Best of our wild blogs: 7 Jan 18

Registration open for the Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk – Sun 11 Feb 2018
Toddycats!

Raptor Migration ( Autumn) along Henderson Waves
Singapore Bird Group

Earthfest2018 x TDE
The Dorsal Effect

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Singaporean environmentalist clinches Nat Geo grant to study dog disease in Nepal

LOW YOUJIN Today Online 7 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE — A Singaporean environmentalist and freelance photojournalist has received a US$10,000 (S$13,269) National Geographic Explorer grant, which will allow her to research on a deadly and highly contagious disease affecting dogs in the Himalayas.

Ms Debby Ng, 35, will be heading to Nepal from May to June to study whether domestic dogs in Nepal Himalaya, a large number of which are free-roaming, have been exposed to the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).

The CDV is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animal families, including domesticated and wild animals.

Ms Ng was given the grant in late-September last year but she only shared the news on her Facebook page on Monday (Jan 1). “I wanted to make sure it was all real,” she wrote in the Facebook post. Over the past months, she has been busy preparing and assembling a team for her study.

While she will only have two months in spring to complete her research, she said: “Field work is all about working with the time Nature gives you!”

Speaking to TODAY, Ms Ng said a veterinarian will be accompanying her, alongside two or three research assistants to help with interviewing locals and collecting blood samples from dogs.

A recent graduate from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Science (Zoology and Geography), Ms Ng will be using the findings from her study to pursue her Honours.

Ms Ng is no stranger to the mountainous region or the dogs that inhabit the area either. She is also the co-founder of the Himalayan Mutt Project, a non-profit organisation that helps vaccinate and neuter domestic dogs in impoverished villages in Nepal.

Explaining the significance of the study, Ms Ng said that such free-roaming dogs have been recognised by wildlife researchers as a “source of infection for several disease outbreaks affecting wild carnivores, in all continents except Antarctica” since they have a higher tendency to interact with wildlife and pass diseases on.

It is currently unknown what diseases wild animals carry, some of them can spill over into domestic dogs, and then into the livestock that they mingle with, and then people. Photo: Bikash Gürung

In 1994, dogs infected with CDV were responsible for wiping out close to 30 per cent of the lion population in the Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania.

Humans are not spared from the impact of the virus. It can be passed to livestock, which would in turn affect communities dependent on them through loss of income when their livestock die from the virus.

Ms Ng said the grant would cover all the field and laboratory costs for the intended duration of the study. “Utilised wisely and efficiently, it can profoundly improve our understanding of how diseases are transmitted across a landscape,” she said.

When asked why she chose to focus her work in Nepal, she said: “I have a passion for working with communities who want to protect their environment. The communities I work with...are very eager to resolve the problem with dogs.”

She added: “(Nepal) is a global tourist destination, and brings joy and even meaning to life for many people...This is a precious landscape to us all, but most importantly to the people of Nepal.”

Turning her attention to Singapore, she said she welcomed the recent announcement by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore on a nationwide sterilisation effort. “There was a soft sigh (of relief) in my heart. It is a wonderful breakthrough,” she said.

Having carried out sterilisation of dogs in Nepal for more than three years, she noted that over there, “healthy but unwanted dogs are hung, drowned, shot, and poisoned”.

Even if culled humanely with drugs, routine mass euthanasia is a heavy economic burden on society. “The cost of one euthanasia dose can neuter two dogs,” she said. “The alternative to not killing them is turning them to a life on the streets or wilderness areas where they get into fights with other dogs.”


CLARIFICATION: In an earlier version of this story, we reported that Ms Debby Ng is a recent Honours graduate from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Science (Zoology and Geography). Ms Ng has clarified that she is a recent graduate from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Science (Zoology and Geography), and will be using the findings from her study to pursue her Honours.


Singaporean wins US$10,000 grant from National Geographic to study dog disease in Nepal
Jose Hong Straits Times 6 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE - Freelance photojournalist Debby Ng has won a US$10,000 (S$13,300) grant from The National Geographic Society to save wildlife in Nepal, by studying dogs there.

The grant adds to the anti-rabies work she began there in 2014.

Ms Ng, 35, told The Straits Times that the National Geographic Society Early Career Grant will allow her to research canine distemper virus in the Himalayas.

The virus is a deadly and highly contagious disease that threatens dogs and the fragile ecosystems there.

Many dogs in the region are not feral and are taken care of by local villagers. However, they roam freely across the countryside and can introduce diseases to people, other canines, and wild animals.

