Day at Mandai Mangrove
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Feeding of Sooty-headed Bulbul chicks
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Fences and barriers on our shores: do they work?
from wild shores of singapore
Straits Times 10 Sep 11;
IT'S coming to that time of the year again: Hazy conditions could arrive in the next two weeks, with winds from the south expected to blow smoke from Sumatra towards Singapore.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said in an air quality update that hot spots with slight to moderate smoke haze had been detected in the central and southern parts of Sumatra.
The months from June to September are the dry season for that region, when farmers and logging companies in Sumatra and Kalimantan take to razing the land.
An NEA spokesman noted that over the past few days, dry weather conditions in the southern and central parts of Sumatra had led to an increase in hot spot activities there.
But so far, south-eastern winds had kept the smoke away from Singapore.
He added, however, that weather conditions may change over the next few days, with winds coming from the south.
'This could bring some of the haze to Singapore,' he said.
Singapore's 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading at 4pm yesterday was 46, which was within the good air quality range.
PSI readings for August ranged between 28 and 53. Last October, air quality breached the unhealthy threshold of 100 - prompting calls for the Indonesian authorities to take action.
In May, a moratorium was passed in Indonesia which placed about half of the country's primary forest and peatland, or 64 million ha, off limits to development until the end of next year.
Ms Frances Seymour, director-general of the Centre for International Forestry Research, said at the time that this could lead to a reduction in the frequency and severity of haze events over time.
Indonesia is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, due largely to deforestation caused by illegal logging, mining and expansion by oil palm plantations.
The NEA recorded more than 380 hot spots in Sumatra on Thursday. The situation remained the same yesterday.
Asked if the haze could worsen, the NEA spokesman said the impact of the smoke haze depends on a few factors, including the strength and direction of prevailing winds and whether or not it rains.
He added: 'NEA is monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates should the air quality deteriorate.'
NG KAI LING
The Star 10 Sep 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has sent a letter to Indonesia expressing concerns after 600 hotspots with high temperature levels were detected via satellite imagery in Sumatra this year.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said that the letter was sent on Friday to his Indonesian counterpart, State Minister for Environment, Professor Dr Gusti Muhammad Hatta.
Malaysia, however, believed that Indonesia was doing its best to manage the situation, he told Bernama. "In fact in the past few years, they have improved their response and efforts to tackle such fire."
Uggah is expected to meet his Indonesian counterpart at the Asean Ministerial Steering Committee meeting in Bangkok on Sept 18.
Stressing that the haze was caused by the monsoon wind which had brought the smoke from forest fires in Sumatra to several parts of Malaysia, Uggah said the situation, however, was not as bad as it was in the past, especially in 1997 and 2005 when the air pollutant index readings hit record highs.
Asked on Malaysia's proposal for the creation of an Asean regional rapid fire-fighting squad to tackle haze-related fires in member countries, he said, the matter would be discussed at the 12th Meeting of Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Bangkok on Sept 22-33.
"We will push for this unit because we need quick deployment should any member country requires such assistance.
"It's not just about sending firefighters to other countries; it's also about them coming to help us when the situation requires it," he said.
Malaysia sent 1,000 firefighters to help Indonesia tackle forest fires in 1997 and 124 in 2005 for a similar mission.
An emergency was declared in Sarawak in September 1997 at the height of the haze crisis that year which was caused by forest fires in neighbouring Kalimantan.
On Aug 11, 2005, an emergency was declared in Port Klang and Kuala Selangor following the worsening haze situation due to the forest fires in Sumatra and Riau, with the air pollutant index reaching 500. - Bernama
32 areas record moderate air quality
The Star 10 Sep 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: Thirty-two areas in the country recorded moderate air quality while another 19 recorded good air quality as of 11am Saturday.
The Department of Environment (DOE) website said none of the areas recorded unhealthy air quality under the Air Pollutant Index (API).
Five areas with high API readings are Nilai, Negri Sembilan (90), Batu Muda, Kuala Lumpur (80), Petaling Jaya and Banting, Selangor (79), and Cheras, Kuala Lumpur (78).
API of 0-50 is good, 51-100 moderate, 101-200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy and over 301 hazardous.
DOE said the hazy condition is expected to continue for the next few days and advised the public to avoid open burning and put out small fires. - Bernama
Antara 9 Sep 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government appears to be determined to reduce the number of forest fire hot spots by 20 percent annually in order to help meet the country`s pledge to cut its gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020.
"Indonesia has successfully reduced the number of forest fires over the past three years, and this year, the government is determined to do a similar thing as the National Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has predicted a prolonged drought since May," the forestry ministry`s Forestry Protection and Nature Conservation Director General (PHKA) Darori said here on Wednesday (Sept 7).
