Dumping North Sea fish 'immoral': 40%-60% of EU fish caught dumped

European Union quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that vessels can bring back to port, but there is no restriction on the amount of fish they actually catch.

The EU estimates that between 40% and 60% of fish caught by trawlers in this area is dumped back into the sea.

BBC News 20 Nov 07

Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw has agreed that dumping thousands of tonnes of dead fish back into the sea because of EU fishing quotas is "immoral".

He said he supported the view of EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg and would be pushing for quota increases.

The fishing industry has warned it faces ruin because fish caught after quotas are exceeded have to be dumped.

But environmentalists say quotas are necessary to protect stocks, and want to see a change in fishing practices.

40%-60% dumped

European Union quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that vessels can bring back to port, but there is no restriction on the amount of fish they actually catch.

BBC rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke found that boats fishing in the "mixed fishery" of the North Sea often accidentally catch a species or size of fish which is above their quota and have to throw the "discard" back.

The EU estimates that between 40% and 60% of fish caught by trawlers in this area is dumped back into the sea.

Mr Borg - who is instrumental in setting the laws and limits - described such discarding of fish as "immoral" but said there was no clear solution.

"The problem is when we come to work out the details of how to eliminate discarding but at the same time have sustainable fisheries - that is the big problem."

Mr Shaw said it was an "absolute waste" to throw good quality fish back into the sea.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he would be pushing for an EU cod quota increase as well as looking at technological solutions, such as nets that would catch only certain kinds of fish.

"We have seen a recovery in cod in the North Sea in particular - now that is good news," he said.

"So that is why we will be pressing the commission at the annual round in December for an increase in cod and hopefully that will help the fishermen."

Trawler skipper Phil Walsh told BBC News he had landed all of the cod he was allowed by June this year.

Since then, he has been fishing for prawns and dumping prime whiting, haddock and cod, which would fetch as much as £13.50/kg on a supermarket shelf.

"I can't describe the feeling really," he said.

"It's your livelihood and you spend your life trying to catch it and then you have to throw it back over the side.

"It's an impossible situation and, unless it is sorted out soon, we will all be finished."

Marine protection

Many Scottish and English fishermen say they have seen a huge increase in the number of cod in the North Sea this year and now want an increase in the quota level for cod and other white fish they catch.

"I feel very bitter because we've been so long trying to protect the cod," said trawler skipper David Mell.

"[We've had] decommissioning, increased our mesh size, we've been through a lot of pain really.... [But] I thought I would never see the day that I had to throw adult cod overboard."

But environmentalists, who have for years been sounding the alarm bell over the decline of North Sea fish stocks, say now is not the time to increase the amount being caught.

They say quotas are essential to ensure spawning stocks are allowed to mature and to breed.

But, like the fishermen, activists such as the World Wildlife Fund's Helen McLachlan agree that throwing dead cod back into the water is not the answer.

Instead, she said, there must be a change in fishing practices.

"Nobody wants discards," she said.



"So let's not catch the fish in the first place.

"Let's avoid areas where there are going to be large spawning stocks of fish, let's avoid juveniles... let's use selective gear so [a fisherman can say], 'I will only catch prawns, I will not catch white fish'."

Oliver Knowles, a campaigner for Greenpeace, also believes quotas are not working for the UK's mixed fisheries.

He says the only answer is to stop fishing altogether in 40% of the world's oceans.

"Most importantly, I think you have got to create marine reserves. We don't have any proper protection for the marine environment.

"We are talking about a very large scale - about 40% - and Greenpeace isn't alone in calling for protected areas at around that size."

Minister criticised on cod quotas
Richard Black, BBC news 20 Nov 07;

Fisheries scientists and conservation groups have criticised Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw over his call for an increase in the UK's cod quotas.

The minister said he would be lobbying for an increase when EU ministers meet next month to decide 2008 quotas.

Leading researchers, including the EU's advisers, say stocks are still too low.

Conservation groups are urging the government to mandate introduction of nets that can target haddock or prawn without catching cod accidentally.

"I would say that 'business as usual' in the North Sea is not an acceptable position for a minister to be taking," said Helen MacLachlan, senior marine policy officer with WWF UK.

"To be looking for an increase in cod quotas without changing fishing practices is unsustainable and untenable."

Mr Shaw suggested a quota increase was justified because British prawn fishermen say they are catching a large amount of cod accidentally, which have to be discarded.

Missing quota

North Sea cod stocks have shown a slight recovery over the last few years, with the result that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices), which advises the European Union, recommended that a catch of about 11,500 tonnes was sustainable for 2008.

That is about half the catch that European ministers awarded themselves last year. But Mr Shaw said the government was looking for an increase next year, not a reduction.

"We will be pressing the [European] Commission at the annual round in December for an increase in cod, and hopefully that will help the fishermen," he said.

The chair of Ices' advisory committee on fisheries management, Dr Martin Pastoors, told BBC News that the science did not justify Mr Shaw's position.

"We are recommending a reduction in catches, the reason being that that although stocks are improving, they are still at a very low level," he said.

"Our estimate of the adult stock size is around 35,000 tonnes; and if you go back to the 1970s, it was above 250,000 tonnes."

An unusually large number of fish born in 2005 are still in the North Sea, he said.

"Fishermen are seeing lots of cod that are not mature yet, and interpreting that as proof that there's been a large increase. But we need the adult stock to be at a safe level."

Professor Callum Roberts from the University of York said Mr Shaw did not appear to appreciate the details of the situation.

"If he's suggesting increases in cod quotas then he doesn't seem to be fully in control of his brief yet," he said.

"Yes, we need to get rid of discarding - I agree it's an appalling waste to throw so much stuff over the side - but keeping all the catch cannot be done by itself, it needs to be done alongside other measures."

He said the key was to switch from a management system based on quotas to one based on limiting fishing effort - the days boats spend at sea and the type of gear they are allowed to use - and marine protected areas.

Fine adjustment

Prawn trawlers currently use fine-mesh nets with "escape hatches" of much larger mesh size in the top, to allowed some of the white fish to swim out.

Scientists at the Scottish government's Fisheries Research Services in Aberdeen found that increasing the mesh size in the top could allow a majority of cod to escape. They have also created nets that will catch haddock and whiting, but not cod.

"We found this out 25 years ago," said Dick Ferro, until recently head of the agency's fishing technology and fish behaviour group.

"As the net approaches, we observed that haddock and whiting and and saithe swim upwards, while cod and flatfish and prawns stay low."

Their design separates fish as they swim in, haddock heading to a higher enclosure and cod escaping lower down.

However, some of these technologies lead to fishermen losing a small portion of their target catch as well.

"If all designs for bycatch reduction that are now gathering dust in various research laboratories were put to use, the world's fisheries would be in a better shape," commented Professor Roberts.

"There are lots of good intentions out there, but there's been a lack of political will to implement them. So if you want people to use these approaches, you have to force them through legislation, and you probably also have to supply some kind of transitional payment."

Until such time as measures such as separator nets and marine reserves are mandatory, said Helen MacLachlan, there should be no question of simply asking for more quota.

"The last time we had a large year class of cod come through, we completely fished it out within a few years because we were so short-sighted.

