Best of our wild blogs: 15 Nov 12

Surprises on Labrador
from wild shores of singapore

Volunteer opportunities as Field Assistants for Honours Field Projects. Dec 2012 – Mar 2013 from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Orthoptera in the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserves (Part 2): Suborder Ensifera from Raffles Museum News

Escaped the rain with special finds at Semakau
from wonderful creation

osprey @ SBWR - Nov2012
from sgbeachbum

Plant-Bird Relationship: 12. Agavaceae, Amaranthaceae, Araceae, Araliaceae and Avicenniaceae from Bird Ecology Study Group

Job: P/T Outreach Coordinator, “Mapping Nature, Mapping Memories In Tanglin Halt” (immediate) from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

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Mangroves under threat from shrimp farms - UN

* Intact mangroves worth more than fish farms
* Mangroves support sealife, slow climate change
* Around a fifth of mangroves lost since 1980
Alister Doyle Reuters 14 Nov 12;

OSLO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Valuable mangrove forests that protect coastlines, sustain sealife and help slow climate change are being wrecked by the spread of shrimp and fish farms, a U.N.-backed study showed on Wednesday.

About a fifth of mangroves worldwide have been lost since 1980, mostly because of clearance to make way for the farms which often get choked with waste, antibiotics and fertilisers, according to the study.

Intact mangroves were almost always more valuable than shrimp farms, said its authors, who drew on forestry and conservation expertise from several U.N. organisations.

Mangroves - trees and shrubs that grow in salty coastal sediment - can be found in 123 nations in the tropics and sub-tropics and cover an area slightly larger than Nepal. They are nurseries for wild fish stocks, sources of wood for building and serve as buffers to storm surges.

They absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from burning of fossil fuels, and store it in their roots. And their growth can help counteract the effects of rising sea levels as it elevates coastlines.

"There is an opportunity for many countries to go for restoration of mangroves," Hanneke Van Lavieren, lead author of the study at the U.N. University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNWEH), told Reuters.

"Mangroves can be seen as a key ecosystem for food security in the world," she said.

VALUABLE RESOURCE

Many of the shrimp farms are in southeast Asian nations. World production surged to about 2.8 million tonnes in 2008 from about 500,000 two decades earlier, mostly in China, Thailand and Indonesia.

The fish farmers are often encouraged by subsidies to expand, even though other lucrative businesses depend on mangroves for their own survival.

Wild prawns caught off Australia's Northern Territories and Queensland, for instance, rely on mangroves to grow and are one of the country's most valuable fisheries, earning almost $72 million a year, the report said.

Protecting almost 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of mangroves in Vietnam cost about $1 million but saved more than $7 million on dyke maintenance, it said.

Countries such as Australia and Brazil had been good at preserving their mangroves while nations including Indonesia, China and Vietnam had lost big tracts and projects to restore them needed more support.

Zafar Adeel, head of UNWEH, suggested that people could also choose to avoid buying shrimps raised in farms.

"We as consumers internationally play a big role," he said. "For the first time in human history about half the global population is living in coastal areas. The stresses are going to be higher." (Reporting By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

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Indonesia: Banks and funds put on notice on Asia Pulp and Paper deforestation

Banks and funds put on notice on Sumatra pulp mill investment risk
WWF 14 Nov 12;

Banks and other financial institutions have been asked for assurances they will not provide investment support to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) plans for additional pulping capacity in already massively deforested Sumatra.

A letter to financial institutions, signed by 60 environmental and social non-governmental organisations, highlights that APP’s record on keeping promises to investors is as bad as its record on keeping to a series of commitments to abandon its assault on native forests housing critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants.

“We believe that potential investors should be as concerned with APPs practices as the major companies no longer buying paper and packaging materials from the company,” said WWF International Forest Programme director Rod Taylor.

“If potential reputational risk is not enough, alarm bells should ring over the company’s default on nearly $US14 billion of debt in 2001 and the company’s current conduct in US courts over meeting obligations to some of its former investors.”

