Malaysia: Wildlife crossings not enough - Mycat

LOH FOON FONG The Star 3 Aug 16;

MERAPOH: Some RM60mil has been spent on building highway underpasses for wildlife to cross at Sungai Yu, but these will be useless if the Pahang government does not stop illegal land clearing in the area, warns a conservationist.

Dr Kae Kawanishi, head of conservation for the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat), also said that a critical 20sq km of forested state land in the Sungai Yu Tiger Corridor, should be turned into a wildlife reserve to better protect wildlife.

That’s because the land, situated between Taman Negara and the Main Range, has been cleared for illegal rubber and oil palm planting.

Dr Kae said this not only destroyed the wildlife habitats there but also put humans in conflict with wildlife, resulting in the animals being killed.

“Enforcement has to be stepped up,” she said after leading Mycat’s Citizen Action for Tigers (CAT) Walk, an anti-poaching and anti-deforestation surveillance event conducted by volunteers on Saturday.

Merapoh is near the border of Pahang and Kelantan, with Kuala Lipis 74km to the south and Gua Musang about 40km to the north.

Dr Kae said that if rubber tappers see a tiger in the morning, they would call the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan).

“Why does Perhilitan have to catch the tiger when the area is a tiger corridor?” she said, adding that out of three underpasses, two in the north could not function as eco-viaducts because the surrounding land had been cleared and wildlife was no longer detected there.

On Friday, Tengku Puteri Seri Kemala Pahang Tengku Aishah Sultan Ahmad Shah launched the Sungai Yu Reforestation Project on Global Tiger Day, on behalf of Tengku Mahkota of Pahang Tengku Abdullah.

She planted a tree under the southernmost Sungai Yu eco-viaduct, which is almost 1km long, the longest for tiger conservation in the world, as part of the ceremony.

The forest had been separated by the Kuala Lipis-Merapoh trunk road (Federal Route 8) and the tiger corridor was further threatened when the road was upgraded to a four-lane highway known as the Central Spine Road (CSR).

Dr Kae said the Sungai Yu Tiger Corridor viaduct area was about 40sq km and the bulk of it was a forest reserve, with parts of it in Taman Negara and the Tanum Forest Reserve.

“But there is about 20sq km, around 2,000ha, of state land which is not protected.

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Indonesian seaweed farmers launch class action over Montara oil spill

Jewel Topsfield Sydney Morning Herald 2 Aug 16;

Jakarta: More than 13,000 Indonesian seaweed farmers will on Wednesday launch a class action in the Federal Court in Sydney against the company responsible for the worst oil spill in the history of Australia's offshore petroleum industry.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for the loss of income it says the farmers suffered when their seaweed plots died after the 2009 Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea.

"Our investigations show that the operator of the oil rig has a serious case to answer for cutting corners that endangered lives, the environment and the livelihoods of thousands of seaweed farmers," said Maurice Blackburn managing principal Ben Slade.

He said the seaweed farmers, who are from East Nusa Tenggara, one of Indonesia's poorest and most remote provinces, suffered "north of $200 million" in loss of income.

Indonesia is one of the world's top producers of seaweed, which is used in food, cosmetics, medicine and fertiliser.

The company that operated the Montara oil rig - PTTEP Australasia - has denied liability.

"PTTEP Australasia maintains its position, based on extensive independent scientific research overseen by the Australian government, that no oil from Montara reached the shores of Indonesia or Australia and that no long-term damage was done to the Timor Sea environment," a company spokesman said.

An estimated 300,000 litres of oil a day spewed into the ocean for more than 10 weeks after an explosion at the oil rig, 250 kilometres south-east of Rote Island, on August 21, 2009.

"In the second half of September in 2009, all the seaweed farmers in Oenggaut (a village in Rote) lost their seaweed crops after the surface of the water changed; it went from the normal blue colour and had all the colours of the rainbow," 58-year-old seaweed farmer Daniel Aristabulus Sanda said in a statutory declaration.

"The seaweed that I was growing was totally destroyed, it broke up and washed away. I saw dead fish, in uncountable numbers, sometimes more than 100 in one place."

Mr Sanda said that after the oil killed his crop he tried to plant new seeds but they all died.

"I felt desperate at this time; I was sad and disappointed that my seaweed would not grow and I could not provide for my family."

Mr Sanda's yield shrunk from 14,000 dry kilograms of seaweed in 2008, the year before the oil spill, to just 500 in 2010.

