Best of our wild blogs: 13 Jul 12

How many stonefishes at Sentosa?
from wild shores of singapore

Olive-backed Sunbird feeding chicks
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Health Checks and Radio Collars: Pangolins Get Ready for Release
from EDGE Blog

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PM Lee highlights wild boars, graffiti on need to be "messy selectively"

S. Ramesh Channel NewsAsia 13 Jul 12;

NEW DELHI: Would Singapore's leaders allow some "mess" in a creative society?

That was a question posed to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Singapore Symposium held in New Delhi, India, on Thursday.

The Singapore Symposium, organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies and the Asepan India Centre, attracted leading thinkers, politicians and analysts from Singapore and India.

They shared their views and perspectives on international and local issues.

Mr Lee used two recent issues - wild boars and graffiti - to highlight the way Singapore authorities are striking the balance.

Mr Lee said: "I would become messy selectively. There are some areas where you must accept that you cannot do things in a linear or hierarchical way. I decide, you refine, he implements. You have to have an interaction, discussion. There will be objections, you have views but something has to be done.

"We have a peculiar problem which you consider quaint. We have an abundance of wild boars in our nature reserves - about 100 of them - and they are causing a problem. In the old days, we would have just said solve the problem and tomorrow they would be literally gone. But now it has been discussed.

"There are animal lovers who feel you shouldn't cull them, sterilise them, maybe you should keep them in the zoo and have an exhibit of wild boars. Others would say they are part of the natural system and if they exist, it is good. But there are also families who say the wild boar killed my dog, another family says the wild boar knocked over my child, better do something about it. Finally, we have to do something about it.

"But we have to go through this discussion and engagement, and explanation and in the end, it takes longer but it will be done. I am not sure whether we will get the very last wild boar but we will solve this problem.

"As with wild boars, so with many other problems, where we have to do something and engage the people - the physical messiness along the streets - graffiti, I would strongly discourage. We invite graffiti artists, by invitation to perform on designated walls with permission but if you decide to freelance extra, I better do an investigation on how it came about. We want to do this in a controlled way. If the Pandora box is open, then we can't put the demons back."

- CNA/de

PM okay with politics getting messier selectively
Straits Times 13 Jul 12;

NEW DELHI - Singapore is slowly letting its politics get a little messier, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in response to a question from a participant at a symposium organised by Singapore and Indian think tanks.

But he also made it clear that the Singapore Government meant to keep some measure of control over the process. He cited two examples: the culling of wild boar and street graffiti.

The question put to him was on whether Singapore would tolerate more mess so as to become vibrant and creative like India.

'I will become messy selectively,' he quipped, drawing laughter and applause.

In the case of wild boar, Mr Lee recalled that in the past, creatures that caused problems for people would be dealt with immediately. Now, the process takes longer because many people are given a chance to air their views, from animal lovers to families who fear for their children's safety.

The need to engage and explain to the people affected also extends to areas such as land acquisitions. While the authorities have legal powers to act, the affected parties have to understand the decision and that they are being fairly treated.

'There are some areas where you must accept that you cannot do things just in a linear or a hierarchical way - I decide, you refine, he implements. You have to have an interaction, a discussion, a flow of ideas, there will be objections and views and in the end something has to be done.'

He draws the line however at street graffiti, which he would strongly discourage. He did not mention any specific incident but much debate has been generated by the arrest of a woman who allegedly pasted stickers on traffic lights and stencil-painted roads with Singlish phrases.

Mr Lee said to laughter: 'I would invite graffiti artists to perform on designated walls, with permission, but if you decide to freelance extra, I better do an investigation and find out how it came about.

'We want to do this in a controlled way. Once you have let go, Pandora's box is opened, you cannot put all the demons back into place.'

GOH CHIN LIAN

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Relatives claim 1,000 graves at Bukit Brown

It is about a quarter of the total number slated for exhumation
Tessa Wong Straits Times 13 Jul 12;

ABOUT a quarter of the Bukit Brown graves that must go to make way for an expressway have been claimed in the last four months by relatives.

This works out to 1,005 graves, of which most will be exhumed by a contractor hired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), said its spokesman yesterday. The Government will pay for this public exhumation.

Only 178 of the applications sent to the LTA between March - when the Government said it would go ahead with the highway - and the start of this month wanted a private exhumation, which allows relatives to pick the date and time.

So far, 93 have been exhumed privately, while the public exhumation will start in January. An LTA spokesman said that as a tender has yet to be called, it cannot say how much this will cost.

A total of 3,746 graves will be exhumed and relatives have until Dec 31 to claim the graves.

Dr Hui Yew-Foong, an anthropologist at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, expects half of the graves to be claimed for a cemetery of Bukit Brown's age, which is about 90 years.

'The older the cemetery, the lower the claim rate, as ancestors are usually remembered for only two to three generations,' he said.

Unclaimed remains will be individually cremated, and the Government will keep them for three years. If still unclaimed, the ashes will be scattered at sea.

The decision to build a road through part of the historical burial ground to ease congestion on Lornie Road has sparked intense debate on preserving Singapore's heritage.

Though the exhumed graves form only a tiny proportion of the 100,000 graves at Bukit Brown, the entire 86 ha site is earmarked for a housing estate - a fact which, though not new, was raised again amid debate.

Various groups have swung into action to petition for preservation and to conduct tours of one of Singapore's last historical burial sites.

Dr Hui's team has documented about 90 per cent of the affected graves. They will also document the exhumations, he said.

Last month, his team documented the first private exhumation - that of Mr Ong Seah Say, who died in 1942.

Mr Ong was a member of the Singapore branch of Tongmenghui in the 1900s, the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance started by Dr Sun Yat Sen, who founded the Republic of China.

