Society fights for a green Earth

Source: New Straits Times

Published on 24th April, 2014 by Sim Bak Heng 

THE Green Earth Society (GES), which is less than two months old, organised an environmental forum recently.

The forum highlighted the problems of pollution, environmental degradation and destruction due to development, and the importance of environmental conservation and preservation.

Several speakers were invited to present their views, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The interactive forum and the good response from the floor showed that the guests were eager to know more about environmental issues affecting their surroundings and the steps taken by the state government to address them.

Malaysia Environmental Protection Society president Nithi Nesadural gave a lengthy presentation of what the Earth will ultimately become if people continue to pollute the environment.

He quoted facts and figures to convince the guests that it is now a wake-up call to save the environment.

He expressed his worries that some fauna and flora may disappear from the earth sooner than later, and the future generation will have to rely on historical records to view the extinct species.

Half of Shell sustainable grants to Sabah projects

Source: Daily Express

Published on 24th April, 2014

Kuala Lumpur: Shell awarded a total RM294,000 to six organisations under its Shell Sustainable Development Grants programme for year 2014 to help further their efforts to undertake new projects.

Among the six organisations, three of them were projects being implemented in Sabah.

The ceremony was officiated by Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and hosted by the Chairman of Shell Malaysia, Iain Lo.

Attending the function were representatives from various participating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and special interest groups, government officials and senior officials from Shell.

“As a responsible operator and partner, Shell supports

Lessons from rationing

Source: The Star

Published on 24th April, 2014 by CHRISTINA LOW

A photo of a car wash. In times of rationing washing of cars should be kept at a minimum or use a bucket of water.

MANY of us do not realise it but we waste water every day from the minute we wake up. The recent water crisis and rationing in Selangor and parts of Kuala Lumpur has forced us to realise the importance of water and using it wisely.

The fourth phase of water rationing began on April 4 and affects 1,340,231 households or 6.7mil people in the Klang Valley.

Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) director Md Khairi Selamat said in spite of the rationing, water usage had not gone down by much.

“We thought consumers would use less water and we could save more water for the dams but there was only a 7% reduction in usage,” said Md Khairi, adding that many people might have been storing water excessively.

He added that consumers must learn to change their

Sabah’s Mabul Island gets a marine biologist’s protection

Source: The Star

Published on 21st April, 2014 by LIM CHIA YING

Marine biologist Choo Poh Leem is involved in an Anti-Fish Bombing campaign to stop the harmful method of harvesting fish.

Earth Day, Earth Warriors: A marine biologist is making a sea of changes among Sabah’s Mabul islanders to safeguard their fragile marine resources.

Its reputation as a world-class diving spot has gotten tourists flocking to Mabul Island in Sabah. The rich marine biodiversity is an underwater experience to savour, and this is made possible by the people who work tirelessly to spread marine awareness and monitor unlawful activities to help preserve this paradise.

Marine biologist Choo Poh Leem is one of these passionate “warriors”. She has devoted much time and energy to oversee the marine life while doing educational outreach. Mabul Island, she explains, is part of the Semporna Priority Conservation Area (PCA), a special marine area of about 7,680 sq km in south-eastern Sabah, believed to harbour the largest concentration of coral reefs in Malaysia.

“These reefs are globally significant in terms of biodiversity and are recognised as a ‘globally outstanding priority conservation area’ at the apex of the Coral Triangle. And the Coral Triangle is the nursery of the seas, with amazing biodiversity that rivals that of the Amazon and the Congo Basin,” says Choo, 27.

The Coral Triangle is an area of tropical marine waters bordered by Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Timor Leste, and the Solomon Islands, and is deemed to be an area of high marine biodiversity. Since 2011, Choo has been working for WWF-Malaysia’s Semporna PCA Team, which addresses marine conservation issues plaguing the area.

Mabul is famed for “muck diving”, whereby critters such as the blue ring octopus, pipefish, seahorses, sea slugs and

Malaysia’s seahorses finally get the right kind of love

Source: The Star

Published on 21st April, 2014 by LIM CHIA YING

A spotted seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) clings to a blade of eelgrass. Seahorses are not protected species in Malaysia. -Filepic

Earth Day, Earth Warriors: Save Our Seahorses (SOS) is standing up for the little fishes in a big pond.