It was not until 2013 that his crops improved.

He said the "difficult years" made things very hard for his family because he was paying to put his two children through university.

"If the company thought that this issue would go away because the farmers are Indonesians, or because they didn't understand their legal rights, they were sorely mistaken," Mr Slade said.

The class action will be bankrolled by Harbour Litigation Funding Limited, one of the largest litigation funders in the world, in return for a share of the proceeds if the case is successful.

"Although we invest in a wide range of commercial litigation, it is particularly rewarding that our financial support helps those whom otherwise may not get access to justice," said Ruth Stackpool-Moore, the head of Harbour's Asia-Pacific hub.

A report last year by the Australian Lawyers Alliance, "After the Spill", called for a full independent investigation, saying evidence pointed to a larger environmental and social disaster than has ever been officially acknowledged.

The class action is a victory for West Timor Care Foundation president Ferdi Tanoni, who has spent years fruitlessly lobbying the Australian government and PTTEP Australasia to fund an environmental assessment on the impact on the East Nusa Tenggara community.

"Six years, 11 months and 10 days … it's a long fight," he said.

"I believe soon we will be able to bring justice to the people of East Nusa Tenggara and West Timor who suffered."


Montara oil spill has damaged livelihoods, ecosystem: Foundation
Djemi Amnifu The Jakarta Post 4 Aug 16;

The head of the concern for the West Timor Foundation’s (YPTB) advocacy team, Ferdi Tanoni, says oil leaking from PTTEP Australasia’s Montara oil rig in the Timor Sea in 2009 had a devastating effect on the livelihood of fishermen and coastal communities in East Nusa Tenggara, with fish catches and seaweed harvests continuing to decline in the heavily polluted waters.

The oil spill also affected sea life, with disrupted food chains causing changes to marine ecosystems, he went on.

Citing data from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration, among others, Ferdi said the oil leak had caused environmental damage to 70,541.76 square kilometers of area.

“The advocacy team has received satellite imagery data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] that shows an oil spill on 28,662.1 square kilometers of area. Spread by waves and wind, the polluted areas have continuously widened,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Representing 13,000 East Nusa Tenggara fishermen and seaweed farmers affected by the Montara oil spill, Ferdi and Daniel Sanda, a seaweed farmer from Rote Island, filed a class action lawsuit against PTTEP Australasia with the Federal Court of Australia on Wednesday.

Greg Phelps of WardKeller, the biggest law office in Northern Australia, and Ben Slade from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, a reputable Australian law office established in 1919, are two Australian lawyers ready to support the class action lawsuit.

Ferdi said such support showed that affected seaweed farmers in East Nusa Tenggara, such as Daniel, did not stand alone, adding that their voices were heard and they had allies ready to help them fight for their rights. (ebf)

Montara oil spill brought suffering to E. Nusa Tenggara: Farmer
Djemi Amnifu The Jakarta Post 4 Aug 16;

Daniel Sanda, a seaweed farmer from East Nusa Tenggara, could not hide his happiness about the fact that the case of the Montara rig oil spill in the Timor Sea would finally be brought to court.

Daniel said he and all seaweed farmers in the province had experienced losses and suffering after their seaweed plots had been ruined following the oil spill in 2009. They could no longer afford school tuition fees for their children, among other things.

Representing 13,000 East Nusa Tenggara seaweed farmers affected by the Montara oil spill, Daniel and Ferdi Tanoni, heading the Care for West Timor Foundation (YPTB)’s advocacy team, filed a class action lawsuit against PTTEP Australasia as the owner of the oil rig over its alleged failure to take responsibility for the incident.

Ferdi said that holding an advocacy mandate from the local people and administrations in the province, he felt relieved that the Montara oil leak case would be brought to court. He was satisfied that the local people affected by the incident could finally file a lawsuit against PTTEP Australasia with the Federal Court of Australia.

