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  • Energy-Climate & Environment
26 August 2019

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  • ASEAN

On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the middle of the Philippines, taking more than 6,300 civilian lives and displacing four million residents.

With food prices surging, livelihoods ruined, and homes lost, the storm—one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded—pushed more than a million more Filipinos into poverty in an already poor country.

From cyclones and floods to droughts and heatwaves, a relentless sequence of natural disasters continues to hit the Asia-Pacific region, causing the greatest damage in poor and marginalised communities, according to the 2019 Asia-Pacific Disaster Report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

“Most of the poor communities in the region live in high disaster risk areas, and they have limited means to cope with and prepare for the frequent extreme climate events that result in them being hit the hardest,” said Tiziana Bonapace, director of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and disaster risk reduction division at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

When disasters erode livelihoods, vulnerable families often find themselves stripped of their ability to absorb shocks. And as they try to cope by decreasing nutritional intake or removing children from school, parents inadvertently pass poverty down to their children—a vicious cycle that inhibits poverty reduction and threatens to reverse hard-won development gains in the region, reads the analysis.

By 2030, the study estimates, 56 million people in the region will live in extreme poverty, but unless governments in Asia-Pacific take adequate measures to build up communities’ resilience to mitigate disaster risks, this number could more than double to 123 million.

Preparing communities for the worst requires funding, posing a financial challenge for the region, Bonapace told Eco-Business. But with hazards on the rise, the damage and losses from unmitigated disasters will be a far greater burden than targeted investments in resilience made now, she said.

Already, the annual economic loss for Asia and the Pacific resulting from natural hazards amounts to a staggering $675 billion, the report has found.

The 2019 Asia-Pacific Disaster Report comes in the same week that WWF revealed in a study that the vast majority of banks in Asean are indifferent to the threats posed by climate change and other environmental and social ills in their lending operations. More than nine in 10 banks in Asean still finance carbon intensive coal power plants, and not a single bank adequately addresses water risks, the WWF has found.

It is the responsibility of governments to protect their people, and ensure resilient and sustainable development.

Tiziana Bonapace, director, disaster risk reduction division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

In Asia-Pacific, the UN study says, the intersection between risks from disasters and socioeconomic vulnerabilities is particularly pronounced because the region is home to a number of fragile hotspots with populations vulnerable to droughts, floods and other climate-related hazards.

These include, for example, the transboundary river basins of South and Southeast Asia, where poverty and hunger are coupled with exposure to intensifying floods alternating with prolonged droughts, and the Pacific Small Islands Developing States such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa, where populations and infrastructure are highly vulnerable to sea-level rise.

The region is also more exposed to disaster risks than any other in the world. Last year, nearly half of the 281 natural disaster events worldwide occurred in the Asia-Pacific, the study shows.

And in the face of accelerating climate change, such hazards are only going to increase in intensity and frequency, said Winston Chow, associate professor of humanities at Singapore Management University and one of the lead authors for the sixth assessment report on climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is due in 2021.

“Climate change will increase the risk exposure of people living in cities, especially those along the coast, and the risks of these will depend on their location. Cities in areas where more intense tropical cyclones are expected to make landfall, for instance, will be in a particularly difficult situation in the years to come,” he told Eco-Business.

Outpacing disaster risk

Vulnerable groups, the study has found, are often excluded from the benefits of investment in resilience due to barriers in accessing land, reliable early warning systems, finance and decision-making structures.

To close this gap and make disaster resilience more inclusive, governments have to cease treating social policies and disaster resilience as separate policy domains, according to Bonapace.

In other words, policy reforms for more inclusive and empowered societies, such as pro-poor growth strategies and investments in the social sectors of education, health and social protection, can bring down the number of people living in extreme poverty substantially in spite of natural hazards—if they are informed of such risks, she explained.

Conversely, communities where poverty compounds vulnerabilities need to be identified in order to tailor investments to local contexts, the UN report reads.

Different groups have unique vulnerabilities and capacities, after all, but just as diverse are the reasons why communities find their ability to cope with natural hazards eroded, ranging from socio-economic circumstances to environmental fragility—and interventions must take all these into account, the study shows.

In regions stricken by environmental degradation, for instance, restoring polluted groundwater bodies or replanting lost forest can boost communities’ resilience to water shortages or floods, respectively.

A major obstacle is that official data collection systems which help governments analyse trends of complex disaster risks often exclude the most vulnerable who are difficult to reach. To reduce such barriers, emerging technologies, ranging from geospatial and satellite data to data sets from mobile phone tracking and computer-based flood models, could play a vital role, the study shows.

