$1.8m for Ngee Ann Poly's social, green initiatives

Straits Times 18 Nov 07

A TEAM of Singapore youth will be in Sweden next year to present their water-related project in an international competition, thanks to a collaboration between the Lien Foundation (LF) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).

A three-year $1.79 million programme, funded mainly by the foundation to advance social and environmental causes, will support three initiatives:

# The Singapore Junior Water Prize, the winners of which will represent Singapore in Stockholm, Sweden;

# Student projects in support of the public education drive on terminal illnesses and hospices; and

# Providing consultancy to three Asean educational institutions.

Called the LF-NP Social, Environmental and Educational Development (Seed) Capital, the programme is aimed at enhancing NP students' learning experience and developing the three areas, said the polytechnic's principal, Mr Chia Mia Chiang.

NP will organise the competition for the first national Singapore Junior Water Prize, to be open to all Singapore schools.

The team with the winning project - and this can range from designing a filtration system to a public education project on water as a resource to cleaning up a river - will represent Singapore at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition next August.

The Public Utilities Board put $40,000 into this portion of the LF-NP Seed Capital programme.

For the public education drive on terminal illnesses, NP students will produce radio programmes and write articles on the subject in the first year of the programme.

Topics for the next two years are yet to be decided.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.


$1.8m for Ngee Ann Poly's social, green initiatives
3-year tie-up with Lien Foundation, which will provide most of the funds
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 19 Nov 07;

A TEAM of Singapore youth will be in Sweden next year to present their water-related project in an international competition, thanks to a collaboration between the Lien Foundation (LF) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).

A three-year $1.79 million programme, funded mainly by the foundation to advance social and environmental causes, will support three initiatives:

# The Singapore Junior Water Prize, the winners of which will represent Singapore in Stockholm, Sweden;

# Student projects in support of the public education drive on terminal illnesses and hospices; and

# Providing consultancy to three Asean educational institutions.

Called the LF-NP Social, Environmental and Educational Development (Seed) Capital, the programme is aimed at enhancing NP students' learning experience and developing the three areas, said the polytechnic's principal, Mr Chia Mia Chiang.

NP will organise the competition for the first national Singapore Junior Water Prize, to be open to all Singapore schools.

The team with the winning project - and this can range from designing a filtration system to a public education project on water as a resource to cleaning up a river - will represent Singapore at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition next August.

The Public Utilities Board put $40,000 into this portion of the LF-NP Seed Capital programme.

For the public education drive on terminal illnesses, NP students will produce radio programmes and write articles on the subject in the first year of the programme.

Topics for the next two years are yet to be decided.

And for the education in Asean initiative, the polytechnic will consult with a regional school for each year of the programme.

This year, NP has picked Sekayu Polytechnic in Sumatra, Indonesia, and will work with it to improve its curricula and teaching methods.

The education institutions for the next two years have not been identified yet.

This is not the first time NP has gained from the foundation's largesse:

Its Lien Ying Chow Education Initiative, which gives out 15 scholarships and over 200 bursaries to NP students each year, was started with $5 million from the foundation.

The foundation also provided $200,000 worth of personal digital assistants for nursing students and staff of the polytechnic's School of Health Services.

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Iran president says fossil energy below "real price"

Reuters 17 Nov 07

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Saturday he believed the market price of fossil energy, which includes oil, was still below its "real price," Iranian media reported.

"...the price of this energy is lower than its real price," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency before leaving Tehran, first to Bahrain and then to attend an OPEC summit in Riyadh.

He also said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was under "heavy political and economic pressure," but without elaborating.

OPEC leaders open a two-day summit on Saturday which could offer Iran and Venezuela the chance to grandstand against Washington but will avoid discussion about whether to raise oil output.

The United States has urged OPEC to boost production because of shrinking oil inventory levels in developed economies and to help bring down prices that have surged to record levels.

But Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Thursday international markets had sufficient crude supply, and increasing OPEC's output would not bring down prices.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

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Opec can do little to curb prices, say oil ministers
Straits Times 17 Nov 07

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Other OPEC members yet to join Saudi climate pledge

Simon Webb, Reuters 18 Nov 07;

Riyadh (Reuters) - No other OPEC leaders at a summit in Riyadh have joined the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia in committing cash for research into helping the environment, Algeria's energy minister said on Sunday.

"We are not committing anything, we don't know what the proposal is," Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters. "As far as I am aware, nobody else has committed anything either."

Indonesia had also not made any financial commitment to the environment at the summit, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Sunday.

Saudi King Abdullah pledged $300 million for environmental research on Saturday, but gave no further details.

"That was a Saudi initiative," Nigerian Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia told reporters. "Nigeria hasn't taken a position."

The idea of funding research into ways to curb emissions while allowing the continued use of fossil fuels has been floated in forums ahead of the summit.

Khelil said that for now there was no OPEC-wide proposal for an environmental research fund, although such a proposal could still be made at the summit.

"It may become an OPEC proposal, we don't know," he said.

OPEC heads of state were meeting in the Saudi capital on Saturday and Sunday.

A draft final communique for the summit makes no mention of a fund. OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said this week the producer group would be willing to play its part in developing carbon capture and storage technology to help reduce emissions in the air.

(Editing by David Holmes)

Saudi to give $300 million for environmental research
Reuters 17 Nov 07;

RIYADH (Reuters) - Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia will give $300 million for research into helping the environment by lowering emissions, its head of state King Abdullah said on Saturday.

"We will give $300 million for research into helping the environment," he said in a speech during a summit of OPEC heads of state which is taking place in the Saudi capital.

The idea of funding research into ways to curb emissions while allowing the continued use of fossil fuels has been floated in forums ahead of the summit.

(Reporting by Andrew Hammond; Writing by Alex Lawler; Editing by Alison Williams)

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OPEC to put carbon capture at heart of new green agenda
Yahoo News 16 Nov 07;

OPEC wins praise for global warming stance
Adam Plowright, Yahoo News 15 Nov 07;

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Climate, demographics to keep food costs high: UN World Food Programme

Nick Tattersall, Reuters 16 Nov 07;

DAKAR (Reuters) - Climate change, population growth and increasing demand for biofuels mean high food prices will keep rising in coming years, leaving the world's poorest even more vulnerable, the head of the U.N. World Food Programme said.

Prices for agricultural commodities have spiked sharply in both developed and emerging markets in recent months, leaving many in the world's poorest regions like West Africa struggling to afford basic supplies such as rice and grains.

"With food prices at their highest level in decades, many people are simply being priced out of the food market," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said late on Thursday during a visit to Senegal and Mali.

From Senegal on Africa's westernmost tip to Ethiopia in the east, discontent over record prices for basic foodstuffs has become the focus of heated national debate, even in the more stable economies on the world's poorest continent.

Violent protests against food price increases shook the normally conservative Islamic republic of Mauritania last week, with stone-throwing demonstrators trying to storm at least one government food store and setting car tires ablaze.

Unprecedented oil prices have increased transport costs while the explosion in biofuels, subsidized by some Western countries for being less environmentally damaging than fossil fuels, has also tightened supply and contributed to the rise.

