Surprise Contenders in Global Biodiesel Race

Sara Goudarzi, Yahoo News 8 Nov 07;
Special to LiveScience

Thailand, Uruguay and Ghana could become the leading producers of biodiesel, according to a new study that ranked the potential of 226 countries to generate large volumes of the fuel at low cost.

Not surprisingly, the researchers uncovered the United States—a top grower of soybeans—and Brazil, currently a major biodiesel producer, as major players in the field.

But they wanted to identify developing countries that already export significant amounts of vegetable oils but have not considered turning the oil into biodiesel.

Biodiesel—a promising renewable fuel that could become an alternative to fossil fuel—is made through a chemical reaction of alcohol and vegetable oil or animal fat. Although this fuel could be used in traditional diesel engines, proponents say that the use of biodiesel will significantly reduce environmentally harmful emissions.

Attracting investment

The study, detailed in the journal Environmental Science and Technology last month, ranked Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay and Ghana as developing countries likely to attract biodiesel investment.

"A lot of these countries don't have any petroleum resources and so they're having to import petroleum," said study co-author Matt Johnston of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at University of Wisconsin at Madison. "At the same time, they're exporting vegetable oil that they could be turning into biodiesel and using domestically."

Johnston witnessed this when he was visiting Fiji—an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. He noted that the islanders used petroleum diesel brought to the island via boats—costing around $20 a gallon—to run their generators but were producing coconut oil and selling it for 50 cents per liter.

"The price disparity was just incredible and it prompted me to think about where else in the world countries might have this biofuels potential but not necessarily realize it," Johnston said.

“So, I wanted to do an inclusive study and look at every country equally and [see] which countries are most likely to be able to produce large quantities of biodiesel at low costs,” Johnston told LiveScience.

Grim outlook

The rise of oil prices and the grim outlook on the future of Earth has brought on a growing interest in biofuels over the past couple of years. Agencies such as the United Nations are, however, concerned that crops used for food in poor countries will now be used for fuel instead.

“I think one of the things that’s valuable with the study being inclusive across the world is that it allows us to see which countries and which feed stocks are to be affected as biofuels continue to be developed,” Johnston said.

Environmental organizations are also concerned about the impact of biofuels on nature. Demands for palm oil, for example, have led to increased deforestation in Southeast Asia. Boosting crop yields could also raise demands on water supplies for irrigation and increase nitrogen runoff from fertilizer use. But the researchers hope that the analysis will be used as a tool to foresee and mitigate potential impacts.

"We're not saying, 'There's all this potential out there, go get it,'" Johnston said. "Instead, we're looking at which vegetable oil feed stocks are most likely to be affected and which countries will most likely be doing this at a large scale. That way, we can anticipate some of the impacts, as opposed to having to react after the fact."

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Worst Drought in a Century Hurting Australian Farmers

Hope Hamashige, National Geographic News
8 Nov 07;

November on Rod Chalmers' farm in Wakool, Australia, shouldn't look like this.

It's springtime, and the wheat fields should be green and waist-high instead of mostly dead. There are no sheep are in sight either. The animals were sold long ago, because there is no grass for them to graze on.

Chalmers is among many farmers whose crops are withering in an unusual spring heat, following one of the warmest and driest winters on record.

In the seventh year of a crippling drought, much of Australia is in an unprecedented water crisis. The Big Dry, as Australians have dubbed the weather, is the worst in a century and has forced water restrictions on an entire nation.

But for the farmers, the consequences have been especially dire.

With 65 percent of the Australia's viable land declared in drought by the government, thousands have walked away from their farms in recent years. Those that stayed saw earnings dive an average of 70 percent last year because of drought-related losses.

In Wakool, located 495 miles (797 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Sydney, the number of dairy farms has dwindled from 16 to 5.

Chalmers took a hit of $200,000 Australian (about $187,000 U.S.) last year. As he heads into summer, 75 percent of the grain crop has already failed, and he is expecting to lose money again this year.

