LKCNHM June Holiday Programmes
from News from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Butterflies Galore! : Chocolate Grass Yellow
from Butterflies of Singapore
Pale Grass Blue and its nectarine plant, the Sweet Basil
from Bird Ecology Study Group
New Straits Times 9 Jun 14;
SHAH ALAM: Advancing the technologies of cloud seeding with the use of dry ice and channeling pool water into the state dams are among the steps taken by the Selangor state government in preparation for the El Nino.
Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) director Md Khairi Selamat said the state government has conducted tests on the pool water and is confident that it is safe for human consumption.
“Our latest test was conducted on May 20th and we have send samples to various labs, including the chemical department where the tested results show that the water is safe and comply with the regulation set by the federal government.
“In light of the El Nino phenomenon, the state government will not hesitate to use water from the pool and channel it to the dams whenever it is necessary,” he said after completing his presentation on the state’s water management plan at the 2015 State Budget Dialogue here, today.
Khairi added that the state government has put in plan a more efficient strategy to maximize the efficiency of its cloud seeding activities.
This includes the use of dry ice, bigger air carrier and continuous daily cloud seeding activities in water catchment areas to maintain, and eventually increase the water level at affected state dams.
“The state government and the stakeholders involved in water management in state has been discussing our plan to lessen the impact of El Nino and these are what we have come up with.
“However, we are planning to continue discussing other possible options to ensure that there would not be a need for water rationing again,” he said.
Khairi added that LUAS and the state government is confident that there would not be another round of water rationing despite the lack of rainfall and the warm weather from El Nino phenomenon.
The water level at essential dams such as the Sungai Selangor dam has yet to improve significantly and reach the desired target set by the state government at 50 per cent.
As of today, the Sungai Selangor dam’s water level was recorded at 43.5 per cent and only slightly improved from its last recorded level.
FAO Director-General at Committee on Fisheries says sustainable fisheries and aquaculture crucial to food security and nutrition
FAO 9 Jun 14;
9 June 2014, Rome - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva opened a meeting of the world's only inter-governmental forum on fisheries and aquaculture issues, calling for urgent action to address climate change and other threats to sustainable fisheries and fish stocks.
FAO's Committee on Fisheries (COFI) opened its 9-13 June session to address a range of issues related to the long-term well-being of marine and inland fisheries and aquaculture and to discuss potential action by governments, regional fishery bodies, NGOs, fish workers and other actors in the international community.
Saying that fisheries and aquaculture make a "central contribution to food security and nutrition," Graziano da Silva added that sustainable development in the world's island and coastal states was especially dependent on the "vitality of oceans and fish stocks."
"Overfishing, pollution and climate change are putting this vitality at risk. The impacts are already evident. And the world's poor, in rural and coastal areas, are among the most affected," said Graziano da Silva.
"I want to stress the urgency of individual and collective action to address climate change, one of the most pressing challenges the world faces today," he said, adding that FAO was making it a priority in its work to improve sustainable development through its Blue Growth Initiative.
The Director-General pointed out that fisheries and aquaculture were the sources of 17 percent of the animal protein consumed in the world and up to 50 percent in some Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Asian countries. They were also central to the livelihoods of some of the most vulnerable families in the world.
"The livelihoods of 12 percent of the world's population depend on this sector. In particular, small-scale fisheries are the source of employment for more than 90 percent of the world's capture fishers and fish workers, about half of whom are women," he said.
"At the same time that small-scale fishers supply most of the fish consumed in the developing world, many of their families are food-insecure themselves. This is a paradox that we are working together to overcome," he said, stressing that small-scale fishers were an integral part of efforts to improve sustainability and food security.
International forum
The Director-General joined Johan Williams, Chairperson of COFI's 31st Session, in welcoming ministers in charge of fisheries or agriculture and rural development from Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, the Republic of Guinea, Indonesia, Mali and Sri Lanka. Participants also included vice-ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers from Azerbaijan, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Maldives, Namibia, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Among other issues, participants were to consider endorsement of two key sets of voluntary guidelines designed to improve sustainability and responsible fisheries conduct, respectively: the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries and the Voluntary Guidelines for Flag State Performance.
