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Photos: Forests, peatlands, plantations, and deforestation in Riau from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler
Channel NewsAsia 19 Mar 14;
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said Singapore's overall air quality was in the moderate range on Wednesday. It is expected to stay in that range for the next 24 hours.
As of 8pm, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was between 28 and 37, while the 24-hour PM2.5 measurement was in the moderate range of 15 to 20 micrograms per cubic metre.
NEA said showers in parts of Peninsular Malaysia and central Sumatra on Wednesday afternoon helped to further improve the haze situation there.
Nine hotspots were detected in Peninsular Malaysia while 26 were found in Sumatra.
NEA added that the low hotspot count is due to cloud cover.
As of 4pm, the air quality in most areas of Peninsular Malaysia was in the good range.
NEA said over the next few days, prevailing winds in the surrounding region are forecast to blow mainly from the northeast, and Singapore can expect thundery showers in the afternoon.
- CNA/fa
patrick lee The Star 20 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: Rainfall in the Klang Valley in the past few days has done little to replenish Selangor’s drying dams, with its largest only weeks away from dipping below critical capacity levels.
Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) director Md Khairi Selamat said water levels at most of the state’s dams did not rise despite the rain.
“There has been no water capacity increase in six of the dams in Selangor,” he said, adding that only the Klang Gates Dam saw a very small rise in water level, since cloud seeding started on March 15.
Last Thursday, LUAS on its website stated that the Sungai Selangor Dam was at 40.53% capacity. Latest capacity readings for the state’s largest dam, as of 8am Tuesday, was 38.97%.
The other dams also saw lower water levels than last week: 90.49% (Batu); 51.23% (Klang Gates), 57.55% (Langat), 74.91% (Semenyih), Sungai Tinggi (67.58%) and 90.48% (Tasik Subang).
The Star previously reported that the Sungai Selangor dam’s critical capacity point was at 30%, and that this might be reached in about 24 days from now.
Md Khairi said the release of water from the Sungai Selangor dam, which serves 60% of the state’s water needs, would gradually be limited to 500 million litres a day.
Sungai Tinggi, he added, would also be limited to a water release of between 100 to 200 million litres a day.
He said state-owned company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) helped LUAS by releasing water from ponds in Bestari Jaya into nearby rivers, estimating that about 223 million litres could be released per day.
In 2013, the demand for treated water in both Selangor and the Klang Valley was at 4,641 million litres a day.
National Weather Forecast Centre director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said weather conditions suitable for cloud seeding were expected to last until this Sunday.
“It might not be so good next week. We’re monitoring the conditions every day,” he said.
Muhammad added that there might be a “temporary break” in seeding-conducive weather then, though he did not say how long this would last.
Cloud seeding resumed in Malaysia on March 15 after the Royal Malaysian Air Force recalled a C-130 Hercules from MH370 search duty for this purpose.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili previously warned that unless rainy weather came to Malaysia, a water emergency might be declared.
Antara 19 Mar 14;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the work to prevent land fires in the Riau province was conducted systematically and involved all parties, so the handling of land fires should not become a regular agenda.
"April through October (would be dry season), the root problem that causes the land fires must be tackled, and it is the only way to overcome the haze problem in Riau," the president said when opening a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on Wednesday evening.
The president when meeting with fire fighters in the Riau province on Saturday, March 15, asked for an increase in fire fighting operations and urged fire fighters to extinguish the blazes within three weeks.
"The intensity of the operations must be increased and I hope they can be finished in three weeks," he said.
The cabinet meeting, which took place at the Presidential Office starting 03.00 p.m., also discussed Malaysias request for help to search for its missing airplane.
Also present at the meeting were Vice President Boediono, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, Coordinating Minister for Peoples Welfare Agung Laksono, Finance Minister Chatib Basri, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman and National Defense Forces Chief General Moeldoko. (*)
Editor: Heru
The Jakarta Post 20 Mar 14;
The city administration is seriously considering the inclusion of a land-reclamation project in its master plan for a giant sea wall at Jakarta Bay.
The giant sea wall will curb floods in the North Jakarta area, which are exacerbated by the rising sea level and high tides.
Jakarta deputy governor for spatial planning Sarwo Handayani said recently that while the master plan was still being drafted by the administration, it had decided to expand the land along the coast of North Jakarta to accommodate the sea wall.
“Nothing is definite yet, but one thing is certain — we will try to reclaim some land in order to accommodate the project,” Sarwo told The Jakarta Post.
