic growth from natural resource consumption.

With the world population expected to hit 9.3 billion by 2050 and developing nations becoming more prosperous, the report warned "the prospect of much higher resource consumption levels is far beyond what is likely sustainable."

A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) panel said the world is already running out of cheap and quality sources of some essential materials such as oil, copper and gold, which in turn need rising volumes of fuel and water to produce.

It said governments must find ways to do more with less, at a faster rate than economic growth -- the notion of "decoupling".

"We must realize that prosperity and well-being do not depend on consuming ever-greater quantities of resources," said the report.

"Decoupling is not about stopping growth. It's about doing more with less. Global resource consumption is exploding. It's not a trend that is in any way sustainable."

Total world resource use has risen from about six billion tons in 1900 to 49 billion tons in 2000 and has already gone up to an estimated 59 billion tons now.

Currently people in rich nations consume an average of 16 tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass -- fuels and other products from plants -- per year. In some wealthy countries the figure rises to 40 tons.

In India, however, the average person only consumes four tons per year, the report said.

The panel said there has to be a major rethink of resource use and "massive investment" in technological, financial and social innovation to at least freeze consumption levels in wealthy countries.

"People believe that environmental 'bads' are the price we must pay for economic 'goods'. However, we cannot and need not continue to act as if this trade-off is inevitable," said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner.

Mark Swilling, a professor at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa who was one of the authors of the report, said rapid industrialization and the growing population was leading to the resource crisis.

"There is another billion middle-class consumers on the way as a result of rapid industrialization in developing countries," he said.

He said that current rates of efficiency to make goods and services mean that "we are looking at that massive growth to 140 billion tonnes."

With populations in rich countries stabilizing or falling, the main challenge would be in developing countries.

The latest of a series of UNEP reports on economic and environmental sustainability said decoupling has started but is not being activated quickly enough.

Between 1980 and 2002, the resources required for 1,000 dollars of economic output fell from 2.1 tons to 1.6 tons. The increasing move of people from the countryside to cities as helped as this aids campaigns to achieve economies of scale, the report said.

The authors praised Germany and Japan for their move to set goals for energy and resource productivity. It highlighted how South Africa's constitution requires "ecologically sustainable development and the use of natural resources."

China has also set out to build an "ecological civilization" and the report said that China would be a "test case" because of its huge population and growing industrialization.

"The measures that China introduces to reconcile these objectives will be of crucial significance for every other developing country with similar policy intentions," the report said.

A world summit on sustainable development is to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June next year.

World Must Curb Resource Use; China A Test Case: U.N
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 13 May 11;

The world must curb soaring use of resources ranging from coal to copper to prevent consumption from reaching ruinous levels by 2050, according to a U.N. report on Thursday that says China's economy will be a test case.

All countries should seek economic growth that does not rely on increasing exploitation of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass -- such as timber -- as poverty declines and the world population rises, it said.

Resource use totals about 47 to 59 billion tonnes a year -- according to the study which lumps everything together by weight from oil and gold ore to sand or cement used in construction. Without restrictions, that could leap to 140 billion by 2050.

"Decoupling makes sense on all the economic, social and environmental dials," Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) which produced the 174-page report, said in a statement.

"Decoupling is not about stopping growth. It's about doing more with less. Global resource consumption is exploding. It's not a trend that is in any way sustainable," added Ernst von Weizsacker, co-chair of the UNEP resource panel.

"China is, in many ways, the test case for the global economy," the report said of the most populous nation with 1.3 billion citizens of almost 7 billion worldwide. Beijing in 2007 set a goal of becoming an "ecological civilization."

Each of the world's citizens consumes about eight to 10 tonnes per year of the materials on average, with people in rich nations using double the average and those in poor African nations far less. China's use is around average.

GROWTH, RESTRAINT

China "wants to continue its rapid economic growth but use resources more sustainably," the report said. Beijing's steps to reconcile those goals "will be of crucial significance for every other developing country with similar policy intentions."

