Stop painting the tree blue
Choo Meng Foo
30 Nov (Mon): Volunteer to make a difference for Ubin!
wild shores of singapore
First public dive at the Marine Park!
Sisters' Island Marine Park
Spiral Melongena (Volegalea cochlidium) @ Cyrene Reef
Monday Morgue
Carolyn Khew, The Straits Times AsiaOne 9 Nov 15;
The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) is expected to start certifying palm oil-based products in February next year.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, SEC executive director Edwin Seah said it is working with professional services firm Ernst & Young to develop a new product category for products that have palm oil, under its Singapore Green Labelling Scheme (SGLS).
The non-governmental group has awarded its green label to over 3,000 products here but currently does not certify palm oil-based products, which include chocolates, hand soaps and detergents.
The new category will also be developed with input from palm oil certification body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). "The key challenge is the supply chain trail but we are assured that this will be verified by RSPO, and we will require RSPO certification when a company submits its product for SGLS certification," said Mr Seah.
Manufacturers that wish to apply for the certification may do so from February, and applications are expected to take about two weeks to process once all documents are in.
Mr Stephano Savi, RSPO's global outreach and engagement director, has said that as much as 80 per cent of global palm oil is uncertified.
The complex supply chain and lack of transparency make it difficult for palm oil products to be certified. For instance, there could be mixing of palm oil from different sources at multiple stages in the supply chain, making it tough to trace a product back to one source.
The demand for greater transparency and sustainably sourced products came under the spotlight after Singapore suffered one of its most prolonged periods of haze.
While the haze this year may not have been as bad as the 1997 episode, it has surpassed the 2013 one in magnitude and duration, said Dr Erik Velasco, a research scientist from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
During the 2013 episode, the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index hit a high of 401. That episode was very intense, said Dr Velasco, but it lasted only a week. This year, it has lasted three months so far.
As of last Friday, 131 firms have signed the SEC declaration saying they procure their wood, paper and/or pulp materials from sustainable sources. SEC's move had sparked a chain reaction, with retailers like NTUC FairPrice pulling paper products linked to the haze.
When asked, Dr Seck Tan, a research fellow from the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, acknowledged that while consumer pressure is one way of tackling the haze issue, not all end-consumers would be able to make informed choices as palm oil is often labelled as vegetable oil.
"The responsibility falls on companies to ensure consumers are well informed with their product purchases. Hence, these companies, as corporate consumers, should stipulate accountable and sustainable farming from oil palm producers," said Dr Tan.
Major palm oil players such as Wilmar and Cargill said they have initiatives in place to ensure a traceable supply chain.
Mr Graham Usher, who studies habitat change and forest loss in northern Sumatra at conservation group PanEco Foundation, said that one way in which the haze problem can be more effectively tackled is by better regulating smaller-scale oil palm plantations.
"That does not mean that large companies are blameless and should not be scrutinised, but I do believe that a lot of destruction is driven by smaller-scale land-grabbing," he said.
Carolyn Khew, The Straits Times AsiaOne 9 Nov 15;
SINGAPORE may have been seeing less of the haze recently with increased rainfall, but that does not guarantee blue skies ahead for the rest of the year.
"There is no guarantee of such a thing. With the onset of pre-monsoon period before the north-east monsoon, the winds are changing direction and, hence, are helping us by keeping the smoke away from Singapore," said senior research scientist Santo Salinas at the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing at the National University of Singapore.
Erik Velasco, a research scientist from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, added that while the heavy rain in Kalimantan and Sumatra has considerably reduced the number of fires since Oct 26, dry conditions may occur again later this year or earlier next year.
"If any meteorological anomaly switches the wind direction a little bit, we may experience haze of moderate intensity. The haze threat won't finish until the fires stop completely," added Dr Velasco.
The recent rise in rainfall has brought a much needed reprieve for Singapore, which has suffered one of its worst bouts of haze with the El Nino weather phenomenon making fires harder to put out.