China had swung from being one of the world's top corn exporters to exporting none last year as it held back stocks for biofuels, Sheeran said, while farmers in Africa were getting higher prices for food crops like cassava by selling them for use as an alternative energy source rather than food.

"Small farmers and poor farmers have contributed to the biofuels revolution which provides a new income stream ... but in the immediate, near future it is a challenge because we see tightening stocks," she said.

STRUCTURAL FACTORS

Climate change alone is expected to increase the number of under-nourished people in the world to 170 million from 40 million now, according to forecasts by the inter-governmental panel of experts on the issue.

Changing rainfall patterns could mean that in just over a decade, rain-dependent areas of Africa could be producing half the agricultural yield they are now.

At the same time, the region's population is growing more quickly than almost anywhere else in the world: in Niger for example, on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, each woman has on average 7.1 children.

Economists expect the higher food prices to be more than just a spike, instead referring to a structural adjustment that follows a sustained period of relatively low prices.

U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said last month that structural factors behind rising prices in Brazil, Russia, India and China would sustain higher costs for grains, meat, eggs and dairy products.

Central banks in China, Brazil and India have voiced concern about the lasting impact of high food prices, which also make it more difficult for WFP to find funding for the emergency food aid it needs to provide for the world's most vulnerable people.

"WFP's food costs have gone up 50 percent in the last five years alone," Sheeran said.

"We're expecting over the next two years for that to go up another 35 percent but in some markets over the past six months we have had increases of over 40 percent."

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

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Cuts in river flows cut to fight worst drought in southeastern US

Matthew Bigg, Reuters 16 Nov 07;

ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. authorities began reducing on Friday the amount of water released down a key Georgia river system to conserve resources in the face of what they say is the worst drought in decades in the southeastern United States.

The decision was aimed at managing the effects of the drought and also resolving a sharp political dispute between the governors of Georgia, Alabama and Florida about how to share water resources.

Under the plan, the amount of water flowing south of the Woodruff Dam near Georgia's border with Alabama will be reduced to 4,750 cubic feet per second (cfs) from 5,000 cubic feet per second.

The decision would ensure there was enough water to serve the needs of communities and industries in the parts of Georgia, Alabama and Florida that depend on the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint rivers.

It would also not adversely affect endangered species in Florida's northwestern Panhandle region which depend on river water to reduce the amount of salinity in their habitat, officials said.

"This is not just about endangered species. It is about managing critical needs with a very limited resource," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told a news conference, speaking via telephone link.

There was also a provision to reduce the flow of water further to 4,150 cfs (118 cubic meters per second) if necessary, said senior officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The advantage of the plan was to "keep in any rains that come into the reservoirs, in the reservoirs," said Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel, the Corps' south Atlantic division commander.

"Under the existing plan we would have had to have released any rains that came in excess of 5,000 cubic feet per second," he said, stressing that the plan was flexible and its effects would be monitored closely.

The Southeast is normally one of the wettest regions in the United States but a drought classified as "extreme" has affected parts of several states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and North and South Carolina.

Environmentalists say part of the problem is high consumption, aggravated by a lack of serious water conservation efforts in some of the fastest growing areas of the United States. Georgia has implemented some water restrictions including a ban on outdoor residential watering.

The dispute between the three state governors has centered on how to share water from Lake Lanier, 45 miles north of Atlanta, which stands near the headwater of the river system.

Lanier's water levels have fallen dramatically, leading to claims by state officials that it could run dry in a few months, but Schroedel said that even under the most extreme conditions with no rain there was at least 450 days of water left in it.

(Editing by Michael Christie and Mohammad Zargham)

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Punggol waterfront promenade to be ready by 2010

Channel NewsAsia 18 Nov 07

SINGAPORE: Exciting plans such as a 4.9km waterfront promenade from Punggol Point to Sungei Serangoon are in store for Punggol residents.

With the new waterfront promenade, residents can expect sea sport activities and dining facilities. Punggol Point will also be transformed with a 0.6-ha park that includes facilities for cycling and jogging. Visitors can also enjoy the scenery from a vantage lookout point at the tiered boardwalk.

Punggol Point is already a popular spot for recreational activities like fishing and camping.

With more facilities coming up, such as a food and beverage establishment as well as a horse-riding centre, more people are expected to flock there to enjoy its rustic charms.

The promenade will connect two proposed recreational clusters at Punggol Point and along Sungei Serangoon.

There will also be park connectors along Sungei Serangoon and Sungei Punggol.

Together, they will complete the entire waterfront promenade loop around Punggol – from Sengkang to Punggol Park – thus providing a continuous walk along the Punggol coastline.

These plans were revealed at a community event by Defence Minister and MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Mr Teo Chee Hean, on Sunday.

He said: "There are a lot of young families here and some of them are already adventurous. They walk along the coastline, there's a bit of track but not a lot of facilities there. This will enhance the accessibility and make it a more interesting and exciting place for them."

Residents are also looking forward to the makeover.

One of the Punggol residents, Cindy Ong, said: "My block is facing the Coney Island directly, so it has quite a nice scenery. I look forward to the new infrastructure."

"The prices (of flats) over here will increase and the people living around here will be happier," said Alvin Yeow.

Another Punggol resident, Vo Thanh Dang, said: "This idea is very good and it provides residents with a good and relaxing place."

Construction of the promenade will begin next year and will be completed by 2010.

Mr Teo also revealed that the Sengkang Sports Complex is near completion and residents can enjoy facilities such as gymnasium, swimming pools, dance studios and a riverfront cafe from next year.

And for Pasir Ris residents, the location of the upcoming Pasir Ris Complex has been formalised and it will be built near the Pasir Ris MRT Station.- CNA/so

Ride horses, golf, fish - all in Punggol
Straits Times 18 Nov 07;

PUNGGOL residents will soon have more waterfront activities at their doorstep with a $13 million plan to redevelop part of the surrounding coastline.

They will be able to walk along a 4.9km stretch of coast - from Punggol Point to Sungei Serangoon - and get closer to the water.

Activities such as horse-riding, golf, and fishing will also feature in the area.

This was unveiled on Sunday by Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

He said adventurous young families had already taken to walking along the coast, largely made up of reclaimed land and interrupted by several drainage outlets.

'There's a little bit of a track, but not a lot of other facilities. This will enhance accessibility,' he told reporters.

The developments are part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Parks and Waterbodies and Identity Plans drawn up in 2002.

It singled out five coastal areas in Changi, Pasir Ris, Coney Island, Pulau Ubin and Punggol Point to develop them as recreational destinations.

The waterfront promenade in Punggol has three segments -

# Punggol Point Walk: Punggol Point, a popular fishing and Nature Walk: A 2.4km nature trail will be created along the coast between Punggol Point and Sungei Serangoon

# Riverside Walk: A promenade will be built along a 1.3km stretch of Sungei Serangoon to make the riverfront more accessible.

The 4.9km promenade will link two proposed sports and recreational clusters at Punggol Point and Sungei Serangoon, as well as to new park connectors along the Punggol and Serangoon rivers planned by the National Parks Board.

When complete, it will be possible to walk along the entire Punggol coastline.