With steep disaster losses and the nexus between poverty, inequality and disaster risk growing stronger, the need for governments to act becomes increasingly urgent, said Bonapace.

She adds: “It is the responsibility of governments to protect their people, and ensure resilient and sustainable development.”

  • Eco Friendly Vehicle
26 August 2019

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  • ASEAN

All around Southeast Asia, experiments in the electrification of transport are underway. Buses in Thailand, cars in Malaysia, scooters in Myanmar, bicycles in Singapore, and jeepneys in the Philippines. But, as sea levels rise around the climate-vulnerable sub-region, what about transport of the seafaring variety?

Hans van Mameren, a septuagenarian Dutchman who runs Singapore-based renewable energy consultancy Energy Renewed, has an ambitious plan to electrify one million diesel boats in Southeast Asia.

The aim? To build a sustainable business ecosystem around e-boats, and in so doing reduce the region’s reliance on fossil fuels, curb pollution, and improve the health and livelihoods of local communities in one of the regions at greatest risk from climate change.

Van Mameren and his team were inspired by the Ikea model of homeware distribution and assembly when they came up the plan. His company will supply the parts for the boats and instructions for how to assemble the kit, but ultimately, the vessels will be put together by local boat builders who can sell off the completed boats and turn a profit.

Van Mameren and Frederik Sarwa

Van Mameren (right) accompanies Frederik Sarwa, a Biak tribesman from Raja Ampat, who is carrying an outboard motor that is to be converted into an electric engine in Singapore. Image: Eco-Business

“The whole world is in hot pursuit of electric cars, buses and scooters. But they forgot about boats. There are literally millions of boats in Southeast Asia. If you let this market get away, you’re making a big mistake,” said Van Mameren, who spent 50 years in the shipping business before launching his clean energy venture in 2017.

A lot of boats

Heavy, diesel-powered wooden boats are the primary form of transport for navigating the waterways of developing Southeast Asia. Referred to as rua hang yao in Thailand, thuyền gỗ in Vietnam, bangkas in the Philippines and jukungs in Indonesia, these vessels are typically made of timber from fully-grown trees and crafted by local boat builders. Motor engines, fuelled by diesel, are then fitted so that the boats can traverse long distances.

Southeast Asia simply could not function without this life-supporting mode of transport. The Philippines is made up of 7,641 islands, while 13,466 islands make up the Indonesian archipelago. One of the most important rivers in the world, the Mekong, is home to 60 million people spread across Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand who live along its tributaries and depend on the river for food, water and jobs.

colorful fishing boats mekong vn

Fishing boats anchored on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Image: Xuanhuongho / Shutterstock.com

Many of the region’s boat users are fishermen; one fifth of the world’s fish catch comes from Southeast Asia, and Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines make the list for the world’s top 10 fish producers.

Another big part of the region’s boat fleet is devoted to tourism; popular travel destinations such as Krabi, Phuket, Boracay and Bali use smaller vessels for island-hopping tours.

The idea

Boat in Indonesia with solar panels on its roof

What won’t work. With only two solar panels on its roof, the solar capacity of this heavy wooden boat in Indonesia could only power the lighting, says Van Mameren.

Increasing boat numbers have sparked concerns over fuel leaks and noise pollution, which harm marine life and affect fisheries and the quality of tourist sites. Responding to this need, renewable energy solutions such as solar-powered boats have been making waves in Southeast Asia.

Besides creating the boat assembly kit, Van Mameren’s bigger ambition is to work with solar technology specialists to install solar panels in villages where his electric boats operate. These panels will supply clean energy to charge the boats and also provide electricity for daily consumption—an important bonus for those living off-grid.

Describing local boat builders as “craftsmen”, Van Mameren is confident that locals who use wooden boats can easily translate their traditional boat building skills into the modern composite boat building that is needed for electric boats. His assembly kits will come with an instruction manual in the local language, and he also intends to organise training sessions to familiarise local boat builders with the assembly procedure.

Van Mameren also thinks that his idea, while expensive at the outset, will generate savings over the long term.

According to his calculations, Indonesian fishermen in the divers’ paradise of Raja Ampat, West Papua, spend about half of their incomes on fuel. So, instead of selling the assembly kit at prices that are beyond the incomes of local boat folk, he intends to work with local dealers to lease his electric boat assembly kits at prices lower than what they would spend on fuel.

