Best of our wild blogs: 22 Feb 18

11 Mar (Sun): Dive Pulau Hantu with the Hantu Bloggers
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Students' petition to use sustainable oil draws 8,000 signatures

Wang Yanhua The New Paper 22 Feb 18;

When Gauri Shuklavisited Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2016, she saw first-hand how forests were being slash and burned to make way for oil palm plantations.

The Singapore permanent resident, who was 13 years old then, was devastated to see forests burning and piles of logs being removed by cranes.

It made her realise how much the environment was abused.

That's why Gauri, now 15, and Regina Vanda, 20, launched an online petition last year to get food companies to use environmentally-friendly oil.

Not only did it garner more than 8,000 signatures within four months, two companies - Old Chang Kee and Polar Puffs & Cakes - even responded to their petition to say they used sustainable oil.

Gauri and Regina met last year through a non-governmental organisation, People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze).

They approached more than 20 local food companies to ask if they were using Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-certified oil, which is palm oil from sustainable sources. The pair told The New Paper most did not respond.

RSPO was established in 2004 to promote the use of sustainable oil palm products.

With PM.Haze's help, they identified Old Chang Kee and Polar Puffs & Cakes as possibly not using RSPO-certified cooking oil.

So, in October, the girls started an online petition asking the two companies to use RSPO-certified oil.

Gauri, a student at United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), said: "Their curry puffs are popular in Singapore and this was a ground-up approach to engage the company."

Regina, a year-one student at Yale NUS College, added: "We chose to approach local companies because we believed it is possible to get them to start using sustainable ingredients."

When the petition started, Old Chang Kee's marketing communications manager, Ms Ng Bee Lin, said the company was looking into sourcing oil that was RSPO-certified.

On Feb 2, the girls were surprised to receive an e-mail from Old Chang Kee, which said:"Our RSPO-accredited oil supplier has inserted the RSPO certification on our cooking oil tins."

Polar Puffs & Cakes also released a statement on its website in October saying it used healthy oil. Its spokesman said vegetable oil accounted for less than 0.6 per cent of its ingredients because its products are baked with butter and not fried with oil.

The statement added: "We also wish to assure our customers that our vegetable oils currently used are from sustainable sources."

TNP wrote to both companies on the kinds of oil they used and whether they used RSPO-certified oil. Both declined to comment.

This isn't the first time that Gauri has tried to make a difference through sustainable oils.

In 2015, she managed to get her school canteen to change to sustainably-sourced oil.

UWCSEA told TNP that its kitchens switched to using canola oil for all on-site cooking. Sodexo, the school's food provider, made the change at all its sites in Singapore in November 2016.

Mr Nathan Hunt, UWCSEA director of sustainability, said: "Guari's work is especially commendable as it is an example of a sustained commitment by a student to campaign for a solution by leading other students over a number of years."

Regina said: "Sometimes, we need to rock the boat to get the change we want.

"A petition may not be the most pleasant approach but it was necessary to show people there is capacity for advocacy in Singapore."

Gauri added: "You don't have to wait until you're older to make a change. You just need to have the right mindset."

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Four Indonesian provinces, including Riau, declare disaster alerts for forest fires

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 21 Feb 18;

JAKARTA - Four Indonesian provinces - including one that sits at Singapore's doorstep - are officially on disaster alert after a rising number of hot spots were detected within their boundaries.

Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared disaster alert status, said Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the country's disaster management agency (BNPB), in a press statement on Wednesday (Feb 21). All four provinces are located around the equator, with Riau being closest to Singapore.

The disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds, Dr Sutopo said.

"The number of hot spots has continued to increase. In the past week, the most number of hot spots was found in West Kalimantan province. Pontianak is blanketed by haze," Dr Sutopo said.

In the past 24 hours through 7am on Wednesday, there was a total of 78 hot spots across Indonesia, according to the Terra and Aqua satellites, based on a confidence level of between 30 per cent and 79 per cent.

West Kalimantan province recorded the highest number at 23 hot spots, followed by West Java at 14, Central Kalimantan with 12, Riau at nine, Riau Islands and Papua each with four, Central Java three, West Papua, East Java and Maluku each with two, and Banka-Belitung Islands, North Maluku and South Sumatra each with one.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to some time in March. The rainy season then sets in at these provinces in March and lasts till May before another, more intense dry season from June to September.

"Forest and plantation fires usually pick up in the second (June-September) dry season there," Dr Sutopo said.

The authorities are stepping up their efforts to manage forest and plantation fires. There will be more land and air operations, regular patrols and tighter law enforcement, Dr Sutopo said. Public campaigns against slash-and-burn tactics and on public health are also being ramped up, he added.

Indonesia is deploying joint forces from BNPB's provincial branches, the armed forces, forestry agency fire fighters, city fire fighters, and civil security officers, among others, Dr Sutopo added.

BNPB has also kept aircraft ready for cloud seeding and helicopters for water bombing.


Four Indonesian provinces on disaster alert as hot spots rise
But likelihood of haze affecting Singapore assessed to be low: NEA
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 22 Feb 18;

Four Indonesian provinces - including one that sits on Singapore's doorstep - are officially on disaster alert after a rising number of hot spots were detected within their boundaries.

Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared a disaster alert status, Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the country's disaster management agency BNPB, said in a statement yesterday. All four provinces are located around the equator, with Riau being the closest to Singapore.

When contacted, Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said the dry weather conditions in Sumatra and Kalimantan are "expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan".

The NEA added: "The likelihood of transboundary haze affecting Singapore is currently assessed to be low."

For Indonesia, the disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds, Dr Sutopo said.

In the 24 hours to 7am yesterday, there were a total of 78 hot spots across the country, according to the Terra and Aqua satellites.

West Kalimantan province recorded the highest number with 23 hot spots, while Central Kalimantan recorded 12, Riau had nine, and South Sumatra had one.

Several other provinces also recorded hot spots, with 14 in West Java, and four each in the Riau Islands and Papua.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to March. The rainy season then sets in for these provinces in March and lasts until May, before another, more intense dry season from June to September.

Indonesia is deploying joint forces from the BNPB's provincial branches, the armed forces, forestry agency fire fighters, city firefighters and civil security officers, among others, said Dr Sutopo.

The BNPB has also kept aircraft ready for cloud seeding and helicopters for water bombing.

The hot spots recorded in Riau province are located in Indragiri Hilir, Bengkalis and Pelalawan, with an area of more than 500ha affected, exposing some residents to choking haze, the Indosiar national television reported, citing Riau disaster management agency head Edwar Sanger.


Singapore unlikely to experience transboundary haze from hot spots detected in 4 Indonesian provinces
Amir Hussain Straits Times 21 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE - The National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday (Feb 21) said the likelihood is low of Singapore being affected by transboundary haze from Indonesia.

This comes as four Indonesian provinces declared disaster alert status, after a rise in the number of hot spots.

NEA said a total of five hot spots were detected in Sumatra and 73 in Kalimantan between last Friday and Tuesday.

"For this week and the next, the prevailing winds over the region are expected to continue to blow from the north-west or north-east," said NEA.

"The dry weather conditions are expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan," it added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia's disaster management agency, said in a press statement that Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have declared disaster alert status. The provinces are all located around the equator, with Riau being closest to Singapore.

The disaster alert status means that the national government in Jakarta will be able to step in more easily and with less red tape to deal with raging fires, deploy troops and provide logistics and funds.

Indonesian provinces located near the equator are now in their first phase of the dry season, which usually runs from early in the year to some time in March. The rainy season then sets in at these provinces in March and lasts till May before another, more intense dry season from June to September.


Singapore 'unlikely' to be affected by haze in next 2 weeks: NEA
Channel NewsAsia 21 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE: Transboundary haze is "unlikely" to affect Singapore in the next two weeks, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday (Feb 21), after four Indonesian provinces declared disaster alerts for forest fires.

"The dry weather conditions are expected to gradually ease, and an increase of shower activities will help to subdue the hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan," said NEA on its website.

The agency added that based on satellite images, a total of five hotspots were detected in Sumatra and 73 hotspots in Kalimantan between Feb 16 and Feb 20.

However, for this week and the next, prevailing winds over the region are expected to blow from the northwest or northeast. "The likelihood of transboundary haze affecting Singapore is currently assessed to be low," said NEA.

Source: CNA/am

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Malaysia: No laws stopping hunting of sharks and manta rays in Sabah

stephanie lee The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The killing of sharks and manta rays in Sabah’s diving heaven of Mabul Island is legal, said state Fisheries Department director Dr Ahamed Sade.

He noted that the killings, which had horrified tourists, were not illegal because the sharks are not protected and the rays can be consumed locally.

“In Sabah, there is no law against catching or consuming these marine species,” said Dr Ahamed.

The photos of butchered sharks and rays, including the oceanic manta ray, which has been identified as a banned species, have been widely circulated on social media for the last few days.

“It will only be illegal if the manta rays are exported,” he said.

He added that for sharks, the state government is still working with the federal side to establish which species should be listed as protected.

“The ones killed on the island off Semporna are not endangered,” he said.

Dr Ahamed said of the over 100 species of sharks and about 90 types of manta rays in Malaysia, several types are in dwindling numbers.

“These are the species that we are looking at protecting,” he said, adding that proposals have been sent to the Federal Government for action.

According to the CITES, the sharks and rays under proposal to be protected are the great hammerhead shark, smooth hammerhead shark, winghead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, oceanic manta and reef manta.

As of now, only whale sharks and sawfish are listed as protected in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Dr Ahamed said the Govern­ment is also working with neighbouring countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, to protect marine animals that are facing a population decline.

“Sharks and rays are migratory and we cannot be the only ones wanting to ban or protect these species; it will not mean anything if the sharks or rays are hunted in our neighbouring waters,” he said.

Conservationists have been calling for a ban on catching sharks and rays in Sabah, especially in the gazetted marine parks visited by divers from all over.

‘Killings are absolutely legal’
stephanie lee The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The killing of sharks and manta rays in Sabah’s diving heaven of Mabul Island is legal, said state Fisheries Department director Dr Ahamed Sade.