Construction will begin mid-next year and the promenade is expected to be ready by 2010. Building works will not not disrupt fishing or other activities there, says the URA, as its plan intends to enhance existing features.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 18 Nov 07

Irresponsible Designers
wildlife abuse for fashion on the nature scorned blog

Daily Green Action: 17 Nov
Lights Out efforts and more on the leafmonkey blog

Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd
on the urban forest blog

Read more!

China sees itself moving in Singapore's direction: MM Lee

Channel NewsAsia 17 Nov 07

BEIJING: China is now moving quickly to adapt to a fast changing world, and its new generation of leaders are determined to sustain the nation's growth for a long time, said Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew during his 27th visit to China.

Speaking to the Singapore media at the conclusion of his official visit, Mr Lee noted that the Chinese are studying Singapore very seriously - including how its civil servants are trained and how the members of Parliament conduct Meet The People sessions.

Through these efforts, he said, the Chinese are adapting and adopting fast because they see themselves moving in Singapore's direction.

After a one-hour meeting with Xi Jinping, who was appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee, Mr Lee found the new leader a thoughtful man who has been through many trials and tribulation.

"I would put him in the Nelson Mandela's class of persons. A person with enormous emotional stability who does not allow his personal misfortunes or sufferings affect his judgement. In other words, he is impressive," he said.

The minister mentor said he has extended an invitation on behalf of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for Mr Xi to visit Singapore.

Senior Chinese leaders told Mr Lee that bilateral relations are now poised to move to the next level.

A proposed eco-city project is also expected to be finalised when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Singapore.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told the minister mentor that the project will be a timely collaboration as the world is turning their attention to the environment.

Noting Mr Lee's efforts and devotion in building bilateral ties, which started even before formal relations were established 17 years ago, Mr Hu said both countries should promote the relationship to new heights.

Sharing the same sentiments, Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan told Mr Lee that bilateral ties have entered a track of rapid, steady and mature development, and both sides should make use of complementary advantages to promote and deepen cooperation.

Sharing his observation of the different generations of Chinese leaders, Mr Lee noted a steady development in the leadership renewal process.

"I would say that they are beginning to regularise and institutionalise the way leaders are selected or voted into office by the elite at the top, the top crowders. So I expect at the next People's Congress, there will be more consultation, more expression of views, drawing of opinions, and then a final selection with a vote of the key person(s) involved, which created a much more stable position," he said.

"The senior leaders are prepared to step aside for younger leaders to come forward, so that there's a steady stream of able, committed people who will take on the leadership mantel in the years ahead," Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean said of the Chinese leaders.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say added that the Chinese leaders are prepared to go above and beyond to realise their long term goals, even if it means treading in uncharted waters.

On China-US relations, Mr Lee said that the biggest problem between the two countries is Taiwan, and the challenge is for the US to make sure that nothing foolish happens before the Taiwan elections in March, or there could be an unpredictable outcome. - CNA/ac

Beijing studying S'pore ways to adopt and adapt
Straits Times 18 Nov 07

MENTION Singapore-China collaboration and the first thought that comes to mind will be mega projects such as the Suzhou Industrial Park or the soon-to-be-built 'eco-city'.

But the full extent of the cooperation between the two countries stretches across a much wider field than these headline-grabbing projects, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told the Singapore media on Friday night after wrapping up his meetings with top Chinese leaders in Beijing.

For instance, Singapore has shared with China its experience in running the foreign and civil service.

Beijing has also been keen on learning more about what Singapore is doing at the grassroots level, such as the operation of the People's Association (PA) and how Meet-the-People sessions are conducted.

'(Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan) said when he was the foreign minister, he saw what we were doing, and he sent his best, most promising foreign service officers to go there and study us so that they can do the same,' MM Lee said.

He added: 'They are studying us very seriously because they have to adopt and adapt to suit their circumstances, because they can see themselves moving in that same direction as they have more and more opening-up.

'So (bilateral collaboration) is across the board.'

And when they met MM Lee on Thursday and Friday, Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, said they hoped to take already close bilateral cooperation to even greater heights.

The joint eco-city project, which aims to showcase how China can balance rapid economic growth with environmental protection, is the perfect vehicle to do just that, according to leaders from both countries.

Said MM Lee: 'As President Hu said, this fits in with the theme of their recent 17th Party Congress, which is comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development.'

On a personal level, Singaporean leaders have also been actively engaging their Chinese counterparts, both the incumbent and newly selected ones.

Three younger Singaporean leaders - Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Masagos Zulkifli - accompanied MM Lee on this trip, where he met China's most prominent political rising star, Mr Xi Jinping, 54.

When they met at the Great Hall of the People on Friday afternoon, Mr Lee invited Mr Xi to visit Singapore soon.

'I'll be writing to Xi Jinping, inviting him to Singapore and saying that there are a list of things in his new job as the central party secretariat that he'll be interested in knowing how we do things, and maybe he can find them useful,' said MM Lee.

S'pore-China ties set to soar with Eco-City Framework Agreement
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
18 November 2007

SINGAPORE: Singapore and China have signed the highly anticipated Eco-City Framework Agreement.

The deal will see a new environmentally friendly development built in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

It is the most significant collaboration between Singapore and China since the Suzhou Industrial Park.

With the new eco-city, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the two countries are set to deepen cooperation and bring bilateral ties to even greater heights.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Singapore on Sunday afternoon – his first official visit here as premier – and was received by PM Lee at the airport.

After a ceremonial welcome, both leaders got straight to work.

They signed the Eco-City Framework Agreement which will kick-start the development of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Project.

The vision is for the area to become a model for sustainable development – one which is socially harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient.

The leaders also hope to take the relationship to the next level.

Mr Wen said: "In conducting cooperation, we must be result-oriented and innovative. Today we signed the agreement on the development of an eco-city in China. This is yet another cooperation effort by China and Singapore after the Suzhou Industrial Park.

"The Suzhou Industrial Park has become a crystallisation of the friendship between our two countries. And with the eco-city to be built in Tianjin, it will become another highlight in our relations."

Mr Lee said: "Our relations are good because the foundations of the relations are based on compatible strategic views of the way Asia is developing, of China's development, and peaceful emergence into the world order. Therefore, we believe that there's room for us to work together for mutual benefit and on the basis of equality and mutual respect."

A supplementary agreement was also signed between National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and Chinese Construction Minister Wang Guangtao to guide the implementation details of the Eco-City Project, which will be led by Keppel Corporation.

Mr Lee said the new project will not be just another commercial venture, but one that reflects Singapore's commitment to share with China its developmental experience.

The leaders also launched the Singapore-China Foundation (SCF), which provides scholarship and exchange programmes for government officials.

Earlier, the leaders met for about an hour to discuss wide-ranging issues that include the Singapore-China Free Trade Agreement and Myanmar.

Premier Wen said China supports UN efforts to broker peace in Myanmar and hope the process of reconciliation can be restored.

In the days ahead, the Chinese premier will give a lecture at the National University of Singapore and attend the East Asia Summit.

China-S'pore eco-city ready in 10-15 years' time
Located in Tianjin, it will be developed by joint consortium
By Clarissa Oon, Straits Times 19 Nov 07;

THE northern Chinese port city of Tianjin may one day be known not just as an industrial utopia but an environmentally friendly one as well.