Perhaps the biggest appeal of Van Mameren’s solution is its capacity to double as a rural electrification scheme. If he can secure partners to install solar panels on his customers’ homes, he thinks that locals are very likely to embrace his renewable energy solution.

“Most fisherman load ice blocks from the main ports and ferry them back to their villages to preserve their catch. If they have electricity in their villages, they can power small refrigerating units and preserve their fish there,” said Van Mameren.

The future

Currently, Energy Renewed’s team of engineers in Singapore is working on a prototype for their electric boat assembly kit, and they plan to go to market by the end of 2020. Two prototypes have been designed, one for a catamaran and another for a longboat.

The prototype of Energy Renewed's e-catamaran

The prototype of Energy Renewed’s electric catamaran. Image: Energy Renewed

How fast and how far the project will go depends whether Energy Renewed can secure the necessary funding, get the right partners on board and win support from policymakers.

“If they [policymakers] can drive the initial wave of change from traditional boats to electric boats, then we have a greater chance of success,” said Van Mameren. “If they are still subsidising and promoting fossil fuels, then it’s harder for us. If governments plan for all cars to be electric in five to ten years’ time, then we can simply say, do boats too.”

The end-of-life sustainability of the electric boats, which will be made from lightweight but non-biodegradable fibreglass, will also depend on local industrial waste management policies. Van Mameren recalls seeing old wooden boats laying abandoned in creeks and ports in West Papua.

As he looks for partners and funding for his renewable energy solution, Van Mameren is optimistic about the scalability and replicability of his idea.

“The principle and concept works everywhere, you just have to adjust it slightly to the local situation. After all, a boat is a boat,” he said.

  • Renewables
26 August 2019

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  • Indonesia

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and PT PLN (Persero) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of exploration studies and drilling of production wells in the Mataloko Geothermal Working Area (WKP).

The MOU was signed by the Head of Geology Agency Rudy Suhendar and PLN’s Strategic Procurement 1 Director Sripeni Inten Cahyani in July 2019.

Head of Research and Development Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Dadan Kusdiana said the government is committed to increasing the electrification ratio in NTT Province through accelerating electricity infrastructure projects that are sourced from geothermal energy. The signing of the MoU was seen as a form of government commitment.

Flores Island in NTT has 12 regions with geothermal potential, three of which have obtained WKP management permits, namely Ulumbu, Mataloko, and Sokoria with a total installed capacity of 12.5 MW.

With the utilization of geothermal potential, in the future it is expected to significantly increase the electrification ratio in NTT. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources noted the electrification ratio of NTT was among the lowest in Indonesia with 72 percent achievement as of June 2019.

“Along with the development of tourism in the region, electricity demand in NTT continues to increase. Currently, most of NTT’s electricity needs are still being supplied by diesel power plants [PLTD],” he said through an official statement.

In this collaboration, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources through the Public Service Agency (BLU) Center for Research and Development of Electricity Technology, New Energy, Renewable and Energy Conservation (P3TKEBTKE) and BLU Institute for Oil and Gas (Lemigas) will carry out several geothermal studies, including studies risk mitigation, geophysical geochemical geological studies, analysis of environmental impact (EIA) studies, and the use of mobile hydraulic rigs.

Previously, the Lemigas BLU and PLN had worked together to provide consulting services for calculating the actual losses of the Arun Block regasification and procurement of consulting services for the study of gas prices for PLN electricity.

The role of the Geological Agency in this collaboration will be carried out by the Center for Mineral Resources, Coal and Geothermal (PSDMBP) because it has the capability and equipment for geothermal exploration drilling.

Meanwhile, PT PLN Gas and Geothermal (PT PLN GG) as a subsidiary of PLN that handles gas infrastructure and the supply of geothermal electricity, was assigned to develop the Watal Mataloko in the construction of a 2.5 MW PLTP.

  • Others
26 August 2019

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  • Indonesia

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s new capital city will sit at the nexus of the country’s coal and oil hubs in eastern Borneo, the president revealed on Aug. 26.

President Joko Widodo, who has long teased relocating the capital from the chronically congested and fast-sinking Jakarta, announced that the new capital would straddle the border between the two districts of North Penajam Pasar and Kutai Kartanegara, in East Kalimantan province.

“It’s a strategic location in the middle of Indonesia,” the president said at a press conference in Jakarta. He said the location was chosen based on a three-year assessment of the risk of disasters such as floods, landslides, forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.