“Today, their voices have arrived on the Australian court’s desk. For around seven years, I’ve been working with them and striving to fight for their rights and justice over what they have suffered. And through hard work, I met with Greg Phelps, who then met with people from the Maurice Blackburn Lawyers office and Harbour Litigation Funder that has agreed to fund this case,” said Ferdi in a press conference after the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney accepted the class action lawsuit, on Wednesday. He said the Indonesian government fully supported the case. (ebf)

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Myanmar: Saving the mangroves

Environmentalists are campaigning to prevent the destruction of the nation’s remaining mangrove forests because they provide protection from extreme weather and support a rich variety of marine life.
HEIN KO SOE FRONTIER MYANMAR 2 Aug 16;

IF another powerful cyclone were to pummel the Ayeyarwady Delta it could have a more devastating impact than Nargis in 2008, one of the worst natural disasters in Myanmar’s history, environmentalists have warned.

The reason is the continuing destruction of mangrove forests that provide a coastal buffer against extreme weather.

To help protect the delta and other coastal areas where mangroves are or have been abundant, projects to rehabilitate, regenerate and replant the forests are taking place in Ayeyarwady and Tanintharyi regions, as well as Rakhine State.

“If a cyclone comes to the [Ayeyarwady] delta, the impact could be twice that of Nargis because most of the coastal areas are flat with no mangrove cover,” said U Win Maung, chairman of Worldview Myanmar, an non-government organisation associated with Sri Lanka-based Worldview International Foundation, that is planting mangroves in Ayeyarwady Region.

Deforestation has led to a dramatic reduction of mangrove cover in Myanmar.

Mangrove cover in Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi and Rakhine fell from 647,497 hectares (1.6 million acres) to 376,357 ha (930,000 acres) between 1980 and 2007, show figures from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

When Nargis roared out of the Indian Ocean and slammed into the delta on May 2, 2008, it killed an estimated 140,000 people and caused massive property damage. The United Nations said more than 2.4 million people were affected.

A 2009 study by the United Nations Environment Programme said Nargis “destroyed 38,000 hectares (93,900 acres) of natural and replanted mangroves, submerged over 63 percent of paddy fields and damaged 43 percent of freshwater ponds in the delta.” The report also said that pre-existing deforestation and the degradation of mangroves exacerbated the impacts of the cyclone.

The government has since built 54 cyclone shelters throughout Ayeyarwady but that is not enough for the region’s population of more than six million.

“We need the urgent rehabilitation, planting and enrichment of mangroves in our country,” said Dr Maung Maung Than, an environmentalist and mangrove specialist. “If we do not have a mangrove plan over the next 10 years, it will be to the great detriment of the country,” he said.

The ministry is working with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Japan International Cooperation Agency and Worldview International Foundation, to increase mangrove cover.

U Kyaw Zaw, director of the ministry, said mangrove cover in Ayeyarwady had fallen by 90 percent in the last five years, mainly because of shrimp farms and the illegal expansion of paddy fields.

A coastal area with mangrove cover less than 100 metres from the sea can reduce the impact of natural disasters such as cyclones by between 70 percent and 80 percent, said Maung Maung Than, citing research from Thailand.

Nearly 24,281 ha (600,000 acres) of coastal land in Myanmar is vulnerable to natural disasters because of the depletion of mangroves, said a ministry spokesperson.

U Aung Than Zin, chief executive of the Myanmar Environment Rehabilitation-conservation Network, said the main reasons for mangrove destruction in Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi and Rakhine included charcoal production, and land clearing for shrimp and salt farms.

MERN is working with other organisations to try and protect mangroves, but a challenge they face is the use of charcoal as an energy source for cooking, said Aung Than Zin.

Four out of five households use charcoal or wood as an energy source, the 2014 census showed.

Win Maung said Ayeyarwady has been the main source of charcoal and other wood used in Yangon in the last five years.

He said the State Peace and Development Council government that ruled the country until 2011 had promoted the expansion of paddy fields and shrimp farms without considering the impact on the environment, including mangrove forests.

U Maung Maung Kyi, chairman of the Rakhine Coastal Region Conservation Association, said 8,093 hectares (20,000 acres) of mangroves was lost in the state because of the military government’s push for more paddy fields and shrimp farms.

“The SPDC pushed for more paddy field and shrimp farming and this led to so much loss of mangroves in Rakhine State. Now, three-fifths of the mangrove cover has been lost in Rakhine,” he told Frontier.

As well as providing protection from extreme weather and erosion, mangrove forests create unique ecosystems that sustain and protect a range of marine life, and serve as nurseries for many species.

“As the saying goes, ‘no mangroves, no fish’,” said Maung Maung Kyi. “That is really true because many of the smaller fish depend on mangroves and the life of a tiger prawn starts in the mangroves,” he said.