"We absolutely cannot let it happen again."

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ASEAN leaders sign declaration to protect environment

Channel NewsAsia 20 Nov 07

SINGAPORE : ASEAN members have signed a declaration to protect the environment and ensure its sustainability.

Leaders of the 10 countries also pledged to address the issues of climate change by cutting down pollution and strengthening resource conservation.

The leaders also committed to boost regional cooperation to tackle the haze and promote the use of renewable and alternative sources of energy, such as solar, hydro, wind power as well as biofuels.

They also signed a declaration to support the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali next month. - CNA/ms

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Greenhouse-gas emissions by industrialised countries at new high: UNFCCC

Yahoo News 20 Nov 07

Emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised countries have broken new records, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said on Tuesday ahead of a crucial forum on tackling global warming.

In 2005 -- the latest year for which the 40 industrialised countries which have signed and ratified the UNFCCC have reported data -- the total emissions of greenhouse gases by this group "rose to an all-time high," the UNFCCC said.

"The increases in emissions came from both the continued growth in highly industrialised countries and the revived economic growth in former East Bloc nations," it said. Transport accounted for the biggest growth in emissions of any sector.

The data released by the UNFCCC comes on the heels of a grim warning by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

At the weekend, the Nobel-winning IPCC issued a historic report that declared climate change was already visible and could wreak "abrupt or irreversible" damage if unchecked.

Publication of the figures also coincides with the runup to a UNFCCC meeting in Bali, Indonesia, running from December 3-14.

That conference is tasked with setting down a two-year strategy of negotiations leading to a new pact to deepen curbs on greenhouse gases beyond 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's current pledges expire.

Under the Protocol, only industrialised countries that have signed and ratified it are required to make targeted cuts in their emissions. Developing countries do not have these pledges.

The United States -- the world's biggest carbon polluter in 2005 but widely tipped to be overtaken by China in 2007 -- remains outside the Kyoto Protocol.

It signed the pact in 1997 but has refused to ratify it, although it remains a member of Kyoto's parent treaty, the UNFCCC.

The new emissions data, as encapsulated in a press release by the UNFCCC, did not give the raw figures for the pollution reported by the industrialised economies (the so-called "Annex 1" countries) in 2005, or give a percentage comparison against 2004.

But a graph indicated that these emissions were higher than at any time since in the previous 14 years, due to a relentless rise in the West and a pickup in the old Soviet Bloc, whose command economies crashed in the early 1990s.

Here are the main points from the report:

-- By the end of 2005, the United States emitted 16.3 percent more greenhouse gases than in 1990. Australia, the other industrialised Kyoto holdout, was 25.6 percent above the 1990 benchmark.

-- Overall, Kyoto's Annex 1 countries are projected to achieve reductions of 10.8 percent by 2012 over 1990 levels. Under the Protocol, the Annex 1 group is committed to a five percent cut as a whole.

-- However, this 10.8-percent cut will only be achieved if the Annex 1 countries implement all the policies and measures they have promised and the collapse of carbon-spewing industries in Central and Eastern Europe is factored in. Green groups contest this latter calculation as an accountancy trick.

-- Within the European Union (EU), which is Kyoto's big champion, only four countries of the pre-enlargement EU-15 (Britain, France, Germany and Sweden) are on course for meeting their 2012 targets without additional measures. On the other hand, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Italy and Spain were already as much as three times over their Kyoto ceiling in 2005.

The UNFCCC said there were some grounds for optimism.

It noted a surge of activity in 2006 in two Kyoto innovations -- the market in carbon emissions, launched by the EU, and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in which rich countries get carbon "credits" if they offset pollution in poorer countries.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said a mix of tools was needed as countries shaped a post-2012 deal for tackling global warming.

"A future, ambitious UN climate-change regime needs to continue and expand the central elements of the Kyoto Protocol, whilst making use of other policy tools, such as carbon taxes and other effective policy packages," he said.

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Mandai to be turned into Asia's top nature spot

Channel NewsAsia 20 Nov 07

SINGAPORE : A luxurious spa retreat in Mandai could soon be a reality with new plans for the area.

Two new nature-themed attractions in Mandai, to complement the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, were announced on Tuesday.

The Singapore Zoo's five cheetahs just got a bigger home, as part of a S$70 million masterplan by Wildlife Reserves Singapore to improve the facilities of the Zoo and Night Safari.

Meanwhile, even bigger things are being planned for the whole Mandai region.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) wants to turn the area into Asia's next top nature spot, with two new attractions on the way.

A 30-hectare site in the area may soon become the next luxurious topical spa retreat, and another idea being considered is an exotic river-themed development, where visitors can learn about freshwater habitat.


S Iswaran, Minister of State, Trade and Industry, said, "Certainly if you want to go into a large national park, Singapore may not be able to compete with some of what's being offered in the region. If you're looking for an immersive experience, tropical rainforest in a natural setting, I think we can do quite a bit. Obviously we can't compete on size, so we have to compete on the quality of the experience, the nature of the experience.

"And when you go to an urban centre, you don't really go to a city expecting a back-to-nature experience in this total sense. You want an immersive experience and that's where the Zoo and the Night Safari can play a part, and I think the Mandai nature park kind of nature destination can play a part."

There is something very relaxing about being immersed in nature, and the government believes that if done well, visitors to Mandai can forget that they are actually only minutes away from the city centre.

STB is confident that with the new attractions, the number of visitors to Mandai could double to 5 million by 2015. - CNA/ms

Northern Exposure
30-ha site in Mandai to be nature retreat
Tan Hui Leng, Today Online 21 Nov 07;

IMAGINE spending a night or two in a nature retreat in Mandai, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There, you can enjoy a spa under the rainforest canopy while relaxing to the chirping of birds.

This may come true as the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) wants to develop a 30-hectare site — the equivalent of about 42 football fields — into a nature cluster that would attract 5 million visitors by 2015, which is double the number now.

"If you look at the overall tourism positioning in Singapore, we have some very city-type products in the Marina Bay area with the IRs (integrated resorts), we have a bit more of a family-activity-type product in Sentosa.

"What we're trying to do here now is to create and build on what we have in terms of the nature-themed attraction," said Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran after launching the Cheetah enclosure at the Singapore Zoo yesterday.

The revamped home offers the zoo's five cheetahs more running space and a new glass-fronted observation hut for visitors to see the cats up close.

He described Mandai as a "natural choice" for the new nature retreat since the zoo and the Night Safari are located there.

"Obviously, we can't compete (with other countries) on size, so we have to compete on the quality of the experience, the nature of the experience," said Mr Iswaran.

In addition to the nature cluster, a third animal attraction would be developed to complement the zoo and the Night Safari.

The themed attraction would create exotic river environments and allow visitors to learn about endangered freshwater flora and fauna in natural habitats.

The Wildlife Reserves Singapore has also drawn up a $70-million master plan to build new facilities, such as upgraded amphitheatres and new trams, into the zoo and the Night Safari.

The STB will invite investors to propose suitable tourism products for the Mandai nature cluster in the middle of next year.