Sun 15 Jun’14: Guided Walk: The Japanese Occupation
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History
Reservoir Edge Opposite Sembawang Park Connector
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Night Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (06 June 2014)
from Beetles@SG BLOG
Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 8 Jun 14;
SINGAPORE: The world is bracing for El Nino this year, which could mean months of drought and sweltering temperatures for Southeast Asia.
You may be feeling the heat on the ground, but one of the most dramatic and potentially catastrophic consequences of El Nino is underwater -- on the world's coral reefs.
Singapore has lost up to 60 per cent of its coral reefs due to development since the 1960s, but what remains today still supports rich marine life.
And they are no less vulnerable to the threat of warming seas.
Most of Singapore's reefs are located on the fringes of its southern islands.
Coral cover today is only about 40 per cent of what the country had in the 1950s -- most of it lost to coastal development, land reclamation and seabed dredging over the past 50 years.
What remains is threatened by more reclamation to meet land use demands by 2030.
But for now, marine biologists have a more pressing, global threat to deal with.
Underwater, researchers from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Reef Ecology Lab survey the natural reef off Semakau.
Lionel Ng, a research assistant with Reef Ecology Lab, said: "Most of the corals were quite OK. Less than five per cent, I would say, were bleaching."
That's good news for now, but marine biologists fear a return of the mass coral bleaching that took place in 1998 and 2010 when the region was swept by unusually warm seawater -- a result of El Nino.
Experts say this disruptive weather phenomenon is likely to hit again in 2014.
Assistant Professor Winston Chow from the NUS Geography Department said: "We're seeing warmer than usual conditions throughout the entire tropical or equatorial Pacific Ocean. It's greater than 0.5 degrees Celsius compared to the long-term average, which is a precursor of El Nino conditions. The warmth of the Pacific Ocean extends all the way towards the South China Sea and also into our part of the world in Southeast Asia."
In healthy conditions, algae living on coral tissue absorbs the sun's energy and produce food for the algae as well as their coral hosts.
When the water gets too warm, the algae produces harmful toxins.
As a result, coral polyps expel the coloured algae and turn white, the actual colour of coral tissue.
Coral can survive bleaching, but lack of food from the algae causes stress and makes it more prone to disease.
So prolonged bleaching can kill entire reefs.
Whether El Nino will happen more often from now on remains a question for climatologists, but there are signs extreme weather is the "new normal".
Assistant Professor Chow said: "The baseline conditions have changed. What we considered in the past to be extreme events could likely become normal events, going forward in the future.
"So more droughts and higher temperatures would be a concern, going forward."
Since May this year, corals in Singapore waters, especially those closer to the water surface, have started to show signs of stress.
There is not much one can do to stop corals from bleaching if and when it happens, because it's all about the temperatures of the oceans around us.
But what the researchers in Singapore are doing can help them find ways to improve the long-term survival chances of Singapore corals.
Since 1997, university researchers have been collecting coral fragments and growing them on man-made coral nurseries off Pulau Semakau.
The nursery anchors the fragments in a sheltered environment, allowing them to grow larger and stronger, before they are transplanted.
Toh Tai Chong, a PhD student at Reef Ecology Lab, said: "First, we do want to study the responses of these corals to bleaching, and thermal stress, as well as move some of these coral fragments to nursery sites with higher water flow.
"So this helps reduce the effect of thermal stress. In the event the corals on the reefs are being wiped out, we can use these as transplant material to re-colonise the reef."
Around the world, coral reefs are declining.
However, despite facing the double whammy of coastal development and climate change, Singapore's reefs continue to survive.
This gives hope to scientists.
Dr Karenne Tun, NParks deputy director (National Biodiversity Centre), said: "The two major bleaching events in 1998 and 2010, we did see a dip in coral cover, amount of corals on the reef. So after the event, the coral cover went down.
"But then, they recovered several years later. This kind of long-term monitoring data gives us the ability to pick out these signals, so we know that there is a chance that if there's another bleaching event now, our corals have a good chance of recovering because they've shown that in the past two decades.
"It's not something that's obvious to people, but it basically means we have reefs that you can probably keep on diving at for a long time to come."
The resilience of Singapore's coral reefs lies in their diversity, which lowers the risk of entire reefs being wiped out.