APP’s new mill would produce between 1.5 and 2.0 million tonnes per year of bleached hardwood pulp, making it the largest single pulp line in the world. Respected Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has estimated that APP and supplier companies have already pulped more than two million hectares of natural rainforests in Riau province Sumatra alone.

The letter highlights APP's failures to honor environmental covenants given during restructuring of some of its debt and to the continuing loss of major customers (such as Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, Unilever, Nestle, Danone, Xerox, Mondi) as a result of concerns about its deforestation practices, community conflict and business and reputational risks to buyers.

“Indonesia is a potentially promising place to conduct investment in pulp and paper, with its humid climate and year-long sunlight which enables pulp wood to mature much quicker compared to subtropical countries, unfortunately this is being brought into disrepute by the destructive practises of APP which continues to rely on natural forest clearing for its pulp supply,” said WWF Indonesia’s Conservation Director, Nazir Foead.

The letter to banks and other financial institutions

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Vietnam may evict bears from 'protected' park land

Mike Ives Associated Press Google News 14 Nov 12;

TAM DAO, Vietnam (AP) — Bears, some of them blinded or maimed, play behind tall green fences like children at school recess. Rescued from Asia's bear bile trade, they were brought to live in this lush national park, but now they may need saving once more.

The future of the bears' sanctuary has been in doubt since July, when a vice defense minister ordered the nonprofit group operating the $2 million center not to expand further and to find another location. U.S. politicians and officials in other countries are among those urging the military to back off.

The defense official wrote, without elaborating, that the Chat Dau Valley is of strategic military interest, but environmentalists allege that vested interests have urged an eviction. They point to documents showing that the daughter of the park's director is involved in a proposed ecotourism venture that wants to lease park land.

Conservation groups say the dispute in Tam Dao National Park is emblematic of conflicts brewing across Vietnam's protected areas. When developers want the land, they say, environmental safeguards disappear.

Vietnamese laws adhere to international environmental standards, but in practice are "minor considerations" in land-use and infrastructure-planning decisions, the World Bank said in a report last year.

Vietnam is among the most biologically diverse countries on earth, comprising less than 1 percent of the world's land but about 10 percent of its species. But the report noted that its protected areas are suffering from deforestation and habitat loss.

"It doesn't matter if the forests are protected by law or not," said Trinh Le Nguyen, executive director of People and Nature Reconciliation, one of Vietnam's few locally based conservation groups. If officials and community groups are not vocal enough, "then the private sector will try (to get) wealthier and wealthier."

Conservationists cite the example of northern Ba Be National Park, where pollution from ore mining is said to threaten a freshwater lake that has received accolades from an international environmental convention. Scientists and hundreds of residents have protested that the pollution is causing the lake's water quality to deteriorate, state media reported last year. A local Communist Party official also has called for a probe into what the state-run Vietnam News Agency calls "rampant deforestation" by loggers inside the park.

Elsewhere, a proposal to develop two hydropower plants in Cat Tien National Park in the south has triggered opposition because the dams would inundate forests.

"It took generations to establish and maintain our national parks," said former park director Tran Van Thanh, who is calling for the proposal to be scrapped. "It would be a waste if we have to surrender parts of our forests for economic development."

Vietnam first established protected lands in the 1960s, and the network has grown to include 30 national parks and scores of other protected areas spanning forests and wetlands. But experts say local development agendas often trump larger conservation goals as officials sell off protected territory for mines, hydropower dams and infrastructure or real estate projects.

Tensions between conservation and development have only increased over the last decade in Vietnam. Land developers have become wealthy, powerful and ambitious on the back of rapid economic growth. Protected areas are typically under the control of local officials, who receive little funding for conservation and view the areas as potential sources of revenue.

"Vietnam is at a real crossroads where it has to make some hard decisions about whether or not it values biodiversity conservation," said Pamela McElwee, a professor of human ecology at Rutgers University who conducts research in Vietnam's protected areas. "The majority of folks working in the protected-area system are genuinely dedicated ... but they're facing really powerful interests."

Vietnam's poor enforcement of environmental laws is adding to international criticism of its ruling Communist Party, which is castigated for its human rights record and its handling of a sagging economy.

