Fighting animal cruelty in LatAm, one tweet at a time

MSN – AFP, Alina Rodriguez, 10 Feb 2015

Veterinarian Carmen Soto treats a toucan that lost the upper half of 

his beak after being attacked by youths, on February 4, 2015. (AF)

Veterinarian Carmen Soto is gently swabbing what is left of Grecia the toucan's bright beak, preparing to fit him with a prosthesis to replace the part hacked off by vandals.

The images of the bird's mutilated red-and-yellow beak caused outrage last month in Costa Rica, where donations for a prosthesis came pouring in after his story went viral on social media -- a new weapon in the fight against the age-old problem of animal cruelty in Latin America.

Appalled citizens sent in $3,000 to outfit Grecia with a prosthetic beak after a gang of rowdy youths attacked the bird, which activists say is a sort of half-wild, half-tame mascot for the central town of Grecia.

A similar case shook Honduras in January, when a group of young people blew up a stray dog with fireworks and posted a video online.

And in Peru, social media users were repulsed when a man whose children had been bitten by the neighbor's dog claimed revenge by tying the animal to the back of his car and dragging him through the street.

Veterinarian Carmen Soto, in charge of an animal rescue centre, in
La Garita, Alajuela, 45 km north of San Jose. (AFP)

Such cases usually go unpunished in Latin America, where laws against animal cruelty are mostly weak or non-existent.

The network of organizations fighting the phenomenon is also small and underfunded.

But social media is changing that, said Cynthia Dent, executive director for the Humane Society International in Latin America.

"Twitter and Facebook have increased our awareness of cases of cruelty in Latin America, said Dent from the Costa Rican capital San Jose, the group's regional headquarters.

"In the past we would only hear about it when there was a case reported in the press. But now we have outraged people who take advantage of social media to highlight these cases of cruelty and join forces against them."

Those protests are starting to spill over from the Internet to the street, pressuring the authorities to act.

"The visibility that social networks give to animal cruelty puts more pressure to pass laws," Dent told AFP.

$2 fines

Demonstrators have held rallies in recent months in Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay calling for harsher laws to fight animal cruelty.

In countries such as Mexico and Uruguay, animal cruelty is a crime but offenders are rarely punished.

Most countries in Latin America impose only a small fine for abusers.

In Colombia, for example, the fines range from $2 to $20.

"These laws are on the books, but they're not enforced. Prosecutors aren't trained to implement them," said Leonora Esquivel, head of animal rights group Anima Naturalis Mexico.

In Costa Rica, a country whose economy depends on tourists drawn to its world-famous rainforests and wildlife, activists are calling on Congress to impose prison terms for animal cruelty -- a fight that has gained momentum since the attack on Grecia the toucan.

Lawmakers wary of the legislation are trying to amend it to continue allowing bullfights, a tradition inherited from Spain during the colonial era that remains popular in much of Latin America.

In Venezuela, bullfights remain legal alongside cockfights and "coleo," a Latin American twist on rodeo where cowboys on horseback try to grab young bulls by the tail and pull them to the ground.

Bulls are also at the center of a legal row in Colombia, where a court last week ordered the reopening of the bullfighting ring in the capital Bogota, whose mayor, Gustavo Petro, had ordered it closed in 2012 as part of a campaign against cruelty to animals.

Taipei keeper fined for letting dog ride on top of van

Want China Times, CNA 2015-02-08

The dog, which aroused controversy, jumps on the top of a vehicle in New
Taipei city, Feb. 7. (Photo/ Hsieh Wen-hsuan)

A dog owner has been fined for allowing his dog to stand on top of his small van during a drive in suburban Taipei, despite the family's insistence that the dog rode there voluntarily, police said Saturday.

The Tamsui Police Station said it took action after seeing a photo posted on the Internet of a car with four dogs in the vehicle — including one that stood on top of it.

The police said they learned about the situation when carrying out their regular monitoring of the internet, and then located the driver, surnamed Su, and his wife, surnamed Cheng, who denied that they forced the dog to stand on the top of the van.

Cheng said the dog was used to doing that, but she admitted that animal protection officials had warned them about the practice before.

She said that the dog has always held its footing when taking its position on top of the vehicle and that she and her husband drive slowly to get the dog accustomed to the traffic flow.

