location: Singapore

location: Singapore

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Study: Singapore biodiversity loss is bad — but not as bad as previous estimate
- A recent study concludes that Singapore has lost 37% of its species since the construction of the city began in 1819.
- While high, the figure is significantly lower than a 2003 estimate of 73% species loss during the same period, a difference the authors of both the current study and the 2003 estimate attribute to more advanced statistical modeling.
- Although 99% of Singapore’s forests have been wiped out, extinction rates have leveled off and all remaining primary forest is protected, which researchers say presents an opportunity to conserve remaining species and work to reintroduce animals that have gone locally extinct.

Indonesia welcomes new Singapore regulation to help curb lobster smuggling
- A new reexport regulation in Singapore could help stem the smuggling of lobster larvae from neighboring Indonesia.
- The city-state is a key destination for the contraband and a transit point for lobster larvae reexported to third countries like Vietnam and China.
- Under the new regulation, reexporters in Singapore will have to get health certificates for live animals from the country of origin, which in theory should be impossible for smugglers.
- Indonesian authorities have cautiously welcomed the plan, but say both countries must work more closely on the long-running problem.

Indonesia, Singapore to work more closely against lobster larvae smugglers
- Indonesia has called for Singapore’s commitment to shut its borders to illegal exports of lobster larvae.
- Indonesia has since 2021 banned exports of wild-caught lobster larvae, but Singapore still permits their import, serving as both a key market and a regional trading hub.
- Lobsters are among Indonesia’s top fisheries commodities, but the illegal export of larvae and baby lobsters costs the country billions of rupiah in lost revenue and threatens the declining wild population of the shellfish.
- The fisheries ministry puts the latest estimate of potential wild lobster stock in Indonesian waters at 27 billion, but many of the officially sanctioned fishing zones are overfished, with the rest being harvested at maximum capacity.

From grassroots to government, Singapore takes lead in tackling e-waste
- The disposal and recycling of electrical and electronic waste is a huge problem in land-starved Singapore, which generates an estimated 60,000 metric tons of e-waste annually.
- Innovative legislation enacted by Singapore’s government in 2019 puts the onus on producers to collect used electrical appliances and electronic goods and send them to sorting and recycling facilities.
- At the community level, a volunteer-driven initiative called Repair Kopitiam relies on an army of tech-savvy volunteers who work out of community centers to repair people’s old appliances and electronics.
- E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world; studies estimate e-waste generated annually will increase from 50 million metric tons today to 120 million by 2050, so lessons learned from Singapore’s groundbreaking law could guide other nations and communities around the globe to deal effectively with e-waste.

XPRIZE Rainforest finalists named for top conservation technology award
- The California-based XPRIZE Foundation that organizes competitions incentivizing innovations in health, energy and other sectors, has announced the six finalists for its rainforest biodiversity competition.
- Aimed at developing novel technologies for biodiversity mapping, XPRIZE Rainforest comes with a $10 million prize.
- Mongabay staff writer Abhishyant Kidangoor attended the semifinals in Singapore last month and spoke with Peter Houlihan, executive vice president of biodiversity and conservation at XPRIZE, to learn more about why the competition was launched and how, as Houlihan says, it has become a movement.

Meet the tech projects competing for a $10m prize to save rainforests
- Thirteen teams took part in the semifinals of a $10 million competition that aims to identify technologies that would automate the assessment of rainforest biodiversity.
- During the semifinals in Singapore, a wide array of projects that incorporated drones, robots and machine learning were tested by the teams.
- The teams that move to the next round, to be announced in July, will get one year to improve their projects ahead of the finals in 2024.

Competing for rainforest conservation: Q&A with XPRIZE’s Kevin Marriott
- The semifinal testing for a $10 million competition to identify technology that automates the assessment of rainforest biodiversity is underway in Singapore.
- The five-year competition is organized by California-based nonprofit XPRIZE Foundation.
- From robotic dogs to drones and novel methods to gather environmental DNA, 13 teams are competing for a place in the finals next year.

Conservationists decry palm oil giants’ exit from HCSA forest protection group
- Palm oil giants Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) and IOI Corporation Berhad have withdrawn from the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a mechanism that helps companies reach zero deforestation targets by distinguishing forest lands that should be protected from degraded lands that can be developed.
- The companies’ exit brings the total number of firms quitting the HCSA to four, with Wilmar International and Sime Darby Plantation stepping away from the committee in 2020.
- Environmentalists say this points to a startling industry trend in which industry giants are shirking responsibility for their harmful business practices.
- Both GAR and IOI say they remain committed to using the HCSA toolkit.