The government has anticipated forest fires by among other things allocating funds amounting to about Rp160 billion to tackle forest fires in ten provinces.
Darori said earlier that the number of hot spots in Indonesia since the January 2011 were 8,082.
"The hot spots in Indonesia are found in six provinces which are prone to forest fires, and the highest is recorded in Riau with 2,159 hot spots, West Kalimantan 809, North Sumatra 600 and Central Kalimantan 543, Jambi 455, and South Kalimantan 259 hot spot," Darori said.
Around 77 percent of forest fires in Indonesia have occurred in plantation and agricultural areas, and only 23 percent in forest area, as fire has been considered the cheapest, fastest, and most effective a land clearing method.
In general, fires in peat land area were set intentionally. "The fires are due to illegal logging, plantations, and land clearing for agriculture purposes," he said.
Darori stated that the forestry ministry is ready to deal with forest fires currently occurring on Sumatra and Kalimantan Islands.
The government has emphasized preventive measures by urging the community not to use fire as land clearing methods, according to the director general.
The coordination with the regional administration authorities has also been intensified because most of the fires are located outside forest area under the responsibility of the regional administrations, Darori said, adding that he regretted, however, that the funds allocated by the regional governments for forest fire handling were too small.
As the number of forest fire hot spots is increasing in this current dry season, the central government has decided to deploy personnel to help put out the fires.
Forest Fire Operation Teams were sent to three provinces - South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and Riau, from Jakarta on Thursday.
"The forest fire operation team will be working for three months," Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said when seeing off the departure of the teams at Halim Perdanakusuma airport, eastern Jakarta.
Forest fire hot spots in swamp and peat land areas are particularly rampant in Jambi, South Sumatra, and Riau Provinces known as the triangle of forest fires in Indonesia.
"In Jambi, the forest fires hit Muaro District, and three peat land spots at the Berbak National Park conservation area," Darori said, adding that a human-induced fire razed around 8,000 hectares of Kerinci Seblat National Park in Jambi Province.
The Jambi fire has entered the first level status of alert because it has spread from around 500 ha last week to more than 1,000 ha currently.
The fire hot spots were detected in 12 peatland locations, including three inside the Berbak National Park in Tanjung Jabung Timur District, and one inside protected peat forest area in Tanjung Jabung Barat District.
The forest fires have been going on since two months ago in Jambi and South Sumatra.
The transitional condition from dry season to rainy season has triggered the hot spots in Riau as the temperature was quite high, according to Yudhistira Mawaddah, an analyst of the Riau Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) .
On Tuesday (Sept 6) alone, the US NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellite detected a total of 73 hot spots on Sumatra Island, including 20 hot spots in Riau Province.
The number significantly increased from only three hot spots in Riau on the previous day (Monday, Sept 5), Yudhistira said in Pekanbaru on Thursday (Sept 8).
In addition to the 20 in Riau Province, there were also 12 hot spots in Jambi Province, two in Aceh Province, three in West Sumatra Province, three in Lampung Province, and one each in North Sumatra and Bengkulu Provinces, he said.
And the highest number of hot spots was found in South Sumatra, namely 31 hot spots.
In Central Kalimantan Province, 40 forest fire hot spots were detected in Kotawaringin Timur District, by Terra and AQUA satellites between August 30 and September 6, 2011.
"The 40 hot spots indicate forest and plantation fires," Ian Septiawan, the head of the Region II Conservation Section of the Regional Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) said in Kotawaringin Timur on Wednesday (Sept 7).
The number of hot spots, however, had decreased lately due to rainfall. Previously, the Terra and AQUA had detected 188 hot spots during the August 19-26 period in Kotawaringin Timur, he said.
Most of the hot spots were detected in large oil palm plantations and not easily put out despite rainfall, he explained.
"The regional and provincial governments in Central Kalimantan have so far blamed local people for the forest fires. In fact, the main perpetrators of forest fires are large oil palm plantations which have so far escaped legal sanctions," he said.
During the current dry season, hot spots have been detected in six provinces prone to forest fires, namely Riau, West Kalimantan, North Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Jambi, and South Kalimantan.
The latest fires are currently razing on the slope of Mount Sumbing in Central Java Province, and at Panaikan village in South Sulawesi.
Forest fires caused by plantations and traditional farming methods have been blamed for the choking haze which shrouds the region annually during the dry season.
Given the increasing number of fire hot spots in the country, Rofi Munawar, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR RI)`s Commission IV, has urged the government to tackle the fires seriously.
The government must be on alert to prevent business-driven forest fires and must not work half-heartedly, Rofi, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said in Jakarta on Thursday.
It was possible that the commercial fires had been started intentionally to clear land for plantation or mining businesses, he said.
"The forestry ministry must act fast to anticipate more hot spots and to prevent the fires from spreading out of control," Rofi said.