Su was condemned by many netizens as being "abusive" after the picture was posted online.

Ministry: Indonesia Has Only Four Decent Zoos

Jakarta Globe, Vento Saudale, Feb 08, 2015

In this file photo taken on April 17, 2013, an ailing critically endangered
Sumatran tiger named Melani is fed from an enclosure at the Surabaya Zoo.
(AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto)

Pasuruan, East Java. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has given the management of the vast majority of Indonesian zoos a piece of its mind, saying there are only four decent wildlife parks throughout the archipelago.

Indonesia currently has 58 registered zoos, but 54 of them are either deemed improper by the government or are not yet officially accredited.

Bambang Dahono Adji, the ministry’s director for conservation, said that only half of the nation’s zoos had gone through the accreditation process, and that most failed to make the cut.

“Out of those 29 zoos, only 4 received the A-grade, meaning they are decent and appropriate,” he said on Saturday. “While the others were given Grade B [less than decent] or C [bad].”

The four zoos that do make the grade are Taman Safari Cisarua in West Java, Taman Safari Pasuruan in East Java, Taman Safari Gianyar in Bali, and Sea World in Jakarta.

The accreditation process is conducted once every five years by representatives from the government, veterinarians and other experts who look at animal welfare, animal death rates and the zoo’s facilities, among other things.

“We will evaluate from time to time whether [a park's] accreditation result gets better or worse,” Bambang said. “It’s possible for a Grade-A zoo to get a lower grade in its next accreditation. For those with Grade C, if they don’t get their act together, the ministry will recommend that their license be revoked.”

Bambang admitted that state-run zoos have been performing poorly, but he said he expected plenty of improvement in the near future, as the government has been investing in human resources.

Surabaya Zoo is the most notorious wildlife park in the country, for its high rate of animal deaths.

The zoo lost its permit in 2010 over a tug-of-war over control of the zoo by the previous management. The management fiasco resulted in the massive neglect of the animals and dozens of deaths, including of critically endangered species, and the loss of some animals suspected to have been sold into the illegal wildlife trade. But Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini in August last year announced major changes in the running of the zoo.

Before the mayor stepped in, a lion was found strangled to death in its enclosure after getting tangled in a cable that was hanging loose near its door. And in 2012, the zoo’s only giraffe was found dead with a 20-kilogram ball of plastic trash in its stomach. The plastic was believed to have accumulated from trash thrown into the giraffe’s enclosure by visitors. There was also a case in 2011 of three baby Komodo dragons going missing — presumably sold into the illegal wildlife trade.

E. Kalimantan to Stop Issuing Mining Permits in Forests

Jakarta Globe, Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Feb 05, 2015

The governor of East Kalimantan has said he will no longer issue permits
for mining or plantations. (Antara Photo)

Samarinda. The governor of East Kalimantan has announced a plan to stop issuing land-use permits for mining and plantation concessions in the province’s forests.

“Starting from this year, there will be no more permits for land lend-use for coal mining and forestry activities,” East Kalimantan governor Awang Farouk Ishak said on Thursday.

Awang said he was confident banning the awarding of concessions for mining and logging would not hamper the province’s economic growth. He said the measure was necessary to protect the environment for the longer term.

A land permit, known as a IPPKH, is required for companies wanting to carry out economic activity in forestry areas.

Awang said the government would still issue licenses for infrastructure projects, such as power plants or roads. But he emphasized that the government would tighten the monitoring of the permits it does decide to issue.

“After the permit is issued the progress of the development would be tightly monitored because we don’t want the permit to be misused,” he said. “Excessive land conversion is very concerning and will affect the effort to achieve food security status.”

Pakistan prepares for Saudi royal to hunt 'protected' birds

Yahoo – AFP, 2 Feb 2015

A falcon (R) tries to catch a Houbara bustard during a falconry competition,

 part of the 2014 International Festival of Falconry, in Hameem, 150km west of

 Abu Dhabi, on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - Pakistani authorities are finalising arrangements for a Saudi prince to visit its southwestern desert region to hunt the Houbara bustard, a bird supposedly protected by law, officials said Monday.

An advance party has already been reached the Yak Much desert in the province of Baluchistan along with falcons which will be used to catch the bustard, officials said.