The proposed Sino- Singapore Tianjin Eco- city will be located on a 30 sq km site within the booming Tianjin Binhai New Area economic zone, just 150km from Beijing, Singapore sources close to the project told The Straits Times.

When completed in 10 to 15 years' time, the eco-city's 200,000 to 300,000 residents are expected to live and work in resource-efficient 'green' buildings, while fully plugged in to manufacturing, shipping, R&D and logistics activities of this northern Chinese hub.

The selection of Tianjin as the eco-city's location was officially announced last night at the Istana, where Singapore Prime Minister Lee

Hsien Loong and visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao signed an agreement for both governments to jointly develop the eco-city.

The agreement lays out the aims and supervision mechanism for the project, which will be driven by a bilateral joint steering committee led by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi.

The eco-city itself will be developed by a consortium of companies on both sides. The key company on the Singapore side is Keppel Corporation.

'This is a project which we have been discussing with the Chinese side for several months. Both sides have put in a lot of effort to decide how it should proceed and where the project should be located,' Mr Lee told the media after the signing.

'We have decided it is Tianjin and we are very happy with the decision,' he added.

Mr Wen called the eco-city 'another highlight in our bilateral relations' following the joint development of Suzhou Industrial Park 13 years ago. The 70 sq km industrial zone is located in Suzhou in south-eastern Jiangsu province.

Neither leader gave reasons why Tianjin was chosen as the site of the eco-city project, which was first mooted to Mr Wen by Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in April.

However, a Singapore source close to the project said Tianjin was picked over three other locations because it has the best economic infrastructure and transport connections.

The other three locations being considered were Caofeidian, a port city near Tangshan in northern Hebei province, Baotou city in northern Inner Mongolia, and Urumqi, the capital of western Xinjiang autonomous region.

'Both the Caofeidian and Tianjin sites have potential. The key thing is which site can take off faster, because we want the eco-city to be something other Chinese cities can duplicate,' said the source.

He revealed that the Caofeidian site was relatively far from the city centre of Tangshan, compared to the Tianjin site, which is near the heart of the Binhai New Area and its international cargo airport and sea port.

The initial phase of the Tianjin eco-city, an area of about 3 to 5 sq km, is expected to be completed within five years, said a Singapore government source.

The full 30 sq km site is expected to be ready in 10 to 15 years, he said.

Read more!

What's more important than rising food costs?

Bertha Henson, Straits Times 18 Nov 07;

COD and salmon made their appearance at my neighbourhood wet market recently. The housewives buy them in small portions because they cost so much more than the average selah kuning and kembong.

A kilogram of cod fillet is about $39 compared to $4 for selah kuning.

More choices, even blue potatoes, are available in the heartland. Now if only prices of everything remained the same...

Fish has always been more expensive than the other white meat, chicken. Except that one chicken breast now costs $2 instead of $1.50. We're talking per piece here, not in grams or kilos.

My mother mused about how a lower income family would buy a chicken breast and a thigh and that would be enough white meat for their children's meals for a few days.

Now how?

She mused too about the price of bread. A loaf of white bread from the neighbourhood confectionery now costs $1.20, when it used to be $1.

Perhaps, a switch to a Gardenia loaf - $1.40 in provision shops, $1.60 in supermarkets - might be better as the preservatives would make sure the bread doesn't go mouldy in two days, she thought aloud.

Then again, it's a question of whether a family can afford to pay upfront for the pricier loaf in the first place.

My mother's musings always make me feel guilty. I am a supermarket shopper and buy bread from Delifrance or BreadTalk.

Often, she berates me for buying more expensive, pre-packaged, economy-size foodstuff, knowing full well that I would have to dispose of them because I couldn't finish them before their use-by date.

So it's the wet market that the price-conscious shoppers go to. Not just because they can poke a fish and lift its gills to note its freshness, but also because they can buy stuff in small quantities - measured by the handful; break off that piece of ginger, pick a few stalks of chye sim - and pay for the exact amount.

And it's the provision shop or market's dry goods stalls for them, where the shopkeepers point out cheaper alternatives if shoppers can't afford the regular tin of Milkmaid condensed milk, now priced at $1.60.

The cheaper one, I was told, is Teapot, for less than $1.

Frugality has never been my strong suit. I think nothing of hopping into a taxi and paying the peak-hour surcharge when a wait of 10 minutes or so would have saved me some money.

But with the escalating cost of living and prices of essentials going up, you see people everywhere tightening their belts - and you put the brakes on your own spending.

Discussions about repealing Section 377A, while providing insights into the mores of society, are hardly relevant to the lives of a lot of people here.

Likewise, complaints from those who chafed that the deferred payment scheme for new properties is no longer in place do not strike a chord in most people who already own homes.

It is the price of bread, milk, noodles and cooking oil that is important when it looked like, to put it colloquially, our money is 'small''.

One silver lining amid the price rises: Holidaying in the United States is cheaper. But tell that to those whose idea of a vacation is a jaunt across the Causeway.

Sometimes, the more well-off among us who finance our needs via credit cards forget that it is money in hand that is most important for some people.

The lack of it is why people prefer to queue to pay bills than have them 'Giro-ed'' despite the incentives thrown at them to go electronic.

It is the reason some people do not have stored-value cards, because they cannot afford to put the money down in the first place.

When I defaulted on paying my part-time maid her monthly salary some years ago, I got an earful from my mother.

I should realise, she said, that some people are counting on getting cash at a specific time so they can pay their bills on time.

It upsets me to think that my maid, her kidney patient-husband and three school-going children might be living in a flat without water and electricity.

Cost of living issues made their way into Parliament this week, an indication that politicians are aware of the impact on the grassroots.

Big-picture explanations of worldwide rising oil prices, shortage of crops and costlier feed fly over the heads of most people. Similarly, inflation numbers juxtaposed with growth in gross domestic product can't fight with the amount of cash in the wallet.

Who's coping with this hopefully temporary crisis? Who's not? Is this just a belt-tightening phase or do some people need even more help? Hopefully, the Competition Commission and Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) are hard at work.

I have always wondered why associations, such as the bakers and noodle manufacturers, announce price rises.

Is this so that everyone will fall in line and no under-cutting takes place? Or is this just a matter of being transparent?

I am glad they didn't go to the extent of dictating a recommended selling price - as the coffee-shop owners once did, and were appropriately ticked off.

Still, it is strange how price decreases are never announced. If so, for once, consumers - not sellers - can point to a newspaper report to bargain prices down.

It would be great too if Case re-introduces its price checks so that people know where the bargains are, the choices available and to put the lid on possible profiteering.

One expatriate family didn't know that gas can come in cylinder form, relying instead on the seemingly ubiquitous piped gas.

They too want to save money (gas price has gone up too) and know exactly what they are paying for.

The price crisis is bad for all, but I daresay it has made most people, including me, a little more aware of the value of money.

I have forsaken the coffee stall in my neighbourhood which upped the price of one kopi from 70 cents to 90 cents. I've found another which goes by the old price. It doesn't taste as good, but it's 20 cents saved.

Read more!

Poached corals going for RM20 a piece, reefs ravaged

Ridzwan Abdullah, The New Straits Times 17 Nov 07

SEREMBAN: The country's coral reefs, many of which have been damaged by tourism and development activities, face a new threat.