Ten conservation groups, several foreign embassies and U.S. politicians have written to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in recent weeks urging him to not close the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre, which lies 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of the capital, Hanoi.

They were alarmed by Vice Defense Minister Do Ba Ty's July letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He directed the center not to expand further and to find an alternate site in partnership with local officials. He wrote that the Chat Dau Valley is of "strategic importance to national defense."

"The expansion of the bear rescue center in this valley will have direct impact on military projects," the letter said, according to a copy given to the Associated Press by the sanctuary's nonprofit operator, Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation. The letter did not explain why the land was of strategic importance.

Seven Democratic U.S. representatives urged Dung to protect the sanctuary in a Nov. 5 letter. "The claim that the land is an area of national defense significance is questionable," they said, noting that the bear center has operated since 2005 and the park has welcomed tourism since 1996. The lead signer was Rep. Sam Farr of California.

Animals Asia says an eviction would leave 104 rescued bears homeless and waste its $2 million investment, which was funded entirely by international foundations, corporations and private donors. It says after an initial trial period, the prime minister in 2008 approved its plan to build facilities on about 11 hectares (27 acres) inside the roughly 39,000-hectare park, and that the center has so far expanded to half those 11 hectares.

The group rescued bears that were being used to produce bear bile, which has historically been used in China and other Asian countries to treat fevers, pain, inflammation and other ailments. Bears are typically captured in forests and transported to farms, where the green bile is sucked from their gall bladders in a painful process that sometimes kills them.

In recent weeks, Animals Asia has waged a public relations campaign alleging park director Do Dinh Tien has a personal stake in an ecotourism venture proposed for the park by the Hanoi company Truong Giang Group.

Animals Asia's Vietnam director, Tuan Bendixsen, said he believes the ecotourism project would be built on the undeveloped half of the bear center's 11 hectares. Documents show the company in March sent a team of surveyors to evaluate that parcel and other park land for development.

"He wants to take half the land, and he can't get it, and that's why he's creating all this trouble for us," Bendixsen said of the park director.

In September 2011, Do Dinh Tien asked the agriculture ministry to approve separate plans by three companies, including Truong Giang, to develop ecotourism in Tam Dao's national park, according to documents given to the AP.

Documents show that days earlier, Truong Giang had asked Tien for permission to lease 48 hectares of land in Tam Dao for an "ecological tourism and entertainment project." Truong Giang's registration papers list Tien's daughter, Do Thi Ngan, as one of its four shareholders.

Ngan and officials at the agriculture and defense ministries declined to comment.

In an interview, Tien declined to discuss his daughter's relationship to the company, saying he has not yet discussed the matter with her. But he insisted he has never lobbied for the company's interests.

"From my perspective, the bear center can go ahead if it follows procedures," Tien said recently at park headquarters. "But I can't speak for the Ministry of Defense."

State media say the agriculture ministry is working with the central government to resolve the dispute. The prime minister has final say over the bear center's fate.

National Assembly Deputy Duong Trung Quoc was quoted by online newspaper Vietnamnet Wednesday as saying evicting the bear center could anger the international community.

"It would do harm to our country's image," he said.

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Expedition to Count Endangered Chinese Porpoises

LiveScience.com Yahoo News 14 Nov 12;

How many finless porpoises are left in China's Yangtze River? An expedition is under way to count how many of these endangered animals survive in the heavily polluted waterway.

There are less than 1,800 of the animals in the wild, mainly in the central and lower reaches of the 3,915-mile (6,300 kilometers) Yangtze River and two large adjoining lakes, Dongting and Poyang.

Two recent surveys found that populations of the endangered animal, the only freshwater finless porpoise in the world, had plummeted in Dongting Lake. Numbers in Poyang, however, remained relatively stable — 450 porpoises were counted there, the WWF, which is helping to organize the expedition, reported.

Nevertheless, estimates suggest the animal could go extinct within 15 years if major steps aren't taken to address the porpoise's plight. It's most threatened by water pollution, sand dredging, strikes by boat propellers and electro-fishing, a technique that stuns fish — and porpoises — by sending an electric current into the water, according to the WWF.