Saudi Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz is expected to join the group in coming days. He led a hunting party to Baluchistan last year that officials said killed more than 2,000 bustards.

The birds are listed as "vulnerable" and declining in numbers by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List" of threatened species. Hunting them is banned in Pakistan.

But authorities issue special permits to wealthy visitors from Arab countries. Permit holders are in theory restricted to hunting a maximum of 100 of the protected birds over 10 days, but only in certain areas.

A Houbara bustard flies during a falconry competition -- part of the 2014

 International Festival of Falconry -- in Hameem, 150km west of Abu Dhabi,

on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

Saifullah Zehri, district forest officer for wildlife in Chagai district of which Yak Much is a part, told AFP the advance party arrived on Sunday in a C-130 transport plane.

"They were fully equipped and had all the material which is required for bird hunting," Zehri said.

Arab sheikhs are known as enthusiastic hunters, travelling to Pakistan each year to hunt the bird using the traditional Arabian method. They arrive by private jets from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

According to conservative estimates, between 500,000 and a million birds of all species migrate through Pakistan each year -- flying south from Siberia to pass the winter in Central and South Asia.

Hunt: Fahd bin Sultan is said to have killed

1,977 houbara bustards in just 21 days while

on holiday

Related Articles:

Bustard act: Saudi prince accused of slaying 2,000 near-extinct birds while on safari in Pakistan (April 24, 2014)

Tanzania ditches plan to evict Masai for Serengeti 'wildlife corridor'

Botswana to ban wildlife hunting

Spain's King Juan Carlos poses in front of a dead elephant

on a hunting trip in Botswana, Africa. Photograph: Target

Press/Barcroft Media

Spain's king ousted as WWF honorary president

Spain's King Juan Carlos under fire over elephant hunting trip

'Tiger heavyweight' Nepal hosts anti-poaching summit

Yahoo – AFP, 1 Feb 2015

Nepal's success in turning tiger-fearing villagers into their protectors has seen 

none of the endangered cats killed for almost three years, offering key lessons

for an anti-poaching summit opening shortly in Kathmandu (AFP Photo)

Kathmandu (AFP) - Nepal's success in turning tiger-fearing villagers into their protectors has seen none of the endangered cats killed for almost three years, offering key lessons for an anti-poaching summit opening in Kathmandu on Monday.

Experts from conservation group WWF, which is co-hosting the conference with Nepal's government, said the Himalayan nation was a "tiger heavyweight" in the battle to fight poaching and protect them from extinction.

"Nepal and India are our tiger heavyweights leading the region. India excels at recovering tiger numbers and Nepal at zero poaching," said Mike Baltzer of WWF Tigers Alive Initiative.

Hundreds of young volunteers act as

 unofficial guards for Nepal's national parks,

 home to 198 tigers and 534 rhinos -- both

 listed as critically endangered species by

WWF (AFP Photo)

India in January reported a 30 percent jump in tiger numbers since 2010, while Nepal saw numbers rise almost two thirds between 2009 and 2013. Its last reported poaching incident was in March 2012.

Decades of trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the global tiger population from 100,000 a century ago to approximately 3,000, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Tikaram Adhikari, director general of Nepal's department of national parks and wildlife conservation, said an initiative to convince villagers to inform on poachers and pay them half of tourism revenues had paid huge dividends.

"Earlier, some villagers even protected poachers because they didn't want tigers attacking them. We heard them out, built electric fences, focused on increasing tourism and gave them a big cut of the revenues," Adhikari said.

"Now they know the benefits of protecting tigers and they want to help. The survival of the animal is a matter of prestige for them," he told AFP.

Hundreds of young volunteers act as unofficial guards for Nepal's national parks, home to 198 tigers and 534 rhinos -- both listed as critically endangered species by WWF.

A tip-off by local villagers meant police were able to arrest four poachers less than a week after they allegedly killed a tiger in 2012, Adhikari said.

Nepal has twice been recognised for going a full year with no poaching incidents involving tigers or rhinos.

The impoverished country's success in combating wildlife crime sends a clear signal that "anti-poaching cannot be left only to conservationists," WWF Nepal's Diwakar Chapagain said.

"We have to involve people on the ground -- volunteers and local law enforcement must have a stake in the process. Otherwise conservation is not sustainable," Chapagain told AFP.