"Its hard to figure out whether we are going to be okay or not," Chalmers said. "We're trying to figure out now at what point the debt becomes unmanageable."

Dried-Up Rivers

Rain—and a lot of it—is the only thing that is going to turn things around for troubled farmers.

But when relief will come is a question that is confounding scientists, as Australia's typical weather patterns are not emerging.

A growing number of experts claim that climate change, while not responsible for the drought, is making the situation more severe. (Related: "Warming May Spur Extinctions, Shortages, Conflicts, World Experts Warn" [April 6, 2007].)

That may explain why the recent arrival of La Niña—a global weather pattern that in the past has led to greater-than-average rainfall in Australia—is bringing little relief this spring.

La Niña's unfulfilled promise of rain has hit the Murray-Darling River Basin in southeastern Australia especially hard. The area, roughly the size of France and Spain combined, is Australia's food bowl, with about 41 percent of the country's agricultural activities taking place there.

Tens of thousands of farms in three Australian states depend on the River Murray, which no longer carries enough water to flow to the ocean. By the end of the most recent winter, river flows and reservoir levels in some parts of the country were at all-time lows.

Even if La Niña does persist and bring heavy rainfalls, it will take several seasons for the catchments to fill up again.

Without water, some of the local farms have had at least two seasons of crop failure. Farm debt was $412,000 Australian, up from $150,000 in 1990, according to the National Australia Bank.

The South Australia Farm Federation said recently that crop failures could force 20 percent of the state's farmers off the land in the next year.

That's already hitting consumers in the wallet. Food prices are beginning to inch upward, and record high prices for grain are hitting the cattle industry, which has said consumers should brace for much higher beef prices.

The Australian government has spent 1.9 billion dollars in the last few years in what it calls "exceptional circumstances" payments to lend a hand to farmers still trying to till the soil. It also recently doubled an offer, to $150,000, to any farmer who decides to leave his or her land.

La Niña and El Niño

Australia is heavily influenced by weather patterns in the Pacific. Generally, Australia goes dry during El Niño cycles, a warming in the tropical Pacific that has worldwide consequences. La Niña, the opposite effect, tends to bring heavier-than-normal rainfall.

But the current La Niña phase has failed to deliver anything but patchy rainfall in Australia.

"Although we have some sort of La Niña out there, the sea-surface temperatures around the Australian coast have not warmed up yet," said Roger Stone, professor of climatology and water resources at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba.

Many farmers had banked on the fact that La Niña was going to bring rain to reservoirs, dams, and other catchments that are basically dry.

"Also, interestingly, La Niñas over the past 30 years are not delivering rain like they used to in many regions," he said.

In fact, neither El Niño nor La Niña has had a predictable influence on Australian weather recently.

"El Niños have also been behaving strangely," noted Andy Pitman, director of the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. "There have been quite sustained patterns and we don't know why."

This drought has extended over both weather patterns, which is unusual, he added.

Ocean temperatures in the Indian Ocean also play a major role in Australia's rainfall patterns. These waters have been colder than normal in the past few months, exacerbating the problem, experts say.

Global Warming Issue

Droughts are normal and natural in Australia. A growing number of scientists, however, believe the severity of Australia's Big Dry can be blamed on global warming.

"Droughts are natural," Pitman said. "But the level of drought is worse now because of higher temperatures that are driving increased evaporation. At the moment we can't explain the higher temperatures except by global warming."

Neville Nicholls, professor of geography and environmental science at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria, added that the southern fringe of Australia has been getting drier, which also may be linked to global warming.

"Our climate models all suggest that this is the response you should get from increased greenhouse gases, so there is a developing consensus amongst climate scientists that human activities are partly responsible for this long-term rainfall decline," he said, adding that they expect this to continue.

What is happening in Australia, Pitman said, should be a cautionary tale to the rest of the world that it's important to prepare now for more severe drought.

