Best of our wild blogs: 16-17 Dec 17

Singapore Bird Report - November 2017
Singapore Bird Group

Butterfly of the Month - December 2017
Butterflies of Singapore

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Flash floods in eastern Singapore, cars deep in muddy water in Pasir Ris Farmway

Lydia Lam Straits Times 15 Dec 17;

SINGAPORE - Flash flooding occurred in some parts of Singapore as heavy rain blanketed the island on Friday (Dec 15).

A video going around online shows vehicles deep in murky water in Pasir Ris Farmway. The cars parked along the road have their tyres nearly submerged in the muddy water.

A red vehicle is seen stranded in the middle of the road, with passengers alighting from it.

National water agency PUB had repeated the National Environment Agency's (NEA) warning of heavy rain expected over northern, eastern and central Singapore from 3.45pm to 4.45pm.

PUB tweeted of areas with high flood risks, such as Tampines Road, New Upper Changi Road and Chai Chee Road.

The country is currently experiencing the regional north-east monsoon, with wet weather conditions previously forecast for the first half of December.

The Meteorological Service Singapore had said in an advisory that there could be a monsoon surge in the second week of December, with a few days of cooler temperatures, occasionally windy conditions and widespread moderate to heavy rain in Singapore.

Thundery showers are forecast for Saturday afternoon, mainly over northern, western and central Singapore, according to NEA's 24-hour weather forecast.

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Malaysia: Perak seeks federal help over illegal sand mining

AUDREY DERMAWAN AND ALIZA SHAH New Straits Times 17 Dec 17;

KUALA LUMPUR: THE Perak government is seeking federal help to probe into claims of illegal mining and export of sand from the state.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the state had not approved the export of sand, although there were reports suggesting that the resource was traced to Perak.

“We have checked and we never gave any approval. We want to work with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to nab any culprits.

“Anyone with knowledge or suggesting that we allowed it, we would like them to cooperate with us and furnish us with information,” he told the New Sunday Times.

Zambry added that the matter was not only of concern to the state but also to the country.

The New Sunday Times had last month reported that the growing global demand for sand had led to smuggling in the country.

Contacts were made with a few local sand exporters, including those who claimed that their supply came from Sungai Perak.

The ministry had gone on record as saying that only three companies had been issued with approved permits to export sand, two of which were licensed to export it to India. The other is to feed the demand from Singapore.

The resource is only to be taken from Pahang and Kelantan rivers.

Industry sources claimed that sand could have been exported under the guise of something else in sacks or transferred illegally via sea lanes.

Checks revealed that there were close to 10 dredging stations operating along a 10km stretch from Kampung Senin to Teluk Kepayang, in Bota, with some located close to each other.

Mountains of sand extracted from the riverbed can be seen from afar on the riverbank.

Some operators were operating during odd hours, and sources revealed that this was to maximise profits.

At least 10 tipper trucks were lining up along a narrow kampung road, waiting to be loaded with sand.

Sources told the NST that sand dredging had been going on for decades. They added that the numbers had increased significantly, by almost two-fold, in the past few years.

‘Rampant sand dredging has harmful environmental, health effects’

Rampant sand dredging along Sungai Perak can lead to disastrous environmental and health effects.

The sudden increase in sand mining on both sides of the second-longest river in Peninsular Malaysia has raised questions among environmental observers.

Among the concerns were the proximity of some of the dredging stations to intake points for water treatment plants that supply half the population in Manjung district.

The sand mining had, on several occasions, forced the closure of treatment plants because their pumps were clogged.

“The state water authority had raised the issue with the state action committee and we hope something is done about this,” a source said.

“During the district-level meeting, the Department of Environment and the Lands and Mines Department issued a statement that they would not approve new licences or renew existing ones for sand mining in Bota,” the source added.

Water expert Dr Zaki Zainudin said river sand mining would cause harmful substances, which had settled on the riverbed, to resurface and contaminate the water.

“Sand contains organic elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or heavy metal elements, such as iron, manganese or arsenic.

“When sand is dredged, these substances will resurface. This is not good, especially in large volumes.