"Singapore has, over the years, been branded as quite a stereotypical city that is lacking in resort-style atmosphere, so the new developments will complement what we already have here," said National Association of Travel Agents chief executive Robert Khoo.

But Ms Judy Lum, vice-president for sales and marketing of Tour East, said: "Usually, tourists who are into nature want it as natural as possible and they are usually on a budget … If you want to make it exclusive and price it in the higher-end range, it really has to be different."

Since some tourists can find nature easily in their countries or travel to places with natural reserves, the Mandai nature cluster may well attract locals instead of international tourists, said Associate Professor Chang Tou Chuang, deputy head at the National University of Singapore's geography department.

Unlike in a safari where a tourist crosses from place to place to see wildlife, Assoc Prof Chang said he doubts that one will see a huge variety of wildlife staying in Mandai for one or two nights. "So, it's really for people who want to get away from it all."


Mandai to get new nature attraction on 30-hectare site
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 21 Nov 07;

The aim: A cluster of green-themed offerings in the area that will help to draw more tourists

AT LEAST one more nature-themed attraction will spring up in Mandai by 2015.

The Government will, in the middle of next year, release a 30ha site - roughly three times the size of VivoCity mall - for developing such an attraction.

The site can house a back-to-nature resort, a wildlife-themed restaurant, or anything with a nature theme that a developer can dream up.

Such a move will widen the range of tourism offerings by creating a cluster of nature-based attractions in Mandai, which is already home to the Zoo, the Night Safari and the Mandai Orchid Garden.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, who opened a new cheetah habitat in the Zoo yesterday, said: 'An increasing number of tourists are keen to commune with nature, visit natural habitats and see wildlife - perhaps as a counterpoint to the modern urban lifestyle.'

These nature-themed attractions, together with the integrated resorts, the Formula One race, the Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore Flyer, are meant to get Singapore closer to snagging 17 million visitors who will spend $30 billion here by 2015.

Meanwhile, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, which manages the Zoo and Night Safari, is developing a freshwater-themed animal attraction within its 89-ha compound.

To be ready by 2015, this will be the third attraction in Wildlife Reserves' stable.

The company will also put $70 million over the next five years into improving the Zoo and Night Safari, by adding more trams, building new wildlife zones and creating more restaurants, for example.

The Zoo and Night Safari now pull in 2.5 million visitors a year, but with the new attractions in place, the Singapore Tourism Board expects Mandai's visitor numbers to double by 2015.

Former Zoo chief Bernard Harrison said Mandai was due for a shot in the arm, as it has been more than a decade since the Night Safari opened there.

Ms Ng Lee Li, a section head for the Tourism Academy @ Sentosa, said the cluster will mean that the attractions there can tap each other's spillover visitors.

She added that making the 30ha plot a 'lifestyle' kind of attraction with accommodation, food and beverage and retail outlets will bring in nature lovers and non-nature lovers alike.

CTC Holidays' senior manager of outbound tours Jocelyn Su noted that more Singaporeans, too, have been flocking to countries like Australia and Malaysia in search of a connection with nature.

She said she has seen up to 40 per cent more bookings in the last two years for holidays to places like Taiwan and Hokkaido, where a stay in a forest lodge or trekking in a mangrove swamp is on the itinerary.

To her comment that Singapore's nature-themed attractions will go up against these countries' offerings, Mr Iswaran said that while Singapore could not compete in terms of size, it could do so in the quality department.

He added: 'If you come to the zoo here, you wouldn't think that five minutes away are Housing Board flats and 20 minutes away is the Central Business District.'

Related articles

Plans for Mandai: Forest Science Crapped in Singapore
beyond price: what is the true value of Mandai forest? on Joseph Lai's eart-h.com

If not properly done, plans to turn Mandai into nature retreat could backfire
Letter from Marianne Maes, Today Online 22 Nov 07

Do we need another nature-themed attraction?
NO: Nature Society thinks it will cause greater damage to nature reserve
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 22 Nov 07

YES: A nature escape will add to Singapore's attraction as a tourist destination, say travel agents
30ha of greenery in Mandai has been set aside for a new attraction near the Zoo and Night Safari, and the idea is already drawing varied reactions
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 22 Nov 07;

Mandai: a repeat of the losses at Bukit Timah Nature Reseve
due to over-development? and more thoughts on the nature scouter blog

Nature Society expresses concerns about plans for Mandai
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 21 Nov 07;

Read more!

Fishermen hamper mangrove reforestation efforts in Jakarta

The Jakarta Post 20 Nov 07

Efforts to revitalize Jakarta's dwindling mangrove forests in Muara Angke have been hampered by local fishermen farming shrimp and fishing in the designated conservation area, a ranger from the Forestry Ministry told The Jakarta Post last week.

Angke Kapuk mangrove reserve ranger Resijati Wasito said fish farmers had cleared approximately 80 percent of the 100 hectare wetlands.

The reforestation program has been hindered by fishermen rearing milk fish and shrimp and removing mangrove trees and their roots, he said.

"It's hard to deal with the illegal fishermen. We've asked them to leave, because this conservation area belongs to the Forestry Ministry, but they keep returning.

"They damaged seedlings we planted, and even threatened us with machetes to try to stop us planting more trees," Resijati said.

He said there were currently some 30 fishermen and their families living in shanties in the Angke Kapuk reserve, even though the land was acquired by the ministry in 1988.

Resijati told the Post the government also gave compensation to fishermen who left the area, but those efforts appeared to be fruitless.

"We continue to ask them to leave because we have no authority to expel them. We've also asked for military personnel to protect new trees," he said.

The reserve has changed substantially with the fish farming. Where once stood a shady forest of mangrove trees, now there are only milk fish ponds.

In 2002 the Forestry Ministry and the reserve developer, PT Murindra Karya Lestari, planted some 50,000 mangrove seedlings, but most of them were uprooted by fishermen, leaving only around 100, Resijati said.

Since 2004 some 14,000 mangrove seedlings have been planted with better supervision. Around 10,000 can now be seen near the ponds.

Resijati said left undisturbed it would take seedlings nearly 10 years to grow into a forest.

Kapuk Angke natural reserve, together with the nearby Muara Angke wildlife reserve and protected forest, are the only remaining mangrove forest sites in Jakarta, whose coastline stretches some 32 kilometers from east to west. The three reserve sites total some 170 hectares.

Most of Jakarta's mangrove forests have been cleared not only for fish farming, but also for building developments, which have an even greater environmental impact, Resijati said.

He said mangrove forest wetlands play a crucial role in slowing the abrasion of beaches, protecting the city from big ocean waves and flooding, and serve as a nursery for marine life and a feeding grounds for a large number of animals.

The forests, he said, also function as green belts, protecting groundwater in nearby areas from salination. (wda)

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Reclamation in South Korea hurting shore birds: study

South Korea land grab hurting shore birds: study
Jon Herskovitz, Reuters 20 Nov 07;

SEOUL (Reuters) - Land reclamation in South Korea is taking a heavy toll on shore birds by destroying the habitat that once served as a main source of food to sustain their global migration, a study released on Tuesday said.

South Korea completed its Saemangeum land reclamation project on its west coast in 2006. It covers an area of 400 square km (155 sq miles) -- about seven times the size of Manhattan.