"In some regions, as happened in Australia, global warming will lead to abrupt regional change," he said. "In Australia, it arrived. In other regions, too, the changes will be rapid and sudden and confronting."

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Dutch, British Coasts Face Serious Flood Threat

PlanetArk 9 Nov 07

AMSTERDAM/LONDON - The North Sea coasts of the Netherlands and Britain faced their worst flood threat for decades on Thursday from a storm-driven tidal surge.

Authorities compared the approaching conditions to those in 1953 when floods killed more than 2,000 people in both countries.

The flood defences of the entire Dutch coast were put on alert and three surge barriers are expected to be closed as the storm approaches. The transport ministry said it was the first time since 1976 that the whole coast had been put on alert.

Shipping traffic to and from Rotterdam harbour is due to be suspended from 2000 GMT, a port spokesman said. The suspension is expected to remain in place until 1700 GMT on Friday.

For the first time since its construction in the 1990s, a storm surge barrier protecting Rotterdam and its harbour is expected to be closed due to the approaching storm.

Large areas of Britain's Norfolk and Kent coasts are at risk of severe flooding, the government and environment agencies said.

"A tidal surge of up to three metres is making its way down the North Sea which could coincide with high tides," Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told parliament.

A special meeting was being held by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to coordinate the emergency response, a spokeswoman said.

"There is a risk of flood defences being overtopped on the coast and in tidal rivers especially in East Anglia, particularly the Norfolk Broads, the coast south of Great Yarmouth, including Lowestoft, and areas south of this as far as the coast of Kent," Benn said.

The Met Office said north-westerly winds exceeding 50 mph (80 kph) were coinciding with low pressure and high tides to produce the exceptional conditions. The Thames Barrier in London would be closed from 2000 GMT on Thursday, the agency said.

The floods in 1953 killed around 300 on the English east coast and more than 1,800 in the Netherlands. Two thirds of the Netherlands would have been permanently flooded but for an elaborate system of dikes and canals.

A Dutch transport ministry spokesman said the water level at the Hook of Holland was expected to rise to around 3 metres (9 ft 10 inches) above the mean sea level on Thursday night.

The level would be second only to the flood of 1953 when the water rose to 3.85 metres (12 ft 7 inches) above sea level.

"The storm conditions are very similar to 1953," the ministry spokesman said. The government weather service forecast force seven winds for parts of the Dutch coast.

Rotterdam, a major transit point for oil, coal, grains and other commodities, handles about 35 percent of European port traffic by tonnage. About 60 ships will be affected by any closure of the port.

(Reporting by Niclas Mika and Harro ten Wolde, Editing by Robert Woodward)

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Make recycling a must, fine those who don't

Letter from Muhammad Hazique Salahudin, Straits Times Forum 9 Nov 07;

I REFER to the article, 'Recycle or face fines, Malaysians warned' (ST, Oct 31). The problem Malaysians face is similar to ours, and much can be learnt from their actions.

Singapore is a First World country. Undoubtedly, we are doing much to improve our environment. Some measures taken include the use of catalytic converters in cars and constructing energy-efficient buildings.

However, the problem of solid waste needs to be addressed further. Currently we dump our waste offshore at Pulau Semakau but what will happen when the landfill is full in 2040?

One effective way, as South Korea has shown, is to recycle. Unfortunately, recycling is not widely practised here, despite government efforts to promote it.

To encourage recycling, we can take a leaf out of Korea's book. Fines are one of the most effective methods to encourage good habits and, over time, the unwanted behaviour would disappear and the people will practise what is encouraged naturally.

This has been proven to be true in Singapore. We have curbed problems of illegal parking, smoking and dumping via fines.

If we make recycling mandatory and impose fines on those who do not do so, Singaporeans would become accustomed to recycling in the near future.

