Best of our wild blogs: 9 May 14

Rose-ringed Parakeet’s varied diet
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Malaysia: Deforestation rate in Heart of Borneo worrying - WWF

patrick lee The Star 9 May 14;

PETALING JAYA: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has expressed concern over the deforestation in the Heart of Borneo (HoB), a 17.4 million-ha forest the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have agreed to conserve.

It claimed an area the size equivalent to 82 Kuala Lumpurs was deforestated between 2007 and 2012.

Up to two million ha of forest within HoB disappeared during that period despite a declaration signed in February 2007 to conserve the tropical forests.

According to the Environmental Status Report of the HoB 2014, the region, which covered about 30% of the whole island, saw an annual deforestation rate of 2.19%.

It said high deforestation rates were detected in HoB upland forests in Sarawak and Sabah, along with high rates in HoB lowland rainforests in Sabah.

The distribution of orang utan within the HoB was found to have decreased by 14% in those six years as well, occurring mainly in West Kalimantan and Sabah.

There is about 17.4 million ha of forest cover in the HoB, with Sabah and Sarawak taking up 3.64 million ha.

Borneo elephants, found only in Sabah’s south-east and east Kalimantan’s upper north regions, saw their habitat areas decreased by 125,000ha to 157,000ha in 2012.

In Sabah, habitats that were capable of supporting clouded leopards and some orang utan areas were found to have been reduced from 2007 to 2012.

“In 2013, only a few areas of lowland forest remain. Many of these are fragmented,” the report said.

A “surprisingly high” number of forest fire hotspots were also detected in Sabah’s eastern section.

“Deforestation of one area continued until no more lowland forest remained in the location,” the report added.

The WWF further warned that these environmental changes could have an impact on millions of people relying on watersheds and rivers within the HoB.

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Indonesia: Jakarta’s Air Quality Takes a Toxic Turn for The Worse

Erwida Maulia Jakarta Globe 9 May 14;

To Tifa Asrianti, the polka-dot fabric mask she carries in her bag is multifunctional.

Inside the overpacked trains she regularly boards to and from work during rush hour, the face mask saves her nose from unpleasant odors released by sweaty, fellow commuters.

On the Kopaja minibuses she takes from the train station to her office, the mask protects her from cigarette smoke casually exhaled by male passengers.

And while waiting for transportation on the side of roads congested with vehicles, she hopes the mask is able to filter the air pollution invading her lungs.

“Not that I believe the mask can really help, but it’s the least I could do,” said Tifa, a 30-something employee of a non-profit organization in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

People wearing face masks were not a common sight in Jakarta six years ago. Then came the H1N1 flu incidents in 2009, at the height of which the Indonesian government promoted the use of surgical masks to prevent the swine-based disease from spreading.

The flu died down, but people became accustomed to the masks and began wearing them in hopes to filter the smog-tainted city air they breathe in.

Now, the sight of half-covered faces is a common one throughout Asia — the light green or blue surgical ones are most used — as city commuters wait at bus shelters, board non-air conditioned public buses or ride motorcycles.

“The traffic jams are getting more inhumane. That’s a clear sign of more vehicles on the streets; more pollution,” said Tifa, a resident of Bekasi, West Java, who has been commuting to and from Jakarta for work over the past decade.

“And I can especially feel how dirty Jakarta air has become after returning from places like Pangalengan or Gunung Kidul, where the air is clean and light,” she said referring to the mountainous regions in West Java and Yogyakarta, respectively.

Alarming figures

Tifa’s assumptions on the state of the capital’s air was not wrong. Official figures show that the amounts of major, toxic pollutants invading Jakarta air have grown rapidly, along with the continuous increase in vehicles crowding the streets.

According to data from the Jakarta Police traffic directorate, the number of vehicles registered in Jakarta has grown by an average of roughly 10 percent every year for the past six years, bringing the total figure to 16 million in 2013 — consisting of 4.1 million automobiles and 11.9 million motorcycles.