Widodo said the government already owned 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land there, an area about the size of London. He also cited its proximity to Balikpapan, the country’s oil hub, and Samarinda, the East Kalimantan provincial capital. Both cities have an international airport. Balikpapan is also home to refineries and a busy seaport, while Samarinda hosts the country’s main coal terminal. Kutai Kartanegara, in which the new capital will sit, is Indonesia’s biggest coal producer.

A map showing East Kalimantan province, in light red, and the two districts of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara. Indonesia’s capital will straddle the border area between the two districts. Image courtesy of President Joko Widodo’s Twitter account.

Construction is expected to begin as early as 2021, with a completion date of 2024, when Widodo’s second and last term in office ends, according to Bambang Brodjonegoro, Indonesia’s planning minister.

“The masterplan that we’ve been developing will hopefully become an ideal city, and most importantly, will be the standard for the development of big cities in metropolitan areas in Indonesia,” Bambang told reporters in Jakarta on Aug. 1.

The first phase of the city slated for completion in 2024 will span 2,000 hectares (nearly 5,000 acres), or almost six times the size of New York City’s Central Park. By 2045, the new capital will be spread over 200,000 hectares of land — and no protected forests will have to be deforested for the new development, according to the planning minister.

That’s because the new capital will have at least 50 percent “open green space,” which includes recreational parks, a zoo, botanical garden, and sports complex “integrated into the natural landscape such as hilly areas and river systems,” Bambang said.

“The open green space won’t mean it’s cleared land, but an actual green area, and our concept is that of a forest city,” he said. “So as we build the new capital from zero, we will also restore the environment in Kalimantan. This is our strategy to ensure that the environment will not be disturbed as the development of new capital takes place.

“Our big commitment is that this won’t reduce the size of protection area forest in Indonesia,” he added.

Bambang has not shared with any outside environmental groups or experts what the concept of a “forest city” entails, or how it would be possible to create extensive urban space within a forested environment without disturbing the ecosystem.

The planning minister said the move would cost an estimated $33 billion, with the government intending to cover less than 10 percent of that and encouraging public-private partnerships to finance the bulk of the development costs. Some 1.5 million people, mostly civil servants, will move from Jakarta to the new capital.

President Widodo, center, visits a location in East Kalimantan province in July with regional government officials. Image courtesy of the East Kalimantan government.

Kalimantan is home to 37 million hectares (91 million acres) of tropical forest, about 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of which are designated as protected areas, according to the national statistics agency. Before its separation with North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan had the largest span of protected forest in Indonesian Borneo, covering more than 2.8 million hectares (6.9 million acres).

Indonesian Borneo, known as Kalimantan, is the third most populated region in the country, after the islands of Java and Sumatra (both of which are significantly smaller in size), and the government estimates the current population of about 16 million will increase by nearly a third to more than 20 million by 2035.

The region is home to indigenous communities whose lives revolve around intact forests, as well as to critically endangered species such as Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus).

But industrial-scale forest clearing in recent decades — for mining, logging, and oil palm cultivation — has threatened the well-being and lives of both human and animal inhabitants of Kalimantan. The extensive draining of the island’s peat forests to make way for agriculture has also rendered the organic-rich soil highly flammable. In 2015 alone, nearly half of the deforestation recorded in Indonesia, or nearly 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) of forest loss, occurred in Kalimantan.

A recent study evaluating large-scale road-building projects in Kalimantan, ongoing and planned, shows that they will fragment the forests further, threatening the forest corridors vital to the wildlife. Such a transformation, the authors say, is “worrisome” because the region hosts one of the world’s largest tracts of native tropical forest, spanning an area a quarter the size of Alaska.

The plan has also sparked worries it will exacerbate environmental and social problems in Kalimantan, which has a long history of deadly conflicts between the indigenous population and migrants from other islands. Indigenous rights activists warn there could be a surge in land grabs as speculators look to cash in on demand for land for the new capital.

Aerial view of a village in Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan province, on Dec. 18, 2017. Image by Nanang Sujana/CIFOR.
  • Energy-Climate & Environment
25 August 2019

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  • Singapore

SINGAPORE — Some activists believe that while more Singaporeans are aware of climate change, their level of understanding is still superficial, and that habits are not yet changing enough to make a significant difference.

Corporations, government bodies and the wider community are mostly underestimating the seriousness of the issue, and more needs to be done urgently to tackle the crisis, they add.

Mr Sivasothi N, 52, a senior lecturer at the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS) is among those who have been struck by the change in mindsets here — even if it’s at a modest level.