Should imposing fines be seen as too radical a move, further promotion of recycling could be undertaken, through placing more recycling bins around an estate. Currently, in Choa Chu Kang, there is only one bin per precinct. This is not practical as residents have to walk a distance just to recycle their things. A bin should be placed at every block.

Secondly, campaigns such as the Bring Your Own Bag day should be extended, to, say, a week. By extending the period, it will soon become a habit with shoppers to use reusable bags. This will save tonnes of plastic bags each month.

As a world-class city, the Government has to do more to promote environmental-friendliness.

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The Dawn of E2K in India

Thomas L. Friedman, The Straits Times 9 Nov 07;

It's true, green is the colour of money

NEW DELHI - REMEMBER Y2K - the 'millennium bug' that threatened to melt down millions of computers when their internal clocks tried to roll over on Jan 1, 2000, because they were not designed to handle that new date?

And remember that the only country with enough software programmers to adjust all these computers so they would not go haywire, and do it at a reasonable price, was India. Also remember that it was this operation that launched the Indian outsourcing industry.

Well, remember this: There is a bigger opportunity than Y2K just round the corner. I call it 'E2K' - for all the energy programming and monitoring that thousands of global companies are going to be undertaking to either become carbon neutral or far more energy efficient than they are today. India is poised to get a lot of this work.

I first started thinking about this when I heard Mr Michael Dell declare that Dell Inc. would become 'carbon neutral' in its operations by the end of next year. He said Dell would take inventory of its total greenhouse gas outputs and then develop plans to cut, eliminate or offset those emissions.

With a carbon tax or cap-and-trade legislation looming, more and more companies will be doing the same thing. It is going to be the next big global business transformation. And it is going to require tonnes of software, programming and back-room management to measure each company's carbon footprint and then monitor the various emissions-reduction and offsetting measures on an ongoing basis. Guess who has the low-cost brainpower to do all that?

Some of the smartest Indian outsourcing companies are already positioning themselves for the E2K market. 'What did Y2K do?' asked Mr Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, a premier Indian outsourcing firm.

'It was a deadline imposed by the calendar and thus it had a huge ability to concentrate the mind. It became a drop-dead date for everyone. Making your company carbon neutral is not a date, but it is an inevitability,' he said.

When Y2K came along, some companies responded tactically, doing just the minimum reprogramming to keep their computers operational after Jan 1, 2000. Others took a more strategic path, saying: 'Since we're going to have to go through all our software anyway, why not just retire all the old stuff and upgrade to the newer, simpler systems that will make us more efficient.'

These companies went from seeing IT, or information technology, as a cost to looking for ways to make money from it - through data mining and using better information to cross-sell products, reduce cycle times for introducing new services and manage inventories more efficiently.

The key to winning E2K business for the Indian outsourcing firms, said Mr Nilekani, will be showing big global companies, like a Dell, how becoming more energy efficient or carbon neutral does not just have to be a new cost, but can actually be a strategic move that makes money and gives them an edge on the competition.

The strategic companies will use ET - energy technology - 'to reduce material costs, simplify logistics, drive down electricity charges and shorten supply chains'. As they start to do this, it will require a lot of data management, which companies will want to do as cheaply as possible.

'My impression is that there is certainly a significant opportunity for Indian outsourcing companies,' said Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services, another top Indian outsourcing company, adding that the precise size of that business will depend on 'the speed and scale at which the carbon-neutral policies are adopted by the global companies'.

To better compete for such business, Mr Nilekani is installing solar systems and other efficiency technologies at Infosys' Bangalore campus. Satyam plans to do similar things at its verdant Hyderabad complex.

IBM seems to be moving into this space, too. Big Blue knows that even if Indian companies do a lot of the back-room work, there will be lots of front-end jobs nearer the customers.

So, mum, dad, tell your kids: If they are looking for a good, stable-growth career - green consultants, green designers, green builders are all going to be in huge demand. And if they can speak Hindi, all the better.

NEW YORK TIMES

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Poachers sighted in forested area near Tampines

Letter from Joyce Chng, Today Online 9 Nov 07;

I refer to recent reports on animal poaching.