Indonesian lobster larvae bound for Singapore reveal role of smuggling network
- Two recent seizures of lobster larvae shipments destined for Singapore have prompted an investigation by Indonesia into a smuggling network operating between the two countries.
- The shipments had an estimated value of $2.2 million, and were the latest in a string of attempts to smuggle the larvae to buyers in Singapore, Vietnam and China.
- Indonesia has banned the export of wild-caught larvae in an effort to its lobster stocks, and is encouraging the growth of the domestic lobster-farming industry.
- Lobsters are among Indonesia’s top fisheries commodities, but the illegal exports cost the country $64 million in lost revenue in 2019 alone, according to official data.

As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms
- There’s a degree of risk that Southeast Asia may see the return of transboundary haze this year from forest fires in Indonesia, according to a new report by a Singaporean think tank.
- The key driver of that risk is the currently high price of palm oil on the world market, which could pose an incentive for farmers in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, to expand their plantations, including by clearing land with fire.
- In anticipation of the dry season, which starts in July, some local governments in Indonesia are putting in place policies to prevent fires, including sanctions for companies using fire to clear their concessions.

Twenty years since a massive ivory seizure, what lessons were learned? (commentary)
- In late June 2002, a container ship docked in Singapore with a massive shipment of ivory, which was seized.
- It was the largest seizure of its kind since an international ban on the ivory trade had come into force in 1989, and the lessons learned from it would change the way the illegal wildlife trade was investigated and tackled.
- But it’s unfortunate that some of the biggest lessons from that event still have not been put into practice, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Singapore, a forensics lab wields CSI-like tech against wildlife traffickers
- A wildlife forensics laboratory launched in Singapore last year is making breakthroughs in tracking down criminal syndicates trafficking in wildlife.
- Singapore is a major transit point for the illegal ivory trade; the nation impounded 8.8 metric tons of elephant ivory in July 2019 — evidence from which led to the arrest of 14 people in China.
- The researchers use the same method to capture poachers that authorities in California used to arrest the Golden State Killer.
- Elephant ivory and pangolin scales account for the bulk of the new lab’s workload; figuring out how traffickers accumulate this material from two species could uncover much of their methods.

Study finds major brands selling cat food that contain protected sharks
- Researchers used DNA barcoding to find that cat food sold in Singapore from at least 16 different brands contained threatened species of sharks, including silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) that are protected under CITES Appendix II.
- Leading brands such as Fancy Feast, Whiskas, and Sheba were amongst those found to contain silky sharks and other species.
- None of these cat food products were accurately labeled to show that they contained sharks.
- Global shark populations are in sharp decline, mainly due to destructive fishing practices.

Want a wild bird on the hush-hush in Singapore? There’s a Facebook group for that
- Singapore’s live bird trade is thriving on Facebook, where it is largely unlicensed, according to a new report from wildlife watchdog group TRAFFIC, which tracked 44 Singapore-based Facebook groups over five months.
- Researchers found hundreds of online sellers, most of them unlicensed and therefore acting illegally, and thousands of birds offered for sale, some of them smuggled from abroad or poached locally.
- Singapore’s efforts to target the illicit wildlife pet trade have so far focused on monitoring and enforcement actions at the trader level instead of imposing licensing requirements at the consumer level, the researchers said.
- They recommend implementing a compulsory wildlife-pet registration system, under which owners must prove they obtained their wildlife pets from licensed sources.

Fomenting a “Perfect Storm” to push companies to change: Q&A with Glenn Hurowitz
- Over the past few years, Mighty Earth has emerged as one of the most influential advocacy groups when it comes pushing companies to clean up their supply chains. The group, has targeted companies that produce, trade, and source deforestation-risk commodities like beef, palm oil, cocoa, rubber, and soy.
- Mighty Earth is led by Glenn Hurowitz, an activist who has spent the better part of the past 20 years advocating for forests and forest-dependent communities. In that capacity, Hurowitz has played a central role in pressing some of the world’s largest companies to adopt zero deforestation, peatlands, and exploitation (ZDPE) commitments.
- Mighty Earth’s strategy is built on what Hurowitz calls the “Perfect Storm” approach: “We work to bring pressure on a target from multiple different angles in a relatively compressed time period to the point that it becomes irresistible: their customers, financiers, media, grassroots, digital, direct engagement with the company,” he explained. “It’s an application of the basic principles of classical military strategy, combined with social change theory and a lot of hard-won experience to the field of environmental campaigning.
- Hurowitz spoke about how to drive change, the evolution of environmental activism, and a range of other topics during an August 2021 conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