As most of the fires were human induced, the government must intensify environmental campaigns, empower local people and improve the economic condition of people living surrounding forest area, the legislator urged.
"The worst disaster where the number of hot spots reaching up to 146,264 in 2006, must not be repeated," he said.
Indonesia`s forest area reaches over 130 million hectares, the world`s third largest after Brazil and Congo. In 1982-83 and 1994, El Nino-induced forest fires had destroyed around 6.4 million hectares of forest, especially in East Kalimantan. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli
NOAA satellite detects 20 hot spots in Riau
Antara 9 Sep 11;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The US NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellite detected 20 hot spots in Riau Province, Sumatra Island, on Tuesday (Sept 6), an official said.
The number significantly increased from only three hot spots on the previous day (Monday, Sept 5), Yudhistira Mawaddah, an analyst of the Riau Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said here on Thursday.
"The 20 hot spots spread in four districts, namely Pelalawan District with 10 hot spots, in Kuantansingingi two hot spots, and in Indragiri Hulu as well as Indragiri Hilir with four hot spots respectively,," he said.
On Sumatra Island, there were a total of 73 hot spots on Tuesday.
In addition to the 20 in Riau Province, there were also 12 hot spots in Jambi Province, two in Aceh Province, three in West Sumatra Province, three in Lampung Province, and one each in North Sumatra and Bengkulu Provinces, he said.
"Meanwhile, the most hot spots were found in South Sumatra, namely 31 hot spots," he said.
He explained the transitional condition from dry season to rainy season has triggered the hot spots in Riau as the temperature was quite high. (*)
SYS/F001/H-AJM
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Forestry ministry ready to deal with forest fires
Antara 9 Sep 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The forestry ministry is ready to deal with forest fires currently occurring on Sumatra and Kalimantan Islands, according to an official.
Forestry Protection and Nature Conservation Director General of the Forestry Ministry (PHKA) Darori said here on Wednesday that he had received reports on forest fire hot spots in Jambi, South Sumatra, and Riau Provinces known as the triangle of forest fires in Indonesia, especially in swamp and peat land areas.
"In Jambi, the forest fires hit Muaro District, and three peat land spots at the Berbak National Park conservation area," Darori said after attending the Sumatran Governors` Economic Forum at Manggala Wanabakti building in central Jakarta.
In South Sumatra, hot spots were detected in Musi Banyuasin District.
Besides Sumatra, the forestry ministry has also received reports on forest and plantation fires in West and Central Kalimantan Provinces. "But, the number is small," he said.
In general, fires in peat land area were set intentionally. "The fires are due to illegal logging, plantations, and land clearing for agriculture," he said.
The fire that razed around 8,000 hectares of Kerinci Seblat National Park in Jambi Province, was also human induced.
The government has emphasized preventive measures by urging the community not to use fire as land clearing methods.(*)
F001/H-AJM
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Sudden trash build up at East Coast? ICCS swings into action!
from wild shores of singapore
Outward Bound Singapore’s first ICCS cleanup – report on Stomp’s Youthphoria
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Nesting of the Black-naped Oriole: 2. Feeding chicks
from Bird Ecology Study Group
The William Farquhar collection of rare watercolours have finally found a permanent home
deepika shetty Straits Times 9 Sep 11;
The 477 rare and exquisite watercolour drawings of South-east Asian plants and animals that make up the William Farquhar collection have done some travelling in their 200 years.
They have gone from Malacca, where they were commissioned, to Britain, and more recently, popped up at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1993, which led to a full circuit back home to South-east Asia, and Singapore.
The journey home began thanks to cultural philanthropist Goh Geok Khim, the 80-year-old founder of local brokerage firm GK Goh, who bought the William Farquhar collection of natural history drawings for $3 million in 1993.
But the full story of the journey of the collection - which can be seen in a new light at the National Museum from next week - has only just emerged.
For two years, they stayed with the auction house as Mr Goh did not know how to store them.
When he finally did bring them to Singapore to donate to the National Museum, it was in remarkable style.
Mr Goh hand-carried the collection on a Singapore Airlines flight from London.
His only condition for his generous donation was to have a permanent space for the watercolours of animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and plants, which were commissioned by Farquhar - the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore from 1819 to 1823 - when he was based in Malacca.
The drawings were exhibited here in 2007 in a show called The Empire Of Nature, but now Mr Goh's wish is finally being fulfilled on Tuesday with the National Museum's re-opening of The Goh Seng Choo Gallery. It is named after his father, who was interested in nature, especially botany.
The 76 sq m gallery on the second floor of the museum will feature a rotating selection of about 70 works at any one time, in keeping with conservation guidelines.
The collection almost did not make it to Singapore, reveals a chatty Mr Goh in an interview at his 33rd floor office in the Singapore Land Tower.