The expedition comes six years after a similar trek along the Yangtze that failed to find any surviving Baiji dolphins, a close relative of the finless porpoise that was subsequently declared functionally extinct.

"We are not optimistic about the estimated results in the mainstream investigation at this moment," said Wang Ding, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Hydrobiology, in the statement.

"As a symbol of the Yangtze ecosystem, the status of the finless porpoise is a reflection of the health of the Yangtze River," added colleague Wang Kexiong. "It has already lost the Baiji dolphin, and cannot bear losing the Yangtze finless porpoise."

The expedition will cover a 1,055-mile (1,700 km) expanse of the Yangtze. Preliminary results will be announced in mid- to late December, and the complete report will be released in March 2013.

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The beasts from Brazil: country aims to clone endangered species

Scientists set to clone species including jaguars, anteaters and wolves for zoos, but project is likely to concern conservationists
Jonathan Watts and agencies The Guardian 14 Nov 12;

Brazilian scientists are preparing to clone and hybridise jaguars, collared anteaters, maned wolves and other endangered species in an effort to ease pressure on creatures in the wild.

The project is being designed to supply zoos, but it appears likely to generate unease among conservationists who are already concerned that rare animal farming generates market demand and distracts from the more important task of habitat protection.

For the past two years, researchers at the agricultural research agency Embrapa and the Brasilia Zoological Garden have gathered somatic cells and spermatozoa from eight threatened species, including grey brocket deer, bison, coati, black lion tamarins and bush dogs, according to local media.

In the next stage, they plan to apply for permission from the government to conduct experiments on the 420 samples they have collected with the ultimate aim of reproducing the animals.

Cloned, hybridised and captive-bred animals have little or no genetic value and could potentially weaken wild populations if they are mixed.

The scientists behind the project say, however, that their goal is captive breeding and public shows rather than replenishing wild populations.

"The cloning is specifically for zoos. We don't want it to become a conservation technique," Carlos Frederico Martins, a researcher with Embrapa, told the Guardian. "The idea is to test cloning technology so the zoo has its own repository of animals, which will avoid the need to take species from their natural habitat."

Until now, almost all of the samples have come from the Cerrado savannah in Brazil, but researchers say they will build up their collection of genetic stock from a wider area and range of species, including exotic species such as African elephants and giraffes. In addition to cloning, they plan to conduct tests on semen alteration and embryo production.

He previously told the IPS news agency that the first animal to be cloned was likely to be the maned wolf, though there is as yet no timetable.

The agency has experience of cloning since 2001, though until now it has mainly focused on livestock such as cows and horses.

Brazil is not the first country where similar techniques are being considered for endangered animals. In recent years, there have been reports that US scientists are trying to clone South African black-footed cats, Indian researchers are working on wild buffalo, the Chinese on the giant panda and the Japanese on whales and even the long extinct woolly mammoth.

Conservationists have previously criticised captive-breeding programmes – particularly in the case of tigers, Asiatic black bears and giant pandas – for commercialisation, fostering complacency about rare species, undermining habitat protection and providing an excuse for the resumption of banned trades in animal parts.

Additional research by Carolina Massote

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Rat kill in Galapagos Islands targets 180 million

Gonzalo Solano Associated Press Yahoo News 15 Nov 12;

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The unique bird and reptile species that make the Galapagos Islands a treasure for scientists and tourists must be preserved, Ecuadorean authorities say — and that means the rats must die, hundreds of millions of them.

A helicopter is to begin dropping nearly 22 tons of specially designed poison bait on an island Thursday, launching the second phase of a campaign to clear out by 2020 non-native rodents from the archipelago that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

The invasive Norway and black rats, introduced by whalers and buccaneers beginning in the 17th century, feed on the eggs and hatchlings of the islands' native species, which include giant tortoises, lava lizards, snakes, hawks and iguanas. Rats also have depleted plants on which native species feed.

The rats have critically endangered bird species on the 19-island cluster 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from Ecuador's coast.

"It's one of the worst problems the Galapagos have. (Rats) reproduce every three months and eat everything," said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a specialist with the Nature Conservancy involved in the Phase II eradication operation on Pinzon island and the islet of Plaza Sur.

