Poisonous puffer fish found dead on Dutch island beach

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 30 October 2014

The beached puffer (NOS/Ecomare)

A dead puffer fish has been found washed up on the beach of the Wadden Sea island of Texel.

The bizarre find was made by staff of the Ecomare marine centre during a walk. The fish, 51 centimetres long, has the latin name Lagocephalus lagocephalus and is only found in tropical and sub-tropical eastern Atlantic waters.

‘It was a real tropical surprise,’ Ecomare workers Pierre Bonnet and Arthur Oosterbaan said on the organisation's website.

Frozen

The fish has now been frozen until the centre’s experts decide what to do with it. It had been attacked by gulls and is not suitable for public display.

The fish, which could blow up like a balloon when alive, has prickles on its belly and four teeth in its hard beak as protection against predators.

Known as the oceanic puffer in English, the fish does not yet have a Dutch name.

For Maritime Minister Susi, Work Starts Now

Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia, Oct 28, 2014

Marine and Fishery Affairs Minister Susi
Pudjiastuti. (Antara Photo/Prasetyo Utomo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s new Marine and Fishery Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti announced she plans to issue both short- and long-term programs that will improve the welfare of the nation’s fishermen.

The ministry’s first move, she added, is to identify both current and potential problems plaguing Indonesia’s maritime sector, before mapping out targets for the next five years.

“I am neither an expert or an academic [on the matter]; I just want to work fast and show good results,” Susi told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“For a long-term program, I will focus on mapping issues related to illegal fishing, aquaculture and marketing. I will also look into matters surrounding tariff barriers and our maritime products,” Susi was quoted as saying by Kompas.com.

These campaigns have the shared aim of working towards the benefit of Indonesia’s fishermen, she explained, adding that results would not be instantaneous as she still needs to coordinate with directorate generals and division heads of her ministry and compile the necessary data.

The short-term programs, meanwhile, will strive to change the mindset of both companies and individuals involved in the country’s marine industry.

“There are several small steps that we can [immediately] take. Again, we want to focus on helping our coastal fishermen,” Susi said. “But want to teach them to become more business minded.”

Susi conceded the success of these programs would partly depend on the government’s efforts to improve and expand on the nation’s infrastructure, including airports, as transportation is key to the distribution of Indonesia’s fisheries products.

President Joko Widodo surprised the nation on Sunday when he placed the businesswoman at the helm of the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries — an area, critics claim, she knows very little about.

The 49-year-old has made no efforts to deny or disguise her status as a high-school dropout. She established her own fish vendor in Pangandaran, West Java, at the tender age of 18, unknowingly creating a small business that would flourish into ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Products.

Susi expanded into the aviation business in 2004 with ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation and Susi Air, the latter of which has managed to settle into a niche market by flying to remote regions that are not serviced by larger commercial airlines.

Boat migrants in EU's hands as Italy weighs future of rescues

Yahoo – AFP, Ljubomir Milasin and Ella Ide, 28 Oct 2014

Migrants wait to disembark on October 20, 2014 from the "Fiorillo" coast

guard boat in the Italian port of Palermo (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Rome (AFP) - The EU will launch a patrol mission in the Mediterranean on Saturday amid warnings the number of boat migrant deaths could rise with Italy mulling pulling the plug on its own rescue mission.

To complicate matters further, Britain said Tuesday it won't support the planned EU search and rescue operation, arguing it will create an unintended "pull factor" for more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossings,

Charities hand out shoes, water and food

 packages to migrant families rescued by 

Italian coast guards at the port of Palermo

(AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

The combined efforts of the Italian navy and coast guard have saved over 150,000 men, women and children attempting the perilous crossing from the coasts of North Africa this year so far.

But with the introduction of EU border agency Frontex's "Triton" mission, it is not clear whether Italy's "Mare Nostrum" rescue mission -- a large-scale deployment launched a year ago after two deadly shipwrecks -- will be scaled back or closed down entirely.

"Mare Nostrum is being wound up. There will be a formal decision during one of the next cabinet meetings," Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said recently.