The National Environment Agency said last Monday that the inter-monsoon season is expected to last for the rest of this month before gradually giving way to north-east monsoon conditions early next month.
According to the Meteorological Service Singapore, the early north-east monsoon sees showers and moderate to heavy rains. Its later phase, which usually takes place from late January to early March, typically sees windy and relatively dry weather.
Annually, drier conditions occur in February and March in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Coupled with the likelihood that El Nino may extend into May next year, experts said the drier conditions could make it easier for fires to start.
Dr Salinas said that a prolonged El Nino causes more dryness and a delayed rainy season. "This could mean that forests and peatlands can still burn and wind patterns can be more unpredictable."
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/blue-skies-now-haze-might-return#sthash.shIJWl2L.dpuf
Comprising two trails of about 100 metres in length each, they were developed to showcase and encourage a deeper appreciation for Singapore's marine biodiversity.
Nur Afifah Ariffin, Channel NewsAsia
Channel NewsAsia 8 Nov 15;
SINGAPORE: The Sisters’ Islands Marine Park Dive Trail opened to the public on Sunday (Nov 8). Comprising two trails of about 100 metres in length each, they were developed to showcase and encourage a deeper appreciation for Singapore's marine biodiversity.
It takes 20 minutes by boat to get to the site, which is located at Pulau Subar Laut, or the Big Sister's Island.
Dr Karenne Tun, Deputy Director (Coastal and Marine) at National Biodiversity Centre, said: "Generally, because of the location of the islands itself, currents can be very, very strong. So what we have done is select the site that has the most suitable windows for diving. So in a month, we'd probably have the best opportunity to dive at this site."
Each diver will also be given a booklet that can be brought underwater. It is filled with activities divers can do along the two trails, which are marked by signboards to explain the types of marine life in the area.
The shallow trail is about five to six metres deep. Divers can get up close to the soft coral reef, sea urchins, and underwater worms. The shallow trail leads into the deep trail, which can go as deep as 15 metres.
A diver, who manoeuvred through the trails on Sunday, said: "It was a positive and interesting dive experience. I didn't expect this in Singapore waters."
To protect the marine biodiversity, only experienced divers are allowed on the trails. In addition, only dive operators that meet all the criteria set by the National Parks Board can organise dive trips here.
Divers and operators must adhere to certain guidelines, which were set to safeguard the reef. Dr Tun added: "That includes, for example, no touching of animals. Take a photo if you want, but don't touch them.
“Divers need to have at least an advanced level of certification or above so that they are more comfortable diving in an environment that might have slightly stronger currents and low visibility. They also need to have good buoyancy control."
Divers will be guided through 20 stations marked by signs that will bring their attention to the variety of marine biodiversity and reef features present in Singapore’s waters.
Registration opened on Sunday for the next dive window on Nov 22.
- CNA/xk
Two powerful quakes struck Indonesia's Sumatra on Sunday, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Channel NewsAsia 8 Nov 15;
PADANG: Two powerful quakes struck Indonesia's Sumatra on Sunday (Nov 8), US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
An initial 6.1-magnitude undersea tremor struck at a depth of 75 kilometres in the afternoon, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. It was followed around seven hours later by a strong 6.4-magnitude quake, also at sea, at a depth of 7.7 kilometres, USGS reported.
The first quake struck 111 kilometres south of the city of Sibolga, in North Sumatra province, while the epicentre of the second was a similar distance from Sabang, an islet off the northernmost tip of Sumatra. Smaller tremors were recorded throughout the afternoon and evening.
Mochammad Riyadi, a senior official from Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, said the first quake was felt strongly for 15 seconds in Mandailing Natal district, which is around 85 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.
"Moderate tremors" were also felt in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, he said. "We have no reports of damage or casualty so far. No tsunami alert was issued," he added.
An AFP correspondent in Padang said "the earth swayed back and forth for around 10 seconds", but the majority of residents remained calm.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
- AFP/al/de
Tsunamis may be generated after large earthquake strikes Indonesia: NEA
AsiaOne 8 Nov 15;
SINGAPORE - An earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale has been detected on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia on Sunday (Nov 8) at 5.34pm, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a push alert notification.