The administration is currently in the process of finding an investor for the Rp 280 trillion (US$24.7 billion) project.
The Artha Graha Group expressed investor interest during a meeting with North Jakarta Mayor Heru Budi Hartono earlier this month.
Sarwo confirmed that no other investors had come forward.
Heru said no deal had been made with Artha Graha during last week’s meeting.
“At the meeting, just concepts for the project were discussed,” said Heru as quoted by kompas.com.
Heru also revealed that if Artha Graha won the project tender, it planned to build a Disneyland-inspired theme park on the site of former Hotel Radin in Ancol, North Jakarta, in a joint operation with the administration.
The giant sea wall project was the brainchild of former Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo.
Besides the sea wall, the administration also plans to build 17 artificial islets off Jakarta’s northern coast, in order to strengthen the coastline. Some parts of North Jakarta are vulnerable to flooding as they are below sea level. (dyl)
David Stanway PlanetArk 19 Mar 14;
A state-owned Chinese insurer will offer residents of Beijing insurance cover against health risks caused by air pollution, promising to pay out 1,500 yuan ($240) to policy holders hospitalized by smog.
The policy, available for 10-50 year olds, will also pay out 300 yuan ($48.56) when the city's official smog index exceeds 300 for five consecutive days, a level considered "hazardous", according to a notice posted on the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) website (www.epicc.com.cn).
Beijing's official air quality index (AQI), which measures airborne pollutants including particulate matter and sulphur dioxide, routinely exceeds 300, and sometimes hits levels higher than 500.
The capital is on the frontline of a "war on pollution" that
Premier Li Keqiang declared earlier this month in a major policy speech. Beijing is choked by traffic and surrounded by the big and heavily polluted industrial province of Hebei.
Last month, the city's environmental protection bureau issued an air pollution "yellow alert" for the first time, triggering a series of emergency measures to reduce dust from roads and construction sites.
(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Chinese smog insurance: travel agency offers air pollution policies
China's largest online travel agency, Ctrip.com, has launched a 'haze-travel insurance package', allowing tourists to claim compensation for trips ruined by pollution
Will Coldwell theguardian.com 19 Mar 14;
China's largest online travel agency is now offering tourists "smog insurance", permitting travellers to claim financial compensation should their city break be blighted by bad air. Ctrip.com has created the "haze-travel insurance package" in collaboration with the Chinese insurance firm Ping An and has been selling the new product since Tuesday.
The insurance is focused on six cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, all of which are popular with tourists – and also suffer from poor air quality. Pollution in China was recently described by scientists as like a "nuclear winter" and smog frequently grounds flights and keeps tourists at home. On one day during a recent bout of bad weather, Beijing's Forbidden City saw visitor numbers drop to 11,200: a quarter of its usual daily draw.
Under the new insurance package, tourists who spend at least two days in the designated city while pollution levels are high will be able to file claims. The level of pollution that triggers an insurance claim varies between the cities but for visitors to Shanghai, claims can be made if the air pollution index exceeds 100. In the past month the city experienced 17 days over this level.
Evidently aimed at domestic rather than international tourists, the premium comes to 10RMB (£1) and travellers can claim 50RMB (£5) per day.
The data for the pollution will be measured using the China Air Quality Index app, which broadcasts the levels of all the country's major cities and is among the top 10 most popular weather apps in China. The popularity of the app is in itself an indication of the lengths Chinese people will go to avoid pollution.
In Hong Kong, bad air quality and poor visibility has led visitors to pose for photos in front of a photo backdrop of the city's skyline. However, when it comes to smog insurance not all tourists in the country are convinced. Tian Yiyi, a sales representative with a Shanghai-based furniture company, told China Daily that despite travelling widely she would not be buying the premium. "The premium does not go directly to tackle the heavily polluted air," she said. "I would like the money to be put to better use."
Qian Yigang, 28, a technician at a Shanghai-based IT company told the paper: "People travel around for fun. If their mood is upset by poor atmospheric conditions, it cannot be fixed by money."
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Country Garden, KPRJ plan massive reclamation development for luxury homes
ng bei shan The Star 19 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: China’s Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd and Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ) have drawn out plans for a massive reclamation project to build luxury homes near Pendas in southern Johor near Singapore, according to sources.
Sources said that the project could entail a land area of “a few thousand acres,” which would make it one of Iskandar Malaysia’s single largest projects.