The motorbike industry especially has projected a market saturation for Jakarta. But in the mean time, despite public outcry over ever-worsening traffic congestion, the figures are expected to grow.

These numbers have yet to include the number of vehicles registered outside the capital, but regularly roaming its streets.

Along with the alarming growth in vehicles numbers, the concentration of at least four principal pollutants in the air have been increasing as well, according to the city’s Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD).

BPLHD statistics dating back to 2008 show that five major air pollutants regularly monitored by the agency — carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, lead and suspended particles with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10) — are all still below the hazardous levels specified in a gubernatorial regulation.

However, with the exception of sulfur dioxide, the amounts of these pollutants in the air have continued to increase over the past six years — with the growth of lead and nitrogen dioxide being particularly exponential.

The level of lead, notorious for causing brain and nervous system damage when congested in large amounts, stood at 0.33 microgram per cubic nanometer (mcg/nm3) last year; over 10 times higher than the level in 2008, and one-sixth of the hazardous threshold of 2 mcg/nm3.

The amount of nitrogen dioxide, meanwhile, rose to 74.14 mcg/nm3 last year — three times its 2008 figure and is alarmingly close to the dangerous threshold of 92.5 mcg/nm3. Nitrogen dioxide is known to be poisonous to lungs.

During the same period, PM10 and carbon monoxide levels rose by 86 percent and 60 percent respectively. Major concerns from exposure to PM10 include respiratory illness, damage to lung tissue and cancer. Carbon monoxide, meanwhile, is toxic to blood, and poses a health threat especially to those suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

The sulfur dioxide volume, meanwhile, dropped by 77 percent. But the decline may be attributable to the unavailability of data at some BPLHD monitoring stations, according to an agency analyst who asked not to be named because the person does not have the official capacity to give public statements.

Like PM10, sulfur dioxide also has been associated with respiratory illness and the aggravation of existing cardiovascular disease.

“The main source of these air pollutants are vehicles — the transportation sector,” Rusman Sagala, head of the environment preservation and management division of BPLHD Jakarta, said in an interview last month.

“Industrial activities are another contributor, but there are fewer industries in Jakarta now. Many of them have spread to places outside of the city.”

According to Health Ministry data, the transportation sector contributes between 70 percent and 80 percent to total outdoor air pollutants.

Rusman said although more and more carmakers and motorcycle producers are consciously applying cleaner technology compared to a decade ago, their efforts can’t keep up with the speed at which new vehicles are appearing on roads each year.

This has become particularly obvious in the distressing amounts of lead seeping into the air.

Due to its damaging and permanent effect on the human body, namely the nervous system, kidney function and immune system among others, the Indonesian government introduced a regulation in 2003 restricting the levels of lead added to fuel — the lowest grade of fuel should contain no more than 0.3 gram per liter (g/l).

A regulation issued by the director general for oil and gas last year further reduces the maximum level of lead allowed in fuel to 0.013 g/l.

But as previously mentioned, the lead levels in Jakarta’s air has more than tenfold over the past six years.

“There is less lead in fuel now,” Rusman said. “But accumulatively, amounts of it in the air has risen because the number of vehicles in Jakarta keeps increasing.”

The World Health Organization released an updated report in March saying that an estimated 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2012 were associated with outdoor air pollution.

The number shows a near triple increase from the previous available data in 2008 — although the jump has also been attributed to new evidence made available on the direct correlation between exposure to pollution and illnesses.

In a breakdown according to diseases, WHO data revealed that 40 percent of the deaths connected to air pollution were caused by ischemic heart disease and another 40 percent was due to strokes.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease contributed 11 percent of the deaths, followed by lung cancer (6 percent) and acute lower respiratory infections in children (3 percent).

The March report — which did not mention specific countries but offered data on regions — named Southeast Asia as the second-largest contributor to the deaths after the Western Pacific region — with 963,000 fatalities.

Being the largest and most populous country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is believed to have been a top contributor to the figure.

“The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes,” Maria Neira, director of WHO’s public health department, said in the statement. “Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe.”