Describing the earthquake as 'large', NEA said that the epicentre is located 559km west from Singapore, and warned that tsunamis may be generated near the epicentre.
No tremors were reported. "Singapore is unlikely to be affected," NEA added.
Padang, the capital of west Sumatra, is the nearest major city to the earthquake epicentre which lies 231km away.
The United Stated Geological Survey said that the quake was 75.1km deep.
6.0-magnitude quake rocks North Sumatra`s Mandaling Natal
Antara 8 Nov 15;
Medan, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rocked Mandailing Natal district, North Sumatra, on Sunday evening.
The epicenter of the earthquake which struck at 04.34 p.m. local time was located 85 km southwest of Mandailing Natal at a depth of 86 km, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) office in Medan, capital of North Sumatra province.
The earthquake was strongly felt in the district, prompting local residents to stay outdoors to avoid undesired things, spokesman for the Mandailing Natal District Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) Supardi Lubis said.
There is no immediate report of casualties and material damage.
Reported by Irwan Arfa
Tom Arup, The Age Sydney Morning Herald 9 Nov 15;
Hundreds of millions of people around the world are living in places that could eventually be submerged by rising sea levels triggered by unchecked climate change, new global maps suggest.
An estimated 627 million people live in these places, including about 1.9 million in Australia and many more in the world's great metropolises such as Tokyo, New York and Shanghai.
The rising seas won't happen overnight, nor in anybody's current lifetime. The global mapping project, carried out by the US group Climate Central, is based on huge sea-level rises that would not emerge for another 200 to 2000 years.
But a report that accompanies the maps, released on Monday, says this future would be locked in if global warming reached four degrees by 2100 - considered likely if the current level of emissions continued unabated.
The project is based on a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA in October. That analysis - carried out by researchers at Climate Central - found that four degrees of warming could lock-in 8.9 metres of long-term sea level rise in the centuries to follow.
If warming was held to two degrees by strong emissions cuts - the goal of a new global climate agreement countries are negotiating through the United Nations - then the rise would be more like 4.7 metres. About 280 million people live in areas below that watermark.
Across Australia, the analysis finds there are about 1.9 million people living in areas that would be submerged if there was an 8.9 metre rise in sea level. At 4.7 metres, it is 668,000 people.
In central Melbourne, the maps based on what is locked in with four degrees of warming suggests significant inundation of prized bayside suburbs and throughout Docklands.
The actual number of people who would be affected is fairly speculative given the very long timeframes at play. These numbers do not factor in preventative measures cities might take in the meantime to counteract rising seas. Nor does it consider how populations will move and grow.
Sea level rise as a result of global warming comes from the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of glaciers. But the biggest potential rises depend on the long-term response of massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, for which there is significant scientific uncertainty.
For that reason scientists have been largely conservative in their projections. In 2013, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in its last major assessment a projected sea-level rise of at worst 0.82 metres out to 2100 with unchecked emissions.
But more recently a number of studies have begun to explore what might happen after the end of this century. One recent example is an Australian-led study that found if ice shelves protecting the Antarctic sheets from the ocean were lost, then it would unlock thousands of years of unstoppable contributions to sea level rise.
Overnight Nature Camp on St. John’s Island
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Herps in the Sky? – Part 2
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Night Walk At A Secret Place (7 Nov 2015)
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Winging It
Singapore Invites, launched by the Singapore Tourism Board, encourages residents and people from around the world to invite their family and friends to experience Singapore together. In the third of a five-part series, nature lover Jonathan Tan shares a side of the country where different ecosystems co-exist in a harmonious manner
Jalelah Abu Baker Straits Times 8 Nov 15;
With its vibrant ecosystems and rich biodiversity, Singapore is a paradise for nature lovers, according to Mr Jonathan Tan, 20, a full-time national serviceman.