Mangrove restoration done right has clear economic, ecological benefits
- Much research has been done on the impact of mangrove restoration projects, but because such studies typically have their own distinct contexts, their results are not easily generalized.
- To determine the ecological and economic benefits of mangrove restoration across studies, researchers analyzed 188 peer-reviewed articles from 22 regions, mostly in East and Southeast Asia.
- They found the ecosystem functions of restored mangroves to be higher than bare tidal flats, but lower than natural mangroves.
- They also concluded that the economic benefits of mangrove restoration projects largely outweighed their costs, even at high discount rates.

As populations grow, how will thirsty cities survive their drier futures?
- The world’s rapidly expanding cities are on a collision course with climate change, presenting unprecedented challenges to municipal and national governments as they work to continue providing residents with access to safe and sufficient water.
- Increasingly, calls are made to rethink the way we develop urban watersheds and the way we live in them — with water sourcing, transport, use and reuse planning key to the process. One approach, water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) entails a complete reimagining of the role and use of water in urban areas.
- WSUD embraces the water cycle, and considers the entire watershed where cities are located. It uses green infrastructure such as permeable pavements, green roofs and rain gardens, to greatly reduce stormwater runoff. Conscious design allows water to be recycled and reused repeatedly for various purposes. Waste is greatly reduced.
- Some cities are already changing their development pathways to be more resilient to inevitable future climate extremes, with Singapore and Cape Town leading the way. Future water stress can be overcome, but work needs to start now before extreme weather events, including mega droughts and floods, hit.

Singapore launches new carbon marketplace for nature conservancy projects
- Singapore last month launched a carbon trading marketplace backed by its state investment firm, stock exchange and largest bank.
- The Climate Impact X initiative has two main platforms: a marketplace for nature-based projects, and an exchange where carbon credits can be freely traded in larger quantities.
- Demand for nature-based carbon credits — those linked to ecosystem conservation and restoration projects — has been growing in recent years, but high-quality credits remain scarce.
- The new platform aims to harness the potential of nature-based solutions in Southeast Asia, protecting at-risk forests while unlocking high-quality carbon credits for businesses.

Wildlife trafficking, like everything else, has gone online during COVID-19
- Regional and national reports show a decline in illegal wildlife trade activities in Southeast Asia in 2020, with operations down by more than 50% across the most-traded animals.
- Despite the decrease, experts say traders have shifted from face-to-face interactions and increased their presence on online platforms.
- Authorities also reported confiscating caches of stockpiled animal parts, indicating that the trade continues amid the pandemic. Traders may be waiting for looser border controls to carry on with business, experts say.
- While these trends suggest that the trade will bounce back in a post-COVID-19 era, experts suggest strengthening enforcement collaboration, improving wildlife laws, and increasing awareness of the health risks posed by illegally poached wildlife.

Singapore embarks on a million-tree planting spree to protect its future
- Between 1953 and 2018, Singapore lost nearly 90% of its mangroves to urban expansion and other human activities.
- Singapore has launched a new nature park that covers 400 hectares (990 acres), in an area that serves as a refueling site for migratory birds and a home to oriental hornbills, otters and crocodiles.
- The initiative is part of a larger effort to plant 1 million trees across the city-state by 2030.
- In addition to adding wildlife habitat, researchers say reforestation will help sequester carbon, lower the temperature of the city, and provide buffers against erosion and a rising sea.

New study quantifies impact of hunting on migratory shorebird populations
- Hunting might be a major threat for thousands of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), one of the major corridors for migratory birds in the world.
- A new study shows that hunting has contributed to the demise of at least a third of migratory shorebirds in the flyway since the 1970s.
- The flyway, which spans 22 countries from the Arctic to Australia, is the most threatened flyway among the nine migratory bird corridors in the world, with habitat loss and climate change the main drivers of the plummeting population.
- Around 50 million waterbirds pass through the flyway on an annual basis, but recent data shows a 61% decline in migrating waterbird species.