The study said decoupling was already under way, but needed to accelerate. World gross domestic product grew by a factor of 23 in the 20th century, resource use rose by a factor of eight.

"There is a need for policy changes. The market alone won't do it," Marina Fischer-Kowalski, a lead author of the report at the Alpen-Adria University in Austria, told Reuters.

"It's a common challenge to reach a different kind of growth," Mark Swilling, the other lead author at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, told Reuters.

Some cheap and high-quality sources of materials such as oil, copper and gold were already running low. Extraction from lower-grade deposits was already adding strains by requiring ever more use of fossil fuels and fresh water.

A steady shift to living in cities might help -- people in urban areas generally consume less than those in rural areas.

Steiner said the level of resources used by each person "may need to fall to between 5 and 6 tonnes" by 2050. Even so, the study acknowledged that seemed too restrictive as a global goal.

Per capita consumption of the key resources in countries including the United States, Canada and Australia were now well above 20 tonnes. A less drastic scenario would mean all nations aiming for around 8 tonnes per capita by 2050, still demanding deep cuts by rich nations.

(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

Rising resource use threatens future growth, warns UN
Mark Kinver BBC News 12 May 11;

The world is set to consume three times more natural resources than current rates by the middle of the century, according to a United Nations report.

It predicts that humanity will annually use about 140 billion tonnes of fossil fuels, minerals and ores by 2050.

The authors call for resource consumption to be "decoupled" from economic growth, and producers to do "more with less".

Growth in population and prosperity are the main drivers, they observe.

The report is the latest in a series by the UN Environment Programme's (Unep) International Resources Panel.

"Decoupling makes sense on all the economic, social and environmental dials, " said Unep executive director Achim Steiner.

"People believe environmental 'bads' are the price we must pay for economic 'goods'.

"However, we cannot and need not continue to act as if this trade-off is inevitable."

Co-lead author Mark Swilling from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, explained what would drive the surge in demand for resources.

"The reality is that there is another billion middle-class consumers on the way as a result of rapid industrialisation in developing countries," he told BBC News.

"If the resources required to generate these goods and services are used as efficiently as they currently are, then you are looking at that massive growth to 140 billion tonnes."

Professor Swilling added that population growth also played a role in the projected increase.

"If you add one Indian to the global population, you are talking about adding up to four tonnes of resource consumption each year. If you add an average Canadian, then you are adding another 25 tonnes," he explained.

"Developed world populations are stable, and some are even falling, so the real challenge... is in the developing world."

'Global test case'

The projection is based on data on four key resources: minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass.

Global average annual per capita consumption in 2000 was 8-10 tonnes, about twice as much as in 1900, the report said.

The combination of population growth, continuing high levels of consumption in industrialised countries, and increased demand for material goods - particularly in nations such as China, India and Brazil - saw total resource use grow eight-fold in the 20th Century.

Decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption is occurring, the authors observe, but not quickly enough.

They describe China as a test case "because it wants to continue its rapid economic growth, but use resources more sustainably".

"The measures that China introduces to reconcile these objectives will be of crucial significance for every other developing country with similar policy intentions," they add.

Professor Swilling acknowledged that the need to use the planet's finite natural resources more efficiently was not a new concern, but added he had "huge optimism" because of one recent emerging factor.

"Prices for resources between 1900 and 2000 fell in real terms," he explained.

"From 2000, resource prices have started going up and there is a consensus among economists that this is not a blip but probably the beginning of a long-term trend.

"It is still assumed that we live in a world with declining resource prices, and rising resource prices is so new that we have not yet configured it into mentality when it comes to economies.

"Price signals are good when it comes to trying to shift policies and recognise the need for resource efficiency - I think there is a new ball game afoot."

He suggested that policymakers must ensure that developing nations reconsidered their development strategies - "especially how they configure the infrastructures" for energy, water, transportation and sanitation.

"How we design and construct those infrastructures will have a major impact on the way resources flow through economies."