"Spending money and running awareness campaigns is not enough. You need boots on the ground and that's where local communities and law enforcement play an important role in cracking down on poachers," he said.

The five-day anti-poaching summit, which opens Monday evening, will see experts and officials from 13 countries meet to launch an Asia-wide push to fight wildlife crime.

Countries with tiger populations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -- in 2010 launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.

Related Article:

Tiger nations to set up anti-poaching network

Group Urges End in Trading of Indonesia’s Endangered Primates

Jakarta Globe, Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, Jan 30, 2015

This handout photo taken on June 9, 2013 and released by Sumatran Orangutan
 Conservation Program on June 10 shows a slow loris in a private zoo on the outskirts
 of Kandang town in Aceh province on Sumatra island, where animals are displayed for
visitors and buyers. (AFP Photo/Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program/Paul Hilton)

Jakarta. Environmental group Protection of Forest and Fauna, or ProFauna, celebrated Indonesian Primate Day on Thursday with a nationwide campaign advocating for an end to the trade of primates in Indonesia, particularly those that are endangered.

The group said three protected primates are widely traded as pets in Indonesia, mainly through online forums and chatrooms: the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus), the Javan lutung (Trachypithecus auratus) and the silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch).

All three “are popular with buyers because they are considered cute,” ProFauna spokesman Swasti Prawidya Mukti said.

The Javan slow loris is listed as “critically endangered” by International Union for Conservation of Nature due to rapidly declining habitat and poaching.

The same organization listed the Javan lutung as vulnerable and the silvery gibbon as endangered.

The three species is protected by law, but this has done little to actually protect them, Swasti said, such as enforcement of poaching laws.

“The trade [in protected primates] is no longer done in markets, but has moved online,” she said, adding that the primates are usually sold as babies, and often had their teeth clipped by poachers; adults, particularly lorises, can be quite aggressive.

Protected primates usually fetch between Rp 3 million and Rp 5 million ($240 and $400) online, while non-protected one like the long-tailed macaques sell for around

Rp 300,000.

ProFauna has lobbied several major online forums in Indonesia to ban users from trading endangered species, with mixed results.

Jokowi Folds Emissions Agency BP REDD+ Into Forestry Ministry

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon & Adelia Anjani Putri, Jan 29, 2015

Indonesia has the third largest area of tropical rainforest on the planet, but
also one of the fastest rates of deforestation. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has disbanded Indonesia’s BP REDD+ agency, which was established in 2013 to help the country meet greenhouse gas emission targets from deforestation, and merged it with Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The decision, which was issued via Presidential Decree No. 16/2015 issued on Jan. 23, will see the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Management Body, as well as the National Council on Climate Change, folded into the ministry.

Both agencies are peak government bodies whose role is crucial to halting Indonesia’s rapid deforestation rates and mitigating climate change.

“The task and function of reducing greenhouse emissions conducted by BP REDD+ as stated in Presidential Decree No. 62/2003 now will be integrated as the ministry’s task and function,” Article 59 of the decree said.

There was no elaboration on the technical arrangements, but the decree said that the authority would be given to minister Siti Nurbaya.

BP REDD+ was founded in 2013 by then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of Indonesia’s $1 billion REDD deal with Norway.

In 2009, Indonesia pledged to cut deforestation rates — which are estimated to be some of the fastest in the world — by up to 41 percent by 2020. A year later Indonesia signed a letter of intent with Norway, which outlined Indonesia’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation of peatland, in exchange for payments of up to $1 billion from Norway.

BP REDD took over from the REDD+ Task Force, which was established in 2010, and has since worked on Indonesia’s REDD+ planning, including projects such as the One Map initiative — a centralized forestry map, which is aimed resolving conflicting land claims that have hampered emissions reductions targets.

The decision to disband the agency has met a mixed response from some within Indonesia, but Norway’s ambassador to Indonesia Stig Traavik took a cautious tone when contacted on Thursday.

He said it was natural for a new government to want to “manage things their own way” and Norway was open to some changes.

When asked whether he thought Joko was serious about Indonesia’s environmental pledge, he replied the two countries had a long partnership on climate issues and he was confident things would progress.

“We have heard about the decision but not in detail. The main thing now is how to reach the goal together,” Traavik said.