Phase I of the anti-rat campaign began in January 2011 on Rabida island and about a dozen islets, which like Pinzon and Plaza Sur are also uninhabited by humans.

The goal is to kill off all nonnative rodents, beginning with the Galapagos' smaller islands, without endangering other wildlife. The islands where humans reside, Isabela and Santa Cruz, will come last.

Previous efforts to eradicate invasive species have removed goats, cats, burros and pigs from various islands.

Pinzon is about seven square miles (1,812 hectares) in area, while Plaza Sur encompasses just 24 acres (9.6 hectares).

"This is a very expensive but totally necessary war," said Gonzalez.

The rat infestation has now reached one per square foot (about 10 per square meter) on Pinzon, where an estimated 180 million rodents reside.

The director of conservation for the Galapagos National Park Service, Danny Rueda, called the raticide the largest ever in South America.

The poisoned bait, developed by Bell Laboratories in the United States, is contained in light blue cubes that attract rats but are repulsive to other inhabitants of the islands. The one-centimeter-square cubes disintegrate in a week or so.

Park official Cristian Sevilla said the poison will be dropped on Pinzon and Plaza Sur through the end of November.

A total of 34 hawks from Pinzon were trapped in order to protect them from eating rodents that consume the poison, Sevilla said. They are to be released in early January.

On Plaza Sur, 40 iguanas were also captured temporarily for their own protection.

Asked whether a large number of decomposing rats would create an environmental problem, Rueda said the poison was specially engineered with a strong anti-coagulant that will make the rats dry up and disintegrate in less than eight days without a stench.

It will help that the average temperature of the islands is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), he added.

The current $1.8 million phase of the project is financed by the national park and nonprofit conservation groups including Island Conservation.

The Galapagos were declared protected as a UNESCO Natural Heritage site in 1978. In 2007, UNESCO declared them at risk due to harm from invasive species, tourism and immigration.

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

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Best of our wild blogs: 14 Nov 12

Blooming seagrasses of Pulau Semakau
from wild shores of singapore

nesting grey headed fish eagle II @ neo tiew - Nov2012
from sgbeachbum

Community Herb Garden @ NTU
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

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PUB cleans up Pang Sua canal foam, monitors water quality

Kimberly Spykerman Channel NewsAsia 13 Nov 12;


The foam drifted to the canal after a warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said about 40 barrels of detergent-based concentrate were damaged during the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal. (Photo: Thomas Lau)

SINGAPORE: Clean-up work is ongoing at Pang Sua Canal in Choa Chu Kang after the canal and the nearby park areas were hit by foam.

The foam made its way here after the warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the warehouse stored about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate, each holding about 200 litres of the detergent.

About 40 barrels were damaged, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal.

The SCDF said the product is bio-degradable and soluble in water.

As a precautionary measure, PUB has stopped pumping water from Sungei Pang Sua until the foam is completely cleared.

PUB assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

It is monitoring the water quality.

Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency, Mr Alex Yam, assured residents that the foam is non-toxic and is bio-degradable.

He advised residents to be careful along the roads beside the canal as the light foam can drift onto the footpaths and roads.

He said the canal sluice prevented the foam from entering the Pang Sua River, which is at the northern tip of Yew Tee.

The clean-up follows a fire at about 8.50pm on Monday at a single-storey warehouse, about the size of a football field.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the warehouse was stacked with wood, metal and food products - as high as six metres - causing the place to be smoke-logged and making it difficult for firefighters to get to the affected areas.

At the height of the fire, the SCDF used seven water jets to contain the fire.

The fire was brought under control within two hours.

One firefighter was sent to the National University Hospital for heat exhaustion.

The SCDF is investigating the cause of the blaze.

- CNA/xq/fa

Foam at Pang Sua Canal mostly cleaned up
Kimberly Spykerman Channel NewsAsia 13 Nov 12;


A photo provided by a member of the public showing clumps of white foam in a canal and at a park in Choa Chu Kang. (Photo: Thomas Lau)

SINGAPORE: The huge clouds of foam that engulfed the Pang Sua Canal at Choa Chu Kang on Tuesday morning have been mostly cleaned up, said national water agency PUB.