Bambang Wispriyono, an environmental health expert at the University of Indonesia (UI), took a particular note on the colorless organic compound benzopyrene. This fuel residue is not among principal air pollutants regularly monitored by BPLHD, but it is a known carcinogen.

Two studies administered at UI under Bambang’s supervision a few years back found that people spending more time on the streets had higher levels of benzopyrene in their blood stream compared to regular office workers.

“Toll gate officers, traffic policemen… they all have more benzopyrene metabolites in their bloods and urine than office employees,” Bambang told the Jakarta Globe. “The effects are not immediate, but these officers working on the streets are facing more health risks, including cancer.”

Solution?

The restriction on lead levels, the introduction of emission tests for vehicles in Jakarta and the addition of air quality in the criteria for the Adipura cleanliness awards given to cities and provinces are some indications that the Indonesian government has been paying growing attention to air pollutants’ impact on health.

But measures taken to curb the effects lag behind the pace of vehicle growth and, subsequently, the increasing number of toxic pollutants we breathe in every day.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the health ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health, said his office is drafting strategic action plans to curb the dangerous effects of air pollution for the years 2015 to 2019, although not much has been said about the plans.

The Ministry of Environment, meanwhile, has been calling for what it calls a “grand design of the national air quality monitoring system,” an effort to improve the monitoring of air quality across Indonesia and, hopefully, measures to tackle issues related to air pollution.

The WHO, in its latest statement on Tuesday, reiterated its growing attention to diseases stemming from air pollutants and calls on individual cities worldwide to take the necessary actions in improving air quality, citing efforts made by Copenhagen and Bogota as successful examples.

The global health agency said these two cities have improved their air quality by prioritizing networks dedicated to urban public transport, walking and cycling.

“We cannot buy clean air in a bottle, but cities can adopt measures that will clean the air and save the lives of their people,” said Carlos Dora, coordinator for interventions for healthy environments at WHO.

In the mean time, face masks can provide a viable option.

“The ones commonly used can protect against PM10, but can still be infiltrated by gases,” Rusman said. “But they can at least reduce health risks.”

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Indonesia: Aceh Activists Slam Lenient Sentence Demand for Defendant in Land Dispute

Nurdin Hasan Jakarta Globe 8 May 14;

Banda Aceh. Environmental activists in Aceh slammed the prosecution for seeking what they view as lenient punishment for the director of a palm oil company who is accused of damaging a natural habitat for orangutans.

Prosecutor Rahmat on Wednesday asked the Meluaboh district court for a sentence of 10 months imprisonment and a Rp 150 million ($13,000) fine for Subianto Rusyid, the director of Kalista Alam, in violation of the 2009 law on environment protection and management.

Rahmat told the court that Subianto was guilty of negligence for failing to control his subordinates who operated on the lush forest and peatland region in the province’s Nagan Raya district without the proper permit.

The 61,803-hectare Rawa Tripa peatland is situated in Leuser ecosystem, and a parcel of 1,605 hectares is the main habitat for orangutan and several other protected wildlife species.

Aceh environmental activists united under the Coalition to Save Rawa Tripa (TKPRT) said the sentence would not be a deterrent for the defendant.

“The prosecutor’s demand is too lenient compared to the environmental damages caused by the land concession in Rawa Tripa,” said Fadila Ibra, spokesman for the coalition, on Thursday.

Fadila said Kalista Alam has also allegedly violated the 2004 law on natural resource conservation for operating in the Leuser ecosystem, which has been declared a conservation area. He said the law would punish violators with five years in prison and a Rp 2 billion fine.

“The judge’s demand is less than half of what the laws stipulate. This will not deter those who have destroyed the environment,” Fadila said.

Kallista Alam obtained the permit to open the plantation in Rawa Trip from then Governor Irwandi Yusuf in August 2011.

The governor’s decision to grant the company a land concession permit was met with protests by environmental activists who said that the area was the habitat of Sumatran orangutans, which are critically endangered, and other rare animals.