He noted that the killings, which had horrified tourists, were not illegal because the sharks are not protected and the rays can be consumed locally.

“In Sabah, there is no law against catching or consuming these marine species,” said Dr Ahamed.

The photos of butchered sharks and rays, including the oceanic manta ray, which has been identified as a banned species, have been widely circulated on social media for the last few days.

“It will only be illegal if the manta rays are exported,” he said.

He added that for sharks, the state government is still working with the federal side to establish which species should be listed as protected.

“The ones killed on the island off Semporna are not endangered,” he said.

Dr Ahamed said of the over 100 species of sharks and about 90 types of manta rays in Malaysia, several types are in dwindling numbers.

“These are the species that we are looking at protecting,” he said, adding that proposals have been sent to the Federal Government for action.

According to the CITES, the sharks and rays under proposal to be protected are the great hammerhead shark, smooth hammerhead shark, winghead shark, oceanic whitetip shark, oceanic manta and reef manta.

As of now, only whale sharks and sawfish are listed as protected in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Dr Ahamed said the Govern­ment is also working with neighbouring countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, to protect marine animals that are facing a population decline.

“Sharks and rays are migratory and we cannot be the only ones wanting to ban or protect these species; it will not mean anything if the sharks or rays are hunted in our neighbouring waters,” he said.

Conservationists have been calling for a ban on catching sharks and rays in Sabah, especially in the gazetted marine parks visited by divers from all over.

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Malaysia: Scientists unlock secret of proboscis monkeys

The Star 22 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: There is a secret to Sabah’s iconic male proboscis monkeys – when they become bigger, so will their body and testicles.

But more importantly, the males with a bigger nose can attract more females.

According to a scientific study, there is a clear link between the nose sizes of the males and the number of females in their harems.

The study was jointly carried out by scientists from the Sabah Wildlife Department, Danau Girang Field Centre, Cardiff University and Kyoto University.

During this study, morphological measurements and behavioural observations in free-ranging proboscis monkeys were carried out in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Dr Ikki said in a statement.

They also recorded the vocalisations of male and female proboscis monkeys at three different zoos – the Yokohama Zoo in Japan, Singapore Zoo and Lok Kawi Zoo in Sabah.

“Based on the collected data, we tested the correlations between body mass, facial characteristics, testicular volume, vocalisations, and the number of harem females in captivity and free-ranging proboscis monkeys,” he said.

“In addition to finding that enlarged male noses serve as advertisements to females in mate selection, we also found that males with larger noses also tended to have larger body mass and testis. This suggests that nose enlargement is a reliable predictor of social dominance and high sperm count,” said Dr Ikki.

The proboscis monkey is endemic to Borneo and is a totally protected species in Sabah.

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World’s most controversial fruit may depend on giant bats for pollination

While we debate whether the durian is the best or worst food on the planet, it turns out this wonderful oddity may require healthy populations of flying fox for survival.
Jeremy Hance The Guardian 19 Feb 18;

Durian. Depending on whom you talk to it’s either the most beloved or the most despised fruit on the planet. It suffers no moderation, no wishy-washiness. It is the king of fruits or the worst thing you’ve ever tasted. Due to its potent odour – delicate and sweet to its advocates and sewage-like to its detractors – durian has been banned from airplanes, subways, and hotels (though punishments appear light if non-existent). But a recent study in Ecology and Evolution finds there may be no durians at all without bats: big, threatened bats. The scientists found that flying foxes – bats in the Pteropus and Acerodon genus and the largest in the world – are likely vital pollinators for the polarising durian.

“We already knew that flying foxes feed on durian flowers, but there was this unsubstantiated belief, even among some researchers, that flying foxes just destroyed the flowers,” said Sheema Abdul Aziz, the lead researcher on the project that was done as part of her PhD at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France. “It doesn’t help that a durian flower only blooms for one night, then falls off the tree naturally, regardless of whether it’s been pollinated or not. When people see all the flowers on the ground in the morning, they think it’s the bats.”

It’s not. By setting up camera traps high in durian trees on Tioman Island off the coast of peninsular Malaysia, Aziz and her colleagues exploded the myth that flying fox were damaging the flowers. Instead, the researchers watched the large winged-mammals – in this case the Island flying fox – hang upside down over the flowers and bow down their long snout into them, lapping up the nectar while leaving the flower unruffled.

“The video footage showed without a doubt how delicately flying foxes feed without destroying the flowers, and it also showed how tough and hardy these durian flowers really are,” Aziz said, who is also the founder and president of Rimba, a local NGO devoted to getting hard science out to the government and the public.

Flying foxes may not be the durian’s only pollinator. Aziz said other bats – including smaller ones – have been seen pollinating durians. It is also possible that civets and slow loris are capable of pollinating durian in some parts of Asia. Still, that doesn’t mean all pollinators are equal. Aziz pointed to recent research in Thailand that found some bats are better pollinators than others depending on the plant species.