The Nature Society, with groups from the Singapore universities and the Government, is carrying out wildlife surveys. Society president Shawn Lum said he hopes the groups can eventually create a map with detailed information on, among other things, the wildlife clusters, and flora and fauna of the entire cemetery.

'As the Government intends to build a housing estate on the land eventually, this survey will help planners designate green spaces and decide which parts to preserve,' said Dr Lum.

Groups formed to preserve Bukit Brown's history say weekly public tours are packed.

And the number of private tours carried out for organisations has risen from an average of five a month before March to around eight a month now, said Ms Catherine Lim, co-founder of All Things Bukit Brown.

Students also ask the Singapore Heritage Society for help on Bukit Brown school projects.

Mr Woon Tien Wei of SOS Bukit Brown said his group is carrying out street surveys on people's sentiment about preserving the cemetery and collecting petition letters.

It plans to submit a report to the Government by year-end.

Academic Terence Chong, an executive committee member of the Heritage Society, is not surprised at the strong interest.

'There is an especially greater yearning among younger Singaporeans to get in touch with their roots because we became global and cosmopolitan so fast. So it is natural that there is a desire to look back into the past for authenticity and comfort,' he said.

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Coral Reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean Naturally Tougher Than Caribbean Reefs

ScienceDaily 12 Jul 12;

Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Great Barrier Reef, recover faster from major stresses than their Caribbean counterparts, leading marine scientists have said.

Dr George Roff and Professor Peter Mumby from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland told the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns on July 12 that coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are naturally tougher than the Caribbean reefs.

"The main reason that Indo-Pacific reefs are more resilient is they have less seaweed than the Caribbean Sea," Dr Roff says. "Seaweed and corals are age-old competitors in the battle for space. When seaweed growth rates are lower, such as the Indo-Pacific region, the reefs recover faster from setbacks. This provides coral with a competitive advantage over seaweed, and our study suggests that these reefs would have to be heavily degraded for seaweeds to take over.

"This doesn't mean that we can be complacent -- reefs around the world are still heavily threatened by climate change and human activities," he says. "What it indicates is Indo-Pacific reefs will respond better to protection, and steps we take to keep them healthy have a better chance of succeeding."

"Many of the doom and gloom stories have emanated from the Caribbean, which has deteriorated rapidly in the last 30 years," says Professor Mumby. "We now appreciate that the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean are far more different than we thought."

The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE), includes survey data Indo-Pacific region and Caribbean reefs from 1965 to 2010.

The researchers also found that seaweeds in Indo-Pacific region bloom four times more slowly than those in the Caribbean.

"We're not sure why this happens, but a plausible theory is that Caribbean waters are highly enriched in iron," they say. "For thousands of years, the Caribbean Sea has received dusts that blow across the Atlantic from the Sahara, and the dust contains iron -- an essential element for algae to grow.

"This suggests that the difference between the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean oceans and their coral reefs is fundamental, and occurs at a very large scale.

"Another factor that protects these reefs is the abundance of herbivorous fish, such as surgeon and parrotfish that treat seaweed as a delicacy. The Indo-Pacific region has a lot of these fishes.

"For instance, the Indo-Pacific region has 70 species and six genera of parrotfish, while the Caribbean only has 13 species and two genera of the fish."

While the findings indicate a brighter future for the Indo-Pacific reefs, nations such as Australia will need to maintain vigilant protection of the ocean, the researchers warn.

"All reefs face an uncertain future, particularly in places with lots of human activities," they say. "We still need to curb the overfishing of herbivorous fish, as they are very sought after in the Pacific. We also need to control the level of nutrients in the water and prevent runoff when necessary.

"The good news is that our Indo-Pacific reefs are tougher than we thought -- we just need to make sure that our actions won't destroy their natural resilience."

Reefs ‘tougher than we thought’
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Science Alert 13 Jul 12;

Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Great Barrier Reef, recover faster from major stresses than their Caribbean counterparts, leading marine scientists said.

Dr George Roff and Professor Peter Mumby from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland told the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns that coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region are naturally tougher than the Caribbean reefs.

“The main reason that Indo-Pacific reefs are more resilient is they have less seaweed than the Caribbean Sea,” Dr Roff says.

“Seaweed and corals are age-old competitors in the battle for space. When seaweed growth rates are lower, such as the Indo-Pacific region, the reefs recover faster from setbacks. This provides coral with a competitive advantage over seaweed, and our study suggests that these reefs would have to be heavily degraded for seaweeds to take over.

“This doesn’t mean that we can be complacent – reefs around the world are still heavily threatened by climate change and human activities,” he says. “What it indicates is Indo-Pacific reefs will respond better to protection, and steps we take to keep them healthy have a better chance of succeeding.”

“Many of the doom and gloom stories have emanated from the Caribbean, which has deteriorated rapidly in the last 30 years,” says Professor Mumby. “We now appreciate that the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean are far more different than we thought.”

The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE), includes survey data Indo-Pacific region and Caribbean reefs from 1965 to 2010.

The researchers also found that seaweeds in Indo-Pacific region bloom four times more slowly than those in the Caribbean.

“We’re not sure why this happens, but a plausible theory is that Caribbean waters are highly enriched in iron,” they say. “For thousands of years, the Caribbean Sea has received dusts that blow across the Atlantic from the Sahara, and the dust contains iron – an essential element for algae to grow.

“This suggests that the difference between the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean oceans and their coral reefs is fundamental, and occurs at a very large scale.

“Another factor that protects these reefs is the abundance of herbivorous fish, such as surgeon and parrotfish that treat seaweed as a delicacy. The Indo-Pacific region has a lot of these fishes.

“For instance, the Indo-Pacific region has 70 species and six genera of parrotfish, while the Caribbean only has 13 species and two genera of the fish.”