The ability of mangroves to tolerate high salinity levels in the tidal areas where they grow is because some species have root systems that exclude salt from water uptake and others excrete salt from glands on their leaves.

Mangrove conservation can contribute towards easing the impact of global warming because the forests have the ability to store large volumes of carbon dioxide, much of which is produced by burning the fossil fuels blamed for the gradual rise in our planet’s temperature.

Maung Maung Kyi said each hectare of soil in mangrove forests can store 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and their leaves can absorb carbon dioxide at five times the rate of other trees.

It’s essential that mangroves be protected, he said.

“If we cut down mangroves, it will only have a negative impact on our lives.”

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Are local efforts to save coral reefs bound to fail?

Two recent reports on the state of the world’s coral reefs appear to contradict each other. But which is right?
Johnny Langenheim The Guardian 2 Aug 16;

Over the last six weeks, scientists have published two major reports on coral reef resilience that appear to contradict each other. The first - “Bright spots among the world’s coral reefs” was produced by 39 scientists led by Professor Josh Cinner of James Cook University in Australia and drew on data from 6000 reef surveys from all over the world. Cinner et al concluded that those reefs that were sustainably managed had a much better chance of withstanding bleaching impacts related to global warming and periodic climate events like El Niño. The second however suggested remote coral reefs not subject to human stressors like overfishing or pollution were faring no better than those close to populated areas and that ecosystems management made no real difference to the overall health of reefs. So which is right?

“Coral reef degradation is not correlated with local human population density,” by Professor John Bruno and co-author Abel Valdivia of the University of North Carolina was published on 20 July. It suggests that contrary to prevailing scientific opinion, local pressures do not act synchronously with global stressors (most notably warming) and that their impact on reefs is negligible. According to Valdivia “Widespread arguments that coral reef degradation is mostly caused by local factors are unsupported. We found the problem is better explained by global impacts such as climate change.”

This is controversial because it throws into question the efficacy of current marine conservation strategies that attempt to mitigate human impacts and the “widespread argument that human-dominated reefs can be made more resilient to global stressors.” The overriding message is a simple one according to the report’s author & lead researcher John Bruno - it “illustrates the far-reaching effects of global warming and the immediate need for drastic and sustained cuts in carbon emissions to help restore the health of coral reefs.”

The first report - published in June - identified 35 “dark spots” where coral reefs were suffering the greatest degradation and 15 “bright spots” that were, if not flourishing, certainly faring better than most. Many of these bright spots are in the Coral Triangle in countries like Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Like Bruno & Valdivia, Cinner et al found that remote reefs did not necessarily fare better than those close to high population densities. What they did find though is that bright spots tend to be in locations where local communities have ancestral systems of reef tenure that protect fishing grounds from outsiders (such as West Papua in eastern Indonesia and some Pacific countries). The paper found that far from over-harvesting their reefs, these communities were acting as custodians.

“Bright spots are characterized by strong sociocultural institutions such as customary taboos and marine tenure, high levels of local engagement in management, high dependence on marine resources, and beneficial environmental conditions such as deep-water refuge,” the report concludes.

The apparent contradictions here are partly due to each report analysing different types of data. According to Bruno “Cinner et al was about spatial patterns in fish populations while we asked how coral and macroalgal cover are related to human population density.” Put simply, one was looking at fish, the other at coral cover.

Still, the question remains, is local management of the kind highlighted by Cinner et al having a real impact on the health of reef ecosystems? Says Bruno, “Although I doubt most coral bright spots are bright because of local management, I do agree that... we should throw all our conservation dollars at them to keep them that way as long as possible.”

The problem is in how each of these reports is interpreted. Cinner et al imply that sustainable management means healthy reefs - even though they are harvested by local populations. A positive message for conservationists and the local programmes they support. Bruno’s point however seems to be that all of this is academic in the face of climate change, lulling us into a dangerous and altogether unjustifiable sense of security. If we fail to drastically reduce the volume of CO2 entering the atmosphere, coral reefs everywhere will bleach and die, however well they are being managed.

But while Bruno & Valdivia frame their argument very carefully, it is possible that unscrupulous policy makers could seize upon their study to justify continued exploitation of marine resources, claiming that it makes no difference to the bigger picture. Professor Avigdor Abelson of Tel Aviv University who works on restoration ecology such as building artificial reefs fears it “may lead to undesirable consequences of accelerated coral reef degradation.”