Their bizarre, equine appearance, and their odd way of bobbing about in the water, are among the traits that make seahorses popular as keepsakes in fish tanks. But for those who think keeping seahorses is cool, one non-governmental organisation is advocating otherwise. It says the act contributes to the species’ fast-dwindling population, worsening the impact seahorses already suffer from sea trawling and heavy trading for medicinal purposes.

Save Our Seahorses Malaysia (SOS) has, for the past 10 years, been fighting for seahorses’ survival through research and awareness projects. Field trips conducted for volunteers and students inform them about why seahorses are important and should be left where they are – in the sea.

When SOS founder Choo Chee Kuang passed away last year, a lot of advocacy and research work fell on the hands of marine biologist Adam Lim, who is now project leader of the organisation.

“Previously in Malaysia, no one paid much attention to the plight of seahorses, until Choo started SOS, which comprised an informal group of volunteers who

Malaysia imperils forest reserves and sea turtle nesting ground for industrial site (photos)

Source: Mongabay.com

Published on 15th April, 2014 by Jeremy Hance

Tanjung Hantu Forest Reserve. Photo by: Nadine Ruppert.

 

Plans for an industrial site threaten one of Malaysia’s only marine turtle nesting beaches and a forest home to rare trees and mammals, according to local activists. Recently, the state government of Perak approved building a liquefied natural gas plant and a steel coil mill inside Tanjung Hantu Permanent Forest Reserve. But activists say the industrial projects will not only cut into the reserve, but also scare away nesting turtles from Pasir Panjang, the last marine turtle beach in Perak. In an attempt to persuade government officials to move the projects, local activists have gathered over 83,000 signatures on an online petition.

“Although not very large in terms of area size (about 2720.79 hectares from the original size between 4000-4700 hectares) [Tanjung Hantu and neighboring Segari Melintang Permanent Forest Reserves are] one of the few forests left in the locality that is still somewhat intact and unfortunately, under-researched,” Nurul Salmi, a professor with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), told mongabay.com.

Two companies are involved in the project: Maegma Steel is building the steel coil mill, while Atigas Technology is constructing the liquified natural gas plant. To build the projects, officials have degazetted 60 hectares from the Tanjung Hantu Permanent Forest Reserve, but campaigners fear the actual impacts of the industrial projects, including roads and housing for workers, will spread across the two small forest reserves and the turtle beach.

Pasir Panjang beach and adjacent forest. Photo by: Nadine Ruppert. Click to enlarge.

Both Tanjung Hantu and Segari Melintang are remnants of a vanishing forest type in Malaysia, according to Salmi. The reserves contain both coastal forest and hill forest and is home to two endangered dipterocarp tree species: Shorea glauca, currently listed as Endangered, and Shorea lumutensis, listed as Critically Endangered and only found in Malaysia. The forests are also home to charismatic, and threatened, mammals.

“Local villagers who frequent the forests have reported sightings of sun bear and black spotted leopard, which have been verified by evidence of

Four more sea turtles found killed

Source: The Star

Published on 17th April, 2014 by MUGUNTAN VANAR

Sad episode: The dead green sea turtles floating in east coast waters off Semporna.

KOTA KINABALU: Four more endangered green sea turtles have been killed in Sabah’s east coast waters off Semporna.

The turtles were seen floating between Bum Bum Island and Kulapuan Island by a Fisheries Department staff, who then posted it on his Facebook page but later removed it.

The latest killings came hardly a month after the discovery of 50 dead green sea turtles in Pulau Tiga in the northern Kudat district, a case that remains unsolved.

Sabah Wildlife Department and WWF-Malaysia have begun an investigation into the deaths of the green sea turtles in Semporna.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah academician and researcher Dr James Alin, who discovered the Pulau Tiga killings last month, said it was another sad episode in Sabah’s turtle conservation efforts.

Dr Alin said such deaths were unfortunately common in Semporna as he had seen them during his field trips to the area.

Following his discovery of the dead turtles in Kudat, he said he was called to meet with officials from the state Tourism, Culture and Environ­ment Ministry, which oversees various wildlife conservation efforts.

“At the beginning of that meeting, I showed slides of sea turtles kept alive inside a pen (fish cage) in Balambangan Island. I asked if any of the enforcement agencies was interested to arrest the owner.