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In China, 64 percent say they are environmentalists - report

Anna Nicolaou PlanetArk 8 May 14;

The survey by Dutch research agency Motivaction said in China, where public anger has mounted over hazardous levels of pollution in towns and cities, environmentalists had a greater sense of urgency about action needed to tackle the problem than Western counterparts, where the financial crisis has knocked environmental policy down the political agenda.

Motivaction, which interviewed more than 48,000 consumers in 20 countries through online surveys, found Chinese greens tended to be socially conservative, devoted to family and traditional Asian values, and pro-business groups which believed strongly in the role of technology to solve problems.

In contrast, it said, the United States and Europe have developed a "cosmopolitan environmentalism", a movement supported frequently by liberal, highly-educated and politically active groups.

The report said multinational companies needed to understand Chinese environmentalists and how to harness their potential.

China, blamed for nearly a third of global carbon emissions, is the world's biggest investor in green technology, which the report said could give it a competitive advantage in future, and was pressing ahead with investment in the sector.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised to tackle pollution in March after an official Chinese report dubbed Beijing "barely suitable" for living due to hazardous smog. China pledged to spend $1.65 billion to combat air pollution and $330 billion on water shortages. [ID:nL3N0LI023]

Governments aim to agree a new United Nations pact to combat climate change at a summit in late 2015. European environmentalists have often accused China of stalling efforts to agree a new global deal.

However, when faced with public anger at home, the Chinese government has acted, including amending environmental protection laws last month to impose tougher penalties on polluters. [ID:nL3N0NG35Q]

"When the Chinese government decides to do something, they do it. It's not the talking shop that we see in Europe," said Kathryn Sheridan, CEO of a Brussels-based sustainability communications consultancy.

(Editing by Barbara Lewis and Janet Lawrence)

China fertile ground for green progress: report
Anna Nicolaou PlanetArk 8 May 14;

In Europe, financial crisis has knocked environmental policy down the political agenda and populist movements see environmentalism as a hobby of European elites.

Meanwhile in the United States, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks pushed energy security to the top of the political agenda.

But in China, the world's biggest polluter, some 64 percent of Chinese identify themselves as environmentalists, more than double that of Europe and the United States, a report published on Wednesday by Dutch research agency Motivaction finds.

Motivaction interviewed more than 48,000 consumers in 20 countries about their values and behavior, through online surveys.

Not only are many more people in China describing themselves as environmentalists, they also have a very different profile from climate champions in the West.

The report finds they tend to be socially conservative, devoted to family and traditional Asian values, and pro-business groups who believe strongly in the role of technology to solve the world's problems.

In contrast, the United States and Europe have developed a "cosmopolitan environmentalism", a movement supported frequently by liberal, highly-educated and politically active groups.

The Chinese-style environmentalists have a much greater sense of urgency as they experience, for example, the choking pollution of Beijing, and the new report concludes multinational companies need to understand how to harness their potential.

Already China is the world's biggest investor in green technology, which the report says can give it a competitive advantage as innovative companies tend to thrive.

China, which is blamed for nearly a third of the world's carbon emissions, is also pressing ahead with investment.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang "declared war" on pollution in March after an official Chinese report dubbed Beijing "barely suitable" for living due to hazardous smog. China pledged to spend $1.65 billion to combat air pollution and $330 billion on water shortage. [ID:nL3N0LI023]

There is still a big challenge to persuade China to sign up to a new global deal on tackling climate change, hoped for at a U.N. summit in 2015.

European environmentalists have tended to see the Chinese government as a roadblock to an international climate deal.

However, when spurred by its own growing population of environmentalists threatening social unrest over levels of pollution, it can act more decisively than Western coalitions.

"When the Chinese government decides to do something, they do it," says Kathryn Sheridan, CEO of a Brussels-based sustainability communications consultancy. "It's not the talking shop that we see in Europe."

