The quakes in Mexico came just over 3 weeks after a quake of 7.4 magnitude that caused extensive damage in the southwest of the country.

No major damage has been reported concerning the latest earthquakes in Mexico, but they did raise concerns about possible resulting tsunamis, due to the location and nature of the quakes.

From Reuters UK:

The Honolulu-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it had issued no tsunami warning, but staff oceanographer David Walsh noted the quake was close to water, big enough and potentially deep enough to cause one.

Likewise, no tsunami resulted in Indonesia, the country that suffered the most casualties from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with an estimated death toll of nearly 168,000.

Since the tragedies of 2004, Indonesia has taken measures in the fields of building construction and public awareness in order to be better prepared and minimize damage should another tsunami occur.

From Agence France-Presse:

After the first quake struck, people grabbed their families and poured into the streets in search of safe havens andhigher areas, having gone through repeated disaster drills since the 2004 quake and tsunami.

Though unrelated to these latest earthquakes in Mexico and Indonesia, new research from Canada and the US has linked earthquakes to gas and oil extraction, specifically a process called hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ which uses large amounts of water and chemicals to access gas or oil deposits located beneath shale.

Geologists aren’t exactly sure how fracking triggers quakes, but believe that it is connected to the pressure of the fluid, that the fluid lubricates existing faults or a combination of the two.

Read more on that story in the Toronto Star.

photo by Rainforest Action Network (Flickr CC)

In Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) orangutans are being hunted and driven into possible extinction.

Indonesia, which is home to 90% of the world’s orangutan population, is also home to rampant unregulated and illegal palm plantations, deforestation and logging. Loss of habitat has pitted villagers against the orangutans, who may venture into gardens for food. Locals are known to kill great apes for food and out of fear.

But the real culprits are the industries who see orangutan conservation as a threat to their business. These firms are not only destroying the orangutans’ habitat, but have allegedly paid villagers to hunt and kill orangutans.

From the Guardian:

Erik Meijaard, who led a team carrying out the first attempt to assess the scale of the problem in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, said the results showed that between 750 and 1,800 orangutans were killed as a result of hunting and deforestation in the 12 months to April 2008.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, with some 75% of the current organgutan population living trapped on palm plantations.

For more on this story see the following Al Jazeera English report.

photo by David Gilbert/RAN (Rainforest Action Network, Flickr CC)

The coal and palm oil industries have been getting away with ecocide in the forests of Indonesia, threatening the traditional, sustainable way of life of local villagers and destroying the delicately balanced ecology of the region.

Now the palm oil firm PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa is moving into a previously untouched area of forest in East Kalimantan province. Villagers, who both depend on and care for the forests, are struggling to defend this remaining forest oasis from further ecocide at the hands of corporate greed.

Sources report that the firm’s bulldozers have been clearing approximately five hectares a day for the past week. With the situation at crisis point, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak fear the conflict could spill over into violence.

–EIA

The palm oil industry is also a serious threat to the survival of orangutans in Kalimantan.

A campaigner for the Indonesian NGO, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) had this to say regarding Malaysian palm oil firms in Indonesia:

The forest destruction and endangered wildlife in Indonesia will not pose a disadvantage to Malaysia. But the world will view the Indonesian palm oil industry as a brutal one and refuse to buy our palm oil products. Consumers will choose Malaysian palm oil products instead.

–Daniek Hendarto

For more on the destructive environmental and human rights practices of Indonesia’s palm oil industry, see the following two articles and watch the below video.

Free Malaysia Today – Indonesian NGO wants ‘immoral’ M’sian firms out

EIA – Villagers face off against palm oil firm’s bulldozers

Muara Tae Preview from Gekko Studio on Vimeo.

image source: monstropedea.org

In the jungles of the Indonesian island of Sumatra there might live some kind of upright-walking ape-man with long, heavy metal hair.

Several zoologists and plenty of connoisseurs of the weird believe so. And local Indonesian lore is chock full of tales and eyewitness accounts of the orang pendek.

Native Sumatrans don’t even consider the ape a mythical or magical creature, just another of the forest’s inhabitants.