At about 5pm, PUB said in a Facebook update that the foam, which is non-toxic and is bio-degradable, has been mostly cleared up.

The clean-up work started in the morning after the canal and the nearby park areas were hit by foam.

The foam made its way to the canal after the warehouse blaze in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the warehouse stored about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate, each holding about 200 litres of the detergent.

About 40 barrels were damaged, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse and sparking a mop-up of Pang Sua Canal.

PUB said its officers are still clearing up the remaining foam and it is monitoring the water quality closely.

As a precautionary measure, PUB has stopped pumping water from Sungei Pang Sua until the foam is completely cleared.

PUB assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

- CNA/fa

'Clouds' land in Choa Chu Kang
Straits Times 14 Nov 12;

-- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Residents in Choa Chu Kang woke up yesterday morning to the surreal sight of giant fluffy clouds drifting around their estate. They were carried there by gusts of wind from a buildup of detergent foam in a nearby canal.

A warehouse fire on Monday night had damaged 40 barrels of detergent, which flowed into the canal.

Fiery start, foamy end
Warehouse blaze damaged large barrels of detergent, says SCDF
Janice Tai Straits Times 14 Nov 12;

Foam being blown around the Pang Sua Canal (above) by the wind stopped park connector users in their tracks. -- PHOTOS: KEVIN LIM

CHRISTMAS seemed to have come early for some Choa Chu Kang residents yesterday.

Early-morning park users were greeted by snowy swirls of white foam which stretched for more than 2km along Pang Sua Canal from the junction of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Bukit Panjang Road all the way to Stagmont Ring Road.

"It looked like it was snowing. This is the first time in my life I have seen this in the heartland," said park user William Yap, 57.

He was walking along the Pang Sua Park Connector with his wife at about 7am yesterday when he saw the surreal sight.

Initial speculation was that the foam was the fire retardant used by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which fought a big warehouse fire on Upper Bukit Timah Road on Monday night.

But the SCDF and national water agency PUB later clarified that the foam was likely to have been caused by run-off from barrels of detergent in the warehouse.

There were about 70 barrels of detergent-based concentrate - about 200 litres each - stored there. About 40 barrels were damaged in the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse.

The detergent is bio-degradable and soluble in water.

The SCDF said that only a small amount of foam was used for less than half an hour to put out the fire, so it is unlikely that the amount of foam generated yesterday morning was the result of its fire-fighting efforts.

Strong winds blew the foam from the canal along Woodlands Road onto footpaths and roads. Some pedestrians, worried that the substance may be toxic, were seen dodging the foam.

PUB led the efforts to clean up the foam, with contractors using vacuum tankers to clear the area. It was the first time in recent years that the agency had carried out a foam clean-up in the nation's waterways.

As a precaution, PUB stopped pumping water from Pang Sua Canal that would otherwise be treated for consumption until most of the foam was cleared at around 5pm.

PUB said its officers also monitored the water quality in the canal closely.

It assured residents that raw water from Singapore's reservoirs is treated at its waterworks to meet World Health Organisation drinking water quality standards before it is supplied to households.

Pang Sua Canal runs from Bukit Panjang to Stagmont Ring Road and Choa Chu Kang North, and drains into Kranji Reservoir.

Pang Sua Fishing Deck was also temporarily closed.

Mr Alex Yam, an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, said his grassroots leaders went to the affected area in the morning to advise residents to be careful on the roads onto which the foam had drifted.

A canal sluice prevented the foam from entering Sungei Pang Sua, which is at the northern tip of Yew Tee, he added.

Madam Lee Wei Yin, a resident of Yew Mei Green Condominium on Choa Chu Kang North 6, said flecks of the foam were blown to a height of 15 storeys.

"I live on the 15th floor and there were bits of it on my windows. The security guard told me that waves of the foam started expanding and rising when it was heated up by the morning sun," said the real estate agent, 51.

Madam Lee called the police at 11am yesterday, concerned that traffic might have been disrupted by vehicles stopping temporarily at a nearby bus stop, as drivers'views were obstructed bythefoam on the road.