Someone else had out-bid him in the first round, but for the collection to leave the UK, it needed the approval of the Royal Heritage Board.
In the time it took to get the clearance, the successful bidder lost interest and it was offered to MrGoh. He recalls that it was on the insistence of his art- and heritage-savvy son, Yew Lin, that he became interested in the collection in the first place.
'When my son told me about this collection, my question was: Why do I want to buy this? To which he responded, you can buy it, keep it and make a lot of money on it someday or give it all away,' he says.
It is worth $11 million today, but Mr Goh clearly has no regrets about donating it to the museum when he explains why he purchased the entire collection: 'I was reluctant to see the collection broken up and sold as separate drawings because the collection as a whole has much historical value.
'I made the decision to acquire the whole collection to keep it intact and make it available for future generations.'
On why he kept it at Sotheby's for two years, he says: 'I had not seen the entire collection but I knew I could not bring it back immediately due to the humidity here.'
That was a decision that was well worthwhile.
Museum director Lee Chor Lin says: 'We are highly aware that these early 19th-century watercolour paintings retained their brilliance because they had not been exposed to light for nearly two centuries before they became part of the National Museum collection in 1995.
'It is important, as the custodian of the collection, that we ensure the longevity of these works and their quality will outlast us for centuries to come, for the greater good of future Singapore. To do this, we must calibrate the exhibiting schedule carefully so as not to overexpose them to light and temperature unnecessarily.'
The show's curator, Mr Daniel Tham, estimates that each work which goes on display needs to be 'rested' for a few years before being displayed again.
On the significance of this collection, museum director Lee says: 'As we do not have a comparable set of paintings specifically about Singapore's flora and fauna, Farquhar's collection will be the nearest evidence of Singapore's natural habitat around 1819.'
Pre-dating the era of photography, the detailed watercolours offer a rare look at the rich bio-diversity of the Malayan Peninsula in the 19th century.
To do justice to the meticulously documented works, Mr Tham has presented the first exhibit through four main sections. These show Farquhar's fascination with natural history.
Says Mr Tham, 30: 'The works document Farquhar's exploratory journeys in search of new discoveries, the animals and birds in his zoo, experimental gardening as well the artists' struggles to accommodate Farquhar's demands for scientific realism in natural history artworks.'
Says Ms Yvonne Choo, a public relations professional in her 40s: 'When the collection was first exhibited in the 1990s, I visited it frequently and enjoyed examining the details of the flora and fauna of our part of the world depicted by different artists.
'I am glad it is returning as a permanent exhibition as I remember it as a must-see, unique collection. It also made me appreciate all those unknown and unnamed commissioned artists who created these fascinating works.'
200-year-old treasure
The William Farquhar collection of natural history drawings comprises 477 watercolour drawings of animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and flora and fauna.
Rendered by Chinese, Indian and Malay artists, the paintings were commissioned by Singapore's First Resident and Commandant, Major-General William Farquhar, when he was based in Malacca.
Farquhar was with Sir Stamford Raffles when he founded Singapore in 1819. He was left to manage the colony for four years after Raffles left. He died in Perth, Scotland, in 1839 at the age of 65.
The collection was acquired for $3 million by Mr Goh Geok Khim, the 80-year-old founder of brokerage firm GK Goh, at a Sotheby's auction in London and donated to the museum in 1995.
The 200-year-old collection is now worth at least $11 million. It has great historical importance. The only other similar collection, which belonged to Raffles, was destroyed in a ship fire when the founder of Singapore returned to England in 1824.
Where: The Goh Seng Choo Gallery, Level 2, National Museum, 93 Stamford Road
When: Opens next Tuesday, 10am to 8pm daily
Admission: Free
Info: Call 6332-3659/5642 or go to www.nationalmuseum.sg
Farquhar feted at last
Cheah Ui-Hoon Business Times 16 Sep 11;
HE spent four years in Singapore, with the monumental task of laying out the foundations of a new British settlement. In contrast, his superior who signed the deal which obtained the island from Johor, was in Singapore for only a few months.
As founder, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles's name lives on in abounding posterity here though, while Singapore's First Resident William Farquhar only got a street named after him, and that too was wiped off Singapore's map years ago because of development.
The ill-remembered Farquhar finally gets some due acknowledgement in a petite-sized gallery at the National Museum which will showcase - not his achievements in Singapore's early administration - but in Natural History. This is thanks to the donation to the museum by local brokerage firm owner Goh Geok Khim, who had purchased the collection from the Royal Asiatic Society in 1993.
The William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings is a tangible record of his interest in the topic dating back to the time he was Resident of Malacca. It was Farquhar who mentored Raffles in natural history studies and 'its documentation through art', according to a British Library publication on Raffles'own Natural History drawing collection.