Corals are being stolen and sold in the black market.

In the latest incident on Wednesday, the state Fisheries Department seized 150 pieces of coral stolen from the waters off Tanjung Tuan in Port Dickson.

Acting on a tip-off from local residents, fisheries officers rushed to the coastal area and spotted a sampan and two men fleeing into the nearby mangroves.

The damage, however, has been done as the officers found a tonne of corals of various sizes in the sampan.

Negri Sembilan/Malacca Fisheries director Mohd Sufian Sulaiman said the corals were worth RM7,500 based on its black-market value of RM50 a piece.

If they are sold through middlemen, the collectors earn about RM20 a piece.

"There is a high demand for the corals from those in the ornamental fish trade," Sufian said here yesterday.

The case is being investigated under section 31 and section 49 of the Fisheries Act 1985. Those convicted face a maximum fine of RM20,000 or two years' jail or both.

Sufian warned the public not to enter restricted waters as they were protected by law.

The coastal waters off Tanjung Tuan and Pulau Besar were gazetted as prohibited areas under the Fisheries Act in 1998.

The Fisheries Department will increase patrols in the area to prevent encroachment by thieves and trespassers.

"This particular area is an attraction as unlike other coral reefs, it is located on a flat coastline and not along offshore islands," Sufian said.

He added that thefts of the corals were also destroying the sensitive marine ecosystem and natural breeding grounds for fish.

Sufian urged the public to contact the department at 06-6752160 if they had information on such activities.

Read more!

Climate dilemma: Tackling the fossil fuel juggernaut

Richard Black, BBC News 17 Nov 07

Trying to square economic growth with fossil fuel reductions

So here, as Australians say, is "the big ask".

You have a global economy that depends on fossil fuel use.

Our economies grow primarily by increasing fossil fuel use, particularly coal, the most polluting form.

And you have a decade to turn it around without letting economic growth slide away.

This, in a nutshell, is the challenge set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) synthesis of its 2007 global assessment.

"There is real urgency," said Bert Metz from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, who co-chaired the IPCC working group on options for mitigating climate change.

"We need to peak emissions within 10 years if we are to keep the global temperature rise to 2C. If we leave it for 25 years, we're already committed to 3C."

Handily, the IPCC summary published here also tells you what those temperature rises translate to in terms of impacts.

Grounds for optimism?

Two Celsius means about one third of species at risk of extinction, decreased cereal production in the tropics, most coral reefs bleached.

Three Celsius puts millions more people at risk of coastal flooding, decreased cereal production at all latitudes and widespread death of coral reefs.

Those are just a selection; read the document itself for a more graphic picture, and read the entire Working Group 2 report for a still fuller exposition. It is not pretty.

You can see what IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri meant when he described the consequences of not reversing the fossil fuel juggernaut as "disastrous".

Unfortunately, that juggernaut is exactly what has delivered the high living standards that Western nations have come to enjoy, and to which developing countries aspire.

The UN message is "it can be done".

"We can achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions simply by looking at energy efficiency," said UN Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner.

"The simple light bulb has become a symbol - with a change of light bulb you can reduce your energy consumption [on lighting] by four-fifths.

"And if we look at reducing emissions by reducing deforestation, it's a win-win situation."

United Nations figures have to remain "on message" with this.

The IPCC is a UN agency, the Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol are UN treaties, so it would be a bit odd if a senior UN official came out and said "it's a waste of time, it's hopeless, we're never going to do it".

Looking at the real world, it is hard to see any real grounds for their optimism, however.

The IPCC analysis implies that we need to curb fossil fuel use within a decade.

The International Energy Agency predicts energy use will increase by 50% by 2025, with fossil fuels still the dominant component.

Emissions targets

The IPCC says vehicles should become more fuel efficient. The Asian Development Bank projects that the number of vehicles in some Asian countries including China could rise by a factor of 15 within 30 years, dwarfing any efficiency gains.



The IPCC says protecting and replanting forests is the most efficient way to curb emissions.

The Food and Agriculture Organization finds that forests are being lost at "an alarming rate" - lately, of course, helped by the craze for biofuels.

There is the myth of hydrogen, the limits of wind, the cost of solar, the ecological impacts of biofuels and so on, and so on.

Yet the IPCC says fossil fuel use can be curbed; so how, precisely?

"You have to establish a global price of carbon, so that becomes a factor in the decisions that companies make," said Dr Metz.

"One way that is happening with the Kyoto treaty is through quotas for emissions and establishing a market. But you can also do it through taxation, or through subsidies to make the things we need to come in more attractive - anything that creates an incentive."



A global carbon market was one of the Stern Review's principal recommendations too.

But here is the rub; in order to have a meaningful global carbon price, you need to have a meaningful global system of mandatory emissions targets.

"You are not going to do this with regional pacts of voluntary measures," observed Dr Metz, in what could be interpreted as a comment on US-led initiatives such as the deal clinched at September's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum meeting in Sydney.

And what would a global framework of mandatory emissions targets look like?

Well, probably something like the Kyoto Protocol, many of whose members are struggling to meet even the modest reduction targets that they signed up to a decade ago, and which many countries including the US abhor as a model for any future global agreement.

Road map

The environmental movement, which now finds some of its long-standing fears endorsed by the IPCC, is adamant on what the next steps must be.

"You couldn't get a clearer picture of where the world is heading than this report," said Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace International.



"It sets out a compelling case for early action, and it must take centre stage at the next round of UN talks in December in Bali."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also hoping for a sunny outcome in Bali in which every country is prepared to say something about controlling its emissions - the rich reducing, the poor swelling more slowly.

"Industrialised countries need to continue to take the lead in climate change abatement," he said.

"But at the same time, we cannot ignore the reality that if developing countries fail to join the effort, there can be no viable solution.

"In Bali, let us not point fingers or apportion blame; rather, let us find common ground."

On the face of it, the minimum outcome from Bali - an agreement about when to start and when to finish talks on another round of emission targets to follow the existing Kyoto Protocol set - is not terribly demanding.

The last talks, a year ago in Nairobi, were conducted in an incredibly polite manner.

So polite, in fact, that not a single government elbowed its way through the door marked "get your emissions reductions here" - the hubbub of "after you" - "no, after you" could have been truly life-affirming in a different context.

The IPCC has told us why things need to be different now, and given us some ideas of how to point our eco-friendly hybrid towards the promised low-emission land.

One suspects that in the real world it is still liable to get side-swiped by the seductive juggernaut of business-as-usual.

In that case, we will have a trackside view if the impacts projected in this seminal IPCC climate treatise come to pass.

Read more!

What is the impact of desalination on marine life?

Poseidon ordered to offset marine deaths
Michael Burge, Union-Tribune
17 Nov 07;

CARLSBAD – Poseidon Resources has persuaded the Coastal Commission to give it a permit to build an ocean-water desalination plant in Carlsbad, but the strings attached to that permit may tie up the developer for months, or even years.

After an 8 ½-hour hearing and lengthy debate Thursday, commissioners voted 9-3 to give Poseidon a coastal permit to build the desalination plant – but only after attaching more than 20 conditions.