There are about 250 coral species in Singapore, out of 600 for the whole of Southeast Asia.
And there could be more -- as marine biologists have only scratched the surface of what's underwater.
Dr Karenne Tun said: "There are so many new species that haven't been discovered or recorded in Singapore. We don't really have a good grasp of what we have, and if we lose it faster than we get that information, then we lose a whole body of knowledge that's there."
Studying how and why Singapore's reefs survive and adapt to warmer seas could well offer answers to coral conservation efforts in Singapore and elsewhere.
We don't know.
But if we lose the reefs, we will never find out.
- CNA/ir
Four New Discoveries!
from Butterflies of Singapore
Three Scenarios For a Future Sustainable Singapore
from Green Future Solutions by Eugene Tay
Naked at Pasir Ris on World Ocean Day
from wild shores of singapore
New Straits Times 8 Jun 14;
IPOH: In light of the recent floods that hit several villages in Kampar district near here, an environmental group has urged the state government to monitor logging activities at the adjacent 3,600ha Bujang Melaka forest reserve.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said the floods, which resulted in the evacuation of nearly 400 people, were largely caused by siltation from clearing activities.
SAM field officer Meor Razak said logging activities should not have been allowed at the forest reserve because of its highly-sensitive hills, steep slopes and weak forest floor.
"The reason the floods happened was because of the large quantity of earth which flowed into the Dipang river."
While the state government's instruction to the Drainage and Irrigation Department to investigate the cause of the floods was laudable, Meor said it should also instruct the Forestry Department to carry out a study on logging activities.
Meor said the state government should also study the impact of logging at the Bukit Kinta forest reserve as it could have contributed to flooding in Kampung Sahom upstream.
During his visit to the evacuation centre on June 5, Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the authorities concerned had been asked to determine whether the floods were caused by the shallow Kampar and Dipang rivers, or the heavy rain.
Floods hit several villages in Kampar on Thursday, namely Kampung Baru Kuala Dipang, Kampung Batu 20, Kampung Nyior, Kampung Kuala Dipang, Kampung Chabang 2, Kampung Pasir and Kampung Malaya.
y
Swallowtail moth (Lyssa zampa) in Singapore Biodivesity Records
from News from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Another year of fires, another year of inaction
from Mongabay.com news
JORDAN SKADIANG Today Online 7 Jun 14;
Coral bleaching occurs when increased temperatures cause a normal coral, as seen on the left, to turn pale, resulting in the pale coral seen on the right. Photo: Ria Tan
SINGAPORE — The increased likelihood of El Nino could hit Singapore’s coral reefs hard, say nature lovers, who have already observed signs of coral bleaching on the reefs dotting the offshore islands.
With temperatures expected to rise about 1°C on average, as an NEA report issued last week showed, there is concern that the rate of coral bleaching, a phenomenon already plaguing reefs in local waters, will accelerate.
El Nino is the abnormal warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean which, in the case of South-east Asia, leads to prolonged drier and warmer weather.
Coral bleaching occurs when increased temperatures cause algae residing in the coral to be expelled by the millions. Prolonged exposure to higher water temperatures causes the coral to turn pale — hence the term bleaching — and eventually die.
During the strongest recorded El Nino event to date in the 1997 to 1998 period, 50 to 90 per cent of the reef organisms residing in Singapore were adversely affected, resulting in several colonies dying out. In 2010, unusually high water temperatures led to 60 per cent of coral colonies in Singapore showing signs of bleaching.
The NEA has predicted that weak to moderate El Nino conditions could develop in the next few months
Professor Chou Loke Ming, head of the Reef Ecology Lab at the National University of Singapore, said the Republic “can expect to lose some species of corals” if the temperature increases as forecast.
While the NEA did not mention any official plans to mitigate the impact of El Nino on marine life here, Prof Chou said the reefs’ resilience to environmental changes can be increased by managing them properly, adding that the ability of these ecosystems to survive should not be underestimated.
Wildlife enthusiast Ria Tan, who posted photos of coral bleaching at Terumbu Pempang Laut and St John’s Island on her blog Wild Shores of Singapore last week, concurred. “It’s not all bad news”, she said in an email response to queries, citing a report by marine biologist James Guest in 2012 that found certain coral species were recovering rapidly from bleaching, a sign that they were gradually able to cope with higher water temperatures.
