Indian Ocean nations to test UN-backed tsunami warning system

Eighteen countries around the Indian Ocean Rim will participate in a UN-backed tsunami exercise on October 14 to coincide with World Disaster Reduction Day, the first time that the warning system set up following the devastating disaster that struck the region in 2004 will be tested.

The exercise takes place in the wake of the tsunami that killed more than 100 people in Samoa last month, “providing a sober reminder that coastal communities everywhere need to be aware and prepared for such events,” stated the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Following the 2004 tsunami, UNESCO – through its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) – helped countries in the region set up the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS).

The upcoming drill, known as “Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09”, will test and evaluate the effectiveness of the system, identify weaknesses and areas of improvement, as well as aim to increase preparedness and improve coordination throughout the region.

The exercise will replicate the magnitude 9.2 earthquake that occurred off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2004, generating a destructive tsunami affecting countries from Australia to South Africa.

The simulated tsunami will spread in real time across the entire Indian Ocean, taking approximately 12 hours to travel from Indonesia to the coast of South Africa. Bulletins will be issued by the Japan Meteorogical Agency (JMA) in Tokyo and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii, US, which have served as the interim advisory services since 2005.

The recently established Regional Tsunami Watch Providers (RTWP) in Australia, India and Indonesia will also participate in the exercise and will share experimental real time bulletins between themselves only.

Countries participating in next week's drill are Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Timor-Leste.

A similar drill was held in October 2008 to test the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS). Such early warning systems have also been set up in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Northeast Atlantic Ocean and connected seas.

Lessons to be learned in post-tsunami reconstruction

The fallout from the recent Samoan tsunami and earthquake in Sumatra provides a good chance for aid agencies to consider how effective reconstruction architecture from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has been, according to Dr David O’Brien.

Dr O’Brien, from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne says it’s important that the various humanitarian agencies involved in any clean up and support effort take stock of the housing built after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, as no one project has been completely successful.

“Although reconstruction agencies constructed vast numbers of housing in very trying circumstances, there is clear evidence that residents have found it necessary to remodel, renovate and transform their house to suit their own and broader community needs,” he says.

“This may well suggest that the reconstruction agencies ‘missed their mark’ by providing ill-conceived housing types. Indeed, around 30 per cent of reconstruction houses are empty!"

“Some of the major issues with the new dwellings are that they are too small for families – people liked living in extended family groups in bigger houses – and the bathrooms are external, making it problematic for female residents who must cover up outside under Islamic law…a bit of a hassle if you just want to go to the bathroom!”

Shifting residents away from their old village locations has hindered possible solutions. “The reconstruction houses are often located close together, as the agencies had to buy land to make new village locations rather than keep people in the older and unsafe locations. “

“So people who would like to extend and improve on their new houses are finding it very hard to do so.”

Dr O’Brien, who is overseeing the research project “Transformation of Post-Disaster Housing: The Case of Aceh, Indonesia”, says while there are many critiques of the post-disaster housing, very few evaluations attempt to understand the nature and quality of the reconstruction houses and draw lessons from them.

“There are a number of questions agencies need to ask. Why must the beneficiaries of this housing transform their houses? What needs are not met through the standardised house? Can particular house types improve the capacity for residents to transform their house? Do these houses require residents to create new lifestyles? Is there scope for incorporating disaster risk reduction into the transformation process?”

“And perhaps most significantly, what lessons does such transformation offer that can inform future policy and practice in the field of post-disaster housing reconstruction?”

Europe's thirst for biofuel and some hard truths

New research shows the extent of damage being caused by the European Union’s increasing use of biofuels.

The research focuses on the massive expansion of palm oil in the Indonesian district of Ketapang and reports on the deforestation, illegal operations and social conflicts caused by the growing demand for palm oil in Europe.

The report follows last week’s announcement by the World Bank to cease funding palm oil projects.