While the findings indicate a brighter future for the Indo-Pacific reefs, nations such as Australia will need to maintain vigilant protection of the ocean, the researchers warn.

“All reefs face an uncertain future, particularly in places with lots of human activities,” they say. “We still need to curb the overfishing of herbivorous fish, as they are very sought after in the Pacific. We also need to control the level of nutrients in the water and prevent runoff when necessary.

“The good news is that our Indo-Pacific reefs are tougher than we thought – we just need to make sure that our actions won’t destroy their natural resilience.”

Free video clips to illustrate this article are available at Prof. Mumby’s site http://www.reefvid.org. Images are available at http://bit.ly/MLBzCH

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Environment or profit - palm oil firm tests Indonesia

Olivia Rondonuwu and David Fogarty and Niluksi Koswanage
PlanetArk 13 Jul 12;

Insight: Environment or profit - palm oil firm tests Indonesia Photo: David Fogarty
A canal cuts through deep peat land at a palm oil plantation near Sebangau Kuala, Pulang Pisau Regency in Central Kalimantan June 19, 2012.
Photo: David Fogarty

An Indonesian palm oil firm received preliminary approval six years ago for a large plantation in a swampy, forested corner of Borneo island, bringing the promise of jobs and roads to impoverished villages.

By the book, that would have marked the start of a lengthy licensing and environmental approvals process before clearing and planting could start.

The firm, PT Suryamas Cipta Perkasa (SCP), didn't wait. It quickly cleared thousands of hectares of forest. That revelation recently set off alarm bells at major international palm oil trading firms Bunge and Cargill, which have made public pledges to source edible oil from plantations developed without cutting down forests illegally.

PT SCP is now under investigation from a presidential taskforce on forests and land reform as well as local police for clearing and developing the concession before getting mandatory environmental approvals. The investigation has become a test of Indonesia's pledge to clamp down on illegal forest clearing and pull plantation and mining firms into line.

Pressure is also building on PT SCP's parent PT Best Agro International Group, a large unlisted Indonesian palm oil plantation owner, processor and exporter.

"The allegation of illegal deforestation is deeply disturbing and should be addressed by PT Best quickly and transparently," major customer Bunge, a global agribusiness and food company, said in an email to Reuters. "If proven true, Bunge will take appropriate steps to ensure that our supply chain reflects our principles."

International conservation group Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) conducted a detailed probe into PT SCP and handed its findings to the Indonesian government. The British-based NGO also gave its findings to Reuters.

Further examination by Reuters of official documents, interviews and satellite images reveals how the 23,000-hectare (57,500 acre) concession in Central Kalimantan province was developed and cleared apparently in violation of multiple laws.

"PT SCP is suspected to have committed violations to the concession area since three years ago at the very least," said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, one of Indonesia's most respected officials and head of the presidential taskforce on forests and land reform.

The allegations are being investigated by the taskforce and police in Central Kalimantan, a province in the Indonesian portion of Borneo, a vast island east of Singapore with an interior of dense tropical rainforest. If found guilty, PT SCP directors could be jailed and the concession's license revoked.

Villagers are also waging a campaign against PT SCP for compensation and loss of livelihoods, saying the firm never properly consulted them about the plantation plan.

Officials at PT SCP and PT Best deny wrongdoing and point to conflicting national and local laws in the area and say fair compensation was offered.

PT SCP official Wahyu Bima Dharta said the plantation had brought jobs and development. One local official also defended PT SCP, saying it had helped the economy.

"In the past, even the devil didn't want to enter this area," Dharta said, referring to the concession.

Illegal deforestation is widespread in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, especially in Central Kalimantan, where scores of palm oil and mining concessions overlap with protected forests.

British-based NGO Forest Peoples Programme and Sawit Watch of Indonesia say Indonesian laws offer weak protection for community land rights. They point to figures from Indonesia's National Land Bureau stating there are about 5,500 land conflicts, of which 3,500 relate to palm oil.

BILLION-DOLLAR PROMISE

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by saving Indonesia's dwindling rainforests, a pledge that won the promise of $1 billion from Norway should he succeed. Indonesia has the world's third-largest area of tropical rainforest.

But Yudhoyono faces huge pressure because of soaring global demand for palm oil, used in everything from cookies to lipstick to biofuels, and the government plans to double current output to 40 million metric tons (44.1 million tons) a year. Indonesia is the world's top palm oil producer and earns $20 billion a year from exporting the edible oil.

A recent trip to PT SCP's concession in Pulang Pisau district in Central Kalimantan showed how advanced the plantation is.

Criss-crossing the plantation along roads laid out in a grid-pattern, deep canals drain tea-colored water from the black peat soil where forests stood a few years ago. The deep peat stores large amounts of carbon, which when drained or burned is released into the air, stoking climate change.

Plots marked with tags show some areas planted in March 2008 and already bearing palm fruits for harvest.

At the northwest edge of the plantation, a canal marks the boundary with thick forest on one side where several endangered orang-utans were gathered before fleeing at the sight of people. A GPS tracking device confirmed the area was part of PT SCP's concession area.

EIA's report details eight suspected violations against Indonesian law committed by PT SCP. The report cites the laws and includes copies of official documents supporting its findings. "This is a test case that will show us very clearly if the government is able or willing to enforce the law," said Tomasz Johnson, a forest campaigner for EIA who investigated the company.

Indonesia has abundant laws to protect its forests. But lax enforcement and corruption mean cases go unpunished, NGOs say.

ALL IN THE TIMING

At the heart of the issue is PT SCP's development of the plantation without getting approval for its environmental impact assessment report. The firm has also planted in deep peat, data used by the Ministry of Forestry shows. A presidential decree bans planting in peat more than 3 meters deep.