"Dogs have been identified as a source of canine distemper virus outbreaks that have affected wild carnivores around the world. These include wild foxes, wolves, giant pandas and red pandas. In 1994 canine distemper virus killed 30 per cent of the lions in Serengeti National Park," said Ms Ng.

"Learning how the dogs are moving in the environment and what diseases they are carrying can help us understand the likelihood of disease, and allow us to implement conservation measures to protect wildlife, people, and other domestic animals like sheep."

The grant, which was awarded last September, will pay for a month of field work in Nepal's Upper Manang District, where she and her team will interview villagers about dogs in the area from this May. They will also observe how the canines live and collect blood samples.

"Upper Manang is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Carnivores like Himalayan wolves, Pallas' cat, jackals, red foxes, snow leopards, bears and wolverines are known to occur here, so our study is very relevant in this area," said Ms Ng.

Separately, she will continue the Himalayan Mutt Project, her anti-rabies work that neuters and vaccinates dogs in Nepal. According to her calculations, it has prevented thousands of unwanted puppies from being born and becoming carriers of rabies, which a 2015 study said kills up to 100 Nepalese yearly.

National Geographic's Jill Spear said: "Debby's project will add to our body of knowledge on disease ecology of domestic dogs, and how that affects wildlife in Nepal."

Ms Spear, who is the programme officer for Ms Ng's grant, said: "By filling this knowledge gap, the project can have a positive impact on both the wildlife and people in Nepal."

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Turtle found in Yishun with fish hook in its mouth, dies from wound

Lydia Lam Straits Times 6 Jan 17;

SINGAPORE - A turtle that was found in Yishun with a fish hook in its mouth was taken to the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) to be treated, but it died that same day.

Acres highlighted the incident, which happened on Dec 22, in a Facebook post on Friday (Jan 5).

Acres deputy chief executive Anbarasi Boopal told The Straits Times on Saturday that a passer-by had found the turtle in Yishun Avenue 1 in the wee hours of Dec 22.

"The call came in at 2am. The caller said there was a nail sticking out of its mouth, and we realised it was a fish hook. It was taken to Acres and our vet removed the hook, however, the turtle died that same evening," she said.

The turtle was an Asiatic soft-shelled turtle, native to Singapore. They live in freshwater streams, rivers or in reservoirs. However, it is unclear where this particular turtle came from.

"There are a few possibilities. It could be a native turtle from nearby Seletar Reservoir, or it could have been a released or abandoned turtle," said Ms Boopal. "People think they are doing good by releasing them into the sea or a water body, but they might die as they are just suddenly left in an unfamiliar environment."

Ms Boopal said the animal rescue group "increasingly sees a lot of wildlife affected by fish hooks, like monitor lizards, snakes and a lot of turtles".

"We have rescued quite a few red-eared terrapins with fish hooks in their mouths, even box turtles," she said.

She advised members of the public who come across wounded turtles or animals to call Acres at its hotline 9783-7782.

Callers should provide photos if possible and seek advice on what further actions to take. Some turtles may bite, particularly if in pain.

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Malaysia: Conservation is a race against time

KRISTY INUS New Straits Times 7 Jan 18;

THE threat of extinction is real for a few wildlife species in Sabah, and despite counter measures taken, challenges remain.

Poachers continue to hunt the rare animals. Their parts are illegally traded. Exotic dishes are still on menus. Their parts are still used in potions. And human-wildlife conflicts continue.

The survival of a species hinges on scientific intervention, policies, law enforcement, funds and compassion, but there are not enough of those, and time is of the essence.

The Sabah Wildlife Department revealed that the Sumatran rhino, tembadau (or banteng), Bornean pygmy elephant, clouded leopard, sun bear and pangolin are among the most threatened species.

Other vulnerable species include the orangutan, proboscis monkey, slow loris, hornbill and turtles.

Experts are racing to secure whatever hope there is left to ensure the survival of many species.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the department had embarked on a three-year advanced reproductive technology project since 2016, focusing on a few species.

A sum of RM11.9 million has been allocated by the Federal Government to train veterinarians and those involved in handling wildlife, such as rangers or caretakers in the fertilisation process, and to obtain equipment and laboratories.

“The project is not limited to Sabah. The state government will work with other facility and experts in the peninsula should we need them,” Augustine said.

He said advances in animal cell and molecular biology would prove crucial to what his team was doing now.

He said last year, the department brought 10 cases on wildlife offences to court, including charges against people caught with tortoises, sun bear parts, pangolins, turtles and turtle eggs.

Enforcement has been intensified, with more roadblocks, intelligence gathering, inter-agency cooperation as well as monitoring social media, where the department has detected the illegal sale of animal parts and promotion of exotic dishes.