“None of them seemed to be keen despite me offering to take them to the place,” he claimed, adding that a lack of manpower and logistics

Rivers of filth and garbage

Source: The Star

Published on 7th April, 2014 by P. ARUNA

Awash in trash: Rubbish such as polystyrene and plastic bags clogging a river trash trap across the Klang River near Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur. -AZMAN GHANI / The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: About 300,000 tonnes of garbage, enough to fill 110 Olympic-sized swimming pools, are being dumped into rivers yearly and the constant pollution is adding to the prolonged water shortage.

Besides the usual floating rubbish tied in plastic bags and polystyrene food containers, the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) has also found all sorts of junk, including old fridges, discarded mattresses and kitchen utensils, in rivers.

According to the department’s river basin and coastal management division director, Datuk Lim Chow Hock, the recent dry spell had reduced the volume of water in rivers, making the water quality even worse.

“When there is less water content, the quality gets worse as dilution of the pollutants is not possible. Pollution is a contributing factor to the current water shortage,” he said.

Lim said that although the main reason for the shortage was the extended dry spell, polluted rivers meant less water could be pumped into the treatment plants.

“If there is an oil spill for example, the cost to treat the water at the plant will be extremely high. If there are toxic elements in the water, the cost of production will shoot up and our plants would not be able to handle this, resulting in supply being affected,” he said.

Pollution has already led to five rivers – Sungai Segget and Sungai Ayer Merah in Johor, and Sungai Jelutong, Sungai Juru and Sungai Prai in Penang – being classified as “dead” as they are unable to sustain any form of life, including fish and aquatic plants.

 

Malaysian palm oil giant tied to social conflict, deforestation, says report

Source: Mongabay.com

Published on 3rd April, 2014

Rainforest conversion for an oil palm plantation in Malaysia 

Unlike other palm oil giants that have recently made strong commitments to eliminating deforestation and social conflict from their supply chains, Malaysia-based Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) continues to source palm oil associated with forest destruction and community conflict, argues a new report published by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

The report, titled Conflict Palm Oil in Practice, cites several high profile cases from the past year involving KLK, including conflict with communities in Papua New Guinea and Liberia, use of child labor on an Indonesian plantation, and continued deforestation at two plantations in Indonesia. 

“The sheer magnitude of the abuse that KLK has engaged in is shocking,” said Robin Averbeck, senior forest campaigner with Rainforest Action Network. “From Liberia to Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, KLK is involved in everything from the destruction of endangered orangutan habitat to widespread child labor and the violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.” 

 


Deforestation for palm oil in Malaysia 

The report aims to pressure American firms that buy from KLK to drop the company as a supplier. One of KLK’s major buyers, Wilmar, recently established a zero deforestation policy that would seem to compel it

Toxic tides: Risks from harmful microalgae

Source: The Star

Published on 7th April, 2014 by TAN CHENG LI

Harmful algal bloom, or red tide, off Sabah.

There is a need to step up monitoring of our coastal waters for harmful algal blooms as they pose public safety concerns and economic risks.

ON the morning of Feb 11, fish farm operators in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, woke up to the ghastly sight of fish floating belly up in their pens in the Straits of Johor. In the days that followed, the fish kept dying.

The fish kill lasted two weeks, at the end of which commercially valuable stocks of snappers, estuary cods, seabass and threadfins in some nine farms were wiped out. One operator reported losses of RM150,000.

The mass mortality has since been blamed on a harmful algal bloom (HAB), or what is commonly referred to as red tide, a sudden population explosion of a toxin-producing microalgae.

While HABs are not often reported in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah is no stranger to the phenomenon. Its first HAB was reported in 1976 and this has been a fairly annual occurrence since. In January and February last year, shellfish poisoning claimed three lives and over 40 people fell ill in Sepanggar and Inanam, both near Kota Kinabalu, in the state’s worst case of HAB.

In fact, the Sabah Fisheries Department has not lifted its red tide alert which it had issued in October 2011. In January, following the sighting of reddish-brown waters off Kota Kinabalu, director Rayner Stuel Galid said the red tide warning was still in effect and the toxins which were detected for eight months of last year continued to be seen from Tuaran to Kuala Penyu.

These incidents of HABs may be signs of what’s to come. According to Universiti Malaya marine ecologist Dr Lim Po Teen,