But Alfano has also insisted the two operations are "totally distinct", as Triton will remain within European territorial waters, while Mare Nostrum rescues people in floundering boats and overcrowded dinghies from the Strait of Sicily to the coast of Libya.

Interior Ministry Undersecretary Domenico Manzione this month said Mare Nostrum "will continue until further notice. For now, nothing changes."

Aid agencies have warned the number of deaths in the Mediterranean -- which have topped 3,300 so far this year -- may rise if Italy cuts the chord.

A total of 32 boats have taken part in the Mare Nostrum mission, supported by two submarines as well as planes and helicopters, according to navy figures.

On average, a total of 900 men and women are manning the decks daily and pick up an average of 400 people every 24 hours -- tripling the number of arrivals in 2013. Their work has also led to the arrest of 351 human traffickers since the mission began.

Migrants wait to be identified by police

 after arriving in Italy's Palermo (AFP

Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Half of those rescued are asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea, the rest come from Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, the Palestinian territories or Somalia.

Shifting the burden

Despite winning high praise from the UN's refugee agency, Mare Nostrum has drawn criticism both at home and in Europe from those who say it is ferrying in immigrants rather than dissuading them from coming.

The planned EU operation will do the same thing, creating "an unintended pull factor, encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths," according to British foreign office minister Joyce Anelay.

London's position is to focus on "countries of origin and transit" and tackle people smugglers instead, she added.

Policing the coast also comes at a monetary cost and the Italian government, struggling to stave off a third recession in six years, is increasingly unwilling to shell out the 9.0 million euros ($11.4 million) a month needed.

Triton's budget is more modest, coming in at 3.0 million euros a month, with eight European Union countries pledging planes and boats for the operation.

Other countries will send teams to help Italy with the new arrivals -- in particular with registering fingerprints, amid concerns Italy is letting too many migrants slip through the net and make it to other countries, shifting the burden to other national asylum seeker systems.

A picture released by the Italian coast guard on June 14, 2014 shows a migrant boat

off the coast of the Calabria region in southern Italy, before being rescued (AFP Photo)

The majority of would-be refugees do not want to stay in Italy. The country registered 26,620 requests for asylum in 2013 -- just 6.0 percent of the number of requests made across the European Union.

In the same period, 125,000 requests were made in Germany, 65,000 in France and 55,000 in Sweden.

Catholic charity Caritas, Save the Children and the UNHCR have all insisted that, with a lack of commitment in Europe to finding legal ways for asylum seekers to escape their homelands, Italy cannot simply stop saving boat migrants.

In a bid to reassure critics, on October 16 Alfano said that "even after Mare Nostrum winds up, Italy will continue search and rescue missions at sea."

Related Article:

Italy phases out sea rescue mission for migrants

Plan won't save Great Barrier Reef: Australian scientists

Yahoo – AFP, Madeleine Coorey, 28 Oct 2014

An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia, taken

August 1, 2013 by the Australian Institute of Marine Science. (AFP Photo)

Australia's plans to protect the Great Barrier Reef are inadequate, short-sighted and will not prevent its decline, the country's pre-eminent grouping of natural scientists said Tuesday.

The draft plan, released for consultation last month, was supposed to allay concerns by the United Nations about the reef's health after UNESCO threatened to put it on the World Heritage "in danger" list.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is degraded

 and its condition is worsening, scientists

warn. (AFP Photo/William West)

Environment Minister Greg Hunt has said the proposal reflects an effort to balance the priorities of protecting the reef, which is teeming with marine life, and long-term sustainable development.

But the Australian Academy of Science warned that the plan ignored the impact of climate change and failed to address problems with poor water quality, coastal development and fishing.

"The science is clear, the reef is degraded and its condition is worsening. This is a plan that won't restore the reef, it won't even maintain it in its already diminished state," academy fellow Terry Hughes said.

"The plan also seems overly focused on the short-term task of addressing UNESCO's concerns about the reef's World Heritage Listing, rather than the longer-term challenges of restoring the values of the reef."

Hughes said while the plan identified targets for reducing harmful agricultural run-off, any improvements would likely be lost in the unprecedented amount of dredging for coal ports and the Queensland state government's plans to double agricultural production by 2040.