Indonesian law states that plantation and mining firms need an approved environmental impact assessment before carrying out any business or activities. Failure to comply can result in up to three years in jail and 3 billion rupiah ($318,000) in fines.

PT SCP official Dharta said an environmental impact assessment report had been done but not approved by provincial authorities. A senior company official from PT Best, who declined to be named, told Reuters the firm would try to get the environmental assessment approved in one or two months.

The key to the issue is the timing.

Indonesia's complex permitting process for a plantation can take up to three years, meaning the firm was obliged to wait until receiving its major environmental and business approvals.

Satellite imagery analysis by Thomson Reuters subsidiary Lanworth, which specializes in agriculture, forestry and renewable energy, shows the concession area being cleared from 2006, when the firm had only received a preliminary approval that did not give it the right to clear land.

It shows that before the clearing of PT SCP's concession, forest cover was 17,600 hectares in 2004-05, or 75 percent of the total. By late 2011, just over 2,100 ha of forest and other vegetation was left. Large areas of clearing started in September-November 2006 and continued into 2009, the analysis shows.

The firm also never received a forest clearance permit from the Ministry of Forestry. Dharta told Reuters this was because of confusion over the application of national and regional laws.

"We are actually the victim here. There is uncertainty in the law where this area should go to," he said.

A 2011 Ministry of Forestry decree shows the concession area as a combination of production, protection and conservation forest, meaning it has not been released for development.

Local officials and the company say a provincial bylaw removes the obligation for firms to get Ministry of Forestry approval to clear forest for a palm oil plantation, a view the ministry disputes.

Usis Sangkai, district head for economic administration and natural resources, said PT SCP had developed "abandoned land" and boosted the economy.

Presidential adviser Mangkusubroto told Reuters his team was investigating evidence PT SCP had also extended the plantation beyond its boundaries.

Local landowner Haji Asmadi, a thin, energetic man of 60, says villagers were never properly consulted on plans to develop the plantation, a view disputed by PT SCP and PT Best. He is leading a claim for compensation for about 5,600 hectares of land within the concession.

Indonesian shipping records obtained by Reuters show that PT Best has been expanding its reach slowly.

Last year, Bunge accounted for a third of the more than 50,000 tonnes of palm oil cargoes shipped from PT Best in Belawan port in Sumatra, the main export hub for the commodity.

Cargill confirmed a single purchase of palm oil products from PT Best in September 2011 and said it would halt purchases from the firm if any illegality was proven.

(Editing by Ed Davies)

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Amazon Due for Numerous Species Extinctions

Joseph Castro LiveScience.com Yahoo News 13 Jul 12;

When species lose their natural habitat to deforestation and other causes, they don't immediately disappear. Instead, they gradually die off over several generations, racking up an "extinction debt" that must eventually be paid in full. New research shows that the Brazilian Amazon has accrued a heavy vertebrate extinction debt, with more than 80 percent of extinctions expected from historical deforestation still impending.

While the results are alarming, this deathly time lag provides a conservation opportunity to save some of the disappearing species, scientists said, stressing that actions taken in the next few years are critical.

"Now that we know where the extinction debt is likely to be, we can go to the ground to restore habitat and take remedial actions to try to regenerate new habitats," said study lead author Robert Ewers, an ecologist at Imperial College London in the U.K. "We can try to put off ever having to pay that debt."

Extinction debt

The Brazilian Amazonis home to about 40 percent of the planet's tropical forests and a staggering amount of biodiversity. However, the Amazon's plant and animal species are under threat by deforestation, mostly due to agriculture and cattle ranging. [Stunning Photos of the Amazon]

Ewers and his colleagues set out to determine how many species would be lost from at least part of their historical habitats in the Amazon because of past and future deforestation. They began by looking at the "species-area relationship," a well-established ecological pattern describing how the number of species in a given habitat increases predictably as the habitat area increases. By turning this idea on its head, you can figure out how many species should go extinct as their habitat shrinks.

The researchers modeled the number of vertebrate species expected to go extinct within 31-mile by 31-mile blocks (50 by 50 kilometer blocks). They used a combination of deforestation data spanning back to 1970 and species-distribution maps of the Amazon. They compared their model's predictions with the actual number of extinctions seen thus far in the forest regions and found that 80 to 90 percent of the expected local extinctions have yet to happen, and many of them will occur in the southern and eastern regions of the Amazon.

Next, Ewers and his team used their model to estimate the magnitude of the local extinctions and extinction debts expected to occur in four scenarios, which mainly differ in their projections of future deforestation rates. Under the most likely scenario, every forest block will lose an average of about nine vertebrate speciesand be in debt for another 16 species by 2050.

And in all scenarios, species will continue to go extinct more than three decades after deforestation in the Amazon has stopped, if key forest areas are not restored, the researchers found.

"What we've seen in the last four decades is nothing like what we are going to see in the next four decades," Ewers told LiveScience.

Defaulting on the debt

Thiago Rangel, an ecologist at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil who wasn't involved in the research, was surprised to see the Amazon's huge extinction debt. "Of course, that gives Brazil a very good opportunity for conservation measures," Rangel said. [10 Species You Can Kiss Goodbye]

Rangel, who wrote a perspective article accompanying the study published July 13 in the journal Science, pointed out that Brazil has made a lot of progress in reducing deforestation in the last decade. Moreover, the county has been expanding its network of protected areas — more than 50 percent of the Amazon is now under some form of environmental protection.

"But we are in the middle of a strong transition in Brazil from a very good and modern environmental legislation to something else," Rangel told LiveScience. Agricultural businesses, for example, have been lobbying for weaker forest protection codes — this past May, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff vetoed portions of such a bill, though this isn't likely the end of the debate, Rangel said.

Rangel stresses that Brazil must "default on its extinction debt," possibly by creating more conservation areas, particularly in places that have been abandoned by agriculturalists. Whatever the case, something needs to be done soon, he said.