Poseidon must work out the details of those conditions with the commission's staff and then deliver the plan back to the commissioners for approval.

The most stringent condition is a requirement that Poseidon devise a plan to offset the number of tiny marine organisms – fish eggs, larvae and plankton – the desalination plant would kill while processing seawater.

Poseidon had argued that such a condition was outside the commission's authority, but commissioners didn't buy that position.

During the months Poseidon's application was vetted by the commission's staff earlier this year, the staff had pushed to see the company's studies on fish deaths. The staff was not satisfied with what the firm delivered.

“The figures they gave us, we don't have any confidence in those,” Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas said yesterday. “We haven't seen the study that underlies those numbers.”

“The first thing we've got to do,” he said, “is get the information about the studies . . . to try to gauge the degree of impact.”

Douglas said the commission needs an accurate accounting of all the species the desalination process will kill to create a plan to compensate for those deaths. Poseidon has proposed restoring about 40 acres of San Dieguito Lagoon in Del Mar, but Douglas said it is unknown whether such a restoration would offset the types and numbers of species the desalination plant would destroy.

“We can't issue the permit until we get compliance,” he said. “There's no deadline on how long it takes to get compliance . . . with the conditions.”

He said it will be months before Poseidon's plan returns to the commission.

Douglas also said staff reductions will slow the process. Applications for permits get priority because they face legal deadlines, while compliance issues such as Poseidon's, take a back seat.

“We want to move forward as fast as we can but it's going to be more difficult with our staffing cuts and the cuts coming up,” he said.

Poseidon has said compensating for environmental damage is not financially feasible beyond a certain level, Douglas said.

The company, however, has not turned over financial information to show that, saying it was proprietary. That will make it hard for the company to argue financial limitations, he said.

Douglas compared Poseidon's situation with that of Southern California Edison, which built the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

After years of arguing, the utility is spending $86 million to restore San Dieguito Lagoon to compensate for the loss of marine life at San Onofre.

He said that like Edison, Poseidon will have to pay whatever it takes.

“Obviously we're not going to be blind to the financial package of the mitigation but . . . those need to be implemented no matter what it costs,” Douglas said.

Other conditions include a provision that Poseidon's project not add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The firm and the commission are far apart on that, and the commission did not adopt Poseidon's offer of $5 million.

Poseidon also will be required to pay the commission's court costs and attorney's fees if the commission is sued over the permit.

A Surfrider Foundation representative said after Thursday's vote that his organization will weigh its “legal options.”

Poseidon proposes to draw 100 million gallons a day from Agua Hedionda Lagoon, then filter and force it through reverse-osmosis membranes to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water. The remaining 50 million gallons would be returned to the ocean with a higher concentration of salt and impurities.

Read more!

Groundwater lost to rising sea levels greater than thought: study

Mira Oberman Yahoo News 17 Nov 07

Rising sea levels could swallow up to 40 percent more potable groundwater than previously thought because of tricks of topography, a new study has found.

Many current predictions about the impact of global warming look at how much land would be lost to rising sea levels.

But researchers at Ohio State University have found that in many coastal regions sea water will leach into the water table and contaminate groundwater well beyond the shoreline.

The degree to which groundwater is contaminated depends on shoreline structure: sandy beaches allow for much greater subsurface mixing than solid cliffs.

"The complex structure of the soil can enhance mixing between salt water and fresh water and that area can extend more than the distance that the coastal line recedes," said hydrology professor Motomu Ibaraki, who designed the study.

"In most studies, people say if the coastline recedes 100 meters then freshwater recedes 100 meters. Well, our study shows that it's going to be extended (up to 40 percent) more by the mixing process."

Ibaraki and a graduate student built a computer simulation to study how different coastal soil structures would affect subsurface mixing of salt water and fresh water.

The next step is to take the model and apply it to specific geographical locations to determine how much freshwater would be lost as sea levels rise.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that global mean sea levels will rise by 14 to 44 centimeters (5.5-17 inches) by 2100 as a result of global warming. The impact would be far greater in low-lying coastal areas.

Since it takes relatively small amounts of salt water to render fresh water undrinkable, even nominal increases in sea levels can have dramatic effects on fresh water resources, Ibaraki said.

"The amount of water we have on the earth is constant. However, the amount of fresh water we can use is decreasing," Ibaraki said in a telephone interview.

"Only two percent of the earth's water is fresh water and most of it is contained in glaciers. We are losing glaciers but we don't know how much and because we have more demand for water, groundwater is also diminishing."

The study, which is being prepared for submission to a peer-reviewed journal, comes as world leaders prepare to meet in Bali, Indonesia to set down a "roadmap" for negotiations culminating in a deal to slash carbon emissions and help developing nations cope with climate change.

On Friday, UN experts agreed on a draft report that warns global warming may have far-reaching and irreversible consequences.

Human activities "could lead to abrupt or irreversible climate changes and impacts," the agreed text said.

Read more!

Key findings of IPCC scientific report

Associated Press, Yahoo News 17 Nov 07

The following are some key findings in a report issued Saturday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

• Global warming is "unequivocal." Temperatures have risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. Eleven of the last 12 years are among the warmest since 1850. Sea levels have gone up by an average seven-hundredths of an inch per year since 1961.

• About 20 percent to 30 percent of all plant and animal species face the risk of extinction if temperatures increase by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. If the thermometer rises by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, between 40 to 70 percent of species could disappear.

• Human activity is largely responsible for warming. Global emissions of greenhouse gases grew 70 percent from 1970 to 2004. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last 650,000 years.

• Climate change will affect poor countries most, but will be felt everywhere. By 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.

• Extreme weather conditions will be more common. Tropical storms will be more frequent and intense. Heat waves and heavy rains will affect some areas, raising the risk of wildfires and the spread of diseases. Elsewhere, drought will degrade cropland and spoil the quality of water sources. Rising sea levels will increase flooding and salination of fresh water and threaten coastal cities.

• Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, the Earth will keep warming and sea levels rising. More pollution could bring "abrupt and irreversible" changes, such as the loss of ice sheets in the poles, and a corresponding rise in sea levels by several yards.

• A wide array of tools exist, or will soon be available, to adapt to climate change and reduce its potential effects. One is to put a price on carbon emissions.

• By 2050, stabilizing emissions would slow the average annual global economic growth by less than 0.12 percent. The longer action is delayed, the more it will cost.

(This version CORRECTS seven-tenths to seven-hundredths of an inch.)

UN Panel Lays Out Risks, Solutions to Warming
PlanetArk 28 Nov 07;

Following are findings of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a 23-page summary about the risks of global warming issued on Nov. 17:


* OBSERVED CHANGES

"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level."

* CAUSES OF CHANGE

"Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in ... greenhouse gas concentrations" from human activities.

Annual greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have risen by 70 percent since 1970. Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, far exceed the natural range over the last 650,000 years.

* PROJECTED CLIMATE CHANGES

Temperatures are likely to rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 Celsius (2.0 and 11.5 Fahrenheit) and sea levels by between 18 cms and 59 cms (seven and 23 inches) this century.

Africa, the Arctic, small islands and Asian mega-deltas are likely to be especially affected by climate change. Sea level rise "would continue for centuries" because of the momentum of warming even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilised.