It isn’t clear how much Country Garden is pumping into the project, but going by its size, it would dwarf the Hong Kong-listed firm’s first project in Danga Bay, which only covered an area of 50 acres or 20ha, for which it had paid RM900mil.
The new project is being dubbed Forest City.
Industry sources said that such a reclamation project would probably be the largest reclamation project in the country, and that the parties embarking on it would have to have deep pockets.
Country Garden had cash and bank deposits amounting to 21.51 billion yuan (RM11.37bil) as at June 30, 2013.
KPRJ, on the other hand, is the state government’s investment arm. It owns 30% in Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH), which, in turn, has 1,619ha of land in Iskandar Malaysia.
Country Garden is already well-known in the Iskandar region for its maiden project in Malaysia, Country Garden@Danga Bay, which surprised the Malaysian property market when it launched 9,000 condominium units at one go last year.
The RM10bil project is built on the land in Danga Bay it had acquired for RM900mil in December 2012.
It is understood that the new project by the Country Garden-KPRJ joint venture, which is situated near the second link crossing to Singapore, will also become a new tourism hub.
Previous reports have indicated that the Johor government might also consider creating Malaysia’s biggest duty-free zone in this reclaimed land area, leveraging on its proximity to Singapore.
The location of the new Country Garden-KPRJ development is also close to Singapore tycoon Peter Lim’s multi-billion-ringgit Motorsports City project, which will include a Formula One-compliant racing test track as well as showrooms, garages and entertainment outlets spread over 109ha.
The new Country Garden-KPRJ project illustrates the growing interest among mainland China developers in Iskandar. The Chinese already have a strong presence in the southern region.
Besides Country Garden, another developer, Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd, made a record-breaking deal when it paid RM4.5bil or RM891 per sq ft to the Sultan of Johor for 47ha of land in the vicinity of the old Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex.
Sources said there were at least another three China developers in talks to acquire land in Iskandar.
Meanwhile, the sale of reclaimed land seems to be also becoming a trend in Johor. Prior to this, IWH had sold a 28.33ha man-made island at Danga Bay to Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd and CapitaLand Ltd for RM800mil, while the land Guangzhou R&F bought is partially reclaimed land.
Joy Fang Today Online 19 Mar 14;
SINGAPORE — Keppel Club is eyeing the fairways of other golf clubs here and overseas, after a suggestion by the authorities to convert the 110-year-old institution to a social club failed to garner support among its members, TODAY has learnt.
It is understood to be exploring the possibility of buying land from other clubs or entering into a collaboration, such as through reciprocal fees or corporate memberships, to allow its members to use their golf courses.
Responding to TODAY’s queries, its management committee said talks have begun or will be held with other clubs and the Singapore Labour Foundation, which controls Orchid Country Club. “We have spoken to one 36-hole club and intend to approach two other 36-hole clubs, which may have excess capacity, to consider a collaboration ... The models of collaboration could be by way of a sub-lease or master corporate membership for our members’ use.”
The management committee said things were at an exploratory stage and “nothing has been put on the table yet”.
Last month, the Government announced its decisions on the leases of various golf clubs. Keppel Club, which has more than 4,500 members, is one of two golf clubs — the other is Marina Bay Golf Course — that will not have their leases extended. The 44 hectares of land that it is sitting on is slated for residential development after the lease expires on Dec 31, 2021. The club has been offered an alternative site — the location of which has not been confirmed — to operate as a social club.
On Monday, the club held a two-hour dialogue with its members on the matter. The discussions got heated at times as the management laid out various plans it was considering. Members present did not reach a consensus on which option to pursue. Options overseas include golf courses in The Legends Golf and Country Resort and Tanjong Puteri Golf Resort, both in Johor, and the Ria Bintan Golf Resort.
Responding to TODAY’s queries, a spokesperson from The Legends Fort Canning Park, which owns The Legends Golf and Country Resort, said the club has been approached informally. Adding that no official talks have taken place, Club Manager Amy Cheong said: “Some members from Keppel Club approached us in their personal capacity showing interest in a possible collaboration, but there is nothing concrete or official yet.”
It is understood that a possible option is for Keppel Club to buy an 18-hole course from The Legends’ site in Johor and use its Fort Canning Park site as a social club.
Among the other clubs TODAY contacted, Laguna National Golf and Country Club declined to comment, while Raffles Country Club and Tanah Merah Country Club said they have not spoken to Keppel Club on potential collaborations. A Raffles Country Club spokesman added that there is “no decision nor intention to collaborate with Keppel Club for the time being”.