Others were more amused than alarmed. Within hours of the photos of the huge clouds of foam being posted online, creative netizens began parodying the images.

One portrayal showed Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang and his three disciples - Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - from the Chinese literary classic Journey To The West standing amid clouds of the foam in Choa Chu Kang.

The SCDF is investigating the cause of the blaze.

Kranji Reservoir's water quality okay
It is not affected by recent foam incident, PUB says
Chia Yan Min Straits Times 15 Nov 12;

LABORATORY tests conducted by national water agency PUB have shown that the water quality in Kranji Reservoir has not been affected by the foam incident in Pang Sua Canal.

Two days ago, white foam was seen floating in the canal which drains into the reservoir.

The foam which cropped up along the canal from the junction of Upper Bukit Timah and Bukit Panjang roads to Stagmont Ring Road was a result of a fire at a warehouse along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

The foam was caused by run-off from barrels of detergent-based concentrate in the warehouse.

About 70 barrels - each of about 200 litres in capacity - were stored there. About 40 barrels were damaged in the fire, causing the detergent to flow out of the warehouse.

In a Facebook post yesterday, PUB said it had done tests on water samples and results show the "water quality... is within the normal range".

"PUB would like to assure the public this incident does not affect the water quality in Kranji Reservoir."

The detergent detected in the water by PUB's tests was alkyl polyglucoside surfactant, made from plant-based oils. It "will be readily biodegraded into harmless compounds within a few days".

The agency said raw water in all reservoirs is treated to meet World Health Organisation drinking-water quality guidelines.

Tests are also regularly conducted on water from various sources before it is supplied to the public, as part of PUB's routine monitoring. Parameters tested for include the pH level of the water as well as the amount of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and nitrates it contains.

A resident of Hazel Park Terrace near Upper Bukit Timah Road, who wanted to be known only as Madam Chan, said she had some concerns about the safety of the drinking water.

Said the 61-year-old retiree: "When I took a look at the canal yesterday morning, there wasn't that much foam. My husband did say that he was worried about the drinking water since the canal drains into the reservoir, but since we have not noticed anything different about how our water tastes, we have just continued as normal."

When The Straits Times visited the warehouse yesterday, a Mr Yong, who said he was the landlord, said it was "all black inside" and there was "nothing to see".

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Too much rice

Tan Hui Yee Straits Times 14 Nov 12;
Thailand's rice pledging scheme leads to stockpile of 14 million tonnes
Exports dive due to artificial high price
US worries that stocks will be dumped on world market

BANGKOK - Thailand's rice pledging scheme, which is worrying international producers, is expected to come under scrutiny today at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting.

The United States will ask the Thai government what it is doing to prevent its rice stocks from being dumped on the world market at prices below cost. Reuters news agency reports that the USA Rice Federation alleges the scheme acts as an export subsidy, which is not allowed by the WTO.

The American challenge raises the heat on the government of Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, which has come under fire ever since it started buying rice from farmers at a premium of more than 50 per cent over market prices in October last year to make good on her election promise.

Since then, it has amassed 14 million tonnes of rice stocks, causing exports of the grain to dive 46 per cent in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year. Traders have been unable to sell such expensive rice on the world market. This has threatened to unseat Thailand as the world's top rice exporter,

Still, the Thai government has vowed it will remain the top rice exporter this year and next, to deep scepticism. Thailand exports 10.67 million tonnes of rice last year.

Rice harvests worldwide have been plentiful for three to four years, said Food and Agricultural Organisation expert Ramesh Sharma. This gives Thailand little wiggle room to manipulate rice prices on the world market.

While academics say the government is unlikely to unleash its massive rice stocks cheaply on the world market, The Nation newspaper has reported that Thai traders claim it is already selling rice to selected parties at prices below the acquisition cost.

These leaks, if true, have failed to ease the logjam in the rice industry. Overflowing rice warehouses have led the government to even consider using a cargo building at Don Muang Airport to store rice.

Rice exporter Vichai Sriprasert warns the scheme could end up hurting the people it is meant to benefit. "The farmer is going to suffer huge consequences next season, when he produces the rice but there is nowhere to store it," he said.