While rising sea temperatures are inevitable, Prof Chou believes the fate of the reefs is in the hands of Singaporeans.
“We are blessed with a natural heritage of coral reefs and are within the global centre of coral diversity, with the richest reef species in the whole world. If we throw it away, then we are very poor stewards of the natural environment,” he said. Jordan Skadiang
Grace Chua The Straits Times AsiaOne 7 Jun 14;
To change people's recycling behaviour, one has to change their social norms, pit them against each other, tug at heartstrings or hit where it hurts - the wallet - say international experts at a waste-management convention.
Experts from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Taiwan and Austria shared their various economies' success stories - and some of their failures - at the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore at Marina Bay Sands on Tuesday.
Making recycling compulsory and charging for waste has worked in Belgium, Taiwan and Austria.
In 1998, for instance, the small Belgian city of Antwerp began mandating that residents separate plastic, paper, glass, and vegetable and garden waste, said its municipal sanitation operational director, Mr Tim De Mulder.
It also charges for each bag of waste disposed using high-tech passcard-based bins. Enforcement stops people from simply dumping their waste beside bins.
While residents howled at first, noted Mr De Mulder, they recycled more and their trash shrank - to 145kg per person a year today, down from 555kg a year in 1997.
And the Flemish government ran a campaign featuring cleaning workers saying things like "Every day I lift seven tonnes of waste" or "Every day I clean two football fields' worth of streets". This built respect for cleaning employees, Mr De Mulder added.
Some countries prefer the carrot to the stick, although this does not always do the trick, as some campaigners have found.
For instance, incentives may not work if they reward only those who are already recycling, rather than getting people to start doing it, said Ms Sarahjane Widdowson of environmental policy consultancy Ricardo-AEA, pointing to a prize draw for recycling in the London district of Westminster, which drew just 2,500 entries in an entire year, and barely increased recycling.
As for people here, what they see as a social norm will have to change if recycling is to take off, said the National University of Singapore business school's Professor Catherine Yeung.
" 'Trash all items' is a social norm in Singapore," she said.
She proposes pitting housing blocks, work teams in an office or school classes against one another to see who could recycle more, and giving them feedback on how they do - something that has worked in the United States in decreasing household energy use.
CleanEnviro Summit closes with S$318m of deals
Channel NewsAsia 6 Jun 14;
SINGAPORE: More than S$318 million worth of projects were announced at the second edition of the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore (CESS), with an estimated S$369 million worth of potential deals in the pipeline, the event’s organisers said on Friday (June 6).
Deals signed at the summit, which ended on Wednesday, include a S$15 million project for the development and operation of a metal recovery facility to recover metals from incineration bottom ash. Two tenders for Integrated Public Cleaning contracts worth S$301 million were also awarded.
Organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the summit was held from June 1 to 4 in conjunction with the World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week. More than 20,000 participants - including ministers, government officials, industry leaders, academics and representatives from international organisations - from 118 countries attended the events, according to the NEA.
Said NEA Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Tay: “The vibrant exchange of best practices and experiences, as well as innovation and technologies across government and industry sectors over the past few days is testament to the strong level of commitment from stakeholders to adopt innovative solutions to address rising challenges. This is a positive step in changing mindsets to make environmental issues a critical part of business decisions.”
The next CleanEnviro Summit Singapore will be held from July 10 to 14, 2016, at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Marina Bay Sands, NEA said.
- CNA/cy
PREDEEP NAMBIAR New Straits Times 7 Jun 14;
CRITICAL: 4 in Batu Ferringhi dirty, black and emit foul stench
GEORGE TOWN: EIGHT rivers in the state are listed as being nearly “dead”, said a state waterway and sea task force.
Out of the eight rivers, four of them are in Batu Ferringhi, with water quality at Class IV and V.
Class IV are polluted rivers while Class V are “dead” rivers, as they are dirty, black and emit a foul stench.
The rivers are Sungai Batu Ferringhi, Sungai Mas, Sungai Satu and Sungai Kechil. The other nearly “dead” river on the island is Sungai Pinang, located south of here.