The seed of love for all things nature was planted after a school trip to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean when he was 16 years old.
There, he saw migrating red crabs earn their own "pedestrian" crossings, and something about how people on the island live as one with wildlife struck him.
The trip inspired him to seek out nature in Singapore, and as far as he is concerned, he has struck gold.
"We are in a modern metropolis where we have rainforest, coral reefs and mangroves within half an hour of the city centre," Mr Tan said, referring to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the Southern Islands and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Further from the city centre are the Chek Jawa Wetlands on Pulau Ubin, an island off Changi Point in the eastern part of Singapore. There, Mr Tan, an aspiring ecologist, providesguided tours.
Chek Jawa is home to rich biodiversity, he said. When the lagoon there experiences low tide, marine life such as starfish, sea cucumbers and sea anemone can be spotted amid one of the largest seagrass meadows in Singapore.
At the same time, hornbills, sea eagles, snakes, monkeys and wild boars also make appearances.
"Animals here are used to humans, so they don't run away, whereas in other countries, where they are hunted, they hide," he said.
Chek Jawa is one of the places that Mr Tan would like to take his Korean friend, whom he has not seen for about two years, if she visits Singapore.
"It is where land and sea come together. They are not separate, but parts of a whole," he said, adding that one can find six different ecosystems, including mangrove forests, rocky shores and extensive seagrass beds, existing together.
One of his most memorable sightings on Chek Jawa is the blue dragon, a sea slug known for its electric blue feather-like covering.
It is such chance meetings that make places of nature so special. "What you hope to see, you don't see. Instead, what you aren't looking for just appears in front of you. That's kind of the magic of it," he said.
Those who are really lucky may even get to see sea snakes and dugongs, he added.
Chek Jawa is a 45-minute hike from the Pulau Ubin jetty. Bicycle rental and taxi services are also available for a small fee. A one-way ferry trip to Pulau Ubin from the Changi Point Ferry Terminal costs $3.
Besides Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin has other charming spots, too.
Abandoned quarries are good for spotting birds such as herons, and the Ketam Mountain Bike Park is the perfect environment for birds such as the blue-throated bee-eaters and baya weavers.
Durian lovers can also feast on the King of Fruits when it is in season - Ubin residents sell the creamy fruit from their own trees.
Apart from Pulau Ubin, other nature sites that Mr Tan would take his Korean friend to are the Southern Islands, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
On the fringe of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve are two trails, the Venus Loop and Mandai Forest, that are accessible at night. Visitors may chance upon owls, the sambar deer and civet.
On the beauty of Kusu Island, which is part of the Southern Islands, Mr Tan said: "You can be looking at coral in front of you, and further in the background are skyscrapers, the city and the Singapore Flyer."
UNEXPECTED FINDS
What you hope to see, you don't see. Instead, what you aren't looking for just appears in front of you. That's kind of the magic of it.
MR JONATHAN TAN, a full-time national serviceman, on what draws him to Singapore's nature reserves Brought to you by the Singapore Tourism Board
Idyllic escape to Southern Islands
Jalelah Abu Baker Straits Times 8 Nov 15;
If Mr Jonathan Tan were to invite his Korean friend to Singapore, an idyllic getaway to the Southern Islands would certainly be part of their itinerary.
The Southern Islands, managed by Sentosa Development Corporation, include Kusu, St John's, Lazarus, Pulau Hantu and Sisters'. Getting to them requires taking a ferry at a fee. Visitors can swim, sail, go scuba-diving, snorkeland fishthere.
Kusu Island, which means Tortoise Island in Chinese, is most famous for its wishing well and Tortoise Sanctuary. It is also known as a pilgrimage spot.
St John's Island offers a magnificent view and has lodging which comes with a kitchen. The island is connected to the uninhabited Lazarus Island by a causeway. Lazarus was originally known as Pulau Sakijang Pelepah, or Island of One Barking Deer and Palms.