(Editing by Barbara Lewis and Michael Perry)

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Best of our wild blogs: 8 May 14

The beauty of Pulau Hantu
from Peiyan.Photography

Oriental pied hornbill spotted in Bishan HDB
from Nature Spies

Butterflies Galore! : Pale Grass Blue
from Butterflies of Singapore

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Malaysia: Johor building stadium on man-made island "located between Singapore and Johor"

mohd farhaan shah The Star 7 May 14;

JOHOR BARU: Expect bigger things from Johor Football Association (JFA) from next year, including a new stadium on a man-made island here.

President Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim announced on Tuesday that the new 50,000-capacity stadium is being constructed by Country Garden, which is one of JFA’s sponsors.

He pointed out that the stadium would be built on a man-made island located between Singapore and Johor.

“Reclamation work is currently being carried out and once completed, the island will be twice the size of Sentosa Island in Singapore.

“Hopefully, the construction period will not take too long. I am very excited about this new project,” he said, adding that it would be the most state-of-the-art stadium in the world.

Tunku Ismail also announced that Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar has agreed to buy a private plane for the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) players and officials.

He added that the decision came after taking into consideration the cost of travelling to other states.

Currently, JFA have three buses for their teams including the President’s Cup squad players.

On Tuesday, Tunku Ismail dropped a bomb by announcing that the JFA’s second team, JDT II, may be withdrawn from the Premier League.

“We are considering placing the team in the Singapore football league by November as it is better and will give the younger players better exposure,” he said.

The Johor Crown Prince added that the JFA are willing to pay a fine if the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) penalise them for pulling out JDT II.

He also announced that JDT will be buying two more foreigners for next season’s campaign.

“We already offered US$3.5mil (RM11.4mil) to Boca Juniors for Juan Manuel Martinez for next season,” he said.

Another player they are targeting is Selangor hitman Paulo Rangel.

On another matter, Tunku Ismail said JFA are considering holding a friendly match with Italian giants AC Milan as well as a charity match involving Lionel Messi, Neymar and other world class footballers.

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Don't release animals into the wild: NParks

Channel NewsAsia 7 May 14;

SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) has reminded members of the public not to release animals into the parks and nature areas during the Vesak Day period.

"We would like to appeal to the public not to release animals into the wild as it does not guarantee their survival," said Wong Tuan Wah, director of conservation at NParks.

"Some of these animals are kept as pets and are not likely to survive in the wild if they are unable to fend for themselves in the new surroundings.

"Other animals that are able to adapt to the new environment may disrupt the ecological balance when they compete with native species for resources or introduce new viruses."

Yap Kheng Guan, president of the Buddhist Fellowship, said: "We rejoice with Buddhists around the world as they commemorate the sacred day of Vesak.

"Some may mark the day with the act of animal liberation.

"Out of kindness and compassion, it is good to refrain from releasing the animals in nature reserves and reservoirs. Doing so may subject the released animals to natural predators or may cause harm to the eco-system."

- CNA/xq

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El Nino may be back in Singapore in mid-2014

Channel NewsAsia 8 May 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Kingdom Meteorological Office has forecasted a high likelihood of El Nino striking Southeast Asia in the middle of the year.

Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president, S Piarapakaran, said the institution, using the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) model, had forecasted a 70 per cent probability of El Nino in Southeast Asia.

The weather phenomenon is linked to dry spells in Southeast Asia.

According to Singapore's National Environment Agency, El Nino occurs every two to seven years and typically lasts about nine to 18 months.

A “very strong” El Nino year in 1997 led to a prolonged dry season in Singapore.

NEA said annual rainfall in Singapore that year was about half of the long-term average and the annual average temperature was 1.4 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.

According to Malaysian news agency Bernama, El Nino could lead to a dry spell lasting about six months for the country.

- CNA/Bernama/xq

El Nino chances exceed 65 pct this summer -U.S. weather forecaster
Chris Prentice PlanetArk 9 May 14;

El Nino chances exceed 65 pct this summer -U.S. weather forecaster Photo: NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) image shows the warming waters of an El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean
Photo: NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab

The chances have increased over the past month that the much-feared El Nino weather phenomenon, which can wreak havoc on global crops, will strike this year, the federal U.S. forecaster said Thursday.