Already, some rice millers are feeling the pinch. These companies typically process the rice from farmers before sending it to exporters but the overflowing government warehouses have forced them to slow production.

Kasetchokchai Karnkaset rice mill in the outlying Nong Jok district of Bangkok, for example, is milling only half the amount of rice it normally does because of the space shortage.

Its managing director Choksatid Benjarattanapron said: "Our trucks can be stuck at the warehouse for weeks waiting to unload the milled rice."

The bigger problem is the impact of the rice pledging scheme on Thailand's economy. While the fall in rice sales would merely dent Thailand's exports, its impact on public debt is sizeable.

Economist Nipon Poapongsakorn from the Thailand Development Research Institute estimates the government loses at least 120 billion baht (S$4.7 billion) a year under the scheme.

He said: "This is bringing the Thai economy to a stage where it becomes more vulnerable to future shocks."

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Indonesia: Animal rights group puts bounty on elephant killers

AFP Yahoo News 13 Nov 12;


Image taken on November 10 and provided by the WWF shows the carcass of an endangered Sumatran elephant outside Tesso Nilo National Park in Indonesia. PETA has offered a $1,000 reward for information "leading to the arrest and conviction" of the killers

Animal rights group PETA offered a $1,000 reward Tuesday for information on the killing of three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants near palm oil plantations in Indonesia.

The carcasses of three female elephants, including a year-old calf, were found rotting at the weekend in the jungle on Sumatra island outside the Tesso Nilo National Park, which is surrounded by palm oil plantations.

Park chief Kupin Simbolon said Monday the elephants had likely been poisoned in revenge after plantation workers' huts were destroyed in a recent stampede.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered the reward for information "leading to the arrest and conviction" of the killers.

"These cowardly killers need to be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," PETA Asia vice president Jason Baker said in a statement.

"If poisoned, these elephants endured a slow and agonising death."


Image provided by the WWF shows a man looking at the carcass of an endangered Sumatran elephant outside Tesso Nilo National Park. The three elephant carcasses were found rotting at the weekend in the jungle outside the park, which is surrounded by palm oil plantations

At least 17 elephants have died this year at the park and surrounding districts, mostly from suspected poisoning, Simbolon said, adding that his team was working with police to hunt down the perpetrators in the latest case.

Fewer than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remain in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a 50 percent drop in numbers since 1985.

There has been a spate of elephant and orangutan killings this year around forests converted to palm oil plantations in Indonesia, the world's biggest producer of the edible oil.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature updated the Sumatran elephant's status from "endangered" to "critically endangered" in January, largely due to severe habitat loss caused by plantations.

The category is one step short of "extinct in the wild" and two below "extinct".

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Three Indonesian Cities Declared Subsidence ‘Red Zones’

Jakarta Globe 13 Nov 12;

Three of Indonesia’s biggest cities — Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang — have reported alarming land subsidence rates due to large-scale suction of groundwater by industries, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said on Tuesday.

Jakarta reported the worst rate of subsidence, sinking up to 10 centimeters per year, followed by Semarang at between six and seven centimeters annually. Bandung sinks approximately five centimeters per year.

“Jakarta may sink if we let the situation be. The land subsidence also brings threats of infrastructure and building damage,” said Dodid Murdohardono, the head of the ministry’s Groundwater Resources and Environment Geology Center, during a workshop on groundwater information systems in Jakarta.

He said the three cities had been declared “red zones” due to their groundwater and subsidence problems. Some other big cities such as Medan and Surabaya had also reported subsidence, he added, although their rates were not as dramatic as the three red zones.

Dodid said the problem was attributable to various industries’ large-scale use of groundwater, adding that individuals’ domestic use was still within an agreeable limit.

He urged local administrations to restrict industrial use of groundwater by tightening conditions for the issuance of relevant permits.

The central government is drafting a national groundwater information system to map groundwater potentials and conditions across the country, Dodid added.

“I’ve just been informed that [the president] has signed the government regulation [on the system],” he said, according to Indonesian news portal bisnis.com.

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