Both reports are right. The danger is that they will be misinterpreted.

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Aug 16

13 Aug (Sat) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Monitoring our Reefs
Hantu Blog

Abandoned cats on Pulau Hantu: Update
Hantu Blog

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Temperatures could hit 35°C in next fortnight: Met Service

Channel NewsAsia 1 Aug 16;

SINGAPORE: The first fortnight of August will see less rain compared with weather conditions in the second half of July, the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said on Monday (Aug 1).

In a media release, MSS said daily maximum temperatures are likely to range between 33°C and 34°C, and could reach around 35°C on a few days in the first two weeks of this month.

Singapore can also expect short showers in the late mornings and early afternoons on four to five days over the next fortnight. Showers with gusty winds are also likely to occur on one or two days in the pre-dawn hours and mornings, MSS said.

Rainfall for the first fortnight of August 2016 is expected to be "slightly below normal", MSS added, with low-level winds blowing mostly from the southeast or southwest.

JULY A "RELATIVELY WET" MONTH: MET SERVICE

Looking at last month's weather, MSS said southwest monsoon conditions prevailed over the region.

Singapore saw a few warm days in the first half of July, where daily maximum temperatures ranged between 30.2°C and 36°C, but the weather was wetter in the second half of the month, resulting in a "relatively cooler fortnight with daily maximum temperatures ranging between 28.8°C and 34.7°C", MSS said.

It added that July was a "relatively wet" month. The heaviest rain fell on Jul 21 and brought a daily rainfall of 96.8mm to the East Coast area. Almost all of Singapore received above normal rainfall in July as well.

"The highest rainfall of 426mm (120 per cent above average) was recorded over the western part of the island around Tengah. Rainfall was lowest around Buangkok where 146.6mm (16 per cent below average) was recorded," MSS said.

- CNA/dl

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Utilities bill redesigned to help Singaporeans conserve water, electricity

Channel NewsAsia 1 Aug 16;

SINGAPORE: Starting August, households in Singapore will receive a redesigned utilities bill to help them track and take steps to reduce their energy and water consumption.

The bill was redesigned based on feedback from usability tests with the public, said SP Services, Energy Market Authority (EMA), PUB and City Gas in a joint press release on Monday (Aug 1).

The new layout allows consumers to view utility usage at a glance, compare the average consumption of neighbours living in similar housing types or streets as well as the national average, and learn how they could be more efficient in their consumption.

Highlights from the redesigned bill include:

a. A concise bill summary to easily view one's account information;
b. Consumption graphs on the front showing previous months' usage and comparisons with neighbours' and national average consumption;
c. Personalised tips and advice on how to be more energy- and water-efficient;
d. The use of icons for improved clarity;
e. Larger text to emphasise important information such as "total amount".

Managing director of SP Services, Mr Chuah Kee Heng, said: "We designed the bill to help customers adopt more energy- and water-efficient habits. At a glance, they can clearly see their charges, consumption for the past five months and compare it with their efficient neighbours as well as the national average.

“It is one of several initiatives we have introduced to help customers make energy saving a way of life," he said.

In May, SP Services, together with EMA and PUB, launched a new mobile app to help consumers reduce energy and water consumption, lower their utilities bill and conserve the environment.

- CNA/cy

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Indonesia: Transforming Way Kambas into leading tourist destination

Hisar Sitanggang and Muklasin Antara 1 Aug 16;

Bandarlampung (ANTARA News) - East Lampung District Head Chusnunia Chalim has vowed to make the Way Kambas National Park (TNWK) a leading tourist destination for both local and foreign tourists.

Motivated by the increasing number of tourists visiting the TNWK, the first-ever female district head of East Lampung is determined to transform the park into an international tourist destination.

As more than ten thousand domestic and foreign tourists have visited TNWK during the period between January and July 2016, Chalim is optimistic that the number of visitors would continue to increase.

Moreover, the number of tourists visiting the TNWK will continue to increase in the coming years after it was recently inaugurated as the 36th ASEAN Heritage Park.

With the announcement of the TNWK as the ASEAN Heritage Park, the noted tourist attraction in East Lampung now no longer belongs to Indonesia but also to the world.

"Therefore, all relevant parties in East Lampung should actively participate in developing TNWK into an international tourist destination," Chalim remarked.