The survival of the reef depended on a reduction in pollution from run-off and dredging, less fishing and a decrease in carbon emissions from fossil fuels, he said.

FILE - In this Sept. 2001 file photo provided by provided by Queensland Tourism, an

 aerial view shows the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's Queensland state. Ocean acidification

 has emerged as one of the biggest threats to coral reefs across the world, acting as the

 "osteoporosis of the sea" and threatening everything from food security to tourism to livelihoods,

the head of a U.S. scientific agency said Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Queensland Tourism, File)

A vision for the reef

A spokesman for Minister Hunt said the "Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan" states the government's vision to improve the health of the reef over successive decades.

"We note the Academy is calling for such a vision, and it is front and centre of what we are working to achieve," he said.

He said the plan acknowledged that climate change was a global problem requiring global action, and was being addressed by the government through other policies.

The draft, prepared by the Australian and Queensland governments, calls for greater coordination between authorities in relation to the reef, a proposal welcomed by environmentalists.

It also urges a 10-year ban on dredging to develop new ports or to expand existing ones both inside and next to the World Heritage site -- apart from in priority port development areas.

A turtle is seen on Australia's Great Barrier

 Reef which supports a vast array of marine

life .(AFP Photo/William West)

And it bans future port developments in the Fitzroy Delta, Keppel Bay and North Curtis Island near Rockhampton -- areas of the reef described by environmentalists as key incubators of marine life.

But environmentalists have criticised the draft as not setting high enough targets for cutting agricultural pollution or providing the billions of dollars required to restore the health of the reef.

With the government's final reef plan due in December, WWF-Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society called for stronger action to protect the major tourist attraction.

"The reef is one of the world's great natural wonders and we cannot allow it to be turned into an industrial park and a shipping super-highway," campaigner Felicity Wishart said.

The colourful coral faces a number of pressures including climate change, poor water quality from land-based runoff, the crown-of-thorns starfish, which eat coral, and the impacts of coastal development and fishing.

Germany and the Netherlands end centuries-old border dispute

The Netherlands and Germany have long disagreed about where exactly their shared nautical border lies in the North Sea. A meeting of the two nations' foreign ministers finally put an end to the dispute.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Oct 2014

A border dispute is not an issue usually associated within the cut-and-dry framework of the European Union. Yet that's just what Germany and its neighbor, the Netherlands, finally laid to rest on Friday after centuries of discord over the between German East Frisia and Dutch West Frisia, according to German news agency dpa.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (above left) and his Dutch counterpart, Bert Koenders (right), met at the border between the German town of Emden and Delfzijl in the Netherlands, where the Ems River empties into the disputed Dollart Bay. The ministers signed an agreement that the border will remain ambiguous and both nations will share responsibility for the area.

"If only every conflict could be solved so easily," said Steinmeier, after he and Koenders signed the document, symbolically astride the deck of a ship, floating between both nations.

The agreement has important economic implications, as it has long been the site of contention between German and Dutch fisherman, as well as the 450 million euro- ($570 million) Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm, run by the German EWE energy company to the ire of Dutch protesters.

On the Dutch side, in Delfzijl, a coal power plant has been built which the German East Frisians say will pollute the river and the bay and hurt tourism - something they depend on. The government of Lower Saxony, the state to which East Frisia belongs, called it an "unfriendly act" on the part of the Dutch.

The document signed by Steinmeier and Koenders put these issues to rest, at least diplomatically, and the German wind farm no long stands on shaky ground in terms of international law. The responsibilities of both nations are now clearly defined.

Steinmeier called the agreement "a good result for the economy, for new wind farms and maritime interests."

Related Articles:

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China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

Russian Envoy Pledges Stronger Cooperation With Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Oct 22, 2014

Indonesian Navy ships at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Island province.
(Antara Photo/Joko Sulistyo)

Jakarta. The Russian envoy who made an official visit to attend the inauguration of Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s new president pledged for stronger economic cooperation between the two countries in a bid to boost trade and investment.

According to a statement from the Press Office of Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation, trade and investment between Russia and Indonesia is expected to reach up to $5 billion by 2016 from about $3 billion as of the end of last year.