Pulau Hantu is made up of two islets - Hantu Besar (Big Ghost) and Hantu Kecil (Little Ghost). Both have shelters and picnic areas, while Hantu Besar also has two swimming lagoons and a public toilet with fresh water.
The Sisters' Islands are home to Singapore's first marine park, comprising Sisters' Islands and their surrounding reefs, and the western reefs of nearby St John's Island and Pulau Tekukor. The park's ecosystem supports marine life like coral, anemone, seahorses and fish.
Wildlife, forest and history by the reservoir
Straits Times 8 Nov 15;
One of Mr Jonathan Tan's favourite nature sites is the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, the largest of the nature reserves in Singapore, covering more than 2,000ha of forest.
It houses the Lower Peirce Reservoir Park, where one can spot snakes, wild boar, flying dragons and, if lucky, the sub-species of the banded leaf monkey endemic to Singapore.
Officially opened in March 1912, it is Singapore's second reservoir. It was planned as an extension of the first reservoir, MacRitchie, to meet growing demand for water in Singapore.
Originally named the Kallang River Reservoir, it took on the name Peirce in 1922 in honour of the service of Mr Robert Peirce, municipal engineer of Singapore from 1901 to 1916.
It became known as Lower Peirce to distinguish it from a new upstream reservoir that was created in 1975.
The forest that lines Lower Peirce Reservoir's banks is considered a mature secondary rainforest and retains many rubber trees and oil palms.
In 1999, a 900m boardwalk, the Lower Peirce Trail, was opened for public use.
Following a policy change by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the water intake tower and bridge at Lower Peirce Reservoir were gazetted for conservation in December 2009.
WHERE TO GO
Jalelah Abu Baker Straits Times 8 Nov 15;
Nature enthusiast Jonathan Tan offers ideas on how tourists can enjoy nature in Singapore.
BEST SPOT TO CATCH SUNRISE:
ST JOHN'S ISLAND
Visitors may stay overnight on the island dotted with casuarina trees. They can watch the sun rise against the backdrop of the city.
BEST SPOT FOR BIRDWATCHING:
SUNGEI BULOH WETLAND RESERVE
The reserve is recognised as a site of international importance for migratory birds, some from as far as Siberia, to escape winter. It is well-known among birdwatchers.
BEST SPOT FOR SEA BREEZE:
CHANGI POINT (NEAR CHANGI VILLAGE)
From there, visitors will be treated to a view of Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong and Johor, Malaysia. It is also a good spot for reflection, according to Mr Tan.
MOST FAMILY-FRIENDLY SPOT:
BISHAN PARK
Home to a family of otters, the park has streams where children can catch small fish with a net.
KATHLEEN ANN KILI The Star 8 Nov 15;
JOHOR BARU: Business owners here are upset with the prolonged scheduled water rationing, saying it has affected revenue for the past three months.
The affected ones are mostly those who run car wash outlets, laundry shops and restaurants. XL Car Wash and Polishing Centre owner Steven Er claimed that his profits had dipped by about 50% since the water rationing started.
“I faced losses of about RM4,000 in the first month. I decided to fork out RM1,000 to buy extra tanks to store up to 700 gallons of water.”
“My car wash service is now limited to 30 cars a day, which is half of my regular sale,” he said.
It has been reported that two dams in Johor were at critical level despite heavy rains of late.
Er, who has been operating his business for five years, said he hoped that Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) would offer compensation by lowering the tariff for those affected.
A restaurant owner, who wanted to be known only as Ina, said she had to buy large containers to store water for her business along Jalan Permas 10 here.
“I have not resorted to buying water from commercial factories but if the problem persists, I may not have a choice,” she said.
Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post 7 Nov 15;
Almost 8 million consumers, over a quarter of the Indonesian market, are willing to switch to sustainable palm oil products as long as they are properly informed and the products are widely available in the market, a recent study has found.
The study, the first to analyze the perception of Indonesian consumers regarding sustainable palm oil products, found that 27 percent of its 800 respondents would use sustainable palm oil products and were willing to pay extra for them.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), in collaboration with Daemeter Consulting, conducted the survey between May and October this year in five major cities: Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan and Palembang.