The research conducted in Ketapang, a large district in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, investigates how demand for palm oil for energy is leading to an expansion of palm oil crops, and whether so-called sustainability schemes prevent illegal operations, deforestation, climate emissions and
social conflicts.
It concludes that in the last three years, the government of Ketapang handed out licenses to grow palm plantations on 40 per cent of the district’s land surface, bypassing laws intended to protect forests, the environment and people.

Thirty nine of the 54 licenses overlap with 400,000 hectares of protected forests, including parts of a national park with orang-utan habitat. Permits to grow palm plantations now cover 1.4 million hectares.

The report says that 43 per cent of the land being acquired is by companies that are members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and the same violations are being committed by members as by non-members, the rights of local communities are often ignored. 20 land conflicts had been reported by the end of 2008, and this figure is set to rise as the expansion of plantations increases.

Geert Ritsema, head of globalisation and environment at Friends of the Earth Netherlands, said: "The rising demand for palm oil is leading directly to illegal deforestation and social conflicts in Indonesia. If this continues the forests in Borneo will be wiped out, together with the wildlife and people they support, whilst contributing massively to climate change."

Ritsema continued: "Biofuels are a false solution to climate change. Instead of relying on feedstock imports that create enormous environmental and social problems in other countries, the European Union must act responsibly and address climate change at home with less energy-demanding vehicles and improvements in public transport."

IFC to suspend funding for palm oil sector

Photo: Achmad Rabin TaimWorld Bank has agreed to suspend IFC funding of the oil palm sector in Indonesia in response to an appeal by a global coalition of NGOs and a highly critical audit by the IFC’s independent ‘complaints advisory ombudsman.’

The audit had shown that, as claimed by the NGOs, IFC (International Finance Corporation) funding of the Wilmar Group had violated the IFC’s own procedures, and commercial concerns had been allowed to override the IFC’s environmental and social standards.

Oil palm has become synonymous with widespread clearance of forests and peatlands, massive CO2 emissions and the theft of indigenous peoples’ lands.

In the letter responding to the NGOs, dated August 28, 2009, World Bank/IFC President Robert Zoellick accepted that IFC procedures need tightening and that socially and environmentally sensitive projects in the sector need to be re-categorised to ensure that staff apply due diligence.

He also announced an intensive six month review of how the IFC should engage in the palm oil sector in the future which should be developed through open and extensive consultations.

This review would look at the broader legal and institutional barriers to good practice in Indonesia.

An assessment will be carried out of the Wilmar Group’s social and environmental procedures.

Endangered Sumatran rhino dies in captivity

Emi with her 14-month old son Harapan Photo: Charles SFEmi, the world’s most famous endangered Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity since the 19th century, died at the age of 21 at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden in Indonesia. The rhino lived at the Cincinnati Zoo for the past 14 years and produced three calves.

In 2001, years of breakthrough research by scientists at the Zoo’s Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) resulted in the first captive birth of a Sumatran rhino since the 19th century.

“No animal has been more beloved than Emi in the 134 year history of the Cincinnati Zoo,” said Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. “She is the most famous rhino in the world and has led the way in the effort to establish a successful captive breeding programme for this critically endangered animal. My fondest hope is that we now build on Emi’s legacy and increase our efforts tenfold to continue the global effort to save the Sumatran rhino.”

“It is always devastating when an animal reaches the end of its life, especially those that are so special, but Emi could not have been in better hands all these years,” said Dr. Terri Roth, Director of the Cincinnati Zoo’s CREW.

A decade ago, little was known about caring for the critically endangered Sumatran rhinos in captivity, let alone their mating habits and reproductive cycles. But Cincinnati Zoo staff, led by Dr. Terri Roth, have relied on the use of ultrasound, close monitoring of hormone levels and years of patient observation and trial-and-error to learn how to successfully breed the Sumatran rhinos.

Emi’s first calf, Andalas, was the first Sumatran rhino bred and born in captivity in 112 years.