Another boost to conservation efforts expected this year is the gazetting of the Wildlife Conservation Act 1997 to upgrade the status of pangolins to that of a totally protected species.

Augustine said the department would continue to engage with stakeholders, such as local communities and plantation operators near wildlife habitats.

He said there had been successes in such cooperation, particularly in containing the threat faced by animals and in translocation.

“Reducing human-wildlife conflicts can be costly.”

Translocating elephants can cost up to RM30,000 per operation.

“We also have a limited workforce. But we make do where we can and work with other agencies, such as police, Forestry Department and honorary wildlife wardens, to safeguard the animals in vast areas,” Augustine said.

Honorary wildlife wardens are members of the public, usually from the local community, who are appointed to keep watch over animals near them.

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Best of our wild blogs: 6 Jan 18

7 Jan: Registration opens for Sisters Islands Intertidal walks in Feb 2018
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Corallimorph Hunt Day 3: Big Sisters Island
wild shores of singapore

Singapore mangroves, a few steps from an MRT station!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Volunteers needed for Jan 2018 marine litter survey
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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First-of-its-kind climate change study to form national framework for coastal protection measures

Audrey Tan Straits Times 5 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE - Due to its position on the Equator, the Republic may be spared tropical cyclones that last year wreaked havoc in the northern hemisphere. However, the island-state is vulnerable to another effect of climate change: rising sea levels, which cause coastal floods and erosion.

Singapore is taking steps to strengthen the country's resilience against this.

An ongoing, first-of-its-kind study commissioned by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will form the national framework for coastal protection measures.

The authority did not provide details on what measures are being looked at under the study, but Singapore has already adopted various strategies to cope with coastal erosion and flooding as sea levels rise.

This includes raising minimum land reclamation levels from 3m to 4 m above mean sea level, and the installation of hard walls or stone embankments on at least 70 per cent of Singapore's coastal areas. The remaining coastal areas include sandy beaches, which can be used for recreation, and mangroves, which are natural buffers against erosion. These will be left as natural coastline for now, said the BCA.

On the need for the coastal adaptation study, a BCA spokesman said climate science is constantly evolving, and projections for sea level rise may change.

"Given this uncertainty, our national framework for coastal protection needs to be flexible and dynamic to be able to accommodate both future needs and the latest science," he said.

According to projections from Singapore's Second National Climate Change Study released in 2015, the mean sea level is estimated to rise by up to about 1m by 2100.

BCA's coastal adaptation study, undertaken by Surbana International Consultants and DHI Water and Environment, started in October 2013 and was initially slated to be completed by the end of last year.

The end date has since been pushed back to the second half of this year. The reason, the BCA spokesman told The Straits Times, is that more time is needed to consider fresh input and to engage stakeholders, so coastal protection strategies will complement development plans.

Mr Chong Kee Sen, immediate past president of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore, said a coastal adaptation study would likely include the identification of areas that are more prone to flooding from rising sea water levels.

"Such studies would then allow urban architects, engineers and designers to consider various options for existing infrastructure to mitigate the impact of rising sea water levels and allow them to plan ahead in anticipation of rising sea water levels," he said.

This includes the installation of hard protective dykes to keep sea water away, or planning to build critical infrastructure away from areas that have high potential or is susceptible to flooding, he added.

The coastal adaptation study is just one of the studies being done to help Singapore better prepare for climate change.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli told ST that agencies under the Resilience Working Group - an inter-agency effort which studies Singapore's vulnerability to the effects of climate change - have undertaken studies to better understand the impacts of climate change on their respective areas of work and potential measures that could be implemented.

This includes national water agency PUB's feasibility study on an underground drainage and reservoir system, and the National Environment Agency's trial on Wolbachia technology that aims to reduce the number of dengue-transmitting Aedes mosquitos.

Said Mr Masagos: "These findings would help to guide our long-term plans for Singapore to adapt to future environmental changes. Given that climate science is constantly evolving, the Resilience Working Group agencies are constantly alert to the latest scientific findings and will undertake new studies, where necessary, to improve Singapore's resilience."

Singapore to boost climate change defences
First-of-its-kind study to form national framework for coastal protection
Audrey Tan Straits Times 8 Jan 18;

Due to its position on the Equator, Singapore may be spared tropical cyclones that last year wreaked havoc in the northern hemisphere.

However, the island is vulnerable to another effect of climate change: rising sea levels, which cause coastal floods and erosion.

The country is taking steps to strengthen its defences against this. An ongoing, first-of-its-kind study commissioned by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will form the national framework for coastal protection measures.