Mission impossible

In the report's three scenarios, the most optimistic one would see annual per capita consumption return to 2000 levels, with 50bn tonnes being consumed each year.

But the authors acknowledge that the measures required to deliver that scenario would be so restrictive and unappealing to politicians that it is almost a non-starter.

They also admit that even this scenario is too little for some scientists, who feel it would not cut consumption and associated emissions to sustainable levels.

Responding to the report's findings, Simon Ross, chief executive of Population Matters (formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust), said continued global population growth and the continual rise in consumption was "impossible in the long-term and devastating to our environment in the short-term".

"We should seek to improve resource productivity and move to more equitable consumption levels," he told BBC News.

"However, the easiest and cheapest contribution to sustainability is promoting the existing trend to smaller families, and providing universal access to family planning to allow people to limit the number of children they have."

Professor Swilling said that rapid industrialisation offered another opportunity to improve resource efficiency - urbanisation.

"We are in the middle of what we refer to in the report as the 'second urbanisation wave', which is resulting in three billion people living in cities," he observed.

"The largest growth in urbanisation will be in developing countries; so a lot, again, is going to depend upon how we understand cities in developing nations and how we plan them, and how we accommodate large numbers of people.

"The advantage of cities is that they deliver a quality of life with fewer resources than the same quality of life outside of cities; cities are potentially key for the more efficient use of resources, and they are also melting pots for innovation."

The Unep International Resource Panel said it planned to focus future reports on ways to "improve productivity and find viable alternatives for policymakers".

The next report is expected to be published in early 2012.

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The great fuel fail: ethanol from corn

The US's vast subsidy of ethanol production for petrol is a disastrous case of special-interest capture of public policy
Henry Miller guardian.co.uk 12 May 11;

The American government continues to provide unnecessary, unwise subsidies to special interests. Those related to the production of ethanol for fuel are among the worst.

The historical mission of the US department of agriculture (USDA) has been to promote American agriculture. Presumably, that is the justification, however tenuous, for a grant and loan guarantee programme to promote the installation of "ethanol blender", or "flexible fuel", pumps at petrol stations. The Obama administration intends to install 10,000 flexible fuel pumps nationwide within five years. "Flex-fuel pumps will give Americans a choice to purchase domestically produced renewable transportation fuels," secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack said on 11 April.

But this piles additional government subsidies on an already huge and flawed giveaway programme that promotes the production of ethanol almost exclusively from corn, even though it is a non cost-effective source. And if there were a demand from consumers for "domestically produced renewable transportation fuels", the owners of petrol stations themselves would have a financial incentive to install the ethanol-blender pumps to boost their business; they wouldn't need a government subsidy to provide them.

The ethanol mania has verged on the bizarre. Politicians like to say that ethanol is environmentally friendly, but these claims must be put into perspective. Although corn is a renewable resource, it has a far lower energy yield relative to the energy used to produce it – what policy wonks call "net energy balance" – than either biodiesel (such as soybean oil) or ethanol from many other plants. Moreover, ethanol production, particularly from corn, is a thirsty process, consuming roughly four gallons of water to produce each gallon of fuel. And when you count the water actually required to grow the corn, one gallon of ethanol "costs" a whopping 1,700 gallons of water.

Finally, ethanol yields about 30% less energy per gallon than petrol, so mileage per gallon in internal combustion engines drops off significantly. And adding ethanol raises the price of blended fuel because it is more expensive to transport and handle.

Lower-cost biomass ethanol – for example, from rice straw (a byproduct of harvesting rice) or switchgrass – would make vastly more economic sense, but large volumes of ethanol from biomass will not be commercially viable for many years. (And production will be delayed by government policies that specifically encourage corn-based ethanol with subsidies.)

The ethanol boondoggle is, in effect, protected by a federal mandate that requires the production of 13.95bn gallons of alternative fuels this year, and 36bn gallons by 2022. Absent that mandate and a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on foreign ethanol – affecting mainly Brazil, which produces ethanol cheaply from sugar cane – American ethanol would not be remotely competitive in the marketplace.