“Both countries confirm interest in expansion into a new level of partnership between countries,” Russia said in the statement.

The statement adds that Joko emphasizes Indonesia is a maritime country and cooperation can help Indonesia to develop its maritime infrastructure.

Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov said Russia is eyeing for stronger cooperation in the area of shipbuilding, infrastructure construction, civil aviation and machinery.

The statement said Russian shipbuilder United Shipbuilding Corporation, along with more than 20 big Russian corporations, will participate in IndoDefense 2014 exhibition, which will take place in Jakarta in November.

Denis also confirmed plans of Moscow to supply up to 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ 100) aircraft to Southeast Asia’s largest economy within the next three years.

According to Tuesday’s report from Russian news agency RIA Novosti, under a deal signed in 2011, the Eastern European country agreed to supply 12 Sukhoi Superjet to Indonesian airline Sky Aviation. The contract was estimated at $380.4 million, RIA said.

Efforts to push the cooperation between the two countries had been made during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration.

Dutch dredging firms win new Suez Canal mega contract

DutchNews.nl, Monday 20 October 2014

(NOS/EPA)

Dutch dredging companies Boskalis and Van Oord have acquired a hotly contested contract to build a second Suez canal in Egypt. The contract is worth around $1.5bn, the Financieele Dagblad reported at the weekend.

‘It’s one of the biggest dredging jobs of the decade’, the paper quotes Boskalis ceo Peter Berdowski as saying.

The contract was signed at the weekend by the Egyptian prime-minister and the head of the  Suez Canal Authorities (SCA). Boskalis and Van Oord have formed a consortium with Belgian company Jan de Nul and NMDC from Abu Dhabi.

Congestion

The plan to build a second Suez Canal parallel to the existing canal was announced by president Al-Sisi in August. It is meant to put an end to the one way traffic in some parts of the canal and avoid congestion on one of the most important shipping routes in the world.

The project will also bring employment to the area, revive the economy and give a boost to national pride, the FD writes.

The canal generates some $5bn in toll revenue a year which makes it the Egypt’s biggest earner. A parallel shipping lane will almost double the number of ships that pass through the canal and take it from 49 to 97 ships a day. The Egyptian government expects toll revenue to rise to over $13bn annually.

Challenge

The consortium is going to have to remove 180 million cubic meters of sand in order to dig the 24 meter deep, 50km long canal. Time is short: the consortium only has ten months to finish the job and dredging boats from all over the world are converging on Egypt. ‘It’s going to be an enormous challenge,’ Berdowski is quoted as saying.

The Dutch consortium pipped the China Harbor Engineering & Construction (Chec) to the post, ‘probably because we were the only ones who could come up with the material in such a short amount of time,’ Berdowski told the FD.

Related Article:

'Great wall of Jakarta' plan to combat floods

Jokowi Touts Maritime Axis in Inauguration Address

Jakarta Globe, Oct 20, 2014

President Joko Widodo takes the oath of
office on Monday.  (EPA Photo/Adi Weda)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo used his inaugural address on Monday to reiterate his central program of turning Indonesia into a global maritime axis.

“The seas, the oceans and the bays are our future, and we have been neglected our seas, oceans and bays,” he told legislators and visiting world leaders at the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) building in Jakarta.

“This is the time to return to Jalesveva Jayamahe,” he added, citing the motto of Indonesian Navy, which is the Sanskrit for “In the sea we will triumph.”

Joko, speaking after taing the oath of office as Indonesia’s seventh president, said it was important for Indonesia, once a collection of disparate kingdoms renowned for their maritime prowess, to build on its immense wealth of maritime resources.

“To build Indonesia into a great, prosperous and peaceful country we must posses the soul of Cakrawati Samudra,” he said, again turning to Sanskrit to refer to a maritime nation with a strong merchant navy.

“As the captain of the ship, I invite all Indonesians on board to move toward a prosperous nation,” he added. “To all fishermen, laborers, farmers, meatball sellers, drivers, all the professionals — I call on you to work hand in hand because this is the historical moment for us to work, work and work.”