In its monthly report, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, said neutral conditions will prevail through the spring. But the forecaster raised the likelihood of the weather pattern developing over the summer to more than 65 percent.

In April, it said it saw a 50 percent chance of the weather pattern developing by the summer.

Global weather forecasters in recent months have increased the likelihood of El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, heightening uncertainty in global commodity and energy markets.

To read the full CPC report, click: link.reuters.com/tuv97k

(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Prototype for cooling techniques among Singapore-Swiss collaborations

Sara Grosse Channel NewsAsia 7 May 14;

ZURICH: A prototype for cooling techniques in Singapore is expected to be implemented by the end of next year -- among the strong research collaborations between the country and Switzerland.

The prototype is one of the projects from the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability, which is a joint research centre between Singapore and Zurich.

On the first day of his official visit to Switzerland, President Tony Tan Keng Yam visited ETH Zurich, a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

At the institute, President Tan was given a demonstration at the laboratory of hydraulics, where he was shown what happens when a downtown area is flooded, and ways to prevent that.

He also saw how structures can be made resilient in the face of natural disasters, like tsunamis.

Some National University of Singapore students on an exchange programme with the institute also met President Tan.

In phase two of the Singapore-ETH Centre's research, a cooling technique is being developed to make Singapore a more sustainable city.

"We have developed prototypes for cooling technologies which can reduce the amount of energy that is needed by 50 per cent, and now it's a matter of designing buildings which use this kind of improved technology,” said Peter Edwards, director of the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability.

Chan Xiang Quan, a Singapore exchange student at ETH Zurich, said: "What I gained most from here is the ability to look for information on my own, and also to rely more on myself."

The Singapore-ETH Centre is housed on the NUS campus. Going forward, other programmes planned for the centre include nutrition and health.

It is hoped that the outcomes from the research groups to make life better for Singaporeans will also be applicable to other countries.

- CNA/nd

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Indonesia: Participatory approach needed to overcome haze

Andi Abdussalam Antara 7 May 14;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia needs to take a participatory approach where the central government, local administrations, non-governmental organizations, research institutions and the local people work together to resolve the annual haze problem, which often disturbed neighboring countries.

"In addition to a participatory approach, there should also be a political approach and scientific research on how to handle it," Asmin Amin, a member of Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) on environment Affairs, said recently.

Moreover, Indonesia has not yet ratified the ASEAN agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution, which will allow neighboring countries to provide assistance in resolving the haze problem in Indonesia.

According to Indonesian Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Singapore and Malaysia are ready to assist if they are needed. "They said they are ready to assist if they are needed," the minister added after a meeting with Singapores Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday.

However, he asserted that the House of Representatives (DPR) had not ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution because the House was now in a transitional period.

The House members for the 2009-2014 period will end their terms of office this year after the legislative elections on April 9 and after the presidential election on July 9 was organized.

According to Wikipedia, the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution is a legally binding environmental agreement signed in 2002 by all the ASEAN nations to reduce haze pollution in Southeast Asia. The agreement recognizes that the trans-boundary haze pollution, which results from land and/or forest fires, should be mitigated through concerted national efforts and international cooperation.

Ministers responsible for the environment from the ASEAN Member States (AMS) held their 14th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution on September 25, 2013, in Surabaya, Indonesia.

They will meet again in Laos in September in 2014 on the occasion of the 15th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution.

Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his ministry was now waiting for the ratification of the ASEAN agreement.

"We, including the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of environment, are waiting for the ratification of the ASEAN agreement by the DPR. It should have been ratified by now but the House is in a transitional period. The members are focusing on the presidential election," the minister pointed out.

Zulkifli Hasan said the House once discussed the ratification of the agreement but the DPR rejected it, saying that the content of agreement should be improved first.