The ripple effects of this nonsensical policy have been profound. As the US Congressional Budget Office reported in 2009:

"The increased use of ethanol accounted for about 10% to 15% of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008. In turn, that increase will boost federal spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (Snap, formerly known as the Food Stamp programme) and child nutrition programmes by an estimated $600m to $900m in FY [financial year] 2009."

Politicians, especially those from the Midwestern farm states, may be intoxicated with the prospect of corn-derived ethanol, but if we don't adopt policies based on science and sound economics, consumers will suffer from the hangover.

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Greenpeace warns Russia of catastrophic wildfires

Yahoo News 13 May 11;

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia could again choke in catastrophic wildfires this summer because the authorities are reacting too slowly to the growing threat, environmental campaigners Greenpeace warned Friday.

"The fires in the forests and peat bogs have started earlier and are more dangerous than last year," said Alexei Yaroshenko, head of Greenpeace Russia's forest programme, at a news conference.

Every summer, fires spread across vast areas of Russian forests and peat bogs. Last year a heatwave led to particularly fierce fires and Muscovites choked on the fumes in August, leading to a spike in death rates.

This month, forest fires are already raging in Siberia, the Urals, and far eastern Russia, while peat bogs are smouldering in central Russia, Yaroshenko said.

"In a week's time, the situation risks escalating in a catastrophic manner... and we will have a repeat of last year's situation," he said.

The noxious smoke could veil Moscow a month earlier than last year, in July, he warned.

Peat bogs were drained in Soviet times to extract fuel for experimental power stations. Once alight, the fires are particularly hard to put out because they continue to burn underground.

Peat fires are easier to extinguish at an early stage, but the emergency situations ministry "prefers to hide rather than react to warnings," said Grigory Kuksin, head of Greenpeace Russia's firefighting programme.

"If the appropriate measures are not taken, we will face the same smoke as last year," he said.

Last year a record heatwave and drought caused wildfires in central Russia to spread out of control, killing dozens, burning down thousands of houses and threatening military and nuclear installations.

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Britain 'in drought conditions' amid European heatwave

Yahoo News 12 May 11;

LONDON (AFP) – Parts of southern Britain are suffering from drought conditions following the warmest April on record amid a heatwave sweeping across northern Europe, researchers said on Thursday.

England and Wales received the lowest March and April rainfall since 1938 with some regions getting the lowest rain in records dating back more than 100 years, according to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).

Water flows in some rivers, including the Exe in southwest England and the Ribble in northern England, were similar to those experienced in a drought in 1976, considered the most severe ever across much of Britain, said the CEH.

The dry conditions had "resulted in agricultural and hydrological drought conditions affecting large parts of southern Britain", said the CEH.

"The primary impacts are on farmers and growers, an increased risk of forest and heath fires and, importantly, on river flows."

The dry weather sparked rare wildfires in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland at the start of the month.

The Met Office national weather service has said last month was the warmest April on record in Britain, with an average temperature of 10.7 degrees Celsius.

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Best of our wild blogs: 12 May 11

otter makantime I @ SBWR 30Apr2011
from sgbeachbum

Butterfly Portraits - The Saturn
from Butterflies of Singapore

The Cicada Look-alike Planthopper
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Olive-backed Sunbird harvesting nectar from heliconia
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Pon(d)toon
from The annotated budak and Worm eew

Cambodia's wildlife pioneer: saving species and places in Southeast Asia's last forest from mongabay.com

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Singapore: Hottest days of the year

Sunday's 35.3 deg C temperature was highest in six years
Grace Chua, Jamie Ee & Lim Yi Han Straits Times 12 May 11;

SINGAPORE has just sweated through the year's hottest period so far - the four-day stretch from Friday last week to Monday.

Sunday was the most sweltering day in six years, with the mercury hitting 35.3 deg C.