"All shore bird species that formerly staged there regularly have been affected, and most species have shown declines," said the study from Birds Korea and the Australasian Wader Studies Group.

Migratory birds traveling between Russia and Alaska in the north to New Zealand and Australia in the south congregate for refuelling stops at Yellow Sea tidal flats to feast on shellfish and other food.

"The whole of the Yellow Sea is an amazing crossroads for migratory shore birds," said Nial Moores, a British-born conservationist and director of Birds Korea.

Among the species most affected at Saemangeum are the Great Knot, which numbered about 88,000 in mid-May 2006 but fell to about 3,500 a year later, and Bar-Tailed Godwit, the study said.

The groups in 2006 started a three-year survey on the number of shore birds at Saemangeum and adjacent sites.

The loss of tidal flats had also hurt water quality in the area and led to mass deaths of marine animals, the study said.

South Korea, now one of the world's largest economies, launched its reclamation project decades ago to increase its farm land when it was trying to rise from the ashes of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The government has said it is trying to develop other shore areas for the migratory birds.

A separate study in May said migratory shore birds are starving and at least two species face extinction due to the reclamation project that has removed one of the largest feeding grounds on the Yellow Sea for 400,000 birds that pass a year.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and David Fogarty)

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Autumn rain down 90 percent in China rice belt

Reuters 19 Nov 07

BEIJING (Reuters) - Large areas of south China are suffering from serious drought, with water levels on two major rivers in rice-growing provinces dropping to historic lows, state media said on Tuesday.

Rainfall since the beginning of October had dropped by 90 percent in Jiangxi and 86 percent in neighboring Hunan, the country's largest rice-growing province, from average figures, Xinhua news agency said.

Rice is a staple for most Chinese and a crop which needs a constant supply of water

The Gan and Xiang rivers running through the two provinces had seen their lowest water levels in history, Xinhua said. The shallow water has caused a jam of barges in some sections of the Gan.

Authorities had rushed to ensure drinking water supplies in big cities along the rivers and irrigation of fields by diverting water from reservoirs and installing pumps, Xinhua said.

Water levels on China's longest river, the Yangtze, and on the Pearl River in the southern province of Guangdong had also dropped, Xinhua said.

Drought and floods are perennial problems in China where meteorologists have complained about the increased extreme weather, partly blaming it on climate change.

More than 1,100 Chinese were killed during summer floods this year.

But some parts of the south were hit by weeks of scorching heat and drought in the summer, when as much as a third of farmland was damaged and millions of people were short of drinking water.

It was not immediately clear how much damage had been caused to the rice crop.

The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre early this month estimated rice production this year would rise by 2 percent to 186.5 million tons.

(Reporting by Guo Shipeng and Niu Shuping, editing by Nick Macfie)

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Whatever Happened to Nuclear Power?

Michael Schirber, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 19 Nov 07

At the turn of the millennium, nuclear power appeared to be on its way out, like land-line telephones. But the nukes industry appears to be in vogue again, thanks in large part to fears of climate change.

"Global warming has definitely been a big help to us," said Don Hintz, vice president of the American Nuclear Society.

Nuclear power plants produce no significant quantity of greenhouse gases, in contrast to coal-fired power plants, which account for 35 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

France gets roughly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear and is said to have the cleanest air in the industrialized world, according to coverage of the topic by CBS News' "60 Minutes."

Politicians and, ironically, some environmentalists have been calling for new nuclear reactors. In September, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received its first application in 30 years for a license to build a new plant, and there are about 20 more applications in the pipeline.

The International Atomic Energy Agency recently forecasted that the current global nuclear capacity of 370 gigawatts will grow by 20 to 80 percent in the next two decades.

However, some feel this so-called "nuclear renaissance" is based on false promises.

"We've known for a decade that nuclear power plants are the worst route to go to solve climate change," said Jim Riccio, nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace.

The nuclear industry has in the past been plagued by cost overruns and construction delays, Riccio said. Whatever good more nuclear plants could bring to the environment will come too late and at too high a cost.

"A dollar invested in renewable energy will go seven to 10 times farther towards reducing greenhouse gases," Riccio told LiveScience.

Debate shift

The battle for and against nuclear power in the United States has been ongoing for decades, becoming especially heated after the accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986.

The main concerns have been the threat of an accidental radiation leak and the lack of long-lasting disposal sites for radioactive waste.

But in the past five years, the debate has shifted in light of new fears over global warming.

According to recent figures from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), 103 commercial nuclear plants in the United States generate nearly 75 percent of all emission-free electricity, which includes renewable technologies and hydroelectric power plants.

"We're supportive of wind and other renewable energies," but addressing climate change will likely require some fraction of nuclear power, Hintz said.

In terms of radioactive waste, the United States has more than 50,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors. Although this constitutes a small fraction of the nearly 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted per year from the nation's coal-fired plants, most of this highly radioactive waste is stored temporarily in aboveground sites, where it could contaminate groundwater or be used as a terrorist target.

There are hopes for a cleaner nuclear future: Fusion reactors—in which nuclei are combined—have the potential to provide almost limitless energy without all the toxic waste associated with traditional fission reactors. However, despite continued efforts, fusion power is still far from a reality.

"We really don't have time to chase around this Holy Grail," Riccio said.

Politically born again

The NEI estimates that current nuclear power costs less than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, cheaper than coal-generated power. However, Riccio said this price does not include huge debts leftover from earlier construction.

"The first 75 reactors in the United States had $100 billion in cost overruns." Riccio said.

The nuclear industry is hoping to avoid some of the problems that arose in the past with the help of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

The 2005 legislation offers billions of dollars in incentives to the industry to start new construction. It also allows reactor builders to apply for a combined operating license, which covers construction and operation. Before, builders needed two separate licenses, a fact that left certain finished reactors unused for years.

"The beauty of [the new licensing] is that all delays will be at the front end before you spend billions of dollars," Hintz said.

If all goes smoothly, the NRC licenses will be awarded in three to five years and the first reactors will go on-line around 2015, Hintz said.

Editor's Note: This article is part of an occasional LiveScience series about ideas to ease humanity's impact on the environment.

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Sentosa, schools to jointly restore primary forest

Today Online 20 Nov 07;

The Sentosa Leisure Group is embarking on a project to restore a primary forest on the resort island for the first time. It will invest an initial $200,000 to kick off its efforts and has roped in 150 pupils to help write this green chapter in the history books.

With guidance from Sentosa and nature experts, nine schools have adopted plots across 12 to 15 hectares to grow native plant species from around the region.

Sentosa's nature reserves now comprise essentially secondary coastal forests, some of which are rather sparse and low in quality, resulting from historical clearing of the forest in the early 19th Century.

Links

Comments on this report on the nature scouter blog

See also Joseph Lai's Sentosa's Destroyed Habitats about the Sentosa forest that was cleared for the Integrated Resort

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Sungai Pulai mangroves to be cleared; EIA not yet done

An email from Save our Seahorses

Dear Volunteers,

You have probably read in the news recently (the Star, Nov 13) that the
Department of Environment has given green light for developers to clear
2,255 acres of mangroves in Sungai Pulai for the construction of
petrochemical and maritime industries.