“These harmful substances could seep into the source water if the sand mining is done upstream, or near water intakes,” said the water quality and modelling specialist.

Zaki said sand mining would increase the level of suspended solids in the river, causing it to turn murky, which was often referred to as the “teh susu” phenomena.

He added that excessive amounts of suspended solids in the river would disrupt the operations of water intake plants.

“This will force the authorities to use more coagulants, such as aluminium, to treat the water before it can be supplied to consumers.

“Organisms could react with (the extra) chlorine used during the disinfection process and produce trihalomethanes, such as chloroform, which can be hazardous to consumers.

“Heavy metals cannot be removed by conventional water treatment processes. These constituents would lead to health implications,” he said, adding that the negative impact from sand mining would be exacerbated during the dry season.

He added that suspended solids would destroy the breeding ground of river life and force migration.

“Fish and aquatic species indigenous to downstream reaches would be forced to migrate elsewhere. In serious cases, certain aquatic species, particularly the more sensitive ones, may face extinction.

“If there are aquaculture activities downstream, they too would be affected by suspended solids stirred up by the dredging.”

Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman said the non-governmental organisation had received reports from land owners who complained that they had lost their land to sand mining.

“Sand mining causes serious river bank erosion. It results in the river becoming wider and shallower.

“We have received complaints from land owners who claimed that their land is no longer accessible because of erosion, aggravated by sand mining.”

Sand extraction, Meor said, was also threatening river terrapin landing points in the state.

“River terrapins are considered critically endangered. Instead of helping to ensure the survival of the species, we are allowing sand mining to destroy their landing points.

“We hope the state government will not approve any sand mining within 2km of the River Terrapin Conservation Centre in Bota Kanan.”

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Vietnam: Experts seek to enhance water security in Mekong Delta

Experts gathered at a workshop in Hanoi on December 14 to seek measures to enhance water resources security amid climate change and energy development in the Mekong Delta region.
Vietnam Net 15 Dec 17;

According to Nguy Thi Khanh, Director of Green ID under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) - organiser of the workshop, the Mekong Delta is facing numerous challenges in ensuring water resources security and sustainable development.

Climate change and rising sea water level are taking place quicker than forecast, resulting in many extremist weather patterns that affect the livelihoods of local residents, she said.

Well-meant but misguided climate change interventions in the Mekong Delta are set to do more harm than good, and only a change in policymakers’ mindset can reverse the damage, said Nguyen Huu Thien, an independent researcher and expert, said.

The change in mindset would involve a shift from forceful interventions to embracing natural cycles, he said.

Thien, whose work focuses on the Mekong Delta’s ecology, was giving his assessment of Resolution No 120 on sustainable development for the Mekong Delta that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed in November.

The biggest problem is serious degradation of surface water quality caused by a series of ill-planned sluices, he noted.

In dealing with the serious threat to crops posed by worsening saline intrusion, authorities have built systems of floodgates to prevent seawater intrusion into rivers and canals, as also land being “eaten away” by the rising sea, he added.

However, without normal ‘water exchange’ between rivers and the sea, river flow is affected; they become stagnant and pollutants - some 2-3 million tonnes of fertiliser and 100,000 tonnes of insecticides or growth stimulants from agriculture apart from domestic and industrial waste – keeps building in the still waters. The practice thus far has been to open the sluice gates only when the pollution and water quality has reached unbearable levels.

So, in the “the country of rivers and water,” when surface water became unfit for consumption, Mekong Delta residents have been forced to dig deep for groundwater.

Thien highlighted the irony of this situation by referring to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous quote: “Water, water everywhere, nor a drop to drink.”

The irony gets deeper in the Mekong Delta. With some one million plus wells drawing up groundwater in the region, land subsidence has been occurring at the rate of 1.6cm per year. If groundwater exploitation continues at this rate, by 2050, the entire Mekong Delta would sink 0.88m compared to the 1990s, a result 10 times worse than the subsidence caused by rising sea level, Thien warned.