As part of his focus on maritime issues, Joko is expected to announce a new cabinet post of coordinating minister for maritime, natural resources and environmental affairs when he reveals his cabinet lineup tomorrow.

Interpol probing missing Kiribati fund donated by Taiwan

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2014-10-16

A press conference held by Taiwan's foreign ministry on the missing
aid fund in Taipei, Oct. 15. (Photo/CNA)

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati has launched an investigation into a missing aid fund donated by Taiwan earlier this year, a case in which Interpol has involved itself, officials said Wednesday.

Taiwan gave the money to Kiribati to help it purchase a landing craft to improve transportation around the nation. But Radio New Zealand International reported Tuesday that the aid fund has gone missing and Taiwan is demanding an explanation of what happened to the US$1.5 million.

The Kiribati Independent reported that the Kiribati government said "the money was wired to an overseas account, but apparently not that of the boat builder." Kiribati's commerce minister said that "the money has been stolen and there was nothing the government could do, but Kiribati police are now investigating," the report added.

Elliott Charng, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the initial results of the probe will be released soon, without giving a specific timeframe.

Charng said that in addition to the judicial probe launched by the Pacific nation, which has formal ties with Taiwan, Interpol has also involved itself in the investigation. Preliminary results have already been produced and will be released at an appropriate time, he said at a news conference called by Taiwanese lawmakers over the issue.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao said separately Wednesday that the funds consisted of A$1.7 million (US$1.5 million) donated to the nation of 100,000 people at a ceremony in January. She said Taiwan's embassy in Kiribati has checked with the government there on the progress of the aid project, as Taiwan regularly keeps track of aid given to its diplomatic allies.

"They had also reported to us on the process of the project," Kao added, though the regular checks were apparently not enough to prevent the funds from going missing.

Taiwan has expressed concerns about the lost aid fund and is seeking follow-up information from Kiribati, she said.

The Kiribati government has formed a task force to look into lapses in internal management of the money and will punish anyone found accountable, she said.

Kiribati is one of Taiwan's 22 diplomatic allies, most of which are Pacific island nations and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

'Great wall of Jakarta' plan to combat floods

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves, 15 Oct 2014

Children residing in the slum area play along a dyke as construction of the

Jakarta sea wall begins, October 9, 2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

Jakarta has launched a multi-billion-dollar scheme to build a huge sea wall to combat flooding as the Indonesian capital sinks, but there is scepticism about its chances of success in a country with a history of corruption and failed megaprojects.

The 35-kilometre (22-mile) wall, across the Bay of Jakarta off the city's northern coast, is the centrepiece of a project that will cost up to $40 billion over three decades, and also includes reclaiming land for 17 new islands.

The whole project will form the shape of a Garuda, the mythical bird that is Indonesia's national symbol.

Children residing in the slum area play 

along a dyke as construction of the 

Jakarta sea wall begins, October 9, 

2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

While the aim is to prevent floods, it is hoped up to one million people will live and work on the islands, and help take pressure off a crowded city notorious as one of the world's most uninviting urban sprawls.

Supporters of the project, which officially got under way last week and is run by the Indonesian government with help from Dutch experts, say it is the only long-term solution.

"It's a life-and-death situation," said Purba Robert M. Sianipar, a senior economics ministry official with a key role in the project, adding hundreds were at risk of losing their lives from severe flooding if action was not taken.

However, some wonder whether such an ambitious plan will ever be completed, given Indonesia's bad record on infrastructure projects, such as plan to build a monorail in Jakarta that was embroiled in a storm of corruption six years ago.

Chief Economics Minister Chairul Tanjung suggested as much at last week's launch event, saying disagreements with future governments could knock the project off schedule.

Others question the approach entirely, saying the project will not stop the city from sinking, while graft is also a major danger, with officials sometimes awarding tenders to unsuitable firms in exchange for large kickbacks.

Jakarta has long been hit by floods during the rainy season, when tropical downpours cause rivers to burst their banks and deluge inadequate drainage systems, forcing tens of thousands out of their homes.