Abetnego Tarigan, executive director at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, said for certain issues the merger could be positive.

“The previous president formed BP REDD+ with the help of the Norwegian embassy as a debottlenecking attempt in the efforts of solving environmental issues in Indonesia,” he said.

“However, the problems have been that the ministries were not working well because they couldn’t work hand in hand.”

Abetnego said what was important was whether efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were effective.

“If merging BP REDD+ was an attempt to kill it all … I think that would be a colossal mistake,” he said.

“With the merger, the assumption is that there wouldn’t be any difficulties in solving environmental issues, as the ministry is a big institution and also has regional units in many areas.”

William Sabandar, former deputy of operations at BP REDD+, was less affirmative about the decision.

“This is how I see it as a former deputy of BP REDD+. What’s certain is that the presidential decree violates the agreement between the Indonesian government with the Norwegian government which is stated in the Letter of Intent in 2010.”

He said it was sad to see that the merger had not been considered thoroughly in terms of its local, national and international effects.

“The international dimension would be how they would consider Indonesia’s important role in the global climate change movement.

“The national dimension is how serious we are in boosting the country’s forest and land management across the archipelago.

“The local dimension is the BP REDD+’s role in involving the society and boosting welfare.”

Thousands of live cats from China seized in Vietnam

AsiaOne - AFP, Thursday, Jan 29, 2015

HANOI - Thousands of live cats destined "for consumption" have been seized in Hanoi after being smuggled from China, police said Thursday, but their fate still hangs in the balance.

Cat meat, known locally as "little tiger", is an increasingly popular delicacy in Vietnam, and although officially banned is widely available in specialist restaurants.

The truck containing "three tons" of live cats was discovered in the Vietnamese capital Tuesday, an officer from Dong Da district police station told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The truck driver told police he had purchased the cats in northeastern Quang Ninh province, which borders China, and that they had all been sourced from the neighbouring country.

He told police the cats were destined "for consumption" in Hanoi, without specifying whether they would be sold to restaurants.

The officer said that according to Vietnamese laws on smuggled goods, all the cats would have to be destroyed.

"But we have not made up our mind what to do with them" because of the large volume of animals, the policeman said.

Photos on local media websites showed the smuggled cats crammed into dozens of bamboo crates stacked on top of one another.

Vietnam has long banned the consumption of cat meat in an effort to encourage their ownership and keep the country's rat population under control.

But there are still dozens of restaurants serving cat in Hanoi and it is rare to see felines roaming the streets -- most pet-owners keep them indoors or tied up in fear of thieves.

Such is the demand from restaurants that cats are sometimes smuggled across the border from China, Thailand and Laos.

Cat meat is not widely eaten in China but can be found at some restaurants, particularly in the south, where it is sometimes considered a speciality.

Related Article:

Cats smuggled from China buried alive in Vietnam

National park planned at cradle of China's major rivers

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-28

The Ngoring Lake in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Madoi,
Qinghai province, August 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

China plans to build a national park in the Sanjiangyuan region, the cradle of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers in northwest China's Qinghai province.

A guideline for the park has been completed by a design institute under the State Forestry Administration, Wang Enguang, chief engineer with Qinghai's forestry department, said on Tuesday.

The park will cover more than 30,000 square kilometers, including the rivers' sources in Madoi, Zhidoi and Zadoi counties. If the plan is given the green light, construction can begin as early as the end of this year.

At an average altitude of 4,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Sanjiangyuan region is a paradise for herders and wildlife, such as the Tibetan antelope. "Sanjiangyuan boasts a highland ecosystem comprising glaciers, meadows and wetlands. It's not common in China, even Asia, and has extremely high scientific value," Wang said. It is home to over 70 animal species under state protection.

Global warming and human activity since the end of last century have led to deterioration of the natural environment, shrinking wetlands, decreasing water levels in lakes and water flow in the headwaters, as well as increasing desertification.

Hoping to repair the fragile ecological system, China established the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve in 2000. Five years later, a 7.5 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) ecological conservation project was launched in the region. In last January, a second-phase conservation project for Sanjiangyuan started with an investment of 16 billion yuan (US$2.56 billion).