The last two times it was this hot in recent history was on May1, 2005, when it was 35.4 deg C, and during a month-long heatwave in 1983, when it hit 35.8 deg C. But a 36 deg C day in March 1998 is still the all-time high.

The Meteorological Services Division of the National Environment Agency (NEA) explained that such hot days, with occasional heavy thunderstorms, are typical of the inter-monsoon period in April and May, and that temperatures exceeding 34 deg C will be usual on some days.

The average daily maximum temperature for this month will even out to 31.6 deg C, and the temperature and humidity for the coming weeks are not expected to differ by much.

The NEA said that, based on climate statistics, May and June are the warmest months of the year, with average daily temperatures of 27.7 deg C; July comes next with 27.4 deg C and August follows with 27.3 deg C.

Up north, the Malaysian weather authorities are bracing themselves for a heatwave lasting until September; at Subang in Selangor, temperatures were at 36.2 deg C on Friday.

Dr Chew Huck Chin, an associate consultant of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), said such weather could bring on heat-related illnesses like dehydration and heat stroke, especially among children, infants and the elderly. SGH and the National University Hospital were unable to give the number of cases of illnesses or death specifically attributable to the heat.

For the majority, battling the heat is a matter of turning to cold drinks and air-conditioning.

Mr Ken Hamid, 29, who runs a kiosk in front of Lucky Plaza, said sales of beverages, especially bottles of mineral water, have risen by 5 per cent to 10 per cent. The larger 1.5-litre bottles are selling better as well.

At convenience store chain 7-Eleven, a spokesman said sales of water and carbonated drinks were 7 per cent higher, and sales of ice were up 10 per cent. Ice cream sales are stable, she added, but it is monitoring demand and keeping its stores well-stocked.

Research associate Tina Hashim, 27, who was spotted enjoying a sundae in Orchard Road, said: 'I try to wear light clothing when I'm out. At home, I don't have air-conditioning, so I have the fan on full blast when I sleep.'

Coolserve Air-Condition Engineering and electrical appliance stores Harvey Norman and Gain City have sold more air-conditioners. All declined to cite figures, but Coolserve indicated that its installation schedule is packed until the middle of next month.

The Singapore Sports Council said swimming pool attendance was 19 per cent higher in the four days from Friday last week to Monday, compared with the last two weeks of April.

On average, 25,530 people visited the 24 public swimming complexes here on each of the days, up from 21,387 visitors a day in the last two weeks of April.

But as much as most people are seeking out strategies to cool down, some do not mind the heat. Al-fresco dining is still popular at restaurants like Peperoni Pizzeria in Greenwood Avenue, where about half of the tables are in the open.

Its manager Raymond Ho said 70 per cent of its customers are regulars and half are foreigners 'who do not mind sitting in the sun', although some customers had asked to move indoors if tables there became available.

At the IndoChine restaurants on the banks of the Singapore River and at Clarke Quay, business is unaffected; in fact, it does better in the hot season than in the wet one, said marketing manager Eugene Lim.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Zoo said its animals do not seem too bothered by the heat so far.

Mr Biswajit Guha, the zoo's director of zoology, said if it does get too hot, the animals can take a dip in the pools of exhibits or duck into shaded areas provided.

Singapore heats up as temperatures soar to 35 degrees
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 11 May 11;

SINGAPORE: It has been a hot and humid week for Singaporeans. During the day, maximum temperatures have reached highs of between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius.

Singapore's National Environment Agency expect the average daily temperature for the next two weeks to hover around a slightly cooler 31.6 degrees Celsius.

But this forecast does not sit well with some.

A taxti dirver said: "We also have to take rest. We cannot take the heat at all. Many people might think we are making much money, but actually it is not. Because it is too hot, and some of the taxi drivers also fall sick."

Some un-air conditioned coffeeshops said business has slowed to a crawl, reporting meagre earnings even at night.

But the weather comes as a boon to some. Some air conditioner servicing companies said business has increased by about 40 per cent.