I am shocked and disgusted to catch poachers in the act in a forested area near Tampines Avenue 9, which is next to Tampines North Primary School.

I am a nature lover and often take photos around the area because I live nearby.

Occasionally, I would head to the forested area in Tampines to photograph the rich flora and fauna.

However, I received a rude shock on Nov 2 when I found three suspicious-looking men with cages hiding among the bushes there.

One of them had covered his bicycle with army camouflage patterns.

I also noticed that he had also strapped several cages onto the bicycle.

When I stepped forward, he was unnerved and scrambled to retrieve a spotted dove nearby that had been used as bait.

There were two other men in front and they too were startled.

I hope that the relevant authorities, such as the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and the National Parks Board will look into the issue.

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No need to quake about Indonesian nuclear plant

Fabio Scarpello, Today Online 9 Nov 07;

AS Indonesia debates whether to adopt nuclear energy, Mr Ferhat Aziz, public relations chief of the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan), the country's nuclear watchdog, says there is nothing to worry about.

He underlined that Jakarta's plan envisages an experienced foreign country taking full responsibility for the project.

Mr Ferhat also stated that those worried about Indonesia being seismically unstable can sleep soundly, as local and foreign experts have carried out extensive feasibility studies.

"A feasibility study recently conducted by a Japanese firm has confirmed that a plant could be safely built in Muria," Mr Ferhat said, referring to the peninsula where Indonesia's proposed first nuclear reactor may be built.

Muria peninsula is situated on the northern coast of Java, 200km from Yogyakarta, the largest city in Central Java. Yogyakarta sustained heavy damage after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck last May. The quake killed almost 6,000 people in the area.

Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire" and the "Alpide Belt", the first and second most seismic regions in the world respectively. The Yogyakarta earthquake, as well as those that triggered the December 2004 tsunami in Aceh, were due to movements in the Alpide Belt.

According to a government blueprint, the Muria plant will house a 1,000 megawatt (mw) nuclear reactor capable of producing two per cent of the country's electricity needs. Muria is to be the first of three nuclear plants scheduled to be built by 2020.

First envisaged under former President Suharto, the nuclear programme was resurrected last year when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a decree calling for the first nuclear reactor to be operative by 2016.

Although supported by most of the government, the program is yet to receive the final go-ahead and a decision is expected next month.

However, Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla recently cooled expectations, saying "the project is only an idea" and "the government would still prefer to develop alternative forms of energy".

The debate, however, rages on.

The pro-nuclear lobby will point out that 40 per cent of Indonesia's 240 million people still lack access to electricity and that power cuts are frequent even on Java and Bali, the archipelago's most developed islands.

Moreover, they argue that by 2025, Indonesia's power requirements are expected to hit 100,000mw, five times the current maximum capacity.

On the other side of the divide, environmentalists have warned that building a nuclear plant in Java, one of the world's most densely populated regions, is too risky.

Others have said that Indonesia lacks the know-how. Many more have pointed to the endemic problem of corruption and warned that it could lead to corners being cut, endangering lives.

Mr Ferhat said that such worries are legitimate, but the government is not taking any risks.

"We know we don't have the necessary technical skills to run this project," he said.

"That is why, if the government gives the nod, the plant would be a turnkey project, built and operated by foreign entities with minor local participation," he said.

Among the likely partners he mentioned are Japan, South Korea, the United States and France.

"If Japanese engineers have been able to build nuclear plants in Japan, another highly seismic archipelago, I am sure they could do the same here.

"With proper design, nuclear (plants) are the safest installations that exist," he added.

Mr Ferhat said that the fear of corruption is "groundless", since nuclear plants are placed under international supervision and "no corners can be cut".

"The safety of a nuclear plant is not merely the business of an operator in one country, but also under international scrutiny.

"Indonesia complies with all the international agreements and conventions and our plant would be routinely inspected," he said.