In this context, Resolution No 120 has brought some clear-mindedness and a good strategy that Thien felt could “steer the delta towards in a sound direction,” by not considering flooding or saltwater as mortal enemies, and seeing both fresh water and brackish water as important resources to harness.

If the spirit of the resolution is followed faithfully, the “self-purification” capability of the Mekong River system can be restored, surface water becomes usable again, and the need for groundwater reduced, leading to a deceleration of subsidence.

Thien also praised the resolution for doing away with ‘triple cropping,’ switching priority from maximising output to maximising the value-added component in the value chain.

International experts have for long pointed out the close interconnectivity between water, food and energy security. An exponentially growing population demands increasingly large amounts of food, but current popular agriculture models are both water-intensive and energy-intensive, which drive up exploitation of fossil fuels and water, leading to adverse climate impacts and a fall in crop output.

The Mekong Delta needs comprehensive master planning that reduces the water­-food-energy conflicts, said Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Climate Change Institute under the Can Tho University.

Tuấn urged the Government to rethink its electricity planning – reducing the proportion of coal power, stopping the construction of new coal power plants, and prioritising renewable energy – especially solar energy, an abundant resource in the southern region.

As the nation’s hydropower potentials are exhausted, the Government is envisioning 14 coal power plants to be built in the Mekong Delta region by 2030, with the majority of coal being imported. The move has been criticised severely by many energy experts and environment activists who consider this an extreme, backward step that goes against global “greening” trends.

Other workshop participants raised the impacts of hydropower plants and other water exploitation projects on upstream stretches of the Mekong River in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

They noted that in the past, the erosion rate trailed the rate of sediment deposits. However, as most of the sand and a large part of alluvium in the Mekong River are now blocked by the dams, the Mekong Delta is starved of the regular replenishment of its soil that used to happen during the annual flooding season.

Now, the erosion rate has “for the first time in 6000 years, surpassed the deposition rate,” and along with excessive sand mining, resulted in the recent rise erosion and number of landslides, Thien said.-VNA

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Best of our wild blogs: 15 Dec 17

Tell us what kind of mangroves YOU would like at Pulau Ubin!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

让我们了解你要在乌敏岛看到什么样的红树林！
Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative

Sat 13 Jan 2018 The 1st Biodiversity Challenge: Human-Wildlife Co-existence (open to all)
Otterman speaks

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Foodpanda customers can say ‘no’ to disposable forks and spoons from next month

SIAU MING EN Today Online 14 Dec 17;

SINGAPORE – From January, customers of food delivery company foodpanda will get the option to say “no” to disposable cutlery.

The company is also in talks with its partner eateries to replace their food containers -- often made of plastic -- with packaging made from sugarcane pulp, touted to be more sustainable.

Foodpanda told TODAY both initiatives will be tested in Singapore before they are rolled out to 11 other Asian and Eastern European cities it operates in.

The Berlin-based company wants to curb the increase in packaging used as its business grows, said foodpanda managing director Luc Andreani.

Its restaurant partners usually provide the disposable cutlery, while foodpanda provides paper bags for the deliveries.

The company, however, does not track the amount of packaging waste generated from its orders.

It is in talks with its top 20 restaurant partners – which make up half of its orders – to see if they are receptive to switching to food containers made of left-over sugarcane pulp.

The plastic-free alternative, supplied by a firm called VitalWare, is biodegradable but more costly.

“Our ambition for sustainable foodpanda packaging is that it will replace all restaurant packaging… (at) no additional costs,” said Mr Andreani.

Early last year, the company replaced the plastic bags used to pack food orders with Forest Stewardship Council-certified brown paper bags.

“We realised the impact that packaging has on our brand, and on the environment, and wanted to source something to reflect this,” he said.

The explosive growth of food delivery services worldwide has raised concerns about the industry’s environmental impact.

Disposable packaging is necessary for food delivery and ensures food safety, said Mr Teri Teo, a committee member of the Packaging Council of Singapore, an industry group of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation.

Anti-waste groups agree more should be done to cut excessive use of packaging.

The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) has seen an increase in food packaging waste but its executive director Jen Teo said not all of it was traced to food delivery services.