The authority did not provide details on what measures are being looked at under the study, but Singapore has already adopted various strategies to cope with coastal erosion and flooding as sea levels rise.

These include raising minimum land reclamation levels from 3m to 4m above mean sea level, and the installation of hard walls or stone embankments in at least 70 per cent of Singapore's coastal areas.

The remaining coastal areas include sandy beaches, which can be used for recreation, and mangroves, which are natural buffers against erosion. These will be left as natural coastline for now, said the BCA.

On the need for the study, a BCA spokesman said climate science is constantly evolving, and projections for sea level rise may change.

"Given this uncertainty, our national framework for coastal protection needs to be flexible and dynamic to be able to accommodate both future needs and the latest science," he said.

According to projections from Singapore's Second National Climate Change Study released in 2015, the mean sea level is estimated to rise by up to 1m by 2100.

The BCA study, undertaken by Surbana International Consultants and DHI Water and Environment, started in October 2013. The end date, slated for last year, has been pushed back to the second half of this year to consider fresh input and to engage stakeholders, so coastal protection strategies will complement development plans, the BCA spokesman told The Straits Times.

Mr Chong Kee Sen, immediate past president of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore, said a coastal adaptation study would likely include the identification of areas more prone to flooding from rising sea water levels.

"Such studies would then allow urban architects, engineers and designers to consider various options for existing infrastructure to mitigate the impact of rising sea levels and allow them to plan ahead in anticipation of rising sea levels."

This includes the installation of hard protective dykes to keep sea water away, or building critical infrastructure away from areas at risk of flooding, he added.

The study is just one of several being done to help Singapore better prepare for climate change.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli told ST in an e-mail interview last month that agencies under the inter-agency Resilience Working Group have undertaken studies to better understand the impact of climate change on their respective areas of work and potential measures that could be implemented. This includes national water agency PUB's feasibility study on an underground drainage and reservoir system.

"These findings would help to guide our long-term plans for Singapore to adapt to future environmental changes."

COUNTRIES WOOING CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

United States President Donald Trump may have denounced climate change as a hoax, to the chagrin of climate scientists in the country.

But other countries have stepped up efforts to woo the scientists. The French government, for example, is offering grants to American climate scientists to live and continue their research in France.

Singapore, too, is reaching out to climate-change scientists.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli told The Straits Times in an e-mail interview last month that the Centre for Climate Research Singapore "is growing its capabilities and welcomes collaborations and talented climate scientists who are interested and keen to work with us to deepen our understanding of tropical weather and climate".

The centre was established in 2013 under the Meteorological Services Singapore, which is part of the National Environment Agency, to develop research expertise in the weather and climate of Singapore and the South-east Asian region.

"The science behind tropical climate systems is still fairly undeveloped and we see a lot of potential in the Centre for Climate Research Singapore to be a leading research centre in this area," said Mr Masagos.

The climate research centre has five focus areas - climate projections, seasonal outlook, weather prediction, research into weather and climate processes in the region, as well as climatology and climate studies, which collect and archive Singapore's long-term climate records.

The World Meteorological Organisation has also opened its regional office for Asia and the South-west Pacific in Singapore.

As the office is co-located with the Centre for Climate Research, the collaboration will deepen regional partnerships, Mr Masagos said.

"We also have international research and innovation hubs such as the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology that will allow us to tap international experts in other areas of climate research," he said.

Under Singapore's Research Innovation and Enterprise 2020 plan - a blueprint guiding Singapore's research from 2016 to 2020 - $900 million in funding went to the Urban Solutions and Sustainability programme to support piloting, test-bedding and accelerating adoption of promising new technologies.

Audrey Tan

Comments on the above story by Dr Wong Poh Poh
emailed by Dr Wong to wildsingapore on 8 Jan 18;

1. Portal for study
The responsible agency should set up a portal to show the scope and objectives of the study, results to date, adaptation strategies and measures, major obstacles, and other issues. This is to ensure that adequate time is provided for proper feedback from the stakeholders.

2. Stakeholders
The stakeholders should not be limited to relevant government agencies, academe and climate change scientists, but to include engineers, insurance industry, developers, lawyers, environment groups, relevant NGOs, concerned citizenry, etc. For example, SLR is also considered a hazard and emergency services should be involved.

3. Sea-level rise (SLR)
SLR is inevitable but its rate varies widely. More important are the local SLR and regional SLR. What is our knowledge of RSLR (relative sea-level rise) compared to GSLR (global sea-level rise)?