“This really suggests that the loss of a primary pollinator can potentially affect fruit production, even when there’s another, substitute pollinator that’s still available to do the job,” she said. “This is the sort of thing that I’m hoping to investigate further, if I can get funding to continue my research into durian pollination ecology.”

But like so many species in Southeast Asia, flying fox populations are under assault. According to Aziz, hunting and killing bats as pests are the biggest threats to flying fox species across the region. In some places flying fox are killed to be eaten, in others for traditional medicine.

“I’ve even heard of trigger-happy people with guns using flying foxes for target practice, just for fun,” she said. “This all stems from the fact that people don’t value flying foxes as being important in any way – they’re only viewed positively when they’re dead and can be consumed.”

Of course, deforestation is also threatening bat populations. Southeast Asia has some of the highest deforestation rates in the world with Indonesia recently eclipsing Brazil as the world’s biggest forest destroyer.

Farmers will often kill flying foxes en masse viewing them as a pest, but Aziz says this could undercut the durian industry.

“If growers are killing the bats, this will actually reduce the production of durian fruits. So there’s a real economic implication there … Bat conservation should be a real priority for the commercial durian industry.”

Aziz stresses the situation is complicated as flying fox and other bats are also known to damage some fruit crops, so mitigation efforts need to be developed to protect particular crops from raiding bats – without killing them.

Governments have a major role to play here as well, according to Aziz, who says they need to extend legal protections to bats and their habitats.

“For flying foxes this means protecting rainforests, mangroves, and swamps,” she said. “Mangroves and swamps are the last few refuges sheltering flying foxes from hunting pressure, so their roost sites need to be secured.”

Globally, there are around 70 flying fox species – but six species have gone extinct in recent times: the small and large Samoan flying foxes, the small Mauritian flying fox, the dusky flying fox, the large Palau flying fox, and the Guam flying fox – all bats once found on islands.

Meanwhile, around half of the surviving flying fox species are considered threatened with extinction and many that are not are still imperiled locally.

Bats are not just threatened by hunting and habitat loss, according to Aziz. They are also threatened by a reputation for being nasty, scary animals and associated almost solely with disease. She points out that nearly all the research on flying foxes in peninsular Malaysia has been around bat diseases – not their ecology or importance in maintaining food sources and forests.

“Even conservationists and scientists have largely ignored them here,” she said.

Aziz is changing that. When her study first landed, it produced a remarkable headline in the Malaysian Star: Dwindling flying fox numbers, dying durian industry. News stories were also carried regionally in the Straits Times and the Malay Mail. Aziz, herself, appeared on a local radio programme.

“Flying foxes could be doing all kinds of pollinating jobs that we’re not aware of, just because we haven’t thought to look into it, or because we simply ruled them out without investigating it properly,” she said.

This is why research is so important. But next comes the really hard part: conservation. Conservation means convincing the government and the public that protecting species – and wilderness – matters. And then implementing new laws and measures on the ground.

But durian lovers should take note: your king of fruits depends on the king of bats. Lose one and we’ll lose the other.

Durian haters? Don’t worry: it’s likely more research will shows these bats pollinate far more than durian trees. Just take this example: Aziz believes flying fox are “likely” integral to the survival of the most important ecosystems on the planet: mangroves. Buffeting coastal populations from storms, storing massive amounts of carbon, and housing fish nurseries for innumerable species, mangroves are long-neglected wilderness powerhouses. And it may be that they – like durians – depend on bats.

Like many people – and even many biologists – Aziz says she never thought she would be working with bats. But then she got an HSBC-Earthwatch Fellowship to work with bat expert Tigga Kingston from Texas Tech University.

“Holding a tiny little fluffball with wings, and getting to see it up close and personal, was a life-changing experience for me,” she said. “I knew then that I wanted to study bats and help protect them.”

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Best of our wild blogs: 21 Feb 18

Singapore Raptor Report – January 2018
Singapore Bird Group

The Pathway to Paris: A Commentary on the Carbon Pricing Bill
ELSA@NUS Law

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Singapore's Restaurants Take A Stand Against Shark Fin Consumption

Christine Amour-Levar Forbes 21 Feb 18;

Shark fin soup has been a tradition at Chinese festive celebrations and wedding banquets, but growing demand of shark fin soup is pushing sharks to extinction and disrupting the balance of our oceans. Without sharks, the entire ocean ecosystem could be altered, negatively impacting humans and ocean dwellers alike.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a quarter of sharks and rays are facing extinction in the coming years. Today, 100 million sharks are killed annually around the world, driven by demand for their fins and meat. Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are the top importers of shark fins globally. The fins are supplied by Indonesia, Spain, India, the United States and Argentina, which account for almost half of all shark landings in the world.

In 2017, Singapore was identified as the world's second-largest trader of shark fins after Hong Kong. Between 2012 and 2013, Singapore exported $40 million worth of shark fins, closely following Hong Kong’s $45 million, and imported $51.4 million worth of fins, compared to Hong Kong’s $170 million.