Watchdogs lament palm oil giant Wilmar’s exit from forest conservation alliance
- Wilmar International, the world’s biggest palm oil trader, has quit the steering group of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), which helps agribusiness identify forest areas for protection.
- It cited governance and financial problems within the group — which includes members from agribusiness, civil society and environmental watchdogs — as justification for its April 2 exit.
- But other steering group members and watchdogs say it appears Wilmar is trying to shirk its conservation and sustainability commitments as an HCSA member, and that its exit hurts efforts to boost sustainability in the sector.
- The HCSA mechanism is used by agribusiness to distinguish forest areas that should be protected from degraded areas that can be developed, in a bid to minimize deforestation.

CITES appeals to countries to watch out for trafficked Malagasy rosewood
- International wildlife trade regulator CITES has issued an advisory warning that $50 million in Madagascar rosewood logs being held in Singapore could find its way back into the black market.
- The timber was seized in 2014 in Singapore, but a local court earlier this year acquitted the trader responsible for it on charges of trafficking, and ordered the release of the 30,000 logs.
- Trade in rosewood from Madagascar has been banned by CITES since 2013 and under Malagasy law since 2010, but enforcing the embargo has proved difficult.
- The Singapore case highlights the pitfalls in implementing the ban, with observers faulting the Malagasy government’s flip-flop during court proceedings as to whether the seized precious wood was legal.

The unrecognized cost of Indonesia’s fires (commentary)
- As Indonesia’s forests go up in smoke, the world may be losing a lot more than we currently understand, argues Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler in this commentary that was originally published in Singapore’s Straits Times on September 30, 2019.
- In one instance, deforestation in Borneo nearly eradicated a potential anti-HIV drug before it was discovered. The near-miss with the drug, Calanolide A, provides one vivid illustration of what is at risk of being lost as Indonesia’s forests are cleared and burned.
- Other local and regional impacts from continued large-scale destruction of Indonesia’s forests may include hotter temperatures, more prolonged droughts, and increased incidence of fires.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Indonesian minister draws fire for denial of transboundary haze problem
- Indonesia’s environment minister continues to deny that fires in the country are sending toxic haze to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
- An environmental activist warns that this stance, which goes against the data presented by Malaysia, risks undermining Indonesia’s credibility.
- The haze is an annual irritant in diplomatic ties between Indonesia and its neighbors, with much of the burning taking place to clear land for oil palm and pulpwood plantations.
- Malaysia has offered to help Indonesia fight the fires, which have sickened tens of thousands of people in Sumatra and Borneo, threatened an elephant reserve, and churned more than 100 millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Protecting Antarctica beyond 2041: an interview with polar explorer Robert Swan
- Explorer Robert Swan is the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles unassisted.
- Those expeditions inspired him to dedicate his life advocating for the protection of polar landscapes, with a special focus on the preservation of the Antarctic as the planet’s last great wilderness.
- Swan institutionalized that ambition with the founding of 2041, a foundation named for the year in which the Madrid Protocol comes up for renewal.
- Mongabay caught up with him in Singapore where he was speaking at Temasek’s Ecosperity Week ahead of his next expedition to the Arctic.

Alliance launches plan to save the planet
- Healthy and productive ecosystems sustain life on Earth, but face accelerating threats from human behavior.
- A new initiative however aims to counter that trend by fundamentally transforming food, city, energy, and production and consumption systems.
- The Global Commons Alliance, launched this week at the Ecosperity 2019 conference in Singapore, will do this through an approach that leverages the best science to provide actionable guidance to businesses, governments, and the general public.
- Over 500 companies have committed to set science-based targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Malaysia calls on Southeast Asia to back palm oil against ‘unfair’ claims
- The Malaysian government has called for support from fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to support the region’s palm oil industry in the wake of a European Union policy to stop recognizing the commodity as a biofuel.
- Malaysia and fellow ASEAN member Indonesia supply more than 80 percent of the world’s palm oil, while Singapore, another ASEAN state, is home to some of the world’s biggest palm oil companies and the banks that finance the industry.
- Malaysia’s minister of primary industries, Teresa Kok, says there’s a global campaign to portray the production of palm oil as exceptionally destructive, which she calls “extremely provocative and belittling.”
- While both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments have instated policies to curb the clearing of rainforest for palm plantations, there still remain challenges to ensuring sustainability across the wider industry, environmental activists say.