SOS is appalled to learn that the Detailed EIA, which has been
specifically ordered by the State Menteri Besar (16 Aug 2007) to assess
the development impact in greater detail, had not been carried out.

The call for Detailed EIA was pressured by NGOs and various agencies,
including you and me. Close to 4,000 online petitions have been created by
SOS and these will again be used in the upcoming Press Conference to
conserve Sungai Pulai.

Meanwhile, for those of you who feel strongly about preserving the
seahorse, seagrass and the rich Sungai Pulai biodiversity, this would be a
critical time to write in to the decision makers, expressing your concerns
and requesting for their explanations.

Let our voice shakes their offices and our letters flood their desks. Also
let your voice be heard in the mainstream media. Please let us have a copy
of their feedback if you receive any.

The Chinese adage says: "A cent a day, thoudsand cents thousand days,
string can cut through plank, drops of water can penatrate stone"

SOS thank you once again for your kind attention - and action!

Best wishes,
Save Our Seahorses
Website: www.sosmalaysia.org

Related articles

Marine Conservation Area proposed at Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor
Bernama 9 Nov 07;

Links

Save our Seahorses is a non-profit organization committed to saving the seahorse and the Pulai River Estuary in Malaysia. SOS comprises a group of young scientists, students, public volunteers and local fishing communities.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 20 Nov 07

Sentosa to primary reforest?
newsflash on the nature scouters blog

Live Reef Fish Trade in Palau
the destructive practice continues a link from the fins blog; do think about this the next time we have live fish at a restaurant.

Message Management by IPCC?
on the reuters environment blog

Clean Energy’s Best-Kept Secret: Waste Heat Recovery
from the Worldwatch Institute

Silverlines of Singapore
Gorgeous creatures on the butterflies of singapore blog

Cuddly stuff at Hantu
on the colourful clouds blog

Read more!

British scientists slam shoddy science in ads

Straits Times 20 Nov 07;

Group worried that advertisers are using technical-sounding terms to hoodwink shoppers

LONDON - WHEN biologist Harriet Ball noticed that a popular vitamin B-enriched yogurt made by Nestle promised to 'optimise the release of energy', she queried the company about its claims and found they had no evidence to support it.

Ms Ball belongs to a group of more than two dozen British scientists who became so fed up with advertisers' seemingly bogus claims that they started a campaign to debunk bad science.

Those who have run afoul of scrutiny by them include French cosmetic company Clarins and pop star Madonna.

The group, Voice of Young Scientists, published a report last month chronicling their encounters with 11 companies.

'These are just a few of the products that particularly annoyed us,' said Ms Alice Tuff, coordinator of the group.

It found that none of the companies investigated had proof to support their assertions. Products ranged from a cleanser purported to wipe the body clean of parasites to Himalayan salt lamps that supposedly relieve asthma.

Ms Tuff said they were not intentionally trying to show up the companies.

'All we wanted to do was track down the evidence,' she said. 'We were really shocked that we didn't find anything at all.'

The scientists are worried that advertisers are increasingly employing technical-sounding language to hoodwink consumers, while in some cases their pseudo-science has caused alarm about supposed health threats, with no supporting data.

In the Clarins case documented by the group, Britain's Advertising Standards authority ruled that the French cosmetics company had needlessly worried people about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation waves in marketing their 'Expertise 3P spray'.

Clarins claimed their spray protected skin against pollution and the effects of artificial electromagnetic waves.

Company officials did not answer calls seeking comment on how the product works.

The advertising authority judged that Clarins had not proven that electromagnetic waves could damage skin in the first place.

Last year, the group chastised Madonna for her attempts to 'neutralise radiation' by using a mystical Kabbalah fluid that allegedly decontaminated nuclear waste in Ukraine.

Voice of Young Scientists is part of Sense About Science, a charity that promotes better understanding of science in the general public.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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5% inflation next year? Food already up 10-20%

Letter from Richard Seah Siew Sai, Straits Times Forum 20 Nov 07;

WHY are we fretting over a possible 5 per cent rate of inflation next year when, already, the prices of many commonly consumed items have risen by 10 to 20 per cent, or more?

I went to the market on Sunday morning and saw that my favourite you tiao stall had increased its price from 50 to 60 cents - a 20 per cent increase. It is just the latest of many hawker stalls around my place that have raised prices recently, mostly after July.

When I got home, I read in The Sunday Times that one coffeeshop in writer Bertha Henson's neighbourhood had raised its price for a cuppa from 70 to 90 cents - a 29 per cent increase.

As I don't drive, I had to learn from your newspaper that petrol prices have risen 24 per cent since January, while cooking gas has gone up by $4 a tank, which is about 13 to 17 per cent more than a year ago.

Some weeks back, I ate kway chap at the coffeeshop near my flat and was shocked that my meal came to $4.50.

I thought the hawker had made a mistake, as I used to pay about $3.50 for similar items. The hawker said no.

A slab of tofu now costs $1, a hefty increase from just 50 or 60 cents before. I have decided to boycott that stall.

Old Chang Kee, which I proudly regard as Singapore's answer to fast food, has raised the prices of its snacks by 10 cents each, an increase of about 10 per cent. At least, it is not as much as the increases imposed by others.

So, what exactly does the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure? Why is it predicting a mere 5 per cent rate of inflation when the prices of so many everyday products have gone up by a much bigger margin?

I have studied enough economics to know that it depends on the 'basket of goods' that goes into the calculation of the CPI. Perhaps the Department of Statistics could reveal the items that go into this 'basket'.

In particular, does it contain a fair amount of cooked hawker food to reflect the Singaporean habit of eating out often?

When was the basket last updated? I suspect another updating of this basket will reveal the inflation rate to be even much higher.

Some cashing in on rising cost of ingredients to make higher profits
Letter from Jeffrey Law Lee Beng, Straits Times Forum 20 Nov 07;


MS BERTHA Henson's article, 'What's more important than rising food costs?' (The Sunday Times, Nov 18), provides food for thought.

Rising flour prices have resulted in our paying more for confectionery and other food items made of flour. However, there are some food operators who exploit the situation.

Now my favourite wanton mee seller charges me 20 cents more for a bowl, from $2.50 to $2.70, citing price increase in ingredients. I accept that the small increase is reasonable.

Another wanton mee seller recently raised his price to $3, an increase of 50 cents which he could not justify. Apparently, he must be thinking: why charge 20 cents when customers do not mind paying an additional 50 cents? After all, an increase is an increase.

I was surprised the other day when a glass of soya bean milk cost me 70 cents when it used to be 50 cents. When I asked the vendor whether the 20-cent rise was due to more expensive soya bean, he replied in the negative.

What amazed me even more was that since most of the food operators had upped their prices, he just followed suit.

So, unless we have an increased awareness of the value of money, we will fall prey to food operators who indulge in profiteering.

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Consumer prices could rise by up to 4.5% next year: MAS

Erica Tay, Straits Times 20 Nov 07

Central bank sticks to policy of letting Sing$ strengthen gradually, modestly

PRICE pressures ranging from rising oil prices to a squeeze on resources at home, are likely to push consumer prices up by 3.5 to 4.5 per cent next year, after rising by about 2 per cent this year.