Nevertheless, Singaporeans are increasingly aware of this grave problem, and according to a recent survey by WWF, nine out of ten people in the island state care about sharks going extinct, while eight out of ten have stopped consuming shark fin over the past year. Despite this, there is still a significant group of people who believe sharks can be grown in fisheries. Many fisheries across the world have tried this but to-date, only one has been able to farm one species: the spiny dogfish. All sharks sold in Singapore today are caught in the wild.

Furthermore, some countries have regulations that only allow shark fishing if the whole animal is brought to land. Yet, this does not make the practice sustainable.

Thanks to the growing awareness of the impact sharks’ extinction could have on our environment, the #NoSharkFin movement is gaining momentum around the world and particularly in Singapore. And as the island celebrates the Lunar New Year, businesses across the country are taking action against serving shark products.

Last week, 89 Singapore-based establishments committed to phasing out shark fin in 2018. These include brands such as Crystal Jade, Pan Pacific Hotels, AccorHotels and Foodpanda, whose policy applies across its 3,800 partner restaurants.

Chinese restaurant group, Crystal Jade Culinary Holdings, has committed to removing shark fin dishes from the Chinese New Year set menus across all restaurants in Singapore under its portfolio. From 31 July 2018, shark fin will no longer feature on the menus of its 28 restaurants. “Seafood remains a prominent part of Chinese cuisine. This decision to phase out shark fin, a long-established traditional dish, is our first step towards protecting oceans and seafood supplies as a socially-responsible business. We will continue to offer premium alternatives in place of shark fin,” said Cynthia Yee, Senior Vice President, Marcom, Crystal Jade Culinary Holdings. The company is confident that the move will improve customers' perceptions and lead them to patronize its restaurants more often.

The Pan Pacific Hotels Group, which is headquartered in Singapore, has stopped serving shark fin across its 34 properties and 7 restaurants around the world as of 1 January 2018. F&B delivery service, Foodpanda will also remove shark-related dishes from the menus of the restaurants listed on its platform starting 5 March 2018. Its head of marketing and sustainability lead Laura Kantor said that currently, just 93 out of 3,800 restaurants on the platform serve shark fin and less than 1% of total orders include shark fin.

This move signals a collective effort by the F&B industry to address the serious threat that shark fishing poses. “As sustainable options do not exist for sharks, halting consumer demand is the only solution today.” said Elaine Tan, Chief Executive Officer of WWF Singapore.

This is WWF's largest collective pledge by the F&B industry in Singapore to date. Establishments will phase out shark fin in one of three ways; by completely removing shark fin from their menus, by not serving shark fin for a trial period of time or by removing shark fin from menus and serving it only upon request or on a case-by-case basis.

Environmental issues related to consumption of shark meat and fins are not new among consumers in Singapore and abroad. Over the last five years, about 18,000 hotels worldwide have removed and banned shark's fin from their menus.

Consumption of shark fin soup in China has fallen by around 80% since 2011, thanks to a celebrity-driven public awareness campaign and a government crackdown on extravagant banquets. But the good news is offset by an alarming rise in the consumption of this prestige dish in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Macao, according to a new report by WildAid, a San Francisco-based group that campaigns to curb demand for wildlife products.

Continued public awareness, effective legislation and ongoing scientific research remain essential to the future safeguarding of many shark species, even as conservation efforts continue.

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Industries left guessing as Cambodia fails to release customs data for 2017

Hor Kimsay Phnom Penh Post 20 Feb 18;

When government-aligned Fresh News reported on Sunday that bilateral trade between the US and Cambodia had increased to $3.46 billion last year, up more than 8 percent from the year before, they weren’t using Cambodian government data.

Nor was the state-run Agence Kampuchea Presse using government statistics when it reported in November that trade with Vietnam was up sharply in 2017, quickly approaching the $5 billion target set by both governments.

And nor were figures released in recent weeks of bilateral trade with Indonesia, Japan and China originating from Cambodian sources. Instead, they were relying on customs data from foreign governments, whose reports are currently the only available source of data for the majority of Cambodia’s trade last year.

That’s because while Cambodia’s trade partners around the world have begun to report last year’s trade numbers for the Kingdom, the Cambodian government has yet to release any numbers of its own for the last nine months of 2017.

“The lack of quality statistics is still a sensitive issue in our country, and this needs more effort for improvement,” Mey Kalyan, chairman of the board of directors at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and a senior adviser to the government’s Supreme National Economic Council, said yesterday.

The absence of timely data frustrates academics and investors who rely on the information. What’s more, amid revelations of massive irregularities in the import and export of several commodities – among them timber, sand, citric acid and, most recently, Wagyu beef – the sluggish reporting does little to quell concerns that much of Cambodia’s cross-border trade goes unpoliced and underreported.

Responsibility for trade data and enforcement falls to the Customs and Excise Department, which is under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). An MEF spokesman contacted yesterday directed questions directly to the Customs Department, which has no spokesman. The department’s director, Kun Nhem, did not respond to multiple calls over the past week.

Ministry of Commerce spokesman Seang Thay, meanwhile, told The Post last week that his ministry had only received data from the Customs Department for the first three months of 2017.

Kalyan stressed that problems with customs data were common in many countries and, while acknowledging he had heard complaints from “big investors” about the lack of official information, he said he was optimistic that improvements would be made in the near future.