“A busy lifestyle and the ready availability of takeaway or delivery food choices have combined to increase the amount of food packaging waste Singaporeans generate. We have also seen a move away from paper packaging towards the use of plastic containers and bags,” she added.

Disposable packaging becomes a problem when not disposed of or recycled properly, said Ms Teo. They can end up in the oceans and be consumed by fish and other marine creatures, eventually ending up in the food chain.

Ms Aarti Giri, the founder of non-profit group Plastic-Lite Singapore, said some restaurants use excessive packaging – from separate plastic bags for sauces, to individually wrapped cutlery.

Apart from giving customers the option to refuse disposable cutlery, food delivery companies can consider offering discounts to those who do so, she said.

But foodpanda said it would not offer incentives or rebates to customers who opt out. “Many customers are ordering food to their homes or offices, where cutlery is readily available. foodpanda hopes that this prompt alone would encourage customers to opt out,” said Mr Andreani.

It remains to be seen if other food delivery players will take steps to reduce packaging waste. Deliveroo declined to comment, while an UberEATS spokesperson said: “Food packaging is largely decided by our restaurant partners on what works best for their cuisine. We welcome and remain supportive of any eco-friendly initiatives that they would have.”

Studies should also be conducted to track the amount of food packaging used for takeaways and deliveries, in order to set reduction targets, said Ms Giri.

“Because out of sight is out of mind. People say they order (food deliveries) only once a week or once a month, but when there are lots of people doing that, (a lot of) waste is generated,” she said.

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New volunteer gardening initiative to make Istana grounds more accessible

CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 14 Dec 17;

SINGAPORE – Gardening enthusiasts will now get a chance to help shape the gardens at the Istana under a new Volunteer Gardeners@Istana programme.

Launched by President Halimah Yacob on Thursday (Dec 14), the programme will provide opportunities for the gardening community in Singapore to come together to maintain the greenery and landscape of the Istana.

Madam Halimah said: “The purpose (of the programme) is basically to encourage Singaporeans who are interested in community gardening to come and contribute their ideas and experiences, and also help to shape the gardens at the Istana.”

“The whole idea is also to engage and reach out to Singaporeans so that they feel that there is a part they can play in the Istanta garden,” she added.

She also said that this programme was a chance for volunteers to “develop collective memories” of the Istana.

Madam Halimah had previously said she wants to make the Istana more accessible to ordinary Singaporeans. The Volunter Gardeners@Istana programme is the second of such initiatives, with the first being the Picnic@Istana programme — which will see four picnics held a year — launched in November.

So far, about 50 people - from as young as 9 to 79-years-old - have signed up as volunteer gardeners, with the majority being in their 50s.

Volunteers will be involved in activities such as planting, pruning and harvesting of fruits, and will work in seven to eight areas within the Istana grounds including the Spice Garden, Japanese Garden and the front lawn of the Istana.

The sessions are set to begin in January next year, and will run for three days – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays – on a chosen week each month. Each gardening session will last three hours, from 9am to 12pm.

At the launch on Thursday, Madam Halimah interacted with over 20 volunteer gardeners at the Spice Gardens. She said she is also hopeful that volunteers would develop memories of the Istana through the volunteer programme,

Volunteer gardener Ms Jean Tsai, who is in her 60s, said she was excited to be a part of this programme, which brings together “like-minded people interested in history and nature”.

The freelance editor said she has always had a keen interest in the flora and fauna since she was first exposed to horticulture in secondary school. Her flexible work hours make it easy for her to volunteer. “So as long as I can do the work, bend over (and plant the flowers), and my old bones don’t creak, I foresee myself volunteering for a very long time,” she said.

Depending on response, NParks group director at the Istana Mr Wong Tuan Wah said: “We are more than willing to accept as many volunteers as possible, and if there is overwhelming response we will definitely expand it to more days.”

Before the introduction of Picnic@Istana and Volunteer Gardeners@Istana programmes, the public could only visit the Istana during five open houses each year – during Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Labour Day and National Day.

Those interested to be a volunteer gardener can send enquiries to nparks_public_affairs@nparks.gov.sg.