Three mainland rivers, Sungai Kereh in Tasek Gelugor, Sungai Pertama in Prai and Sungai Jawi in Nibong Tebal, are listed as critical.
The task force listed 32 recommendations to tackle the pollution. Twenty will be implemented immediately or within a year.
The proposals include installing food and grease traps at wet markets by the municipal councils, and enforcement on abattoirs and indiscriminate discharge of waste into rivers.
Task force chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the rivers were polluted because of discharge of effluents by sewage treatment plants and indiscriminate rubbish dumping from illegal businesses, among others.
“The reduction in water quality is because of discharge of effluents from sewage treatment plants, such as Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) and privately held ones.”
The IWK had been blamed for the Sungai Batu Ferringhi pollution in February, and the Department of Environment’s water samples had reported a higher than usual E. coli bacteria count. IWK, however, said that it was not at fault.
The task force was formed some five months ago after the New Straits Times exposed rampant pollution in the rivers of Batu Ferringhi, threatening to destroy the popular beach destination.
Enforcement, not awareness, lacking, says NGO
New Straits Times 7 Jun 14;
GEORGE TOWN: Environmental interest groups expressed concern about the eight heavily polluted rivers in the state.
Malaysian Nature Society Penang adviser D. Kanda Kumar said enforcement was key as many knew that polluting rivers was not right.
“There is no use educating people anymore. In this day and age of the Internet, it is common knowledge that polluting the river is wrong.
“People know it is wrong but they do it anyway.“It is all about enforcement and political will.”
Kanda acknowledged the 32 measures by the state’s waterway pollution task force, but cautioned that hasty decisions would not solve the problems.
“This is a complex issue and we cannot solve it through piecemeal solutions.
“Piecemeal solutions are just knee-jerk reactions. You must be brave enough to enforce the law.”
Kanda was sceptical over the measures, saying efforts by the authorities over the past 15 years had not yielded results.
Kanda said authorities were looking at the wrong place all these years, as most pollution of rivers occurs upstream.
He said downstream clean-up would be counter-productive, as it was a matter of time before the river became dirty again.
He added that the pollution was made worse with hillside farmers disposing waste and dirt upstream of rivers.
“There are many settlements mushrooming along riverbanks, too. The authorities have resettled some from Sungai Pinang, but there are more.”
Kanda also felt there was a lack of concerted effort to remove illegal eateries, which had been discharging waste directly into the drains.
“The waste goes into the drains. The drains flow into the rivers. How do you expect them to be clean?”
Consumers’ Association of Penang research officer S. Mageswari said the state government had failed to look at the effect of the swelling pollution earlier on.
She said Penang’s dirty waterways have been an age-old problem, despite many measures throughout the years.
“The authorities must look at non-point sources, such as sedimentation from hill-cutting. They approve new factories but fail to see the cumulative effect of the pollution.”
Meanwhile, Penang Gerakan secretary Oh Tong Keong said the state government’s motto, “Cleaner, Greener Penang” was a joke.
He said despite spending a substantial amount to keep Penang clean, the DAP-led government’s efforts had been futile.
“Such campaigns are widely publicised in the newspapers. It seems that the campaigns are mere publicity stunts.”
Oh added that the state government ought to focus on long-term river protection plans rather than short-term superficial publicity.
VICTORIA BROWN The Star 6 Jun 14;
A dead turtle found washed up at Teluk Bidara beach, Dungun, Terengganu. - Photo taken by Mona Tan
ALONG a pristine beach, with waves lapping on golden sand and the warm sun shining down, lay a rotting carcass of a dead turtle.
Turtles are endangered, but this is not the first time a dead turtle has washed-up to shore for unsuspecting beachgoers to stumble across.
Mona Tan was one unfortunate beachgoer to come across a dead turtle during a trip to Teluk Bidara, Dungun, Terengganu, with her friends.
“When my friends and I first arrived at the beach, we were met by a family from Johor who were the ones that spotted the dead turtle and alerted us,” said Tan.
Tan described the sight as “heart wrenching” - the turtle’s body was already severely decomposed.
“The turtle’s intestines were showing, its body was bloated, and there was a stench,” said Tan.
“At first glance, it looked like the turtle had died due to getting its head caught in a plastic bag.