For this first unveiling of the collection, 72 drawings have been put up in low light and the works will be rotated every year, drawn from the 477 drawings in Farquhar's collection. For the first exhibition, curator Daniel Tham picked drawings and grouped them under four sections to show the context of the 19th-century colonial mindset at the time.
In the first, the Spirit of Exploration records Farquhar's journeys to make new botanical discoveries. The wild nutmeg (gymacranthera farquhariana) is the only species today named after Farquhar. Under Experimental Gardening, drawings of the nutmeg, pepper, gambier and durian reflect Farquhar's enthusiasm for valuable crops - as under his supervision, cloves and nutmeg were planted at the foot of Government Hill, or Fort Canning.
In Art and Science of Natural History: Artistic Influence, the selection highlights the style of unnamed Chinese artists whom Farquhar commissioned, such as the blue wash behind white objects, to accentuate the outline. Drawings of birds are also the most lifelike, owing possibly to the artist's background in traditional Chinese art.
Farquhar's zoological contributions are showcased in the centre of the gallery, reflecting how zoology was his foremost interest. Farquhar was involved in the discovery and identification of several indigenous species, such as the Malayan tapir (above). He had not only submitted a description to the Asiatic Society of Bengal but raised one as a pet, but in the race to be published, Farquhar lost out to a French zoologist. Not that he was unduly concerned, notes Mr Tham.
For those who can't wait to see the whole collection- seeing that it will take a while for the drawings to be rotated, the museum has a publication containing Farquhar's entire collection published last year, entitled Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection. It is available at major bookstores and the museum's shop. There is also an older catalogue self-published by GK Goh, in a limited-edition run,also available at the Museum Shop.
The National Museum's Goh Seng Choo Gallery (the former Balcony space on the upper Rotunda) and sixth permanent gallery is open daily from 10am to 8pm and admission is free. The museum is located at 93 Stamford Road, its website is www.nationalmuseum.sg
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 9 Sep 11;
HOUSEWIFE Jenny Lam, 42, grows a plant called the seven-star needle in the garden of her condominium apartment, and eats a few leaves from it every week in the firm belief that it wards off diabetes and cancer.
'Sometimes I also give it to my dog when he's sick, and he gets better,' she said.
A researcher from the National University of Singapore (NUS) wants to interview at least 100 people like her, who grow or buy medicinal herbs for their own consumption.
Associate Professor Koh Hwee Ling, of NUS' Department of Pharmacy, says the medical effects of common herbs here have not been properly documented, and she wants to create a database of their benefits and side effects in a pioneering project.
From the interviews, Dr Koh and her team hope to produce a guide for homeowners who want to grow their own herbs.
Some plants may also be selected for experiments.
Already, about 80 people have stepped forward in the past year, with information on some 60 species of plants in all.
The most commonly used ones are aloe vera, ginger and bittergourd, believed to fight off hypertension, acne and flu.
More exotic remedies include chewing the bitter seeds from the fruit of mahogany trees, which is believed to prevent cancer. The trees are found along the east coast and in older estates such as Yio Chu Kang.
But Dr Koh hopes to carry out still more interviews to make the database comprehensive.
In particular, she and her team hope cancer patients and survivors will step forward with their remedies.
She said: 'These patients are more likely to try different ways to help themselves, and their experience would be invaluable.'
Anyone who has used freshly grown medicinal herbs in the last five years may volunteer to be part of this project. They will be interviewed in person and be required to supply a sample of the plants they use.
They are also encouraged to share their medical records.
Dr Koh says the information will be kept confidential and volunteers can choose to withdraw from the study at any time.
The project is expected to end in 2013, but the team aims to complete all interviews by next September.
Volunteers can e-mail nus.medplant@gmail.com or call 6516-3120 and ask to speak to Dr Koh.
Esther Ng Today Online 9 Sep 11;
SINGAPORE - Singapore could experience hazy conditions in the next few days should fires from razing and logging in the region persist and with winds from the south expected to blow over from Sumatra.
The National Environment Agency yesterday said that hotspots with slight to moderate smoke haze have been detected mainly over the central and southern parts of Sumatra.
The South-west Monsoon season from June to September is the traditional dry season for the region. It is also when logging companies and farmers clear the land by razing it.
The impact of the haze is dependent on factors such as the proximity and extent of the fires, the strength and direction of the prevailing winds and the incidence and amount of rain.
Periods of dry weather, interspersed occasionally with the thundery showers in the afternoon and "Sumatra" squalls in the pre-dawn and early morning, are common and expected during this season.
Singapore's 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index reading as of 4pm yesterday was 47, which was within the good air quality range.
Meanwhile, general practitioners Today spoke to said they have yet to see an increase in the number of patients with breathing difficulties due to the haze.