Keppel Club members whom TODAY spoke to said they were not keen on a social club, as they bought the membership for the golfing facilities. Retiree James Quek, 65, pointed out that there are already several social clubs. “If you really want (membership for a social club), why not join another club? Keppel Club is a golfing club,” he said.
He added that he supported a suggestion from members during the dialogue for the club to lower its monthly subscription fees and run down its reserves until the lease is up.
The club management committee said its position is “in line with the members’ aspiration to continue having a golf course”. “Keppel Club is historically and predominantly a golf club and our golf course is substantially utilised by our members,” it said.
Nevertheless, it added that should it fail to acquire a golf course for its members despite all efforts, “we may have no alternative but to consider a social club for the time being”.
While some members have suggested letting the club run down its reserves, the management said this will be the “worst-case scenario” that will not be “lightly considered at this moment”.
The dry season has affected landscape companies because they have to choose between conserving water and saving the plants.
Jasmine Lim The New Paper AsiaOne 19 Mar 14;
The lingering dry spell is burning a hole in the pockets of horticulturists, who help to keep the Garden City green.
Mr M. Palanichamy, the owner of Good View Gardening & Landscape Construction, said that since the dry season started, he has cut down 15 trees, which were valued at a total of around $20,000.
He even had to chop down a dead tree that had been there for three years because he was worried that it would fall and cause serious damage.
Mr Palanichamy, 50, said this is the worst dry spell he has seen in Singapore since coming here 28 years ago from India.
His company takes care of the landscaping and plants of more than 150 condominiums, schools and private estates around the island.
Like most horticulturists, his contract with his clients states that he has to replace all plants that die.
The dry spell will cost him, but he was not willing to disclose how much he will have to spend replacing the dead plants.
But to get a sense of the money involved: One client spent about $30,000 on the landscaping for his bungalow in Berkshire Road, just off Alexandra Road, but it has been devastated by the dry spell that killed most of the shrubs, pearl grass and even some palm trees.
Mr Palanichamy said: "The client called asking to replace the plants, but there's no point because they will die in this weather."
Confined by concrete
He said some of the trees in Singapore are hit particularly badly because each tree is confined to such a small space surrounded by concrete.
Mr Palanichamy said he would not cut down a tree until he was sure that it was dead.
"Some trees look dead, but if you see a few green leaves, they can still be saved with just one rainfall."
He also said that cow grass, the type of grass we usually see by roads, is resilient. Even when the grass is totally brown, it will be able to grow again with some watering.
Mr Makesh Kumar, the manager of Lovely Landscape & Construction, said that more than 100 of his plants have died, including 10 trees.
Mr Kumar, 33, said: "We are getting so many complaints from clients now saying that their plants are dying. It's also affecting our income because no new projects are coming in with this weather."
Said Mr Palanichamy: "The cost of replacing the dying plants is much more than the cost of water. So we are still watering them to keep them alive."
He said he would wait until after it rains to replace all the dead plants because if he were to plant them now, they would still require more watering through the dry spell.
Mr John Tan, a horticulturist and the owner of Esmond Landscape and Horticulture, said they have to prioritise which plants get replaced.
He said: "If we can delay (planting them), then we will. It depends on how important the plants are, if they are at the front of the building then they should be replaced. If they are in the back where no one can see them, they can wait."
Following the Government's call to conserve water, Mr Palanichamy said his workers are now using sprinklers so that they can water more plants at a time.
He said: "Most of the plants don't need a lot of water, they just need moisture to survive, unless they are potted plants, which need more water."
He said that these days, without the rain, the plants have to be watered daily, which means that more of his workers are working overtime.
Mr Kumar agreed that without rain, more manpower is needed to water the plants because the frequency of watering them has doubled in a day.
He said there is nothing much he can do now and that they are just managing the damage the best they can.
Mr Tan advised clients to water plants "responsibly", which means watering them in the morning and not in the afternoon, when most of the water would evaporate quickly because of the scorching heat.
"I worry every time I see dead plants. Now, I'm just waiting for it to rain again," Mr Palanichamy said.
Given yesterday's rains and the weather forecast of rain for the next three days, things may be looking up for them.
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 19 Mar 14;
SINGAPORE — As part of their efforts to control the spread of dengue here, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be progressively placing gravi-traps in different residential areas to reduce the mosquito population.