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Pasir Ris otters a favourite subject of Nat Geo's Nature Photographer of the Year Jayaprakash Bojan

Singapore-based Jayaprakash Bojan talks about his favourite otter family in Pasir Ris and the real story behind his prize-winning orangutan encounter in Borneo.
Mayo Martin Channel NewsAsia 14 Dec 17;

SINGAPORE: He may have braved the rainforest jungles of Borneo to get his prize-winning peekaboo shot of a wild orangutan.

But this year’s National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year says Singapore is as good a place as any to shoot some fascinating wildlife, from local and migratory birds to its loveable otters.

In fact, Jayaprakash Bojan told Channel NewsAsia that the latter are his favourite subjects here.

“I’ve been photographing the Pasir Ris family for a year and a half now. I live in Pasir Ris Link and the park is one of my favourite places. When I’m not travelling, I go there three to four times a week, and there are a few spots they show up very regularly. Typically, in the mornings, they’d come and roll on the grass,” said the 41-year-old photographer from Tamil Nadu, India.

He has even won an award for one of his otter photos – a scene depicting an encounter between the animals and morning joggers had previously won first prize at a contest in India.

“There were these uncles who were taking photos with their handphones and the otters were curious and even walked closer to them," Bojan recalled.

"I used that photograph to tell the story of how wildlife can still coexist with humans in an urban place like Singapore. It’s got really limited wildlife but it’s just amazing to see how people here are very appreciative of what is there, preserving and taking care of them.”

ENCOUNTERING ‘COOPER’ IN THE WILD

At the heart of Bojan’s love for photography is animal conservation. His award-winning photo of the male orangutan – fondly nicknamed “Cooper” by his wife for its copper-tinted fur – is part of an ongoing project of photographing endangered primates all around the world.

Another of his photographs – of an African cheetah – also made it to the National Geographic finals, but Bojan said he was glad it was the orangutan image that won.

“I’m happy to just put the spotlight on the orangutans – they deserve it more than me winning the award,” he said, recalling the shock he felt at the sight that greeted him at the beginning of his trip to Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan in August.

“When you fly down from Jakarta, all you see around are palm oil farms – probably 60 to 70 per cent of the habitat of the orangutans have been destroyed by palm oil cultivation. I was impacted by the loss of habitat,” he said, adding that he plans to donate part of his prize money – US$7,500 (S$10,000) – to orangutan conservation.

As for the real story behind the prize-winning shot, Bojan knew he was on to something special when he was told by one of the local rangers that there were occasional sightings of orangutans crossing the Sekonyer River.

“Historically, there are very few documented evidence of orangutans in the river, because they hate water and some parts of the river have crocodiles. So we took the risk,” said Bojan.

It was only on the second day of living on a boat when he and his companions finally spotted the great ape.
​​​​​​​
“I decided to jump into the river and hid behind a tree. It happened that the orangutan saw me and kind of hid behind another tree trunk in the river. So I just stood still – and after a few seconds, the orangutan came out to see if I was still there. I took a sequence of around 25 pictures. It was an exciting, thrilling moment for me,” he said.

FROM SINGAPORE ZOO TO INDOCHINA

And there have been many such moments for Bojan, who had simply been a hobbyist until his move to Singapore a couple of years ago to follow his wife, who works in the banking industry.

After working in the corporate sector in India for 18 years, he decided to quit his job to pursue his passion for travel and photography as a freelance wildlife photographer.

In the past 11 months, he has been to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia – primarily to focus on his endangered primates project, which he hopes to publish as a photobook by the end of next year.

His passion for endangered primates began thanks to a visit to the Singapore Zoo upon moving here two years ago – and seeing the orangutans, gibbons and red langur.

“It’s honestly one of the best zoos I’ve seen. The design is so beautiful you don’t feel you’re in a zoo. Something was triggered and I thought should go and find all these primates and photograph them in the wild.”

He added: “In Indochina alone there are about 25 rare monkey or primate species that are highly endangered. For some of them, there are only about 40 to 50 alive. So far, I’ve only captured around nine species because they’re really hard to spot, especially since I’m trying to photograph them in the wild.”