Repeating that success with the birth of a second calf, Suci, in 2004, was absolutely essential to validate the scientific methods developed at the Cincinnati Zoo and for the continued progress of the captive breeding program. In 2007, Emi gave birth to an unprecedented third calf, Harapan, again raising hopes among conservationists that the captive breeding could play an important role in the species’ recovery.

Considered the most endangered of all rhino species and perhaps the most endangered mammal species on earth, it is estimated that at least 60 per cent of the Sumatran rhino population has been lost in the last two decades. The primary cause is conversion of rhino habitat for agriculture, even in some national parks, and poaching for its horn which some Asian cultures believe contains medicinal properties.

Today, there are only nine Sumatran rhinos living in captivity worldwide and fewer than 200 animals exist in isolated pockets of Sabah, Malaysia and the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Sumatran rhinos can live 35-40 years.

Forty six orangutans released into the wild

Photo: BOSFIndonesia-based Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) has successfully released 46 orangutans back into the wild. These orangutans had been rescued from starvation, injury, illness or captivity by BOSF’s Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Reintroduction Project, and have now been returned to a tropical rainforest in the remote heart of Borneo, where they should be safe from human persecution and the devastation of their habitat by the palm oil industry.

There are around 35,000 orangutans remaining in the wild in Borneo, and all are in danger from illegal logging, wildfires and hunting, but the biggest threat by far today is the conversion of forest to oil palm plantations.

Palm oil is used in a huge range of products, including foods, soaps, cosmetics and machine lubricants, and, more recently, as an alternative source of fuel. Increased demand for this kind of ‘biofuel’ has led to a huge expansion of oil palm plantations across Borneo, and thus widespread clearance of tropical rainforest, home to thousands of orangutans.

Most orangutans that lose their habitat die of starvation, or get shot when they’re forced to raid the newly-planted palm trees, or are captured when they have no option but to venture into villages to find food. But those who are fortunate enough to be rescued are taken to the Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Reintroduction Centre, where they are cared for and brought back to health by the Centre’s dedicated staff, before being released back to the wild.

The Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Reintroduction Centre is the largest primate rescue project in the world. Founded in 1999 by Lone Dr’scher Nielsen, it has rescued over 1,000 orangutans. Around 600 of these are young orphans whose mothers were killed when their rainforest habitat was destroyed to make way for oil palm plantations.

These orphans will not be released until they’ve been completely rehabilitated, a process which can take up to 10 or 12 years to complete. The 46 which have just been released were not at Nyaru Menteng for rehabilitation, these were fully independent individuals when rescued and were kept at the Centre to recuperate, and to undergo medical treatment and observation until they were deemed fit enough to live in the wild again. Finding a safe place to release them has, however, been difficult, because nearly all suitable habitat for orangutans in Borneo is being illegally logged, converted to plantations or is already full with wild orangutans.

In 2007, a large area of almost pristine forest in the upper Barito region of Central Kalimantan, within the Heart of Borneo, was identified as suitable for orangutan reintroduction using a combination of satellite images, helicopter flyovers and ground surveys. Here there are several thousand hectares of primary lowland rainforest, in lush green valleys and mountain ridges, divided by large rivers flowing through gorges and over rapids.

The area has plenty of available food for orangutans, as evidenced by ground surveys, yet only supports a small wild orangutan population, probably owing to a combination of historical hunting by indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes (which has now ceased) and the wide rivers and mountain ridges acting as barriers against the species’ dispersal. Sixty-one orangutans were released here in 2007 and 2008; and in 2009 another 20,000 hectares in a series of connected valleys were identified as the location for the current releases.

The release process started back in the Centre, firstly identifying those amongst the rescued adult and sub-adult animals which were sufficiently independent to be released, and then making sure that they were healthy and not carrying any disease that could spread through the new population. The 46 orangutans chosen consisted of nine flanged adult males; six unflanged adult males; eleven adult females; seven adolescent males; twelve adolescent females and one female infant (with her mother).