He told TODAY on Friday (Aug 23) that he was surprised to hear that the administrative officers at NUS were receptive when a group of student activists asked for more plant-based options to be available in the canteens university-wide. Growing plant-based food produces far less carbon emissions than meat products, for example.

“This is so crazy. It’s not something that was happening 10 years ago, it’s no longer a strange idea. The modern individuals who care about this now have support from their peers and even the authorities,” he said.

Mr Sivasothi said that the change he has observed in the mindsets of Singaporeans over the last decade has been “phenomenal”. Previously, such demands would have never been entertained by the authorities, he added.

MORE BECOMING MINDFUL OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Some middle-aged Singaporeans are getting the message from the young.

Madam Chan Yen Ling, 51, has started to make the conscious choice to refuse plastic bags from the cashier since she attended her daughter’s graduation in Edinburgh, Scotland in July.

Her daughter, 22, who studied Ecological and Environmental Science at the University of Edinburgh, makes a habit of taking grocery bags to the supermarket.

For Mdm Chan, a key moment in her change of habit was seeing an image of a whale which had died after ingesting too many plastic bags in the ocean.

“I saw that whales have died because they are too full of plastic. Such a terrible way to die. And we lose such a magnificent animal all because of plastic bags. These kinds of animal stories will affect me a lot so I will really try to use less plastic bags, or use it many times to try and maximise it,” she said.

An environmental activist Ms Maria Tan, 24, has also observed a mindset shift over the years where environmental issues are now spoken about more frequently.

“Climate change has gotten a lot more airtime in recent years, especially in 2018. I think it is also because there has been more media coverage on environmental issues over the past few years,” said the co-founder of Back to Ground Zero, a local environmental group.

Earth Society vice-president, Mr Low Chip Khoon, 46, has noted a rise in the number of companies which have approached the group to conduct talks about climate change.

Once the message of climate change is made clear to the attendees, they are usually keen on learning how they can do their part to mitigate the effects of climate change, he added.

BUT UNDERSTANDING IS STILL SUPERFICIAL

Ms Tan Beng Chiak, 57, who is a member of the Nature Society Singapore and a board member of the Jane Goodall Institute, said that while Singaporeans have become more aware of climate change, most are still largely unaware of the consequences of their actions on the environment.

“Even though they know it is a concern, they will still prioritise their own needs, such as turning the air-conditioning on or running the tap,” she said.

“It is still unlikely that Singaporeans would go out of their way to ensure that their actions do not have any impact on the environment,” she added.

“People are also not concerned about finding out where their money is going, whether their banks are investing in ventures that ruin the environment,” she said.

Agreeing, Ms Lee Guat Keow, 51, said that younger people still place greater importance on efficiency and convenience over thinking carefully about their consumption habits.

Ms Lee, an art therapist and school counsellor who is passionate about the environment, said she observes that the younger generation — including her own children — still choose their own comfort and desires over being more prudent about their use of resources.

“They consume to meet their needs, buying a lot of clothes or throwing things away mindlessly when they are in a rush. They take it for granted that someone will take care of it so they do not consider the repercussions of their actions. My kids, their clothes will just pile up and pile up,” she said.

Mr Subaraj Rajathurai, 56, director of Strix Wildlife Consultancy, a local natural history group, emphasised that the severity of climate change needs to be fully understood as current estimates may not accurately reflect the reality of the climate crisis.

“We have to look at the reality in the long term. Based on (Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech) the other day, we are slowing down our emissions by 2030. But if you calculate it, our emissions will still be higher than what they are today. We have to look harder at what significant changes can be made,” he said.

SEVERITY OF ISSUE MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED

Nominated Member of Parliament Anthea Ong warns that by not taking climate change seriously, the Government and society at large may overlook the consequences it may have on social structures in Singapore.

Ms Ong told TODAY on Thursday (Aug 22) that young people have spoken to her about their fears of having children, given the alarming picture that reports on climate change paint.

“Many young people have recently lamented to me that they do not think they will have kids because of their dystopian view of the future with climate change, and therefore, they see no need to get married if that’s the case,” she said.

These are anxieties that are often not taken into account when we discuss how to tackle climate change, but they should not be neglected, she added.

“We should be taking note of this. The older generation may not realise the kind of impact that climate change has on the younger generation in terms of making big life decisions. And this is something that will possibly continue to grow in the future,” she said.

GOVERNMENTS, CORPORATIONS TO TAKE THE LEAD

Ms Tan said that ultimately, public awareness is not enough to move the needle on slowing down the rate at which climate change is rearing its ugly head.