Ewers agreed. "This problem has been building, and it will soon roll over and crash like a wave," he said.

Amazon's doomed species set to pay deforestation's 'extinction debt'
Ending forest clearance would not save some species from the effects of decades of destruction, scientists find
Ian Sample guardian.co.uk 12 Jul 12;

The destruction of great swaths of the Brazilian Amazon has turned scores of rare species into the walking dead, doomed to disappear even if deforestation were halted in the region overnight, according to a new study.

Forest clearing in Brazil has already claimed casualties, but the animals lost to date in the rainforest region are just one-fifth of those that will slowly die out as the full impact of the loss of habitat takes its toll. In parts of the eastern and southern Amazon, 30 years of concerted deforestation have shrunk viable living and breeding territories enough to condemn 38 species to regional extinction in coming years, including 10 mammal, 20 bird and eight amphibian species, scientists found.

The systematic clearance of trees from the Amazon forces wildlife into ever-smaller patches of ground.

Though few species are killed off directly in forest clearances, many face a slower death sentence as their breeding rates fall and competition for food becomes more intense.

Scientists at Imperial College, London, reached the bleak conclusion after creating a statistical model to calculate the Brazilian Amazon's "extinction debt", or the number of species headed for extinction as a result of past deforestation. The model draws on historical deforestation rates and animal populations in 50 by 50 kilometre squares of land.

It stops short of naming the species most at risk, but field workers in the region have drawn attention to scores of creatures struggling to cope with habitat destruction and other environmental threats.

White-cheeked spider monkeys, which feed on fruits high in the forest canopy, are endangered largely because of the expansion of farmland and road building. The population of Brazilian bare-faced tamarins has halved in 18 years, or three generations, as cities, agriculture and cattle ranching has pushed into the rainforest. The endangered giant otter, found in the slow-moving rivers and swamps of the Amazon, faces water pollution from agricultural runoff and mining operations in the area.

Writing in the journal Science, Robert Ewers and his co-authors reconstructed extinction rates from 1970 to 2008, and then forecast future extinction debts under four different scenarios, ranging from "business as usual" to a "strong reduction" in forest clearance, which required deforestation to slow down 80% by 2020.

"For now, the problem is along the arc of deforestation in the south and east where there is a long history of forest loss. But that is going to move in the future. We expect most of the species there to go extinct, and we'll pick up more extinction debt along the big, paved highways which are now cutting into the heart of the Amazon," Ewers told the Guardian from Belém, northern Brazil.

Under the "business as usual" scenario, where around 62 sq miles (160 sqkm) of forest are cleared each year, at least 15 mammal, 30 bird and 10 amphibian species were expected to die out locally by 2050, from around half of the Amazon. Under the most optimistic scenario, which requires cattle ranchers and soy farmers to comply with Brazilian environmental laws, the extinction debt could be held close to 38 species.

Ewers said the model reveals hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon where conservation efforts should be focused on the most vulnerable wildlife. "This shows us where we are likely to have high concentrations of species which are all in trouble, and that becomes a way for directing our conservation efforts. We are talking about an extinction debt. Those species are still alive, so we have an opportunity to get in there and restore the habitat to avoid paying that debt," Ewers said.

The Brazilian Amazon is home to 40% of the world's tropical forest and one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. About 54% of the area is under environmental protection, and in the past five years, stricter controls and better compliance have driven deforestation rates down to a historical low.

The trend towards less deforestation might not last though. Under pressure from the financial crisis, the Brazilian government has proposed a rapid development programme in the Amazon to fuel the economy. The move foresees the construction of more than 20 hydroelectric power plants in the Amazon basin and an extensive push into the rainforest.

Environmentalists are further concerned about an overhaul to Brazil's Forest Code, which is widely expected to weaken the protection of the rainforest, and potentially speed up deforestation once more, according to an accompanying article in Science by Thiago Rangel, an ecologist at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil. "Extinction debts in the Brazilian Amazon are one debt that should be defaulted on," he writes.

Reducing the rate that extinction debts build up is not enough to preserve the Amazon's biodiversity, Rangel argues. "The existing debt may eventually lead to the loss of species. To prevent species extinctions, it is necessary to take advantage of the window of opportunity for forest regeneration. Restored or regenerated forests initially show lower native species richness than the original forests they replaced, but they gradually recover species richness, composition and vital ecosystems functions, reducing extinction debt and mitigating local species loss," he writes.

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Drought leads to declaration of natural disaster in 26 US states

Decision means farmers who have lost crops in more than 1,000 counties are eligible for assistance from government
Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk 13 Jul 12;

America declared a natural disaster in more than 1,000 drought-stricken counties in 26 states on Thursday.

It was the largest declaration of a national disaster and was intended to speed relief to about a third of the country's farmers and ranchers who are suffering in drought conditions.

The declaration from the US department of agriculture includes most of the south-west, which has been scorched by wildfires, parts of the midwestern corn belt, and the south-east.

It was intended to free up funds for farmers whose crops have withered in extreme heatwave conditions linked by scientists to climate change.

According to the US drought monitor, 56% of the country is experiencing drought conditions – the most expansive drought in more than a decade.

The agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, said the funds were intended to help farmers and ranchers across the country who have lost crops to extreme heat or wildfires.

The declaration will make affected ranchers and farmers eligible for low-interest loans and speed processing of disaster claims.

"Agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation's economy," Vilsack said. "We need to be cognisant of the fact that drought and weather conditions have severely impacted on farmers around the country."

The declaration covers counties in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Delaware and Hawaii. It does not include Iowa, the country's biggest corn producer.

The first six months of this year were the warmest on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Twenty-eight states east of the Rockies set temperature records.