"It's still early days - I haven't had anyone come in with haze-related health problems yet, maybe when the PSI hits 78 or the hundreds," said Dr Clarence Yeo from Killiney Family & Wellness Clinic.
Chronic asthma sufferers should have their inhalers with them even in the absence of a haze, he added.
And if the haze should get worse, asthmatics should "stay indoors, avoid strenuous outdoor activities and drink lots of water," said Dr Ng Siau Peng from Frontier Healthcare in Ubi.
Madam K Shanti, 77, an asthmatic, told Today that she did not notice the haze at all.
"I'll still go for my morning walks. I always have my inhaler with me," she said.
Last October, the three-hour PSI reading hit a high of 108, which was in the moderate range.
And, while that PSI reading was not near the highest recorded in Singapore on Sept 18, 1997, when it hit 226, it was enough for the inter-agency Haze Task Force to swing into action, and two ministers - former Minister for Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim and former Foreign Minister George Yeo - had registered their concerns with their respective Indonesian counterparts.
Haze set to hit Singapore?
Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 8 Sep 11;
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said haze could hit Singapore over the next few days, with hotspots in Sumatra increasing to 381 on Thursday.
That's the highest number of hotspots recorded so far this year.
NEA said dry weather conditions in the southern and central parts of Sumatra have led to an increase in hotspots there, over the past few days.
But the winds over Singapore are blowing from the southeast, and are likely to keep the smoke haze away.
However, if winds change direction and start blowing from the south, the haze could come to Singapore.
Singapore's 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading at 4pm on Thursday was 47, which is still within the good air quality range.
The reading at 4pm on Wednesday was 36.
Transboundary haze in the southern ASEAN region is due to land and forest fires caused by "slash and burn" farming practices in Indonesia, particularly Sumatra and Kalimantan, during the traditional dry period between June and September.
The impact of smoke haze is dependent on factors such as proximity and extent of the fires, strength and direction of prevailing winds, and incidence and amount of rain.
NEA said it is monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates should the air quality deteriorate.
For more information, the public is advised to refer to NEA's PSI website, twitter site or call the NEA Call Centre at 1800 CALL-NEA (1800 2255632).
-CNA/wk
Hazy conditons ahead with hotspots detected in Sumatra
Ng Kai Ling Straits Times 9 Sep 11;
Singapore may experience hazy conditions in the next two weeks as winds from the south are expected to blow smoke over from Sumatra.
The National Environment Agency said in an air quality update that hotspots with slight to moderate smoke haze had been detected in the central and southern parts of Sumatra.
The months of June to September is the traditional dry season for the southern Asean region when farmers and logging companies in Sumatra and Kalimantan take to razing the land.
Singapore's 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index reading at 4pm on Wednesday was 36, which was within the good air quality range.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 7 Sep 11;
Cisarua, Bogor. Behind an unassuming gate, marked simply with a “Staff Only” sign, deep inside the Taman Safari Indonesia conservation park, lies the best chance for the continued survival of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.
This is the Sumatran Tiger Breeding Facility, set up in 1992 and now home to 22 “troubled” tigers — those that have been trapped by poachers or villagers, those that have preyed on livestock and those believed to have killed and eaten humans.
Each of the 11 male and 11 female tigers here have their own harrowing history. Two of them, Salamah and Ara, female juveniles caught in boar traps set by villagers inside palm oil plantations in Aceh, had to have a paw amputated because of the seriousness of their injuries. Though accused of being man-eaters, the accusation has never been proven. At the park, they are affectionately referred to as “tripods.”
The latest addition is Tupan, an 8-year-old male who was brought to the facility on the verge of death.
Like many of the others, he was caught in a trap in his natural habitat after spooking villagers with his frequent encroachments into their area. When wildlife authorities reached him, they found he had been shot twice several days before being captured.
Following intensive treatment, he has made a full physical recovery.
“Most of the tigers that we keep here are disabled to some extent,” Retno Sudarwati, a senior veterinarian at the park, tells the Jakarta Globe.
“We have three-legged tigers, tigers who have had their tails lopped off, even toothless tigers. They need to be in peak physical condition to survive in the wild, so can you imagine them going after prey on just three legs? They wouldn’t survive long out there.”
Health, Hygiene, Happiness
Each tiger gets its own cage here, furnished with a log that they can sharpen their claws on, a hammock where they usually nap and a small pond to drink from. They also get an adjoining outdoor play cage and another cage where the keepers feed them.
The park also has a breeding facility that the tigers take turns occupying. Unlike their home cages, the “Rumah Batak” breeding facility is open to visitors.
“I know it’s not the kind of sophisticated facility that you’d probably imagine, but we do pay serious attention to the cleanliness of the cages and the tigers’ health.” Retno said.