Thanks to the efforts, the forest coverage rate in Sanjiangyuan increased from 3.2% in 2004 to 4.8% in 2012, and is expected to reach 5.5% by 2020.

Two Earthquakes Hit North Nias; No Tsunami Alert

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Jan 27, 2015

A screenshot of the United States Geological Survey website showing the
location of Tuesday morning's earthquakes in Nias Island. (JG Screenshot)

Jakarta. Two earthquakes rattled the island of Nias off the North Sumatra coast on Tuesday morning, but did not trigger a tsunami warning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to property.

The first quake, of magnitude 5.7, struck at 7:53 a.m. on the northeastern tip of the island, sending residents fleeing from their homes.

“The earthquake lasted for about five to seven seconds,” said Faozaro, head of the North Nias Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), as quoted by Tempo.co. “We can ensure that the earthquake won’t cause a tsunami.”

A second quake, of magnitude 4.9, hit just nine minutes later, about four kilometers south of the first one.

The BPBD has deployed officers to North Nias’s 11 subdistricts to survey any damage. “As of now, there have been no reports of injuries or damage to houses,” Faozaro said.

Related Article:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

Home cheap home: Vietnam architect's quest for low-cost housing

Yahoo – AFP, Cat Barton, 25 Jan 2015

Farmer Vo Van Duong rests inside a S-House 2 built in his garden in Vietnam's

 southern Mekong delta province of Long An on December 11, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Hoang Dinh Nam)

Long An (Vietnam) (AFP) - Vo Van Duong's bamboo and coconut leaf house looks much like others deep in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. But unlike them, his seemingly simple abode is designed to withstand typhoons, flooding and earthquakes -- and at a cost of less than $4,000 could herald a new wave of cheap, sustainable housing.

The natural materials on its surface belie the hi-tech internal structure of the farmer's new home, which uses steel struts and wall panels as a defence against the elements in this natural disaster-prone region.

Architect Vo Trong Nghia speaks during 

an interview with AFP in Ho Chi Minh City

on December 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang

Dinh Nam)

"The new house is safer, I'm not afraid that it will collapse," the 48-year-old papaya farmer told AFP inside the house he moved into nine months ago.

Duong is testing a prototype by an award-winning Vietnamese architecture firm looking for low-cost housing solutions for communities vulnerable to climate change.

His S-House 2 was free, but if rolled-out on a wider scale could be sold for less than $4,000.

"There was water coming down from the roof in my old house. Sometimes, when there was a strong wind, I was so afraid the house wouldn't survive," Duong said, adding his new home was the envy of his neighbours.

The eco-home is the brainchild of Vo Trong Nghia, who joins other architects around the world in trying to fill a demand for cheap and easy to assemble housing -- from flat-pack refugee shelters to shipping-container homes for tsunami victims.

He says all architects have a duty to help the poor.

"What about those with low income, billions of them, how can they live?" Nghia told AFP. "They have the right to live in comfortable, functional places."

But he wants to go further, creating a home residents can take pride in.

"I don't want people to be looking at it as 'cheap houses' but as resort-quality accommodation close to nature, so (residents) can live a life of the highest quality."

Farmer Vo Van Duong in the garden of a S-House 2 in Vietnam's southern Mekong

delta province of Long An on December 11, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

Flat-pack homes

The design is still being refined by his team, who are eventually aiming to create a flat-pack home. The newest version, S-House 3, can be built by five people in three hours.

"Our goal for S-house is for the owner to construct it by themselves," said Kosuke Nishijima, a partner at the firm.

The latest design also allows for multiple houses to be tacked together, a function that could allow, for example, the construction of a storm-proof school easily transportable to remote areas or a larger family home.

Nghia has already been approached by NGOs in disaster-prone Bangladesh and the Philippines, but is not yet ready to supply the house commercially.

From saline-intrusion and flooding in the Mekong Delta to typhoons along the central coast, Vietnam is also home to communities living in high risk areas.

For decades, Vietnamese families have adapted their houses themselves, many building ad hoc mezzanines to avoid flooding.

In more recent years organisations including the Red Cross and Women's Unions, as well as local authorities, have been trying to help people develop more resilient housing.