Those record-breaking temperatures deepened drought conditions across much of the American west, triggering an early and violent season of wildfires in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

The heat also destroyed expectations of a bumper corn crop. American farmers planted more than 96m acres of corn this year, the most in 75 years.

The early spring got the crop off to a good start but , after June's extreme heat, only 40% of the crop was in good condition, according to USDA figures.

From the midwest to the mid-Atlantic, meanwhile, there were triple digit temperatures, breaking hundreds of heat records. On Thursday, St Louis confirmed 18 deaths due to extreme heat conditions.

"The recent heat and dryness is catching up with us on a national scale," Michael Hayes, director of the national drought mitigation centre said in a statement.

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Best of our wild blogs: 12 Jul 12

19 Jul (Thu): The Wallace Lectures "Marine Biodiversity in Australia: Exploration, Documentation, Conservation and Public Engagement" from wild shores of singapore

Sungei Loyang (11 Jul 2012)
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Giant clams in Singapore and how to save them
from wild shores of singapore

Piece of cake
from The annotated budak and Lepus marinus

Hornbills at Lily Avenue, Singapore
from Bird Ecology Study Group

ButterflyCircle Plays Host to US Researcher
from Butterflies of Singapore

Hello from Singapore! (@HellofrmSG)
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Tales from Rimba 5: Give them (us) a break
from Nature rambles

Singapore’s National Climate Change Strategy 2012 – Random Thoughts from Low Carbon Singapore

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Wild boar culling to go ahead: NParks

In response to petition from residents, it says move is necessary to protect forest
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 12 Jul 12;

RESIDENTS of Old Upper Thomson Road who started an online petition to ask the National Parks Board (NParks) not to cull wild boars in their neighbourhood have been told that their wish has not been granted.

The petition, which garnered 150 signatures, was submitted to Mr Inderjit Singh, MP of the area, last Friday.

Some of the petitioners had urged NParks to study other options such as sterilising or relocating the animals, or housing them in the zoo.

'The Australians have their koalas and the Chinese have their pandas. There is no reason we should not take pride in the creatures found in our own backyard,' said resident Constance Ong, 47, a housewife.

The e-mail message to Mr Singh also asked for a scientific count of the boars in the Lower Peirce area, and for a panel of experts to be assembled to discuss how to manage its population. He had given the petition to NParks on the petitioners' behalf.

But NParks responded last night, saying the culling will go ahead. 'We know that reducing the wild boar population in the Lower Peirce area by culling is not popular,' it said in an e-mail message.

'Having taken into consideration the views of experts, we conclude that it is, however, necessary.'

Boars have been in the spotlight since The Straits Times reported last month that NParks was considering culling them in the Lower Peirce area. Its conservation director Wong Tuan Wah has said the decision is necessary to protect the Lower Peirce forest and lower the risk of human-boar conflicts.

In an interview with The Straits Times last month, he said NParks staff had observed two herds totalling some 80 to 100 boars in the 1.5 sq km area, about the size of 340 football fields.

This population density, which could double by the end of the year, far exceeds that of other forests such as the Pasoh Forest Reserve in Malaysia, where extensive damage to flora and fauna has been recorded, he noted.

'You can now see far into the Lower Peirce forest, which would not have been the case if the seedlings and tree saplings had been given the chance to grow,' he said.

He added that a boar attacked people in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park last month and killed a pet dog at the Chestnut area in Upper Bukit Timah last December.

'We don't want to wait for a serious accident to happen before taking action,' he said.

The agency said it had ruled out sterilisation and contraceptives after consulting veterinarians. Chemical contraceptives on the market now would require follow-up injections, which are not practical for the free-ranging boar, said Mr Wong.

Surgical sterilisation would require capturing and sedating the animals, which is invasive and stressful for them.

Dr Shawn Lum, president of the Nature Society, said relocating the boars to other reserves on the island would only transfer the problem elsewhere, especially since their numbers already appear to be too high for Singapore.

NParks said other measures such as public education on the animals will be carried out. It will also explore other options in future, such as removing the boars' food source in the Lower Peirce area.

But it added that culling may be necessary on a regular basis if the population continues to grow. It said it is still working with Wildlife Reserves Singapore to explore a culling method.

Ms Ong said: 'We're a bit disappointed, but we'll keep trying, perhaps by seeking the views of experts ourselves.'

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Gardens by the Bay looking at ways to control stray dogs

Jalelah Abu Baker Straits Times 12 Jul 12;

GARDENS by the Bay will be exploring various options to improve the stray dog situation in the park after a woman was bitten by one on Monday evening.

A spokesman said yesterday that the stray dog had ventured into the park's Bay East Garden from a nearby worksite.

The mega park opened last month, but two more sections of the project are still being built.

The Bay South Garden is the biggest, and was completed after five years of construction.

A spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said dog traps have been placed in the park, and it has been conducting control operations since January in view of stray dog sightings in the area.

The attack on Monday was the first time such a case has happened since the 101ha attraction opened on June 29.

So far, seven dogs have been rounded up. Two of them were rehomed and five euthanised, said the AVA.

One dog was also caught in a dog trap set up at the Bay East Garden and subsequently euthanised.

The 22-year-old woman was attacked by what may have been a large mongrel when she was strolling in the Bay East Garden at about 6.30pm.

The section, located in the Tanjong Rhu area, is frequented by joggers. It is believed that there were two other dogs in the area during the attack.

The woman, who was bleeding from her legs, was ferried in an ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but has since been discharged.

Staff from Gardens by the Bay have visited her, and will continue to render assistance, the spokesman said.

Mr Ricky Yeo, president of Action for Singapore Dogs, said that the best thing a person who accidentally enters the territory of a pack of two or more dogs can do is try not to scream or flail his arms.

He explained that dogs gain strength in numbers.