“I believe that relevant institutions are [making improvements], and we acknowledge it needs time,” he said. “We always want faster improvement.”

Illicit or unreported trade has plagued a variety of Cambodia’s industries in recent years.

The Kingdom was prompted to ban sand exports to Singapore in the middle of last year after it was revealed that the city state had imported 77 million tonnes of sand from Cambodia since 2007, while Cambodia had recorded less than 3 percent of that amount as exports. The revelations raised immediate accusations of impropriety in the environmentally controversial sector.

More recently, Vietnamese customs data from earlier this month reported $40 million worth of timber imported from Cambodia, in flagrant violation of Cambodia’s countrywide export ban on timber to Vietnam. Cambodian export data consistently report the timber trade with Vietnam as nonexistent.

Industry leaders in the $300 million rubber sector told The Post last month that they were unable to make a profit due to widespread smuggling of rubber into Vietnam, while the Cambodian Rice Federation said in its 2017 annual report that rampant smuggling of rice into Cambodia from Vietnam threatened the health of the entire rice industry.

At an event hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce just last week, business leaders complained that counterfeit goods flowing unhindered into the Kingdom were eating into their profits. Em Wutthy, a Ministry of Interior official who attended the event, said at the time that most customs officials “don’t have enough staff to check the border checkpoints”.

In one of the more unusual examples, a report published on Sunday by the Nikkei Asian Review asked whether Cambodia could be a “Japanese beef-laundering hub”, noting that the country was the world’s top importer of Wagyu beef, despite the prime Japanese meat – known for its eye-popping prices – being sparsely available in what is one of Asia’s poorest countries.

Imports of Wagyu into Cambodia spiked in 2011 after Vietnam banned the beef. Four years later, a beef-smuggling operation busted in China – which had also banned Wagyu – snagged 13 tonnes of meat that was originally shipped from Japan to Phnom Penh.

The opacity of the government’s customs data is also a source of frustration among academics trying to study Cambodia’s export-driven economy.

Teng Delux, an economics lecturer at several universities including Pannasastra University and University of Cambodia, said yesterday that difficulty obtaining trade and investment statistics from Cambodia’s institutions hindered important economic research about the country.

“The lack of statistics is a problem for conducting research and any study that reflects the needs of Cambodia’s development,” Delux said, noting that the lack of data often forced researchers to use outdated or informal statistics.

“All relevant institutions should strengthen cooperation among each other to gather and produce accurate statistics, and make it easily available for the public,” he said.

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Indonesia: Disaster alert declared in four Indonesian provinces as forest fire threat looms

VICTOR LOH Today Online 21 Feb 18;

SINGAPORE — Indonesia's disaster agency has declared disaster alert status for four provinces, including Riau province near Singapore, as the number of hotspots from forest fires spiked.

The affected provinces are South Sumatra, Riau, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.

The alert status will allow the central government to mobilise resources to easily mitigate any fire threats, the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 21).

The four provinces — which lie close to the equator — are currently entering the start of the dry season, BNPB added.

The dry season in Indonesia usually happens in two phases: From the middle of January to March, and June to September. It is interrupted by the rainy season from March to May.

In the last 24 hours alone, weather satellites are said to have detected some 90 hotspots in Indonesia.

On Tuesday, data from the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showed two hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

ASMC on Feb 7 raised the transboundary haze alert for the northern Asean region to level 2, which is the 2nd highest alert level.

"The prevailing dry weather conditions in the northern Asean region are forecast to continue till early April 2018, and further escalations of hotspot activities can be expected in the region in the coming weeks," ASMC had said.

Singapore is currently experiencing the dry phase of the North-east Monsoon, with winds blowing from the North-east direction.

Indonesia has stepped up efforts to tackle the transboundary haze problem since 2015, when the country suffered some of its worst forest fires, resulting in a haze that affected tens of millions of people in the region.

Forest, land fires spread to 633 hectares in Riau
Antara 21 Feb 18;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Forest and land fires have spread across Riau Province, reaching 633 hectares since Jan 14.

The most difficult and worst fires were found in Sepahat Village that shares its borders with Bengkalis District and Dumai. Riau`s Forest and Land Fire Task Force has received assistance from Asia Pulp & Paper of Sinarmas that has provided a Super Puma helicopter to conduct water-bombing operations in the burnt area, ANTARA observed here on Tuesday.

The team was able to carry limited equipment due to the difficult terrain that led to accessibility issues.

According to the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Riau in Pekanbaru, the fire has spread to some 12 hectares in the Altaf Agencie Residential area of neighborhood associations 04.

Meanwhile, land fires spread in the Kualarenanggan Hamlet, Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village, in Pelalawan District, reaching 30 hectares; Simpang Lecek Ujung Street, Sungai Segajah Jaya, in Rokan Hilir District, reaching five hectares; and Sri Tanjung Rupat Village in Bengkalis District, engulfing 30 hectares.