"Warming could lead to some impacts that are abrupt or irreversible". About 20-30 percent of species will be at increasing risk of extinction if future temperature rises exceed 1.5 to 2.5 Celsius.

* FIVE REASONS FOR CONCERN

-- Risks to unique and threatened systems, such as polar or high mountain ecosystems, coral reefs and small islands.

-- Risks of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts and heatwaves.

-- Distribution of impacts -- the poor and the elderly are likely to be hit hardest, and countries near the equator, mostly the poor in Africa and Asia, generally face greater risks such as of desertification or floods.

-- Overall impacts -- there is evidence since 2001 that any benefits of warming would be at lower temperatures than previously forecast and that damages from larger temperature rises would be bigger.

-- Risks or "large-scale singularities", such as rising sea levels over centuries; contributions to sea level rise from Antarctica and Greenland could be larger than projected by ice sheet models.

* SOLUTIONS/COSTS

Governments have a wide range of tools -- higher taxes on emissions, regulations, tradeable permits and research. An effective carbon price could help cuts.

Emissions of greenhouse gases would have to peak by 2015 to limit global temperature rises to 2.0 to 2.4 Celsius over pre-industrial times, the strictest goal assessed.

The costs of fighting warming will range from less than 0.12 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) per year for the most stringent scenarios until 2030 to less than 0.06 percent for a less tough goal. In the most costly case, that means a loss of GDP by 2030 of less than 3 percent. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)


What is the Kyoto Protocol?
PlanetArk 28 Nov 07;


Delegates from about 190 nations will meet in Bali, Indonesia, from Dec. 3-14 to launch negotiations on a new UN pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.


Here are some frequently asked questions about Kyoto:

* WHAT IS THE KYOTO PROTOCOL?

-- It is a pact agreed by governments at a 1997 UN conference in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. A total of 174 nations have ratified the pact.

* IS IT THE FIRST AGREEMENT OF ITS KIND?

-- Governments agreed to tackle climate change at an "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 with non-binding targets. Kyoto is the follow-up.

* SO IT IS LEGALLY BINDING?

-- Kyoto has legal force from Feb. 16, 2005. It represents 61.6 percent of developed nations' total emissions. The United States, the world's biggest source of emissions, came out against the pact in 2001, reckoning it would be too expensive and wrongly omits developing nations from a first round of targets to 2012.

* HOW WILL IT BE ENFORCED?

-- Countries overshooting their targets in 2012 will have to make both the promised cuts and 30 percent more in a second period from 2013.

* DO ALL COUNTRIES HAVE TO CUT EMISSIONS BY FIVE PERCENT?

-- No, only 36 relatively developed countries have agreed to targets for 2008-12 under a principle that richer countries are most to blame. They range from an 8 percent cut for the European Union from 1990 levels to a 10 percent rise for Iceland.

* WHAT ARE 'GREENHOUSE GASES?'

-- Greenhouse gases trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. The main culprit from human activities is carbon dioxide, produced largely from burning fossil fuel. The protocol also covers methane, much of which comes from agriculture, and nitrous oxide, mostly from fertiliser use. Three industrial gases are also included.

* HOW WILL COUNTRIES COMPLY?

-- The European Union set up a market in January 2005 under which about 12,000 factories and power stations are given carbon dioxide quotas. If they overshoot they can buy extra allowances in the market or pay a financial penalty; if they undershoot they can sell them.

* WHAT OTHER MECHANISMS ARE THERE?

-- Developed countries can earn credits to offset against their targets by funding clean technologies, such as solar power, in poorer countries. They can also have joint investments in former Soviet bloc nations. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Read more!

Environmentalists lose a whale in Brazil's Amazon jungle

Yahoo News 17 Nov 07

Environmentalists have lost track of a five-meter (27-foot) Minke whale that they had freed from a mudflat where it got stuck in the Amazon jungle's Tapajos River, 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean.

Brazil's Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (Ibama) said Friday it has called off the search for the whale, which they said swam up the Tapajos after entering the Amazon River at Marajo Island.

The whale was spotted by locals beached on a river mudbank and was freed on Wednesday with the help of an Ibama team of biologists, who then followed the mammal for a few hours before it disappeared from view.

An Ibama speedboat and helicopter joined local natives in canoes searching for the whale, which it is feared cannot survive for long out of its natural, salt-water environment.

Minke whale dies in Brazil's Amazon forest
Reuters 21 Nov 07

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A 12-ton whale was found dead in the heart of Brazil's Amazon region, after swimming aimlessly along numerous tributaries, a government biologist said on Tuesday.

The 18-foot (5.5-metre) minke whale was first seen last week on the Tapajos River, a tributary of the Amazon. It swam 1,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, was stranded on sandbanks several times, and freed once by biologists and volunteer rescue workers.

Environmentalists and volunteers had hoped to transport the whale back to sea by ship but local residents spotted its carcass early on Tuesday and alerted authorities.

The dead whale was found two hours by boat from the city of Santarem, Fabia Luna, a biologist working for a government environmental agency told Reuters by telephone.

"We won't know for sure what caused its death until we get back the results from the lab," said Luna, who aided in an autopsy of the whale.

Experts said the whale probably became disoriented among the many river branches that form the broader Amazon.

(Reporting by Raymond Colitt, editing by Patricia Zengerle)

Whale lost in Amazon found dead
BBC News 21 Nov 07

A minke whale that had strayed deep into the Amazon rainforest has been found dead.

The 5.5m (18ft) whale was believed to have become lost in the Amazon's many tributaries after leaving the Atlantic more than 1,600km (1,000 miles) away.

Attempts by conservationists and volunteers to catch the animal and transport it back to sea failed.

Biologists have conducted an autopsy on the minke whale to determine the cause of death.

Beached

The whale was first spotted last week in the Tapajos River, a tributary of the Amazon, where locals reported seeing a mysterious animal in the water.

Experts say that it could have been in the area for up to two months after getting lost on entering the massive river delta.

It had beached itself on sandbanks several times and had been freed once by rescuers.

Local people were seen splashing its back with water to protect it from the Amazonian heat.

On Sunday, biologists and volunteers tried to contain the animal, said to weigh 12 tonnes, in a small area of river before taking it back to sea by boat.

But it broke away from the area and its corpse was spotted on Tuesday by local people who reported it to the authorities.

Experts had earlier said that although whales could survive many months without food, the animal would be disorientated.

Milton Marcondes, a veterinarian with the Brazilian Humpback Whale Institute, which was involved in the rescue attempt, said that the whale would be stressed and could easily become ill.

"We can't forget this animal has been away from its natural habitat for a long time," he told the Associated Press.

Read more!

Japanese whalers chafe under curbs

By Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, Yahoo News 17 Nov 07;

A whale's bleeding carcass bobbed in the surf, a steel harpoon jutting from its side. Then butchers at this Japanese fishing village went to work, turning a motorized winch to haul the beast ashore.

On the flensing floor, the men blessed it with rice wine — then hacked through blubber and sinew with long-handled knives, slicing vermilion flesh from the massive spine. Blood gushed from the 30-foot Baird's beaked whale like water from a hydrant.