'If they are at a distance, once you see them, avoid them,' he said. 'By avoiding, it means no eye contact, and try to change your direction.'

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Towards a robust clean air strategy

Grace Chua Straits Times 12 Jul 12;

LAST week, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), a think tank, launched a Clean City Air Coalition to raise awareness of air pollution issues in the region and even within Singapore.

Our island-state has better air quality than many South-east Asian neighbours but it is still not up to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

Air pollutant levels here, while on a downward trend since 2005, were actually worse last year than in 2007, according to statistics released by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources last month.

Critics say there are gaps in both data and policy, and a lack of comprehensive air quality management.

Still, done right, there are opportunities for Singapore to lead in managing urban air pollution, they add.

Data issues can be sticky and the first hurdle is defining what is clean air exactly. The way WHO sees it, the goal is protecting human health so the levels of pollutants in air must be so low as to have a significant reduction in health risks.

Each year, some three million people around the world die prematurely from indoor and outdoor air pollution. Urban air pollution, such as black-carbon particles from transport systems, is a big culprit.

In Singapore, there have been a handful of studies on air pollution and human health - some linking haze to asthma and one showing that hawker centre workers have up to twice the normal risk of cancer from higher exposure to fine particles generated by cooking.

The next challenge is measuring the pollutants. While there are five key pollutants in Singapore's Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) - sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and particulate matter - they are not the only villains.

The five are used as indicators as they are relatively easy to measure and correlated with a cocktail of other airborne toxics. For example, nitrogen dioxide emissions from vehicles tend to increase in tandem with benzene or particulate matter levels.

Not included in the PSI is a pollutant known as PM2.5 or particles smaller than 2.5 microns in size. Still, it is measured because the finer the particle, the more likely it is to penetrate the lungs and the more dangerous it is to human health.

Last year, the annual mean PM2.5 level here was 17 micrograms per cubic metre. The National Environment Agency (NEA) aims to cut that to 12 by 2020. The WHO standard is 10 micrograms per cubic metre.

Similarly, the local standards for sulphur dioxide, ozone and particulate matter do not meet the WHO ideals.

A second problem for policymakers is that efforts at clearing the air, while staving off climate change, can be at odds with each other.

At last week's Clean Air Forum, organised by SIIA as part of the Clean Enviro Summit at Marina Bay Sands, National University of Singapore researcher Kua Harn Wei illustrated the contradiction with the example of catalytic converters which convert toxic chemicals from vehicle emissions into less toxic ones. These may reduce the amount of carbon monoxide belched out from tailpipes but they can also increase the amount of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. So this measure aimed at cleaning up pollutants ends up feeding global warming.

SIIA director and Nominated Member of Parliament Nicholas Fang pointed out at the same forum that low-carbon diesel cuts carbon emissions but can spew particulate matter into the air, giving some people breathing problems.

Yet another example is the power plant being built on Jurong Island to burn low-sulphur, low-ash coal, palm shells and wood waste. The good news is that new technologies may keep ash and sulphur dioxide from being pumped into the air but the fact is that coal still generates more greenhouse gas emissions than natural gas.

It can seem as though climate change and air quality are managed completely in isolation from each other.

Scientists also point out that Singapore needs more detailed risk assessments, maps and models of air pollution.

In May, atmospheric scientists Matthias Roth of the National University of Singapore and Erik Velasco of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology published a paper pointing out gaps and identifying the opportunities in Singapore's air pollution management.

The paper acknowledged: 'Singapore is far from being a hazy and highly polluted city.'

But it also noted a gap. Singapore has specific air quality targets, and it has long trumpeted its general strategies for improving air quality, such as promoting public transport, improving energy efficiency or enhancing land use planning - yet there is no apparent technical analysis of how well these will work to reach the proposed targets.

It said: 'A formal risk assessment... which evaluates the co-benefits for other pollutants of attaining these standards, is not apparent, nor is there an air quality management plan for addressing these goals.'

Dr Roth and Dr Velasco suggested more models and maps of how air pollutant levels vary in time and space, even as frequently as hourly or daily, and recommended studies into how multiple pollutants are formed, emitted and transported in Singapore's tropical urban atmosphere. There could be more live maps and visualisations of air quality, such as Europe's live ozone-pollution map. And there should be more specific, detailed inventories of emissions - to better protect those in high-risk micro-environments like hawker centres.

Plus, the researchers said, air quality management must take into account seasonal shifts in weather patterns, such as the annual south-west monsoon. For instance, more than half of sulphur dioxide emissions here come from refineries located in the south-west, either on the mainland or offshore. When the wind blows from that direction during the monsoon, residents in those areas could be affected.

It can't be denied that Singapore's efforts at air pollution management are evolving. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan had told Parliament earlier this year that the NEA is reviewing PSI to include reports on the levels of PM2.5 on its website more frequently, although he did not say when that would start.

In another change, the NEA stipulated that from this month, newly imported non-road diesel engines, such as those in cranes, excavators, forklifts and diesel generators, must meet more stringent emissions standards.

There may be room, too, for private industry to get involved in managing air pollution. Last week, computing giant IBM signed a $13 million collaboration with the NEA, funded by both and the Economic Development Board, to develop better models of various environmental risks - including air quality.

The SIIA's Clean City Air Coalition comprises parties involved in controlling air pollution, such as Senoko Energy, and those who could bear the brunt of failed efforts at controlling air pollution, such as the Sentosa Leisure Group.

Such firms have contributed about $100,000 in funding to the coalition, which aims to increase companies' and the public's understanding of what clean air really means and help shape regulatory policy.

If air quality measurements can be crowd-sourced, say by snapping geo-tagged pictures of smoky installations or with the sort of smartphone air quality sensors now being developed elsewhere, better air quality management need not be costly.