Singapore's central bank announced its new 2008 forecast yesterday, raising it from the 2 to 3 per cent projected last month.

But the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) added that its stance on the Singapore dollar's exchange rate remains 'appropriate', and it has no plans for an earlier-than-scheduled policy review before its April meeting.

MAS' policy is currently to allow the Singdollar to gradually and modestly strengthen.

Changing the policy to allow it to strengthen more quickly will help battle inflation. This is because Singapore imports many of its goods from overseas and these will become cheaper if the Singdollar is strong.

MAS deputy managing director Ong Chong Tee told a quarterly press conference yesterday that an inter-meeting review was 'not on the cards'.

At the same briefing, Mr Ravi Menon, second permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, maintained that government measures to ease the squeeze on the supply of office space and labour will help to cool cost pressures.

A host of factors are behind the faster rise in the consumer price index (CPI), including 'technical' factors such as July's one-off goods and services tax hike.

Another factor is next January's revision to the annual assessed values of homes by the tax authorities, which will in turn lift the housing cost component of the CPI.

'Neither of them represents a sustained rise in inflationary pressures,' said Mr Menon. 'The effects of both will wear off over the second half of 2008.'

In addition, prices of crude oil and agricultural produce - which Singapore imports - have been rising globally.

The MAS' move last month to allow the Singdollar to rise at a slightly faster pace would go towards curbing imported inflation.

The economic boom at home is driving up wages and rents amid a tight labour market and a shortage of office space. However, measures have been taken to increase the sale of land in business parks, lease out more vacant state buildings and release land for transitional offices, said Mr Menon.

And raising the foreign labour ratio and S-Pass (Employment Pass) quota will help ease manpower bottlenecks in the rapidly growing construction sector, he added.

'In short, has the economy gotten hotter? Yes. Has it gotten too hot? No,' he said.

While a slowing United States economy will cause Singapore to expand at a slower tempo, inflationary pressures are shaping up to be a more pressing concern than slowing economic growth, said economists.

'Growth concerns have become secondary to inflationary concerns,' said Standard Chartered Bank economist Alvin Liew.

Fortis Bank strategist Joseph Tan believes further monetary tightening via a faster appreciation of the Singdollar is likely at the next policy review. 'The policy stance may change from a 'gradual and modest' appreciation of the Singdollar to an 'immodest' appreciation,' he quipped.

However, Mr Liew said: 'We believe the current Singdollar policy stance is enough to deal with imported inflation. The worry lies with domestic cost pressures, that is, wages and rents rising too much. If these are the concerns, there might be more measures to keep these pressures in check.'


What is pushing up the consumer price index?

• July's one-off hike in the goods and services tax.
• Next year's rise in the housing cost component of the CPI, due to higher annual assessed values for homes.
• Domestic cost pressures due to a squeeze on labour and office space.
• Rising prices of crude oil and other commodities.

Read more!

Asia faces the inflation test

William Pesek Jr., Business Times 20 Nov 07;

As long as economic policymakers act responsibly and transparently, Asia can avoid excessive price increases

ASIANS sure are unique; they don't eat and they don't use energy. That's nonsense, of course, yet it's how some are viewing Asia. Even as prices rise faster in some places than during the 1990s, investors are pushing the 'core inflation' argument.

If you strip out the most volatile items, such as food and energy, the rationale goes, Asian inflation looks pretty tame. Oh, it's only high pork prices, China bulls say. It's only because crude oil keeps rising, Asia-market enthusiasts retort.

Yet such arguments are taking on shades of denial as 2008 approaches and inflation accelerates. It's hard to generalise the price environment. After all, Japan, by far the region's biggest economy, still faces deflation.

In India, Asia's No 3 economy, pressures have eased this year. And overall consumer prices are growing at a 3 per cent annual rate, or less, in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.

The data may be masking the inflation already coursing through economies such as Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam. For example, Singapore's consumer prices could accelerate from 2.7 per cent now to as much as 5 per cent in the first quarter of next year, says Chua Hak Bin, Singapore-based economist at Citigroup Inc.

It's also hard to generalise about why Asia is heating up. In some cases, meat or agriculture prices are helping to drive increases. In others, it's everything from new taxes on goods and services to campaigns to stamp out corruption. Yet there are a few common threads: high oil prices, low short-term interest rates and undervalued currencies.

Asia's brush with inflation needn't be a disaster. It's a natural side effect of strong growth and the increasing amount of foreign capital heading into the region's markets. So long as central bankers and economic policymakers act responsibly and transparently, Asia can avoid excessive price increases. That's easier said than done. The costs of inaction will be higher public debt yields, slower growth and less buoyant equity markets.

It may be very difficult for central bankers, for example, to get away with raising interest rates as much as inflation risks warrant. It may be equally hard for politicians and exporters to stomach stronger currencies. All this is a reminder that some Asian capitals may lack the political will to do what's necessary here.

The World Bank last week said East Asia's economies will expand at the fastest pace in more than a decade in 2007, even as US import growth slows and the fallout from the sub-prime-loan crisis unfolds. East Asia, which excludes Japan and the Indian subcontinent, is expected to grow 8.4 per cent this year and 8.2 per cent in 2008.

China is a perfect example of the risks that policymakers face. 'The authorities are rightly aiming at avoiding excess demand and the spillover of high food prices into generalised inflation, and mopping up liquidity and raising interest rates will continue to be needed,' the World Bank said in a Nov 15 report.

'However, the main macroeconomic task remains to contain the rising trade surplus, and a stronger real exchange rate is the most obvious tool.' Obvious, but also politically explosive. China's consumer prices rose 6.5 per cent in October from a year earlier, matching August's gain, the biggest in more than a decade.

The news has economists such as Wang Qing of Morgan Stanley concerned that the world's fourth-biggest economy is on the verge of overheating.

China shows the futility of finding comfort in core inflation figures. Price increases for non-food items were just 1.1 per cent in October, the same as September.

'Food is still the primary force driving prices upward, although in a poor country where one-third of the CPI basket is food, I would think that rising food prices must affect wages and, through wages, the rest of the economy,' says Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University.

The same goes for higher oil prices, which can only be dismissed for so long. When crude oil hit US$50 a barrel, analysts told investors not to worry.

Similar noises are being heard as oil approaches US$100 a barrel. How much longer can economists and investors live in denial that commodity prices will eventually filter into economies? Some nations are becoming more serious about inflation.

In Indonesia, prices rose 6.9 per cent in October, near the upper end of the central bank's range of 5 per cent to 7 per cent.

Deputy central bank governor Hartadi Sarwono says Bank Indonesia wants the currency to be 'stable and strengthen' to help 'tame inflation.'

Accelerating inflation may give Asian policymakers their biggest test in a decade. It doesn't help that the challenge comes amid turmoil in global credit markets, an uncertain outlook for the US and increasing 'hot money' capital flows.

Asia really needs to stand and deliver to prove it can handle the investment flowing its way. The region now has the chance to show how far it has come from the dark days of the 1990s - or hasn't. -- Bloomberg

William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Global warming may cut crop yields in Asia: report

Business Times 20 Nov 07;

(SINGAPORE) Climate change may cut rice and wheat yields in Asia and wipe out decades of social and economic progress, a report on the environment says.