Finally, the meat was chopped into brick-sized blocks, weighed and priced for townsfolk who lined up for their purchases. Restaurateurs drove away with plastic drums of whale.

For the world's anti-whaling activists, it's an atrocity that must be stopped. But the men who harpoon, flense and sell these whales at four small-scale coastal hunting communities have another word for it: tradition.

"Coastal people have been eating whale for 400 years and we have a right to decide what we eat," declared Yoshinori Shoji, head of the Gaibo Hogei whaling company, based in Wada, a two-hour drive east of Tokyo.

These days, that tradition is much harder to maintain.

Even though the 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling applies more to the high seas than to Japanese coastal outfits, it has severely cut supply, driving prices higher and speeding the meat's plunge in popularity.

The ban also restricts the types of smaller whales that can be hunted, such as a former favorite of the coastal operations — the minke. Small-time whalers now commercially hunt only whales that are not regulated internationally.

Japan's coastal whalers also suffer from a global PR problem.

Amid an active anti-whaling movement, many people in Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand consider killing whales an environmental and moral crime, and grisly scenes such as the ones in Wada reinforce the image of whaling as barbaric.

The campaign touches a nationalist chord among Japanese, who feel it's discriminatory and hypocritical, given that Japanese whaling only took off after World War II because U.S. occupation authorities encouraged it as a source of food.

"They just completely reject people whose thinking isn't the same as theirs," says the industry's point man in the southern whaling town of Taiji, Yoji Kita. "In their `global standard,' there are a lot of double standards."

When people here speak of tradition, they mean family-owned company boats targeting small game just 20 miles from the shore, rather than the Japanese factory fleets, which range as far afield as the Antarctic and pull in a total of more than 1,000 whales per year.

This year, coastal whalers operating out of four main ports are set to take a total of 66 Baird's beaked whales, 72 pilot whales — which look like dolphins — and 20 Risso dolphins.

Minke whales, of which they used to take 300 a year, have been banned from the hunt by the International Whaling Commission since the 1980s, though Japan takes many minke whales — and eats the meat — as part of an IWC-allowed scientific whaling program.

The whaling companies, however, say the moratorium is sinking their business.

Japan's eight coastal whaling companies now use only five of their nine whaling boats for coastal operations. Populations in whaling towns have dropped, and village administrators complain about shrinking tax bases.

"Everyone here is in the red," Shoji said as his men sliced fat from the cubes of meat and dumped buckets of innards into a huge vat for processing into fertilizer.

The complaint gets little international sympathy.

A Japanese proposal to win "community whaling" status that would have allowed limited minke whale hunts failed at an IWC meeting in May. Critics argue that Japan's coastal operations are strictly commercial, using modern industrial methods such as mechanized harpoon guns, while community hunts are conducted by aboriginal people as ceremonies or to harvest a vital food source.

"Long ago, they used their own boats and caught whales with nets. But since the early 1900s, they've been using methods imported from Norway," said Junichi Sato of Greenpeace Japan. "So it's not at all as if they were preserving a tradition."

Japan's industrial whaling may be 20th century, but its roots are old.

Organized whaling began in the early 1600s in Taiji, a town about 300 miles southwest of Tokyo, whose phone book is full of names rooted in whaling: Seko — harpooner; Ryono — whaling boat sailor.

Shrines to the animals, including one where feudal hunters brought fetuses found in pregnant whales, dot the town. Villagers stage a whale festival on the bluff where spotters in the 17th century watched for approaching whales.

"Whaling is not just an occupation for them — it's pride, it's history," said Hayato Sakurai, curator of the Taiji Whale Museum, which was established in 1969 and features an enormous replica of the skeleton of a blue whale.

The town's hunts of old involved hundreds of daredevil hunters on wooden boats who would surround the whale, spear it and drag it to shore. But those ways vanished when a typhoon wiped out Taiji's fleet in 1878.

By around 1900, whaling was based on modern steam ships and grenade harpoons.

Today Taiji is feeling the pressure, and Western visitors to City Hall and the wharves draw looks of suspicion that they have come to smear the town.

Coastal whalers argue that while they hunt whales as food and fertilizer, the Western whalers of old were only after them for their oil and discarded the rest.

Also playing into the argument are race, the legacy of the war and a sense of Japan being perennial odd man out in global affairs dominated by the United States and Europe.

"It looks like we're part of the club, but then something happens, and they point at us and say, `You're the country that started the war!'" said Kita. "I feel the whaling issue is a racial discrimination issue."

This touchiness is heightened by the Taiji area's autumn and winter dolphin hunt, when boat crews surround schools of the animals and slash them to death. The kills are often filmed by animal rights groups and broadcast worldwide.

Towns like Wada and Taiji have responded with campaigns to teach pride in the whaling tradition in local schools, where whale meat often features on the lunch menu, despite evidence that whale and dolphin meat is contaminated with mercury.

Wada, for instance, hosts school groups to witness whale flensings, though the copious blood and stench occasionally sickens a student. The kids then gather at a nearby cafeteria for a whale meat breakfast.

"We want them to know about the things that are done in the town where they were raised," explained Tomokazu Shoji, a teacher accompanying his 5th graders to flensing.

Meanwhile, old-time whalers mourn the passing of a culture.

Tameo Ryono, 70, worked on whaling ships in the Antarctic and other seas for some 40 years. The son and grandson of whalers, he grew up in Taiji watching his elders harpoon the beasts. The thick meat was a common meal on the Ryono dinner table.

"This is how we provided for our families for generations," he said, opening a box of black and white photographs of old hunting ships.

"Since the moratorium, kids even in this town don't have many chances to see whales," he said. "They don't dream of being whalers anymore."

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Eating a Whale Has Its Attractions

Joseph Coleman, AFP 18 Nov 07;

TOKYO (AP) — Breaded, deep-fried or raw, whale is considered a tasty staple in some parts of Japan, no matter what the world and its animal-lovers may think.

Tastes vary among regions, depending on what kinds of whale are caught. Northerners prefer the lighter flesh of the minke, while the cooking traditions of Wada, a village outside Tokyo, focus on the dark meat of the Baird's beaked whale.

Akiji Ichihara, who runs Wada's Piman restaurant, stews the meat with ginger, leaves, soy sauce, sake and miso soy bean paste, or pan-fries it in oil like a steak.

Tare is meat sliced thin, slathered with soy sauce and sun-dried. A chewy snack with beer or sake, and can last in the fridge for a year.

"It's black and doesn't look very appetizing," says Ichihara, but "it tastes good."

However, scientists say that toothed whales like those eaten in Wada have high levels of mercury contamination.

The dark, bloody meat of the Baird's beaked whale doesn't make for very attractive sashimi. The minke, with lower mercury levels, is preferable.

Coastal whalers are banned from taking minke commercially. But Japan kills more than 1,000 of them every year as part of a scientific whaling program allowed by the International Whaling Commission.

Some of that meat eventually makes it to Ichihara's kitchen, where patrons dip raw strips of it into a mixture of soy sauce, ginger and garlic.

"The tail meat is good for sashimi," he said. "It's like tuna, nicely marbled. And the taste is lighter, so it's best for sashimi."

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