Report highlights secretive business dealings of Indonesian VP hopeful
- A new report links two of Indonesia’s most prominent political figures, one of them a vice presidential candidate, with mysterious offshore financial transactions related to coal companies they owned.
- The report, from the international anti-corruption NGO Global Witness, suggests that businessmen and politicians Sandiaga Uno and Luhut Pandjaitan both may have taken advantage of corporate secrecy techniques that obscured ownership of companies and flows of millions of dollars in cash.
- While there is no evidence that Luhut or Sandiaga have engaged in any illegal activity, the issues raised in the report are at the heart of a global financial system that has allowed the tools of corporate secrecy, which can facilitate corruption, tax dodging and conflicts of interest, to spread unchecked.
- Sandiaga is running for vice president in the April 17 election on a ticket led by former military general Prabowo Subianto. Luhut, himself a former general, is a senior minister and close adviser to the incumbent, President Joko Widodo.

Singapore proposes total ivory ban, calls for public feedback
- Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has proposed a total ban on the sale and purchase of all forms of elephant ivory products in Singapore.
- Display of elephant ivory in public would also be banned, except when used for educational purposes, such as in museums or zoos.
- AVA has opened its proposal to public comments until Dec. 27 this year.

One-two punch of habitat loss, capture hammers Southeast Asian birds
- The combined impact of habitat loss and exploitation has been underestimated in the assessment of dangers to bird populations in Southeast Asia, a new report says.
- Of the 308 species studied by researchers, up to 90 could go extinct by the end of this century.
- The researchers have called for urgent policy intervention to curb deforestation and throttle the caged-bird trade, warning that dozens of species could otherwise be lost.

1984: the meeting that changed everything for Sumatran rhinos
- A 1984 agreement between zoos, conservationists and government officials marked the formal beginning of an international program that brought 40 Sumatran rhinos into captivity in an attempt to ward off extinction. Within 11 years, the program collapsed.
- The program was long viewed as an epic failure due to high mortality rates and the lack of live births for over a decade; it also paved the way for later breeding successes that just may offer the Sumatran rhino hope for the future.
- As conservationists mull a new plan to capture more rhinos, what lessons do past efforts offer?

A tale of two otters: settling in Singapore, suffering in China
- New research shows a massive decline in China’s otter populations, including the possible local extinction of the smooth-coated otter.
- But otters have recolonized Singapore, even appearing near the city center due to the island-nation’s campaign to clean up its rivers.
- If China can successfully tackle fur trading and rampant river pollution, could otters one day make a comeback there?

Poor grade for Malaysia, Singapore brands in palm oil sustainability: WWF
- Two out of three companies in Malaysia and Singapore are not transparent about their palm oil use, the World Wildlife Fund contends.
- Most of these companies do not source palm oil that has been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
- Malaysia and Singapore’s brands have lower sustainability grades compared to global brands.

How effective are wildlife corridors like Singapore’s Eco-Link?
- Man-made wildlife corridors are becoming a popular policy tool to create connectivity between natural areas for animals – but how well are they working?
- Early data suggests the Eco-Link@BKE has helped some species, including the critically endangered Sunda pangolin.
- More research is needed to understand which species benefit from eco corridors and why.

Singapore statement on International Day of the Tropics: infrastructure deficit must be met sustainably (commentary)
- The majority of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities are in the Tropics, and will be most affected by environmental challenges like climate change.
- The landmark report State of the Tropics in 2014 outlined the full range of these challenges.
- As the world celebrates the second UN International Day of the Tropics on June 29, 2017, a new report on one of the great needs, Sustainable Infrastructure in the Tropics, is launched in Singapore.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Singapore is world’s second largest shark-fin trader: TRAFFIC
- In 2012-2013, Singapore exported $40 million worth of shark fins, closely following Hong Kong’s $45 million, and imported $51.4 million worth of fins, following Hong Kong’s $170 million.
- More than 72 percent of Singapore’s shark fin exports went to Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan in 2012-13.
- Spain, Namibia and Uruguay were the top three sources of shark fins during this period, accounting for more than 66 percent of Singapore’s imports.