And there’s more on his plate. In February, he’ll be in Japan to shoot their famous snow monkeys. The month after that, it’s off to the Himalayas in the hopes of spotting the elusive snow leopards.

“That’s going to be a really tough one. It’s maybe 10,000 feet about sea level and very low on oxygen. But we have a good team there,” he said.

And is his wife okay with his constant travelling? “She’s a huge nature lover. In fact whenever she has time she travels with me. But it’s not easy to be away from home weeks at a time. Obviously, you need a supportive wife,” he said with a laugh.

Source: CNA/mm

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The Sumatran Rhino Has Been on The Brink of Extinction For 10,000 Years

How is this possible?
PETER DOCKRILL Science Alert 14 Dec 17;

The Sumatran rhino is one of the most threatened species on the face of the planet, but until now we never knew how bad things really were for the smallest, hairiest rhinoceros.

Scientists in the US have sequenced the genome of Dicerorhinus sumatrensis for the first time, and the results tells us not only that the population peaked almost a million years ago, but it's been staring death in the face for nearly 10,000 years.

"This species has been well on its way to extinction for a very long time," says rhino expert Terri Roth from Cincinnati Zoo's Centre for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife.

Fears over the Sumatran rhino's future aren't new, with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species categorising the animal as critically endangered due to severe declines of greater than 80 percent in the rhino population over the last three generations.

At the time of that 2008 assessment, researchers estimated the population at between 220 and 275 individuals, although others have suggested subsequently that the number of animals left in the wild could be less than half that.

While the current outlook for the Sumatran rhino is shockingly bleak, what's perhaps even more surprising is how long this grim state of affairs has hung over the hairy rhinoceros.


Based on a genetic analysis of DNA from a Sumatran rhino named Ipuh (pictured above), who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo for 22 years until his death in 2013, the species' population was as low as just 700 individuals 9,000 years ago.

The team used a technique called Pairwise Sequential Markovian Coalescent (PSMC) modelling, which makes it possible to estimate the population history of a species spanning thousands of generations, all from the genome sequence of a single individual.

Using a sample of Ipuh's DNA, the team compared the results with fossil and climate data to put together a picture of how the Sumatran rhino fared over the past several million years.

According to the data, the species hit its population peak around 950,000 years ago, when numbers reached about 57,800 individuals.

The population is thought to have have experienced substantial fluctuations during the Pleistocene (sometimes called the Ice Age), which lasted from around 2.6 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago.

"Our genome sequence data revealed that the Pleistocene was a roller-coaster ride for Sumatran rhinoceros populations," says one of the team, Herman Mays, Jr. from Marshall University.


Towards the end of that ride, an influx of other animals into the region called Sundaland - paired with rising sea levels that fragmented the rhino's habitat into isolated islands - put significant pressure on the species and caused numbers to dwindle.

That's why, by about 9,000 years ago, only around 700 Sumatran rhinos remained, and a rebound never happened.

"Their population bottomed out and never showed signs of recovery," says Mays.

Since then, our own species hasn't exactly made things any easier for the rhinos that yet survive.

"Population declines due to recent human exploitation and habitat loss are most likely acting on a population denuded of genetic diversity during the Pleistocene," the authors explain in their paper.

Among that ailing population, two of the 200 or less are Ipuh's sons, who live on at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra.

One of the offspring has already sired calves, and conservationists are determined to see the bloodline continue into the future – if it can.

"The Sumatran rhinoceros species is hanging on by a thread," says Roth. "We need to do more to save it."

The findings are reported in Current Biology.

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Indonesia: Activists Urge Government to Uphold Log Export Ban

Dames Alexander Sinaga Jakarta Globe 14 Dec 17;

Jakarta. Civil society groups have called on the government to desist from revoking the log export ban, as it could result in increased smuggling and destroy Indonesia's timber industry.

In 2001, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry jointly banned log exports, as they observed that log export policies had been exploited by illegal loggers and threatened the preservation of forest resources.

Last month, however, Ministry of Environment secretary general Bambang Hendroyono said the ban should be lifted in order to increase the price of the commodity on the domestic market.