An assessment of the burnt areas around Riau`s city and district revealed one hectare in Rokan Hulu, 21 hectares in Rokan Hilir, 86.25 hectares in Dumai, 88 hectares in Bengkalis, 211.5 hectares in Kepulauan Meranti, 2.5 hectares in Siak, 31 hectares in Pekanbaru, 15.25 hectares in Kampar, 31 hectares in Pelalawan, 121.5 hectares in Indragiri Hulu, and 24 hectares in Indragiri Hilir.

Pekanbaru City`s condition seemed better, as no fog appeared following rainfall in the morning. Until this afternoon, the sky was cloudy.

Starting from February 19 to May 31 in 2018, Riau has declared a standby emergency status for forest and land fires. The Riau government took the decision following an increase in the number and area of hotspots in early 2018.

Riau needs assistance from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency to provide a helicopter for conducting water-bombing operations and to implement the weather modification technology to prevent forest and land fires, Head of Riau`s BPBD Edwar Sanger stated.

Reported by FB Anggoro
(T.KR-TQA/b003/INE)
(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/B003)
Editor: Heru Purwanto


Two arrested over fires allegedly set to clear land
Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 20 Feb 18;

As authorities in Riau crack down on illegal logging and slash-and-burn practices, two residents have been arrested in separate locations after reportedly being caught red-handed clearing land for oil palm plantations.

A resident of Kepenuhan Baru village identified as S. was arrested by Rokan Hulu Police and Kepenuhan Police personnel for allegedly setting fire in the village of Sei Air Hitam in Central Kepenuhan last Friday.

“The arrest of the suspect began with hotspot information released by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). After coordinating with Kepenuhan Police, we searched the fire spot using coordinates from satellite data,” Rokan Hulu Police criminal investigation division head Adj.Comr. Harry Avianto said on Tuesday.

Police later apprehended the suspect, who was hiding in a hut not far from the burned land. He is currently detained by Rokan Hulu Police for questioning.

In Pelalawan regency, a joint team for peatland and forest fire prevention comprised of police and military personnel, Environment and Forestry Ministry officials and rangers of the Tesso Nilo National Park detected illegal logging in a conservation area on Sunday.

“The team confiscated an excavator. The 28-year-old operator of the equipment, identified as LH, a resident of Air Molek in Indragiri Hulu regency, was straightaway taken into custody, because the excavator had entered the national park without permit,” said Pelalawan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Kaswandi. (ebf)

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Malaysia: Wildlife rangers act to stop rampaging herd of pygmy elephants

muguntan vanar The Star 20 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife rangers have moved in to stop a herd of 20 endangered Bornean pygmy elephants from rampaging farm lands and a school in Sabah’s central Telupid district.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the elephants had entered the compound of SMK Telupid on Tuesday (Feb 20).

This was apart from disturbing farms lands and properties of villagers in Telupid, about 250km from here.

“Our target is to translocate at least three of the more aggressive ones,” he said when contacted.

However, due to cost factors, his rangers would try and push back the remaining elephants into the forest reserve.

“It cost us about RM30,000 to translocate one elephant. It will be too costly to translocate the whole herd,” Augustine said.

He said the operations to capture the more aggressive ones would be done within the week and they planned to translocate the jumbos to the Imbak forest reserve.

“It depends on how fast we can catch the few elephants that we want to relocate. Hopefully this can be done by the end of the week,” he said.

In some cases, translocations were carried out as part of efforts to conserve the elephants which are critically endangered in Sabah.


Herd of 20 elephants terrorising Telupid
muguntan vanar The Star 21 Feb 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife rangers have moved in to stop a herd of 20 endangered Bornean pygmy elephants from rampaging farm land and a school in the central Telupid district.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the herd entered the compound of SMK Telupid yesterday morning.

He said the priority was to translocate at least three of the more aggressive elephants.

Due to the cost factor, he said rangers would try and guide the remaining elephants back into the forest reserve.

He said the operation to capture the more aggressive ones would be done within the week, adding that they planned to translocate the jumbos to the Imbak forest reserve.

“It depends on how fast we can catch the few elephants that we want to relocate. Hopefully by the end of the week,” he added.

Telupid residents have in the past complained about elephants encroaching onto their property.

Three 'aggressive' pygmy elephants to be captured and relocated
POLIANA RONNIE SIDOM New Straits Times 20 Feb 18;

TELUPID: The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) will capture and relocate three Borneo pygmy elephants found roaming around villages here to reduce the likelihood of human-elephant conflicts.

SWD director Augustine Tuuga said once caught, the elephants would be relocated to the Imbak forest reserve located about 100km from here.

When contacted, Tuuga said the animals were dangerous and difficult to control.

“We have tracked down 20 elephants at six locations, and 18 of the mammals are moving in two herds while another two are moving individually.

“We will only relocate three aggressive elephants and we expect to conduct the operation this week,” he said.

Tuuga also said it was impossible to relocate all 20 elephants due to the high cost of the operation, which amounted to RM30,000 per elephant.

The six identified locations are Kampung Liningkung, Kampung Bauto, Kampung Gambaron, Kampung Telupid, Pekan Telupid, and SMK Telupid.