Singapore convicts rosewood trader in historic CITES seizure
- Late last month a high court in Singapore found Wong Wee Keong guilty of importing rosewood from Madagascar in 2014 in violation of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
- Environmental groups are heralding the ruling, which reversed the decision of a lower court and sidestepped conflicting claims about the legality of the shipment by Malagasy authorities.
- The outsized shipment to Singapore was larger than all of the other seizures of rosewood in the world, combined, over the past decade.

Singapore’s wild bird trade threatens exotic species
- About 48 of the 108 species observed in Singapore’s bird markets were listed in either CITES Appendix I or II, which means that their international trade is restricted.
- Unfortunately, most birds being sold in the markets are not listed in CITES, meaning that these birds are not subject to international regulations.
- Information about the harvesting, breeding, and trading of animals in Singapore is very hard to obtain, making it difficult to ascertain the impact of the trade on the birds’ wild populations.

69m people breathed toxic smoke from 2015 Indonesian fires: study
- The study was led by a researcher from Newcastle University and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
- The findings support an earlier study which concluded that 100,300 people are likely to have died prematurely as a result of last year’s fires.
- Researchers said they could have drawn more reliable conclusions if local hospitalization data had been available, but such data is scarce.

SE Asian governments dismiss finding that 2015 haze killed 100,300
- On Monday, researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities reported that 100,300 people in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are likely to have died prematurely from haze produced by last year’s devastating agricultural fires in Indonesia.
- Government officials from the three countries cast doubt on the findings.
- One of the study’s authors suggested the figure was actually conservative, as it only accounted for adults and for deaths that could occur within one year of exposure to the haze.

Smoke from Indonesia’s fires begins to drift into Malaysia
- The number of Indonesian fires and hotspots in the 2016 dry season has so far been lower than last year.
- The director of law enforcement at Indonesia’s environment ministry said the ministry accepted the unpopular decision by Riau Police to close the pending cases on the 15 companies under investigation.
- Kalyana Sundram from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) said companies liable for fires in Malaysia would have licenses immediately revoked by the central government.

Illegal wildlife trade in Asia decimating species, warn scientists
- Asia’s burgeoning demand for wildlife is decimating wild populations around the planet, warned scientists meeting last week at the largest-ever gathering of tropical researchers in Asia.
- To address the growing threat, the Asia chapters of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) and the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), called for urgent action from the scientific community and national governments, including stepped up law enforcement, more targeted research to understand market trends, legislation to address loopholes in wildlife laws, better monitoring of markets, and better regulation of commercial captive breeding facilities.
- Notably, the bodies criticized the scientific community for failing to keep pace with the illegal wildlife market.

Singapore crushes illegal ivory worth $10 million
- Singapore is an important transit hub for ivory shipments moving from Africa to China and Vietnam.
- On Monday, June 13, Singapore crushed nearly 8 metric tons of confiscated elephant ivory worth about 13 million Singapore dollars (~$10 million).
- This is the first time that Singapore has destroyed its ivory stockpile.

Singapore, Indonesia jostle over anti-haze measures
- The Indonesian environment minister said she was reviewing all bilateral collaborations with Singapore and that some would likely be terminated.
- Local governments in the archipelago have been instructed to hold off on any joint programs with Singapore for now.
- Jakarta has protested Singapore’s contention that it reserves the right to fine companies that pollute its air, wherever the firm is located.

Haze returns to Kuala Lumpur – but not because of Indonesian fires
- Malaysians are experiencing a damaging heatwave and drought.
- Indonesia’s Sumatra saw a spike in hotspots last week, but the number has dropped in recent days.
- Singapore issued notices to six more companies under its Transboundary Haze Law.

Jokowi to oversee Indonesia peat restoration agency but details thin on the ground
- Indonesia’s forestry minister says a government agency to manage the archipelago’s peat restoration plans will be overseen by the president.
- The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) announced new policies at a palm oil conference in Bali on Thursday.
- A shipping trade publication in Singapore surveyed 250 people in the city state and found 18% of them would relocate if the haze “became an annual norm.”

Scientists turn up haze heat on Indonesia ahead of COP21 Paris talks
- Singapore’s deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean met with the Indonesian president in Jakarta on Wednesday.
- An indigenous group in South Sumatra called on the local government to restrict development in the Musi River basin.
- Fires continue to burn in Merauke regency in Papua, the archipelago’s easternmost province.