Residents gather along a dyke in Jakarta

as construction of the Indonesian capital's

 sea wall begins, October 9, 2014 (AFP/

Photo By Romeo Gaca)

However in 2007, a new type of flood set alarm bells ringing.

Rivers could stop flowing

Slum neighbourhoods were inundated when a high tide surged over sea defences in northern Jakarta, something that had never happened before and which highlighted the severe land subsidence in many areas.

As Jakarta has rapidly grown to a population of about 10 million, increased water extraction for drinking has caused the ground to compact and parts of the city to sink, a problem seen in other coastal conurbations, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok.

Parts of coastal north Jakarta, which is built on soft clay, are sinking as fast as 14 centimetres (5.5 inches) a year, meaning they could be metres below sea level in a few decades, according to those behind the sea wall project.

"Basically we are pumping ourselves into the ground," said Victor Coenen, from Dutch consultants Witteveen and Bos, which devised the master plan for the project.

The subsidence also means the 13 rivers in Jakarta may sink below sea level and stop flowing, increasing the risk of inundations.

After the 2007 floods -- which forced hundreds of thousands out of their homes -- officials scrambled to come up with a plan.

It involves strengthening the current, low sea defences over the next few years to provide temporary protection for north Jakarta, home to more than four million people.

A wall of giant iron reinforcement pipes is installed during the construction

of the Jakarta sea wall, October 9, 2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

Work will then begin on the main wall, which will sit six to eight kilometres (four to five miles) from the coast and will be seven metres (23 feet) above sea level.

Construction of the wall will be finished between 2025 and 2030, while development on the islands -- which will have a mix of high-end and low-cost housing -- could take another decade.

A huge reservoir will be created between the islands and sea wall, where water from downpours can be stored so it does not flood the city, and into which rivers will be able to flow freely.

Plans are also in progress to slow the land subsidence by providing piped water to Jakarta from other areas and stop extraction of ground water.

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Draft of the Master Plan for National Capital Integrated Coastal Development. 
(JG Screen Grab courtesy of the website of the Coordinating Ministry of
Economic Affairs)

Sumba powers up with renewables

Indonesian island hopes to spark green power revolution.

The Star – AFP, Angela Dewan, May 26, 2014

Catch the wind: Villagers erect a windmill on a field of small wind turbines
in Kamanggih, Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP

AN Indonesian family of farmers eat cobs of corn outside their hut under the glow of a light bulb, as the women weave and young men play with mobile phones.

Until two years ago, most people in Kamanggih village on the island of Sumba had no power at all. Now 300 homes have access to 24-hour electricity produced by a small hydroelectric generator in the river nearby.

“We have been using the river for water our whole lives, but we never knew it could give us electricity,” Adriana Lawa Djati said, as 1980s American pop songs drifted from a cassette player inside.

While Indonesia struggles to fuel its fast-growing economy, Sumba is harnessing power from the sun, wind, rivers and even pig dung in a bid to go 100% renewable by 2025.

The ambitious project, called the “Iconic Island“, was started by Dutch development organisation Hivos and is now part of the national government’s strategy to almost double renewables in its energy mix over the next 10 years.

Sumba, in central Indonesia, is an impoverished island of mostly subsistence farmers and fishermen. Access to power has made a huge difference to people like Djati.

“Since we started using electricity, so much has changed. The kids can study at night, I can weave baskets and mats for longer, and sell more at the market” she said.

While only around 30% of Sumba’s 650,000 people have been hooked up to the power grid, more than 50% of electricity used now on the island comes from renewable sources, government data show.

Hivos field co-ordinator Adrianus Lagur hoped the project would be replicated by other islands in the same province of East Nusa Tenggara, one of the country’s poorest.

Indonesia is one of the region’s most poorly electrified nation, partly because it sprawls over 17,000 islands of which more than 6,000 are inhabited.

Despite enjoying economic growth of around 6% annually in recent years, Indonesia is so short of energy that it rolls out scheduled power cuts that cripple entire cities and sometimes parts of the capital.

To keep up with growth, Indonesia is planning to boost its electricity capacity by 60 gigawatts over a 10-year period to 2022. Twenty percent of that is to come from renewable sources.