4. Vulnerability.
Has vulnerability from SLR been established for the lowest and highest RCPs (Representative Concentration Pathways) over various dates, e.g. 2030, 2050, 2100? Basic vulnerability maps based on bathtub model flooding should be available for use by insurance industry, developers, lawyers, etc.

5. Hard measures
From the information released, it seems that there is too much focus on hard measures which may lock adaptation to SLR into an unhealthy “adaptation path” as in the Maldives.

6. Non-hard measures
Thus, it seems that there is not enough or full evaluation of non-hard measures, including nature-based solutions (NbS). Singapore is in a low wave energy environment, in particularly the north coast within the Johor Straits, and is suitable for “living shorelines”.

7. Local topography
In SIDS (Small Island Developing States) local topographic highs at the coast play an important role in adaptation to SLR. Singapore should have contour maps with contours at 10 cm for the coast (based on LiDAR) with field identification of such features. Like topographic sheets, these should be updated periodically to facilitate the choice of adaptation strategies and measures.

8. Innovations and materials
Over time new ideas and materials in addressing SLR are being tested and these should be considered.

9. Think out of the box
A drastic change in thinking is necessary in addressing SLR. Think of SLR as positive and flooding that benefits.

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Singapore reaches out to climate change scientists as it grows research capabilities on tropical weather

Audrey Tan Straits Times 5 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE - United States President Donald Trump may have denounced climate change as a Chinese hoax, to the chagrin of climate scientists in the country.

But other countries have stepped up efforts to woo the scientists. The French government, for example, is offering grants to American climate scientists to live and continue their research in France.

Singapore, too, is reaching out to climate change scientists.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli told The Straits Times that the Centre for Climate Research Singapore "is growing its capabilities and welcomes collaborations and talented climate scientists who are interested and keen to work with us to deepen our understanding of tropical weather and climate".

The centre was established in 2013 under the Meteorological Services Singapore, which is part of the National Environment Agency, to develop research expertise in the weather and climate of Singapore and the South-east Asian region.

"The science behind tropical climate systems is still fairly undeveloped and we see a lot of potential in the Centre for Climate Research Singapore to be a leading research centre in this area," said Mr Masagos.

The climate research centre has five focus areas: climate projections, seasonal outlook, weather prediction, fundamental research on tropicalweather and climate processes in the region, as well as climatology and climate studies, which collects and archives Singapore's long-term climate records.

The World Meteorological Organisation has also opened its regional office for Asia and the South-West Pacific in Singapore. As it is co-located with the Centre for Climate Research, the collaboration will deepen regional partnerships, Mr Masagos added.

"We also have international research and innovation hubs such as the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology that will allow us to tap on international experts in other areas of climate research," he said.

Under Singapore's Research Innovation and Enterprise 2020 plan - a blueprint guiding Singapore's research from 2016 to 2020 - $900 million in funding went to the Urban Solutions and Sustainability programme to support piloting, test-bedding and accelerating adoption of promising new technologies.

Read more!

Malaysia: Three held for smuggling pangolins

The Star 6 Jan 18;

SHAH ALAM: An enforcement team from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) detained three men for smuggling pangolins at a house in Bandar Pinggiran Subang.

In a statement, Perhilitan director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said the trio were transferring 57 pangolins from their car to the house when Perhilitan personnel raided the place.

“The suspects did not have a permit to keep the wildlife,” Abdul Kadir said.

It was believed that the pangolins were poached from Johor, Melaka and Negri Sembilan, with Selangor as a transit point before being taken to neighbouring countries.

The men were taken to the Kampung Baru Subang police station. They will be investigated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.


57 pangolins confiscated, three suspected smugglers held
New Straits Times 6 Jan 18;

KUALA LUMPUR: Three men were held after 57 pangolins were recovered from a house in Bandar Pinggiran Subang in Shah Alam.

The house appears to be a transit point for the pangolins before it is smuggled out to a neighbouring country.

It was also revealed the pangolins may have been caught illegally in Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan.

Peninsular Malaysia Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said the three men will be detained further for investigations.

“During the raid launched by Perhilitan, the suspects had just finished unloading the pangolins from a vehicle to the premise,” he said in a statement.

Upon checking, the suspects had no special permit to keep the wildlife from the department.

“The vehicle used was also modified with an air conditioning system that is connected to the rear boot to ensure the animals don’t die,” Kadir added.

The case will be investigated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 for smuggling and possession of a protected species.

“We hope the public would continue to be our eyes and ears for such activities that could lead to the extinction of our wildlife heritage.”

Read more!