The elephants were spotted in the areas since last year and they are believed to be from the same group that trespassed into Deamakot forest reserve recently.

Meanwhile, Sandakan SWD officer Hussien Muin said the operator of Pan Borneo Highway project has agreed to help pay for the installation of a 6km-long electric fence at Kampung Gambaron and Bauto to keep the elephants at bay.

He said the department and non-governmental organisations were training youths from three villages, namely Kampung Liningkung, Bauto and Gambaron, to be appointed as honorary wildlife wardens.

These wildlife wardens, he said, are responsible for monitoring the electric fence once it is completed. He added that the RM330,000 fence is expected to be installed early next year.

The New Straits Times Press previously reported that a group of young people from Kampung Gambaron had constructed cannons using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to prevent elephants from destroying property and crops.

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Indonesia: Overcoming challenges in developing "Bay of Paradise"

Otniel Tamindael Antara 21 Feb 18;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - In the development of tourism sector in the "Bay of Paradise," better known as the Cendrawasih Bay National Park area that stretches in the border of Papua and West Papua provinces, the local government is faced with many challenges.

So many things are put in its path. From time to time the local government finds itself in the situation where it is required to make all types of decisions to overcome the challenges.

The Office of Cendrawasih Bay National Park (TNTC) has designed a master plan to develop potential tourism in that area but the problems of waste, environmental pollution, and public resistance to the presence of tourists become great challenges in the development.

Cendrawasih Bay National Park Office Chief Ben G Saroy has said the central government was focusing on tourism development, and that, the regional government should welcome the initiative by overcoming the challenges.

As the largest marine national park in Indonesia, the more than 1.4 million-hectar Cenrawasih Bay National Park was declared Marine National Park on September 2, 1993 by the Decree of Ministry of Forestry No. 472/Kpts-II/1993.

About 95 percent of the park is made up of coral and seas, and the rest covers the mainland occupying 68,200 hectares of land and coastline.

Administratively, the TNTC includes three districts in two provinces, namely Wondama Bay and South Manokwari districts in West Papua, and Nabire district in Papua.

However, Saroy reiterated that waste, environmental pollution, and public resistance to the presence of tourists remain the biggest challenges in tourism development in this area.

"Local communities do not like visiting tourists because they have not understood how they can benefit from the presence of visitors for pleasure and interest," Saroy remarked in Manokwari, West Papua.

Their dislike to the presence of tourists becomes the biggest challenge in tourism programs in "the Bay of Paradise National Park", and for that, it takes serious efforts to change the paradigm of the local society about the need for tourism development.

Further, the TNTC Office chief noted that the problem of waste and pollution was easier to solve, but overcoming the public resistance to the tourist presence should be done seriously and cautiously.

Saroy mentioned that the Cendrawasih National Park Office holds a cooperation with the the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the local government to develop the concept of community-based tourism in Wondama Bay, Nabire, and South Manokwari districts.

In addition, the establishment of Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) continues to be done in villages that have great tourism potential.

"This is our effort to reduce people`s resistance to the presence of tourists. They must be directly involved as agents in managing tourism sector," Saroy explained.

The TNTC Office also drafted a regional regulations that have been addressed to the government of Nabire and Wondama Bay. The regulations have been discussed in that two districts.

After the regulations are approved, the TNTC Office will also push to draft a rule on the rate for tourism in that districts and will also support that every village should have its own regulations.

The regulations are necessary so that the tourism in this area could be well managed and beneficial in terms of improving the community welfare.

In addition, the TNTC and WWF had already facilitated a number of villages that will be promoted as tourism villages.

"In Nabire, we will assign one village in Soa, while in Wondama Bay, We focussed in Aisandami, and Gunung Botak in South Manokwari," Saroy said, adding that those three areas are the strategic access for visitors in exploring the whole areas of the national park.

The management of tourism in the area is expected to be effective and efficient for foreign and domestic tourists.

Saroy expressed hope that the presence of tourists in the area of Teluk Cenderawasih National Park will continue to increase. In 2019 the construction of the Sowa Resort and Whale Shark Center in Kuwatisore, Nabire, will begin.

In 2020 and 2021, the development will continue in Purup and Aisandami Resorts, Wondama Bay.

To build a resort and whale shark monitoring center in these three locations the central government has allocated a budget of Rp74 billion.

Hence, WWF-Indonesia has also promoted law reinforcement regarding illegal trade of endangered marine species as a conservation commitment which has been put in the front. Support from local community is a public appreciation for conservation practice in marine protected area of the Cendrawasih Bay National Park.

Besides, the TNTC Center also continues to preserve six species of endangered sea turtles living in the waters of the Birds Head area of Papua and West Papua provinces.

Therefore, the people living in the coastal areas of the national park have been urged to continue to preserve the habitat of these turtles.

Of the six species of sea turtles living in the TNTC area, the largest population inhabits the Wairundi Island in the northeast of South Manokwari district, West Papua province.

TNTC is representative of the coral reef ecosystems, beaches, mangroves, and tropical forests on Papua Island.

(T.O001/A/KR-BSR/B003) 21-02-2018 01:16:26
Editor: Heru Purwanto

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