He underlined that Indonesia's nuclear programme is supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world's nuclear watchdog.

During a visit to the Indonesian capital late last year, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said: "I don't see that there would be any political impediment to Indonesia acquiring the technology needed for nuclear power."

The IAEA has granted Indonesia US$1.34 million ($1.93 million) in technical assistance to develop eight schemes this year and the next, involving the safe use of nuclear power.

"People should also remember that Indonesia has more than 40 years' experience in dealing with nuclear (energy) and we have never had problems," he said, pointing to the country's use of nuclear technology in farming, health services and industry.

"And if we were to step up to building a nuclear plant, we would not do it without the necessary precautions," he concluded.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Jakarta. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Climate change waits for no government

Liang Dingzi, Today Online 9 Nov 07;
Will it be all talk and no action when leaders meet in Dec to discuss a new agreement?

CONCERNS about climate change run like a bullet train without a destination — the only known certainty being the world's destruction if its denizens do not do something soon to substantially curb carbon emissions.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said a breakthrough was needed. It is an understatement of the failure so far to hammer out a framework for action.

Mr Ban exhorted: "The time for doubt has passed. What we do not have is time. The time for action is now."

Offering a way forward is the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which posits that the growth in greenhouse gas emissions can be curbed at reasonable cost. Its recommendations include boosting renewable energy, reducing deforestation and improving energy efficiency.

Mr Martin Parry, who co-chairs the working group, said: "The real secret is that governments buy in. Otherwise, it would be just another report."

Unfortunately, the movement to sustain a collective global effort to save the Earth continues to languish in limbo.

Political leaders meet frequently across the globe — from Hamburg to Bali and from Sydney to New York — to discuss the issue. Some of these dialogues have been hailed as successes, only because the leaders have agreed to disagree, condescended to accept in principle non-binding aspirational targets of reducing energy intensity and would meet again.

The problem of climate change presents inconvenient truths — to borrow former United States Vice-President Al Gore's catchphrase — that the world must first recognise and overcome.

The first inconvenient truth lies in our remoteness, in time and geography, from an impending problem. Take, for example, the discovery by scientists last year of an enormous ice shelf that had broken off an island in the Canadian Arctic — yet another sign of global warming.

The warning was of potential disaster should it continue to drift into oil-drilling regions and shipping lanes, yet it remains a subject of remote interest to the vast majority of humankind.

Any potential disaster arising from the Arctic sea ice shrinking is too far off in time to be of concern to most. The last significant ice-drift of the same scale occurred 25 years ago.

Perhaps, there is more immediacy in the constant threats of tropical storms and the havoc wreaked by floods in every habitable continent. But the marvel of the human psyche is the capacity to accommodate adversities and live with the inevitable. And that's the second inconvenient truth.

The third is that nobody owns the Earth, nor is anybody his brother's keeper. Rich nations do not see why they should commit to targets that are not as binding on poorer and emerging economies, particularly when the latter are said to be the major culprits of global pollution.

Clearly, it is an insurmountable equity problem, simply because the world's resources are never equally distributed and every nation's economic progress differs vastly. Indeed, it has become a matter of expedience for rich nations to blame their poorer cousins for not accepting matching efforts.

Ironically, a proposal by a senior UN official to address this problem — whereby rich nations should be absolved from the need to cut carbon emissions if they pay developing countries to do it on their behalf — will only heighten, if not promote, this inequitable state of affairs.

This means rich nations would be able to buy their way out of their responsibilities. Naturally, this controversial suggestion by Mr Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has angered environmental groups.

Mr de Boer may be right that the atmosphere does not care where emissions are reduced as long as they are reduced, but it only affirms yet another inconvenient truth: That, in the end, money is muscle.

So it is with the many carbon-offsetting programmes that are beginning to gain popularity. For example, if you enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, contribute towards growing a tree somewhere.

All this culminates in the ultimate inconvenient truth that we live in an imperfect world.