Regarding the rejection of the agreement, Asmin explained that the reason for the rejection was that it provided a loophole for foreign countries to interfere in domestic affairs.

"If forest fires occur, Singapore can interfere without the need to ask for a permit. This was the reason why it was rejected. We turned it back. We were afraid that if we agreed, we will only become an observer (in handling the haze)," Asmin added.

Meanwhile, Singapore, one of the nearest neighboring country often affected by the Indonesian haze, said the forest and land fire perpetrators should receive firm punishment.

According to Minister Zulkifli Hasan, the Indonesian government was asked to act firmly against perpetrators of forest fires in Riau Province, which crippled infrastructure and peoples activities and sent haze to neighboring countries.

"We discussed efforts to enforce the law. Singapore said companies that committed the crime should be punished," Minister Zulkifli Hasan said after a bilateral meeting with Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday.

Recent forest and land fires in Riau have affected more than 20 thousand hectares of forest, plantation and peat-soil areas throughout the province. They disrupted around 30 percent of the economic activities and caused monetary losses in Riau.

Based on data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), forest and land fires occurring in the Riau Province between February and April 2014 have caused economic losses worth more than Rp20 trillion.

Police have named 116 people as suspects in the forest and plantation fires in the province.

They were allegedly involved in 70 cases being investigated by the local police officers throughout Riau province. Of the 70 cases, nine are still being investigated further, while 61 others are considered ready to be brought to court.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently stated that 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 will be the 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 explained.
(T.A014/INE/KR-BSR)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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Sea Turtles a Flash Point in South China Sea Dispute

Philippines Arrests Fishermen Accused of Poaching Endangered Species
Cris Larano Asian Wall Street Journal 7 May 14;

MANILA—How did turtles become a flash point in the territorial spat in the South China Sea? Many would argue that it's because the endangered creatures are worth a fight.

In the Philippines—where five of the world's seven species of sea turtle live—poaching sea turtles is a crime that can come with up to 12 years in prison and fines of up to $22,500, depending on the type of turtle. Still, poachers seek them out for their meat, which is believed in some cultures to enhance virility, and their shells, which are used for jewelry.

On Wednesday, the Philippines arrested the crew of a Chinese fishing vessel near the disputed Spratly Islands after receiving reports of poachers in the area. The Chinese vessel contained around 500 sea turtles, some of them dead, the police said. The arrest prompted rebuke from Beijing, which called on the Philippines to release the crew.

In recent years, other Chinese fishermen have been caught by Philippine authorities for poaching turtles or other endangered species such as clams and anteaters.

"Even if those turtles didn't come from the Philippines, [the alleged poachers] could still be prosecuted here because sea turtles are globally protected animals," said Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The Southeast Asian country is a hotbed for poaching. Ms. Lim said all five species of sea turtles in the country are considered endangered, but more so the Hawksbill and Leatherback that are valued for their shells, which are used for ornaments and jewelry.

The other species found in the country are the Olive Ridley, Green Sea Turtle and the Loggerhead. The two other species not found in the Philippines are Kemp's Ridley and the Flatback. Leatherback and Hawksbill are considered the most threatened by possible extinction.

It takes decades before a sea turtle reaches maturity, and only then will females breed and return to the beaches where they hatched to lay their eggs. Aside from natural predators, including humans, loss of habitat and other environmental threats mean as few as one in every 1,000 hatchlings will reach adulthood. Each female can lay as many as 150 eggs per clutch, and can lay several times a season.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, poachers take around 30,000 green turtles in California alone while more than 50,000 sea turtles are killed in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. In the 1960s, over a million Olive Ridley turtles were butchered in Mexico.

Sea turtle eggs are considered an aphrodisiac in some countries, including China, and eaten raw or sold as snacks in bars and restaurants, WWF said.

Chinese and other East Asian cuisines use the meat, skin and innards of soft-shell turtles for soup. Turtles are also used in Chinese medicine. Japan is a major buyer of sea turtle shells, known as bekko.

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