Malaysia: Two dead, nearly 12,000 evacuated in floods

Straits Times 5 Jan 18;

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's annual northeast monsoon has claimed two lives in Pahang and forced nearly 12,000 people to be evacuated from their homes nationwide.

A teenager who fell into knee-deep floodwaters in Kuantan on Thursday (Jan 4) after he was believed to have suffered a seizure became the second victim to die in the floods in Pahang, reported national news agency Bernama.

Pahang police chief Rosli Ab Rahman said the body of Muhammad Al Asyraf Danial Mohd Al Asadi, 17, was found at about 1am. He said the victim was understood to have visited his friend's house and had decided to walk back to his home nearby.

"At that juncture, he was believed to have suffered a seizure, causing him to fall (into the water). However, no one knew of the incident until the villagers discovered his body," said Datuk Seri Rosli.

Muhammad Faris Aqeel Mohd Afif, 7, was the state's first flood casualty this year after his body was found in a ditch in Sungai Lembing on Wednesday. He was playing nearby and had fallen in.

Malaysia's disaster management agency said as at Thursday night, there were 11,991 flood victims sheltering at relief centres in Johor, Terengganu, Pahang and Sabah. It noted however that the severe weather warnings and alerts had ceased in all four states.

Pahang remained the worst-hit state with the number of flood evacuees at 9,366 as at noon Friday, from the districts of Kuantan, Rompin, Pekan, Jerantut, Lipis and Bera.

Twenty three schools in Pahang stayed closed on Friday from the floods, affecting 5,002 students and 490 teachers.

Meanwhile the situation in east coast state Terengganu took a turn for the worse on Friday morning (Jan 5), after a huge incoming high tide prevented surging river water from flowing into the sea.

Terengganu Civil Defence Force director Che Adam A Rahman told Bernama that even though the rains had stopped, the floodwaters could not recede because of the tide.

"This caused many low-lying areas in Chukai to be inundated early this morning and currently there are 2,159 flood evacuees from 541 families in two districts, Kemaman and Dungun, as at 8am compared to 1,364 people from 340 families last night.

"Two more evacuation centres were opened in Kemaman to accommodate the additional flood victims, making a total of 17 relief centres in operation in Terengganu," he said.

Overnight rain caused floods in Penang state - both the island and mainland - early Friday morning, The Star reported, with one temporary relief centre opened in Bukit Mertajam to house a family of five.

Flash floods were recorded in several areas on Penang island, said a spokesman from the Fire and Rescue Department, including in Kampung Masjid, Kampung Rawa, Jalan P. Ramlee, Lintang P. Ramlee, Kampung Makam and Jalan Kuantan.

"The flooding is due to the continuous downpour as well as the fact that the drains in these places have not been able to accommodate the water flow," he said. He added that the Sungai Pinang river was at warning level.

The situation in Johor continued to improve, with only 262 evacuees staying at five relief centres in Mersing and Segamat as at Friday morning.

Read more!

Thailand, Myanmar and Laos to jointly solve smoke haze

Borneo Post 4 jan 18;

BANGKOK (Bernama) – Thailand, Myanmar and Laos will launch their joint efforts to contain smoke haze later this month, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Lt Gen Wichak Siribansop, chief of the 3rd army, said the 3rd Army Corps would represent Thailand in the joint efforts with the neighbouring countries.

He said that solutions to smoke haze needed international cooperation and in the Thailand campaigns against forest fires, it would target northern provinces including Chiang Rai.

He said campaigns against forest fires were necessary as 99 per cent of them were human caused.

The army and relevant governmental organisations will raise public awareness on the hazards of smoke haze through local volunteers, Lt Gen Wichak said.

According to the northern army chief, the joint project is aimed at reducing smoke haze by about 60 per cent from last year. Such a project relieved the problem by 40 per cent last year from the previous year.

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Best of our wild blogs: 5 Jan 18

Jan 2018 sampling events for NUS–NParks Marine Debris Monitoring Programme
News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Corallimorph Hunt Day 2: Pulau Hantu
wild shores of singapore

The 14th Fall Migration Bird Census
Singapore Bird Group

New ‘ghost’ scorpion among several species recorded for the first time in Malaysian rainforest
mongabay.com

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The mosquitoes that are fighting dengue and Zika

While killing insects would seem to be the best way of controlling the diseases they spread, some scientists are releasing more of the biting bug, re-engineered to stall epidemics.
Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar BBC 4 Jan 18;

On a late October morning in a hilly, middle-class neighbourhood in central Singapore, a crowd was forming for a surprising event. Top government officials, community leaders and a throng of media with cameras gathered around a group of scientists who had brought a most unusual gift: boxes of mosquitoes.