Environmental groups have argued that climate change will not be solved unless both rich and poor nations together cut emissions of carbon and other hazardous gases. Yes, but if it must be by equal doses for all, as the rich nations insist, the ideal would be a nigh impossible one.

Omission is a greater sin. Rich nations can help poorer ones reduce their carbon footprints, instead of waiting for them to match their efforts. Unless we recognise that some self-interest may have to be sacrificed for the global good, the world will continue to ride the bullet train to disaster.

We remain hopeful that when world leaders meet in Bali in December — to work out a new international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol — it will not be another haggling session without the commitment to act.

The writer is a management consultant with over 25 years' experience driving customer service programmes.

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Greenpeace reports on what's 'cooking' the forests

Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 9 Nov 07;

ENVIRONMENTAL champions Greenpeace will propose a new funding mechanism to protect the world's remaining forests, at the Bali conference of world governments next month to discuss the new phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

In Singapore yesterday, Greenpeace launched a report — How the Palm Oil Industry is Cooking the Climate — about deforestation on the Sumatran island of Riau, where a quarter of Indonesian oil palm plantations are located.

Ms Emmy Hafild, executive director of Greenpeace South-east Asia, said: "The haze isn't the only problem that Singapore faces; it masks another problem: Deforestation and the encroachment of palm oil plantations onto peatland."

Peat — partially decayed plant matter — is rich in carbon and when burnt, not only smoulders for a long time, but also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide.

"The peatlands in Riau store 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon, or a year's worth of total greenhouse gas emissions," said Ms Hafild.

Greenpeace also noted flagrant violations by plantation owners who destroy protected peatland. Every year, 1.8 billion tonnes of emissions — that's 4 per cent of global emissions — are released through the destruction of forests and peatland.

If these practices are not stopped, it could set off a "climate bomb" said Ms Sue Connor, a Greenpeace International Forests Campaigner.

Greenpeace is hence calling for a moratorium on forest clearance.

And much more must be done by businesses and government to ensure that palm oil comes from sustainable practices, said Ms Connor.

This is where Singapore, a key trading hub with strong governance values, can play its part, Ms Hafild said.

And while she praised Singapore's pact with the Mauro Jambi province to tackle the haze issue through fire prevention, she added: "If we do not stop the destruction of peatlands, (the collaboration) does not help to tackle the bigger picture."

The Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace's longest-serving campaign ship, is docked at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club. The public can view the ship today and tomorrow.


Greenpeace urges Indonesia to stop burning forest
Yahoo News 8 Nov 07

Greenpeace urged Indonesia on Thursday to stop its "reckless" destruction of rain forests to plant palm oil in the archipelago, which will host a global climate summit next month.

The environmental group also called on foreign food and cosmetics companies to shun "bad" palm oil produced as a result of deforestation in Indonesia.

"Indonesia's peatlands are some of the richest stores of carbon in the world, and their destruction is one of the most reckless and avoidable contributions to global warming," Greenpeace said in a statement released here.

Emmy Hafild, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, urged consumer goods producers such as Unilever, Nestle and Procter and Gamble to boycott palm oil produced by plantations involved in illegal forest clearing.

"Some of the best-known brands in the world are literally cooking the climate," Hafild said at the launch here of "Cooking The Climate," the group's new report on the palm oil industry, part of its preparations for the Bali summit.

The December 3-14 talks, expected to involve more than 100 government ministers, are aimed at securing an international agreement to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the landmark Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming ends in 2012.

Greenpeace also urged Indonesia's two closest neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia, to press Jakarta to enforce laws banning the destruction of forests with peat layers deeper than three meters (9.9 feet).

Singapore and Malaysia are hit every year by choking haze from fires fuelled by the forests' rich peat content, and Greenpeace said forests with peat layers as deep as eight meters have been destroyed.

Greenpeace's Hafild also said additional demand from the transport sector for biofuel was contributing to a "gold mine mentality" toward palm oil production.