“At the end of the day, we need a combination of political, commercial and industrial will as well as public (awareness) to make a change. I do think that the people who need to change (their mindsets) the most are the industries because their actions will be more impactful than the layman,” she said.

She added that policies should not only be focused on adapting to the problem. More attention needs to be directed to ramping up awareness and mitigation efforts.

Making reference to PM Lee’s speech, Ms Tan said that as an educator, she was upset that Mr Lee did not speak more about how to raise understanding of climate change.

“If we don’t teach it in schools, who is going to do the understanding of climate change and how it will affect Singapore? (The Government) cannot tell us we are not doing enough while not providing Singaporeans with the information on how they can do their part,” she added.

Mr Aidan Mock, 23, an undergraduate at Yale-NUS College and one of the co-founders of Fossil Free Yale-NUS, said that activism must go beyond straws and plastic bags to really make a difference. Greater public awareness of the impact that industries have on emissions can help to put pressure on them to halt the burning of fossil fuels.

“Bigger institutional action such as divesting from fossil fuels or shutting down fossil fuel plants have a huge impact and are attractive areas for individuals to spend (their) time and energy advocating for,” he said.

He warns that leaving governments to proceed with “business as usual” will not do much to slow down the current trajectory of climate shifts and “greater political action” is needed to really get the ball moving in the right direction.
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-singaporeans-are-conscious-climate-change-awareness-enough-slow-unfolding-crisis

  • Renewables
24 August 2019

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  • Philippines

COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is eyeing the use of solar energy as a source of power for its communities.

This, as the Germany-based WeGen Company, has expressed interest in helping the region solve its electrification problems.

“We have yet to see the overall picture of the power energy situation of the region, then surely we could come up with certain remedies on the matter,” Charlito Ayco, chief growth officer of WeGen Philippines, said in an interview on the sidelines of the August 22-23 1st Bangsamoro Energy Forum and Planning Workshop held here.

WeGen targets to eradicate energy poverty worldwide through clean, affordable, and renewable energy, with the use of solar power technology.
“You see, our firm is ‘mission-based’ as we cater to areas we see have long been affected by electrification and other power woes,” Ayco said.

On Friday, the BARMM’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE) wrapped its two-day forum with inputs leading to a regional power summit planned to take place before the yearend.

“The just-concluded forum is aimed for us to have a plan before holding a big summit. We are planning to have an energy summit,” MENRE-BARMM Minister Abdulrauf Macacua said.

Macacua said the forum, which carried the theme “Strengthening Opportunities for the Bangsamoro Energy Sector as Catalyst for Regional Development” and was attended by more than 100 stakeholders, was a prelude to the conduct of the energy summit with President Rodrigo R. Duterte as the guest of honor.

Apart from WeGen, the MENRE minister said many other investors, both local and foreign, have shown interest in investing in the development of sustainable energy in the region.

“Our potential partners are looking at renewable energy and one of those is solar power, they are more inclined on that,” he said, citing Germany as among the potential investor.

“Germany, for example, they came to us for the sole purpose of seeing the possibility of putting up solar or renewable energy,” Macacua said.

Meanwhile, BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim said he believes that renewable energy is important to sustainable development.

“Providing households access to electricity is vital in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), specifically SDG 7, which calls for access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all,” he said.

Ebrahim said his leadership prioritizes “the protection of our environment and bringing renewable energy to the far-flung areas in the region.”

The MENRE-BARMM is responsible for preparing, integrating, coordinating, supervising, and controlling all plans, programs, projects, and activities of the region related to energy exploration, development, utilization, distribution, and conservation.

During the forum, Dr. Norodin Salam, MENRE-BARMM deputy minister of energy, also presented to the stakeholders their office’s mandates and strategic direction in achieving sustainable energy for the region.

The BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur; the cities of Lamitan, Marawi, and Cotabato, and 63 villages in six towns of North Cotabato. (PNA)

  • Others
24 August 2019

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  • Vietnam

When a Chinese state-owned survey vessel sailed into waters off Vietnam’s coast in early July, it unleashed a high-seas standoff with trillions of dollars at stake that risks drawing in Russia and the U.S.

For weeks now the Haiyang Dizhi 8 has zigzagged across a square block of water to study the seabed in an active drilling block operated by Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil PJSC. Satellite images show more than a dozen Chinese and Vietnamese coast guard ships maneuvering around the surveyor, which at one point included a heavily-armored Chinese cutter known as “The Beast” that is larger than most American destroyers.