With a shout of “one, two, three”, they opened the boxes and released 3,000 of the insects into the air above Singapore’s Braddell Heights. In a country where the warm, tropical climate is ideal for mosquitoes, most people are used to swatting the insects rather than releasing more of them into the environment.

Fortunately, the residents of Braddell Heights had been prepared months in advance for this event, and welcomed the release. They knew that the mosquitoes would not bite – and that they were participating in an important study on the impact of mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a bacterium that hinders the insects’ fertility and blocks the ability of viruses like Zika to spread.

Singapore isn’t the only country throwing mosquitoes into the air. Across Asia and Latin America, scientists are trying out radical new methods to defeat Aedes aegypti, and the less widespread Aedes albopictus – the mosquito species that spreads the dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses.

Many of these experiments involve altering mosquitoes in the lab to render them harmless or infertile – with Wolbachia, irradiation, or even genetic modification. But the project in Singapore, along with an even larger trial in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, are showing that the release of these altered insects near human habitation is as much about persuading people about the effectiveness of this approach as it is about scientific innovation.

This new approach to controlling insects that spread disease – known as biological vectors – began several years ago, when alarm bells first rang over the rise of dengue, today considered the world’s fastest spreading tropical disease. Incidents of dengue have increased 30-fold in the past five decades, according to the World Health Organization. It has expanded from causing severe epidemics in just nine countries before 1970 to more than 100 countries today, many of them in Asia and Latin America.

The recent emergence of Zika, with its frightening links to brain damage in babies, has given experiments in vector control added urgency

The recent emergence of Zika, with its frightening links to brain damage in babies, has given experiments in vector control added urgency. There is no treatment yet for either dengue or Zika.

Despite this, there is some reticence among members of the public about projects to tackle the Aedes mosquito. Some of this has its roots in previous attempts to control this deadly insect. In the mid-20th Century, the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever led to large-scale sanitation programs and the widespread use of a powerful new insecticide: Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).

After widespread use, DDT was eventually banned in 2004 due to concerns over its impact on human health and the environment. It has been linked to cancer in humans and a decline in predatory birds.

Complacency

Despite this, the use of DDT did reduce numbers of mosquitos. This success led to complacency after the 1970s, says Duane Gubler, emeritus professor of infectious diseases at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Brazil, for instance, was declared Aedes-free in 1958 but as measures were relaxed, the insect began to reappear in the 1970s. One genetic study, published in July this year, suggests that mosquitoes from non-eradicated areas in Venezuela recolonised northern Brazil, later expanding their distribution southwards.

At the same time, Gubler notes, two global trends were nurturing a mosquito comeback. Explosive, chaotic urbanisation created the perfect environment for the city-loving Aedes, as well as providing the perfect conditions for spreading viruses quickly. The growth in global transport and travel also aided their spread to new areas. Treated bed nets, often used to help prevent malaria, are also relatively useless against Aedes, which tends to be active during the day. Growing insecticide resistance added to the problem.

We desperately need a range of new tools - Duane Gubler

“We desperately need a range of new tools,” says Gubler, the world’s leading expert on dengue. “Fortunately, many of the ones in the pipeline seem very promising.”

The need is evident even in Singapore, a highly-developed city-state that has had one of the world’s best mosquito control programmes, which has been in operation for over 40 years, yet has recently seen a resurgence in dengue. Singapore looked at an array of new tools, including genetically modified mosquitoes, before settling on trials with Wolbachia.

A new weapon

Described by one scientist as “the biggest thing since DDT”, the use of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes has become the most widespread of the new vector control experiments, with lab studies or field trials now underway in a dozen countries. The enthusiasm is understandable: Wolbachia seems like the perfect weapon against mosquito-borne disease.

It is found in more than half of all insects, but not usually in viral-pathogen-carrying mosquitoes. The microbe not only protects its host from diseases like dengue and Zika, but is also naturally built to spread rapidly through its host population. Plus, it does not transmit to humans or animals.

One approach to rolling out this Zika and dengue resistant bacterium, pioneered in 2011 by scientists at Monash University in Australia and propagated through the World Mosquito Program (formerly known as Eliminate Dengue), is to release both male and female Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into the environment. Wolbachia is only passed from females to their offspring so releasing females with this bacterium means that it will be spread throughout the mosquito population, making them resistant to Zika and dengue.

Ten countries—Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Kiribati, Fiji and Vanuatu—have signed up for this approach.

Males infected with Wolbachia do not produce offspring when mating with non-infected females

Singapore, like China, is trying a second approach, aimed at suppressing the population of mosquitoes by releasing only male mosquitoes. Males infected with Wolbachia are unable to fertilise the eggs of non-infected females.