“But upon closer inspection, we realized that there was no plastic bag on the turtle’s head, but rather its head became so rotten that there wasn’t any flesh left. With only the turtle’s skin remaining, it looked very plastic-like,” she said.
Tan said that there was a string around the turtle's neck which was attached to a rock, leading her to believe that it caused the turtle to drown.
“My friends and I were sad but we didn’t know what else we could do except to take a picture to show everyone what cruelty is going on in the Land of Turtles,” said Tan.
Tan expressed her distress that the encounter with the endangered turtle came after it had died.
“It is sad that we are doing so little to protect what we have,” she said.
Did you know that despite many populations of marine turtles being on the brink of extinction, several are still killed or are in danger of dying?
The natural obstacles faced by young and adult turtles are staggering, but it is the increasing threats caused by humans that are driving them to extinction.
One of the main causes of concern is the harvesting of turtle eggs for consumption, ending the life of a turtle even before it begins.
Some other threats are ocean pollution, coastal development, artificial lighting (hatchlings are drawn to bright lights), fishing gear and global warming.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia communications officer Nadiah Rosli said that having turtles stranded offshore is pretty much an “open secret”.
“Terengganu is currently home to one of the largest Green Turtle populations in Peninsular Malaysia, but they are under threat,” said Nadiah.
Nadiah said she has come across several cases where fishermen would kill turtles which get caught in their nets.
“Many fishermen would resort to killing the turtle, getting it out of the nets and dumping it in the sea, so that they can fix their nets,” she said.
Some turtles also fall victim to the speed boat's propeller blades.
“I saw a turtle in Malacca which got its flipper cut off, we saved it, but we hope that it will survive,” she said.
It is an unfortunate reality to know that the turtle populations in Malaysia is decreasing, and at this rate we risk losing the species forever.
According to WWF, records from 1984-2008 showed a 99.9% decline of Leatherbacks, 100% for Olive Ridleys, 70% for Hawksbills and more than 60% for the Green Turtles.
The statistic is staggering but our Federal Government is still not implementing the laws we need to further protect this species.
"We are still pushing for a Federal ban on the consumption and sale of turtle eggs,” said Nadiah.
“At present, there is no national ban on the consumption of turtle eggs, with only the sale of Leatherback Turtle eggs banned in Terengganu while the eggs of other turtle species can be consumed and traded.
“We submitted a memorandum in 2010, but we received no response. Sabah and Sarawak have already issued a ban on the sale and consumption of turtle eggs, which is great.
"But we are still advocating for the law to be implemented here in Peninsula Malaysia,” she added.
Thankfully, there are organisations like WWF which are raising awareness on the plight of the turtles through public programmes.
With World Sea Turtle Day coming up on June 16, WWF will be celebrating this day by raising awareness on the need to protect this endangered species in a two-day roadshow in Terengganu on June 21 and 22.
WWF will be travelling to several towns starting from Setiu (the northern tip of Terengganu), to Cukai (the southern tip of the state).
“One of the key messages communicated at these outreach programmes is to not sell, buy or eat turtle eggs,” said Nadiah.
“We want to raise awareness on the protection of turtles as a whole. We need to protect their nesting beaches and to prevent unplanned development from encroaching their territory,” she added.
This species is not only the icon and pride of Terengganu but also a significant natural and cultural heritage for the state.
Nadiah urged the public to develop a sense of ownership for this species.
“Turtles are an icon to our country, it’s no point to hail them as the state animal of Terengganu or put them on our RM20 note if they are going to go extinct.
“We should be proud to have this species in Malaysia, and we should do more to protect them,” she said.
Turtles are well known animals, almost everyone would know how one looks like. But how many know the danger turtles are in? How many people realise that if we do not do anything, turtles are going to become extinct?
There is room for a lot more awareness programmes and conservation projects in Malaysia. But I believe that the Federal Government should take the first step by implementing the necessary laws to protect the species.
So let us all work towards the protection of this species before the only turtles we see are on pictures and our RM20 notes.
What are your thoughts on turtle conservation in Malaysia? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
For more information on WWF’s World Sea Turtle Day Celebration roadshow in Terengganu on June 21 and 22, keep an eye out their website http://www.wwf.org.my/ and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wwfmy).
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