Providing an excellent bird-watching location, with the presence of the rare white-winged wood duck, the TNWK is home to critically endangered species, such as the Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants, and Sumatran rhinos.

With lowland rainforest as well as swamp, mangrove, and dry beach forests along with expanses of grassland, this national park is an ideal habitat for thousands of different species and offers exciting opportunities for visitors to experience some of Indonesias most diverse wildlife.

"Hence, we are making efforts to develop Way Kambas and transform it into a national and international tourist destination," the East Lampung district head emphasized.

The TNWK is an icon of East Lampung District and has been visited and known by people, both nationally and internationally, Nunik, as she is commonly called, noted.

East Lampung District is a rich, beautiful, and interesting area, with friendly people and several tourist attractions, she asserted.

The Great Hall of TNWK is also formulating a strategy to utilize trained domesticated elephants in the Elephant Conservation Center as a tourist attraction, according to Nunik.

In the meantime, TNWK Great Hall Public Relations Chief Sukatmoko said he was awaiting the governments ruling on the use of the Elephant Conservation Center as a tourist destination.

"We are still awaiting the ruling of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry on the utilization of the elephants, so it can be enjoyed more by the visitors," Sukatmoko remarked.

He stated that the TNWK Great Hall was currently working on a plan to develop an ecotourism village as a secondary destination for visitors.

Sukatmoko noted that the tourists visiting the ecotourism village in TNWK will be able to experience the extensive flora and fauna and have the opportunity to witness and learn about the endangered Sumatran elephant, rhinoceros, and tiger along with a vast array of other exotic animals, such as monkeys, tapirs, leopards, and birds.

"The development of ecotourism aims at increasing the number of tourist visits to TNWK in addition to boosting the economy of the local community," Sukatmono affirmed.

He further explained that the ecotourism village also offered homestays, various handicrafts of the local village, and a variety of cuisines typical to the region for the visitors.

According to Sukatmono, the Great Hall of TNWK is collaborating with local NGOs to develop and manage the ecotourism village.

Given its numerous tourist attractions, the Indonesian province of Lampung has been encouraged to develop its tourism sector as an important source of foreign exchange and employment.

The rapid expansion of the tourism sector in Lampung Province is expected to provide viable opportunities for sustainable development and poverty reduction.(*)

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World weather: 2016's early record heat gives way to heavy rains

The record-breaking heat of the first six months has turned to severe seasonal flooding across Asia in one of the strongest monsoon seasons in many years
John Vidal The Guardian 1 Aug 16;

The record-breaking worldwide heat of the first six months of 2016 has turned to abnormally severe seasonal flooding across Asia with hundreds of people dying in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan and millions forced from their homes.

In India, the Brahmaputra river, which is fed by Himalayan snowmelt and monsoon rains, has burst its banks in many places and has been at danger levels for weeks. Hundreds of villages have been flooded in Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and other northern states.

Some of the heaviest rains in 20 years have forced nearly 1.2 million people to move to camps in Assam. Floods have submerged around 70% of the Kaziringa national park, home to the rare one-horned rhino which was visited by Prince William earlier this year.

“The situation is still very bad. We are taking measures to help people in every possible way,” the Indian forest minister, Pramila Rani Brahma, told Reuters.

In the state of Bihar, 26 people have died, nearly 2.75 million people have been displaced or affected, and 330,000ha of land inundated. Many major rivers are still flowing at or above danger levels.

In China, the summer monsoon which started in June after a series of heatwaves is said to have caused $22bn of damage so far. State officials say it has killed more than 500 people, destroyed more than 145,000 homes and inundated 21,000 sq miles of farmland.

Around 500,000 people were last week still displaced in the hardest-hit central Chinese provinces of Henan and Hebei. According to the Chinese ministry of civil affairs, 125,000 people were in urgent need of basic assistance.

This monsoon season has been one of the strongest in China’s recent history, with 150 towns and cities reportedly suffering record rainfall. The Yangtze river basin has been particularly hard hit, with 22 inches of rain falling in 24 hours last month at Wuhan, the Hebei state capital.

The city, which is downstream of the Three Gorges dam and protected from flooding, was inundated after its drainage system and flood controls failed. Much of the damage is thought to have occurred because the city’s rapid expansion in the past 20 years filled in many small lakes and wetlands which used to store water.