A bedroom inside an ecologically conscious traditional Vietnamese tube house

 designed by architect Vo Trong Nghia's company, in Ho Chi Minh City on 

December 12, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

But in order to ensure such projects are successful, "private architects' support is critical", according to Boram Kim, an urban specialist with UN-Habitat in Vietnam.

"State and local government authorities are well aware that such houses are needed for the poor, but have little technical knowledge for realising their ideas," she told AFP.

"Architects have technical knowledge for reducing the housing construction cost while making it storm proof," she said, cautioning that it was important for designers to listen to the needs of local communities.

Architect for the poor

Nghia's firm found that one of the problems facing rural Vietnamese living in traditional bamboo shacks or stilted river-bank dwellings is the costly upkeep they require to withstand increasingly extreme weather.

Although the S-House 2's outer casing of coconut leaf may need replacing every four years, the structure itself should require no expensive maintenance, said engineer Lien Phuoc Huy Phuong.

A series of concrete slabs and gaps filled

 with plants in the facade of an ecologically

 conscious traditional Vietnamese tube house

 designed by architect Vo Trong Nghia's 

company, in Ho Chi Minh City, on December

12, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Ding Nam)

"It can last a long time, the structure is sound," he told AFP during a tour of the small building. 

Despite its solid exterior, the house is spacious and airy inside, with large windows and doors to bring residents closer to nature.

"We tried to design this house with the best ventilation system, with spaces by the roof and windows for better air flow," Phuong said, pointing out strategic gaps that should reduce the need for electric fans.

Architect Nghia, who used bamboo as a key element in Vietnam's country pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, has long sought to incorporate natural and local materials into his work.

One of his first projects in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City was an ecologically-conscious take on a traditional Vietnamese tube home, known as Stacking Green house.

Built in 2011 for around $150,000, the building is made of a series of concrete slabs and gaps filled with plants to provide privacy while still allowing plenty of air and light.

Nghia is in strong demand for high-end projects from hotels to private houses, but said the low-cost S-House is his personal obsession.

"I want to live in S-House. If my family will agree," he said.

Snow leopard spotted in Sichuan panda habitat

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-25

One of the images of the snow leopard caught on camera. (Photo/CNS)

A wild snow leopard was caught on camera in a nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan province, the reserve's administration said on Wednesday.

A camera set up at an altitude of 4,096 meters spotted the rare snow leopard twice earlier this month, the first finding of the snow leopard in the Fengyongzhai National Nature Reserve.

The snow leopard was roaming in a core panda habitat when caught on the camera, said a chief ranger of the nature reserve.

More than 10 cameras were set up in the nature reserve last October in an initiative to protect the snow leopards in Sichuan province.

The findings will help add to knowledge of the precious species, said Deng Jiangyu, a researcher at the reserve.

India's tiger population jumps 30 percent

Yahoo – AFP, 20 Jan 2015

The census found 2,226 tigers in India last year compared with 1,706 in 2010.
(AFP Photo)

New Delhi (AFP) - India, home to most of the world's wild tigers, on Tuesday reported a 30 percent jump in numbers over four years in a rare piece of good news for conservationists.

A census found 2,226 tigers in India last year compared with 1,706 in 2010, officials in New Delhi announced.

Environment minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the rise as a "huge success" as India battles to save the endangered animals from poachers and smugglers as well as destruction of their natural habitat.

"While the tiger population is falling in the world, it is rising in India. We have increased by 30 per cent from the last count. That is a huge success story," Javadekar said at the release of the census.

The minister cited improved management of India's more than 40 tiger reserves for the increase.

He said the government was working to reduce deadly encounters between tigers and villagers, as farmers encroach on forest land and the big cats leave reserves to search for water and food.

Some 9,700 hidden cameras were used in known tiger habitats including in the northeast state of Assam and western Rajasthan to take photographs of the animals for the count.

More than half of the world's rapidly dwindling wild tiger population lives in India, but the country's conservation programme has been working to halt their decline.

The numbers have been rising since they dropped to 1,411 in 2006 but the current population still remains a long way off 2002 when some 3,700 tigers were estimated to be alive in the country.

There were thought to be around 40,000 tigers in India at the time of independence from Britain in 1947.

Authorities across Asia are waging a major battle against poachers, who often sell tiger body parts to the lucrative traditional Chinese medicine market, and other man-made problems such as development leading to habitat loss.