The location is particularly worrying for smaller countries looking to extract oil and gas from disputed parts of the South China Sea: It sits three times closer to Vietnam than the Chinese mainland. While Beijing has long sought to disrupt exploration in parts of the sea that fall under its expansive claims, its naval buildup and moves to construct military assets on disputed reefs over the past decade have allowed it to more aggressively assert its interests further from its shores.

“It’s the growing intensity or frequency of these occurrences that truly differs from the past,” said Collin Koh, a research fellow from Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The current standoff “could’ve sufficed to make investors think twice about staying on that offshore project, and this might even serve as a deterrence to future investors who might want to anticipate and avoid being embroiled in such troubles.”

The Chinese move comes just as it’s holding negotiations on joint exploration in a disputed area with the Philippines, which has sought closer ties with Beijing since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power. Vietnam has persistently rejected China’s nine-dash line map of the sea as a basis for cooperating on energy resources, prompting tensions to increase as Beijing’s military strength grows.

The U.S. this week criticized China’s move to send the survey to Vietnam as “an escalation by Beijing in its efforts to intimidate other claimants out of developing resources in the South China Sea.” The State Department statement said China was blocking Southeast Asian nations from accessing an estimated $2.5 trillion in unexploited hydrocarbon resources.

Read more: China Is Winning the Silent War to Dominate the South China Sea

For Vietnam — a country that produced 22-33 million tons of oil from its offshore blocks each year, and has as much as 4.4 billion tons in crude oil and gas reserves there — armed Chinese ships within its maritime border could have a devastating impact on an industry that made up 20% of Vietnam’s GDP from 1986-2009.

China defended the provocation, saying Vietnam should not have carried out its decision in May to unilaterally begin exploitation work in a “Chinese jurisdiction.”

“This is the cause of the current situation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday.

Rosneft declined to comment.

Duterte’s Conundrum

While the Philippines produces very little offshore oil and gas by comparison, data shows deposits in the disputed Reed Bank to the west could amount to as much as 5.4 billion barrels and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of oil and gas respectively. Any attempt to extract it however would likely face strong resistance from China.

“Anything that the Philippines tries to do, particularly at Reed Bank, is going to met with the same kind of response that we’re seeing right now off the coast of Vietnam,” said Gregory Poling, director of the Washington-based think-tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

Weekly transgressions from China near its coast has also cast a shadow over Duterte’s final years in office amid his pursuit of warmer ties with Beijing. The Philippine Armed Forces said this month they’ve consistently spotted armed Chinese warships sailing through its territorial waters since early July. The presence of Chinese surveyors in its exclusive economic zone this month prompted a diplomatic protest, said Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, who was mindful that China now has the largest naval force in the region.

“Our nightmare — we send a ship and a big Chinese ship laughs at it. What do we do,” Locsin wrote in an email. “They claim it is all theirs. We claim it is all ours.”

This all follows the deployment of a maritime militia and so-called fishing fleets known to harass fisherman throughout the region. A high-profile incident in June included a Chinese vessel colliding with a trawler, leaving 22 Filipino fishermen stranded at sea.

“It is indicative of how much China has expanded its operations in and through Filipino waters on account of the government’s accommodation of China,” Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

Code of Conduct

With Duterte and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping set to discuss recent activities in the South China Sea later this month in Beijing, Xi will be hoping to make progress on a joint exploration deal that would serve as a major concession in the ongoing code of conduct negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean.

According to a leaked draft of the negotiating text of the code of conduct dated June 2018 and seen by Bloomberg, China has stated its intention to achieve exclusive joint explorations in the South China Sea by eliminating any foreign presence. The draft also expresses China’s intent to win veto rights over any joint military exercises with foreign militaries and attain regular joint patrols with Southeast Asian countries.

The pursuit of such an agreement demonstrates Beijing’s resolve in win administrative control within its so-called “nine-dash line” encompassing some 80% of the South China Sea, while recent incidents openly challenge a 2016 Hague Tribunal ruling.

Observers say the increased hostilities in the South China Sea may be an attempt by China to coerce the 10-nation bloc to yield to China’s demands within a self-imposed deadline of three years — when Duterte’s term comes to an end.

“These actions are designed to shape the other parties’ calculus to take into account their interests with China in mind,” said Koh.

Risk of Conflict

With Vietnam less likely to yield to such pressure, China has engaged in several high-stakes deployments in recent weeks, including conducting twomilitary exercises near the disputed Paracel Islands, lifting a controversial fishing ban and testing new warships and weapons in the Gulf of Tonkin, prompting concerns the two nations may wind up in open conflict.