In fact, as Dr Roth and Dr Velasco pointed out, Singapore could be at the forefront of tropical air quality research and management. Combined with its strengths in water management and green building design, this would help seal the island-state's reputation as a sustainable green city.

But first, let's usher in a comprehensive air quality management strategy.

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Malaysia: Pulling sea turtles from the brink

The leatherbacks are not the only ones going extinct. The Olive Ridley and Green turtles are also in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth, writes Jaspal Singh
New Straits Times 12 Jul 12;

THE mere mention of turtles is bound to conjure up images of large leatherback reptiles pulling their weight slowly to lay eggs on Terengganu's famous Rantau Abang beach.

The shores of Rantau Abang have become famous, thanks largely to the immense publicity the threatened leatherback species has received due to its endangered species tag.

But many are not aware that there are other endangered turtle species, albeit smaller in size, which come to the Malaysian peninsula shores to lay their eggs.

Two of them -- the Olive Ridley and the Green turtle -- have made Malaysian shores their home for generations. Dozens come here every year to lay eggs.

And to the surprise of many, it is not the east coast that these species are calling home.

It is the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Both the Olive Ridley and the Green turtles have made Perak, Penang and Malacca home, where each year mother turtles swim to the shore at night to lay eggs.

Of the three locations, Perak receives the highest number. Dozens of turtles crawl up to the beach of Kampung Segari almost every month.

With the highest concentration of the Olive Ridley and the Green turtles at the shores of Kampung Segari, Pasir Panjang, located 95km south-west of Ipoh, it is surprising that many Malaysians are still unaware that they can visit the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre or TUMEC to learn more about these reptiles.

It is at TUMEC, established by the Fisheries Department, that intense efforts are being undertaken to prevent the Olive Ridley and the Green turtles from disappearing from the face of the planet.

Located on a 2.4ha site, less than 50m from the spot where the turtles come to lay eggs, the centre boasts not only an information centre for visitors, but more importantly, a hatchery.

The centre, according to Perak Fisheries Department director Sani Mohd Isa, is involved with five main programmes -- turtles hatchery, hatchling release, conservation, public awareness and research.

"These programmes are linked to our primary focus, which is protecting turtles from the threat of extinction.

"Both Olive Ridley and Green turtles are threatened species. At TUMEC, we take every effort to make sure that these two species are protected," he said when met after the opening of the Turtle Conservation Awareness Talk at the centre yesterday.

The one-day event, which involved students from four schools near the centre, was organised by Malakoff Corporation Berhad as part of the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative to spread awareness of turtle conservation among the younger generation.

Sani, who takes a keen interest in turtle conservation, said TUMEC's main priority was the hatchery programme and hatchling release.

Last year, turtles from the two species laid about 8,000 eggs, of which half were hatched and released back to the ocean.

Until June this year, the turtles laid about 2,300 eggs, of which 430 were hatched.

According to Sani, the lower figure for this year did not mean that there were fewer turtles coming to the shore to lay their eggs.

"Turtles are in the habit of searching for proper egg-laying spots. Sometimes they would visit Kampung Segari shores two or three times before laying eggs.

"What is more important is the role played by TUMEC to conserve these species. Once the eggs are laid, we immediately dig them out and bury them in our hatchery a few metres away from the beach," he said, pointing out that the turtles would come to the shore between 1am and 5am to lay eggs.

A fertile female turtle could lay up to 150 eggs per beach trip. The eggs are buried in sand hatchery for a period of up to eight months. If the eggs do not hatch, they are then dug out and disposed of.

Hatchlings from eggs successfully hatched are then removed to small sea-water cubicles where they will be kept and fed for a month before being released into the sea.

Sani said the sand at the hatchery was replaced every year to avoid spread of bacteria or other life-threatening organisms.

Despite the organised structure and system at the centre, Sani said TUMEC was in continuous need of funding to ensure that its programmes were run without hiccups.

"We receive funding both from the Federal and state governments but this is not adequate.

"We can only hope that more companies will embrace turtle conservation as part of their CSR programmes like that done by Malakoff," he said.

Malakoff's programme saw students from SK Segari, SJK (T) Ladang Huntly, SJK (C) Pei Min and Sekolah Agama Rakyat Segari taking part in a quiz, tour of TUMEC's various facilities, colouring contest, gotong-royong at the turtle beach and witnessing the release of about 60 hatchlings into the sea.

Malakoff, which is conducting the turtle CSR programme for the second year, presented a cheque for RM10,000 to help improve amenities at the centre.

"The turtle conservation effort in Perak is still not widely known but we are trying our best. Malaysians can certainly do more if they are aware about how important it is to protect these sea creatures.

"Do it for the coming generations so that they too can see and touch these graceful and beautiful turtles," he said.

The days of turtles in PD long gone
The Star 16 Jul 12;

I REMEMBER going fishing with my father, uncle and brothers in the waters around Port Dickson.

During the late 80s and early 90s every 10 to 15 minutes, we could see or hear turtles coming up for air.

It was always exciting to hear the gulping of air and the splash of water as this beautiful animal dived back into the deep blue sea.

I still go fishing around Port Dickson but sad to say, I hardly see or hear the turtle anymore.

More effort must be made to save this beautiful animal.

It’s really sad to hear that the Leatherback and the Olive Ridley sea turtles are already extinct in Malaysian waters.

There are many reasons why this has happened. But the most damaging one is the collection and consumption of turtle eggs.

It’s high time that the Federal Government ban the sale of turtle eggs for consumption.

Kuala Terengganu, popularly known as the country’s “turtle town”, is slowly losing its name as such.

Turtle eggs are still being sold openly at wet markets all around Kuala Terengganu.

I hope the the state government will ban its sale.

If that does not happen, then the Federal Government should step in and do the right thing.

LIONEL PERERA
Port Dickson

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