Demand for palm oil has been boosted by the growing popularity of biofuel to ease dependence on traditional fossil fuels blamed in large part for climate change.

But Greenpeace International forests campaigner Sue Connor said destroying forests to produce palm oil in order to replace fossil fuels as an energy source was like "throwing petrol at a fire to put it out."

Booming Palm Oil Demand Fuelling Climate Crisis
Jeremy Lovell, PlanetArk 9 Nov 07

LONDON - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on Thursday.

The massive forest clearance for palm plantations underway in Indonesia removes trees that capture carbon dioxide, and the draining and burning of the peat wetlands leads to massive release of the gas, said environment group Greenpeace in its report "Cooking the Climate".

On top of that, the booming demand for biofuels that include vegetable oils to replace mineral oil is in many cases actually generating more climate warming gases, the report said.

"Tropical deforestation accounts for about a fifth of all global emissions," said the report. "Indonesia now has the fastest deforestation rate of any major forested country, losing two percent of its remaining forest every year."

"Indonesia also holds the global record for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation, which puts it third behind the US and China in terms of total man-made GHG emissions," it added.

It said that on top of Indonesia's existing six million hectares of oil palms, the government had plans for another four million by 2015 just for biofuel production. Provincial governments had plans for up to 20 million hectares more.

The report is aimed directly at a meeting next month of UN environment ministers on the island of Bali which activists hope will agree on urgent talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions which expires in 2012.

DEGREDATION AND BURNING

It said every year 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide -- the main climate change culprit -- are released by the degradation and burning of Indonesia's peatlands.

Once the peatlands are drained, they start to release CO2 as the soils oxidise. Burning to clear the land for plantations adds to the emissions.

The report said peatland emissions of CO2 are expected to rise by at least 50 percent by 2030 if the anticipated clearances for expansion of palm oil plantations goes ahead.

It cited a report by environmental NGO Wetlands International that said production of one tonne of palm oil from peatlands released up to 30 tonnes of CO2 from peat decomposition alone without accounting for carbon released during the production cycle.

Greenpeace also noted that the European Union's push to boost the use of biofuels as part of its plans to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 was a decisive factor in booming palm oil demand.

"This use alone equates to the harvest from 400,000 hectares or 4.5 percent of global palm oil production," it said.

"Meanwhile, palm oil use in food continues to increase, partly as food manufacturers shift to using palm oil instead of hydrogenated fats and partly as it replaces other edible oils being used for biodiesel," the report added.

Greenpeace called for a ban on peatland forest clearance, urged the palm oil trade not to buy and sell produce from degraded peatland areas and said governments should exclude palm oil from biofuel and biomass targets. (Editing by Sami Aboudi)

Deforestation could detonate 'climate bomb'
Business Times 9 Nov 07

(SINGAPORE) Industry-driven deforestation in Indonesia could 'detonate a climate bomb' if not brought under control, the environmental group Greenpeace said yesterday.

A report by Greenpeace, launched in Singapore, said that the burning of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands to build palm oil plantations releases massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Every year 1.8 billion tons of emissions are released by the practice, accounting for 4 per cent of global emissions.

'Trade in palm oil by some of the world's food giants and commodity traders is helping to detonate a climate bomb in Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands,' the report said. 'Efforts to prevent dangerous climate change will not succeed unless this and other industries driving forest destruction are brought under control.' The report honed in on the Indonesian province of Sumatra, home to a quarter of the country's oil palm plantations. Some 3 million hectares of forest are set to be slashed and burned over the next decade.

The burning of Sumatra's peatlands - which store 14.6 billion tons of carbon - would result in the release of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a year's total around the globe, Greenpeace said.

The group named consumer products makers Unilever NV and Nestle, and US commodity trading giant Cargill as among many large corporations that are fuelling demand for palm oil from deforested land in Indonesia. AP

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