The orang pendek, “short man” in Malay, is said to be 4-5 feet tall but powerfully built with broad shoulders and long muscular arms. Sightings suggest it walks upright like a human, its body is covered with black or honey-coloured hair, and it may have a long mane of hair from its head down its back. It appears to live on the forest floor, unlike the arboreal Sumatran orang-utan which is confined to the north of the island.
–Guardian

A two-year old article in the Telegraph tells of how a team of British explorers spotted the orang pendek and gathered some of its hair to be analyzed. I’m assuming that the results were ‘inconclusive’.

Tomorrow zoologist Richard Freeman will start another expedition into the Sumatran forests in search of the elusive bipedal ape.

Read more about it in the Guardian.

If the orang pendek turns out to be real, it would be a huge discovery for science. If no further evidence is found it will continue to occupy its place in crypto-zoology or maybe even secure a spot as one of Karl Pilkington’s “Cheeky Freaks of the Week”. A revival of the latter radio segment is perhaps the less likely of the two.

On the other hand, Southeast Asia is ripe for freakish discoveries in the animal kingdom, what with that giant salt water crocodile caught in the Philippines earlier this week. The behemoth weighed 1,075 kilos (2,370 lbs) and measured 6.1 meters (20 feet). The crocodile is believed to be the largest ever captured alive.

Click here for more on that story from the Associated Press, including a video report. I have to say the croc doesn’t look too pleased.

photo by Lou Gold (visionshare on Flickr CC)

A new study argues that these degraded forests could be either reforested or put to productive use, instead of cutting down more virgin forest.

In Brazil, reports show that deforestation rose immensely in recent months, in sharp contrast to government studies released last December claiming that Amazon deforestation had fallen to its lowest level in 22 years.

Environmentalists say the main culprits for Amazon deforestation are the soya and cattle industries and a failure to enforce existing laws.

A Greenpeace spokesperson was quoted by Reuters:

You have 300-400 lawmakers here in Brasilia sending the message that profiting from deforestation will be amnestied, that crime pays.

Read more in this report from BBC News:

At the same time, food prices are way up – 37% since last March, according to the UN’s Food Price Index.

A plan in Indonesia to use already cleared areas for palm oil plantations – instead of cutting more rainforest for that purpose – may be showing some promise.

Representatives of the World Resources Institute’s Global Forests Initiative write in the Guardian:

Brazilian groups are looking to the Indonesian experience as they struggle to find space for that country’s expanding beef, soya and sugar cane enterprises. Through a careful process of defining degraded land, mapping it, and consulting with existing landowners and local communities, plans and policies encourage a shift in future investment to this kind of land and away from the forests of the Amazon.

Any such systems need affective enforcement of laws and of course decent laws to begin with and proper planning. How is this possible when the industries that profit from deforestation have such a strong influence over government policies?

Image by Ben Tubby (source: Flickr)

While the Merapi volcano on the Indonesian island of Java is still active, a second volcano – Mount Bromo – erupted today, around 5:40 pm local time. Mount Bromo, a volcano located about 275 km (170 miles) east of Mount Merapi, spew dark grey ash cloud of half a kilometer (0,3 miles) into the air.

Although the Bromo volcano erupts at least once a year and although it currently does not pose a treat to the residents of the region surrounding it, Indonesian officials remain cautious as the Bromo volcano usually does not spew hot ash or debris.

Mount Merapi’s activity has decreased since it first started erupting on the 29^th of October. At least 322 people died due to the volcano’s eruption.

may create perverse incentives to clear forests and peat lands, create opportunities for corruption and actually drive an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Image by Rene Ehrhardt (source: Flickr)

According to the leaked documents Indonesian government officials would have found a way to “work around” the two-year moratorium on new clearing of natural forests (a condition Indonesia has to obey under the REDD program), making it possible for the country to keep cutting down trees for the lucrative palm oil and paper & pulp industries, while still profiting from international climate change help and REDD program money. One way to get around the issue of deforestation without alarming the international community would be to classify pieces of rainforest as “degraded”. Under most United Nations climate programs, cutting down degraded forests or trees is acceptable, considering the area is replanted with new trees.

The area the Indonesian officials want to deforest is the habitat of half of the world’s orangutans and makes op 40 percent of Indonesia’s remaining natural forest. The 37 million acres of new plantations that the deforestation program intends to produce would then be used to triple the production of pulp & paper by 2025 and to double the production of palm oil by 2020. So in essence the REDD money would be used not to support the protection of Indonesia’s forests but to subsidize their further conversion into plantations, thus supporting their destruction and the expansion of the already very greedy palm oil and pulp & paper industries.

the 16th edition of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP). It will also hold simultaneously the 6th Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). “Parties” refers to all the national states that signed and ratified both of the international treaties, committing to observe and comply with its terms regarding international cooperation against climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been signed by 194 State Parties (list) and the Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 184 State Parties (list). In accordance with article 7 of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties in its authority of the supreme body has the mandate of adopting the necessary decisions for the promotion of its effective application.