Zhang Wei, a Project Manager with Man Ling construction & Engineering, said: "Because it's recently been hotter than usual. Since it suddenly became so hot, those who didn't maintain their air conditioners will suddenly feel that it's not cool anymore, so they will rush to get it fixed. It's very busy like this, same time every year."

Mr Zhang said he has been working 12 hour days since the start of May, servicing about 10 air conditioners a day.

NEA said the hot weather is common this time of the year, as inter-monsoon months are characterised by hot weather and occasional thunderstorms. It said the warm temperatures are also common at this time due to strong solar heating and light winds.

-CNA/ac

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Forest Fires Cause Haze Over Riau Province

Bernama 11 May 11;

DUMAI (RIAU), May 11 (Bernama) -- Forest and plantation fires have ravaged Sumatra's Riau province, and the smoke have caused haze covering the district over the last three days, Indonesia's Antara nwes agency reports Wednesday.

The haze significantly reduced the air quality in the region and the pollutant standard index (PSI) to 100, Surya Arfan, head of the Rokan Hilir environmental impact control agency said.

"At the number, the air quality is categorized as healthy but only in certain hours like midnight until early morning," he said, adding that several local residents are suffering from respiratory problem due to the haze.

"We will see in the next few days, if the condition gets worse, we will distribute face masks especially to elementary students who are joining the national exam at present," he said.

He estimated that the number of hot spots in Rokan Hilir reached tens of them.

"Our field monitor officers have seen hot spots in idle land areas in Kubu, Bangko, and Bagansiapi-api sub districts. However, we don`t know exactly how large the areas which have been burned," he said.

Marzuki, analyst of the Riau meteorological, climatology and geophysics office, said there are around 110 hot spots in Riau Province.

Based on the monitoring by NOAA Satellite 18, 36 hot spots were found in Rokan Hilir, 13 in Bengkalis, and five in Dumai city.

-- BERNAMA

Malaysia: Air quality in five towns nears unhealthy level
Lee Yen Mun The Star 11 May 11;

PETALING JAYA: The air quality in five towns in three states dropped close to unhealthy levels Wednesday.

The Department of Environment reported higher-than-normal Air Pollutant Index (API) readings for Port Klang (97), Nilai (92), Banting (82), Bukit Rambai in Malacca (87) and Muar (84).

An area's air quality reaches an unhealthy level when its API hits 101, a very unhealthy level at 201 and hazardous when it exceeds 301.

The air quality of an area is considered good if its API reading is between 0 to 50.

Director of air quality unit Kalsom Abdul Ghani attributed the decrease in visibility in various parts of the country to southwesterly winds blowing haze from open burnings in Sumatra hotspots.

"It occurred under transboundary conditions due to the wind, which normally takes this direction at this time of the year,” Kalsom said.

Forest fires cause haze over Rokan Hilir
Antara 10 May 11;

Dumai, Riau (ANTARA News) - Forest and plantation fires in Rokan Hilir District, Riau province, have produced haze covering the district over the last three days.

The haze significantly reduced the air quality in the region and the pollutant standard index (PSI) to 100, Surya Arfan, head of the Rokan Hilir environmental impact control agency, said here Tuesday.

"At the number, the air quality is categorized as healthy but only in certain hours like midnight until early morning," he said.

A number of local residents suffer from respiratory problem due to the haze, he said.

"We will see in the next few days, if the condition gets worse, we will distribute face masks especially to elementary students who are joining the natational exam at present," he said.

He estimated that the number of hot spots in Rokan Hilir reached tens of them.

"Our field monitor officers have seen hot spots in idle land areas in Kubu, Bangko, and Bagansiapi-api sub districts. However, we don`t know exactly how large the areas which have been burned," he said.

Marzuki, analyst of the Riau meteorological, climatology and geophysics office, said there are around 110 hot spots in Riau Province.

Based on the monitoring by NOAA Satellite 18, 36 hot spots were found in Rokan Hilir, 13 in Bengkalis, and five in Dumai city.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Thunderstorms coming to the rescue
New Straits Times 11 May 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: People suffering from the sweltering heat can look forward to some relief in the next few days.