Riau emergency status to end as S. Sumatra pledges peat clampdown
- Indonesia’s Riau province will drop its official state of emergency at the end of the month.
- The South Sumatra provincial government pledged to stop the granting of licenses on peat.
- Central Kalimantan’s acting governor said the local government did not have adequate plans in place to mitigate the risks of fires.

Haze compensation to poor stalls as Indonesia spends on new palm oil cartel
- Rain has reduced the number of hotspots in Kalimantan and Sumatra but fires continue to rage in Papua and West Papua provinces in Indonesia’s east.
- Indonesia’s finance ministry has yet to approve a budget for cash payments to low-income families affected by the haze.
- Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to form a palm oil producers council.

The impacts of haze on Southeast Asia’s wildlife
- Authorities and researchers are still shockingly ignorant of the ecological impacts of the smoke from Indonesia’s annual fires.
- Some creatures are likely finding it harder to sing, which is often crucial for attracting mates, defending territory and more.
- An orangutan disease called airsacculitis might be more prevalent during the smoky season.

VP Kalla fans flames in Manila as Indonesia presses on with water bombing
- Kalla made the exact same comments blaming foreign companies during a forestry summit in Jakarta in April.
- Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show more than 20 fires burning close to the mouths of the Lumpur and Mesuji rivers.
- Indonesian government water bombing operations continue to target smoldering peat fires in South Sumatra province.

From fires to floods: Indonesia’s disaster agency prepares for rain
- Singapore’s health ministry said it would end a government subsidy scheme for people in need of treatment from haze-related illnesses.
- Environmental pressure groups and NGOs met in Jakarta on Monday to discuss the government’s draft pledge to the UN climate summit.
- Researchers at King’s College London have been awarded a six-month grant by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Singapore calls end of haze this year as Indonesia continues to push peat plans
- The Indonesian government continues to work on enacting regulations to address the underlying causes of the annual fires.
- Vice president Jusuf Kalla said Indonesia would target 2-3 million hectares of peatland restoration by 2020.
- The government intends to form an agency for peatland restoration but has yet to decide on the specifics.

Singapore court: illicit timber trafficking through our ports not our problem
- In a decision that environmentalists say sets a “dangerous precedent” against efforts to stop trafficking in illegal timber, a court in Singapore has okayed the release of a large shipment of rosewood from Madagascar.
- The timber, which was seized by authorities in Singapore more than a year ago, was shipped despite both a national ban on such exports and a lack of permits.
- The decision rested on the argument that the shipment was in transit to Hong Kong and not intended for import to Singapore.

Jokowi turning over a new leaf for Indonesia on haze but details still foggy
- The president has ordered the damming of canals used to drain peat.
- Jokowi has yet to pass a presidential decree, known in Indonesia as a perppu, codifying these changes in law.
- Indonesia shipped a record 2.61 million metric tons of palm oil in October, with the month’s shipment to China rising 36%.

Many Indonesia fires smoulder but danger is far from over
- Visibility declined in South Sumatra despite recent rain.
- Indonesian military personnel have found evidence of illegal logging in South Sumatra province.
- The government of the Philippines has cautioned that haze could return amid typhoon season.

Jokowi pushes universities to innovate to fight haze as respiratory diseases rise
- Indonesia’s ministry of higher education is attempting to create a research consortium on disaster management.
- Data from Indonesia’s disaster management agency showed the number of people diagnosed with acute respiratory infection increased to 556,945 by November 6.
- After a limited cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss peat management, Jokowi said he wanted the research department of Yogyakarta’s University of Gadjah Mada to play a central role in proposing Indonesia’s new peat strategy.

APP pumps South Africa specialists to join haze fire fight
- Working on Fire’s managing director for Asia-Pacific expressed confidence fires on APP supplier concessions could be extinguished soon.
- The South African program has hundreds of additional firefighters on standby.
- An NGO said it had seen more sightings of raptors over East Java after a slow October migration east.

Privatized gain, socialized pain; Singapore foreign minister turns up heat on haze
- Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, forecast rain over large parts of Indonesia on Wednesday but data at 6 a.m. showed a spike in hotspots to 200.
- Indonesian media reported on Wednesday that a one-year-old girl had died in Palembang from respiratory disease.
- Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan: “This is a classic example of privatizing the gain and socializing the pain.”

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