“Indonesia has been a net importer of oil for years, and our oil reserves are limited, so renewables are an important part of our energy security,” said Mochamad Sofyan, renewable energy chief of state electricity company PLN.

Hefty electricity and fuel subsidies have been a serious burden on the state budget.

But small-scale infrastructure, like mini hydroelectric generators and small wind turbines that power Sumba are not enough to close the national energy gap, even if they were built on all Indonesia’s islands.

Massive hydropower and geothermal projects, which use renewable energy extracted from underground pockets of heat, are needed to really tackle the nationwide problem, said Sofyan.

Indonesia, one of the world’s most seismically active countries, also has the biggest reserves of geothermal, often near its many volcanoes and tectonic plate boundaries. It is considered one of the cleanest forms of energy available.

But geothermal is largely untapped as legislation to open up exploration moves slowly and the industry is bound in red tape.

Sofyan said there is also concern that Sumba’s target to be powered 100% by renewable energy is unrealistic.

“In the long term, we see Sumba still relying somewhat on diesel generators. It will be powered predominantly by renewables, but I don’t think it will be able to switch off the grid,” Sofyan said.

Hivos admits its goal is ambitious, saying it is “inspirational and political” rather than technical but the NGO believes the target may be achievable even in the long term.

Nonetheless the Sumbanese are reaping the benefits of the green energy sources already available, which have lifted a considerable financial burden for many due to reduced costs for wood and oil.

Elisabeth Hadi Rendi, 60, in the town of Waingapu, has been farming pigs since 1975, but it was only two years ago when Hivos visited her home that she came to understand the power of porcine poo. Pigs are commonly kept in Sumba, a predominantly Christian island in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Each day Rendi shovels dung from the pig pens and churns it in a well, after which it is funnelled to a tank and converted into methane gas. It has saved her household around six million rupiah (RM1,680) in two years, a significant sum for a typical Sumbanese family.

“We also make fertiliser from the waste to use in our garden, where we grow vegetables,” said Rendi. “We eat the vegetables and feed some to the pigs too, which will become biogas again, so the energy literally goes round and round.” — AFP

Beijing blasts ROK coast guard over shooting of Chinese fisherman

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-10-11

A CT scan released by the ROK shows a bullet wound on the left abdomen
of the dead fisherman, Oct. 10. (Photo/Xinhua)

China on Friday voiced strong discontent over heavy handedness by the Republic of Korea (ROK) coastguard, which caused the death of a Chinese fisherman.

The fisherman was shot dead by the ROK coastguard Friday morning in a confrontation over alleged illegal fishing in ROK waters.

"China is shocked by the violent law-enforcement of the ROK side," said foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei at a routine press conference.

China demands South Korea begin an immediate and thorough investigation of the incident, appropriately punishing those responsible for the fisherman's death, and inform China promptly of the progress and outcome of the investigation, said the spokesperson.

Song Houmu, 45, the skipper of the 80-ton fishing vessel Noyoung 50987 was shot by an ROK coastguard officer on board his own ship in waters some 144 km west of Wangdeung Island, North Jeolla province, and died later in hospital.

Hong said the Chinese Embassy and Consulate to the ROK immediately lodged a protest, sent consular officers to the scene, and will closely follow developments in the case.

Lego to end partnership with Shell after Greenpeace pressure

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 09 October 2014

(NOS/ANP)

Lego is ending its partnership with Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell after a Greenpeace campaign showing Lego figures disappearing under oil in the Arctic went viral.

The YouTube video, which has been viewed over six million times, shows the Arctic slowly disappearing under oil as a Shell flag waves and a suited  businessman smokes a cigar.

Lego chief executive Jørgen Vig Knudstorp said in a statement Lego will honour its existing deal with Shell, which began in 2011, but that as things stand, the contract will not be renewed.

According to the Guardian, Lego’s partnership with Shell dates from the 1960s and has involved Shell-branded toy sets being sold around the world.

More on this

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Glasgow becomes first university in Europe to divest from fossil fuels
Heirs to Rockefeller oil fortune divest from fossil fuels over climate change