“We keep detailed records of each and every one of them. If they exhibit the slightest issue, the keepers are obliged to inform us.”
Careful Calculation
The tiger facility is not just about saving maimed or threatened individuals. Its mission is far more important: to ensure the continued existence of the species by creating a genetically diverse gene pool from the animals it hosts, as well as those held at every zoo in the country.
“It’s not just about putting a male and a female tiger together in a cage and expecting them to mate, nor is it about producing a set number of cubs.” Retno said. “It doesn’t work that way. Each tiger is paired off with the best candidate. It takes a lot of careful calculation to ensure the purity of the gene pool.”
For example, Tupan would never be mated with Lintang, a female adult, because their bloodlines are too similar.
Instead, he would be paired off with females like Tina or Jenaka to produce an entirely new bloodline.
“The bottom line is that we want to make their bloodlines as varied as possible,” Retno said. “We want to make sure that over the next five years, we can prevent inbreeding as much as possible.”
To that end, the facility has compiled a stud book — a registry of the known parentage of all the tigers ever tagged in the country, whether in the wild or in captivity. This allows scientists at the park to work out which individuals are best suited for pairing to ensure a diverse gene pool.
Sperm Bank
Though painstakingly clinical, putting together the stud book is the basis for making sure that no matter what happens to the wild population of the species, there will always be enough variety in the genetic resources available to sustain the species.
That means collecting sperm from all the tigers held in captivity in the country since 1995. All that sperm, which makes up the Sumatran Tiger Genome Resource Bank, is stored at the park in containers kept at a frosty minus 180 degrees Celsius.
“This sperm bank is the stock, just in case something happens, we still have their sperm,” Retno said.
However, she points out that regenerating the species simply from the stored sperm is something the park does not yet have the technology to do.
“We’re still developing the technology to make use of this resource, so we’re getting there,” she said.
The Sumatran tiger is one of five remaining tiger subspecies in the world, and is also the most threatened, with only 400 individuals believed to be remaining in the wild. Categorized as critically endangered, it is just a step away from being extinct in the wild.
It is the only tiger left that is endemic to Indonesia. Two other subspecies, the Javan tiger and the Balinese tiger, were driven to extinction in the 1930s and 1980s, a fate that Retno and her team at Taman Safari do not want to see befall the Sumatran tiger.
“This facility here is our backup. If we could turn back time and breed the other two species the same way, we might still have them today,” she said.
The irony that the fate of the Sumatran tiger rests with a handful of individuals deemed most threatening to humans or unfit to survive in the wild is not lost on Retno.
“These animals are rare and precious individuals,” she said. “We can’t just kill them because they’re man-eaters or maimed, but we can make the most of them as a valuable resource in our conservation efforts.”
Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 11;
A prominent animal rights group plans to take legal action against the Forestry Ministry for dodging its commitment to release captive dolphins back to the sea, its lawyer said on Wednesday.
The commitment, which was signed in October 2010, was to involve a joint effort by the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, the Forestry Ministry and the Earth Island Institute to implement a five-year plan for dolphin protection, rehabilitation and release.
JAAN’s lawyer, Romy Daniel Tobing, said his client was prepared to take “the necessary legal enforcement measures” to see that it was upheld.
“Both the JAAN and the government, in this case the Forestry Ministry, are lawfully equal parties to this commitment,” he said.
An initial rehabilitation of two out of the 72 dolphins in captivity in Indonesia had been scheduled for June.
The dolphins would have been placed in a 90-square-meter sea enclosure — the largest in the world for a dolphin rehabilitation program — before being released back into their natural habitat, the waters off the northern coast of Java.
The plan stalled, though. In June, the JAAN lambasted government plans to release captive dolphins into the sea without preparing them for the wild.
“We have had more meetings with the government since then and they said they were committed to the initial plan, but they remain empty promises so far,” said Femke Den Haas, founder of the JAAN.
“The dolphins remain confined to their small tanks in the traveling circus and the so-called conservation agencies.”
Officials from the ministry’s directorate of biodiversity, which is in charge of the program, were not available for comment on Wednesday.
The plan was first hatched when concerned parties informed JAAN of a traveling circus featuring dolphins as one of its attractions.
The group began tracking down other captive dolphins. It found a number of the animals in the possession of institutions operating under the guise of conservation, education or therapy after allegedly obtaining them illegally from poachers on the northern coast of Java.
Dolphins are protected under 1999 government regulations on plant and animal preservation. The majority of the captive dolphins in Indonesia are bottlenose dolphins, which are classified under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
While the species is “not necessarily now threatened with extinction, [it] may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is subject to strict regulation.”
Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto, coordinator of the wildlife crime unit at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said dolphins in Indonesia were also in peril from poaching.