- From the COP16 website

Image source: stock.xchng

OK so there you have it, big words again. If COP16 follows in the footsteps of COP15, we are heading for yet another very expensive, CO2 emitting conference with no tangible results. But let’s be positive for a minute and look at what the conference could achieve.

This year, all eyes are turned to Indonesia and it’s forests. The United Nations’ REDD program (Reducing Emissions from Deforestations and Forest Degradation), a mechanism designed to preserve forests in poor nations by supplying those nations with money to use towards forest protection, is back on the table. If Indonesia agrees to protect its rainforest, this could turn out to be a goldmine for the country. We are talking about billions of dollars.

The reason why Indonesia is so important for the U.N. is twofold. First, and this is good news, the country houses the most extensive rainforest cover in all of Asia. Second, and this is really bad news, the rainforest is being degraded and destroyed on a daily basis by agricultural plantation and planning, mining, logging and population increase. Because of this the country is not only cutting down the longs of the earth one tree at a time, it’s also increasing its carbon emissions at a scary rate.

Back in September of 2009, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to reduce the deforestation rate of the Indonesian rainforests by 26 percent by 2020 (in the business as usual model of course) and by 41 percent if provided with international help.

Taking a closer look at the REDD program, a reduction of 5 percent deforestation could provide Indonesia with 565 million EUR (about 765 million dollars) a year. With the REDD program, keeping the rainforest in Indonesia intact could turn out to be a goldmine. But is it really that simple?

Additional information:

REDD has come under significant criticism, including the argument that it is a way for rich countries to avoid cutting their own emissions. If you want to know more about this, click here for a report on this issue.

COP16 will take place from November 29^th until December 10^th in Cancun, Mexico. More information is available on the COP16 website.

Image by DMahendra (source: Flickr)

Java’s Merapi volcano in Indonesia erupted again today. The latest eruption is stronger than the eruption from last Tuesday. There are currently no reports of casualties. The authorities evacuated more than 50.000 people in the last few days, fearing that the volcano’s activity is not about to end soon.

Image by Clearly Ambiguous (source: Flickr)

Last night the Merapi volcano on Java erupted again, killing at least 2.  This brings the death toll to 38  since the first eruption of the volcano earlier this week.

Last week alone, with the tsunami hitting the shores of several Indonesian islands and with the eruption of Merapi, at least 450 people were killed. 300 people are still missing in the regions where the tsunami reached Indonesia. Rescue workers are having a hard time to look for survivors due to bad weather conditions and lack of adequate equipment.

Image by David Rydevik (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Last Monday we reported an earthquake of 7,5 on the Richter scale hit south of Sumatra. Yesterday Java’s Merapi volcano erupted, killing 25 people. Then a tsunami hit the western part of Indonesia, killing at least 113 people, many more still reported missing.

Although the Indonesian authorities did alert the population on Monday for the dangers of a possible tsunami following the 7,5 magnitude earthquake, they revoked the alarm soon after. The tsunami eventually did reach the western part of Indonesia, with 3-meter high waves breaking on the shores of several islands. 400 homes where washed away in the process. Rescue teams are currently trying to reach the area, facing bad weather and aftershocks from the earthquake in their efforts to find the missing and help the injured.

Image by Fabian Bromann (source: Flickr)

Java’s Merapi volcano’s increased activity we told you about yesterday, resulted in three eruptions this morning, “spewing volcanic ash as high as 1.5 kilometers and searing heat clouds down the slopes”, according to local government volcanologist Surono.

Since the increased activity of the volcano, and especially after the first eruption this morning, evacuation of local population has begun. A perimeter of 10 kilometers around the crater of the Merapi volcano was set up, and close to 19.000 people where asked to leave the hills of the mountain.

Volcanologists predicted this eruption to be bigger than the 2006 eruption, and they were right. Already it is clear that the heat clouds and gas and ash produced by today’s eruptions are longer lasting and wider spread than the 7-minute eruption of 2006. Officials on site still find it hard to warn people against the dangers of an eruption, as many of them are still lingering on and not eager to leave. Even amongst the ones who already left, some returned to the mountain today to attend their cows, farms or crops.