Of the 7.9 million consumers who they would use such products, 2.9 million were willing to support the cause by initiating and taking part in campaigns.
“From this highly committed group of people, more than 60 percent said that they were willing to buy sustainable palm oil products that were much more expensive [than regular ones],” Daemeter Consulting sustainability communications manager Leony Aurora said.
The rest said they were willing to buy only sustainable palm oil products.
Apart from the 7.9 million potential consumers, at least 13 million more consumers could be encouraged to switch to sustainable palm oil products, the report said.
“These people are referred to as ‘followers’ [...] Maybe we need a big-name celebrity to campaign for the cause. Most people in this group don’t want to pay extra [for sustainable palm oil products],” said Leony.
While the report acknowledges that there is a huge market and potential demand for sustainable palm oil in the country, a myriad of challenges remain ahead, including the fact that most customers do not have enough understanding of the concept of sustainability as well as the impact of unsustainable oil palm plantations.
“When we asked the respondents about the impact of palm oil, 37 percent said it had a positive impact while another 37 percent said there was no impact whatsoever. This is shocking because there is a disconnect between what the media is reporting [the negative impact of oil palm plantations] and consumers,” Leony said.
Of those who said that oil palm plantations had a positive impact, 31 percent said the plantations were beneficial to the environment.
“They believe they will reduce pollution and increase greenery. So they think planting [an oil palm] tree equals green equals good. Maybe the government’s program on planting trees is too successful so that the public thinks whatever trees are being planted is good [for the environment],” said Leony. “They’re overestimating the environmental benefit produced by monoculture plantations.”
On the other hand, only 4 percent believed that oil palm plantations had a negative impact, with 78 percent of them saying that they were destructive of the environment.
“The number who said palm oil plantations had a [negative] social impact was very small, only 7 percent. So media reporting on indigenous peoples has failed to resonate with the public,” said Leony.
RSPO global outreach and engagement director Stefano Savi said the palm oil industry in Indonesia should learn from the study.
“This is a great advantage, this means we can communicate the issue of sustainability without having the risk of emphasizing the negative aspects. So what are we waiting for? Let’s educate consumers,” he said.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia Market Transformation Initiative deputy leader Irwan Gunawan said palm oil firms should start a revolution in the industry by introducing more sustainable products into the market, instead of waiting for consumers to demand them.
“It’s always a question of chicken and egg. But for me, it’s the chicken [palm oil firms] who should first lay the eggs [sustainable palm oil products]. This is capital investment. In the first five years, you might bleed money, but after that you will reap the benefits,” he said.
— JP/Hans Nicholas Jong
Tama Salim, The Jakarta Post 7 Nov 15;
The Navy will keep three of its vessels on standby for evacuations at the Banjarmasin base in South Kalimantan, as the number of people affected by respiratory illnesses resulting from air pollution surpasses half a million.
Navy chief of staff Admiral Ade Supandi said on Friday that three vessels would remain at the base for deployment in the event of deteriorating haze conditions that might prompt an immediate evacuation of residents.
“[They] remain on standby in Banjarmasin, the order hasn’t been revoked. You wouldn’t expect the Navy to leave, would you?” Ade told reporters at the Navy headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.
Ade said the KRI Dr. Suharso, KRI Banda Aceh and KRI Teluk Jakarta — all landing platform dock-type (LPD) ships that can accommodate large groups of people — would remain in the vicinity until their services were no longer needed.
“We’re also there on standby patrol if required; the government has basically tasked us with the role of assisting mitigation efforts in relation to the health aspect, but we will also continue to carry out our regular defense duties for as long as the ships are at the naval base,” he explained.
Last month, the government declared a contingency plan after ongoing efforts to extinguish the fires had proved ineffective.