"There will be changes in the weather as tropical storm Aere is moving north," said Malaysian Meteorological Department forecasting director Saw Bun Liong yesterday.

With the weakening influence of Aere, there should be afternoon thunderstorms or morning squalls.

Saw said the southwest monsoon season from May to September normally saw the country experiencing less rain, leading to hot and dry weather.

The mean rainfall recorded in May and June was between 100mm and 150mm, he added.

As of 5pm yesterday, the Department of Environment website showed the Air Pollutant Index (API) ratings of 52 sites monitored nationwide as good and 27 sites as moderate. Only one site was rated as unhealthy. No readings were shown for Petaling Jaya, Selangor and Jalan Tasek, Ipoh.

(API readings of 0-50 are categorised as good; 51-100, moderate; 101-200, unhealthy; 201-300, very unhealthy; and over 301, hazardous.)

The four areas with the highest API readings were Tanjung Malim, Perak, at 109, followed by Port Klang at 97, Nilai, Negri Sembilan, at 86 and Muar, Johor, at 80.

Bukit Rambai in Malacca was at 79 while Shah Alam and Banting in Selangor recorded API readings of 78.

Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang recorded the lowest reading at 29.

Air quality drops by 17%
Isabelle Lai The Star 11 May 11;

PETALING JAYA: With the hot and hazy weather conditions, the air quality in Malaysia plummeted by 17% within a day with good air quality down to 44% yesterday from 61% on Monday.

The Department of Environment recorded 23 areas with good air quality and 29 areas with moderate air quality. Data for Monday showed 31 areas with good air quality and 20 with moderate air quality.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department, meanwhile, recorded 19 areas affected by haze including Malacca, Kuantan, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Sepang, Ipoh and Petaling Jaya.

In a statement yesterday, it said the current dry period was due to the tropical storm Aere over north-east of the Philippines and low-pressure area over the Andaman Sea.

“This resulted in the moisture of our region being drawn to these two areas,” said the statement.

The department said the highest maximum temperature observed at its stations throughout the country since May 6 was 36.2C.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Medical Association president Dr David Quek said frequent intake of water was critical in this weather.

“Dehydration is a real possibility. It can cause heat stroke, giddines and breathing difficulty among others,” he cautioned.

He urged the public to reduce exercising in the open as it could lead to heat stroke as well.

“The key is to rehydrate. But don't drink soft drinks. Water is the best,” he said, adding that people should avoid being outdoors if possible.

Dr Quek also advised those already ill to stay away from public areas until they are fully recovered.

DOE: Drop in visibility an annual affair
The Star 12 May 11;

PETALING JAYA: The drop in visibility in various parts of the country is a phenomenon which occurs yearly around this time, says the Department of Environment’s air quality unit director Kalsom Abdul Ghani.

She attributed the haze that blanketed the Klang Valley yesterday to the southwesterly wind, which blew smoke from open burning in Sumatra’s hotspots.

“It occurs under transboundary conditions due to the wind at this time of the year,” Kalsom said.

The number of hotspots in Sumatra, particularly at central Riau, had jumped significantly in three days.

Satellite images captured 60 hotspots in the Indonesian province on Sunday, which increased to 136 and 156 respectively over the next two days.

Hotspots in peninsular Malaysia also jumped from one to five on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, air quality in five towns in four states dropped close to unhealthy levels yesterday.

The department reported that the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading for Port Klang was 97 at 11am, just three points short of falling into the unhealthy zone.

The other towns were Nilai (92) in Negri Sembilan and Banting (82) in Selangor, Bukit Rambai (87) in Malacca and Muar (84) in Johor.

The air quality is unhealthy when the API hits 101, very unhealthy at 201 and hazardous when it exceeds 301.