Dozens of others are still missing and over 60 people were injured, many with broken bones and most needing to be life-flighted (transported via helicopter) to medical services.

In addition to the dead and wounded, hundreds of homes were destroyed, 30 of which were completely flattened by the storm. Schools, hospitals and a hotel were also damaged, along with roads and bridges. Add to that power outages and downed phone lines, and you have one big mess on your hands. The only good news at this point is police and the military are on their way with tents, food and medical supplies.

More will be posted as updates happen.

By Heidi Marshall

photo: US govt. geological survey

A volcano which has lain dormant for 400 years has erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The volcano, called Sinabung, erupted on Saturday and Sunday, sending a giant cloud of ash and smoke into the skies and causing thousands to evacuate their homes.

From an AFP report:

From the crater, it shot smoke and volcanic ash 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) into the sky. Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma.

– Surono, head of Indonesia’s volcano disaster alert centre

There is currently a 6 km (3.7 mile) danger zone around the volcano, though some of the around 12,000 people who have fled live outside of the danger zone.

The area is covered in thick smoke and smells of sulfur, but conditions are reported to be improving.

From a Reuters report:

The health ministry put medical posts on standby and distributed face masks, though there were no reports of casualties, according to Mudjiarto, head of the health ministry’s crisis centre.

See this video report from Aljazeera English for more:

Thousands flee Indonesia volcano

photo by Bert van Dijk (Flickr CC)

The headline in The Ecologist, ‘Human response to climate change is making matters worse’, is a bit of a f*&#(^@ downer.

Upon reading the actual article, it doesn’t get that much better.

A recent study has researched the impacts of human response to climate change on biodiversity. The study, recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, attempts to assess the impact of responses such as the biofuel industry, which has contributed to the destruction of rainforests and peat bogs in South East Asia. Hydropower projects like China’s massive Three Gorges Dam have also left their marks on biological habitats.

From the abstract to the published study, entitled Climate change: helping nature survive the human response:

Human history and recent studies suggest that our actions to cope with climate change (adaptation) or lessen its rate and magnitude (mitigation) could have impacts that match—and even exceed—the direct effects of climate change on ecosystems. If we are to successfully conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services in a warming world, considerable effort is needed to predict and reduce the indirect risks created by climate change.

In historical terms, humanity’s response to climactic events has put new stresses on natural resources. This is understandable: if a population center or exploited resource is destroyed by a natural disaster such as a drought or flood, people move elsewhere into previously unexploited territories.

Reconstruction following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 damaged ecosystems in Indonesia through un-corodinated [sic] sand and gravel extraction, increased logging, and siting of new housing in biodiverse habitats. And drought-fuelled migrations in Burkina Faso in the late 20th century led to huge areas of forest and savanna being converted to cropland and a 50 per cent loss of natural vegetation in some areas.

–The Ecologist

So far, most actions to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change are grossly inadequate or involve maintaining current paradigms of growth and consumption, which simply move stresses from one sphere to another. The result is a continuing toll on both humanity and biodiversity.

Additional resources:

Medical News Today – The Importance Of How Humanity Reacts To Climate Change (press release)

photo by Paulo Philippidis (canorus on Flickr Creative Commons)

Studies analyzing some 20 years of footage taken of Orangutans in the jungles of Borneo are giving scientists fascinating insights into how these great apes communicate.

The footage shows the orangutans using mime as a means ‘talking’ with one another. These messages include the desire to have an itch scratched and a termite nest opened.

From an article in the Guardian:

The study suggests they are capable of more complex communication than previously thought, and resort to mimes to elaborate on messages directed at other apes and their former keepers.

The orangutans observed formerly lived in captivity, but the footage, which displays 18 instances of miming, was taken while they were living in the wilds of Indonesian Borneo.

Sometimes the orangutans enacted mimes as false information in order to trick or distract researchers. Reminds me of my old family dog pretending to lose interest in his ball but then suddenly pouncing on it as soon as I’d move to pick it up.

One orangutan shared a memory with a conservationist who had once helped heal a cut on her foot, mimicking the previous actions her one time helper. Another mimed as an expression conveying the desire to trade one object for another:

When she was not given the umbrella, she then picked up a leaf and held it over her head, mimicking the person holding the umbrella. She then offered the branch to the conservationist and tried to take the umbrella in return, revealing the motive behind her performance.