'An increase of just one degree Celsius in night-time temperatures during the growing season will reduce Asian rice yields by 10 per cent,' said environmental group Greenpeace, one of the contributors to the Up in Smoke report. 'Wheat production could by fall 32 per cent by 2050.'

The report comes just before the 10 members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) plus China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand pledge to reduce the impact on global warming at their summit meeting here tomorrow.

'Slowing and reversing these threats is the defining challenge of our age,' UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said last week at the release of the world body's panel report on the climate and emissions, ahead of a conference in Bali on global warming.

The US is the world's biggest producer of man-made carbon dioxide, followed by China, with India ranked fourth, according to the UN. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

The Up in Smoke report said that China's wheat, rice and corn yields could fall by as much as 37 per cent at the end of the century from drought.

WWF, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, the World Council of Churches, Indiadisasters.org and Down to Earth Indonesia were also among the report's 35 contributors.

'In India, there have been some recent floods affecting 28 million people and also widespread drought in some Indian states,' Greenpeace said. 'If no action is taken, 30 per cent of India's food production could be lost.'

Warmer weather patterns from global warming will mean less predictable rainfall and monsoon seasons 'around which farming systems are designed and more extreme tropical cyclones'.

Bangladesh's latest tropical cyclone over the weekend has killed more than 2,000 people. Officials said that the death toll may rise. About 70 per cent of Bangladesh's population derive their income from agriculture or related industries.

The report also details the possible effects on individual countries in the region, particularly poorer communities.

The UN said that keeping greenhouse gases at the current levels would still result in a temperature rise beyond 2100 of at least two degrees Celsius, and a sea level increase of at least 40 cm.

The report 'recommends that the international community commit to meaningful and mandatory emissions cuts to ensure that global temperature increases stay below two degrees Celsius', Greenpeace said in a statement.

The Singapore meeting, called the East Asia Summit, is scheduled to adopt the 'Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment' tomorrow.

The draft statement, obtained by Bloomberg News, calls for boosting forest cover by 15 million ha by 2020 and reducing energy usage per unit of gross domestic production by a quarter by 2030.

The declaration follows a pledge by Asean to expand forest cover by 10 million ha over the same time frame.

Civic groups have said that increasing forest cover is not enough and emissions targets need to be set.

Climate change may continue for centuries, and governments will have to spend billions of dollars annually to slow warming and adapt to its effects, a UN panel said on Saturday\. \-- Bloomberg

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Ethanol: 2007's worst energy investment

Business Times 20 Nov 07

(NEW YORK) Ethanol, the centrepiece of President George W Bush's plan to wean the US from oil, is the worst energy investment this year.

The corn-based fuel tumbled 57 per cent from last year's record of US$4.33 a gallon and drove crop prices to a 10-year high. Production in the US tripled after Morgan Stanley, hedge fund firm DE Shaw & Co and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla helped finance a building boom.

Even worse for investors and the Bush administration, energy experts contend ethanol isn't reducing oil demand.

Scientists at Cornell University say making the fuel uses more energy than it creates, while the National Research Council warns that ethanol production threatens scarce water supplies.

As oil nears US$100 a barrel, ethanol markets are so depressed that distilleries are shutting from Iowa to Germany. An investor who put US$10 million into ethanol on Dec 31 now has US$7.5 million, a loss of 25 per cent. Florida and Georgia have banned sales during the summer, when the fuel may evaporate and create smog.

'I don't anticipate any sort of immediate rebound,' says Barry Frazier, the 50-year-old president of Center Ethanol LLC in suburban St Louis. 'It's going to take 12 to 24 months before the market is able to absorb the large amount of new capacity.'

The biggest producer, Archer Daniels Midland, may resort to exporting ethanol. Pacific Ethanol, backed by Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates, dropped 63 per cent in New York trading this year as profits collapsed. Record oil prices, which make blending of ethanol with gasoline more profitable for refiners, haven't stemmed the declines.

'Ethanol companies are near break-even at best,' says Ron Oster, a principal at Broadpoint Capital in Albany, New York. 'That's not a good recipe when you have US$100 oil.'

Corn has risen to US$3.795 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade from less than US$2.50 in September 2006. Ethanol on the exchange is little changed at US$1.865 a gallon, after falling from a peak of US$4.33 in June 2006.

The Bush energy plan triggered production by mandating increased use of so-called biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol. The administration proposed raising output in the next 10 years to five times the current target amount for 2012.

The US Senate approved the increase and lengthened the time frame to 2022. The federal government has 20 separate laws and incentives to boost ethanol use, and 49 states offer additional subsidies and supports, according to the Energy Department in Washington. Scientists question the wisdom of using ethanol. Stanford University researchers say ethanol, originally added to gasoline in the 1970s to reduce tailpipe emissions, does nothing to improve the environment.

'It takes more energy to produce ethanol than it actually gives off,' says David Pimentel, a Cornell University professor who has studied production of the fuel for two decades. Harvesting, crushing, fermenting and distilling corn requires 29 per cent more energy than ethanol produces, says Pimentel, a professor of ecology and agriculture.

Michael Wang, an environmental engineer at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, says Prof Pimentel is wrong to include energy spent on making fertilisers and pesticides. Ethanol production results in a 33 per cent gain in combustible energy, Mr Wang says.

US ethanol inventories swelled to a record 10.3 million barrels in August as production jumped 32 per cent from a year earlier and demand growth slowed, the Energy Department said.

Mr Khosla, the Menlo Park, California-based venture capitalist who 25 years ago helped start Sun Microsystems Inc, is undaunted by this year's slump. He founded Range Fuels Inc, which is building a plant in Georgia that will make ethanol from wood chips.

So-called cellulosic ethanol production will create a 'Richter-scale change in the oil industry,' Mr Khosla said, adding the fuel will be cheaper to produce than oil. Range Fuels expects to be profitable at ethanol prices of US$1.25 a gallon, he says, more than 50 cents below the current futures price\. \-- Bloomberg

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Aquaculture only way to fill the coming "fish gap"

Top ministers debate the future of fish farming
FAO website 19 Nov 07

19 November 2007, Rome - By 2030 an additional 37 million tonnes of fish per year will be needed to maintain current levels of fish consumption for an expanded world population. Because traditional capture fisheries have reached their maximum production levels, fish farming represents the only way to fill the gap. But it will only do so if it is promoted and managed in a responsible fashion.

This was the message FAO gave to a group of the world's top fisheries authorities* gathered in Rome for a high level meeting on the contribution of aquaculture to sustainable development.

The future of fish is farms

For a quarter century, fish farming has been the world's fastest growing food production sector, sustaining an annual growth rate of 8.8% since 1970. By way of comparison, livestock production, also considered a growth sector, increased at a rate of just 2.8% a year during the same period.

Today, some 45% of all fish consumed by humans -- 48 millions tonnes in all -- is raised on farms.

By 2030, the addition of 2 billion more people to the world population will mean that aquaculture will need to produce nearly double that, 85 million tonnes of fish per year, just to maintain current per capita consumption levels.