Those orangutans were then flown to a holding camp near to the release site, ready for their final journey back to the wild. BOS veterinarians were on hand throughout the entire operation to make sure that the apes didn’t suffer too much from the stresses of the journey and were released in a healthy state. Helicopters were used for the final stage of the release.

The orangutans were sedated and placed in individual cages, then flown, six or seven to a sling, suspended 100 feet below the helicopter, to the release points, where a team on the ground waited for the helicopter’s arrival and then opened the cages. Six separate release points were chosen, spaced 2 km apart to ensure that the influx of orangutans wouldn’t exceed the forest’s carrying capacity.

The field team was based at the camp of the Project Barito Ulu research project, one hour downriver from the first release point, and maintained communication with the holding camp team by satellite phone and HF radio. The whole operation took 18 days, with the releases taking place over a six day period from August 17th to 22nd.

Immediately post-release, a Nyaru Menteng socialisation team visited nearby villages to raise awareness about the orangutans, Nyaru Menteng’s activities and the release operation; and to encourage future feedback from the local community which will help with future monitoring. A monitoring team is already in place from previous releases, which carries out research to assess the location and health of released orangutans.

This release location is also suitable for releasing rehabilitant orangutans. Nyaru Menteng currently has 200 individuals ready to return to the wild, and preparations for their reintroduction are underway. Requirements include leasing helicopters, ensuring long-term security of the site, and providing post-release care and monitoring for the released orangutans.

Tuna spawning grounds can help Coral Triangle nations get better deal on fishing

Mar.10 (WWF): Asia Pacific fishing nations could use the presence of tuna spawning grounds to negotiate better prices and fairer fishing arrangements with foreign fishing nations, WWF said today.

The proposal was put forward as ministers started meeting in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby this week to finalise a plan to protect marine environments and food security in the Coral Triangle region, covering waters between Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Pacific.

The area provides spawning grounds and migratory routes for tuna caught in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans, which make up around 70 per cent of the world’s tuna catch.

“The region’s spawning grounds are essential to the world’s multi-billion dollar tuna industry and the world should be prepared to support their protection and effective management,” said Dr Lida Pet Soede, leader of WWF’s Coral Triangle Program.

“This can help Coral Triangle countries negotiate fairer prices and fairer fishing arrangements with non-Coral Triangle nations, who also fish in these waters.”

Dr Pet Soede said it was fitting the final meeting be held in Papua New Guinea as PNG has taken a leading role in efforts to bring more sustainability to the region’s tuna fisheries, which are critical to the food security of millions.

Managing Director of Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority, Sylvester Pokajam, warned of a collapse of the big eye tuna fishery unless fishing nations operating in the Coral Triangle introduced measures to make the fishery more sustainable.

“We can see a crash coming for tuna and this will be disastrous for many coastal communities in the Coral Triangle, where millions of people depend on healthy tuna stocks for food and livelihoods,” Mr Pokajam said.

“Here in PNG we have introduced fishing measures within our own zones in an effort to address the issue of overfishing, in particular where it comes to overfishing big eye tuna, but the success of these measures depends entirely on the willingness of other non-Coral Triangle nations to introduce similar measures.”

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste collectively make up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting in September 2007.

This week’s meeting is the final ministerial forum before Coral Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia on May 15 to announce details of a plan to protect marine ecosystems and food security in the region.

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission will meet in Bali at the end of this month to consider among other things a set of recommendations by its scientific committee to reduce fishing pressure on yellowfin tuna, which it says is likely to have reached an overfished state.

The World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado, Indonesia, and are expected to result in the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive statement on oceans and climate change.

“With climate change threatening to alter habitats in the region, it is even more critical to manage marine ecosystems for the ongoing food security of the region and for the survival of many species that depend on the Coral Triangle’s unique marine environment,” said Dr Pet Soede.