The air quality of an area is considered good if its API reading is between 0 and 50, as was the case in Alor Setar, Sungai Petani, Kota Baru, Taiping, Ipoh, Tanjung Malim, Kangar, Prai and Kota Kinabalu.

Langkawi had the best air quality with an API reading of 31.

Most areas in Sarawak also enjoyed good air quality except for Samarahan, which recorded moderate air quality at 53.

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Mangroves in the Philippines: bringing back marine life

Jeanevive D. Abangan PIA Press Release 11 May 11;

“Wala may kaykay (a kind of tiny clam) sa amo sauna, karon daghan nang makuha. (There used to be no kaykay before in our place but now a number can be picked),” Rolando Baba, mangrove caretaker in Barangay San Juan, Maco in Compostela Valley said.

Baba said such types of bivalve mussels can now be found around planted mangroves in Brgy. San Juan and are now growing at about five to seven feet tall.

Baba has noticed this initial sign of coastal environment improvement when mangroves have been planted since 2006 in the coastal barangay where he used to earn a living mainly from fishing.

He now devotes his service as a mangrove caretaker with an honorarium of P1,500 a month from the municipal government of Maco.

He has found fulfillment in his job. Aside from being paid more than what he used to earn from fishing, he has now known the value of mangroves which, he said, play an important role in protecting the coastal environment from siltation, erosion, as well as in saving lives of coastal residents from the danger of strong winds and waves.

His fellow residents may have yet to fully appreciate the importance of mangroves but Baba has become much aware of how mangroves have begun to bring back the kind of environment conducive for propagation of marine foods.

National Fisherfolk Director Rogelio Amatorio noted the same observation in rehabilitated coastal areas planted with mangroves.

“Noon makakakuha lang ang mga mangingisda ng halos tatlong kilo lang na isda, ngayon may five kilos na,” he said in an interview during the nationwide simultaneous mangrove planting activity done in Region 11 at Purok 9, Brgy. Poblacion, Maco, Compostela Valley.

Amatorio was referring to the 542-hectare coastline planted with mangrove from 2007 to 2010.

In conducting this year’s nationwide simultaneous mangrove-planting activity, Pambansang Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda targeted to cover about 80-hectare coastlines, majority of which were in Palawan and in Manila Bay.

But despite the wider stretch of coastlines now being planted with mangroves, Amatorio said mangroves areas have been degrading at an “alarming rate.”

“Only 30 percent of our mangrove areas are in good state, while 70 percent have been degraded,” he told the media.

Mangrove areas are diminishing due to urban development, Amatorio said, citing particularly conversion to fishponds. “Ang iba kinakahoy.

They just don’t know the value chain in it,” he said.

However, he finds hope for mangrove planting activities to bring back the rich coastal marine ecosystem which nurtures man’s sources of food and serves as man’s protection from natural calamities.

He explained the activity as a collaborative effort among local government units, local fisheries management councils, the private and the non-government sectors. He assured that planted mangroves will be taken care of.

In Maco, the local government is implementing Adopt-A-Mangrove project which requires that a tripartite agreement be signed be signed by the LGU, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the adopting party.

Municipal Environment and Natural Resources officer (MENRO) Allan Olaguer revealed in a forum yesterday that among those which have adopted a mangrove area in Maco are the Knights of Columbus, Maco National High School, the Association of Barangay Captains, and the provincial government of Compostela Valley.

The others, Olaguer said are the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Maco Development Cooperative, Apex Mining, and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) student-members of the University of Mindanao.

Maco has six coastal barangays with about 100-hectare coastline which can be developed into mangrove plantation which forms part of the development agenda of Maco Mayor Arthur Carlos Voltaire Rimando.

Nowadays, Baba is keeping his hands busy looking after the more than 2,000 planted mangroves in Barangay San Juan, but he is looking forward to going back to fishing.

He is optimistic that indeed the mangroves will eventually trigger an increase in fish stocks, not just bring about propagation of shells and clams. “Makabalik ra pohon og pangisda. (I may someday go back to fishing,” he said. (PIA-11/ Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)

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