Citing these trends, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told the meeting that further development of the aquaculture sector should be a priority for the international development agenda.

He cautioned however that good policy decisions regarding the use of natural resources like water, land, seed and feed as well as sound environmental management will be necessary to sustain and enhance aquaculture's growth.

Income and jobs from fish farming increasingly important

An FAO paper presented at the meeting noted that not only does aquaculture help reduce hunger and malnutrition by providing food rich in protein, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, it also significantly improves food security by creating jobs and raising incomes. In Asia, for instance, fish farming directly employs some 12 million people.

In a video-taped message played at today's meeting, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse underscored the important role that fish farming plays by supporting people's livelihoods in Asia and elsewhere. "For largely rural based societies, aquaculture provides many opportunities for low income earners to diversify their livelihoods to obtain a larger income," he said.

Africa lagging behind

One worrying exception to the aquaculture boom is Africa, the only world region where per capita consumption of fish has dropped and whose share of global aquaculture production is less than one percent. "Africa has the full resource potential for aquaculture growth," FAO's paper said, and should be a "priority region" for aid aimed at promoting aquaculture development.

*The fisheries ministers of Algeria, Angola, Bahamas, Bahrain, Chad, Ecuador, Eritrea, Faroe Islands, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda participated in the event, which was also attended by high-level delegates from a number of other countries. The session was co-chaired by Ms Helga Pedersen, Minister of Fisheries and Coastal affairs of Norway and Mr Amin Ahmed Mohamed Othman Abbaza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt.

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Technology Won't Stop Global Warming, Economists Say

Andrea Thompson, LiveScience.com, Yahoo News 19 Nov 07;

Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States may grow faster in the next 50 years than they have in the past 50, and higher energy prices will curb the problem better than technology, two economists say.

Despite many technological advances in the past half-century, the rates of growth of energy use and of greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise (by about 2.2 and 1.6 percent per year respectively), despite the rising costs of energy, Richard Eckaus of MIT and Ian Sue Wing of Boston University found in a new study.

"We found that, in spite of increasing energy prices, technological change has not been responsible for much reduction in energy use, and that it may have had the reverse effect," Eckaus said.

Another recent study showed that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were rising faster than expected because inefficient technologies were on the rise in developed countries such as China and because the natural mechanisms for sucking up and storing carbon, called carbon sinks, were essentially being exhausted.

In the new study, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Massachusetts, Eckaus and Sue Wing examined the periods of 1958 to 1996 and 1980 to 1996 and then used computer models to project changes in the growth rates of both energy use and emissions from 2000 to 2050. Their findings, detailed in the November issue of the journal Energy Policy, showed that these rates may accelerate.

"The rates of growth could be higher by a half percent or more, which becomes significant when compounded over 50 years," Eckaus said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report this weekend that warned of the hazards that rising carbon dioxide levels will cause, noting that even if reductions are made, certain effects, such as sea level rise, will still occur.

Technological advances may not be a fix even though they have been looked to as a source of curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, Eckaus said, citing the U.S. steelmaking industry as an example.

Though steelmakers' furnaces are now electrical, reducing coal use at the steel plant, some of the electricity that powers the furnaces is still generated by coal, resulting in more carbon dioxide emissions.

Instead of relying on technology to solve the global warming problem, governments should make energy more expensive, Eckaus advises.

"There is no 'a priori' reason to think technology has the potential for reducing energy use while meeting the tests of economics," he said. "It's politically unappetizing in the U.S., but in Europe, gas costs $6 a gallon. Make energy more expensive: People will use less of it."

Read more!

Powering up for a hydrogen economy

Keith Guy, BBC News 19 Nov 07;

Sooner or later the world is going to have to make the switch away from fossil fuels, says Keith Guy. In this week's Green Room, he explains what needs to be done to make the vision of a global hydrogen economy a reality.

An increasing global population, rising standards of living and more industrial production mean the amount of energy the world consumes could rise by 50-60% over the next 25 years.

Today, the biggest forms of energy are fossil fuels - oil, gas, coal. But that is set to change in the future for at least two reasons:

• "easy" oil and gas sources are declining
• emissions of greenhouse gases related to fossil fuels are rising to unacceptable levels

But what are the alternatives and can they ever become a reality?

Hydrogen is already providing a growing alternative energy source for transportation in several countries, including the US and Japan.

In a bold move, Iceland has set itself the challenge of becoming the world's first hydrogen economy, with the aim of the fuel supporting all its energy needs by 2050.

This means the total elimination of fossil fuels and should result in cutting the country's greenhouse emissions by up to 50%.

However, one could argue that Iceland's natural energy resources, its waterfalls and hot springs, give it an unnatural advantage over less well-endowed countries.

Making the switch

So what progress can other countries hope to achieve and what do they need to make the hydrogen economy a reality?

Let's start with a look at what advances the world is currently making.

The most obvious step that we are beginning to see is the introduction and take-up of fuel-cell powered vehicles.

Although there may be an intermediate stage with onboard gasoline reformers, these cars offer immediate benefits - they are about twice as efficient as current fossil fuel transport and can significantly reduce air pollution in cities.

Since the first hydrogen filling station was set up in 2000 in Dearborn, US, we have seen a steadily growing number opening up to meet the increased demand, especially in the US, Japan, Germany and Iceland.

Many buses in Iceland are already converted to use hydrogen and are refuelled by a filling station on the outskirts of its capital, Reykjavik. There are also plans to convert the country's entire fishing fleet.

Breaking down barriers

Unfortunately, whilst moves towards an increased use of hydrogen are starting to gather speed, as things stand this growth is restricted by a number of constraints at the political, commercial, technical and social levels.

Safety concerns are still widespread, with the spectre of the Hindenburg accident still in the minds of many.

The public perception of the dangers around hydrogen's transportation and distribution need to be addressed if we're to see widespread use in the future.

At a practical level, there are real issues in terms of how we store and transport hydrogen. Hydrogen is a very light gas making it far more difficult to work with than gasoline.

From an economic point of view, the costs of switching over to hydrogen-based technologies are high. In the US for example, the investment required to convert existing gasoline stations to provide hydrogen to vehicle drivers will run into billions of dollars.

While fuel cells may be getting cheaper, they are still more expensive than conventional engines.

The cost of producing the actual hydrogen itself is high, although the good news is that economies of scale do exist.

As the supply increases, the costs will start to come down. It is expected that the same will apply to the associated costs of storage, transport and vehicle design.

What we'll also need to see is a move from natural gas-based hydrogen, which is being used during the market development phase, to industrial-level hydrogen production using renewable resources on an economic basis.

This will require further development, both in the public and private sector, if we're to see any significant progress.

There is a real political need for a common worldwide approach if we are to see the transition to a hydrogen economy.

National and international government organisations must get behind the technology and provide the support for research, and ultimately the commercialisation of hydrogen, if we are to succeed in developing a viable and green alternative to fossil fuels.

The hydrogen economy is developing but more must be done if we're to see real progress in the medium to long term; only then will it cease to be a theory and become a reality.

Professor Keith Guy is a Chem Envoy for the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)

The Green Room is a series of opinion pieces on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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