“This is the most tense we have seen the relationship between Vietnam and China in five years,” said Poling from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. “Even if things are relatively quiet, they don’t seem like they are going to stay that way.”

China has repeatedly talked down the escalation calling on Vietnam to respect China’s sovereign rights.

“China hopes to join hands with regional countries to maintain stability in this area, with a focus on the negotiation of the code of conduct,” Zhu Feng, executive dean of The Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies at Nanjing University, said during a phone interview.

In an attempt defend their maritime claims as well as wade the growing geopolitical rift between the U.S. and China, Asean in June adopted its own version of an Indo-Pacific strategy in June, though its own signatories admit it has serious limitations.

“Southeast Asia had best focus its attention and confine its resources to the South China Sea instead of looking farther out in pursuit of a policy that reeks of containment,” said Philippine Foreign Minister Locsin.

  • Others
24 August 2019

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  • Myanmar

The long-awaited dream of turning Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub, into a smart city may soon be realised with the support of Amata Corporation Pcl, Thailand’s largest industrial estate developer.

VikromKromadit, chairman of Amata Corporation Pcl, said at a signing ceremony on Thursday (August 22) that the firm would bring advanced technology and quality investors to Myanmar while ensuring environment protection for the local communities.

“We will take on a grand project, unforgettable in the history of your country. We will make sure that Yangon becomes one of the best future cities in Myanmar,” he said.

“We will bring good investors in line with the All Win philosophy, which means we will not only bring the best customers but also protect the environment. We will ensure the future Yangon city will be better than Amata in Thailand.”

At the event, Vikrom sought support from the regional authorities. He called for one-stop service so that investors do not need to visit various government offices before building their factories in a 2,000-acre [5,059 rai] industrial estate, to be developed by Yangon Amata Smart and Eco City (YASEC), a subsidiary of Amata Corporation, in cooperation with Myanmar’s Department of Urban and Housing Development (DUHD).

“We just need the licence and the land. We would like to start immediately,” he said.

Vikrom expects to start construction work once the rainy season is over. Amata’s team in Myanmar is now much bigger than that of three years ago. He also takes pride in saying that Amata now has more than 1,300 factories with an extensive workforce of over 300,000 employees, contributing US$500 million in tax to the Royal Thai government every year.

“Today, I come back with a new dream. We are expanding our presence in the whole region, and Myanmar is the most important destination for us because nowadays a lot of Thai companies are coming here,” he said.

With Japanese corporations such as Toyota having established their presence in Myanmar, Vikrom is fully confident that the nation could take advantages of geopolitical issues including international companies moving out of China amid its prolonged trade war with the US.

“It is a good time, even though we are a little bit late,” he said.

“In our planning for the first phase, we are targeting an inflow of $1 billion in foreign direct investment and job opportunities for nearly 30,000 people. We expect the government to receive at least $60 million in taxation.”

Vikrom said PTT Co would establish a 600-megawatt power plant, supplying natural gas to Yangon in order to meet the city’s surging demand for electricity once the industrial park becomes operational.

“As the largest company in Thailand, PTT accounts for over 20 per cent of Thailand’s GDP [gross domestic product]. It would like to invest in this power plant in Yangon. They would like to install their equipment as soon as possible, and they are willing to provide all the gas Yangon needs in the future,” he said.

Vikrom, together with Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, witnessed the signing of a framework agreement to turn Yangon into a smart and eco city with supporting infrastructure, logistics, services and other related businesses. According to the agreement, DUHD will hold a 20 per cent stake in the mega project.

YasuoTsutsui, managing director of YASEC, said the project would come with huge employment opportunities, reduce regional poverty and promote capacity building for peopole in Myanmar. He said the green and smart technology concept would be adopted in project management.

“It will be the first sustainable eco city in the country,” he said.

“We believe it will meet all the conditions of a sustainable city with the focus on providing an eco-friendly environment, quality employment opportunities, education, healthcare and commercial facilities in a single venue.”

Ye Sit Min, deputy director at DUHD, told The Nation that the framework agreement is the very first step in the implementation of the large-scale industrial estate which will ultimately become much larger than the Thilawa Special Economic Zone upon completion.

According to the official, the first phase would be developed on 200 acres [506 rai] in the East Dagon township of Yangon. Light and medium scale industries will be prioritised in the initial phase which is scheduled for completion in two years.

“Today, we signed the framework agreement and hope to enter into a joint venture agreement soon. We will immediately implement the project once we have received the permit from the Myanmar Investment Commission,” he said.

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