Elsewhere, Nepal has been lashed by torrential monsoon rains, flash floods and landslides. The government says 14 of the mountainous country’s 75 districts have been affected by floods, 54 people have died and many major rivers are running at dangerous levels. Tens of thousands of Nepalese are still living in tents following devastating earthquakes last year.

The army has been deployed to repair dams and helicopters are being used to distribute food and medicines to homeless people who have taken shelter on roads and in upland areas.

Meteorologists say that the 2016 Asian monsoon is one of the strongest in many years, and has been intensified by the El Niño natural phenomenon which sees Pacific water temperatures rise and leads to droughts and severe weather worldwide.

The summer heatwaves that have affected much of the Middle East, north Africa and north America have slackened in the last few days.

“At the [north American] heatwave’s peak on July 22, almost 124 million people in north America were under heat-related warnings or advisories. Additionally, high overnight low temperatures meant little relief from the oppressive heat,” said the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

The WMO has set up a committee to examine whether a 54C temperature recorded in Kuwait in July has set the new highest temperature for Asia, as well as for the entire eastern hemisphere.

Climatologists at the WMO said they expected more heatwaves because of climate change. “The length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves will likely increase further during this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” said the agency.

But they said it was likely that only a weak “La Niña” will follow the strong El Niño phenomenon later this year. La Niña is the opposite of El Niño and is marked by cooler temperatures worldwide.

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 Aug 16

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (30 Jul 2016)
Beetles@SG BLOG

Pre-National Day mangrove cleanup @ LCK East – registration closes tomorrow
News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Asian Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) @ Sentosa
Monday Morgue

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Biodiversity thriving on artificial Punggol waterway

LAURA ELIZABETH PHILOMIN Today Online 1 Aug 16;

SINGAPORE — My Waterway@Punggol, Singapore’s longest artificial waterway and which meanders through Punggol New Town, is now home to a wider variety of wildlife species such as birds, dragonflies and crustaceans, thanks to the efforts by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to enhance greenery in the area.

Biodiversity in the area is boosted by about 20 per cent, helped by the floating wetlands and a collection of freshwater-tolerant mangrove.

Designed and engineered by a six-man team under the HDB’s Building and Research Institute, these two new environmentally sustainable innovations were implemented in phases between 2011 and 2013 along the 4.2km waterway after it was completed.

Mr Vincent Lim, senior engineer at the institute, said: “For this Punggol waterway, we saw that there are a lot of open areas within the water bodies, so we thought we could make better use of these spaces ... to see how we can intensify greenery.

These solutions, he added, were also targeted to help improve biodiversity and water quality.

The idea for the floating wetlands was chosen because it was part of an ecosystem that would attract birds and fishes while expanding the coverage of Singapore’s mangroves, which have also been part of Punggol’s natural heritage, Mr Lim said.

Inspired by the honeycomb design, the floating wetland system consists of buoyant hexagon-shaped modules that can be assembled into various shapes and sizes to form floating spaces when needed.

A platform of three to four modules can support 360kg of plants and 600kg of human weight, or that of a small maintenance crew.

Then the project team planted 15 wetland species — identified to be the most resilient — onto the floating modules, which were wrapped in coconut fibre and woven mats.

The largest floating wetlands are made up of 130 modules and are close to the size of a four-room HDB flat. These are located near the Heartwave Mall and Jewel Bridge along the waterway.

As most mangrove species are more commonly found in saline conditions such as coastal environments, HDB had to shortlist and test-bed species that could thrive in freshwater.

Young saplings of 35 species of mangrove trees — three of which are endangered native species — were then planted along the banks of a 3km stretch that covers 6,000sqm. The stretch lies near a waterfront Build-to-Order housing project called Waterway Woodcress.

Regular biodiversity surveys conducted by HDB between 2011 and 2013 recorded more than 80 bird species, nine butterfly species and 11 dragonfly species. A second two-year study was started last year and will end next year.

As of June this year, an extra 12 bird species, two more butterfly species and six more dragonfly species have been observed along the waterway. Mr Lim added that there have also been sightings of otters near the floating wetlands.

Both solutions have even helped improve the water quality of the waterway. The roots from plants on the floating wetlands act as water filters, which can remove excess nutrients in the water and allow more sunlight to stream in to form rich food sources for smaller fishes.

“If there’s algal bloom in the water, it kills the fish, and water will turn greenish in colour. Because we use this waterway for kayaking and canoeing activities, we have to consistently keep it clean,” he said.