With thousands of people falling sick from the haze every week, the government saw few alternative solutions other evacuating people from the worst-affected areas.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan said at the time that state officials were mulling the use of vessels belonging to the Navy and state-owned shipping line PT Pelni to accommodate residents for the next four to five months.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) announced on Friday morning that at least 556,945 people had been diagnosed with various forms of acute respiratory infections (ISPA) as a result of the pollution produced by forest and peatland fires.
According to BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Jambi and South Sumatra provinces were the worst-affected areas, with the former recording 151,839 cases of ISPA and the latter with 115,484 victims.
In Riau province 81,958 cases were reported, 1,307 people contracted pneumonia and another 3,764 suffered from asthma. South Kalimantan, where the Navy ships are based, also reported a high occurrence of ISPA with around 95,000 cases.
Sutopo said that although the air quality had not yet returned to its normal level there was no need for evacuations.
Ongoing efforts to clear the haze and extinguish the persisting fires, which have razed almost 2 million hectares this year, have continued to produce varying results, with hotspots emerging despite some welcome rainfall earlier in the week.
On Friday, there remain 77 hot spots in Sumatra and 63 in Kalimantan. Visibility also differed from city to city, with Palembang once again being the worst-affected area with a visibility level of 1,200 meters.
— JP/Tama Salim
Tama Salim, The Jakarta Post 7 Nov 15;
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has set up a team to help prosecutors at the provincial level handle cases of individuals and companies involved in forest and peatland fires.
Attorney General M. Prasetyo said that the team would supervise how ongoing cases were being handled to ensure they yielded optimum results.
“The team will supervise all provincial prosecutor’s offices in the country,” Prasetyo said.
He said that all stages of prosecution needed to be strengthened — from drafting the indictment until the actual prosecution — as forest and land-fire cases had caused massive damage and material losses.
Prasetyo, however, said that the progress of forest-fire cases would continue to largely depend on the investigations initiated by the National Police.
National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said earlier that several of the investigations into individuals allegedly involved in the forest burning had wrapped up and would soon be taken to court.
The police are currently working on 238 cases related to forest and peatland fires. Of the 238 cases, 191 involved individual perpetrators while 47 involved corporations, including a number of foreign companies.
The police have named 205 suspects in individual cases, and 11 suspects in the corporate cases. At least 72 people have been detained.
The AGO claimed to have only handled three cases pertaining to the forest fires, whereas regional prosecutor’s offices handled the rest.
Separately, the Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry has come up with preventive measures that the government could use to deal with peatland and forest fires.
According to Minister M. Nasir, the ministry will set up a national research consortium tasked to prevent the spread of forest and land fires, taking advantage of research that had been conducted by universities in the country.
Nasir said recommendations from research on forest fires had rarely been implemented.
“Every year, the forest fires continue to rage. That is why we are setting up a research consortium to optimize the work in implementing [recommendations from the research]. There will also be legal experts who’ll be able to explain what sanctions are called for in cases of intentional burning,” Nasir said at a press conference on Thursday.
The minister said that specific tasks would be divided among the participating institutions, according to their research field. Among the subjects are health, education and peatland management.
The initiative was a response to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s recent instruction to all relevant government institutions to start working on measures that could prevent the repeat of annual forest and peatland fires, with only eight months left before the next dry season starts.
Police name 26 suspects for burning land
The Jakarta Post 7 Nov 15;
PONTIANAK: West Kalimantan Police have declared 26 people suspects for allegedly burning tracts of land and forest, contributing to the widespread haze enveloping the province over the past few months.
“So far we have investigated 35 cases of land and forest fire and we have declared 26 people, all individuals, not from companies, as suspects in these cases,” West Kalimantan Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Arianto said in Pontianak on Friday.
Arianto said police had completed dossiers on five of 26 suspects while the remaining 21 suspects were still being questioned.
“We are also investigating four cases of land and forest fire that, allegedly, involve corporations,” he added as quoted by Antara news agency, before adding that two of the cases involved corporations PT SKM and PT KAL in Ketapang regency, PT PJP in Kubu Raya regency and PT RKJ, a foreign investment firm in Melawi regency.
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