The method chosen is partly to do with cost. The second approach is more expensive because it involves sorting males from females in the lab and, unlike the first approach, requires sustained release of mosquitoes – at least until the population crashes, and perhaps even afterwards. Last year, following successful trials, China set up facilities in Guangzhou to produce five million Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes a week.

Public acceptance also plays a critical role in the choice of technology used, as scientists have learnt from past controversies, not only with DDT, but also unsuccessful trials of sterilised mosquitoes in India in the 1970s, which led to public panic over the chemicals being used.

Lee Chen Ng, the director of the Environmental Health Institute at Singapore’s National Environment Agency and head of its Wolbachia project, says they chose the suppression approach in part because male mosquitoes don’t bite, making it more acceptable to Singaporeans. It’s also in keeping with the country’s tough house-to-house checks on mosquito breeding that keeps bug numbers low.

Using Wolbachia to suppress mosquito breeding should also be seen as less risky than previous attempts because the bacteria already exists in the environment, suggests Ng. It has been found to be safe for humans and animals, although long-term ecological effects are not known. Trials of genetically modified mosquitoes were rejected by a community in southern United States last year, while Wolbachia trials proceeded with little fuss. In November, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were cleared for release by the US Environment Protection Authority in 20 states.

Engagement

Nowhere is the importance of community more evident than in the low-rise city of Yogyakarta in Java, Indonesia, where Asia’s largest Wolbachia trial is underway. Adi Utarini, the project head and professor of public health at Gadjah Mada University, says their trial is not only about technological innovation but also community engagement.

“People think this is a lab project but it only starts in the lab, the insectary,” she says. “To bring this technology into the community is as much a challenge… because, in the end, it’s the community that decides whether they want this technology or not.”

Utarini and her team began in 2011 by importing infected eggs from Australia’s Monash University. For the next two years, they worked in the lab, testing and breeding Wolbachia mosquitoes. At the same time, their communications head Bekti Andari began visiting communities in the district of Sleman, where the first release would take place.

The enemy is not the mosquito, the enemy is the virus – Adi Utarini

The first challenge they faced, says Utarini, was having to tell people “the opposite of what they are used to believing: that you have to get rid of mosquitoes”. They had to educate people about the basics of disease transmission, to make them understand that “the enemy is not the mosquito, the enemy is the virus”.

The Sleman experience shaped the rest of the project. After releasing adult mosquitoes in Sleman – including biting females – the team switched to containers of Wolbachia-infected eggs. Eggs were an easier sell to the public. They were less obtrusive as the insects hatched and flew out at different times. It also meant releases could be made more frequently.

The researchers also hit upon another strategy to keep residents on-side – giving them their own containers of eggs to take care of. Having the mosquito containers in their own back gardens made people curious about the process and also motivated them to keep their mosquito container safe.

As the trial slowly expanded through Yogyakarta, the team used all the tools at their disposal: community meetings, neighbourhood newsletters, mass media, phone calls and emails, visits to the lab.

“We hid nothing from people,” says Utarini. “Challenges had to be continually met.” In one neighbourhood, the team had to briefly stop work during the dengue season because of panic over an outbreak of cases that affected 14 patients and led to one death. The team returned after people were calmer.

Between 2015 and 2017, half of the Yogyakarta’s 24 districts were inundated with Wolbachia mosquitoes. The other half served as the control, made possible by the fact that mosquitoes don’t fly too far.

By mid-2017, scientists had placed thousands of containers of eggs in backyards – one every 50 metres (164ft). Every two weeks they were refreshed with up to 120 new eggs. The scientists are now waiting for Wolbachia to expand to 80% of the mosquito population to see whether the releases are having the impact on the prevalence of dengue they predicted.

A good result, says Utarini, would be if the number of cases in Wolbachia areas is 50% less than control areas.

“That’s when we can say this works,” she says.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, the early results have been promising. Ng and her team found Wolbachia mosquitoes survive as well as wild mosquitoes in the urban environment, flying to upper floors, and successfully mating with the non-Wolbachia females. The viability of eggs collected from the study sites had fallen by half. Now, says Ng, they are looking at scaling up mosquito production and strategies of release.

Neither Ng nor Utarini believe Wolbachia is a silver bullet for Zika or dengue. But a mix of interventions could do the trick.

“If we can use new vaccines [for dengue and Zika] to increase herd immunity, and at the same time, new tools like Wolbachia and insecticides to reduce the mosquito population, we should be able to control these diseases,” says Gubler.

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