At the same time, roots from the mangrove trees help naturally stabilise the sloping banks by binding the soil together and reducing the surface run-off of sediments and soil particles into the waterway. Mr Lim said this minimises the occurrence of algal bloom.

In a blog post published yesterday, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong noted that HDB was awarded the Institution of Engineers Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award 2016 for its innovative engineering solutions at the waterway.

“We have learnt much from the engineering solutions deployed here, and will continue to do more. HDB will extend its green innovations to other new estates as well, for example in Bidadari and Tampines North,” he said.

“HDB is also exploring further uses of its floating platform system, such as to support the deployment of solar panels in our housing estates.”

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New Malaysian ‘eco-city’ development raises concerns among conservationists

Agence France-Presse South China Morning Post 31 Jul 16;

A planned multibillion-dollar new city near Singapore is attracting interest from investors with promises of luxury living but there are questions over its future owing to China’s economic woes and warnings of environmental catastrophe.

Forest City, a US$42 billion futuristic “eco-city” of high-rises and waterfront villas, will sit on four man-made islands on the Malaysian side of the Johor Strait just an hour from Singapore.

Offering 700,000 residential units as well as shopping malls, international schools, hotels, convention venues and medical facilities on 1,370 hectares, the city will even have its own immigration centre.

The venture is being developed by Hong Kong-listed real estate giant Country Garden and a firm partly owned by Johor’s powerful Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar with an eye on cashed-up Chinese buyers.

“It is by far one of the most enthusiastic private land reclamation projects I have heard of around the Southeast Asia region,” said Chua Yang Liang, head of research for Southeast Asia at property services and investment group Jones Lang Lasalle.

Officials say they have shifted 500 units in pre-selling already, despite the development not due to be completed until 2035. Sales executive Alex Lee said he had sold 10 properties in one sitting with a Chinese businessman, who paid cash.

Investors can pay anything from US$200,000 for a two-bedroom unit, up to US$1.6 million for a seaside villa.

By comparison, a mass market condominium in Singapore costs around US$740,000 – which in Forest City would buy a four-room seaside villa with a function hall, two parking lots and a large garden.

But some analysts question the project’s long-term sales targets as China’s economy struggles to break out of a growth slowdown that has seen expansion fall to 25-year lows, while authorities clamp down on a flight of cash from the country.

At the same time Standard & Poor’s said it was “cautious” about Forest City after it downgraded Country Garden’s long-term corporate rating in March to BB from BB+, citing risks from its aggressive land acquisitions.

It called sales targets “somewhat ambitious given this is a new large-scale project and targets primarily mainland [Chinese] overseas buyers”.

And even if the project is a success, campaigners say it could prove to be a disaster for the local ecology and fishermen who complain of dwindling catches.

While its website describes it as a “liveable eco-city”, environmentalists say the dumping of sand to build the new city – an estimated 162 million cubic metres – could alter tides and destroy marine life.

“It has the potential to change the ecology of the whole area in profound ways,” Greenpeace scientist Paul Johnston said.

“It might change the things that are living there, it might change the vegetation that can grow there.”

Local activists say at most risk of destruction is Malaysia’s largest intertidal seagrass meadow on Merambong shoal off Johor.

The reclamation has also ruffled feathers in Singapore, with the city-state’s environment ministry saying it is “carefully” studying an impact assessment report provided by Malaysia and is seeking further clarifications.

An environmental study commissioned by the Forest City joint venture firm, Country Garden Pacificview, acknowledged a “permanent loss of traditional fishing ground” and damage to seagrass meadows and mangroves due to the development.

But it added that this would be balanced by the project’s economic benefits, including the creation of an estimated 62,200 jobs.

Country Garden Pacificview executive director Mohamad Othman Yusof said developers were strictly following guidelines laid down by the Malaysian government to minimise the environmental impact.

He said at least 20 simulation studies were carried out before the reclamation was approved, while the project’s original size of 2,023 hectares was cut by 30 per cent and “double silt curtains” installed to prevent silt and sediment from spreading and polluting the waterway.

A subway tunnel under Singapore’s rainforest? No way, say activists

“No damage, no pollution has been exported to Singapore,” Othman said. “We don’t want to create any problems with anybody and we’re going to abide by the rules and regulations.”

Water quality is monitored closely following complaints by Malaysian fishermen, he said.

“We are very confident about the success of the islands,” said Othman.

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