"If this happens, it would boost illegal logging," environmental group Kaoem Telapak campaigner Johanes Jenito said in a statement on Wednesday (13/12).

According to Johannes, Kaoem Telapak and London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) have uncovered some large-scale log smuggling cases that had occurred despite the ban.

In 2005, he said, 300,000 cubic meters of timber were smuggled from Papua to China every month. In 2010, customs officers at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta seized 23 containers of timber that was reportedly headed to China.

"Law enforcement in these two cases was unsuccessful, as the main perpetrators had not been arrested," Johanes said.

Independent Forest Monitoring Network (JPIK) activist Muhammad Kosar said that the lifting of the ban would also affect the local timber industry.

"We urge the government to make sure that wood supplies in the industry come from legal and sustainable sources. The government should not be strengthening the international forestry market, but the domestic one," he said.

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Brazil tops Places to Watch for deforestation, satellites show

Karla Mendes Reuters 14 Dec 17;

RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Brazil topped the list of the world’s most important Places to Watch for deforestation on Wednesday, in a new initiative that uses near real-time satellite to highlight forest loss.

Satellites detected more than 50,000 hectares of tree cover loss - equivalent to more than 60,000 soccer fields - since October in the Kayapó Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon, Global Forest Watch (GFW), a U.S.-based charity said.

“September saw the most fires ever recorded in a single month, and 2017 now is on track to break the record for most fires in a single year,” GFW said.

“Though there is a drought happening, almost all of the fires are human-caused, likely to clear forest for agriculture.”

Forest fires in Brazil and Indonesia contributed to a record loss in global tree cover in 2016, equivalent to the size of New Zealand, that could accelerate deforestation blamed for climate change, GFW said.

Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama took issue with the group’s findings, telling the Foundation in an email that it found far less deforestation in its reading of its satellite monitoring and data from the country’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE).

Ibama said it found just 879 hectares of deforestation in 2016-2017 in the Kayapó territory.

“Therefore, it is incorrect to say that 50,000 hectares of deforestation in the protected area would have occurred,” Ibama said.

Deforestation in indigenous lands fell by 16 percent, it added.

Places to Watch provides detailed information on when, where and why forests are being cleared on a weekly basis.

“After identifying these hotspots our team reaches out to partners on the ground to find further details about what’s taking place,” Katie Fletcher, a spokeswoman for GFW told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in emailed comments.

GFW said in response that the discrepancy is likely caused by differences in its system of measurement and that of INPE, such as looking at different time periods and possibly differences in how forest fires are counted.

“Our experts are very confident, however, that there has been a major change in forest cover in that area in recent months. We’ve looked directly at raw satellite images and other data sources that visibly indicate there has been disturbance in the Kayapo territory,” it said in an email.

The GFW initiative will help to monitor forests and protect land rights amid budget cuts to institutions in Brazil in charge of protecting indigenous peoples, said Barbara Zimmerman, who heads the International Conservation Fund of Canada’s work in Kayapó.

Around 8,000 Kayapó live on more than 11 million hectares of legally protected land, one of the few remaining patches of undisturbed forests on the edge of the Amazon, GFW said.

“The Kayapós and other indigenous groups are really on their own,” said Zimmerman of ICF, which helped GFW with its research.

“The government is not present .... There is no law.”

Officials from Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency, Funai, were not immediately available for comment.

GFW launched a mobile app in September which directs indigenous people, forest managers and law enforcement officials to remote areas where forests are being cleared, so they can capture photos and enter data about deforestation.

The other top Places to Watch this week are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Reporting by Karla Mendes; Editing by Katy Migiro and Ellen Wulfhorst.

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Best of our wild blogs: 14 Dec 17

Discovering nature, and the spirit of discovery – Love MacRitchie Walk (December 2017)
Love our MacRitchie Forest

What’s in the Lab?
Mei Lin NEO

Giant study by Singapore marine scientists!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Research jam: Who honoured their 2017 commitments?
People's Movement to Stop Haze

November Facebook Jam
People's Movement to Stop Haze

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