He said it was common for fishermen to kill them for tearing into their fish nets.
“They are also caught to be chopped into bait because their foul-smelling flesh attracts fish,” Dwi said.
Ruben Sario The Star 8 Sep 11;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parks staff have weeded out nearly two tonnes of dandelions from the Kinabalu Park but they have yet to root out the problem.
Despite their efforts to remove this invasive species over the past decade, dandelions have continued to persist, especially at the higher altitudes on Mount Kinabalu.
Sabah Parks director Paul Basintal said that besides Mesilau, the dandelion a common weed from Northern Hemisphere countries was concentrated largely at the Layang Layang and Laban Rata areas, located some 3,350m high on the mountain.
He said the dandelion was a tenacious species because it could either propagate through its roots or seeds dispersed by the wind.
“So, when we remove the dandelion, we have to take out every part of the plant, right down to the roots. It is tedious and time consuming but this is something we have to do,” said Basintal.
He said officials of Unesco which had awarded Kinabalu Park its World Heritage Site status were aware of the dandelion problem and Sabah Parks' efforts in tackling it.
Basintal said Sabah Parks officials, who first noticed the dandelions on the mountain some time in 1998 or 1999, immediately started on their efforts to remove them.
However, he said they were uncertain how the species had ended up in Sabah.
Officials believe some dandelion seeds, which could have been wedged in the shoes or bags of tourists visiting Kinabalu Park more than a decade ago, had since germinated and thrived in the park's cool climate.
On Tuesday, Basintal had said that the dandelion appeared to be displacing local plants and that it was beginning to dominate the Kinabalu Park by killing off native species.
Sabah Environmental Protection Association (Sepa) president Wong Tack said Sabah Parks should consider getting volunteers involved in regularly weeding out the dandelion plants.
“I'm sure there are NGOs, schoolchildren among others, who would like to help out. This will also give them a sense of taking responsibility and caring for the mountain,” he said.
M. Jegathesan AFP Yahoo News 9 Sep 11;
A 12-year legal battle by indigenous tribes in Malaysia against their ancestral land being seized to build a mega-dam on Borneo island ended in defeat Thursday in the nation's top court.
Indigenous people present at the court said they were devastated by the ruling, while activists said it could encourage the government to requisition more land on Malaysia's part of Borneo and create "internal refugees".
"It is an unfair decision. I have not been fully compensated," said Ngajang Midin, 50, of the Ukit tribe, as tears rolled down his face. He has already moved to higher ground and the multi-billion-dollar dam has begun operations.
"My cocoa and pepper trees are underwater. My ancestors' graves are buried under the sea of water," he said.
The fight, seen as a test case, began 12 years ago when the state government of Sarawak requisitioned land for the controversial Bakun hydroelectric dam and a timber pulp mill on Borneo, famous for its biodiversity.
About 15,000 people were forcibly relocated to make room for the dam and a reservoir about the size of Singapore, which began generating power last month.
Many have made an unhappy transition to life in drab resettlement areas, and representatives of the evicted indigenous people launched a series of legal appeals.
But these culminated Thursday in a unanimous dismissal by a three-judge panel from Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court, which found the eviction had not violated the tribal peoples' constitutional rights.
"I hearby dismiss the appeal and uphold the orders of the courts below," chief justice Zaki Azmi, of the Federal Court, said in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Colin Nicholas, founder and coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli Concerns -- whose name uses the Malay term for indigenous people -- said the decision could turn the indigenous groups into "internal refugees".
"Natives use blockades and negotiations (and when it fails) they come to court for justice. But that justice was not delivered. It is disappointing," he told AFP.
"The fear now is these people will become internal refugees because they can be forced to relocate," he said.
Ngajang, who has moved to higher ground with his family, said he was afraid for the future.
"I fear we will be driven out from our own land. I will end up like a squatter," he said.
"Our lives are only filled with darkness and uncertainties."
The case was brought by members of indigenous tribes including the Iban, Dayak, Kayan, Kenyah and Ukit peoples, some of the many ethnic groups living on Borneo, which is split between Malaysia, Indonesia and the sultanate of Brunei.
A lawyer for the group, Baru Bian, said that more tribal people in Sarawak might now be forcibly moved in the name of development.
"There is a possibility the move to displace natives in Sarawak will gain momentum," he said.
About 200 cases of indigenous people fighting state acquisition of their land are ongoing in lower courts.
Transparency International has labelled Bakun a "monument of corruption", and analysts have questioned how the Malaysian government can ever recover the money it has sunk into the project.
The dam, one of the world's tallest, has been dogged by problems since its approval in 1993, and the delays have incurred large cost overruns.
The construction costs for Bakun have added up to at least $2.6 billion, making it among the most expensive infrastructure projects in Malaysian history.
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