Developed by the NEA’s Environmental Health Institute, gravi-traps are black cylindrical containers with sticky surfaces which will trap female Aedes mosquitoes looking for water surfaces to lay their eggs.
A trial was previously conducted from October until last month, where about 1,300 gravi-traps were placed in the Housing Board estates in Clementi and Bukit Panjang.
Said a NEA spokesperson: “Through tracking which Gravitraps are capturing mosquitoes, and analysing this data together with other field intelligence, we can obtain a better sense of which areas have a higher mosquito population and where there may be undiscovered sources of mosquito breeding, so that we can optimise our vector control efforts.”
Apart from the trial, NEA is also deploying Gravitraps in large dengue clusters to complement other mosquito control measures. Last year, about 1,500 Gravitraps were deployed in about 80 clusters.
For example, it was used to monitor the Orchard Road cluster, which became the largest dengue hotspot in December.
During his ministry’s committee of supply debate, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan cautioned that the dengue outbreak which Singapore has been experiencing since last year is not over yet, although the numbers have come down significantly.
The number of dengue cases had hit a historic high of 22,170 cases last year, with 3,420 cases detected so far this year as of yesterday at 3.30pm.
NEA to place mosquito traps in more areas to curb dengue
Lee Zhengyi Channel NewsAsia 19 Mar 14;
SINGAPORE: In a bid to control the spread of dengue, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be progressively deploying Gravitraps to more areas in Singapore.
Gravitraps are black cylindrical containers which trap female Aedes mosquitoes that are looking for water surfaces to lay their eggs.
Trapping them reduces the mosquito population.
Last year, it deployed 1,500 Gravitraps in 80 clusters, excluding Clementi and Bukit Panjang.
In a trial that took place from October 2013 to February 2014, NEA deployed around 1,300 Gravitraps at public housing estates in Clementi and Bukit Panjang.
Close to 800 Aedes mosquitoes were captured.
NEA said that these traps provide their officers with useful surveillance information that helps them when planning inspections and it also provides them with a better sense of the areas that have a higher mosquito breeding population.
The Gravitraps were developed by the NEA's Environmental Health Institute.
There have been more than 3,000 cases of dengue reported so far this year.
NEA said: "The Gravitraps are checked regularly to ensure that they are functioning properly. As the Gravitraps are an important tool in our fight against dengue, we seek the co-operation of members of the public not to remove or tamper with the Gravitraps.
"If members of the public come across Gravitraps that have been toppled, please contact 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255632) to report."
- CNA/xq
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 18 Mar 14;
ORANGE COUNTY, California: Singapore's NEWater model of producing drinking water from used water is the result of much learning from California's Orange County Water District, which first started on it in the late 1990s.
Almost two decades on, Singapore's national water agency PUB said it is still relevant to look at the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize winners for ways on utilising resources in an efficient and sustainable manner.
The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize recognises individuals or organisations that use ground-breaking technology or innovative policies in solving water problems.
In arid California, it is a four-step process to give Orange County residents drinking water from used household water.
This includes filtering water through tens of thousands of fibre bundles to remove bacteria and other organisms, and exposing it to ultraviolet light for further purification.
This process is the final step in disinfecting and further purifying water.
The treatment process is similar to what PUB does at its NEWater plant to recycle water from households and light industries into drinking water.
But where NEWater is released into reservoirs, the Orange County Water District injects half of its recycled water into wells underground.
The pressure is enough to stop seawater from contaminating its current supply of groundwater.
The other water sources include water from the Santa Ana River.
It takes at least six months until the stored groundwater can be extracted again.
Michael Markus, general manager of Orange County Water District, said: "We're ground water managers. Our problem is -- this area is dependent on two outside sources of water.
"So over the years, it's become evident that we need to build local water supply reliability and that's why we built the Groundwater Replenishment System... so that we could have that reliable source of water that we can depend on, that we could replenish our aquifers which become part of our potable drinking water supply.
"It helps us become somewhat independent from those outside sources of water."
Harry Seah, chief technology officer of PUB, said: "In a way, the driver here is that instead of incurring so much energy to pump water across the Rocky (Mountains), Colorado, and then taking water from the north of California, where it's long distance, looking at this project helps us to understand that we also need to utilise our own resources efficiently and in a sustainable way of managing the system -- so that in the end, you can have good, affordable water."
While it is still at an early stage, PUB said it is also looking at the California agency's water management system as it embarks on its own groundwater journey.
- CNA/de
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