–BBC News

Still another orangutan spied a researcher texting on his iPhone and then mimed typing “LOL” onto a coconut. Just kidding.

For more on this fascinating story, see the entire article from BBC News as well as a short video of an orangutan miming:

Orangutans mime to get message across

I’ll also take this opportunity to post my favorite video of orangutans – yes, I have a favorite video of orangutans, don’t you?

It’s from the BBC Earth program with David Attenborough and shows a female orangutan traveling by canoe, washing socks and doing a bit of DIY. And I’m not kidding this time.

Attenborough: Amazing DIY Orangutans – BBC Earth

At least 2 earthquakes hit Indonesia today, killing at least 3 people and damaging hundreds of homes.

First, there was a 5.3 magnitude quake on Sulawesi island. Landslides nearly destroyed at least 50 buildings and killed at least one person at an elementary school.

A second—7.0 magnitude—quake struck off the coast of Papua province—nearly 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from the first quake—and was followed by a series of aftershocks, the strongest being a 6.4. Many people were hospitalized, one woman was killed, and a 5-month-old baby was crushed when his family’s house collapsed.

Search and rescue teams are at work and expect to find more bodies, as there have been reports of some houses being completely flattened. A tsunami warning was also issued but has already been lifted.

Updates will be posted as they happen.

By Heidi Marshall

Image Source: Flickr. By: Nemo's Great Uncle.

Indonesian police found 71 endangered Green Sea Turtles after conducting a warehouse raid in Bali. All of the animals were alive at the time, but their flippers were tied with rope, suggesting they might have been heading for food markets.

While these turtles were lucky enough to escape their grim fate, there are nearly 100,000 others out there still in need; for approximately that many are killed every year and usually for their meat. Senior detective, Andi Rahmantiro, commented that:

“We have been eyeing the area for a while, but we needed stronger evidence. [On Wednesday], our officers raided the location because the information was certain. The suspect confessed to planning to sell the turtles for 700,000 rupiah ($77 USD) each. On the market, they can actually reach about 2 to 4 million rupiah, each.”

Luckily, the story of the endangered Green Sea Turtles has a happy ending. The warehouse owner faces up to 5 years in prison for violating conservation laws and all of the turtles will be released back to the sea where they belong.

By Heidi Marshall

Image Source: Flickr. By: IUCNweb.

In most cases when a new animal discovery is reported, the scientist finds the animal. In a funny turn of events, it was the animal that discovered the scientists.

A group of researchers were camping in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia; amongst them was herpetologist, Paul Oliver. Oliver noticed their camp had a visitor: a frog sitting on a bag of rice. Upon further observation, it was discovered that the frog was actually a previously unknown type of long-nosed frog and so the scientists named it Pinocchio.

Apparently, when “Pinocchio” is calling, its nose will point upwards, but when the animal is less active the nose will deflate. Given these unique nose qualities, the name Pinocchio sure seems fitting for the frog and it would seem the frog wasn’t the only critter willing to be discovered.

Other animals found during their time in the Foja Mountains include: the smallest kangaroo yet known, a large woolly rat, a three-toned pigeon, and a bent-toed gecko with yellow eyes (which apparently had a striking resemblance to a gargoyle).

To find out more about these awesome finds, check out this article!

By Heidi Marshall

photo by neil-san (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

A Sumatran tiger can fetch as much as $5,000 US in Indonesia. This is more than enough incentive for poachers to hunt and capture tigers; sometimes selling them on as pets or killing them in order to harvest their body parts. The body parts of Sumatran tigers are used as charms, to make religious artifacts and status symbols; and as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine.

Other threatened species in Indonesia being illegally trafficked include the pangolin – a scaly anteater considered both a delicacy and a source of medicine in China – the slow loris; gibbons, and several birds of paradise.

From a report by Al Jazeera English:

The illegal wildlife trade is booming in Indonesia, threatening the country’s rich biodiversity and driving rare animal species to the brink of extinction. Despite raids on animal markets and homes, the trade continues to flourish, fuelled by domestic and international demand.

Check out the below video report from the Al Jazeera English program 101 East for more information. The video depicts cruel and disturbing treatment of animals.

by Graham Land